Girl's Day Out

Salam dan apa khabar semua,

Kemarin saya keluar dengan teman saya, Yati. Kami tak plan apa nak buat jadi bila dah masuk kereta baru kami fikir mana nak pergi. Dah lama tak keluar dengan kawan perempuan macam ni. Samada saya duduk saja dirumah ataupun keluar dengan suami atau Sara. Jadi bila dapat keluar dengan teman, rasa seronok juga.
Saya bagi tau Yati rasa nak makan mee kuah dekat tepi pantai bersebelahan airport runway. Yati bagi tau saya mee kuah dia sedap jadi saya pun order mee tu dan jugak rojak buah dia. Yati minta laksa dengan air kelapa.
Cuaca pun elok saja hari tu. Laut tak bergelora sangat. Ada sikit awan jadi tak la panas sangat. Waktu kami sampai orang tak berapa ramai jadi boleh pilih meja. Ada meja untuk empat orang tapi kami duduk ja sebab betul-betul di bawah teduh pokok jati.
Sementara menunggu pesanan kami, dapatlah juga kami bercerita mengenai keluarga masing-masing. Anak yang mana yang memeningkan kepala atau yang mana yang mula menampakkan kematangan.

Yati muda dari saya dalam tujuh tahun. Seperti saya dan sesiapa saja, dia juga mempunyai masalahnya sendiri. Dia memandu kereta jenis Honda Accord manakala suaminya pula samada Jaguar ataupun Mercedes Benz. Tapi dia bukan jenis yang meninggi diri. Dia pandai membawa diri, begitu juga dengan anak-anak. Mereka telah di didik dengan baik sekali.Anak lelakinya pesan pada Yati, kalau nak ambik dia balik dari sekolah, tak payah bawa Merc atau Jaguar. Pakai ja kereta biasa. Malu, katanya.
Tersenyum saya dengar. Kalau anak orang lain, nak mengebat (menunjuk) lagi ada.

Semasa tengah rancak bersembang, makanan kami sampai. Sedapnya mee kuah dia. Rojak dia..ehmm tapi dua-dua saya makan tak habis sebab takut gula saya naik. Saya minta Yati habiskan.
Wanita yang hantar makanan kepada kami tu pada mata saya dalam lingkungan empat puluh empat atau empat puluh lima gitu. Yati bagi tau saya, pelayan tu isteri kedua. Lelaki yang tengah mengelap meja tu suaminya.
Yang berdiri kat sebelah van tu pulak isteri nombor satu.
Betul ke? Saya macam tak percaya.
"Dia kerja sepenuh masa ka kat sini?" Saya soal siasat Yati.
"Tak, dia kerja kat hotel. Pengawal keselamatan."
Pandai dia kawal isteri. Mungkin dia bersikap adil dan bertanggungjawab kepada kedua dua isterinya. In Sya allah.

Dah habis makan kami bayar dan berlalu pergi. Hentian seterusnya, mekanik saya, Ah Keong. Janganlah gelak. Tau la hari tu sepatutnya hari kami bersantai tapi hari-hari lain saya sibuk. Jadi apa salahnya kami berhenti sekejap untuk saya membayar kos penyenggaraan kereta saya. Si Ah Keong tengah sibuk menekan minyak kereta seseorang. Saya tak mau buang masa menunggu nya terus saya pergi ke sebelah dan panggil dia. "Ah Keong, Kak Rose nak bayar yang balance hari tu".
"Ok thank you Kak Rose. Nanti saya bagi resit bila Kak Rose mai lagi."
"Ok. Tak pa". Jawab saya sambil berlalu pergi. Hah, kan sat ja. Tak sampai lima minit pun.

Okay, sekarang kami nak pergi beli barangan dapur pulak. Dah capai troli sambil tangan mengutip satu persatu barang-barang yang diperlukan, kami bercerita lagi. Ada saja cerita yang nak kami bualkan. Tapi kami tak mengata orang. Nak mengata pun tak boleh sebab kami berdua ni jarang keluar rumah.
Saya boleh berbual dengan Yati tentang semua perkara, senang nak get along dengan dia. Dia selalu ada bila saya perlukan teman untuk meluahkan perasaan atau pun untuk berbual kosong. Budak-budak sukakan dia. Bagi saya kalau anak-anak sukakan seseorang menunjukkan orang itu seorang yang baik.
Saya tengok jam, dah pun pukul 6.30petang. Sedap bercerita sampai tak sedar hari dah nak malam. Alang-alang dah lambat, nak masak dinner pun tak sempat (makan malam di rumah saya selalunya dalam pukul 7 atau pun 7setengah macam tu.) saya cadangkan kami singgah ke pasar malam sekejap.

