Happy Birthday, Mom and Abang

19th of January is a special day for me. Two most important people in my life celebrate their birthdays today. My mother, the greatest woman on earth; and my husband, the most incredible person I know.

A lot of my friends ask me whether I made it a condition before I got married to find a husband that has the same birthday as my mother. I just couldn't stop laughing. Now, that is something extremely impossible to do. No, it was all a coincidence.

My mother is an ex primary school teacher. She is smart, but because she did not have any chance to further her education (I think she would have easily made it into university if my granddad did not use the money for other things!) she chose to be a teacher. And mind you, she taught Primary 1 from 1969 up until 2000 - i.e. until retirement! And I realize how important it is to have a good teacher when you begin schooling.. because these teachers teach you how to read and write. Up until today, anywhere my mom goes, there'll always be one or two of her ex students greeting her - in the supermarkets, banks, government offices. And of course, she is a wonderful mother and wife.. Although at times she can become very strict because we get too lazy to study.. but she made sure we understood why. Mak, I love you. Thank you for being such a wonderful and understanding and loving mother! No money in the world could repay what you have done for us!

When my friends ask me, what made me fall in love with my husband, I would always tell them one thing. Besides being such a loving person, the real thing that made me fall in love with him, is his sacrifice. See, my husband has, in some way or another, a similar background with my mom. Both of them were unable to enter university for some reason. Mom did not further her education because of her dad's actions. But my husband decided to sacrifice furthering his education for his mom. When my husband got into first year of matriculation, his mom (allahyarhumah) was diagnosed with third stage breast cancer. My husband, being the eldest and the only son, decided to stay home and take care of her. In fact, at the time of her death, he was the only one by her bedside. And I really admire him for that. Really.

Despite our difference in age (he is 4 years younger than I am) and education, he has been a wonderful and loving husband (of course we do have fights like any other couple). Thank you Allah, for him.

May Allah bless my mom and husband, and grant them happiness in this world, and more importantly, in the hereafter.