Time Without My Kids

January 2015 forces me into a new phase of my life as a mother. My children are away from me in their noble quest-searching for knowledge. My eldest, Muhammad Solehan is in his final semester of Diploma in Networking; Nurul Afiqah is in Form Three in MRSM Parit, Perak and my youngest,Muhammad Akmal decided to go to Johor Bahru-just to join the Art School-one of three in Malaysia. Only my second child-Nurul Syifa remained at home,waiting for her SPM results. She has always wanted to pursue her study in Video and Filming or Screen Arts and I am praying hard for her to get good results so that she could reach her dream..I am hoping that she would go to UiTM. Sending her to private institutions would have costed me too much..As for now, she is my protege. I am trying to turn her into a woman with the characteristics agreed by this eastern society. In other words, I am teaching her how to cook and clean the house. I am paying her though..RM200 working from 3.00pm-7.00pm , Mon-Fri.I see it as an incentive.
    Now, coming back to the point of my children leaving the house-I have dreamed of this moment-of when they will go off paving their young lives..charting their own course of life. But, it was only after  two days that I felt the emptiness of the house. I never thought that I would say this,but I actually missed what I had taken for granted. I missed the sound of the van at 6.30am honking in front of the house and in the evening, I missed the sound of the van sending my children home: the heavy sound of the van's door opened and slammed. The footsteps approaching the house, the opening of the door and a very loud,'Assalamualaikum'..Surprisingly, I also missed their smell...young children coming back from school has this one kind of smell...During the first week of them not being at home, I could still 'smell' them on the couch but the smell is gradually disappearing...sad,,,
    Now, at the end of every solat, I include a new line- I pray that Allah will protect them wherever they are. My du'a is for them to be happy with their friends and their lives at the hostels. I hope that they will be well taken care of by those in charged. I hope that my children can deal with whatever challenges that come on their way.
   I have also learned to cherish every moment that Allah has given me with my family. At the end, it is them whom I hope to see surrounding my death bed. Wallahu'alam. May Allah give me strength ..