happy birthday, yusuf!

a friend of mine asked me today, "do you remember what you were doing last year at this time?"

oh, yes. i do. and although that day was a magical one and a joyous one, it was also hard and chaotic and confusing. i had been in labor for 24 hours by the time yusuf arrived, and my feelings of awe and happiness were mingled with fatigue and anxiety and pain.

this year, i'm free to just love yusuf without any of the difficult stuff. this is the first birthday of his that i am enjoying completely. and after a year of getting to know him, it's the first birthday that i think i am beginning to actually understand what he adds to our lives.

as his borders widen and he develops preferences and likes and dislikes, as he tests the boundaries of mummy and abba's "No!", as he learns how to get a laugh out of us and how to ask for what he wants, i begin to vaguely glimpse the future.

he's already ONE! but it's just the beginning.

alhamdolillah for last nov 25th, for this one, for the next ones.

this week

dear yusuf:

this week, your father and i made history. we didn't do it alone - far from it. we did it together - around 63 million of us. we voted for a presidential candidate who looked and acted and spoke and believed differently, and he let us know that he was the right person for the job. and so we voted for him. and our votes were counted. and when he won, we each felt that our voices were heard. it was as much a personal victory as it was a national one.

we were inspired to vote, and we are inspired to win. we celebrate.

you were right there with your father and i when we cast our votes. when we watched the results on tuesday night. and in four years when we cast our votes for him again, you'll be there as well. and maybe you will be as inspired as we are.

after all, this week taught us something perhaps some of us have forgotten. anything is possible, yusuf.

just one word...

muBARACK!

:)