10 years after.......

Just a few days before new year, Harry, a very dear friend of mine rang me. It's been quite sometime since the last time we talked on the phone. As always, every conversation with him has always been very exciting (he's one of the craziest guys I've ever known!) and we just realized that it was already 10 years ago when we were striving together with other 9 Indonesian students to pursue a higher degree of education in the Netherlands.

Holland, 1995-1996.......more than just a memorable page in my life book, it's one of the milestones in my life. I wouldn't have thought to spend the first year of my marriage life being away from my husband, but as others say: good opportunity might not come twice in life. That is why I finally decided to challenge myself and took this opportunity to pursue my second degree in the Netherlands, the country which in fact is quite familiar to me for I had visited it several times for official duties. Overwhelming by the fact that I finally got a scholarship; one thing that I always dreamed of, and the fact that I had to leave my family especially my husband, really put me in a 'difficult' and confusing situation.

Yet, I never regret what I finally decided. Those years turned out to be one of the most memorable years in my life! That was the time I considered myself as the 'richest' person in the world. Having 62 classmates of over 20 nationalities, what more could you ask? You have friends from every corner of the world. Zang, Jeff and Gu from China ( I wonder where they are now, except Zang whom I know still reside in Beijing), Jorge from Cuba (, Harry's best smoking companion, the Cuban who adored 'rokok kretek' as much as he adored the famous Cuban cigar), Hank, Bill, Michael and Mark (the Americans who still confused me why chose Holland to study business administration for there is an abundance of business school in the US), Nandan and Amitabh (the Indian who always share the same spirit being the Asian people), Ntebo, Sada, Gram, Keis from South Africa (lucky me I got a chance visiting Ntebo in Johanesburg, my true dear friend, my gosipping and shopping companion), Angela (the sophisiticated Singaporean accountant who finally married Luc, our dear Dutch friend), Leno (my Ukranian neigbor for his room are next to mine, a very cute person who had an endless discussion on the existence of God with Asep, from Bdg- btw, Asep..you were really wasting your time!), Tatiana, Ando, and other friends from east Europe, Sandra, and Paul from Belgia (frequently being underestimated by the Dutch, the same case when we sometimes look down to the Malaysian for having a strange accent), and of course..the troop of all those Dutch friends: Petra, Luc, Rogier, Arno (once I had a fight with him over referring Indonesia as an 'artificial' country!), Albert (the Ducth who speaks better bahasa Indonesia than Asep, my sundanese friend, ha..ha..!!), Hubert, Sergio, Wibieke and..all those cute guys (Peter from Canada, Michael from USA, the guy from Sweden (forgot the name)) which made me blamed myself why came to Holland as a married woman, ha..ha...!! And..the name which always remains in my heart..Rosa...an incredible, strong woman, half Ecuadorian, half Spanish, who became my soulmate in sickness and health, I really miss you dear..! Last but not least my dear, dear Indonesian fellows: Harry Purnomo ( a beer freak, for this he really called Holland a home), Asep Winara (a real Bandungnese, who always played Nike Ardilla song,and my thesis partner), Lisa Kadarisman (the Ambassador's daughter, the youngest, yet very smart and cool), Faisal Muzakki (the overly confident guy, "mojokerto tembak langsung'), Firman Istiadi (an brilliant accountant whose room was always packed before every accounting or finance exam), Didiet Herawan ( a very well-planned guy), Budi Wuraskito (the man who dared to go out in winter only with a very thin jacket, now the Director of PT Dirgantara Indonesia), Sudarma (the guy who were called Sudarma Sudarma for not having the last name), Setiawan ( a very brilliant yet humble guy, also very young).

Holland, Nijenrode, Breukelen, Utrecht, Amsterdam,....are very special icons for me, as there are so many things I learned there. I learned how to challenge myself, I learned how to cope with difficult situation (studying here is what I refer as a 'real' studying, for a high pressure condition imposed by the programme, endless assignment, endless group work-almost everyday i got to sleep at 2 a.m!), I learned to give up all the luxuries I have (the only vehicle I had was my used red bicycle which always took me to supermarket, to train station, everywhere!), I learned to accept differences (coping with 62 people from different background was not as easy as I thought). Finally...everything paid off. I could finish my study on time, got the degree and there was a special 'bonus' accompanying the degree,...my pregnancy! Yes..in the last semester after spring break, I found myself pregnant! My husband who visited me for 'only' 8 days wouldnt have imagined that his short visit could result in an 'unexpexted outcome'. I was so terrified to death knowing the fact that I was left alone being pregnant, without a husband around, a family around, and not to mention all the academic burden I have to deal with, the thesis in particular. Rosa was the angel who helped me out: she helped me doing the groceries shopping, and a lot of other things (she was the one who bought me the test pack!). So...there I was walking with the tasle and robe to receive the diploma, 7 month pregnant!

