b3 b0rn.. c0nf0rm, b3 si|3nt .. di3

It was a surprising start to the week.

I just came back from my brief sojourn to Guoman - we were celebrating both hubby dearest’s birthday and our anniversary - when a bombshell was dropped on me on Tuesday morning by my project mate. A colleague who was also an old friend (we went to the same boarding school) was suspected to have leukemia . To say I was surprised was an understatement. I was totally flabbergasted.

We are talking about a lady that I knew from when we were still wet behind our ears. I remembered that we were exceptionally close when we were 14 - we were in the same class until our third year at college.

By Wednesday afternoon, the suspicions were proved to be true. I had wanted to visit her at the hospital but decided to give her a call first.

The conversation was awkward to say the least - here I have a once-best-buddies-now-long-time-friend who has just been diagnosed with a potentially terminal disease. What do you say in this type of situation?

I decided to just jump into it and asked her how she was holding up. She explained that she has been diagnosed with acute leukemia - I didn’t find out the significance of this until I checked it out - and that visiting after she starts her treatment may not be possible as they would want to reduce risk of contracting any contagious diseases.

I responded with a lot of ‘Ohs’ and ‘Ahs’ but few encouraging words as I myself was going through a hard time accepting the fact that a friend has this disease that used to be the stuff of movies and mostly newspaper articles and charity run genre.

When we ended the conversation, I oddly felt a bit better hearing the actual situation directly from her. And I was encouraged by her last remark, “Well, see you when I get well again”

I have only one wish for her - which would be what the rest of us would be wishing for - that she can be treated back to health.

celebrated amir’s birthday just now (don’t ask how ;P)
will be celebrating our anniversary (our second!) in 2 days time.

it is both a blessing and a curse to have your spouse’s birthday this close to your anniversary.

here’s why

Incident One: Two Years Ago to the day

Remembered the impending wedding day.. and his birthday too. But when push comes to nudge, became caught up with all the preparations, I ended up forgetting his birthday.

And dearest hubby (then-fiance) actually just kept mum about it!

I was with him the whole day doing some last minute errands prior to the BIG DAY — apparently I don’t the Malay beliefs that the bride and groom should not meet prior to the wedding date — and only realised the import of the day when he was sending me home.

When I confronted him on why didn’t he mention anything on the fact that it was his birthday, his only answer is he wanted to see how long would I carry on forgetting the date. Aiyayay!!

Incident Two: One Year Ago to the day

We were all geared up to head for the state known as the Pearl of the Orient to celebrate his birthday + our anniversary. At this point, Kya has already landed from the heavens above into our lives and I was a very occupied new mother.

I had just returned to work for a month and was adjusting to my new schedule after 2 months of leisurely maternity leave. I was also still breastfeeding at that time so by the end of the day, the hours spent at work combined with emotional stress of being away from my precious Kya and also her increasing rejection *very vehement rejection, I might add* to my feeding, I usually end up dozing off as soon as Kya falls asleep.

This is exactly what happened on the eve of his birthday. I dozed off once kya settled down for the night and the last fleeting thought that crossed my mind was ‘.. it’s nearing 12 am - need to wish hubby dearest happy birthday’.

A few moments later, I was awakened from my slumber by amir kissing me and my first thought was ‘Oh he’s back from work’. He then proceeded to kiss kya and was smiling at me - waiting.

I smiled drowsily and asked him some incoherent questions. He patiently answered whatever he could and then waited again.

Me, being drugged with sleep, could not for the life of me figure out why he was still idling and not getting ready to sleep. I then went promptly back to the business at hand - which is SLEEP!

I guess this surprised amir and he mentioned something about going out to see his mate who’s operating a cyber cafe. I mumbled a reply and he left the room.

Then it hit me!

IT IS HIS BIRTHDAY!

shit. not again.

You should have seen the chain of reaction that this one thought triggered in me. I became immediately wide awake, jumped up to change out of my sleepwear and ran downstairs to try and catch amir. He had already left.

I asked my brother to stay awhile in my room with kya and drove to the mate’s cyber cafe to do damage control.

Thank god this year I did not forget his birthday. And I am pretty sure that he was very happy with my birthday wish!

Emememe…

It has been a roller-coaster ride of a month. Why so?

1. Project deadline keep being moved and the scope changes every week or so. This translates to me either hanging around at the office til 8 pm or leaving at 530 pm.
2. Had a run-in with the almighty flu virus (and no, it is not the bird-flu). Which I preceeded to pass to the rest of the household, starting with my own Kya.
3. Not only did Kya had to withstand the onslaught of the flu passed by her mummy dearest, her teeth decided to make its long-awaited emergence at the same time. Sore gums and ulcers galore. Not a pretty sight and no more peaceful nights for me.
4. In the midst of all the flu and teething issues, discovered that Kya was unusually cranky (you don’t say? I wouldn’t be Mother Theresa too if I were her). Was getting her dressed after her noon bath yesterday and saw tonnes of earwax coming out of her left ear. Cleaned it up only to discover more inside her ear passage. Checked it out with our GP and the doctor confirmed my suspicions - Kya has an ear infection. Explains the sleepless nights and her frequent jabbing into her ear.

She is now on antibiotics and asleep.. wops.. hear her crying now.

bye