The wonders of Travel and other thoughts

I was reflecting yesterday that 40 years ago it would not have been possible for me to be in Perlis in the morning, in Kuala Lumpur by afternoon and back home by bedtime! My nasi lemak breakfast was at a hotel, and then for lunch it was an Indonesia restaurant which seemed to be a branch of a famous Indonesian chain, Garuda and dinner was at a kedai makan IndiaMuslim .
I also had dealings with Malay shopkeepers when I bought belacan and ikan bilis at Pasar Tani in Perlis, dealt with a Chinese fellow at a computer print accessory at Low Yat Plaza and of course there were the Indonesian and Indian cooks and waiters in the restaurants! Indeed this is one of the reasons I love my country Malaysia. We are such a melting pot of races and religions and cultures. No, I am not forgetting the food!Malay food in the morning, Indonesian food at noon and Indian food at night!
During my training the subject of NLP came up . We were discussing how actions follow states of mind and by doing actions which indicate a state of mind, the state of mind can follow the action. Like when we sit with slumped shoulders and turn the corners of the mouth down, after some time we start feeling down!I then had a thought that if I wanted to lose weight I would have to follow the actions of the thin people in the room so I interviewed a thin person. It turns out that she does not think about food and when too busy skips meals! I on the other hand think about what is for my next meal and love food!I was amused to discover that I can get extremely annoyed when patients take up my lunch break!
Yesterday was a very full day in terms of content as well as emotion!
My husband starts work today after seven months on medical leave. Yesterday we sent him to his temporary living quarters near HKL, temporary because when he can see well enough to drive he can move back to our house in KL. It was like sending a child to a hostel and my daughter commented , Baba you used to send us off to study and now we are sending you off! I had nightmares last night over my husband working . This is the first time since he was ill that we are leaving him to fend for himself. His vision is still not fully recovered but he has adapted well and feels he can cope but I am like a mother hen fussing ! His opthomologist wanted to extend his medical leave but he insisted he wanted to work and refused even a letter for light duties.Perhaps I am fooling myself that my sadness is totally concern over him and has nothing to do with having to sleep alone here in my bed in Melaka . I had already known that I was going to be on my own when he got transferred to Kuala Lumpur yet again, but had been given a respite with his long medical leave and it was good to come home with him waiting for me everyday and quite a reversal to having him come back later that me because he often stays back in the office.Once he got into his work routine I knew he would be happy because he loved what he did and put himself into his work wholeheartedly. We had discussed the reasons why he became ill and had so much time away from his work and I had said to him , perhaps that was the only way for you to take a step back from what you do and reexamine it from afar. I feel sure he would be a so much better Timbalan Pengarah now because of the insights gained as a patient as well as the time he was given to step back from his work.
The other thing I had said to him was that when God takes away something He had given to us , something that we take for granted, like vision and then slowly gives it back, like what happened to him , then we appreciate it so much more and we are blessed with that experience.
I was talking from experience. I had keratoconus in my left eye which left me almost blind in my left eye from when I was 24 until I was 44 , ie for 20 years. I finally had my corneal graft and can see from both eyes after 20 years of seeing with only one eye. My vision had returned slowly over a year after the corneal graft . I hardly noticed when I started to see in full sterescopic mode again but indeed the world is beautiful and vision is a blessing. I even think after I got my vision back, I could see better with my innner eye as well as my outer eyes.
Subhanallah! I used to ask God, why did you take away vision from my eye dear Lord? And when I got it back, I knew the answer...so that I can give you greater vision in the future my beloved. Yes , indeed I am God's beloved ..so are we all......