To infinity and beyond !!

Dearest Libby

How are you today ?? this is the second day we are in London, I finally had a good night sleep !! may be I was really really tired and by the time we arrived at wa willy’s home last night at 20.30, it was already 2.30am in Jakarta. Today, we are planning to take a tour within London to see some point of interests. We were at home when a telephone guy from BT came and we have to wait for wa ibu coming back from dropping off teh laras and fadhlan to the school. Then, we walked from wa willy’s house to southfield underground station. It was still cold and raining… but it wasn’t as cold as last night. The wind was not that bad..and it’s nice talking to mommy while we were walking for about 10 minutes pass along nice victorian houses. Wa willy’s house situated in a new housing and apartment complex but to get to the station we have to go passing by some old houses… but it’s still nice neighborhood. One thing I noticed, the street is usually narrow, 2 lane street with cars being park on both side of the street, leaving only small area for cars to pass by… and british apparently drives their cars quite fast…with these narrow streets, no wonder tube become so popular, otherwise there will be traffic jam everywhere. As I didn’t buy the ticket by myself yesterday, I had to ask the officer to teach me buying the ticket for the tube from the machine. One day pass for zone 1-4 cost us about 5+ pounds per person, so it is really expensive, but in comparison if we have to take taxi wherever we go, it is way way cheaper ….. we had studied the stop , the connecting lines, etc, to ensure that we didn’t loose time getting lost in London. But, it’s very easy to follow the information and getting anywhere, if we got lost we just get off the train and change to other line… it’s that simple…very nice !!! We decided to stop in Picadilly Circus station then there we would buy “Big Bus” city tour ticket. When we got to Picadilly street we looked for bus stop and it’s easy to find. Apparently the bus stop is also the stop for Big Bus City Tour and we could buy the ticket from the officer there. The ticket price of Big Bus City Tour is 22 pound per person (about Rp 400 thousand) and since it was winter they have special offer that the ticket is valid for 48 hours (from usually 24 hours) and we could buy ticket to some of London’s attraction with special price. We decided to buy the Maddame Tussaud’s ticket there as well so we could get discount and we don’t have to queue there. Maddame Tussaud cost us 17 pound per person (in the ticket box it’s 30 pounds) a very significant discount. With this bus we can go to almost all London’s places of interest. We can sit on top of the bus which is open air.. if it’s not raining actually it’s really nice to sit on top of the bus. We decided to take the red route in which we will start the tour from Picadilly street to Trafalgar Square, one of the most famous place of London. We stopped there for a while to…. Take some pictures !!! ha ha ha…. The sun is finally shinning… really shining for about an hour… before it’s raining again… darn !! We also went to National Gallery which is located across Trafalgar Square. I was really excited to go inside since National Gallery has a wide collections of paintings from great painters. My favourite one is of course Van Gogh’s !! there are a lot of Van Gogh’s painting there… I really love ‘em… beside Van Gogh’s, the National Gallery also have collections of Monet, Manet, Cezzane, etc. oh, I could spend full day just to browse around this museum but since we only have limited time in London, we only spend like couple of hours here…before we went to Museum’s shop and picked up 2 posters of Van Gogh’s painting, ready for framing. Then we hopped on the bus again to the next stop which is the Westminster ! here is the Big Ben, The Parliament, and Westminster Abbey church located. On the way there we passed by the Downing Street which is the official residence of England’s Prime Minister. If the time’s right actually we can see the guard’s changing near there. After taking some pictures in Westminster, we continued the journey to London Eye, a gigantic ferish wheel (they said it’s the biggest one in the world) but we decided not to get inside since the weather was not that good anyway, (what will we see ??) so we just passed by and continued the journey to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in which Princes Charles and Lady Diana got married. It was a beautiful cathedral… we had lunch there in Fresh Italy, this part of area seems like a business area since lots of people wearing suits and tie. Fresh Italy is quite nice.. I ordered lasagna and Chilli Shrimp salad, while mommy ordered carbonara which is apparently have lots of pork bacon in it… so she didn’t touch it and just ate my food…again it’s not cheap to have lunch here. We kinda get used to expensive price by now for everything…. He he he… we continued the journey passing the famous London bridge, then we stopped in Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Again looking at the timing we didn’t go inside the Tower of London where they place the crown of the king’s and queen’s. From here, we took a boat cruising along the Thames river.. passing by UNILEVER’s Global Head Office in Black Friar. The guide said “ On the right, there’s a big white building, the home of giant detergent and soap manufacturer Unilever” (giant detergent and soap manufacturer ??? this guide needs more training… he he he…). The HO looks stunning especially with lights start to illuminate the building…suddenly I was proud being an Unileverian. The day has been quite dark although the time just showed 16.00.. the London eye and Big Ben’s looks incredible in lights. The boat stopped at the Westminster pier where we walked passing by Westminster Abbey Church (I think Prince Andrew got married here). We were waiting for the Big bus to take us back to the Picadilly circus station. Oh no…. apparently, the big bus operation stopped at 16.30 so we decided to take regular bus to go back to picadilly street. Thank God, there is the last bus coming so we just hopped in… rejeki mah nggak kemana.. the Officer asked us the destination and when we said we are going to picadilly… he said we were on the wrong bus and suggested to get off in victoria and take the bus to green park which is the last stop for that bus. We just followed his suggestion. But what I found amazing is that the bus officer was very helpful, asking all the passenger and suggesting the best route to take them to their destination. Yeah because it’s already late (19.00). we stopped at the Green Park bus station and went straight to the tube station to go back to Putney. Oooh.. what a day !!!! full of walking, full of pictures taking… not enough shopping… everything’s soooo expensive !!

