Aaahh...He did it Again!

Salam, its 3 am, 28/12/07. I have returned from Turkiy for exactly 10 days now. Supposed to put down some detailed posts about my trips with all the interesting snapshots to accompany. But...i had to hold on first..till yesterday, 27/12/07...when the PMR results were announced.
And you know what??? My beloved big boy, AHMAD ASHRAF ILMAN B. ZULBAHRI. aka The Noble One...he did it again!!! Alhamdulillah...all praise be to Allah Almighty, that oustanding son of mine scored 9A's for his PMR exams. What can I say...CONGRATULATIONS my son...you deserve it! Well done!!!

I am elated of course. I had confidence for all his subjects..but wavered a bit over his Science...of all the subjects...oof (considering ummi teaches Science form 3). We arrived at SMIK early, hoping to catch the results as soon as possible so that I could rush back to my school to deliver my students results. Alas, it took forever. And the longer we waited, the harder the butterflies 'flew in my stomach'....the suspense was killing me! To score 8As would have been great and acceptable to most students, BUT not for my poor Ashraf. The whole clan was practically expecting straight As from him, nothing short would do. For a moment, I wondered what was actually the pressure I was feeling - to watch the disappointment if he failed to score straight As...or to conjure up plausible explanations to my kith and kin if he fails to measure up to expectations. Anyway, thanks to Allah, i was spared of that "unthinkable" scenario. Phew...

As if pressure from the clan was not enough, when the results finally arrived, all his friends, (and their parents too), waited for him (accompanied by ummi) to take his results first. Even the school was confident he would score straight As and was assuming so...pressure upon pressure for both mom and son. But Allah is Great, Ashraf was able to deliver...what was expected of him. And I am not ashamed to say, I am one Damn Proud Mom today...grinning from ear to ear. He has proven himself worthy of being named The Noble Knowledgeable One. (Tak sia-sia aku menaruh impian tinggi dengan memberi nama itu...) I am sooooo proud of you son.

And so, on the very same day, just to show our appreciation, hubby and I returned to the computer store which we surveyed exactly a week ago, to fulfill his request should he get straight As - a laptop for him to carry around for his designs and bloggings. Just as he has brought great pleasure to both Ummi and Abah, we felt we should not delay his pleasure too. So now he is the proud owner of an Acer Travelmate laptop! But rules remain...his curfew hours for computers still applies.

Many relations asked, "what did the mother feed him for him to perform excellently?" I just smiled, but now in this blog, allow me to answer that question. Upon reflection, I want to say that the main "nutrient" he received was unconditional love from us, and the constant feeding into his mind that he is our son, he is special with special talents and that he could do whatever he sets his mind to do. We gave him the faith and the confidence..for we truly believe in his abilities. The constant reminder we gave him that the mind was a gift from Allah, it is his responsibility to nurture and sharpen it. The endless reminder that as his parents we would surely support him all the way, in any way we can...but finally it is he alone who will be entering the examination hall. Anybody can succeed, as long as he wants it strongly enough. Take one step towards God, and He will surely come much closer to you. That has always been our advice to Ashraf.

And so, closes another chapter of his young life. Another hill successfully climbed, another obstacle victoriously overcome. Other hurdles await, the nearest would be his SMA, and then the SPM exams. Our advice still stands, our rules and regulations for study discipline on him still apply. And Ashraf knows them well. I can say, much to my relief, he is looking forward to his new upcoming challenges as a Pure Science student, inshaallah. Alhamdulillah, as he lies on his bed asleep now, I know that to a certain extent, I have instilled the love of learning in my big boy..not only for the sake of exams, but for the sake of the knowledge from Allah itself. He is excited about learning add maths, biology physics and chemistry, already accepting that learning these subjects and scoring, would be quite a phenomenal task. But i can see, he is taking it in his stride, and I am determined to back and support him all the way.

I am proud of you, son! Those tears you saw this morning, were tears of gratitude to Allah that He has bestowed upon me a fine young man for a son, in the likes of you, AHMAD ASHRAF ILMAN!