Life by the beach

She jumped off her wagon, smoothed her ruffled blouse and put on a hooded cloak, feeling glad that the oversized hood hid most of her face. She walked passed the near empty parking lot... the seams of the dusty overworked cloak swept over the gravel. When she entered the broken-down diner, heads turned and silence dawned. The stranger that just entered was a woman with a glare that drilled through bones and scars which suggested that this once smooth-face had been touched with a scalpel... a character that could have jumped out of the "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Let me start again. Yesterday afternoon was not as exciting as the above. I left the hospital quite late, a few minutes over my office hours. I exited the OMF clinic with two patches, one on my left cheek and the other, below my right eye. I just had my mole removed. It grew in three years and I had been ignoring it since because I thought I could never undergo the painful process of removing it.

Before the trip to the hospital, I prayed Solat Hajat... asking for Allah's mercy, kindness and protection, hoping that Allah will always remember me, especially under the surgeon's knife. I prayed that Allah will make it a smooth, safe and less painful process. Alhamdulillah.

With stitches and a slightly bruised right eye, I am thankful that I came out okay... I know, you probably shrugged it off and said "owh... its only a mole removal and its nothing major". Something as minute and as short as a gasp of breath, might stop functioning if Allah has forgotten about it!

Happiness is knowing that Allah will always be there...

Are you happy?
If you were given a chance to go back in time,
what will you change?
If you were to choose another life,
who do you want to be?

If pre-requisite to your happiness is a shopping list,
what shall you order,
will it fill up rows of carts and
will you take discounted items?
Will you be?

Do you accept a glass half full
or work harder to fill it to the brim,
predicting happiness to overflow?

Are you at war with yourself,
your emotions in conflict and
needs clearly undefined?
If we can find inner peace,
will we be greeted with happiness?

Do we want so much more when
Allah, The Most Gracious & Most Merciful,
had given us more than we ever deserved?