The big 3-0

I have to say, I am glad that we are now in 2015. 2014 was great in many ways, and tragic in many ways. It will certainly be memorable for what its worth.

It was the year Omar learned how to walk, grew his first teeth, and said Umi! (though until now he still calls both me and Ikram Umi).

It was the year that really shook Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines. And me. But we all have to be busy living, and there's no point thinking "what if"

And before the end of the year was through, another unexpected shake-- the floods in the northeast. It is quite one thing watching people lose their homes and be forced to move to evacuation centers on TV, it is another to recognize every single road that's submerged under murky waters of the river, and it is quite a different thing to know that your aging grandparents' house is one of the submerged houses, and that they are among the people at the evacuation centers, waiting for food and water and trapped without other means if the food and water fail to arrive. And that was after a day of no one being able to reach them. My grandma with her gout, difficult to even get up from her sujud position during prayers had to wade through water up to her waist and climb stairs of the school because the first floor was also flooded. In the end my uncle succeeded to ride on his motorcycle until the point he couldn't, waded in the water until he couldn't, then thank God found a boat for hire. The Jabatan Bomba had stopped people from taking boats because of the currents, but one thing my uncle being a large ex-soldier (though technically he was an army chef), meant he did not take no for answer-- and alhamdulillah he managed to "rescue" my grandparents from the evacuation center where they were without food or water for almost 2 days. As 2015 arrives, the worst is nowhere near over for many. 

If anything, 2014 is a year where Malaysians have a good chance of common tragedies to unify us and let go of petty things. But of course, there will always be ugly voices heard.

So 2015, thanks for making it here somehow! May it a better year for all of us, insyaAllah. May the mothers and the babies and the grandparents and the men, women and children affected by floods come out stronger, may they be spared from anymore pain and anguish. May those who lost their loved ones in the terrible three aviation disasters/mysteries find their closure and peace. 

May I finish and submit my thesis. May Omar blossom further. May there be great travels, and less tragedies... And may my first turn into proper adulthood, the big 30 yo, be a transition of grace. Ameen.