Itulah yang kami lakukan. Kami singgah di pasar malam Kuah. Banyaknya makanan. Saya beli sikit popia untuk saya, nasi kandar untuk suami dan ayam panggang untuk Sara. Dah cukup makanan malam kami. Yati pun ambik ayam panggang.
Bila sebut pasal Sara, saya teringat dia kata, dia kalau datang ke tempat yang ramai orang, dia akan rasa claustrophobic (rasa rimas tempat ramai orang). Saya pun begitu. Rasa macam nak cepat-cepat keluar. Tapi sesekali tu okay la, seronok juga tengok gelagat manusia.
Kami beli jus buah untuk minum semasa dalam perjalanan balik ke rumah.

Malam tu semasa nak tidur, saya terfikir, bagus juga ada kawan macam Yati. Walaupun kami berkawan tak terlalu lama, mungkin dalam lima tahun saya kenal dia, tapi dia seorang yang saya boleh panggil teman baik.
Saya selalunya agak memilih dalam memilih kawan. Maklum saja dah terlalu banyak kali di sakitkan hati. Dia juga adalah salah seorang daripada orang yang awal saya bagi tau mengenai barah saya.
Kalau di ikutkan dia juga mempunyai masalah yang sama berat dengan saya tapi saya tengok dia macam happy selalu. Tak tunjuk sangat masalah yang di tanggungnya. Very strong person.
Tapi In sya allah awal tahun depan dia akan menimang cucu pada usia yang agak muda iaitu empat puluh empat tahun. Syoknya. Saya? Jangankan nak bercucu, nak jadi mertua sesapa pun belum tentu lagi. Dua-dua yang diatas anak lelaki. Lambatlah nampaknya!

Percaya tak kalau saya katakan sangat senang buat kita nak menyayangi seseorang daripada nak menjaga hati seseorang. Perasaan kasih, sayang dan cinta tu, Allah Taala dah letakkan dalam lubuk hati kita untuk kita sama-sama menyayangi dan berbaik baik antara satu sama lain.
Nak jaga hati orang? Oii, amat payah. Saya sayangkan dan ambil berat dengan semua orang yang rapat dengan saya dan saya tak akan sesekali menilai mereka dari cara kehidupan yang mereka pilih. Mungkin seseorang itu pernah menjadi pelacur sebelum ni, atau pun pernah dipenjarakan tapi saya tak akan menilai mereka disebabkan kesilapan lampau.
Saya hormati orang lain seperti saya mahukan orang lain hormati saya. Sebab tu saya dan Yati dapat meluangkan masa bersama dengan selesa sebab kami tahu had persahabatan kami dan kami juga tidak berpura-pura di antara satu dengan lain.

Kadang kala orang yang paling rapat dengan kita belum tentu dapat memahami kita sepenuhnya. Benda kecil yang kita anggap remeh boleh membuatkan seseorang itu terasa hati. Dalam diam mereka menyimpan perkara tersebut di dalam hati dan secara tidak langsung menjauhkan diri dari kita. Ini mungkin disebabkan suka berfikir yang bukan-bukan tentang orang lain, jadi dengan sendirinya mereka menjadi was-was akan perasaan orang lain terhadap dirinya. Amat merugikan. Saya rasa sedih bila benda macam ni terjadi sebab ia akan mengeruhkan hubungan yang rapat sebelum ni.

Jadi, itulah sikit sebanyak hari saya dan hubungan sesama kita. Sama-sama kita renungkan untuk kebaikan kita sendiri dan menguatkan tali silaturrahim yang sedia ada.

Salam hormat dari saya,

Sunny greetings from the isle of Langkawi!

