Memories to last a life-time

When I eat a chocolate chip muffin... I remember you.
When I skip while walking down the hall... I remember you.
When I light a scented candle... I remember you.
When I listen to Beyonce... I remember you.

Letting go is hard.. accepting change is harder.
Knowing that from this day on.. nothing will ever be the same..
The comradeship -though deeply cherished- will now have a different meaning.

And yet..
When I watch "The Day after Tomorrow"... I remember you.
When I ride my bike, the wind tickling my scarf... I remember you.
When my eyes tear up from sucking a sour Warheads candy... I remember you.


I found a way to let you in... but I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo.. I got my angel now
~Beyonce

For Good Cause?

I pity the plastic skull on my bookshelf..

It has witnessed many forms of physical abuse under my hands...

Poking wires through the foramens to observe the different paths of the nerves as they exit the cranial vault and pass through the superior orbital fissure and infra-temporal fossa...

Moving the mandible too many times left and right..right and left.. so I can comprehend the difference between Bennet's Angle and his movement.. thank God it doesn't have an articular disc or it would have been completely degenerated by now...

Injecting local anesthesia into the maxilla and mandible from every possible angle.. if there had been real muscles I'd be dealing with bilateral paralysis in both arches...

And the last straw.. practicing extraction.. as if the poor thing hasn't suffered enough.. now I'm hauling out all its teeth...

Ah.. the adventures of a dental student!

Humanity? What's that?

I hate when tradition conflicts with common sense and religion.
When we have to live our lives according to standards set by ancestors who breathed air unpolluted by automobiles, who survived without the kinship of television or the internet

I hate when the thin line separating truth from fraud becomes blurry, so that even with my prescription glasses it's hard to tell which is which

I hate that by growing up it gets easier to discover the gruesome faces behind the gorgeous masks

I hate that when someone smiles at you, you immediately think: "Oh great, I wonder what she wants from me this time", instead of the smile being a mere symbol of kindness

I miss sincerity.
I miss kindred souls.

It just can't get better than this...

The moment that takes your breath away...
Untainted, innocent and pure.

When you're studying for a mid-term and your 6 year old sister kisses you on the cheek -out of the blue- then heads off to grab her Strawberry Shortcake coloring book from the bookshelf.

When your eyes fill with tears as you listen to your Christian Filipino maid announce her Shahada for the first time in the local mosque.

When you gaze from the balcony and see your teenage brother place a bowl of water on the staircase for the chirping pigeons on the patio, in the heat of the never-ending Jeddah summer.

When you're chatting with your best friend reminiscing the good old "high-school" days, the atmosphere in the room filled with warmth defying the bellowing winds of Riyadh's winter outside.

When you pray with devotion to Allah on the night of your General Medicine final exam that you'll do great the next day, the calmness that envelopes you knowing that only He can hear your supplications, however versatile they may be.

When you're awake at that un-earthly hour of dawn, it seems as if the whole city is asleep and all your dreams are achievable, all impossibles are possible.

When you quench your thirst with the cool water of Zamzam after performing Ummrah under the stubborn sunrays at noon.

When you catch the spark of pride in your parents' eyes, no words are even necessary.

These moments I live for.
These moments I cherish.

Perfect..yeah right.

You know that age when you're 12 and you look at college girls and think
"Wow, they know everything"
"They can do everything perfectly"
"Nobody tells them to "Grow up and stop acting like a baby"

Well guess what?

We don't know that much..
And doing something flawlessly is only if it involves a box of ready-made Betty Crocker Brownies..

I gaze at my 12 year old cousin and think
"She can do all the mistakes she wants"
"Nobody tells her that "You should know better, you're a grown-up"

Tis a pity.. tis true..

So many wars with unknown heroes...
So many sacrifices forgotten...

A dozen researchers make a revolutionary discovery yet are hidden in the phrase "et. al"

Months of work done behind the curtains... yet only the actors get the applaud..

A 5- hour surgery ends with success yet only the chief doctor is thanked.. forgetting the crew of nurses in the same OR...

Recognition can make a WORLD of a difference!

What could've happened?

I'm always prevented from flying by fear that gravity will bring me down..

Have you ever thought of all the possible "What if's" in your life?
I have.. alot..

What if I had said what was on my mind instead of holding my temper.. and replacing my snarl with a frosty smile?
Perhaps lost a friend..

What if I had pressed "post" on that harsh comment in my facebook status.. instead of pressing delete?
Most likely gained an enemy..

What if didn't "edit" that email and substitute my unsympathetic words with politer synonyms?

What if I spoke up when I had the chance?

What if I ignored my common sense and followed my heart?

What if I had said "Yes"?