Out With The Old, In With The New

*from my other blog at Dilla Speaks Out

My maid, Lidiya, is gone. She’s been gone for quite sometime now - she left for Pontianak on August 3rd, 2006. It was quite emotional for me, hubby and our little princess, Khadra. You see, she’s been with us since Khadra was only 2 months old. That makes it 3 whole years with us and she was rather close to both the kids.

On the morning of her departure (taking the 7.30am flight by AirAsia to Kuching), she went into our bedroom at 4.00am to kiss the kids goodbye. Khadra woke up and wailed uncontrollably, so we decided to bring her along to the LCCT - still in her PJs. That proved to be a good decision on our part as Khadra was able to see Lidiya go with her own two eyes. I think it is harder for us to see how Khadra would cope without her since Khadra can now express herself quite explicitly. Khaleeq, on the other hand, seems to be going about his business as usual - with or without Lidiya.

So, it was quite surprising to me that Khadra’s heartache was comforted by RM38 worth of chocolate almost immediately. Sure, Khadra still mentions her name , but in the non-hysterical kind of way. She was convinced that Bibik Lidiya was going to the movies (note: Khadra detests the movies) and she couldn’t follow ‘coz "Khadra takut movies!" A few days after, she was going on about Lidiya is in her kampung meeting up with her friends. Now, almost a week(plus) after, she is going about in her merry way ; dropping Lidiya’s name maybe once in every 2-3 days. So, I guess we are good on that department!

How are we coping without her? Quite well, considering. We were lucky to have Lidiya ‘coz she was super efficient. Everything was done promptly and I must say she is the Queen of Multitasking. So, suffice to say that she is quite a tough act to follow. Now, IN came Bibik Parmi. 31 on the passport but says that she’s 35 in real life. More slo-mo, I must say. We are trying to get her to quicken her pace a little and so far, it is going rather OK. We have been bunking at Pondok Azlul since as Bibik Parmi is under the watchful eyes of my Ibu and Mak Langkawi. She’s being tutored in the-way-to-do-things before we can shift our butts back to Pantai. Khadra had just drawn a picture of Bibik Parmi in school. She was holding a bucket and penyapu in her hands, complete with straight hair (albeit standing hair). I guess it’s official now, Bibik Parmi is now part of the team.

So, yes.. Things are shaping and looking up. Alhamdulillah..

-dillz blogging out-