Living with the Worst Comedian EVER in the Whole Wide World

My father. The Comedian. *Sigh!*

I was in my room when Mikhail popped in. "Come on here and give me a hug!", and Mika dutifully gave me a good bear hug. I like to tease him and in an astonished tone exclaimed, "Hey! I smell a perfume on you! A girrrl's perfume! Have you been hugging girls in school?!"

"Naaaaw, Papa!" he protested.

"But you DO smell of girl's perfume!" I insisted.

"No, Papa! I have been hanging out with Aidan, Yu Shen, Amirul ...." 

"Really? Funny how your girlfriends' names are like boys'."

He rolled his eyes exasperated, "Because they ARE boys! Papaa.... stop it!"

Hehehe. Satisfied, I concluded, "I am so funny, right?"

He didn't reply, but sat on the bed quiet like. Then without facing me, he suddenly asked. "Knock! Knock!"

"Who's there?" I replied in the time-honoured tradition.

"Papa." 

"Papa who?" I inquired.

"Papa the Worst Comedian Ever in the Whole Wide World."

Teasing Mika. Being a son of mine, it is open-season for teasing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by me and his uncles. That is the heavy cross my son has to bear. But he is getting good at his courteous retorts, I think.

Both Mika and myself were coughing a bit last night. "I am just like you, Papa." My son observed. "If you are sick, I am sick. Like Papa, like Son, you know..."

Yes, Mika. I know.

The Cosmic Kindergarten. I find life to be one long education in a cosmic kindergarten of God. Mikhail's first name is Muhammad, in honour of the Messenger. It is my life-long love and vocation to know more about God, more about Muhammad, more about my own son, and in no small way contributing to my own understanding about myself.

So far there is nothing to praise in me, being the stubborn sinner that I am. But by reading and listening to the stories about God and the Prophet, and learning human nature from the little clone of myself that is Mikhail, I take refuge in the goodness of their hearts

20. The Storytelling Time

Ah! Like children are we,

In a storytelling time

At a cosmic kindergarten!

You are sitting and listening

To the Messenger telling you

About God,

And what God is and isn’t.

You are also sitting and listening

To God telling you

About His Messenger,

And what His Messenger is and isn’t.

According to your faculties and condition,

Some may understand a lot, while others less so,

But all are deeply loved

By the Owner of the Kindergarten

And His Storyteller.

Have a lovely day, sunshine. God bless all children...

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way