Happy 2016!

Whether we are ready or not, 2015 is about to leave us, and 2016 are looking forward to enter. As many of you know, every year I like to do my whole year inventory and see what I have achieved and what am I looking forward to in the new year. My 2015 year was a good year, and I am proud to say I did achieve pretty much all of mine realistic goals. The top goals I achieved were I get my black belt, I lived in the power of now and enjoyed each day with a positive attitude. For the last couple of years, I had a dream to publish a book, and finally in 2015 I published my first book. In 2015 my other goal was to go to my daughter’s university to visit her. This is her last year, and I so wanted to go this year. The whole year went by, and for many reasons I couldn't go to UCLA. I’m not happy about it, but there is nothing I can do to change it. So I had to let it go.

It seemed like we just started 2015, and here I am writing about 2015 being about to end. It went pretty quickly and made all of us a year older. I am looking forward to 2016 with more realistic goals and hoping for an even  better year for all of us. I know not everyone had a good year. Many bad things happened, not just locally but also nationwide. It was, is and always will be very sad, and my heart goes out to those victims and to their friends and families. Unfortunately life goes on, and slowly but surely we learn how to start living without our loved once. But they will always be into our hearts. And we will miss them dearly.

I hope and I am praying 2016 will be a much better year for all of us. And if for whatever reason you couldn’t achieve your 2015 goals--- whether they were a  healthy lifestyle, exercise, starting own business or starting or finishing school --- whatever was your goal, please don’t be discouraged. We can’t go back and change anything, but what we have is today and hopefully tomorrow. So start where you left off and start walking again. We aren’t competing with anyone but with our own self. The key to achieve any goal is to believe in yourself and have a positive attitude.  

I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

My Hajj

My Ammie was a Muslim woman. And she practiced it every single day until she died. But there was one pillar of Islam called Hajj, which is the last pillar of Islam. She always wanted to do that. That was her wish before she died. Here is where you can learn about what Hajj is;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj. Growing up I knew that was her last wish but due to her social, economic and religions requirements, she couldn’t go to  Saudi Arabia to do her Hajj. Many Muslim women and men--- young and old--- who have gone to Hajj before say when they went they felt a very strong connection toward the religion and felt it was their calling and nothing could stop them.

For some reason I have not felt that connection or calling to go to Hajj, but three years ago, after 7 years of not visiting family in Karachi, I was planning on visiting my Ammie with my girls, but something inside of me told me that instead of us going to Karachi I should send Ammie to Hajj. When I talked to her about it, of course she got pretty excited and happy. But for religious reason Ammie couldn’t go all by herself or with me. Due to the religious requirements women have to be with a male figure whom she can’t  marry. I happen to have a cousin who was living in Saudi Arabia. I called him, and he and I were planning Ammie’s hajj a while; she had a massive stroke, and of course she left this world without going to Hajj.

When I find out about Ammi’s stroke I couldn’t stop myself from being with her. I left the USA as soon as I could so I could be with her. Shortly after that, she started recovering  a little bit, and at some point I had to come back to the states. Before I left I didn’t have much hope for her long life, and like it or not I had to be honest with myself and I said goodbye to Ammie  forever and came back.

I didn’t have any plans to return after this trip. I dreamed about getting a call from my family and finding out she passed away. But that didn’t happen. Ammie started having small strokes, and her health started going down in no time. In June 2014 she went in vegetative coma. I had no plan at all for going back to Karachi but once I heard that, I couldn’t stop myself from being with her. It was like she was calling me, and I couldn't wait to leave everything here and just go. And that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t care about anything else, but she was calling me. And I had to go. The peace I received being with her is  indescribable. I saw  my Ammie was in a coma and pain was in pain, but I tried my best to provide comfort as much as possible for her. I feel pretty lucky and blessed she died right in front of my sisters, nieces and me. And my heart tells me that, that was my Hajj.

Before I started writing this column I’m fully aware many people might not agree with me or they might get upset, but my request for those people is please read my entire column and try to understand from my side but if you can’t that’s completely OK with me, and I will respect that. Personally I try to avoid  writing about anything related to religion because to me religion is personal, and everyone is entitled to have their own opinion. And I don’t like to create any negative issue related to religion. I love everyone regardless of their beliefs.