Future – Page 2 – Strokes of My Pen

Creative Non-Fiction

MY BIRTHDAY WISH (DEAR FUTURE SON)

By Lubnah Abdulhalim April 19, 2015

Photo Courtesy: Unknown

Dear Future Son,

It’s a breezy yet sunny afternoon. I’m just staring out of the window at the beautiful scenario right in front of me. Lol just kidding. There’s a large pond of water; that’s what am seeing. Not as beautiful as such 😀 It’s been raining. And just with the droplets falling to the ground, they keep me thinking. I’m one year older today. Alhamdulilah. And as I think of how much blessed I am, I think of you. I think of you as the best gift that I could ever get on a day like this. I think of how much I am missing you even before laying my sight on you. I think of how you are the one thing that makes me await the future. I think. I think quite alot. Will I live that long? Will I live to have you; the love of my life in my arms? Will I? Will I will I will I?? And all the while as all these thoughts cloud my mind, am still staring into the space. Having lived to 21, I’ve learnt quite something about life. I have learnt that true love will always be filial love. That same kind that I want to have with you. I want us to have the best kind of mother to son relationship. I want us to be legendary. I want you to be my hero. I want us to be bestfriends. Maybe I am expecting so much from the virtual you and maybe I will live to be disappointed; but all I can promise you is that I will teach you my high perception of pure love, which all starts with family. YES. Family. And you and I will be the best kind of family. Amin to that 🙂

My dear son, they say I am going to be a strict mother. But deeep deep deep down my heart I know, I am really going to be a strict mother 😀 I won’t even bother sugarcoat that. Yes. I will be hard on you. At least it will seem so but that is just because I want you not to act like a boy all your life, nor do I want you to be just a man. I want you to be a gentleman. The kind of man who speaks not too loud nor in whispers. The kind of man who walks not in arrogance nor lazily. The kind of man whose face beams due to his kindness. The kind of man who knows how to respect a lady and never play around with her dignity. That kind of a man that will be a once in a lifetime kind. I want to be proud of you. Take note: I am not asking for perfection but I am asking for quality behaviour and standards. I want a man of principles. A son that is bold yet humble. The kind who is still the best even with all your imperfections. I don’t know who your dad will be, but I pray that you grow better than him. That you perfect both of my and his imperfections. I want you to learn from his and my mistakes. I want you to be our better version.

My greatest wish is to hear your voice reciting the memorised qur’an lull me to sleep. I want you to be the kind of man that when you leave a place, they miss you immediately. I want you to have that kind of pure heart. A heart that knows no hatred nor lust. A heart that leads others to prayer and to do good. A heart that is a leader by heart. A heart that only seeks what God wants.

I daydream alot about you and how it is going to be when you finally come to being. I dream of that kind of son that I will raise with my own hands, with my own very high principles, with my own diplomatic ways. I don’t even know whether you’ll ever get to see this but I’ll still dream. I’ll still dream of that son of mine that was going to give me love like no one else ever did or will. I’ll still dream even when everyone doubts me. I’ll dream for as long as it is valid to dream.

Your prospective mother (in shaa Allah)

With lots of Love.

Creative Non-Fiction

DEAR FUTURE WIFE

By Lubnah Abdulhalim February 12, 2015

Dear Future Wife,

By: Anonymous.

Photo Courtesy: Salem_Beliegraphy

Assalam Aleykum.

Hey you, what are you up to?

Um…hmm, sorry am kinda nervous right now. The truth is, thinking about the future scares the heck out of me. I hate not knowing what will happen to me ten years from now or one year from now or even in the next five seconds. Yet for some reason, picturing you in it always brings a smile to my face. It brings calm to a stormy sea, and for good reason.

I may not know you yet, but I already think you’re just too pretty to be true. The world may be round, yet again it might be flat, but that you are the most beautiful girl I’ll ever meet is a fact beyond deliberation.

I have no expectations whatsoever to be honest about the kind of person you’ll turn out to be. If anything, I’ll be willing to take the reminder of my life to understand you and if else all fails, then to simply accept you for who you are.

