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Asalamalaikum all :)

GRRRREeeeeTINGS of Peace and SaluTATIONS of prayers from the depths of my heart and soul :)

First of all: My apologies to the folk who read this blog that are not familiar to Muslim vocab... I will be popin a little vocab section at the end of the posts to help you guys out! InshaAllah (God Willing).

Alhamdulila Wa'l Shukar Allah (Thank God!) the migraine is no more :) !!

I was adamant that I wouldn't take a pill for it last night - thus paid the price of doing my prayers with great difficulties - for it becomes almost impossible to prostrate your forehead onto the ground with the amount of pain -

hey but its nothing in comparision to lets say a cancer patient? ...

In fact for almost 2 years I refused medication simply because I felt the pain would be insignificant in comparision to the anguish we are to feel upon the souls' departure. And believe me I am no brave girl ...

oooooh how I remember the crying and screaming due to pain... the constant vomitting and my bowels going crazy! the dislike of light and sound; and feeling as if a sharp sword is being slid into the eye ... grrr - makes me feel kinda.... oooooo ..mum would put my head in her lap and massage it with gallons of oil.. as only a mum can :)

...the experience reduced my state to that of an infant; totally dependent upon the parent... & sometimes I feel we have forgotten how much our parents have done for us. :(

Amongst the favourite things mum and dad are best known for:

- whenever we would travel, dad always made sure that the suitcases were packed a week beforehand so we can have our "beauty sleep" before flying ;)

- I slept past 10am - mum barges into the room: "are you alive?!"

- I get a full-time job at the college, mums' first question: "could you cope with fulltime work?!"

- Its raining heavy outdoors, I need to get into work to drop something off, mum and dad together say: "do you HAVE to go.. if its not urgent stay in!"

- the classic in the tents of Mina (http://re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk/re/pilgrimage/route.htm#3.Mina ) .. due to the unevenness of the ground mum would make me rest my head on the softer part of her legs - use that as a cushion :)

- and of course during tawaaf (http://cgijeddah.tripod.com/haj/hajguide/tawaaf.html) once we did the tawaaf on the top floor of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. It took approx. 20-30 mins to go round once! .. Mum kept telling me to walk closer in the centre - so me walks less :)

time and time after again mum and dad are just SOOOOOoooooooo WOW!

Sometimes I feel we haven't even given mum and dad a chance for understanding to develop.

I wonder sometimes when I look into my mums' eyes how those eyes must have cried for me when I was at my most vulnerable; how they stayed awake when I was in fever; and how they gazed upon me with unconditional love when I was born. How those eyes have seen me in every phase of my life so far; from my saddest to my happiest moments; how they have seen every single facial expression I have ever made :)

I noticed the greater part of mum and dads' love and kindness when we performed the Hajj last year. It was such a symbolic occaision since we were at the place where our common father and mother Adam and Eve (Alaisalam) met. For me - my identity and relationship with my parents was re-affirmed through this symbolic association.

...and yes they still ask me what I had for lunch at work :)

May Allah Almighty Bless us all to develop an appreciation for our parents for we are unable to pay back even 1 sleepless night they have experienced due to us.

.. oh and when you get a chance do ask your muma to give you a head massage - believe me you will feel so humble and know your status on this planet :)

Peace & Prayers
Wasalam
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Vocab:
Wasalam - & Peace
Alaisalam - Peace be on him / her
Tawaaf - going round the Kaba in Mecca