The Little Seed That Could Grow Only in Winter

Farah is 6 years old, in K2. This is what she wrote yesterday. This is done as a project with her 7-year-old cousin, Sofiyah. They decided that each of them would write a few stories based on a little seed. Their ultimate aim is to present these stories to their other cousins as part of their Sunday Nonsense.

The Middle Child

Have not written about Farah for quite some time so here are some things about her which are interesting.

1. Even though she doesn't have to be in school until 9am, she gets upset when we do not wake her up together with Huda at 6am. When she gets upset, her glare is enough to melt an iceberg. 

2. She is extremely generous with her food. Whenever we eat fried chicken or fried fish, she will share the crispy skin with everyone although that is her favourite part. 

3. She loves reading and she reads well for her age. 

4. She doesn't understand some of the words that she reads. She used to just infer the meaning of the words (not accurately sometimes resulting in her saying things like "my tongue feels so disappointed" ~said in mid 2014) but these days she would ask us to explain the meaning of the words.  

5. Sometimes, she'll ask us the meaning of the words in very random situations. A few days ago, she asked what 'possessed' meant. I thought it was something to do with spirits but I sought clarification from her anyway. 

"Where did you see the word?" I asked. 

"Once upon a time, in a land far away, a single drop of sunlight fell to the ground and grew into a magical golden flower that possessed healing powers."

(Yes. She quoted verbatim from a storybook she read a few days earlier.)

This happens very regularly. Sometimes she's about to sleep and she would ask the meaning of a word and would quote the sentence it appears in. I'm impressed with her memory. 

6. A little voice within me and a few voices around me told me that I should send her to a madrasah. She would definitely be able to cope with the syllabus, they said. But, I am not sure if *I* can cope with it.

7. She is very loving to her little brother but less so to the older sister. Often, before she goes to school, she tells me, "Mak, can you tell Ihsan that Kakak Farah loves him very much?"

After months and months of this, I asked her why couldn't she just tell him herself. 

She said, "I don't want him to forget me when I'm in school."

8. Her treatment of Ihsan when they play together reminds me of Elmyra from Animaniacs. At times, I have to stop her from being too rough with the little boy.

9. I love how much faith she has in Allah. She believes in the power of du'a and many times, her du'a is answered. Her du'a for now is for everyday stuff. Food, ability to do things (like, unscrew a jar etc). Once she made du'a for nenek to cook her favourite pucuk manis masak lemak (otherwise known as 'the green vegetable with the yellow gravy'. I forgot about it and that day, when we went to my mother's house, my mother happened to cook exactly that. Another day, we had leftover beef soup for sahur and there weren't many pieces of potatoes left. She wanted more and to pacify her, I told her to make du'a for potatoes. That evening, my mother gave us a potato dish for buka. Masya Allah. The power of du'a. 

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My du'a for Farah, Huda and Ihsan is for them to always have complete and unwavering faith in Allah. I du'a that they will always be hardworking and will always strive hard for their goals. Being 'clever' when you are young is meaningless if it's not accompanied by a desire and the will to better yourself  throughout your life.