Patience is a virtue

Recently, ESPECIALLY when I'm PMS-ing, I find myself getting a little too emotional than people around me may be able to handle. I'm afraid that after a while, these people might just start to look at me and think I'm plain old crazy. And when I say "people", I actually mean Yasir. The sweet boy has seen me cry more times than I buy shoes - and I buy shoes a lot. When I'm PMS-ing, I cry at EVERYTHING. I cry when I'm watching a sad movie, but I also cry when I 'm watching a happy movie. I cry when I'm tired. I cry when I feel fat. I cry when Yasir says something sweet to me, I cry when we're fighting. I cry because it's a Tuesday. And so it goes on. So last night after work, we were in the car having an intense conversation about life, the goals we want to accomplish, the 'if Josh Hartnett/Brooke Burke was naked in front of you and wanted to sleep with you would you do it knowing that you would lose me forever' kind of questions...deep stuff. And then Yasir proceeds to tell me about how he feels that the most important characteristic a husband should have is patience. Apparently, his father used to say to him:

"Yasir, akal perempuan ni pendek. Kena banyak bersabar."

I know girls, I know. We don't like the fact that men are referring to us as narrow-minded creatures. We HATE it when they tell us we're too emotional. That we're incapable of controlling our feelings. I mean, why are we any different than guys?

Well, you know what, we are.

I know this because I've seen it and you probably have too, in your household. My uncle is extremely patient with my aunt, when she's having one of her mood swings. She's a bit dramatic, a little eccentric, but he's always there to calm her down. And my grandfather? He is the most patient man I know. My grandmother can be dramatic sometimes too- one time during dinner, she decided to smash a plate to the floor because she was upset about something. Of course while doing this, she was also screaming. She was yelling about how she was sick of her life, how she wanted to leave...and you know what? My grandfather didn't even raise his voice. And by his magical powers, she eventually calmed down.

My grandfather has always told me, eversince I can remember, that one of the qualities I should look for in a man is patience. Year after year, as if he forgets that he's ever told me, there will be a time (it's usually when I'm lying down beside him, or when he's sitting in his favourite chair watching some Malay drama with my grandmother) when he says to me, "`Aainaa...find a man who is patient. Someone like your datuk. That's the most important thing, remember that". Then I would nod, and he would go back to sleep.

And so last night, while Yasir and I were in the car and he was talking about how his father had advised him to be patient with his wife, I was dead quiet. Then he looks at me and asks me, "Do you think I've got what it takes to make a good husband?"

And I don't know if it was because I was PMS-ing big time or the fact that his father had advised him to be exactly the man my grandfather had asked me to find, but I started crying. And while my mascara smudged my face and tears ran down my cheeks for the one millionth and one time since Yasir and I have gotten to know each other, he wiped away my tears and hugged me, no questions asked, like it was the first time he's seen me cry.

And that's exactly how I knew, at that moment while we were sitting in my car, that he would make a good husband indeed.