I love this Eid, the small one. The other one or as we at home sometimes call it Eid el La7ma; is exhausting and by the time the dab7 is finished the day is almost over. Eid is a happy time for our family, when I was back in Egypt we would spend the wa2fa and the Eid days at my maternal grandmothers house on the farm. All of my cousins, my aunt and uncle and some of our extended family too, imagine gabalayet el 2orood keda. When we were young my parents would take my sister and I to Toys’R'Us and let us pick our own toy, later when we grew older we would get our 3edeya. Hehehe Eid was the time to be rich! I stopped getting it when I got married . My family is a generous one, bless them all. My husband and I had our Katb Ketab on the second day of Eid the year before last. So this is like our second anniversary as a technically married couple. This year is special because my mom and my sister are coming over to spend it with us in Kuwait and it is also my daughter’s first Eid. We got her a special outfit, complete with socks, shoes (my husband insisted even though she still can not stand), matching hair accessories and her own special toy. This year we picked it out for her, but I am hoping that next year she can pick her own toy. My mom is also bringing over ka7k all the way from Egypt. Hehehe and then there was the year my sister stuffed herself with one too many ka7ks and has not touched one since, she can’t even look at them anymore. There was also a Eid many years ago which we spent in Edinburugh when we were living in Scotland which was so much fun too. My father (allah yer7amo) loved calling everyone Eid morning right after prayers to wish them a happy Eid and make sure that they woke up. He was a very funny, kind,amazing man and sometimes a prankster (my mom would tell him 7arram tarwee3 amn el moslemeen, it was a family joke); he is still terribly missed although it has been ten years since he has passed), he would have enjoyed this Eid with us. There were also a couple of sad ones with sad memmories, but the happy ones are always the ones that prevail.
This year I am truly wishing a happy Eid to the entire Muslim Ummah, wherever you are, enjoy this year, pray for our brothers and sisters in need, try to help if you can by sending money or useful items or even by just visiting. Visit your family and friends, call those you can not visit, and no those cheesy emails are not good enough. Make it a personal mission to wish everyone a special day. It should also be a day of remembrance of those who are no longer with us, pray for them too.
Again, have a great day and enjoy it, you have just gotten thru another Ramadan, may your fasting be accepted by Allah, your prayers mostagaba and your soul cleansed to get you thru another year.
I love Zen Habits, it is one of those absolutely positive blogs full of smart posts, things to help you live a happy fullfiling life and easy to do tips. Today’s post on 32 ways to make someone happy was just perfect because I’ve been feeling down myself.
My favorites from Zen Habits list are:
Smile.
Help them get ahead.
Be proud of them.
Coffee. Mmmm.
Secretly leave them thank you notes.
Love them, completely.
Be happy yourself.
My own personal favorite:
Tickle them crazy and say that you are helping them exercise.
The flower said, “I wish I was a tree,”
The tree said, “I wish I could be
A different kind of tree,
The cat wished that it was a bee,
The turtle wished that it could fly
Really high into the sky,
Over rooftops and then dive
Deep into the sea.
And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.
And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.
And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert.
And the desert,
So dry and lonely,
That the critters all
Appreciate the effort.
Et le jackalope a dit
Je voudrais être un yeti
Pour voler dans la nuit
Et m’en aller loin d’ici
Mais le yeti a dit
Je voudrais être un monstre marin
Pour pouvoir rentrer dans la mer
De tous les requins.
And the rattlesnake said,
“I wish I had hands so
I could hug you like a man.”
And then the cactus said,
“But don’t you understand,
My skin is covered with sharp spikes
That’ll stab you like a thousand knives.
A hug would be nice,
But hug my flower with your eyes.”
The flower said, “I wish I was a tree,”
The tree said, “I wish I could be
A different kind of tree,
The cat wished that it was a bee,
The turtle wished that it could fly
Really high into the sky,
Over rooftops and then dive
Deep into the sea.
And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.
And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.
And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert.
And the desert,
So dry and lonely,
That the critters all
Appreciate the effort.
I went through five years of Engineering thinking that they would never end. My last year passed so slowly that it felt like someone else kept deliberately hitting the Pause button on the remote control of my life. Getting my certificate felt like the biggest key to the door that opened to the rest of my life. I have since realised that graduating was very easy and simple compared to having a job, getting married or having a baby. It is funny how things change. Since I am now a stay at home mom, with a 4 month old who still has not yet learned to move from where she is ( yaaay for me ) I have a couple of hours each day where I can do what I totally please and recently that has been watching commencement speeches on YouTube, talks from TED and other inspiring videos. I think I have grown up or matured in some way that now I actually can make use of other people’s advice and have the real ability to think deeply about other peoples ideas. For some reason I now think that it is so great learning from other people’s mistakes versus having to make my own and learning from them. Now I find myself remembering many of my mother’s advice and reflecting on it, sometimes realising how wonderfully true she was and how much time I could have saved myself. Here is a list of inspiring yet very funny videos I’ve seen recently that are worth seeing:
Ken Robinson for TED – An educator and a Knight but definitely a simple and very funny and fatherly figure who wants children to be creative, talented and successful.
Jill Bolte for TED – A brain scientist, a stroke and the once in a life chance to learn about it from the inside out.
Sometimes in moments of complete serenity and silence my mind wanders off on to stranger things. Like the other day I was thinking which would be a better place to live Wonderland (from Alice in Wonderland) or Neverneverland (from Peter Pan), taking into consideration my personal ideas on both comes from Disney’s interpretation of the great works of literature. I have read the books, but having seen the cartoons at a much younger age, it is that mental image that is always conjured up in my head.
