I thank God that I am living another year of 2018! Every year I promise myself to do better in terms of organising my life. It’s a perpetual reaffirmation and needs a lot of vigor and strength to accomplish it. I am glad that previous year ended in a nice manner. Last night I was trying to recollect what I did in the whole year and here it is that I found in my memory lane:

1-    I have seen many times that planning in life never comes out to be what we expect. I always hope for the best but never believe in perfect planning. Many blessings God has bestowed on me unexpectedly. And this year it happened to me again that without making any previous plan, I was able to perform Hajj! That was the most precious blessing of the year for me. I take a continuous lesson from my life that if something that I planned and it failed, I should never loose my heart as God is the one who knows the best for me and for the time being even if it hurts, but later it is revealed that it was better for me!

2-    I love to hear about my mother’s life events right from her childhood as far as she can remember. I was trying to pen down her life story. So I spent time with my mother and listened to her story and was able to write and now I plan to add photos and make a beautiful storybook of my mother’s life!

3-    I bought a new car! My father gave a car to me in 2004 and I just loved it. It was silver Coure model 2002. It ran fast and I never had any problem with it plus as it was a gift from my father so I didn’t want to change. I had a special connection with it. But later my brother told me that my father used to change the car frequently with new models in his initial years. So it was the first time that I was convinced and collected enough money to buy a new Aqua Hybrid model 2014. I chose my car color to be red, my all time favorites!

4-    I completed another academic year by teaching physiology to my students of 1st year BDS. Every year I am happy to see their good results in exams. I miss my previous batch but sooner a whole new bunch of students again win my heart and it seems to me so pleasant to develop a good rapport with them. I am hoping again when teaching session starts tomorrow i.e. 10th January 2018!

5-    Being a head of the physiology department, I thank God that I have such a nice team working with me. Three of them are girls, more than half of my age and a boy, all dentists who practice dentistry in the evening. I enjoy with them a lot besides academic work that we do together.  I like to be with these younger people, full of energy to perk up my sagging spirits at times or maybe vice versa!!

6-    I thank God that I enjoy consulting my patients in the Hospital and for making correct diagnosis and treating them. I feel enormous joy when they get well by my treatment!

7-    This year I watched a Spanish TV series on Netflix, “Ingobernable” and then “La reina del sur”. I came to know that in movie making, Mexico and Spain are far ahead than USA and Britain, as they are producing junk movies. I fell in love with Mexican and Spanish serials and language.  As the serials are subtitled in English so I thought how enjoyable it would be if I know a bit of Spanish language. It made me to search for any book to teach myself Spanish. My elder brother downloaded a book “Easy learning complete Spanish”! So it’s my task for the New Year to learn a new language.

8-    I got my house painted at the end of the year. It has been 5 years that my house was built and seems just yesterday that I was shifted in this blessed house, of our parents place where I was born and grew up and now getting older in the same house.

9-    I had done photography while I was at Mecca for Umrah and when I was at Gawader and also a lot of pictures of flowers that I took at different times. I selected some and got them enlarged and after framing, replaced the wall hangings in my lounge and study room this year.

10-I made a special prayer area in my study room.

11-I did some art and craft work at home. I made some miniature doll gardens and doll houses that I love. I also made a handbag like a dollhouse for myself. I made albums of old and new photographs.

12-I tried new recipes of cooking and baking and found them awesome and made a permanent part of my recipe book, which include lemon bars, potato pie, apple crumble and many others.

13-I collected data from Civil Hospital Karachi, for my research paper that I will write this year.

14-My sister gave me a new idea to organize my cupboard and de-cluttered my drawers. It needs continuous effort to keep all documents and things organized and neat. Clearing the space gives clarity and serenity to my mind.

(Dr. Zeba Hisam 9th January, 2018)