Now, everytime I remember Nijenrode, Breukelen and Holland, only sweet memories that pass by. I really miss those moments. I got lucky having a chance revisiting the campus about two years ago after accompanying my husband in his Europe trip. There was not much difference I found. The castle and the lovely bridge are still there, the room I occupied has not changed much, the market in Breukelen is still selling the same stuff, the bus from Utrech is still no 120 and 124, the cannal in front of the campus is still lovely, the pannekoek huis is still there as well. Yet, there is one major difference, I could not find all my friends anymore, they are already spread all over the world, persuing their own career, ....making a better living. Once thing for sure...ten years after my heart is still left in Holland!

Nara has eventually overcome his fears

Wow, it's been over 4 months since the last time I updated this blog. I have to admit that the main challenge having a personal blog is how to keep it continously updated. Well, the story about Nara, my youngest son, i guess would be a good beginning to renew this blog.......

Nara, unlike his older brother has quite a unique characteristic. Sweet, sensitive, less easy going , less confident, yet extremely curious, are to name a few of his obvious characters. As a mother I always hold myself not to label any of my sons with something negative or discouraging, although I know that each of my son has his own weaknesses besides all the strenghts they posses. At least that's what I learned when I was taking a short course on emotional metabolism: always think positive about your sons, then they will turn into a real positive humanbeing. But this is not the case with my eldest son, Ray, who like any other oldest child would sometime takes his younger brother for granted. It's become quite common to hear him teasing his brother by labeling him as " a cry baby", and other discouraging lines which later created a kind of inferior feeling inside Nara's mind.

Nara is now over 6 years old, but still he takes this "baby' attitude with him. His brother achievement in school and other activities such as swimming and baseball had assured him that his brother is far too superior to catch up. My husband and I had been trying to convince him that he possesses the same quality as the one of his brother. We convinced him that he has a much better stroke in swimming and even a much better power. When it comes to baseball, he could run faster than any other player, which he did not realize in the first place. The first time he had to be in a swimming competition, he strongly objected just because he was so afraid of not being able to win. We eventually managed to convince him to give it a try. He reluctantly agreed and finally jumped to the pool. Although he did not win any of the series, but I could sense that he learned something from the competition, i.e. losing is not that bad after all!

Nara's second swimming competition finally took place in JIS (Jakarta Int'l School). This time he felt more relaxed and confident. In fact he was quite enthusiastic asking about the pool JIS has; whether it is much better than the one he encountered during his first match. To be frank, I was the one who was a bit worried since this competition is more prestigious than the other, and the opponents were presumably more difficult to beat. Finally the first heat....., free style for 6 and under....it was quite tight, until finally Nara hit the finish line and got the third place. Not bad for a start, I thought, and I was becoming excited. The next one was breast stroke which I thought would be his major obstacle. Suprisingly, he hit the finish line perfectly and got the second place. The third heat was backstroke, which apparently not becoming 'his cup of tea', he lost. I thougt he would be discouraged, yet he became more excited and looking forward to challenging other heat. The last heat was his specialization, the butterfly style....and he really proved it to me and his coach that he deserved the best place, he hit the finish line and got the first place! I had no idea what I should feel except being overwhelmed. It's not about the winning itself. It'more like giving Nara a big convidence in himself that he is a much better person than he ever imagined. The experience had taught him a very valuable lesson that trusting ourselves is the key to our success. Nara had finally overcome his fear and reached the finish line as the winner! Bronze, silver and gold medals all together..not bad at all!!











Sometimes, it's not easy for us to overcome our own fears. Fear of being failed, fear of not being perfect, fear of being rejected, fear of being discouraged, and many other kinds of fear. From Nara I learned that the path to overcome our fears might be quite long and tiring, but as long as we have confidence and excitement, we'll get to the finish line as the winners!!

