Highest Regard

This posting is, again, about a wonderful person I've met along the 'way'. I met her when I was in junior high school and we were separated until our time to meet again last year. There was this event that brought us together and the circumstances back then was so 'ugly' that some of us grew to rely on each other.

'Spiced' with her eastern Indonesian culture, she enjoys family gathering, singing and cooking. She's an independent woman, a bit stubborn, emotionally passionate about life, persistent and yet so gentle at heart. When I met her again last year after 21 years in a social network website, we instantly clicked. I visited her house and got to know her husband and children. Her late husband worked at a place close to the house. One day, he went home very early in the morning by motorcycle without any helmet. A car on a busy street, only 100 meters from the house, took his life. He could still get the motorcycle up with a severe bleeding on the head before he fell and died.

My friend and her husband were lovers since her time in junior high school. They were both madly in love. He was her first. Her husband had a unique habit of being a solitaire being which she surprisingly handled with patience and lots of love. Knowing how emotional she could really be, I know her patience came out of the deepest love one can possible have. His death was a great loss. When all members of the family wanted the car driver to be punished and jailed, she was the only one who forgave him. She said in a family meeting, 'No one, and I mean, no one meant to kill my husband. No hatred please. It's just his time to go. It's just his time.' If there's a regard for an angel, she'd won my highest.

Then, life got more difficult for her, especially because she has 2 kids to support. She makes ends meet by doing occasional catering jobs and giving make-up service to brides on weekends. Sometimes she has to go as far as Kerawang and stays at places from 3 AM in the morning (for the ijab kabul ceremony preparation) until 10 PM. And yet, never have I heard her complaints. From time to time, I took her and the kids to grab lunch or dinner or sing at a karaoke place to keep each other's news updated.

Four months after the husband's death, her father introduced her to a guy who is now her husband. The process took only 2 months before they decided that they want to live life as a couple. Talk about speed, eh? He was a widower with two kids, 24 and 22. She's with hers, 17 and 13. Almost like the Brady Bunch. I wish her nothing but the best.