We’ll catch up again later okay liv…

still miss you a lot..

ayah dicky

Hi hunny,

I want to continue telling you stories of our journey in London… you know what, a lot of people said to us that we were having second honeymoon… well they were not entirely wrong… we were having honeymoon but it’s was not entirely right either since honestly we never had the real first honeymoon. As I have told you earlier, I was a trainee in Unilever when getting married to mommy and I was not able to really go away for a honeymoon since I was not allowed to have leave yet. So, technically this is our first honeymoon…. So this is the first part of our journey in london and paris.Knowing our very limited time in London, we didn’t want to waste any time. After we had lunch in wa willy’s house (wa ibu cooked duck) we were ready to start exploring London. We put on our heavy jacket knowing it’s gonna be cold. Wa ibu drove us to Southfield tube station (the closest one to her house) because it was a bit raining while actually it’s very close and walking distance. Wa willy bought the tube ticket for us. It was 16.00 pm but the sky was already quite dark, as if it was 19.00 o’clock in the evening. We are going to go to Oxford Street since according to wa willy,almost all the stores there has started their Christmas sale and program. Well, Oxford st. & Regent st. is one of the center of shopping area in London, where almost all top brands open their stores, and big retail chain such as Mark and Spencers, Debenhams, etc. also present there. We used district line tube and stopped once in Earls Court station to change the line to Picadilly line and get off the station in Picadilly Circus station. It was really dark as if it’s evening already and to make it worse it was raining hard. Picadilly Street is like Times Square in NYC, one of the landmark of the city. Btw, as narcissist we took a lot of photos since we were on the tube and continued on the street. It was really cold !!! the rain and the wind really made it worse…. We walked to Leicester square and saw some of the theatres there although we didn’t watch any of the show. We had dinner at 18.00 in KFC (we went all the way to London, and having dinner in KFC ?????? might as well have it in Ambassador mall). But, we just wanted to grab quick bite since we just had late lunch in wa willy’s house. The meal package cost about 4 pounds (around Rp 80.000) very expensive considering we can get the same package for less than 1.5 pounds in Indonesia… yeah this is London.. one of the most expensive city in the world…. Then we were heading toward Regent street… unfortunately most of the stores were already closed by that time (and it was only about 19.00). so we didn’t get the chance to browse around… we ended just taking pictures….lots and lots of pictures.. (amazing how digital camera has helped us a lot with this !!!). Oxford street started to have been illuminated by lights… Christmas lights !! amazingly beautiful….London with all the old buildings, narrow street, double deckers, and funny taxis is really a beautiful city… We had quite good walk from Picadilly Circus to Leicester Square, then strolled along to Regent st. and Oxford st. in a really cold, windy, and wet condition…Welcome to London in winter !!! we then went back to wa willy’s house using tube again at around 20.00… what a day !! considering I haven’t slept for almost 24 hours… but it was really fun and worth it…. Will continue with the story tomorrow ya liv….

