Tuesdays With Me

Just a very short posting today, as we are nearing Aidilfitri.
Gosh! Just four or five days more.
I still remeber Kak Ton telling us just before Ramadhan that our Mee Rebus Tuesday would resume after Hari Raya.
And now, we're talking about when to start buying the ingredients for our Raya fare.

I know the days are passing by so quickly. But I know too well that the last two days before Syawal, will be very very slow.
You can feel, nay, hear, the seconds ticking away.
And the fasting really gets to you.

It's always like that.

And I am so missing Adel, wondering how he will be celebrating Raya.

Alone.

He has started classes, so in a way, he will not be pre-occupied with thinking about lontong, ketupat, lodeh, sambal goreng, serunding, ayam goreng pedas.....

He did not know anyone there when he arrived. It's not like when I was in Boston. My friend, Hawa, Salleh and Yunos were already there, waiting for me at the airport.

When Abang Med arrived in Canberra, (arwah) Kak Piah and Abang Zul were at the airport.
Abang Zul was doing his Masters at the Australian National University.

Kak Ton met familiar faces when she arrived in Athens, Ohio.

And, well...Kak Olin knew so many people in London when she first arrived there years ago.
I think anyone would know a lot of people in London.

Canada is so far away.

Sure, sure...we have real-time communication now. That, of course, eases the ache and the pain.

It's the thought of his physical being in an unfamilar environment to celebrate a festive day he's known all his life.

But I worry too much.

Perhaps, it is better that he doesn't know any familiar faces in that unfamiliar land.
It is after all a new adventure and a new journey for him. A whole new experience. He will overcome. And he will savour the newness. (But not too much, eh, Adel!)

Adel, like most people, would instinctively adjust.

Besides, Adel, as with most McDonald generation (Malaysian) kids, does not crave for nasi and sambal belacan, the way we did when we were overseas those days when the world was not so borderless.

He's so fine with pasta, BigMac and Burger King. And halal restaurants abound in foreign lands now.

Heck, by next Raya, he'd probably be regaling me about how fantastic his Canadian Eid celebration is....

I should be happy about that.

Anyway, until next Tuesday, here's wishing everyone Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf Zahir dan Batin!