I had a girl's day out with my friend, Yati yesterday. We didn't do anything much, just took a few hours off from the never ending house chores and drove ourselves to the beach and had some delicious local delicacies such as laksa (white noodle with fish gravy), rojak (mixed fruit with sweet and hot black sauce which is heavenly refreshing if you wish to know) and yellow noodle with sweet potato sauce. Yati asked for fresh coconut water while I just had a glass of water.
It was a beautiful day and the sea was calm. We found ourselves an empty table for four but it's okay. It's free seating. Seating under a shady teak tree with some dark clouds passing by, giving us a cooler atmosphere. While waiting for our food to arrive, we got into conversation about our family. Changing notes about who's who in the family giving more headaches than the other,or who's doing rather well in their lives has surely got the both of us animated.
Yati is seven years younger than I am, that makes her fourty three. She has her own problems as we all are. She drives Honda Accord. Her husband drives either Jaguar or Mercedes but she was never a snob. She had taught herself to stick on the ground and she applied to her children too. Believe it of not, her youngest, a son told her never to drive a Jaguar or the other car to fetch him from school. It's embarrassing, he said.

Our food arrived, sent by a lady, give or take a few years younger than I do.Yati told me that lady is the second wife of the owner of this food vendor ( they used a mini van for their business). I can see the husband is wiping up the tables while his son is taking away the dirty plates and glasses. Standing by the van was another lady in apron, slightly older than the one who sent us our orders. "That lady is the first wife to that man". Yati whispered.
"No kidding. You're sure about this?" I find it hard to believe the two ladies can work together hand in hand with a few of their children helping.
"I don't see any attraction in that guy. What did they see in him?" I volunteered my thought.
"Is this a full time job for him?" I asked Yati.
She said no, he's got another job as a security guard at one of the hotels on the island.
Maybe he treats them  good and be fair to both of them. Whatever we may think of him, it's his life.

We finished what we ordered and paid the lady and left. The next stop was my mechanic. Don't laugh! I know it's suppose to be our day out but I had to do what I had to do. I was supposed to pay him a few days ago but I didn't have enough time to run errant. Since I am relatively free today, Yati and I went to his workshop and paid him his due. It only took a few minutes. Done.

Now, we are off to do some monthly grocery shopping. While our hands were busy picking up items by items, our news exchanging never seemed to deplete. I can talk to her freely as she is easy to get along with, she's always there when I needed help and children loved her. To me, if a child took a liking to a person, that shows that he or she is a nice person. By now my watch showed the time was already 6.30pm. Since we are running a little late, I suggest we stop at the night market and buy some dinner there.

We did just that. We went to the night market and got ourselves busy with arrays of food being lined up on a make shift stalls. I got myself some spring rolls, a black sauce beef with rice for my husband and some grilled chicken for Sara. Speaking of Sara, she told me she got claustrophobic being in a place like this. I agreed with her. Sometimes you'd feel suffocated when there were too many people around you but then crowds make the place lively. We got ourselves some fruit juice packed in a deli cup and we're done. Let's head home.

That night, while getting ready for bed, I thought to myself, I am happy to find a friend like Yati. Even though we only knew each other for about five years now, she is someone I can call a friend. I am usually picky when it comes to making friends, but with her I feel comfortable to tell her about anything. In fact she was one of the first to know when I was diagnosed with cancer. There was one morning while I was driving, alone, I felt so sad and lonely that I called her and cried. She listened to me patiently and I appreciate that very much.
Listening to her story, I would say she is one of the strongest person I've met. She held her head high and carry on with her daily lives as if misery was never in her vocabulary. There's something she could look forward to. She would become a grandmother early next year. And at the age of forty four. Now ain't that something.
As for me, I don't see any sign of being a mother in law to any one of my children yet, let alone being a grandmother. The house is always quiet and empty nowadays now that they are all grown.

Would you believe if I were to say, it is easy for us to find love and to love somebody than to please somebody.That feeling (love) was a good feeling and it was placed deep within us by Him to all humankind.
To please others, now that's hard work. I love and care for those who were close to me and I would never judge them or had any negative presumptions about them. I don't care if she was a call girl before or that he was in prison for something as long as he or she respects me just as I did to them. That is friend.

Sometimes those who were the closest to you doesn't understand you the way they should. The little things that you thought nothing of it made her shied or keep away from you. This may be the result of always presuming others thinking the worse of her. What a wasteful thought. It saddened me to think that this kind of thing could tense up the bond we had all these while.

Until next post, have a great weekend everybody.

Love,
Rose
22nd.June '13