Sutan Rajo Amputih - The Roots

My youngest and only brother's wedding!
The buzz words that have been 'haunting' me for the last several months. Finally, we almost got there. All the hectic was actually going into one final direction i.e. how to accomodate the parents' wish to hold a wedding ceremony which is well conducted from religion point of view and, traditions and culture as well. Inheriting the Banten and Padang blood means that all important aspects in those two culture have to be well accomodated. Being the only women sibblings in the family, my sister and I had no choice but try to please the parents in any way possible (remember my motto?, believe that keberkahan mainly comes from in the parents' ridho!). So, there we were, 'trapped' in so many parents' wishes, from rasulan to siraman (this include the number of people who would have to shower my brother, the number of batik cloth needed as the sungkeman mat,etc) ; from wedding dress to pelaminan; from Babako to manjanpuik marapulai ceremony; from pasumandan to kecapi suling; from songket to kain lereng sunda.

To make the list longer, the bako (family from my father's side) wished to bestow a custom and traditional title as being a padangnese man, my brother also deserved such title. You wouldn't believe if I tell you that they even held a special meeting to decide which title would be best fitted to my brother. Althought this was not the first time I encounter this bestowal of title, I did not know that the decision was based on a very thorough consideration by taking into account the historical background and the roots of our forefathers and ancestors. Finally they decided to bestow a title called " Sutan Rajo Amputih". Rajo means the king, Amputih means the person who has the lightest complexion which is undoubtedly the case with my brother. They said that somewhere along the way we got some blood drop from the middle east, wallahualam. In west Sumatranese tradition, once a man gets married, he is entitled to a traditional custom title. It implies that the man has already been considered as a full-fledged grown-up, and ready to carry a bigger responsibility. Quite a deep value, I suppose. Kete' banamo, gadang bagala....

There are so many noble values in our traditions that lay the foundation of the strong traditions and customs. As today's generation, we often take it for granted and consider it as irrational and irrelevant to today's modern life. I just realized that if we just want to spend a few time understanding the background of each custom, we would be aware that what our ancestors tried to convey was that we inherit very noble values that in fact could be used as our life guidance. They also wanted us to be proud of our 'being', our civilization! We should be proud being a padangnese, sundanese, javanese, ambonese, as..the Indonesians as well. Another interesting finding was the philosophy of kain batik. Why it is always there in every segment of the wedding ceremony? We could find it in siraman, sungkeman (as the mat), and of course in the wedding dress itself. Kain batik reflects our soul that we carry from the day we were born 'till the day we pass away. That's why it is highly recommended that we always have at least 7 pieces of kain batik for every 'episode' of our life.

Some of you might still remember the old TV serial called "The Roots" back in the eighties. It revealed a story about a young African American man who traced his ancestors and forefathers: the first batch of African who landed on the American continent as slaves. His strong intention to discover his forefathers was based on the consideration that he needed to discover his 'being', his roots and the values they inherited. He needed the inherited values as the 'lighthouse' for his future life.

With today's borderless and global environment, our children are excessively exposed to various global values, most of them might not be compatible to ours. That's why it is important for us to introduce them to their own origin and values. On a recent visit to Monas with my children, I intended to expose them to who their roots really are. They needed to know that behind all the conveniences and 'luxury' they enjoy now were the flood of blood of their forefathers. Gajah Mada, Pangeran Diponegoro, Imam Bonjol, Sultan Agung, Ki Hajar Dewantara, Bung Karno, Sutan Syahrir.....were to name a few. I have a strong wish that someday my kids will shed tears singing the Indonesia Raya in other continents, just like exactly what I experienced when celebrating the 50th Independence day in Den Haag, Sumpah Pemuda in Santiago, Chile and Hari Pahlawan in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I also wish that they would not be able to finish all line in the song called Tanah Air for being already overwhelmed by the pride and nationalism feeling.

If about six months ago, I still considered all these traditional wedding ceremonies as being irrational and irrelevant to today's modern life, now everything comes into senses. If once I wished someday I would have a simple and 'minimalist' wedding ceremony for my sons (coba ya harre gene udh mikirin mantu!), now I totally changed my mind! What's wrong with having siraman, what's wrong with being bestowed with a custom title, what's wrong with having a babako ceremony?? I wish my sons would be titled as Sutan Rajo Api (the same title bestowed to their grandfather) or Sutan Paduko Sati (the same title bestowed to their great grandfather) or any other distinguished title such as Sutan Rangkayo Basa, not a bad title at all...I suppose. Now I even start counting how many kain batik I have in my collections as we'll never know when we would need it.

