Today's Reminder : L.O.V.E

I stumble upon this beautiful article about love. OK, article about love is overrated but this one  is about kids 4-8 years old describes love - and instead of cheesy, it gets me as sincere, naive, honest and funny. As I read along,  my eyes get stuck on this  :

 “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it.

But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

jessica – age 8

Well, this kid is very perceptive, I should say.

In our daily routine, we often take things for granted, we often forget to say to the ones we love how much they mean for us. We often take their presence for granted, and we get used to them being around us. But what if somehow, someday, they suddenly stop being around?  That someday God decides to no longer prolong their presence in our life? It will be very sad and ironic, if we never let the ones we love know about the fact that we love them, that their presence mean the world for us. That they are irreplaceable and worth the whole universe. In fact, our universe somehow exist because of them :)

Text your dad. Call your mom. Email your siblings. IM your cousins and relatives. Contact your dear friends, near or far. Kiss your significant  other. Hug your pets,

And tell them how much you love them :)

The Gifts

..and I thought,  two times driving me to ER in the middle of the nights on two different days (while he had important things to do the day after) and endless care for the whole week when I had my severe dispepsia was a great gift from patjar...and that is enough for me on welcoming the 26th year of my life.

But patjar turned out to be more than that. He (and his our friends) surprised me with an ice cream cake tart and candles on (almost) midnight. They wore a winnie the pooh party hat too. How sweet is that?

And the surprise did not stop there. At the office, I bought pizzas for my PTR colleagues. While we were eating, out of the blue patjar entered the room with (oh Lord) another delicious chocolate cake (with burning candles - which thank God did not reveal my age ;p) and more pizza. All of the people in the room were delightfully surprised and moi? Well, moi blushed and blushed and giggled like crazy. I blowed the candle, did a speech, and people teased me and patjar a lot. It ended with having almost all of the people from WGP celebrating my birthday (since there were plenty of pizza - I even managed to snag one to my French class later ;p).

Oh, I also got the early surprise from and old ex working colleague that used to work with me in the rig site (I remember him gave me a surprise cake on my birthday, on the rig, 3 years ago). He came to the office and gave me a big hug and warm wishes. It was a mood lifter, really :). On noon, I got a big package (of gift) from my family, delivered from home to my desk. It was beyond sweet when I opened the package and saw a wrapped gift :). I decided to not open it until I got home, though ;p. My friends also had been so considerate, congratulates me thru emails, calls, sms, twitters and fb. Those all sweetness made my day, seriously :)

After the French course, patjar picked me up and (again) being a sweetheart, took me to the internist at around 10-ish after we had dinner.

What more can I ask for?

Being 26, I am truly, indeed, grateful to Allah for all of the blessing. Sweet family, good job and career, and a loving patjar. Alhamdulillah :). And oh, I got two cute bags (God knows how old and need-to-be-replaced my current bag was) and few apparels from family. As from patjar? Well, as I said, what more can I ask for? Him being the sweetest one is already more than enough. Well I still hope for the "tujuan akhir" in the long run, though :p. Hihi, anyhoo, I am happy!  

..Just when my focus got distracted to other seemingly-big-and-oh-complicated-but-actually-unimportant stuff that shake a bit of my balance, I visit gimme presence as usual and read this:

Pay closest attention to what is simple, sweet and clear.

The simplest, clearest issue that I need to pay attention on is right in front of me. And unbelievingly, this is also related to the sweetest one. This is not an easy-peasy obstacle, yet it is a very rewarding one. One that require me to be in the center of my sanity. And this, is where I'll pay my closest attention at. 

Life's not a race, they say. I try to learn that it is not a race with the other people, but rather a race with my self. My limitation, my fear and hesitation. It is an obstacle race, where I try to conquer my own problem. So for now (and after), I will remember to pay closest attention, to what is simple, sweet and clear.

Just a little reminder..

..Of how selfish I have been behaving.

Life is indeed ever changing. And this phase is just another phase. Everything will be fine, Insya Allah. For this moment, I am proud on how my dearie has been handling these problem,the way he maintains his composure and the way he (as always) be there for the family and take a good care of them. I can't ask for more, really. 

Right now I wish I could help and do better than this. And right now, I have no right whatsoever to even whine. I have to be there (and strong) for him. For now, it is another personal battle for me to fight on.

Well, as he said, this is where our morality's being measured. (These) present troubles will teach us how to face even bigger issues on the future. And again, just like he said, I need to focus on things under my control and not to get caught in unreasonable sadness.

Ganbatte!

Januari, Jadi :)

Gusti Allah,

Terima kasih banyak untuk berkah di awal Januari nya. Terima kasih saya sudah dikasih jalan (walau awalnya terlihat pesimis untuk bisa pergi karena beban kerjaan di tim tunu- tapi Alhamdulillahnya dikasih jalan juga buat pergi ke Jakarta) untuk bisa bertemu, berkenalan dan mengakrabkan diri dengan keluarga cidodol c15..  It was lovely, and I can't thank you enough. Terima kasih banyak telah memudahkan semuanya.. Dan maaf kalau saya malah sering takut-khawatir-nervous sendiri tanpa alasan yang jelas.

Terima kasih banyak untuk memberi saya kesempatan ketemu (walaupun cuma sebentar) dengan keluarga besar plus oma Tirtayasa-nya si Patjar.. It had been a great night :)

Patj, you are, as always, right. We're moving forward, slowly, carefully, and never an inch backwards. Danke, by..

They are the reasons.....

For every struggle, every thrive

For every fight..

For my life.