Wednesday, January 03, 2007

My Best Friend's Wedding

(This is NOT a movie review...although Julia Roberts pulled off another masterful performance in that movie)

My best friend just got herself hitched. What does this mean? I don't know what it means...but i do know what it meant though...

It meant a few days in Alor Setar (her hometown) preparing for the nikah and wedding dinner, it meant spending three wonderful days with a family that can be best described by the word...beautiful. It meant meeting some of the most humble and generous people in the world, it meant feeling more at home 495 miles away from my real home, it meant that i was truly blessed.

I've been waiting for this moment for years...to see my friend in the mosque, looking absolutely stunning in her white wedding dress, finally getting married to a man that i know will provide and care for her for as long as they both will live (He'd better...or else it might get bloody) We've been through a lot together, my friend and I, but it was only during her wedding that i realised how much she means to me...(For those of you who have watched the movie, this is NOT where i try to break up the wedding and profess my undying love to the bride, so you can all breathe a sigh of relief)

This is where i realise that she has played an integral part in my life. This is where i realise that i can't thank her enough for all that she has done for me and the confidence, trust and support she has given to me throughout...this is where i realise that I am going to miss her like crazy when she leaves.

Yes...she will be migrating to Australia later this year and i am still trying to come to terms with that fact... it seems weird somehow that i wont be able to just drive down to her mahallah and pick her up for lunch anymore... funny isn't it? How the simplest things that you take for granted will be the things which you actually cherish the most.

We will have to move on i guess...i'm comforted and sure that even if distance separates us, we will continue to be there for each other as we always have. I have already placed a demand that the both of them start procreating prolifically on the double so that i'll have my hands full of little half Egyptian, half Malay, half Orang Putih nephews and nieces...but i guess that i'll have to wait a while for that...the groom, that charming Orang Putih, still thinks i'm joking when i told him to get cracking already...sigh...when will these Orang Putih ever take Asians seriously?

You know...its heartwarming to see two people brave the odds together and fight for their relationship when so many others are breaking up and getting divorced. It really restores your faith in humanity and the resilience of the human capacity to love despite the darkening world around us.
All of us could learn a lot from their story...

All the best my dear...May Allah grant you happiness and joy for as long as the both of you shall live, and may He grant me many many beautiful nephews and nieces so that i can spoil them rotten. Let me tell you, that man is one hell of a lucky guy to have you as a wife, and the best part is... he actually deserves a great woman like you. Match made in heaven indeed.