Discovering the roots is about discovering ourselves and all noble values behind. We dont want our children's generation ending up not knowing who their roots are, to what civilization they belong to, and what values they possess. Don't try to scrub out the roots from the children's mind. There's nothing to be proud of if the children could easily memorize the name of 50 states in the US rather than the names of volcanoes spread across the Indonesian archipelago. There's nothing to be proud of if the children prefer wearing the halloween custome rather than teluk belango or beskap. Someday, they must be proud declaring that yes...I'm proud being a javanese, I'm proud being a sundanese, I'm proud being a padangnese...I'm proud being an Indonesian! As for me, at least there was a substantial amount of pride when my youngest son, Nara, recently said: I'm a Javanese because I like tempe goreng anget-anget, siji, loro, telu, papat,limo....... At least he's aware why he has Hardono as his last name!

Tanah airku tidak kulupakan, kan terkenang selama hidupku, biarpun saya pergi jauh tidak kan hilang dari kalbu.....(for those of you who still live overseas, try sing this song, and tell me if you can finish all the lines, the thing which I've never been able to do if being abroad)

Romancing the Customers

Today, was just not my day.
Everyone seemed to be irritating and annoying. It started when my sister called me in the morning informing that all the souvenirs for our brother's wedding which we ordered in mangdu were all off-specs! Not even one souvenir conformed to the specification we required. Actually we have torn out our patience a couple of days ago when we found that the products were not ready on the date we agreed on. To make it worse, we were being informed about the delay when we were already in their store in mangdu which took us almost forever from our place. To make it even worse, they expressed an unbelivably innocent statement telling that we should have asked for more details about the product in the fisrt place, and not to blame them later on. I interpreted these silly lines as the most stupid and irrational excuses! Just who do you think we are, a bunch of jerks who were just bugging on your stupid busines??!! We are your goddamn CUSTOMERS for God's sake!

Next case...., just when I was beginning to pull myself together after the mangdu incident, I decided to stop by at the supermarket and did my weekly grocery shopping. I decided to buy some pieces of ayam kampung, minced meat and some beef. Everthing seemed to be ok with the ayam kampung and minced meat, but when I was ordering a half kilo of beef, the meat-corner attendant seemed to be a little bit distracted knowing that his supervisor was doing a kind of inspection. To my surprise it was the supervisor herself who suddenly cut in between the meat-corner attendant and myself. She did not seem to be aware that I was around. They kept discussing on things which I had no idea about and forced me to wait for a couple of minutes before my beef was ready! Just who do you think we are, a buch of jerks who were just bugging on your stupid business??!! I could not take it anymore and called out this guy and complained,"hello..... I'm still here, where do you think you're going?!" Innocently he said that he had some matters to settle with his boss so I would have to wait for a while!! ...????

My oh my.....what had happened to all those guys? Weren't they aware that customers is the number one stakeholder which has to be in their mind everytime they wake in the morning? Weren't they aware that how to romance the customers is becoming a new buzz word in marketing trend in order to compete in this highly competitive market place? This does not only apply to 'big' and global businesses. In fact we should start creating this habbit the minute we start our business, even if it is a small one.

I remember my recent visit to Spore, the city which always gives me an endless appeal. The serving attitude seems to be found everywhere, everyone lives with it . Just when I had some difficulties figuring out how to work with the ticketing machine in the MRT station, a very old guy approached me and assisted me on how to deal with the machine in a very polite manner. He even showed me which platform I had to take to go to the City Hall. The Singaporeans are fully aware of that in terms of natural resources they basically have nothing to brag about. What do you expect from a tiny island-country whose area is far less that the size of Jakarta? A gold mine? Crude oil? Palm plantation, rubber? Nothing...!! That's why they believe their human resources is the only resource they have, and they have spent billions of dollar in developing their human resources through the education. They've succesfully tranformed their people to become the society which has this strong service-oriented attitude. The surely know how to romance their customers. It is evident when we see many people from Indonesia are willing to fly to Spore only to be able to enjoy the peaceful, well-organised and 'human' side walks along the Orchad road or just enjoy a plate of nasi lemak at the Bugis junction, or..this is even 'worse'; just to enjoy shopping at Changi airport which is titled as the friendliest airport in the world! Moreover, people are still lining up for dolphin lagoon attraction in the Sentosa island, although compared to the one in Ancol, their show is far from sophisticated. To make the list longer, they proudly claim the dull and artificial beach in the Sentosa island as the perfect place to find a weekend leisure, while here in Indonesia there are countless of macnificent, natural beaches which in fact we can claim as the best beaches in the world.

