The Hand of God, Lullabies of the Angels & the Wise

Last Saturday, Mikhail had a sleepover at his cousin Aqheel's house. It is the beginning of school holidays here in Malaysia. Of the 3 sons from my eldest brother, the other two being Adam and Imran, I guess it is Aqheel whom Mika likes to spend the most time with, simply because they are both in primary school. Imran is already in high school and Adam is pursuing his creative ambitions in College. There is an infectious enthusiasm when Mika and Aqheel gets together which I find refreshing, amused in their own world of video games, board games and movies.

Mika is a competitive boy but he dislikes being taught because it is a sign of his weakness. Case in point - Heche would tease him as he fails to score points on the PSP. He would get so exasperated, "Okay, here... take it! See if you can do better!" Heche instead suggests to him to see how Aqheel plays the game. His cousin would then take the console and do some serious button crunching combo to annihilate the enemy, "Like this, then this, then this!" But my son completely ignores his cousin's instructions and would instead be watching tv. After some frantic action on the game, Aqheel would pass the PSP back to Mika, "Okay, now you do it." Mika would quietly take the console, then stare at Aqheel blankly, and ask, "So now what?"

Last night, Mika confided in me. "Papa, do you know what is my favourite program on TV now?"

"No, I don't know, Mika." I replied.

"You would be surprised, Papa." then he paused for dramatic effect before continuing, "It's Romance. It's a story about a teenage boy and a teenage girl."

*Gulp*.

Our kids are going to grow up as fast as they want to. God bless their sweet souls and our only prayer as a parent is that may we not spoil the lullabies being sung to them by the Angels and the Wise.

12. Hand of God
I am in the cradle
Of my heart and thoughts,
Being swayed with gentleness
By the Hand of God, sung to,
With lullabies from
The Angels and the Wise.

Pax Taufiqa.