Sup3rnality

Life has changed so much since I first started this blog, and that was about a decade ago, I think. Ten years. Wow.  Ten years.

When I first sat down that day in that Zainab College cyber cafe to start blogging, I wouldn't have had imagined that ten years later I would be looking into the screen of a PC and pouring words into the same container I did when I was only 17 going on 18 -- with so many changes to my life in between.

I was in a state on confusion when I began sharing my thoughts in cyberspace - my love life was in limbo, I became angsty - albeit a bit late in my youth - I discovered the pains of life away from home, I had to find my own two feet which I thought I had already found, I got to know Betrayal and Distrust, I fell in love and I made my way into adulthood stumbling.

As a teen I had my life figured out. Or so I thought. I was a somewhat mild-mannered teen, never got into much trouble, I just had a dislike for homework and had average grades. I never had to truly deal with the confusion of teenhood, I clearly saw my path forward and coasted my way there.

But Life caught up with me along the way, and I was hit full in the face with it well into my twenties.

Throughout this blog I chronicled my heartbreak of losing my first love. In riddles and metaphors, I tried to unravel the mysteries but never quite found the answer. It took me six years. Six years. I lost a lot of years pining for you, dear Mr You-know-who-you-are. I was 16, and I was lost in the throes of teen love. Someone loved me, and I held on to that like a beacon I never thought I would see.

But in the end you were whom I originally thought you were on that quiet day in 1998 when you first told me you loved me: a friend. And I would not dare change that fact. And I think you did too down the line. It took me six years and more to realise that - and I remember that day when it happened so clearly in that McDonald's where we used to meet.

I'm happy we both found what we really were looking for.

In ten years I've fallen out with friends, with family time and time again. I'd right the wrongs I did if I could, but these are the bitter pills I swallow that has made me the better person I am today.

Better? Well, the jury is still out in that one. There were a lot of things I thought I would have achieved by now, and I have also achieved a lot else, but perhaps not in the order I thought I would.

Friends have unknowingly said comforting words that when times are hard, even though I know I shouldn't take them to heart, the echoes of their comfort calms me, and assures me that things will be alright when my time comes.

I try not to dwell too much on it. There's a battle in my head and which side wins depends on the order of the day.

Here and now is good. So we'll ride out the storm for as long as possible.

Phew, ten years.

I have been in and out of IIUM - the reason I started blogging in the first place. At Julia's urging, I started with Xanga, then moved on here to Blogger halfway through my career as a blogger. Well, blogger by my standards, at least.

I had a lot to say then. A lot to vent out. Not that I don't have to now, but I have other avenues. Asdil, being one.

Asdil. Who would have thought we would end up the way we are? He was the fire the gave light to the dark nights that lasted too many years. He burned a hole through the apparitions that much too long occupied my thinking space.

Then, together, we have grown on each other, with each other, for each other and have become what we are. Friends. Lovers. Confidantes. He's mine and so much more. Ten years ago, this wouldn't have even cross my mind. And yet I cannot believe how there was a big part of my life he was not a part of. He feels like he has been there from the start.

In ten years, I've done things I told myself I'd never do. I have time and again redefined myself. The ideas and ideology I once held close to my heart are now but a part of an ideal world I gave up the idea of living in.

It's hard to put into words the magnitude of how much time has past, but how small I feel in the midst of it all. In my mind's eye I see how things would have been if I chose different paths, at least, how I think it would be. But while some paths seem like the better deal, when it all comes down to it, I would not change a thing.

The most I can do is say sorry for the things I did not really mean to say, things I didn't really mean to do and hope for forgiveness.

It's hard to wrap my head around. Thinking about time and space and life and the frailness and fragility of it all. But here I am. And no matter how much time will past or how much time I have left, I am thankful for all I have. I'm thankful that in this moment in time, I am me and have the ability to still be me.