miss you a lot

ayah dicky

Hi my sweetest Hunny  !

How are ya doin, liv…. Finally the moment that we have been waiting for weeks has arrived. Mommy and daddy were going to London. We took Emirates as our flight since we thought the fare is very reasonable and we heard the quality of the planes, the entertainment, the foods are quite good…and of course we took economy class and not the business class, the fare for business class to London is just way too much if we have to pay ourself (unless being paid by company as usual). Our flight is on Saturday November 17, at 22.00. so in the morning and afternoon we still could take Adelle and Aliyya for their performance in Pasaraya… Adelle was doing the fashion show while Aliyya was doing fashion show and singing… they performed quite well though… we can see that Adelle is very talented in walking on runaway.Then at 19.00 we took a cab to go to airport, Adelle and Aliyya are still awake, but they were good girls…they are brave girls. So nobody cried…. Thank God !! otherwise it will be tough for me to leave them for a full week…. Like I told you last time… I’m worry too much…I’m paranoid..

We got to the Cengkareng at 20.00, so still plenty of time to spend time and chat with mommy in the lounge, I was a bit hesitant to use SQ lounge with my PPS Card because last time I was rejected bringing a company (new rule forbid us to take somebody who doesn’t have SQ ticket… damn rule!) we have choiced to go to Citibank lounge or ANZ lounge but finally we decided to spend the hour chit chating in Starbuck…it’s always nice to talk and laugh with mommy…. So the hour was really worth it to spend…till we were called for boarding… the plane was on time and as expected the plane is fairly new plane, Boeing 777 ER, but as expected too, the space was soooooo little…. matter of fact I should not complain because I should have known that economy class supposed to be this tight…(as I get accustomed flying all around the world with business class…paid by Unilever… he he he…).

Surprisingly, The flight was not that full…not too long, mommy went into deep sleep…. lucky her… while I was trying hard to keep my eyes closed… we stopped over in Kuala Lumpur for an hour… and apparently the flight from KL to was full !! again I barely could keep my eyes closed to get some sleep… I move here and there to find the best position to sleep….I couldn’t !! on well…. economy class.. what do you expect… good thing the entertainment system surprisingly is very good, in fact, I might say it’s even better than SQ (which I frequently use). The food is also hot and tasty… pretty good for economy class…. Amazingly the flight attendant mostly are oriental looks !!(Korean I supposed), and not Arabs as I expected earlier… they are quite friendly and gave good service.

The flight from KL to Dubai took about 8 hours and due to time difference, we arrived in Dubai at around 5 o clock… which I spent most of my flight time reading, listening to “Sempurna” from my iPod and reading…Darn, I forgot my Paulo Coelho…I managed to sleep a bit… but barely, I guess.. Dubai Airport apparently isn’t as nice as we expected, it’s not that big and not too many stores either… Changi is much much better than this one… and sooo many people slept on the floor !!! it’s soo arab !! ha ha ha… we have about 2 hours until boarding, so we went to some duty free stores just browsing around… and found out that the price is not cheaper either !! so we decided not to buy anything.

