(Letters) Birthday Special

Another birthday, another excuse to write.

Happy birthday, Mummy Snowball The Ultimate Cuteness. May Allah bless you with rizq and age.

———Allow me to offer some thanks to other people in this special occasion. Although they might not read, I find the joy in writing what I wish I could tell them, and the joy in knowing that you know what I have for them. I’ll address you later, saving the best for the last.

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Dear Patima,

I know you’re not gonna read this nor will you ever understand my Malay in the slowest pace I could ever converse in and in the loudest voice I can ever speak with. And nor will you understand my Tamil, because I myself don’t understand it.

But here you go,

Thank you for giving birth to my snowball on this date, exactly 45 years ago. 

Thank you for being who you are because there’s a saying that diamond is created under pressure. 

Allah turns you into lenses for me to appreciate my mother’s best traits.

Allah gives you to her, and bless her with the greatest perseverance I’ve ever witnessed in real-life.

Through you, Allah adorns her with inspiring motherly traits.

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Dear Tata,

You’re not gonna read this either, even if you’re around. Fortunately, you understood my Malay in the fastest pace I could ever converse in. But here’s some English, because I’m a UK (read: YUKKEEIIY) student (read: STIUDDEN) now. 

Thank you for showering her with fatherly love.

Thank you for staying with her through thick and thin till your last breath.

Thank you for letting her know that she’s the best daughter one could ask for.

Thank you for doing so much, with so little.

Thank you for passing down your cheekiness and facial expressions. 

These things look good on her, really.

Through your blood, Allah gifted her with tenderness and generosity.

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Dear Abah,

You, too, are not gonna read this.

Thank you for marrying her for who SHE is.

Thank you for celebrating her, then.

Thank you for being her pillar of strength, then.

Thank you for fostering sincere and pure parenting in her.

Thank you for your life philosophies on which she’s still dearly holding on.

Through you, Allah planted the seeds of loyalty and selfless love in her,

Which grew into an indefinite garden of affection, in which us siblings are living in.

She loves you more, now than then,

And her love for you will forever grow, 

In that garden of affection.

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Tata, Abah,

Allah took both of you from her, and bless her with immense strength.

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Dear Mummy’s well-wishers,

You’re gonna read this. I love you.

Thank you for that bloom on her face that you’ve contributed to with your words of encouragement, your sincere prayers, your trust on the goodness in her and your admiration of her strength. 

Thank you for making her a role model.

Thank you for making her feel validated.

Thank you for appreciating her. 

Thank you for making some of her toughest days more endurable. 

Thank you for reinstating her faith in humanity.

Through you, Allah taught me a remarkable lesson on my own mother.

Through you, Allah taught me that at times, she needs nothing more than a few words of affirmation to keep going. 

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Dear Mummy’s non well-wishers,

Thank you. Through you, Allah had blessed my snowball with numerous opportunities to be forgiving. Through your hurtful words, Allah fosters patience in her. Through you, Allah teaches her lessons on what not to do and how not to treat people. 

Thank you for being my lenses through which I admire my mother’s silence as a form of wisdom, not as a sign of weakness or guilt. 

Wise people direct their energy to better causes, which doesn’t include explaining their righteousness to devoted nitpickers.

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Dear people who I’ve addressed so-far,

Whether you’re a blessing, or a form of tribulation,

Or a mixture of both in different times,

Through you, Allah mould her into the person I love so dearly.

Thank you.

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Dear Mummy,

I believe that Allah carves you into the inspiring figure you are, through us siblings as well. I believe we too, are a mixture of blessing and trials for you from Allah. 

I just hope that Allah allow us to please you, much much more than He let us trouble you. 

I just hope you’ll continue believing in us and the goodness in us. 

I just hope nothing will ever break the faith you have in us.

I just hope Allah always make our wings clipped in front of you.

I just hope Allah grant us with the opportunity to serve you.

Feel free to copy-paste this in your doa’ for us, Mummy,

For hopes are a form of prayer.

Stay wise, stay cute. Grow fluffier. Happiest birthday. I’m forever grateful to be born as your daughter.

P.s.: You acknowledge and admit your mistakes, although these mistakes are more often than not very circumstantial and natural to occur. Only wise people acknowledge mistakes as means of becoming wiser and you’re one of those very few. I think you need to know this, because I cannot let anyone (that includes my brothers and I) convince you otherwise with their demeaning (and our stupid) behavior. Remember this.