I don’t know what mistakes you have committed in the past or present but I can overlook your flaws. Because despite what people always say, I think everyone deserves a second chance. The more lost a soul is anyway, the more susceptible it is to guidance and rebirth. If I am to be the reason you end up turning a corner and being the most pious lady to ever walk on earth, then darling am all yours.

I am not the perfect human specimen either, I am guilty of being naïve where naivety is of considerable detriment. I have flaws in personality that need to be ironed out, but I believe I’ll be ready cometh the hour.

One thing you should know though, in all my twenty something years I’ve lived on earth, the ladies at home have simply spoiled me to a wreck with their delectable cooking. They can cook a rock and make it taste like chicken. I know, I know it’s unfair to put that much pressure on you, I understand but…*cough* culinary classes *cough*…am willing to pay… *cough*…whatever the fees…*cough*. In any case, I’ll definitely help around the kitchen if you need me, and I’ll do my best not to chop off my fingers instead of the onions while am at it.

Oh another thing, I love exercising. I wonder if you do too. It won’t matter of course, if you don’t. Personally, I believe fitness is a matter of choice really but be warned, we’ll hold occasional races between you and me. Whoever loses will do the dishes all by themselves that day (and there shall be no dish washing machine in the house!)

You’ll be more than welcome to milk my wallet dry. But my wallet only and no other man’s. It will be my privilege to make you feel as comfortable as possible, it is a mission I’ll see through to my death. But I know you, you’re not driven by material things. You’re not overwhelmingly concerned about worldly life. Your focus, like mine, is towards that everlasting place Allah has promised for every pious man and pious woman.

Kids? Of course, yes. I haven’t put my finger on a number yet, but obviously the more the merrier, right? Heck, let’s start our own village. We’ll teach them Quran and Sunnah and then scatter them all over God’s earth so they can spread the spirit and love of Islam. Together with them we’ll flush out all evil from the darkest corners of this world, or so I hope.

Speaking of corners of the world, do you like to travel? I most certainly do. I would love to travel all over the world if God blesses us with the means. I’ll take you to the weirdest of places, feed you the weirdest of native cuisines, meet people with names that mean something offensive back home. I feel the earth is calling for me to explore it every single day, but I can push my schedule back and prepare an itinerary for two instead. See, am making sacrifices for you already.

I can be awkward and feel misplaced in matters where love is concerned. Frankly, sometimes I feel my own family don’t understand just how much I love them, simply because I don’t know how to express it in words. But for some reason, I just know…I just simply know, you will make me sing, you will make me chant, you will make me shout at the top of my voice, to express the love I will feel for you.

I hope wherever you are now, that you are safe and happy. I want you to be all you can be and hope to be. I want you to more than just survive this time barrier separating us, but to thrive. I want you to worry less and live more. And when we finally meet inshaAllah, I want to make you feel like you’ve never lived before.

See you soon, Habibtyl Kheir.

You Know Who..

Creative Non-Fiction

MY OTHER HALF

By Lubnah Abdulhalim February 10, 2015

Photo Courtesy: Salem_Beliegraphy

Dear Future Husband,

Where are you man? These people are suffocating me right here ooof!

Oops! :p Assalam aleykum by the way 🙂

I hope you are doing well like I am right? Imagine I am having a CAT on sound engineering tomorrow in shaa Allah and this is what I am doing. This is what happens when the head gets saturated to its highest level. We call it uchokaji I wonder wherever you are what you call it?

I’m currently at my final year of university and life here couldn’t get crappier. But high school was heaven…but University? Just surviving. You know, this is what happens when your wife is out of everyone’s league and it gets to everyone’s nerves why i am so…oh well don’t you worry I am going to narrate all these tales of your legendary wife when right time comes by :p So what are you doing right now? I hope its something constructive and not in a dark corner with silly friends wasting time.