The flight from Dubai to London Heatrow took around 6 hours, and again I still couldn’t sleep…. Having problem with my sitting position and the fact that I don’t have much support (fat) on my behind that make my butt a bit tired and stiff…Mommy, as again… dozed off… lucky her… so again I spent my time reading, listening to my iPod and played my PSP (Sooooo happy bringing my PSP!!). We arrived in Heathrow at 11.50, which is 5 minutes delayed than the time we supposed to arrive, despite 45 minutes delay when we started flying… the immigration is easy and the officer was a lady which is quite friendly… only took about 5 minutes we already claimed our luggage… the first bag came quite quick.. but the big one took quite long.. we started to worry.. since in that big bag, Nini asked us to bring 4kg of grind spices for fried chicken…we were aftraid that this will create problems in the immigration, knowing life stocks, plants, animal, etc are not allowed to be brought to UK from abroad.. Alhamdulillah after waiting for about 20 minutes the bag finally appeared… fuiiih !!!! Wa Willy has been waiting in the arrival lounge…so off we go to Putney !! thank God we were picked up by wa willy, otherwise we have to pay about 60 pounds to get to his house…the weather was a bit gloomy but not raining… and we got lost for a bit… eventhough wa willy use Satnav in his car… apparently… he is very rare going to heathrow using the car… ha ha ha..

From the airport to wa willy’s house took about 30 minutes (it’s Sunday remember… so not many cars on the road)… So finally we met again with your favorite cousin Laras… and Fadhlan, and Wa Ibu… they seems happy to meet us…wa Willy’s house is in the suburb of London called Putney (near Wimbledon Tennis stadium) and near home of Fulham soccer team, it’s a new house with 3 storeys and 5 bed rooms…the land is not that big but the space is so spacious and efficient… I love it.. I want to rebuild our house like that…the color is off white and all the bed sheets are white… it was really cold liv….London here we come… Gotta go liv… next time I’ll tell you the trip and experience in London. I wish you came with us

Hugs and kisses

Ayah dicky…

Dearest Libby,

hi hunny…today is Monday, November 5, 2007 at 23.10 pm.. I’m in Manila again, staying in The Peninsula Hotel in Ayala Ave. near Glorietta mall (i have never stayed in this hotel before although almost once a month I go to Manila)… i arrived in Manila yesterday afternoon from Singapore. Mommy and I splitted up in the Changi airport. I feel pity for mommy since today is her birthday while I have to be away from her. I gave her the present when we were in Singapore and told her not to open the gift until today since it’s a bad omen to open the birthday present before it’s time (is it ???). So I called her in the morning to say birthday wishes to her. She seems like the present that I gave her… it’s a heart shape pendant with diamond (small ones,..he he he) and some precious gems in it… glad that she like it. Birthday is never a big deal for us but still I want to show my love for her, and to be honest it’s been a while since I wrapped my present for her birthday (or in fact for any occassion lately). After a while I just let her choose whatever she wanted and bought it there and then ask her to have dinner in the restaurant that she choose. but apparently small thing like wrapping the present in the nice wrap means something for her. she really like the small detail that i add into it.. I think I need to do more of that..

so, about this birthday thing, what i learned is not the price of the gift or how fancy is the restaurant that matter for her but really the attention and small detail that really show how much i love her that matter most…

i’m sleepy liv… did you send your birthday wishes to mommy ??

