On Friday morning, while most people were making a big fuss about the date 11.11.11, I was at home ‘nursing’ my nausea (among other things) which didn’t seem to lessen eventhough I’m already in the (much awaited) 2nd trimester. At about 10am,  I received a frantic call from a colleague…

A: Ainil, ko dah dengar berita belum?

Me: Berita apa??? 

Terduduk rasanya bila dapat berita yang memang tak disangka sangka. A dear, dear friend passed away while in labor that very morning due to birth complications. Her baby – her 3rd child, the first girl after 2 boys, didn’t make it too.

She was my ‘pumping’ buddies. I was pumping for Adreena back in 2010 while she was pumping for Luqman who is a few months older than Adreena. Our similar pumping schedule gave us plenty of time to talk about everything under the sun – juggling kids without a maid (I didnt have one then), pasal lecehnyaaaaa kena lipat kain…. issues of breastfeeding, breastpumps.. etc. She was a very easy person to like. In fact, there’s nothing not to ‘not’ like about her. Always smiling. Whenever I go to the surau to pump, mesti check dulu kasut dia ada ke tak kat luar surau. There’s just something about her.

I stopped pumping when I got pregnant in March this year. By then she had stopped pumping too. So, our ‘gossip’ sessions ended too. We seldom see each other in the office, she was seated at the other end and later transferred to another block. When she first found out about this blog of mine, she got very excited! Told me she spent days reading old entries. She loved it when I wrote about my children and told me I inspired her to write about hers too, so she can read about them when they grow older.. but she didn’t know where to start. I’ve never asked if she eventually wrote anything.

I last saw her a few months back. We bumped into each other at the printer (of all places. :) ). She was already pregnant then.

I last spoke to her sometime after Aidilfitri. She called just to catch up, and she was among the first person I shared my news of this pregnancy with. She was of course very happy for me and told me that her doctor had told her she’s expecting a girl, as she had hoped. That call lasted almost half an hour but I certainly didn’t think it was going to be our last chat.

The whole last week I thought of giving her a call, knowing that she’s due in November. I regret not picking up the phone to call her. :(

When I read her FB wall, it’s just amazing to discover that my thoughts of her is very much similar to what her other friends think of her too. Always with a smile on her face, an easy person to work with… and sangat2 menjaga silaturrahim. MasyaAllah… all the qualities I am very much lacking of. There’s a lot to learn from her.

I was told that there were sooooooo many people during her funeral. At the surau and at the kubur. Berpuluh2 kereta! Itu lah tanda2nya bila orang yang baik pergi meninggalkan kita, kan? There were a lot of people yesterday too, when the office organized a ‘majlis bacaan yasin & tahlil’ untuk arwah after work at the office.

It was heart breaking, but I think Allah has given her one of the best endings a woman can have. Mati shahid ketika melahirkan, di pagi hari Jumaat – penghulu segala hari… dan ditemankan puteri cahaya iman (Nurul Iman) di dalam kubur. Semoga roh mereka tenang dan ditempatkan dikalangan orang orang yang beriman. Semoga suaminya Hafidz dan dua anak lelakinya Ikhwan & Luqman dikurniakan kesabaran dan ketabahan untuk menempuh ujian yang sangat hebat ini.

You are and will always be missed, my dear friend.

Al Fatihah buat Allahyahrmah Rozi Hartini Binti Abdul Aziz dan puterinya Nurul Iman.

Her friends wrote about her too here, here and here.