Friendship, Love & Truth

Friendship_love_and_truth

True friend is someone who might disagree with your choices in life yet support you anyway & tell it to your face, not behind your back!

Came up with these lines today when I was thinking about all the friendships I ever had in my 30 years of living on this planet. It pretty much sums it all up, don’t you think?

In my lifetime this far, I’ve met and made a lot of friends and undeniably some of us bonded, these are the people that I would lovingly refer to as my besties. Unfortunately some of these friendships crashed and burned, leaving dark memories behind. Have to admit that I still found myself grief for some of these people that I chose to cut ties with completely. Forgiveness is easy yet to forget…that’s quiet harder.

From the 4 majors’ besties breakup I ever had, betrayals were always the source. Betrayal cuts deep and left you brokenhearted much like when you broke up with a boyfriend. Because betrayal means the trust between you and that other person has been violated. Didn’t they say that those closest to you hurt you the most?

After my first two breakups, I thought I had learned to be careful, but apparently life still needs to teach me more and presented me with the last twos. As my father always tell me “You learned the hard way!” and that’s what happened.

Losing two people that I thought were my besties last year were very public, thanks to the internet village. News travel much faster these days so those who’ve known me probably had heard about what happened. No, I’m not going to write the juicy details here as there’s no point to it.

It is a jungle after all out there when it comes to friendship. When I zoomed in on friendship between fellow Indonesians who are in a mix-marriage/relationship, I saw this annoying trend that is difficult to fathom.  At first I wasn’t very aware of this but after being married for 4 years now, I realized how fake these friendships can be. Don’t get me wrong, there are some truly-genuinely-real-sweethearts out there in these crowds that I had befriends with yet the mean-bitchy-two faced-gossipers are plenty! Oh don’t forget the weird ones too; these kinds of girls are the one that only talks about how much money their husbands make and what kinds of designer labels they have. What’s with the negativity, ladies? All the luxury things you can afford is good for you but it’s not everything and it shouldn’t be an issue when it comes to friendship. Too much drama, mama!

Sometimes I would discuss this with one of my close friend who lives in the States and we both shrug in confusion when we tried to analyze what causing this. Is it rivalry, does it bring them joys to belittle someone else? Only God knows the real answer probably but it is a sad phenomenon when you think about it.

Prior to those two major breakups, I thought I had shielded myself from all these negative energies but boy, was I up for a rude awakening! It hurts like hell inside! Just like a brokenhearted girl, I used to well OK sometimes, still play the whys-how comes-how could discs in my head.

My lessons would be to keep things to myself and to keep my guard up at all time.

Here’s a little something something I wrote after the last breakup:

Camaraderie Avenue was not made to be easy
It wasn’t build in a night or two
Even after years flew like a breeze
Some things may left untrue

Like a glass castle
It is still frail
And when it crumbles
Pieces will cut you profoundly leaving your feelings stale

No glue could ever restore what’s vanished
Imaginations at its best
Nothing but wishful belief you should banished
No use to try and guessed

Time will finally come
For you to pack then turn your back
Keep walking even when you’re numb
Your bleeding heart will eventually healed on its track

The scar will always be there
To strike a chord once in a blue moon
It will linger and it’s alright to grieve
You will eventually learn to trust again

Ayam and Solo Mothering

Pic from istockphoto
Pic from istockphoto

Pic from istockphoto

A friend of mine asked a very intriguing question awhile back, you know that kind of question that a little mind boggling you just have to write about it.

She’s also a mixed couple with children who recently moved back to Jakarta due to her husband’s job, much similarities to my own. Like mine, her hubby’s job also involved a lot of traveling, thus the question “How do you deal with it?”, “Do you ever worry about the ‘ayams*’ here?” arises.

Let’s answer the first question…

How do I deal with it? Meaning how do I cope with our marriage and parenting issues while Mr. H is traveling a lot for work?  Well, I think there’s no one size fits all answer to this kinds of questions. It all depends on the couple itself. When we were still in the US, I was already accustomed to his sometimes odd hour schedules or having him called in to work in the middle of the night or at wee hour before dawn. Like it or not, I had to adjust, it is his job after all.

Then come China last year, we spent so much time apart due to visa problems (who knew Chinese visa/resident permit is harder to get than American one!). In total, we were separated for nearly 10 months, yes, I counted it!

When he started working here, we both knew that there will be a lot of traveling involved on his part. It’s not easy, believe me…there are times where I just feel so overwhelmed trying to fill his absences especially when it comes to our son, Lil’ A. He’s too little to really grasp why Daddy isn’t around all that much although he knows that Daddy’s working. But to see/hear your little one calling out for his Daddy while he’s sleeping can really break one’s heart, I tried as best as I can to fill in his needs for some masculinity touches. Although at the end of the day I feel like my back is about to break from playing rough with him, you know the kind of games father – son does. Also, dealing with the sweet terrible two moments alone can be so hard. Lil’ A is so strong willed and I can be very emotional. Not a good combo, and that’s when I wish his Daddy can stepped in since he’s always the patient and cool-headed one. God only knows how many times I played this image of handed Lil’ A to his Daddy while I hold a suitcase and said “Here you go, I’m taking a vacation…alone!” LOL!