With so many things to offer; from natural beauty to handicraft, from culture and traditions to local and exotic culinary, from natural resources to abundance of raw material for the industry, and many others, I think it's high time for us, the Indonesians, to retune our mindset. We should threat everyone who brings higher value to our business as our customers. Customers are not only the end users, but also includes our suppliers, investors, intermediaries and also our employees. Customer is the one we should provide an endless romance in order to bring higher value to our business. By continously romancing the customers, the customers are not just becoming satisfied but more on that, they would be loyal and delighted! That's why everytime I visit Spore I would never consider it as my las visit, there's always a strong desire to return as I know that they would always promise me an endless romance. So, either it is your early-start garment business, cookies and pastry business, internet business, embroidery business, any kind, any size of business, start ROMANCING and DELIGHTING your customers as they are your biggest asset.

Finally, she called it a day............

For many people, 32 years of marriage is a great achievement, but not the case with mbakTerri. For her 32 years it was nothing but an endless pain and sorrow. My first impression on her when we were together in the same group going for a hajj pilgrimage back in 2003 was, she was a very nice, patient and friendly lady who was accompanied by her loving, nice and dedicated husband. They seemed to be meant for each other. I even envied them for having the luxury of being together without kids bugging around since theirs are already in their teen ages, one of them is already a married woman.

It was last Thursday nite when some hajj friends and I got together for dinner found out that it was a hell of marriage she had been through for the last 32 years of her life. She finally declared that her husband and she have finally settled for a divorce! A divorce? That word came to me as thunder storm. This might be something ordinary for celebrities or many young couples of today's generation but certainly not with mbak Terri and her husband. The only thing I remember about last Thursday's dinner was that all of us ended up speechless listening to her unbelievable story. Her husband and his portfolio mistresses, the physical and verbal abuse were among the major pains she had to face and suffer. Even during the hajj pilgrimage she found out that her husband was still in intense communication with one of his mistresses through the sms!

I could not say a word but admiring her for her huge amount of patience and keikhlasan, two things that I still have to learn more and more. She really has the biggest capacity to carry and live with these two aspects. If this case ever come to me, amit..amit...tok..tok...I could not imagine what would happen to my husband, gue sunat kali ya..??

I truly believe in Allah's plan and also believe that He would provide the best and most proper one to each of us. That's why after being able to pull myself together listening to her horror story, my rational sense finally signaled that this might be the best thing for her and her children. I am glad that she was finally able to make up her mind and stood independently on her two feet and declared: " enough is enough, I finally called it day after 32 years!!!" Subhanallah! My prayers and heart go to you mbak Terri........ I am sure Allah really loves you and your kids, and He already got a bigger plan for you. I am quite sure she wouldn't have problem dealing with her new life. In fact she looks fresh, relieved and even more beautiful and we kind of giggled when she proudly declared " I'm a jomblo now!".

Life is always a mystery...

Saykoji (so what gitu loh.....!)- a generation divide does exist!

I would never consider myself belonging to the 'old' generation until today, when during the project presentation session in my Product & Brand Management class, one of the presenting groups came up with this title " Saykoji, so what gitu loh....! I had no idea what brand that was, not even a single clue until my students of this presenting group explained that Saykoji is one of the Hip Hop local music groups. Yet, they came up with a surprisingly interesting marketing plan for this particular group. I began to get a little panicked when they explained about Saykoji's potential competitors. There was a list of hip hop and rap groups which I've never heard before or even ring a bit of the bell, .....not even one!

Eventually, I had to raise my hands and told my students that I had no familiarity at all to this bunch of youngsters. Finally they played the CD and all I could feel was that I was in frustration strunggling to enjoy all the beat and lyrics. All I remember was lines of meaningless words except the one I'm quite familiar with, so what gitu loh....so what gitu loh.....!! Tolooong.....!!

I came to the point that yes..generation divide, generation gap do exist. The term which in fact I would rather took it for granted a couple of years ago. I was quite sure that I still belong to today's young generation, which had actually been replaced by this generation, the Gen Y!