You can be rest assured on my loyalty to you. I am so damn loyal to you that some people be envying you 😀 I hope you are as loyal…or else…heh! The consequences of that won’t be easy; trust me. Hey by the way, I hope you not into drugs or discos or any of such crap. I don’t tolerate small minds.

Well jokes aside now, I have been waiting like in forever for that one person who would accept me for who I am and understand my stubbornness and paranoia nature. I have been waiting for that one person who would teach me how to never get afraid, how to trust, how to let go and how to love. I have been waiting for that one person who would sincerely love me and care for and not just treat me with sympathy like everyone does. I have been waiting for that one person who will lead me in prayers, who would recite to me the qur’an until my heart melts(fingers crossed, I hope you have that kind of voice) :p I have been waiting for that one person who would bring me closer to Allah, who would want us to be together till jannah in shaa Allah. And I hope that one person is the you I’ve been waiting for.

I am just a very simple kind of girl with big dreams; not of fame, not of wealth but of a family full of love. I want us to be diplomatic parents; parents who will be so friendly with their kids yet have strict limits to everything. I want us to spend time together as a family. I don’t need a husband who will overwork himself such that the kids end up being strangers to you and vice versa. I want us to teach them morals and how to be upright. I want a husband who will be a dad to my kids and not just a father. I want us to train them how to be better than us; how to not re-live the same mistakes we did when we were young.

I have no big demands nor big wants; I just need a comfortable life, a simple life. I need you to be there after we get married, when I get the news that I’m expectant, when we finally have our first kid with us. I want you with me both during the happy and sad times. Don’t buy me a big house and let me wander in it in circles due to loneliness. Don’t let me live with my in laws always while you are rarely around. I don’t want to marry a big house nor to marry your family. We may as well live in an average house but still see you every morning so I make you coffee and every night so I can make you your favourite food for dinner.

I hope that is when the adventurous you will appear because i’m planning to make my life so hilariously exciting. I may be a frightened freak but i love the thrill of adventures like sky diving, mountain climbing…you know, that sorta thing. And fingers crossed again, do you play football? Or at least basketball? I’d love to be taught how to play that by you. I need not just a husband by name but a partner, a better half, a best friend…the love of my life.

The only way to win my heart is through my parents. My mum is so jovial…very easy to impress but my dad? You gotta earn his trust and love and when you are able to win his heart then you have definitely won mine. My family is the most important thing to me after Allah. Never forget that.

I am a lady with very high principles and very focused at that. If you are intelligent then you will understand me immediately, if not, maybe it will take you some time to do so. (I’m praying you are intelligent) :p I like people who are calm in dealing with problems, people who can control their frustrations and talk it out calmly like adults. I hope we will be able to face our challenges, hand in hand, in that same calm way. I want us to face these challenges and not run away from them. I really don’t like the idea of a man running away from his responsibilities, from facing and correcting his mistakes. Remember, accepting your mistakes is half way correcting the mistakes.

Well I am not perfect and I am not expecting you to be so either but I am hoping we will be able to complete each other because that is what love and marriage is. Maybe I am dreaming too much but here, they call me dreamer…but I hope you can prove them wrong and turn this into a reality.

I promise you that I have never been so attached to any unknown person like you and even as you remain like a shadow, I still pray for you wherever you are. I still pray that you remain loyal to the unknown me like I am loyal to the unknown you. We still have a lot to talk about. Catch you later. ..till then, may you stay safe till the day your shadow comes to light and I finally know who you are. May God bless you abundantly.

Amin!

