Cerita Sita

Minggu yang lalu anak saya yang pertama menerima hasil tes psikologi yang diadakan oleh TK tempat dia bersekolah. Karena kebetulan saya berhalangan untuk mengambil hasilnya, suami saya yang datang dan sekaligus bertemu dengan psikolognya. Tidak lama setelah pertemuan tersebut, suami saya bercerita bahwa anak kami mendapatkan hasil tes psikologi yang cukup baik bahkan bisa dibilang di atas rata-rata teman-teman sekelasnya. Spontan saya senang dan bangga mendengarnya. Tetapi tak lama saya pun berpikir. Apa jadinya jika anak saya berhasil terus? Apa jadinya jika ia selalu dipuji oleh kami, kakek nenek dan guru-gurunya? Apakah dia nanti akan melakukan sesuatu karena ingin dipuji? Karena ia ingin menjadi nomor satu dan terbaik? Saya takut anak saya menjadi stress dan tidak siap menerima kekalahan jika suatu saat dia tidak berhasil, entah karena suatu sebab. Mungkin tidak seperti orangtua saya yang lain, saya ingin anak saya menjadi anak yang biasa saja. Biasa saja dalam artian bukan tid...

I always have a soft spot for rain. Perhaps because I was born in this rainy city.  Raised here. Study here. Have worked here for quite some times. And live here. But for the rain per se... I always love it when it rains.  I feel like it showers the Earth with life. Rain makes the soil more damp. Damp is better than dry.  A long dry season will make the soil turns into cracks and I somehow can see how they are suffocating to get water. When eventually the water falls, it seems like they are cheering and applauding, jumping up and down. They feel alive. We all are. Including human being.  Because when it rains, realize it or not, there will be a pause of activities, even for a while.  People who ride motorcycles will stop at the side of the road, pulling out their raincoat or even trying to find a shelter and wait until the rain stops. They will chat with the people around them, sometimes share cigarettes as well. For those who drive cars, they will a...

I am currently reading A Simple Life. It is a collection of thoughtful stories written by the famous Indonesian female senior anchor, Desi Anwar. The stories are basically about life in the eyes of Desi with bits of Desi's personal life stories. She would tell stories about pets, friends, the art of listening, moving on, and many others elements of life that we, more than often, overlook or take for granted. Interestingly, her personal stories are not always about happy memories. I get the impression that her early childhood is not always sugar and spice. Having two busy parents, she was trained to be an independent girl. One story even said that there was a day when she was left alone at home where both of her parents and her sisters went traveled until she didn't know when. But what I like from these personal stories is how Desi could see it from the bright side, learned something from the event and then tells it in a positive vibe. As a bonus, given her advance English ski...