Labbaikallah humma labbaik..... the departure

Soon, it was time to leave. My mother in-law wanted to hold a khenduri to send us off. Of course, my family had to take a back seat. My sisters and the others would gather at Wah's house and we would depart from there. That was the plan. So, they had this khenduri, doa selamat, baca yaasin. Noor and I humoured his mother. Like the sending off with an umbrella, writing our names on the wall of the house so that we would be called home. This coming from people whom I considered warak and sangat beragama. Oh well...just follow their traditions.

We reached Wah's house almost Asar. As usual it will be a few hours at my family's house and a couple of days at his mother's house. I was fuming with unfairness. My sisters knew me so well. They told me to ignore it and just beristighfar. Pergi dengan hati yang tenang. Zaiton came with a few old school mates. Honestly, I didn't remember their names. I knew them.They were not from my clique of friends. They were classmates. Nooraini came. Zaiton said that she was also going but a later flight and she would look me up in Mecca. Abang and Kak Che Mah came. Finally we were sent off to Tabung Haji complex. Noor's family, cousins, relatives were all there. Kak Ti, Adik, Kak Che Mah came for a few minutes. Surprisingly, Othman came. I told my sisters to go off. We needed to settle the checking in and everything. I just wanted to go. I kissed the boys goodbye and said our farewells.

Finally, it was time to enter the complex. Feelings of relief that we were finally leaving, fear if anything should go wrong, bewilderment if it was really me going... I blanked out my feelings of leaving the boys. I had given them in the care of someone I trusted. I went with an open mind, humility and accepting whatever came my way with patience and redha. I asked for Noor's forgiveness and keredhaan. Now, I was ready to be a guest of my Creator.

The bus left the complex for KLIA about midnight with police riders accompanying us. There were not much hassles or difficulties and I enjoyed the 8 hours flight to Madinah. The Saudi Air had two levels and it gave me space to walk up and down the levels to stretch my legs. I was not a friendly person and I kept mostly to myself doing what I enjoyed most - people watching.  :=))