Nadiah Alwi

My baby Hana is 5 years old today. A few weeks ago, she told people that she wanted to invite Rachel Ray (and Oprah) to her birthay party. FYI, sometimes she accompanies me watching Oprah and Rachel Ray’s cooking sessions.

Well, I can’t afford a birthday party with them as the invitees. So, I tried to be a ‘lil bit creative about that. I decided to cook. The way Rachel does. It’s gonna be Rachel Ray’s food look alike.

I gathered the ingredients which are somehow quite different than those Rachel normaly uses. I walked in to the kitchen at 6.30 am — which is RARELY done, almost never! I expected to complete the whole thing at 7.30 am. If Rachel needs 30 minutes. Well, this almost-never-cooking woman might need an hour.

At 8.30, my baby Hana was getting starved. She came in to the kitchen. Then, she smiled. No, she didn’t complain. She was being a sweet girl.

You know what, I finally came out of the kitchen at 9 am. It took me 2.5 hours to complete the cooking. 2.5 hours! Can you believe it?

How was it? Umm…it tastes ok for me — although Hana said it was YUMMY! Very very sweet.

Well, Happy Birthday, Dear! I’ve tried my best though!

Many bloggers write posts on this case. Thousands of people joined a Facebook cause. A mother of two was jailed for a “defamatory” e-mail she sent out about the standard of care in an exclusive Tangerang hospital.

You can read the whole story at the Jakarta Globe, a daily English language newspaper in Indonesia.

I am watching Oprah now – yes, I still am, it was started only half an hour ago. And, as usual, this wonderful show can make me shed tears.

It’s about a mom who had to do lots of surgeries after giving birth. Worse, she got her hands and feet amputated.

Yet, she’s been very strong in dealing with all that. She never gave up. She admitted that she had cried a lot, too, but she knew that life had to go on.

Oh, how I am inspired by her strength. I have been dealing with things that are a lot easier to handle than her things but all I did was complaining. I feel ashamed now.

But, I think, after watching her there, I know I have to be strong.

You know what, in your life, everything happens for a reason. This Oprah show, in a way, I feel like it is a way Allah (my God) tells me something, a way Allah wants me to understand the situation.

Another thing, yesterday, I had this conversation with someone. It was kind of a professional discussion. But, you know what, she was talking about stuff and she chose an analogy that was exactly what I had been trying to deal with lately.

She opened my eyes without knowing that I had this issue. Isn’t that amazing? I think, Allah must have sent her to me. You know what, the appointment, at the first place, was actually canceled. Yet, suddenly, this person’s secretary told me that her boss would be able to make it.

Oprah just said, “Mother Warriors!” and, I feel like she just called me that, too. ME. Yes, ME. It could be the words of Allah, too, an answer to my prayer this dawn — we Muslims, have 5 times of prayer a day, one of them has to be done before the sunrise.

It’s over, Oprah Show. And, just now, I saw commercial break on Rachel Ray. I don’t want to miss that one, too, as I love seeing her cooking. I never really cook, but, I never give up on hoping that one day, I will be able to cook delicious meals for my family. Yeah

Currently, I work at home. I run an online book store, do some digital PR consultancy, write a novel and a non-fiction book. I need more than 24 hours a day, for sure. Thankfully, I enjoy them all.

Yet, although I work at home, it doesn’t mean that I can be with my daughter the whole day. With all those activities, it’s kinda impossible. So, I created some kind of an arrangement.

Read the rest of this entry »