Through our times a part while he’s working in China, I learnt to take things one day at a time when it comes to Lil’ A. if not I’m sure they’d put me in a restraining jacket by now. Having my immediate families around also helps as I can’t imagine going through this alone.

Now on to the second question…

I just had to tease that poor worry girl that what we’re dealing here is not as bad as how some of ‘those’ girls are in China. Once I read in a forum somewhere about the girls there and their ability to do a staring-rape! No kidding! I experienced that too when I was in China at the place you’d least expected it…supermarket with Lil’ A around! Seesh!

Ok, on a serious note, I am very well aware of the ‘fierceness’ of these bule hunters here in Jakarta who doesn’t give a rat’s ass if the guy already wear a wedding ring, have a wife and kids. Growing up in small towns where expats were all over, you’ll be assured I’ve seen just about every possible scenario of how another woman can wreck a marriage. Does it scare me? Honestly, as a normal woman, I have that worries far in the back of my mind but the fear itself does not took me hostage. Meaning, yes I know the risks, the temptations are always around. Yes, I trust him wholeheartedly but there are some things that beyond our control. Can I stop it? Of course not! All I can do is working on the marriage itself, from the inside. Our marriage is far from perfect, but then again who have one? So why waste 0ur precious moments worrying about the ‘what ifs’ when it will only drive us crazy?

It’s not like we can put a chastity belt on our husbands, right? ;)

*Ayam: a term Indonesian use for those girls who hunts foreigners mostly for their money.

I ♥ Faces ~ “My Story In Photos: Favorite Things”

Collage

This week’s ‘theme’ is so much fun! Speaking of favorite things, I got too many LOL but here are just a few not in particular order:

1. Pug(s),

I’ve always LOVE pugs and had two pugs in my whole life, the last one we had, Elvis died in 2008 and it was one of the saddest day of my life. I still miss my furry baby so much.

2. Chilies,

For the love of spicy food! LOL :D

3. Pearls,

Pearls are timeless and they’re one of my favorite necklaces.

4. Travelling,

Been having an itch to travel, it’s been awhile since the last time I travel.

5. Seeing my father & his grandson,

It always pull a few heartstrings watching them two together. Lil’ A is my parents’ first grandson so they’re all over him LOL.

6. Watching Lil’ A Sleep,

I never really know one can sleep so peacefully until I see him sleeping.

7. Butterfly,

8. Brotherly Love,

Watching Lil’ A and his big half-brother always makes me smile.

9. Extreme Rides,

What can I say, I just love the rush of adrenalin feelings when you get on one of these extreme rides. And yes, I slide down that scary looking-world-longest-indoor-slide :P

10. Old Buildings,

There’s always something romantic in these old buildings that I found very captivating.

11. Sunset in Bali,

It’s been awhile since the last time I was in Bali but in my heart Bali will always remain one of my favorite place to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

12. Fair ,

From cotton candy to funnel cakes, to colorful displays. Love them!

13. Father & Son

Work has been ‘separating’ DH & Lil’ A a lot for over a year now so it is always my favorite thing watching them together.

Join the fun here: I Faces

Let Him Be Little…

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This is suppose to be fun!

Ok, this post will be a RANT…

For about a little over a month now, Lil’ A has been showing great interests in my make-ups as you can see on my posting here.

It all started while we were still living at my parents’ house. He would asked (well, more like demanded, actually!) his grandma (Oma) to put lipstick on him too whenever he sees Oma trying to put some on. We tricked him and giving him a chapstick instead.

Later on he moved to face powder and blush-ons especially mine. He would throw a fit if I didn’t let him play with it and since I thought there’s no harm in him playing I gave him one of my blush-on that I never use and a brush. He had fun and said “Look at my cheeks, Mommy.

Apparently, some people are against this especially here, “Don’t let him plays with make-ups! He’ll turn gay or queer!” Even my two brothers were complaining about this. However, after I explained to them that it is just a toddler thing. Monkey see, monkey do…he sees me putting my make-ups on, he wants to try it himself. He sees me putting some body lotion on, he wanted it too.  It will not determine his sexual orientation later on. Both of them finally let it go.

Not easy to explain this kinds of things to others as I heard the comments from people outside my family circle. It bugs me a lot, to say the least. I even asked the last person who made such comment to show me the scientific evidence that toddler boys who plays with his mommy’s make-ups will turn gay when they grow up to no avail.

Mr. X said the most common sense thing on the phone to me today when I vented out. He said “For him, it’s just a toy, something to experiment with. Nothing more. The more we tell him no, the more he wants it.

Coming from a very gender specific culture, this is one thing that I wish I can change, but I know I can’t change how others think. The perception and unnecessary paranoia about a boy who plays with stuffed toys or worst make-ups are so silly in my opinion. So what if my son wants to play dress up too? Will you have a heart attack seeing him trying on my heels?! How come a girl who’d rather plays soccer or refused to wear skirts only be ‘labeled’ as a tomboy but a boy who plays dress-up or painting his face with his mommy’s make-ups immediately going to grow up as a queer?! Does it mean that you’re gay if you hang out with gays too? No, right?!

I have talked with other parents of toddler who said their boys went through the same thing. So please keep your comments and your precious parenting advices to yourself because my son doesn’t need to hear all your negativity. And I will not limit his fun just for the fear that he’ll turn gay! Allow him to be little and enjoy this precious toddlerhood moments.

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