kisses and hugs

ayah dicky

Happy birthday my big hunny…wishing you all the best in life…

Dearest Libby,

What’s up hunny ?? Today is Saturday, November 3, 2007…today is the first time mommy and daddy are away from Adelle and Aliyya. We’re in JW Mariott Singapore(which is located on the above of Tang’s) and just across of Isetan/ Borders. It is intentionally mommy and daddy left Adelle and Aliyya with uti since we want to see whether Aliyya can be left by mommy…you know Aliyya is very close with mommy so she can be left even for couple of hours by mommy, while Adelle is already a big girl and she’s very much independent so we are not that worry about her. As I have told you earlier next week we are going to London and Paris for a week, I’m afraid Aliyya will be having trouble being left home. So for the past few days we have been brainwashing Aliyya that we are going to Singapore without her… we kept telling her that she’s a big girl too now that she’s very smart and independent so she shouldn’t be crying when mommy is not around her. And you know Aliyya is such a proud girl, she likes to be praised and always wants to be the best. So apparently our strategy works and Aliyya agreed to be with uti for the whole weekend as long as she can go to Bandung with uti to play in BSM. Now the big day came for her this morning when we had to leave using the taxi.Adelle and Aliyya was in the garage with uti waving good bye to us. Adelle kissed us goodbye and just waved to us, as we have predicted Adelle can easily take this. Aliyya also wanted to show her bravery she said “Bye mommy.. bye daddy, I love you…” and I saw her eyes started to watery as if she’s holding a cry….Actually it’s harder for me to leave Aliyya than mommy… I was starting to feel pity for her, but mommy kept saying to me “ udah nggak apa-apa.. she‘s okay !!” I know she’s okay, I just feel sorry for her…ayah nggak tega ninggalin dia…. You know me liv… I’m such a crying baby… anyway, finally we left her with uti, and I’m trying hard not to think too much about it… you know something I realize that I worry too much for my daughters’ well being… it’s like a paranoia.. I told mommy I don’t know what will I do if I have to send them abroad when they have to go to college or may be even high school… I could end up crying everyday. I guess I love my daughters too much… or may be i’m worry too much ?? i don’t know…

Love you always liv…

Ayah dicky

Dearest Libby, my hunny…

hi Libby, kita baru say goodbye ke keluarga wa willy yang sudah permanently pindahan ke london… nini, aki, semua adik-adik ayah, kakak-kakaknya wa ibu pada datang untuk nganterin wa willy pergi.. ayah sama mommy nggak nganterin ke airport walau semuanya pada nganter ke airport.. tokh nggak ada bedanya juga saying goodbye di airport dan di rumah…

waktu pamitan, tentunya semua sedih lah ya… knowing wa willy dan keluarga paling nggak akan cukup lama nggak ketemu sama kita. tapi ada yang bikin ayah sampe nangis… Adelle nangis sambil bilang sama ayah "Dad…I don’t have friend anymore… siapa yang bakal nemenin aku ?" kasian adelle…mungkin kamu tahu bahwa adelle sekarang cukup dekat dengan teh laras walau pun kedekatan nya nggak sedeket kamu dengan laras… ayah nggak tahu akan kayak apa sedihnya kamu kalau kamu masih ada…kamu dan teh laras kan udah seperti sendok & garpu… nggak bisa dipisahin, selalu sama-sama, main sama-sama, belajar sama-sama, baju pengen samaan, sepatu pengen samaan…ayah nangis inget kamu… ayah kasihan sama adelle yang memang bakal nggak punya temen deket lagi di rumah karena teh laras lah yang selalu nemenin dia…ayah juga sedih ngebayangin kalau kamu ada…

wa willy akan tinggal di sebuah rumah dengan 5 kamar di daerah Putney London..cukup besar ya liv… makanya pertengahan bulan depan ayah mau berkunjung ke rumah wa willy, sekalian nengokin… lumayan kan bisa nebeng di rumah wa willy daripada spend 200 pounds per malam buat hotel di london…mudah-mudahan tahun depan ayah bisa bawa adelle & aliyya nengok teh laras dan fadhlan di london…sekarang sih cuma ayah sama mommy aja yang pergi.

udah dulu ya liv… ayah mau jemput uti dulu..

