I like Sundays. I also dislike them considering how they signal the end of a weekend which, in 2020, is one of the few things to look forward to. But the liking is a bit more.
Sundays represent a new work week's beginning. In Arabic, it's called "Yawm al-Ahad" which literally means "The first day". Positive! I feel invigorated at work, planning my life, paying things off, and mentally winning all battles I've probably not even stepped in. Yeah!
This blog's been dormant for the past 9 or so years. I don't say dead because if it was meant to, I'd have deleted all of the posts ages ago and let the URL I once loved would be left to oblivion. But well, I wanted to bring it back because love for the written word remains something that hasn't changed in the near-decade since this blog was induced into a coma.
So what's happened in the past 9 years? Quite a lot in fact. I'll probably summarize it with the biggest news of the years so that in 9 lines, you'll be up to date.
2011 was the last post.
2012: I graduated from my university with a master's degree I'm yet to fully put to use, but with friendships that I couldn't do without.
2013: I got engaged and embarked upon one of the most beautiful relationships life has offered me thus far. Lost quite a bit of weight in the process too.
2014: I got married to an amazing person who continues to be the effervescence to my life. Moved to the USA for a while with her and then got back to Dubai as she finished her Internship year in Doha. This year saw a lot of changes in my life, including spiritual ones.
2015: Became a father to an adorable daughter who basically was the icing on the cake of life that Allah kept blessing me with. Brought them both to Dubai and we started a little oasis of our own in this desert. Lost some old friends, made some new ones.
2016 to 2018: Got promoted, traveled quite a bit, and started my re-education in life under the tutelage of my toddler who made being a father become my first job. Learned a lot, changed a lot and by the end of 2018, moved houses to a slightly bigger place closer to a masjid. Let go of the toxicity and am slowly detoxing from it all. The family survived some precarious encounters with health and it's been quite a ride.
2019: Baby bro got married. Became a father for the 2nd time, also to another daughter who is quite literally a smile factory. She had one helluva journey from the time we first learned she was coming. From dodgy gynecologists to traveling around 3 countries and 4 cities in cars, planes, trains, etc. , she just fought through it all and landed with a smile which is going to turn 1 year old in a fortnight.
2020: Well, it's been 9 months of this year and already it feels like an eon has passed. If you are reading this in the future, then you probably know this year humanity got railroaded with everything we'd been messing with. This year by itself requires a separate post just to chronicle everything that's happened so far and what's expected. From toying with nuclear war to actual wars and global pandemics, from murders, suicides, assassinations, and strange deaths all the way to the achievement of another level in planetary destruction all brought about by greed and general idiocy of a species that was supposed to be the epitome of justice, we're seeing it all.
Alhamdulillah though, through all the haze that surrounds us in this year, there are pockets of pure goodness that just doesn't happen unless we are staring at adversity in the face. I think that defines humans in a splendid manner. We are a race that will ignore warning signs and mess things up so badly that onlookers will think we have the IQ of an igneous rock. We surpass every other species on this planet in terms of collective abilities and attributes which explains both our bipolar nature as managers and destroyers of the planet. But when the gloves are off, we are capable of going above and beyond the expected distance to fight out an enemy which is often of our own creation.
And in that, we stand as the shining beacon of Hope that is nigh inextinguishable.
Kinda like a Sunday! Yeah, I like Sundays.
