Raya Preparations...

Its another 2 days till Raya and I am still at work. Since I started my medical career, I never really had much leave for Raya, I was always on standby. Its not that I do not want to spend raya holidays as other people would, but if you are always the leader, sometimes you need to make certain sacrifices.
This year Raya preparations is considered quite a lavish change. For the first time in my life, I get to spend Hari Raya with my kids exactly where I want them to be. In my home and that is not while I'm in confinement. I have spent most of my married years traveling back up north to my ex-husbands hometown, just to please my in-laws, although I never stay long due to hospital duties but the days I spent was enough to drive me up the wall most of the time. I would normally fly up separately, or fly down separately like some business trip.
This year raya, my children are excited with the change of furniture, curtains and also the baking activities that they haven't seen their mum do in so long - or maybe never. My in-laws were the more diligent ones when it comes to cookies and cakes - but it does not mean that I'm totally useless at it. I actually fair quite well. Just need to flex my baking skills that I have kept in closet for so long.
Raya to me is one of the most hectic days, which will lead to few sleepless nights and continuous playing host. Even today, despite working, I managed to rush home during lunch to do some last minute groceries, rearrange some furniture and even baked a batch of cookies, though left them still in the oven for my sister to continue my work. Rush back to work with my toddler to tend to hospital duties, and in awhile I will be rushing of to the airport to pick up a friend. Then back home to prepare for berbuka, and another night of shopping for other ingredients I may need for raya - and perhaps cake baking session tonight. Perhaps a little overwhelming for one person to do. But maybe that's why some of my friends call me superwoman. Between career, kids, home and my other outer activities, and I still have time to write my blog, study for an exam - yeah I'm hyper, or maybe just extremely bored.
Although this Raya, despite all the hustling and bustling, there are times when I suddenly wish I had a man in my life to just take half of all the burden away. However, being an all-rounded who is entirely capable of doing everything herself, it becomes a real problem. Especially for most guys who would think, if the chick can do everything, just let her do it. So here is where I get stuck. How do you get a guy to do stuff for you if they think you are already too capable. Impossible, exactly. So the trick is to make yourself look vulnerable, or be vulnerable just for the sake of able to relax your head more. This is one lesson that I have yet to learn in life, and perhaps will be the lesson I would need to learn by next year before I can get an ideal partner to suit my frantic mood swings and hyperactivity. Have I completely learnt my lesson on patience yet? Only God knows the answer to that.
An old friend of mine came up to me and told me that a guy was eager to propose to her after Raya but she was having doubts. She has only known the man for 2 months and yet she finds him demanding and stingy. I told her, forget about him - if you don't really like the guy there is no point of marrying. Don't just marry a man for the sake of companionship or money, there must be more to it. This is the advice I have given, it is one that I must keep to follow. She also asked me about my opinion if she married as a second wife for a man who is well established but looking for a lady locally to guard his business interests int he country. I told her, go and meet the guy first.
I am not a strong supporter of polygamy despite it being allowed in my religion. I just feel that the many men who do polygamy only know the first sentence allowing polygamy, but pretty much unaware of what the whole verse meant. Most men uses the polygamy sentence to their own benefit, and instead of getting more rewards they collect more sins. I for one, God forbid, that if my future husband should ever have any intention for polygamy, the only thing I ask is that the lady must be better than me in all aspects be it education, religion, home affairs, name it, and that I would be allowed to spend 1 day with this lady to evaluate. If she is indeed a good lady and fulfills my criteria and God's, then I would personally ask for her hand for my future husband's sake.
But why talk about polygamy.... I thought this was suppose to be about raya. Speaking of which, my baby needds milk, and I need to be on my way already. Time to start my hectic raya preparations.