big hugs & lots of kisses

ayah dicky

Dearest Libby..
hi sayangku…maaf ya liv udah lama ayah nggak kirim surat untuk kamu, libby pasti kangen ya sama semua… kita baru aja merayakan lebaran nih liv…seperti biasa kita semua pulang kampung ke bandung. Mommy dan adik-adik kamu udah duluan pulang ke Bandung, seminggu sebelum lebaran karena adik-adik kamu udah liburan sementara ayah belakangan karena ayah nggak cuti terlalu lama. lebaran tahun ini kita nggak ke tasik liv soalnya kata Uu di tasik lagi susah air jadi kita semua cuma ngumpul di rumah aki agus di Bandung aja… libby inget nggak waktu libby umur 2.5 tahun kita semua pergi ke tasik untuk lebaran dan kita semua pergi ke cileuweung, kolam ikan di tengah hutan…libby seneng banget main ke cileuweung, bakar ikan di saung, libby makannya banyak !! padahal biasanya kamu susah makan kalau di rumah..libby udah bisa ngomong bahasa inggris waktu itu sampe-sampe paman-paman ayah kagum sama libby…
ayah ingat libby panggil nenek ayah, Uu hutan, karena rumahnya memang di kampung. eh Uu masih ada lho liv.. nanti bulan desember Uu insya allah akan berulang tahun yang ke 84 tahun, Uu masih sangat sehat (yah walaupun fisiknya semakin melemah) masih bisa pergi jalan kaki ke cileuweung yang sangat terjal dan jauh. beliau juga masih sangat kuat ingatan nya… ayah aja kadang-kadang lupa nama-nama keponakan dari keluarga besar aki tapi Uu bisa ingat nama-nama cicit-cicit nya … hebat ya liv… Uu masih suka nangis kalau ingat sama libby… mungkin karena ayah adalah cucu kesayangan Uu.. dan Uu selalu bilang sama ayah bahwa hidup memang aneh, mestinya Uu yang meninggal karena waktu Libby pulang ke rumah di surga Uu sudah berumur 79 tahun… kalau kata beliau sudah maghrib…syariatnya sudah tinggal menunggu waktu pulang ke surga juga… tapi yaahh umur manusia memang nggak ada yang tahu ya liv..kecuali Allah SWT.
balik lagi ke cerita lebaran, tahun ini keluarga nini berkumpul di rumah nini di wartawan. semuanya datang, ada keluarga nini tetet, keluarga nini nanay, pokoknya semuanya lah.. wa willy juga kebeneran bisa pulang dari London, jadi cuma aki aja yang nggak ada karena aki lebaran di Mekkah..eh kecuali keluarga Aki Au yang nggak tahu kenapa nggak datang…tentu aja pada datang semua liv karena ayah menyediakan sebuah TV Toshiba Flat untuk diperebutkan dalam festival karaoke… lucu deh ketawa-ketawa..walaupun keluarga nini selalu mengklaim sebagai keluarga artis, keluarga penyanyi tetapi waktu disuruh nyanyi ternyata hanya segelintir aja yang emang bener-bener bisa nyanyi…Bi Tia anaknya Nini Nanay beruntung pulang bawa TV baru itu… alhamdulillah, apalagi kata dia TV di rumahnya kebetulan sudah rusak… kalau rejeki emang nggak kemana-mana ya liv…
libby pasti ingat ya kita semua pergi ke rumah libby… ayah nangis lama banget di sana…ayah inget sama libby… ayah kangeeeeeennnnn banget sama libby.. ayah ngebayangin kalau Libby masih ada libby pasti sudah tamat puasa, libby pasti seneng banget lebaran seperti waktu-waktu kamu masih ada…. kamu seneng banget kalau mau lebaran… ayah ingat kamu insisted untuk beli baju lebaran snow white yang sama dengan teh laras dan kamu pakai barengan teh laras waktu lebaran tahun 2002…ayah masih simpan foto-fotonya lho liv..ayah juga masih ingat kamu seneng banget waktu kita beli paket macdonald untuk kita bagiin ke anak-anak jalanan di malam takbiran di perempatan lingkar selatan dan gatot subroto di bandung tahun 2002… malahan kamu yang selalu minta kita untuk melakukan nya lagi…oh ayah masih sangat ingat liv… makanya ayah nangis laamaaa sekali karena ingat sama libby… kangen banget sama libby..harusnya sekarang ayah punya 3 anak perempuan yang cantik-cantik dan pintar-pintar… kamu sekarang harusnya sudah 9 tahun… kamu pasti sayang banget sama adik-adik kamu…aarrrggghhh.. ayah nangis lagi deh liv…
Bandung panaaas banget liv… ayah tidur sampai buka baju… nggak tahu kenapa, mungkin karena global warming kali ya.. hujan kecil beberapa kali tapi secara umum… puanaas banget dan macet juga sama orang jakarta yang datang ke bandung cuma buat liburan dan jalan-jalan ke FO karena di rumah nggak ada pembantu..
ayah udah balik ke Jakarta di lebaran ketiga karena besok nya harus sudah masuk kerja… eh tahunya masih libur besoknya liv..mommy dan adik-adik kamu pulang ke bandung lagi karena mereka masih liburan dan mereka seneng banget di Bandung karena bisa naik kuda setiap hari…sambil main di supermall. ayah sendirian deh di rumah liv…
kalo ngomongin lebaran…. bagi sebagian besar orang lebaran adalah saat yang dinanti-nantikan.. ada yang sudah nunggu-nunggu pengen bisa makan siang lagi, ada yang nunggu-nunggu dikasih uang sama orangtua atau paman-pamannya, ada yang nunggu-nunggu untuk menjadi seperti orang yang terlahir tanpa dosa, dll.. tapi bagi sebagian orang lebaran adalah sesuatu yang tidak diharapkan kehadirannya, bukan karena benci lebaran nya tetapi karena lebaran adalah waktu-waktu kita untuk berkumpul bersama orang yang kita cintai, dan ketika orang kita cintai itu sudah tidak ada maka lebaran menjadi sesuatu yang sangat pahit dan getir untuk dihadapi… ada beberapa teman ayah yang tahun ini menghadapi lebaran pertama tanpa kehadiran orang yang mereka kasihi…tentunya lebaran menjadi sangat berat untuk mereka. Berat jangankan untuk orang yang baru pertama menghadapi lebaran tanpa kehadiran orang yang dicintainya , bahkan untuk ayah yang menghadapi lebaran ke empat tanpa kamu masih sangat berat…pengen nya ayah masih bisa berkumpul, ketawa-ketawa sama kamu… ayah masih sangat ingat bagaimana kamu berjalan, tertawa, duduk,… ayah masih sangat ingat pelukan kamu… ayah pengen meluk kamu liv !!!

