I am not quite sure that this statement is true … or it might be true for certain behaviors but not the person … so do people really change??

Today was my birthday and I realized that people do not change as much as we would like to believe; they will still do that same things they always did and to a large extent, they become predictable to those around them, but again; isn’t that what we call characteristics of a personality??

I have come to find that jealous people will always envy you for what you have even if it was a piece of crap … selfish people will never learn how to give to others … angry people will never calm down and they will always find a way to make your life miserable because that is what they do … We will always lose friends to marriage … we will always have fights with our families … we will always feel stupid after we say something we don’t want to say … and it feels really silly that I am not able to talk about what is really bothering me …Do people change?

I vote … NO

My dear friend Salam sent me this link and I really enjoyed it and sent it to all my friends who would actually relate to it, i.e. moms who are juggling a hundred things per minute …

Tribute to all moms … enjoy it and learn to appreciate your moms and wives … and to all the moms out there; you should be really proud of yourselves … bless you

Great, ha???

What is it about a sleepless night that turns us into grumpy upset people? Is it that our bodies and brains did not get enough rest or is it that we are lazy creatures that cannot function unless we take off periods that make at least one third of our lives??

You can tell that I had a really lousy night and that I did not get enough sleep, add that to a hectic day full of meetings, covering for absent employees (my staff), complaints and requests flying all over the place and your friends ditching you at lunch time … if that is not a fatal combination for a grumpy lousy bad crappy mood and attitude; I seriously don’t know what is!!!

I had a meeting after work last night and it was a bit past 10 when I headed home. I wanted to pass by the supermarket to buy something and withdraw some cash, so I stopped by Safeway on my way home. Not only was it full and the people were lined up in tens waiting for their turn to reach the cash register, but the place was so full of kids
Wherever I looked, there were kids … they were shouting, playing race with the shopping carts and screaming at their parents that they want to buy this or that; I guess that they must have mistaken the superstore to be the park, playground or even wonderland … My God!!! What is wrong with these people?? It is a school night and kids are still shopping at 11 in the night? Is this normal? Am I being too picky here? When we were young kids, we used to be in bed by 8 or 9 max, so what are these kids still doing or more importantly, what are the parents thinking???

I just left the place without buying anything because getting anything would have meant standing in line for 15 – 20 minutes and I was dead tired by then with a bad mood that wouldn’t have been able to handle the noise so I decided to head home for everyone’s benefit including mine.

When I reached home, it was almost 11:15 and what is that? More kids in the street!!!
How are they going to be disciplined? How are they going to respect time and commitments if they cannot be trained to sleep early in school nights? Call me nuts, but I really believe that these are related and teaching these behaviors to children (positive or negative) will alter and affect the outcome of their futures.

No wonder we have so many inconsiderate people, no wonder we suffer from lack or morals wherever we go, it is not shocking then that we see rudeness as the norm, not surprising at all that we look at the polite with an exclamation point written all over our faces. It is the upbringing and the way one was raised that determines what type of a person he/she might become in the future, so if the mother was careless enough and the father was absent minded enough to leave their kids without so much to train them how to be committed serious people, then the coming generation would be a lot worse and more lost than the ones we currently have!!

Maybe this is my sleep deprived brain talking, or my deeper subconscious trying to break free, but I do believe that with each passing day, the crisis is growing bigger and a lot of people are becoming parents without being prepared for the role so they learn as they go, but I wonder where they are getting their knowledge because what we are witnessing is not a nice result by a far shot.

Having children might be the biggest responsibility one can claim by choice because you will be bringing human beings into this world, and since they did not choose to come in the first place or choose you yourself as their parent, you are obliged to do your utmost best to make sure you prepare them for life and give them a good future that allows them to move on and create more generations. Parenthood is not a journey in the park nor is it a fairy tale; it is a lot of hard work, commitment and dedication with a mix of tender loving care (TLC), parenting means that you will give up your life willingly for 20 something years until your kids are well on their way in life and even then you will still give them a big part of your life because that’s what it is all about … it is for this purpose that God demands respect and care for the parents but parents have to earn that by doing their job properly!!

I think that having children is very beautiful yet very scary, it is miraculous but risky, it is something that must not be taken lightly and I never seize to be amazed how a lot of people do just that!!!

With each passing day, week, month or year, we all get our shares of good and bad news. Sometimes we are on the sad edge and other times we are on the happy one, some might argue that there is a little bit of both in each and every moment but why look for the drama when it is time to celebrate and party?

I have learned that it is best when we grasp the happy moment and enjoy it as much as we can because it does not last long, it passes us like a breeze, freshens our senses, makes us forget for a moment that life is full of worries and concerns and makes us see that with all these burdens, we still can enjoy a free minute of happiness that is well deserved.

