This year marked the 5th time we celebrated the Eid in Bukit Jelutong. For me and my other half, Eid is about celebrating Syawal at home ever since my parents and in laws' demises few years back. For us, unlike many others, we no longer have to negotiate or make compromises as to where we want to celebrate Eid. Having said that, every year we will surely miss the rush of balik kampung to celebrate the Eid with our parents and with other siblings. Those moment are now just sweet memories that we will always cherish forever.
Being the 'old folks' of our children a little ahead of our time, the joy of celebrating Eid is now more for them than to us. As much as possible, EId is the best time for our children to get to know better their distance cousins or close relatives. My children may never get the feeling of celebrating Eid with their grandpas or grandmas now but come to think of it, I was also in the same situation ever since my birth being the youngest in the family.
My personal view of EId is a moment where we as Muslims celebrate our success in glorifying Allah post Ramadhan. I was a bit off target to complete 30 days of tarawikh as I missed 2 nights. Nonetheless, I really thank Allah for my health during Ramadhan as I did not experience terrible pain or sickness in performing the saum. I would also like to thank my beloved other half so much for her perseverance and patience in preparing meals for our sahur and iftar. I don't think the whole family can survive without her now and only Allah can reward her for her kindness and sincerity...Ameen
This year Eid also marked the first time my eldest daughter being away from us. She told us from Jordan they celebrated Eid one day earlier. Thanks to the modern technology of Internet where now it is possible for us to communicate with her through Skype almost on daily basis. I could only wish that this technology were available during my college time in the states some 25 years ago. At that time. I only made one phone call per month due to cost. Nowadays, distance call with video is almost free with the Internet.
Although there are many arguments among the Muslim scholars on visiting the graves during Eid, I feel that visiting the graves during Eid is probably best moment for us to remind ourselves of the good things that our late parents and grand parents have done for us. The very least the children will know where are the graves of their grandparents for the future generation. This year, we visited the graves of my late parents on second day of Eid.
A part from the traditional visits to the elders and also our neighbour, we also attended the open house cum birthday celebration of my niece, Kak Long daughter's 3rd birthday on 4th day of Syawal. It was indeed a joyous moment and alhamdullilah, all my siblings were there.
Hopefully all of us will be given the opportunity by Allah to welcome 1430H Ramadhan and Eid next year. We can never know what's gonna happen even in the next few seconds. I said this because my fellow peer at the office Chief Engineer Nor Azlan has just performed a triple by pass operation yesterday. I wish him all well and recover fast...Ameen