udah dulu ya liv, ayah mau beliin mommy kacamata.. kacamatanya dipatahin sama aliyya..

Taqabalallahu Minna Wa Minkum Syiamana Wa Syiamakum…mohon maaf lahir batin ya liv, ayah suka bikin libby kesel, ayah suka marahin libby, ayah suka nggak mau main sama libby, ayah nggak bisa mengurus libby dengan baik…I wish I could say this to you in person..

big hugs and lots of kisses…
ayah dicky

Dearest Libby

how are you doing liv…sorry been a while ya… lagi puasa nih liv… kalau kamu ada pasti kamu excited ikut puasa, pergi taraweh ke mesjid sama laras..waktu kamu masih ada, kamu udah mulai ikutan puasa walaupun masih puasa ‘ayakan’ kalau kata orang sunda… masih bolong-bolong.. berkaitan dengan puasa ini, ayah beberapa hari ke belakang berdiskusi cukup panjang dengan beberapa teman mengenai agama… ayah memang bukan ahli agama, apalagi ustad, jadi diskusi yang terjadi pun lebih merupakan pelajaran juga bagi ayah untuk lebih belajar mengenai agama… satu diskusi mengenai jilbab dengan teman ayah yang sedang berpikir keras untuk memakai jilbab, tetapi diskusi berkembang kepada hal-hal lain dalam pemahaman keagamaan. Dalam hal jilbab ini memang ada dua school of thought dalam agama kita, yang satu mengatakan bahwa wajib hukumnya mengenakan jilbab tetapi ada pendapat lain yang menyatakan bahwa tidak wajib mengenakan jilbab bagi wanita karena tidak ada perintah yang jelas baik dalam Quran maupun hadits yang menyatakan bahwa jilbab adalah suatu hal yang wajib. . sementara teman ayah yang lain sedang kebingungan juga dengan permintaan dari ibunya untuk memasuki sebuah organisasi keagamaan yang juga sedang dipertentangkan (ada yang bilang organisasi keagamaan tersebut sesat sementara yang lain mengatakan bahwa organisasi tsb tidak ada bedanya dengan organisasi-organisasi yang lain yang memiliki pandangan tertentu.