Lots of love,

Your other half 😉

Creative Non-Fiction

DEAR FUTURE SON

By Lubnah Abdulhalim January 16, 2015

Photo Courtesy: http://frontiersmag.wustl.edu/

Dear Future Son,

By: anonymous

When you were born i was overwhelmed with joy,consumed with happiness. Yet scared that this infirm and fragile creature was not ready for this monster of a world that i have become accustomed to.But when i took a slight peak and your tiny eyes struggled to view my huge form.I felt the whole world face the sun and shine brighter just for you.I knew then and now that the world would be a better place because of you.And my heart was invaded by feelings of pride,care,protection,hope and above all love.I may not have said it as much,but i have always and will always love you my son.And as i held you in my arms,my heart whispered promises to you.I will love you when the world would dare hate you,i will believe in you when everything and everyone would prove otherwise.Because you are amazing.I would tell you stories of my boyhood and echo you my mistakes and regrets that you may learn from them.You wouldn’t have to impress me or compromise with me,be yourself,love yourself,because my love for you is guaranteed.I would have you live like you mean it,be candor,be happy always,because every time you smile the world gets a little better for me.I would have you live a pure life,pure in your love,pure in your hate,pure in your pain and pure in your heart.Face life with passion and fortitude,get excited and embrace the beauty of your dreams.Live my son.Live your full potential,be better than me,dare to stand
alone,because i would have it no other way.Uphold your religion,pray,because man is nothing without faith.be proud of your heritage,your culture,because you are it’s successor.Never forget who you are,you are my son and there is great pride in that.I leave this world as an empty shell,with no plausible accounts.Be my legacy my son.

your mentor,your friend,your father

Creative Non-Fiction

DEAR FUTURE DAUGHTER

By Lubnah Abdulhalim January 13, 2015

Photo Courtesy: Unknown

Dear Future Daughter

My best moment in life was when i first heard your little voice shriek when the nurse handed you to me. It was a magical moment and right then, I wanted to announce to the whole world that my princess is finally here; with me.

I want you to know that you are the most beautiful girl ever existed and never doubt that. I want you to know how precious you are and that there will never be another you in this world.

I want you to know that i am here just for you; when you are having nightmares and in fear then don’t hesitate to come and sleep in my arms. When you are in pain and need someone to talk to then do know I am always here for you. I want you to be my bestfriend and you to make me yours.

Whenever you are in despair, you don’t have to turn to strangers to talk it out. You dont have to vent out your anger and anguish on social websites, You dont have to cry in the washroom or drain your pillow with tears silently; come cry to me. When you finally become a lady, you don’t have to sneak out to go out. Ask me and we can always hang out together. When you feel lonely then always remember that i am here for you. When you feel like the world is shutting down on you, then dont give up, hold my hand and we’ll take up the rough path together and when you need your space, i’ll still give it to you. When you do a mistake then don’t lie to me; tell me and we can fix it together. When you have secrets, share them with me so i can also share mine with you.

My princess, You don’t have to be lured into a corner by any guy, if he wants to meet you then let him meet me first because I am not just your mother but your bestfriend too. I don’t want you to ever need a guy to tell you how beautiful you are, You are my princess so hold with your head held high; remember, you are the most beautiful thing on earth. I don’t want you to ever cheapen your worth infront of any guy; do know that you are priceless and not just any random guy deserves you. Always remember that when true love finally comes to your life, you will know then. You will feel it. Because true love means respect before anything else. So seek your happiness and goals and your prince charming will appear at the right time in the name of your husband. I don’t want you to ever need love nor do i want you to be a slave of love because i will shower you with enough love. I want you to walk with such dignity that with each footstep you take, the world pauses for a moment. Remember the true value of a woman is in her chastity, so hold onto the values I have taught you.

I want us to be legendary partners. I want us to walk at the beach and play together, build sand castles and run at the shore Iike there is no tomorrow. I want us to have shared hobbies that we’d do together. I want us to plan our weekends; go visit the homeless, go visit the sick, go visit the poor or maybe the orphans because i want you to appreciate the bounties in your life. I want us to stay late night telling stories such that you will never need your phone or a better friend. I want us to pray beside each other everyday. I want us to comb one another’s

hair and play with it. I want us to paint. I want you to tell me how your school days are and i’ll tell you how mine were. I want us to go window shopping, bake together, have girls night out and much more. I want us to kneel to God and thank God for all we’ll go through. Do know that you are the best gift in my life and i waited for this gift for a whole lifetime so don’t you ever doubt my love for you. xx 🙂

Love, Future Mama :*