Wake up... you were born in the sixties! You have no right whatsoever to claim that you belong to this digital generation, you actually belong to the Gen X! Those lines really gave me a big bang! There is a significant difference between Gen Y and Gen X. Born between 1977 and 1994 ,Gen Y is first gen to grow up surrounded by digital media. Computers and other digital technologies are commonplace for them. They work with them at home, in school and they even use them for entertainment. They are so bathed in bits that they' re no more intimidated by digital technology than a VCR or a toaster. The term gatek is not really recognised by this gen which in fact is very common in the Gen X who was born between 1965 and 1976.

That's why I love teaching and lecturing all these young digitally drived students. I always feel renewed everytime I meet them. If it's not because of them, I would not be able to be exposed with the knowledge of digital products: talking about PDA, ipod, etc. I even asked for their recommendation for new digital product or a simple thing such as where I should fix my laptop, or even asking where to buy this so called 'gelang gaul' (the rubber band), since my son kept asking me to buy one.

Not like in the old days, when we still consider our lecturers as the all mighty and the most supreme ones, nowadays I would prefer consider it more as a mutual partnership relationsip. Today's new generation can not be treated the same way we were. They were much more critical, creative and undoubtedly smarter! I enjoy every moment interacting with them. I learned a lot from them! So....dont consider yourself low when you have to ask people from younger gen..nggak usah gengsi... and no need for 'jaim'. The only time I need to be a little bit jaim was only during the first session when I had to present my resume for a only a few secs. It spoke for itself, they would know who I am, my experience and expertise. The rest, you dont have much choice but play their game: being critical, openminded, curious, yet humorous and full of laughters!!

*dedicated to my IUP marketing class of 2007- it's been a nice and exciting term guys!! All the best to each and everyone of you. So what gitu loh......!!!

Chipy and her five 'dwarfs'

Today, while doing my monthly grocery shopping at Carrefour, I accidentaly bumped into Chipy, one of my closest friends in college. To everyone's surprise, she unbelievably has 5 kids now! Her eldest daughter is slightly younger than my eldest son, who is just 8 years old! It's kind of hard to imagine her with this amazing 'crowd'. She even bought a mini bus which could accomodate up to 12 pax! With 5 kids, each coupled with its own nanny, the minibus is undoubtedly the most convenient vehicle for the family.

During our time in college, Chipy was known as a very active campus girl, never said 'no' to any campus activity while I still had to highly consider when it came to camping or any outdoor activity. I would imagine she would end up being a very successful career woman in the chemical-related industry, which was actually quite close when once she joined one of the leading oil companies right after she graduated. It struck me quite hard knowing that a person like her whom I know was always full of high spirit now could fully dedicate herself to family life, I mean 100% dedication! You wouldn't believe it is very hard to drag her out of the house for only a couple of hours for a 'get together' time with old pals from college. The term Full Time Mom (FTM) is what she really deserves.

I begin to realize that life is about a CHOICE. Talking to Chipy for only a few minutes had forced me to ask myself. Have I made a choice for my life? I tried to contemplate a bit and put a big mirror in front of myself. There I saw a very confused and conflicting look who keep weighing so many life options; should I pursue another career life, should I consider having another kid, should I just be a good housewife, should I be happy with what I'm doing now, should I..., should I....???

Chipy made me realized that you have to enjoy and take consequence of what ever you decide, which she did tremendously! "If you want to try having another baby, try it now!", that how she scolded me. "Dont bother listening to too many opinions, by the time you make up your mind you will realiaze that you're already too old to have another baby. Just do it now!"

This last couple of years was kind of turning point for me. So many big things happened, so many big decisions to make. Leaving behind my career life, starting my own business venture, getting myself involved in a lecturing activity are among those big milestones. Some deserve to be regreted while others are entitled to be labeled as once in a life's decision. Yet, there's still one which is still making my head spinning. Though constantly persuaded by my husband, I still havent internalised my mind and come to the point that having another kid is really a good idea.....

Looking at Chipy, walking down the aisle in Carrefour with her five dwarfs, again something struck my mind, "what's the worst thing could happen, if I were in her position?" Gaining more weights, less good nite sleep, cracked nipples, endless baby sitter-related problems, less time for shopping malls, less time for traveling??? Nothing, I guess...... I could live with that, I suppose. Compared to what I will treasure in my golden ages, surrounded with more laughters and love from my kids, well...I guess will be quite even.

If Chipy dares to face all the challenges, and stumbling blocks of having a 'big' family, why shouldn't I? Well, I suppose I will have to check my cellphone whether it still has the number of my obgyn clinic. The more drawfs, the merrier............??!!! Just keep your fingers crossed for me!