Ayah sendiri dengan segala keterbatasan tidak bisa mengatakan yang mana yang betul dan mana yang salah dalam kedua hal di atas… hanya saja yang ayah katakan kepada mereka berdua bahwa bagi ayah agama adalah sesuatu yang sangat personal, sangat private. sesuatu yang berkaitan antara diri kita dan Allah SWT. Menurut ayah, akan sangat baik ketika seseorang melakukan sesuatu yang berkaitan dengan agama selalu didasari oleh hati kita yang memerintahkan bukan external pressure. Misalnya untuk teman ayah yang sedang bimbang untuk pakai jilbab atau tidak, ayah katakan bahwa ayah bisa membawa setumpuk dasar-dasar dan dalil-dalil yang menyatakan bahwa jilbab adalah wajib atau tidak, tetapi itu semua menurut ayah tidak penting jika yang bersangkutan masih meragukan apalagi pakai jilbab hanya karena ada external pressure (tekanan dari luar) seperti ingin dipuji, takut dicibir orang, takut dikatain,takut dimarahi, dll… ayah bilang jika hatinya sudah menyatakan bahwa inilah saatnya pakai jilbab, maka tinggal pakai saja karena hatilah yang akhirnya paling menentukan. Percuma dia pakai jilbab kalau tidak meyakini, atau bahkan pakai jilbab tapi tidak bertingkah seperti yang seharusnya. Karena jilbab hanya merupakan sebuah tampilan luar saja, yang paling penting adalah apa yang dilakukan dan diyakininya. Demikian pula hal yang sama ayah katakan kepada teman ayah yang sedang berpikir untuk masuk organisasi keagamaan tadi. Kita memang harus mempelajari banyak hal terutama dalam hal keagamaan karena pengetahuan kita yang banyak akan dapat membantu hati menentukan hal yang menurut hati kita paling benar. Tetapi yang paling penting adalah hati kita mempercayai dan meyakini apa yang kita lakukan adalah memang yang benar dan bukan karena tekanan dari luar. Hati nggak akan pernah bisa kita bohongi. Kita bisa melakukan sesuatu agar terlihat dari luar seperti yang diharapkan tetapi hati kita tidak akan bisa dibohongi bahwa kita melakukan hal tersebut adalah karena terpaksa (apa pun motifnya…). tokh akhirnya kita sendiri lah nanti yang akan mempertanggungjawabkan perbuatan dan kelakuan kita di depan Allah SWT…

nggak tahu ah liv…. ayah cuma ingin berusaha untuk beribadah dan beragama itu hanya karena Allah SWT bukan karena siapa pun atau apa pun…

love you always

ayah dicky

Dear libby,

This is me Adelle.I miss you so much.Later, Laras is going to England.And we’ve got a new sister name Aliyya.I wish that we could see each others.And long time I had a dream about you.The dream is you are playing with me . And Aliyya is sleeping with mommy .I wish that you’ll see the new sofa and table.

kisses and hugs

Adelle

Dear Libby
eci send me a nice poem, liv…too bad I don’t know who wrote. it’s something about being grateful on having kids and really cherish the time that we have with them..

To My Children

Just for this morning,
I am going to smile when I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning,
I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.

Just for this morning,
I am going to step over the laundry and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning,
I will leave the dishes in the sink,and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.

Just for this afternoon,
I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.

Just for this afternoon,
I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon,
I won’t worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, Or second guess every decision I have made where you are concern ed.

Just for this afternoon,
I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won’t stand over you trying to fix them.

Just for this afternoon,
I will take us to McDonald’s and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening,
I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.

Just for this evening,
I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry. Just for this evening,
I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.

Just for this evening,
I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favourite TV shows.

Just for this evening
when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children, The mothers and fathers who are visiting their children’s graves instead of their bedrooms.

The mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly and screaming inside that little body

And when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer.

It is then, that I will thank God for you, and ask Him for nothing, except one more day………

If only I could have that one more day with you liv…. just if only…

hugs and kisses
ayah dicky