Be baked these two loaves of Banana Bread this morning to use up those frozen ancient bananas we’ve had since, uh… since the last Pharaoh was mummified. Yes, that old! And since there was enough bananas for two loaves, Be made one for Hari Raya and one for today, our 111th monthly anniversary. Mmm… I might not have said much about him, about us and about those other sweet things we have in our relationship… but I love it when he goes bananas on me like this with his baking skills!
Other than that, we’re taking it easy today. Kitreena is still coughing and is still on anti-biotics until Tuesday. Be too has started coughing his nasty chesty cough since yesterday. So the morning and mid-day was spent watching An Unfinished Life, a feel-good movie all shot on a ranch in Alberta and British Columbia, around Ashcroft, Kamloops, Burdett and Medicine Hat. Loved the ranch, loved the trees, loved the bear, loved Robert Redford, loved Jennifer Lopez and loved Morgan Freeman.
And right now, while writing this, I am watching Juno. Yeah, yeah… totally long overdue but I am glad we are watching it now. Today. Totally loved what the Dad said to Juno: “Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with.” I don’t mind it being the tagline for our 111th monthly anniversary, all right!
And while doing dishes this evening, I noticed how I have learned to put the gloves on. It is almost automatic now that my hands would reach for them gloves before touching anything in the sink. For the truth is, I have come to appreciate my only pair of hands and have begun to pamper them as much as I possibly can. The diamond ring and the wedding band… they probably last longer than my hands. So the rings can stay on my fingers when I do dishes. Or laundry. Or when I shower. Or when I do anything. Or nothing. They stay. Just like I stay banded to The Banana Bread man.
And there are tons of Malaysian female students here in Moscow whom I think would benefit from such an international organization. But I saw none. If there were any, they could not have missed me in my bright pink Baju Kurung and should have given me a nudge asking me, “Hoyy! Tak puasa kah?” when I was sipping on my coffee at the refreshment table. I would have told them anak bulan Syawal sudah kelihatan beberapa malam sudah di Bukit Pokrovsky.
Do you have someone with whom you can stay back, sitting at your kids’ school corridor for an hour or more just to get your daily laugh stock talking silly girls’ talk like how’s best to pluck our underarm hair, and whom you can confide in, telling her what a terrible mother you think you are only to discover you both are doing the best that you can? I do.
Do you have someone who reconnects with you effortlessly, reading your mind as well as reading your blog while leaving insightful and funny comments that never fail to remind you of your own childhood and your humble beginning, keeping you humble in a subtly humble way? I do.
When I first heard her voice saying “Buk?” and she did mine saying “Bik?”, we just couldn’t say another word. We just cried on the phone thanking God for another chance to say hello to each other. It meant the world to me to just know she is safe from the earthquake in Tasikmalaya. And it meant the same to her to know I just called to see if she, Rakiman, Dewi, Ita and her coming baby were okay.
Which part of the words friend and face that these people need translation with again? It is a disappointing disparity from flattering and it can be downright scary when a stranger comes to you on the street, shakes your hand and requests that you be his friend. Don’t you think?
Questa è Enida 