Alice, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
Of course each one has its pros and cons. For example you don’t grow up in Neverneverland, there is fairy dust that helps you fly and mermaids too. In Wonderland tea parties are cool, mushrooms change your size and you can smoke hookas with caterpillars. On the otherhand there are pirates and crazy queens that want you dead in each world respectively.
It is also about the supporting characters. In Peter Pan, I was in love with Tinkerbell, I thought that she was really cool because she had the fairy dust and without her no one would be able to go anywhere. In Alice, the Cheshire cat was so coy and annoyingly funny and confusing at the same time, perhaps with the very wise quote;
“`Cheshire Puss,’ [Alice] began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it’s pleased so far,’ thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
`I don’t much care where–’ said Alice.
`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
`–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.’”
I suppose he just wanted to say that you will get somewhere if you keep walking but it just might not be the place you intended to go. I have lots of other deep thoughts on the comparison but perhaps some other day.
As you might have noticed, I moved the blog from wordpress.com to my own domain, all posts and comments have moved smoothly to this side of the blogsphere, but I am still in the process of a redisign. Being the ever pragmatic daydreamer that I am, I decided to move it as it is so that I can continue posting and designing it at the same time. If you have any ideas that you might want me to include please feel free to email me or add a comment. Thanx for reading my blog which definitely made me take it to the next level.
Last Friday the Rotary Cosmopolitan chapter sponsored its sixth annual walkathon in Alexandria, for the benefit of children at risk. The objective was to walk from El Montaza to Kaitbey citadel. Those of you who know Alex well should know that it is almost 18 kms. Personally, I’ve always loved walking and I love Alexandria’s waterfront promenade or more commonly known for us Alexians the Corniche. I’ve walked from Montaza to Roushdy before so I know it is possible. Friday morning came and the weather was just perfect, a slight breeze was blowing and a wonderfully cool sun was shining, just the weather for walking. So I packed my little baby in her carrier and “wore” her and set off for the walkathon. My sister and some relatives were also taking part and we all said we would walk as much as we could. With 8 checkpoints along the route, each just over 2 km apart, we started heading for them. The walkers started walking at 9:30 am. There were also cyclists, runners, skaters and a kid or two with scooters. The breakdown of people walking for charity was pretty diverse, foreigners, Egyptians, schoolchildren, adults, families and even lots of older people set off.
I was carrying my little girl so I was pretty slow and my sister and cousins left me behind to enjoy the sun at my own slower pace. My mind wandered off and kept me company for almost 2 hours I thought about everything and nothing. I had my ipod filled with music but it did not even occur to me to listen to it because I was having too much fun playing with my own thoughts. I never did make it to the finish point but almost everyone else did. I stopped at San Stefano, the third checkpoint, meaning I walked for 6.3 kms. I suppose if I wasn’t carrying Lulu I could have gone till the end. She slept the whole time peacefully and woke only when I finished in time for her feeding.
Giving money for charity is usually an easy thing to do, we don’t think about the cause longer than it takes us to take the money out of our purses and wallets and give it to the cause in need. It is events like these that make those who give actually think about it for longer. It also offers the opportunity to raise awareness, people kept asking me on the way why we were walking. The less fortunate need those who are more fortunate to help them out.
On a completely different note, Alexandria is a beautiful city and we tend to forget to look at its beauty. Lately it has become crowded and traffic jams which used to occur only at rush hours are now part of the whole day. Its heritage and culture date back to prehistory and so many civilizations have affected and been part of its history that it is like a beautiful tapestry that just needs to be looked at. Walking along the corniche as a whole helps us see that and think about it.
I hope that next year, the Rotary sponsors another one and that maybe then I can make it to the very end.
There is a reason why I haven’t updated the blog for so long, there always is ). I finally met the little person who was living inside my belly for 9 months and kicking my insides like there was no tommorrow. I was blessed with a beautiful baby girl who is a miniature version of myself and has the sweetest grin ( even though it is still a reflex, it is as cute as hell ). I am trying to adjust to my new life even though I was mentally ready for it, when the baby finally arrived it was nothing like I ever thought it would be. It has also made me have so much more appreciation towards my mum.
. My family is a generous one, bless them all. My husband and I had our Katb Ketab on the second day of Eid the year before last. So this is like our second anniversary as a technically married couple. This year is special because my mom and my sister are coming over to spend it with us in Kuwait and it is also my daughter’s first Eid. We got her a special outfit, complete with socks, shoes (my husband insisted even though she still can not stand), matching hair accessories and her own special toy. This year we picked it out for her, but I am hoping that next year she can pick her own toy. My mom is also bringing over ka7k all the way from Egypt. Hehehe and then there was the year my sister stuffed herself with one too many ka7ks and has not touched one since, she can’t even look at them anymore. There was also a Eid many years ago which we spent in Edinburugh when we were living in Scotland which was so much fun too. My father (allah yer7amo) loved calling everyone Eid morning right after prayers to wish them a happy Eid and make sure that they woke up. He was a very funny, kind,amazing man and sometimes a prankster (my mom would tell him 7arram tarwee3 amn el moslemeen, it was a family joke); he is still terribly missed although it has been ten years since he has passed), he would have enjoyed this Eid with us. There were also a couple of sad ones with sad memmories, but the happy ones are always the ones that prevail.
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