Ramadhan...Part 2

(Continuation from my last entry... I did say I had a long day, didn't I?)

On Wednesday, after sending the smaller kids and fetching the big kid to and from school, I rushed to KD to fetch my Abah who had an appointment to see his doctor at PPUM at 2:00pm. I got a few missed calls from him on the way. I could not answer his calls as I didn't have any hands-free or blue tooth with me then . Apparently he was anxious because it was already 1:35pm and he thought that I had forgotten all about his "date" with his doctor at RUKA PPUM.

We JUST made it before 2:00pm and I dropped Abah in front of RUKA before going to find a parking spot - which is a nightmare around that time. I had to wait in the car for half an hour before somebody finally decided to leave the hospital and vacate a spot at Menara Timur. I decided to make a dash to Ayah's ward before joining Abah at RUKA - mind you, I was not checking or spying on Ayah, okay? Hehehe... I went to see a senior sister from my alumni who was (and still is) in the CCU after suffering a stroke. She was intubated and ventilated (and still is) and I make do'a for her speedy recovery, insya Allah. Ameen.

After 15 minutes, I rushed down to be with Abah - which turned out to be another wait. I was looking for him high and low and could not see him anywhere. Tried calling his handphone, but the reception was pretty bad and I kept on getting "Error in Connection" over and over again, either that, or my phone kept on hanging! Aaaaaarrrgggghhh!!! If it wasn't Ramadhan, and I was not supposed to keep patience and beristighfar, all the *^&%$^!@# words would be muttered under my frustrated breaths, and my phone would have ended on the floor in thousand pieces after a traumatic experience of being flung onto the wall by its frustrated owner...

The receptionist was not much of a help when I asked her if Abah has gone in to see the doctor. She just looked at me and said, "Macam mana saya nak tau? Saya bagi nombor saja..". I tried to describe Abah to her, and she just stared at me... I asked her if she could just check if Abah's folder has been sent to the doctor's room - at least that would be an indication as to which room Abah may be in. And she said, "Maaf, saya tak boleh buat tu...". And I was like - "Errr...why? You penat sangat ke puasa hari ini?!!!" (in my mind la...) And I had to remind myself that I should keep my patience. It IS Ramadhan.

I made at least 4 rounds going in and out of RUKA, and up and down the stairs, while at the same time trying to call Abah, which ended up with me getting a few rounds of "Error in Connection" again. Exhausted and frustrated, I went back to the reception and voila!!! Abah was sitting there, registering for his next appointment. What a relief...

And then - another wait. This time, it was to join the queue at the Pharmacy to get his 2 months stock of medications. He was given the number 5330. They were serving number 5269. It was 3:30pm and I was supposed to fetch the kids from school at 5:30pm - AFTER sending Abah back to KD. Will I make it in time to fetch Hasya and Hilman? With all the horror stories and crazy people roaming the streets preying on small children, I was anxious to be there at 5:30pm - on the dot.

Had to come up with Plan B. I called up my sister Yong and asked her if she could be on standby to fetch Abah from the hospital in the event that the queue at the pharmacy were to take forever. You guessed it - my phone kept on hanging while I was talking to her and she could not understand what I was trying to say. Tried SMsing instead, and my phone went dead in the middle of me keying in the message....A FEW TIMES. Aaaaarrrggghhhh!!! And I told myself... keep patience....It IS Ramadhan...

Syukur alhamdulillah, Abah got his medication at 4:20pm, and we made a dash back to KD. Reached there at 4:35pm, and then made a crazy dash back to PJ to fetch Hanna and took some drinking water, cookies and kurma for bekal berbuka puasa as the kids had piano lessons from 6:15pm until 7:15pm. I must have done 100km/h from KD to PJ (on the highway AND non-highway route!) Believe it or not, I reached Mak's house at 4:45pm! I guess I have my SmartTag to thank for, too! If I were to join the "Tunai" or even the "Touch n Go" counters, at 4:40pm at Damansara Toll... I would have to continuously tell myself to keep patience while inching away in the queue. It IS Ramadhan...

We had to queue along the One Way Street to the school, and managed to fetch the kids only at 5:50pm. Thank God there were still a lot of children and parents around. We rushed through the traffic (well, if you could call a 0 to 30km/h drive through the jam as "rushing", that is!). Hasya and Hilman were unusually quiet in the car. Suddenly, I heard Hasya taking a deep breath and said, "Mommy, Hasya and Hilman tak puasa hari ni...".

I just looked back at her and asked, "What do you mean by "Hasya AND Hilman"? Don't get me wrong - I was not and am not forcing my kids to fast, and it was not the fact that Hasya berbuka at school which made me ask her that question. I would never allow them to puasa if they could not take it. But I was just curious as to why BOTH of them berbuka. Her explanation was -

"Well, I was feeling very tired and thirsty, so I went to see Hilman in his class during recess and asked him if he wanted to berbuka. I told him that I wanted to buy a drink and asked him if he wanted to berbuka, too. Hilman just kept quiet but he followed me to the canteen. I bought a drink and offered him, but, he refused. BUT, he kept on following me around! I asked him again and he asked me to buy him another drink. So, we berbuka together la!" She was telling me all these in ONE breath.

I would have said to her that it was sweet of her to offer Hilman the drink if it was not Ramadhan, and if I didn't know my second daughter better.

She has been keeping tabs of how many days both of them had fasted, and if she were to break fast ALONE, that would mean that Hilman would beat her AGAIN this year. And being a choleric, she cannot and will not let her brother win AGAIN. It was 22-17 last year - favouring Hilman, and Hasya is making sure that this year it should at least be a tie.

Having had a long day, I was slightly upset, but I told both of them -

"Next time, if either of you feels tired and feels that you cannot fast, please do not tempt the other to breakfast with you, okay? Puasa is an individual task and it depends on each and every one of us whether we could go through it or not. I know that both of you are still small, but, when you become an adult, berdosa to tempt other people to berbuka with you, you know? It may become a bad habit which you might carry with you until you all besar nanti, if you were to do it now while you're still small. Understand?!" I was looking straight into Hasya's eyes.

She looked back at me, and nodded her head, and said, "Sorry, Mommy..."

And I said, "It's Hilman that you should be apologising to, okay Hasya? Not me."

And she turned to Hilman, and said, "Sorry, Hilman..."

To which Hilman replied, "It's okay, K.Ngah. I was thirsty, too..."

There was a lump in my throat.

Both of them were very quiet throughout the drive to their piano class. We reached there exactly at 6:15pm and all of them went in for their lessons.

At 7:15pm, Hanna came out after finishing her lesson, and both of us went into the car and broke fast with kurma, a drink and some Oreo cookies. At 7:30pm, Hilman and Hasya came out and Hilman asked me, "Mommy, is it already buka puasa?".

To which I replied, "Well, berbuka puasa for you today was at 3:15pm, dear...Remember?", and I kissed both of them forgivingly.

After all, it IS Ramadhan...