Thursday, July 23, 2009

A Tearful Evening

Temen mainnya Kukka, Laurel/Olel, 2 tahun, meninggal dunia sore ini. Tadinya aku kira cuma gosip ngga lucu atau tetangga yang ngasih tau misinformed. Tapi beberapa menit setelah dapet kabar itu, di milis Emerald ada pemberitahuannya. Bener ternyata... Olel meninggal karena muntaber. Aku langsung pergi ke rumahnya yang hanya berjarak 5 rumah dari kita. Tetangga-tetangga udah banyak yang ngumpul. Langsung sibuk bantu ini-itu.

Aku berdiri lama di teras. Maksudnya mau mikir dulu, mau ngomong apa nanti kalo ketemu sama mamanya Olel. I’m never good at this. I always think that there’s nothing you can say to make the person who suffers such a tremendous loss to feel better in any way. Aku takut salah ngomong. Takut salah berekspresi. Should I smile for comfort? Should I put a sad face? Should I put a straight face? Should I show up at all? Akhirnya aku memberanikan diri masuk ke kamar tempat Olel dibaringkan.

There she was, still looking cute and pretty, with her mother by her side. Holding her, stroking her hair, kissing her, whispering sweet words in her ears. I couldn’t help not to cry. I hugged Olel’s mother without saying a word. She wasn’t crying. She thanked me and whispered to her daughter’s ear “Liat nih, Olel... Tante-tante pada dateng. Maaf ya tante, Olel belum mandi.”

Ya Allah...

I only saw Olel when she was playing at our house a couple of times. She usually took an afternoon walk with Kukka around the cluster, just like yesterday. Mostly I heard cute stories about her from my maid. She wasn’t my baby. She wasn’t a relative. But it didn’t stop me from crying when I saw her tonight. Because she was just a little girl.

And I have a little girl...

The last time I saw Olel playing was at Kukka’s birthday bash. She was riding odong-odong right beside my girl. I even took a picture of them. Olel looked excited and very serious. Maybe it was the first time she saw an odong-odong :) I sure hope I had the chance to make her happy...

Goodbye pretty girl...
Thank you for being such a sweet friend to Kukka.
And thank you for reminding us,
How important it is to spend time with your loved ones,
And show them the love we have when we still have the chance.
Now have fun and go play with the angels :*


Thursday, July 16, 2009

A Mother's Prayer


May Allah SWT bless you with a pure and kind heart,
That goes along with a beautiful face and the prettiest smile.

May Allah SWT give you an intelligent mind and incredible strength,
That will help you survive in this big - fun - yet sometimes mean - world.

May Allah SWT guide your gentle hands to help those who need it,
And grant you a melodious voice to say your prayers.

Happy 1st birthday, my sweet, sweet little angel.

Always remember that in every breath I take,
There's love and never ending prayers,
Only for you.