Sofeya's First Day of School

I had the opportunity to send Sofeya back to school. My youngest is in Standard Two this year. How fast time flies! Soon, she'll grow up and leave the nest.

She went to school in a van driven by Uncle Hussein. It's been a year now and since Hussein is such a nice guy, we decided to continue his service. So, he came for her four times a day. To and fro Agama school early in the morning, and to and fro the primary school in the afternoon and evening. In the morning, Hussein will come and fetch her from home but for the rest of the day he'll fetch her from Kak Rina's house. Kak Rina has been attending to Sofeya since she's nine months old. Come to think of it, I've always been blessed having been around nice people.

This morning, we came a bit later. It was drizzling when Harris and I arrived at school. There she was in the class; we saw her chubby face who was readily smiling when she saw us. She's her usual self, always confident and in control.

First day of school is like a mini festival of sorts these days. It was different during our time. Parents were almost alien in school. Most of the children were accompanied by fathers and mothers in tow. One child plus papa and mama. Count that and you'll see something similar to a Malay wedding reception. Colourful! A lot of expressions. Here and there you could also see anxious faces of lonely children. They were without anyone. But hey, before your heart could melt and pity them, there would be many adults who would give a helping hand. Oh, I love this country.

Anyway, after we finished paying Sofeya's school fees, we went to see her before saying goodbye. We were quite speechless when she told us not to hug her in front of her friends. My, my... I feel that my little Piya has grown up. She has her ego on her own. She's our youngest and we hug her all the time but now she wanted us not to hold her! Well, we respected her request but not without saying to Daddy that he's gonna miss her little girl very soon.