The Journey One Year On

On the 1^st of December 2011, three lives changed forever. My wife and I were blessed with a bundle of joy, our princess Inaya.

I can still remember the first time I held her in my arms and how she braced my finger, the bond between a father and daughter was forever formed at that moment.

I can’t seem to thank Allah enough for the Blessing that He’s bestowed upon us.

The year was filled with diaper changes, lullabies, nursery rhymes and clowning around for a smile that always made it worthwhile. It’s been precious and heartwarming. 

From her aqiqa to her ear piercing, her first crawl to her first steps, life has passed by way too fast and all we have are the memories and a prayer to Allah that more such amazing moments come up in life.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think of the joy that Inaya’s brought to our lives. She’s been a source of calm and comfort to both me and my wife. Every day has been a new adventure with her and this is what makes it so much more interesting.

I love waking up in the morning just before my daughter and having the opportunity to wake her up as well. She's one of the most content babies I've ever seen. She'll always wake up with a smile on her face (once the sleep wears off). Never have I seen her wake up with a cry. It’s as if she embraces each new day with a sense of optimism and wonder for things to come. She’d be doing the same things day in and day out but every time it seems like she’s enjoying it for the first time.

She loves going to the kitchen to make sure her mother is still around. Once she’s confirmed that, she finds the potato basket and takes out one, two and sometimes three at a time and places them around the home, which for some reason gives her immense gratification and I will never understand why.

There have been days when I’ve come home from the office extremely exhausted from work, thinking that all I’ll do is hit the sack immediately, but as I open the door and greet my wife and daughter, I hear Inaya making a sound of sheer excitement that cannot be described in words. My daughter waits the entire day for me to come home. No matter where she is in the house, she’ll make her way to the main door and give me a big hug. That feeling is something I will never want to forget.

I love spending the weekends with her and just watching her roam around the home talking to herself and picking up random things from one room and bring them to me as if I had asked for them.

She doesn’t like playing with dolls, which is quite surprising and frankly a good saving for me. However, oddly enough the things that she likes playing with are wires, ear phones and my old XBOX controller! Oh and she doesn’t like cartoons on TV, no sir, she has to watch football or cricket! I don’t think I even watch cricket or football with such passion like she does at such a tender age.

She’ll sit with me for hours while I play FIFA and at times she walks up to the TV as if to point to my team and starts speaking, probably trying to tell me what tactic to use so that I don’t suck as bad as I normally do.

The day Inaya learned to walk was the day I realized I would have to let her experience things a lot more on her own. The falling down, the crying, the consolation from her father and a helping hand from her mother would give her the confidence to always get up and try again. I don't want her to ever quit on something she believes in and has started.

I want my daughter to be able to grow up knowing that we were always there for her but she also had the opportunity to live life the way she chose to, knowing full well that we would have planted the right seeds to make her into a pious person and letting her make the choices at the end of the day. 

Perhaps like every parent, I too want to live through her success and see her achieve so much in life. I can't seem to find the words to express my deepest affection for our child. Seeing her explore the smallest of things around her and smiling, just makes me the happiest man in the world.

I hope and pray that Allah makes her strong, humble, caring and most of all submissive to His Will. She’s given energy to two old souls. May my daughter always see success in her life and be a source of happiness for all around her.

Happy birthday my little princess,  

Love

Mama and Papa