Today; I would like to share my piece of happiness with all of you out there …
In our family; we are celebrating two different events, one that already passed and the other is about to take place at the end of the week inshallah …
As for the one that has passed; my sister has passed her comprehensive exam and ranked the first at kingdom level in her major which is marketing and she ranked the first on the 5% of students who get to continue their education at university. Now if this is not an achievement, I do not know what is!
In the period when she had her exams, she used to stay up at night to study the large number of books to be able to pass the exam. Although that I do not like the system of having to do one exam for 7 or 8 books at the same time, but I believe that she did a great job and I am so proud of her, so congratulations Nisreen

As for the event that is going to take place this weekend, it is my other sister getting married … you can imagine the amount of preparations that we are going through at this stage, be it her house and all the needed furniture, tidying up, buying accessories and new stuff … etc.

I am not much of a wedding person and people who have been following up on my blog know that I complained a few times about weddings’ atmospheres and how uninvited people show up from nowhere which reminds me of the famous movie “Wedding Crashers”, and all these ladies staring at the half dressed girls to pick brides for their sons who recently entered the marriage market, and those girls who compete on who dresses less and who dances best, and these old ladies wishing you to get married soon before you are expired and all these funny details that take place without any justifiable reason but hey; it is a wedding and that’s normal practice in our part of the world.

My sister decided not to make a big party in a hotel because she believes that this is a waste of money especially that the groom’s family insists on making a big traditional lunch (Mansaf) which will cost a lot more than a party in a 5 star hotel. I congratulate her on making this decision because all this wasted money does not make sense to me at all … but again; that’s just me.

Yesterday; I was in Mecca mall with a friend and as we were going out, I wanted to go take a look at jewelry. Damas has an outlet in the ground floor and so we entered and I told my friend that he better get some insight and practice because soon he will be here (or there) buying the ring and other stuff for the bride. We saw some wonderful diamond rings, really beautiful in cut, design and I might add price as well (pretty high) … so I was telling my friend that I don’t like the tradition of buying so many pieces of gold when you get married because in tradition, the bride’s family asks for gold in the range of 2000 or 3000 JD. This amount of money can easily get you a beautiful diamond ring that will live for generations but again; that’s only me!

Anyway; I just wanted to share the joy with you and wish my sister the best of what the world can offer in their future

The past few weeks were the craziest, with the heat and work pressure, you could say that I would have been lucky to find some time to sleep and do something for myself.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my sister got engaged and along with that came a lot of social activities both in and out of the house. My brother is also here and things are getting more hectic by the day. Work is also a very interesting front these days as we are in the process of moving from one location to another and that puts some pressure on us, but we are coping just fine as I was blessed with a great group of colleagues and my bosses are wonderful, so this kind of relieves a lot of the stress.

You can see from the clutter around me that I am doing a million things together

Last week; I was invited to attend a reception at the British ambassador’s residence in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday. I was very interested to go and that’s exactly what I did. The invitation read my name as Mr. and Mrs. Khalidah so I had to choose a Mr. Khalidah for the night and go with him to the reception. My dear friend Bashir came to my rescue and he accompanied me there and needless to say; we had a wonderful time wondering around among ministers and ambassadors and diplomats.

The reception took place in the back yard of the ambassador’s residence and I can’t begin to tell you how the police have surrounded the place and how hard it was for us to find a parking spot; my guess is that you get the picture

On another family front, we were invited on Friday to one of my favorite and best friend’s house; Kinzi. She was the perfect hostess and I am really thankful and grateful to her for having me and my family in her home and for sharing their comfort zone with us for a few hours. We chatted and discussed many things and it was one of those days that will stay with you for as long as you live and are able to go back to those details that made the day so special.

She cooked for us; both Arabic and American meals and those brownies were from heaven … I am waiting for the recipes; not that I will be doing them any time soon, but at least I will have them just in case.

My parents loved and enjoyed the experience and they talked about Kinzi, her cooking, her wonderful gentleman of a husband, her warm home, her well mannered children, her sophisticated friends and the list would go on and on … I thank you Kinzi for doing this for me … this means the world

On Saturday; my sister celebrated her graduation from Arabic College and she was the at the top of the class in her major; Marketing. I am really proud of her and her achievements; with a limited time for studying and with all the football team training and traveling; she did a wonderful job and I congratulate her on this great performance.

Nisreen with Graduation gown; Mabrook my dear

My parents, my brother and his wife and my sister and her fiancé went to the graduation and my baby sitting days were back for a few hours. I had to watch over my nephews and I have got to say that this task really became harder with time or maybe it is fair to say that we develop less tolerance for kids as we grow older and don’t have ones of our own; maybe we just don’t get kids’ behavior!!

There you have it; that’s where I was the past period and by the way; I got invited by the German embassy to attend a workshop for bloggers and I am expecting to have a good time; it has been a while since I have seen so many people from those who will be there, so stay tuned for more after this one is over