It's amazing how hard it can be to keep things in perspective when you're going about your every day life and routine. Jazz and I both realized that we have been feeling stressed and overwhelmed by our respective feelings towards life and other things. But by the end of the evening we realized how crazy it is to be stressing out about perpetual matters.

When we got to the Verandah, we were blessed with a visit of an old lady who sat down for a chat. As always, Jazz will invite anyone who passes by, to sit and have coffee, and the old lady welcomed the invitation without much hesitations.

At 9.30 pm, she had just come back from her daughter’s in Johor Bahru. She was dragging a ‘pull’-bag that has evidently seen its days, the zip has broken, and she kept the bag together by pinning 3 safety pins as if it will secure the content from hands of the eyeing snatches.

Both her hands were laded with gold bracelets up to her arms. Underneath her humble scarf, she showed us a thick gold chain complete with a pendant of gold coin similar to those that used to decorate the chests of our old Boyanese makciks.

I wonder how this fragile old lady, has so much courage to travel back and forth from Singapore to Johor Bahru with all those glitters and blings without attracting suspicious eyes.

When she started to talk and shared her life story, which includes the late Tan Sri P.Ramlee and his wife Saloma, Mariani, S Shamssudin and Aziz Sattar, not to mentioned her two husbands, one of whom is a well known singer in the 60s. She is proud that she wrote song lyrics for some of the popular songs back then. And being educated from Madrasah Alsagoff, she is capable to teach Quran to whoever is interested. She counted 1 to 10 in Japanese just to proof to us that she survived the World War II, and how she is now having a hard time understanding English speaking great grandchildren, with only the understanding of 'YES', 'NO', 'VERY GOOD'. She has been on a Milo 'only' diet for 3 years and staying strong with only consuming 'energy' drinks seems like a daunting task to me. She said that she had vision that death is nearing. Aren't we all? In that age, death is the only thing that we look forward to ... No?

I then realized the hardship that this lady has gone through. Life as it seems, has been hard for her, and at the same time, has been generous as well. A very strongwill lady.

After the fulfilling 2 hrs story by Hajah Azizah, I then realized that my life has been kind to me. There is nothing to be stress about, but only thankful and ‘kesyukuran’ for Allah Almighty is really looking down at me. And I humble myself to His Qada’ and Qadar.

We really are lucky to have what we have - health, family, friends -how come it's so hard to just stop and appreciate that?