the circle of life

any mention of the circle of life will forever remind me of The Lion King

yesterday,

i was left in charge of the house

since mami and papi finally accepted the fact that im 22 , not 11 anymore.

nah, just kidding.

mami and papi had to attend a wedding in KL.

papi LOVES wedding.

he would go out of his way just to attend a wedding regardless if the wedding is in the middle of nowhere or if he has no idea who the bride/groom is.

he truly believes that if we're invited to weddings, we have to attend them or else others won't come to our weddings.

heh, not that there's gonna be any weddings at our house anytime soon.

..... right abang?*scoff*

anyway,

the funny thing is

he left me in charge of the house, the little siblings and atok

he emphasized on taking care of atok

'kamu duduk rumah,jaga atok" (not that i have the slightest interest to attend the wedding anyway -_-)

it's funny

because when we were little

atok is the one who took care of us

mami and papi would left us with atok if they want to go out just the two of them(while we're in tganu)

but now,

now that atok's living with us

it's our job to take care of her

having atok here really got me thinking about growing old

if God's willing, we'll grow old too someday

and i have just realized some disturbing facts of life.

growing old is like a process of slowly becoming a baby again

you'll sulk if you didnt get all those little sweets that you're granddaughter is having

you crave to eat all the junks that lil kids like

such as maggi, chocs, colourful biscuits etc

and

you're becoming more and more helpless

your bones, muscles and joints wont move perfectly anymore

you stutter to speak

you cant hear very well

you cant remember where you put your things

you need help to move around

i once jokigly said tatih tatih to atok as she's struggling to walk

just like she said tatih to us when we're learning to walk

sooner or later,

you'll need help when you want to sleep,eat

or take a bath

and there will come a time when you have to wear diapers again.

having atok around is a reminder that we'll go through that phase someday

if God's willing.

it's also a reminder to enjoy your life while you're still young,

to take care of your health for the future

to learn and do all kind of stuff while you still can

and most of all, to do more ibadah while you're still capable of doing them.

my tok abah(from papi's side), on the other hand,

is a wise old man

and mind you, he's so hi-tech

he had windows 7 installed in his computer first before any of us did

he's way older than my atok but he still can drive around,

joke around and alhamdulillah,

he's nowhere near going senile

he's a bit of hard of hearing now

but let's face it, he's an old man

he's just growing old

and his secret to a healthy and happy(i sure hope he's happy) long life is to never let your mind go idle.

you must do something to keep yourself busy.

dont just sit around and reminiscing of the good ol' life you used to have.

even when you dont feel well,

you have to push yourself to go through it.

must always remember to keep your mind active.

alhamdulillah, how lucky are we?

to still be able to do what most elders cant' do.

i know it's a cliche but hey, we have to live our life to the fullest!

so folks,

let's hit those Scrabble,crossword puzzles, sudokus!

exercise regularly!

develop healthy eating habits!

and of course, try to recite and memorize verses of the Holy Quran as much as you can.

try to lead your young life as humble as you can.

there's no need to be all cocky and arrogant and create lots of enemies in your young days.

you won't know what's gonna happen to you in the future.

you wont know whether you're gonna age gracefully or not.

and you won't know if there's anyone left in this world who cares about you when you're old and helpless.

"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many"

and oh yeah

having atok around also remind me that soon,

it's up to us to take care of mami and papi.

are we strong enough and patient enough for that?

i'm scared.