"Keluarga abang tak biasa sambut-sambut birthday ke apa day ke."
That was what hubby told me long time ago, when we were newly married.
It was a warning of sort - not to expect much from him regarding birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
I told him that in my family, it's a tradition to have some makan-makan to sort of celebrate our birthdays. I said "sort of" because it's not necessarily held on the birthday itself, but still it was called "rai birthday". Since Ayah's birthday is on the 5th, Mak's on the 12th and mine on the 10th, May is one month we seldom miss having at least one makan-makan session (usually it is just one makan-makan session, anyway).
This year, my younger brother Abang decided to play host for the family makan-makan session to celebrate Ayah's, Mak's and my birthday - on a day that happened to be Ayah's birthday. Since I was already at my parents' house in Kampung Tunku, just finished attending a short course in Bukit Kiara, we decided to just go some place in PJ although initially Abang was thinking of giving a treat of Nasi Arab at Saba restaurant in Cyberjaya. Mak and Ayah are big fans of Nasi Arab aka Nasi Mandy lately, and Mak prefers Saba in Cyberjaya than going to the famous Al Rawsha in KL. Besides we had some bad experience there - really bad service and an incident involving Huzaifah and a little girl with a rude father. Anyway, there's another Middle Eastern restaurant that Mak recommended to us - Al Diafah in Seri Petaling (note to self: maybe should take my parents there as my treat), but that night, since we did not make any reservation ahead in time, we decided to just belasah ajelah any suitable place in Sunway Pyramid.
We ended up having dinner at Thai Thai. Abang, who was in Cyberjaya for a metting, picked hubby in Putrajaya, and his wife and kid in Kelana Jaya before meeting the rest of the family - Mak, Ayah, Adik, my kids and I - at Sunway Pyramid. What can I say about Thai Thai? Good food, not bad service, reasonable price with staff who are quite friendly and patient with hyperactive kids. Ayah really enjoyed his meal, Mak had some complaint about the staff who started cleaning up the area (the shop was already closed, we were the last to leave the place) even before we finished eating, but all in all it was a good makan-makan session.
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Since my birthday this year is on the second Sunday of May, it was also Mother's day.
Mak never taught me to celebrate Mother's day.
"A mother should be celebrated everyday, all year long. Not merely on one day, every year," or so Mak claimed.
And I couldn't agree more.
Mak too said that one should not be too keen on celebrating his or her own birthday.
"What right do you have to celebrate your own birthday? You just happened to be born on that day. It was your mother who went through all the pain of bringing you to the world," or so Mak would repeat the words of Sheikh Yusof Estes.
Hubby thought of taking me out - just the two of us - for a birthday treat. I had to take a rain cheque on that because on my birthday, he was in Seremban while the kids and I were with my parents in Pontian. My aunt's husband, Pakcik Me'at was admitted to the hospital for diabetes, so when Mak invited me to go balik kampung to visit him, I agreed. It's the weekend off for our bibik, so I thought being with Mak and her helper is a better option than having to care for all three kids on my own, and hubby reluctantly agreed.
I thought of a few things on my birthday, among others, to call my biological mother to thank her for going through the pain to bring me to this world.
Unfortunately, I left my handphone in the office, so that had to be postponed.
I asked Huzaifah to sing "happy birthday yu yu" to Ibu, but everytime I prompted with singing "happy birthday to you...", he smiled cheekily and started singing "A B C D E F G..." instead.
Bertuah punya anak.
We ended up having an even bigger makan-makan on the night of my birthday.
Two retired teachers who used to teach in Sungai Batu identified my uncle Ayah Jang as the grandson of Che Uda, the Penghulu of Sungai Batu back when they were teaching there. They contacted Ayah Jang, who still remember them and then held a family gathering in Putrajaya Lake Club. A jejak kasih reunion of sort for the teachers (with their respected family), my grand uncle, Tok Lang, Ayah and his siblings. The younger generation - my cousins and I- merely enjoyed a makan-makan session with the family. I left the kids with Mak's helper at home, otherwise I don't think any of us could eat in peace at the Lake Club. Ayah Jang ordered lots of dishes to go with rice, but I opted to sit at the far back, the assigned a la carte area, and had Cantonese Kuey Teow as per Mak's recommendation. Although the makan-makan was not held to celebrate my birthday, it was one I really enjoyed. Away from the kids for a while, able to sit back, relax, chit-chat with aunts, uncles, cousins on various matters. I found it quite amusing to notice that none of my aunts got my age right when I told them that it was my birthday - all of them thought I'm younger. Hmm, I wonder if that is because perhaps they think if their niece hasn't age that much, then they too could not have aged that much...
I used to think that age is just a number. But not anymore. Age is something that happens only once. Like Mak always point out to me if she's not happy with the way I take care of the kids, "They are only 3 year old once in their life". The same goes whether one reaches 10, 20 or 30 years old. At any particular age, we must try to achieve something so that it counts; age is a blessing that must not be wasted on too much lying around doing nothing. Or too much sleeping.
Which means I have to start doing something because I don't think I have achieve something significant yet this year. And that might start with losing some weight, since I really need to lose those baby fat I've accumulated when I was pregnant with Haniyya...
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This morning, as I walked in the office and checked on my phone, I found 3 text messages wishing me happy birthday and a few others wishing happy mother's day.
I found myself praying that all those prayers and wishes sent my way will come true, insya Allah.
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