PARADOX IS BLISS!

THE BIRTH OF (NAME HERE)
October 13, 2007

Takbiran night… The early hours of Idul Fitri…

The clock on the wall showed 01:41 when Mbak Titis, my immediate older sister, left for the hospital with my parents. A little before midnight she came down from her room and told me she had just had her first signs of labor. She planned to rest downstairs with my parents, but never came to it and decided to leave immediately.

Her husband at this time is taking the graveyard shift at work, just as he did at Takbiran night last year. Meanwhile I was to stay at home with my oldest nephew and niece, who came to visit from Jogja for the holidays. When my sister left, they were already asleep and utterly oblivious to the… relative excitement.

This was an exciting moment partly because it’s the end of Ramadhan, and secondly because between all five of my other siblings, Mbak Titis is the only one whose progress I could witness since she was living at home with me and my parents (and her husband, of course).

There is no name yet for the baby, since it is still kept from the rest of us. But by experience, my family gene have so far given birth to six male disasters and only two female catastrophes (just kidding. I love you all, you naughty maggots!) So it is likely that this next ‘production’ will be a boy. That, and the fact that routine check-ups proved it to be a boy…

Anyway, wish my sister and her husband luck. Thank you very much in advance. Such an exciting time this is. And when it happens, I’ll get back to you.

Oh, and, in the spirit of Idul Fitri:
Minal aidin wal faidzin. I humbly beg you forgive my past mistakes, body and soul, said and done.

Let there be light!