Thank you for making my day.

My friends always have their very own way of making me feel better. Not that I always feel lousy. They are just very thoughtful indeed.

Ayu will call up to check if everything's fine once in a while and we'd talk and she'd just listen, though sometimes, she knows (I think) that whatever I said could be a bit nonsensical - musings of a feel-caged-up mother. Even, I myself think that what I say can be simply my raw take on life - without the prior thoughts and assessment on why things are the way they are. Ayu normally gets to hear all that. I pity her ears. But that's a great friend she is.

And another great friend also made my day. She is from London. A few days ago, I got a super pleasant surprise. I got a package from the mail and on it there was a By Air Mail sticker. I only thought of Shikin - being the sender. True enough. At the back of the package read her name and address.

At that time, my children were around me - eager to see what's inside the package. I sang to them `Mail time, mail time, mail time........' to the tune of the song in Blue's Clues. Their eyes simply lit up when I tore the seal to take out the contents.

Out came a London girl doll, with her belly-button showing but hey...it's just a doll..and this is to Khadijah's delight. She immediately went around the house with the London girl and soon she put her to sleep - a bit too early though, rested her head on the pillow. She was pretty pleased with her new-found friend.

Well, what can I say. When the Thomas magazine and sticker book emerged from the package, everything else fell into oblivion. Suddenly, whatever's on TV wasn't entertaining enough. Abdullah was so glued to the stuff that it took a good 1 hour for him to browse and busy himself with pasting and marvelling at the pictures. I must say that the Thomas characters seem to be larger than I normally see in books - they seem to come alive. And of course this is much to the delight of my son. And yes, he got a nice cool red t-shirt too.

Thanks guys - Shikin and Ayu! No words can sufficiently express my thanks for being there - just at the right time.

Here's the stuff I got from Shikin.