One pot of coffee was brewing in the kitchen, which was already filled with the delicious smell of fried noodle. A middle aged woman was standing next to the kitchen cupboard, arranging the plates taken from within it, to later be placed on the dining table. Outside, Mr. Sun has yet to rise...
Her two sons and daughter were still asleep in their bedrooms and her husband, which she was yet to wake was still snoring loudly. She now moves into her bedroom to wake him up, and as he is awaken by her sweet gentle touch, she goes into the childrens' rooms waking every single one of them. Two of them still wouldn't budge, and yet, with patience she told them to wake up to perform the morning prayers and get ready for school. Meanwhile, her husband, was already out of the bathroom and was calling for her and the children for the morning prayers. Lazily, the two woke up and headed towards the bathroom to perform ablution. She too quickly went to the bathroom to prepare for the morning prayers. The husband led them that 'Subuh'.
As the husband was getting ready for work and the children for school, she was busy ironing their clothes. She herself wasn't prepared yet to go to work but she knows, it is important, that the husband's shirt and slacks were well ironed and the childrens' uniforms, clean and groomed. As she finishes ironing the last of it, the husband was out of the bathroom and she heads in to prepare herself for work. As she was getting ready, the husband and children were already eating their breakfast. Before she left for work, she made sure that the plates were thoroughly cleaned and the remainder of the breakfast was tightly kept in the refrigerator. This was her daily morning routine...
ten years later...
She's still doing her daily morning chores as usual. The kids were now teenagers and they were taught to iron their own clothes and wash the dishes after dining. Other than that, the woman still prepared breakfast for them, woke them up, iron her husband's clothes, putting the leftovers into fridge and goes to work. The children? They complained of the little chores that they had to do and what does she tell them? All of you are already old enough, and you need to learn to be independent. She did all these without even raising her voice nor a single frown...
five years gone by...
The children are now in their respective universities. Her husband has passed away 2 years ago. She was all alone in the big house and yet she still woke up early to cook breakfast, and perform her morning prayers. In her prayers, she asks God for forgiveness, ask God to bless her husband's soul, and pray for the success of her children. She then sits alone at the dining table, eating her breakfast while wondering if her children was eating right but more importantly performing their daily prayers and studying... She then goes to work to earn some income which she would later use a little on her daily expenses while the rest goes to the childrens' studies.
She is now 70 years of age and her children are all working. She waits patiently everyday by the phone wondering when her children would call. They usually ask her to call them but every time she did, she was put on hold and by the time her children answers, she was told, they couldn't talk long as they were all busy. She smiled when this happened. She praises Allah S.W.T for her children's success but unknown to the rest she was also happy to at least be able to hear her childrens' voices. But as the receiver was placed back onto the phone, she can't help to feel a little lonely and still waiting patiently for the next time she would hear their voices or even better, to see them and her grandchildren... She stares into the air, waiting patiently...
Beloved reader, do tell me now, how do you measure patience and love?
Munawwir Khan Yusoff Khan
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