Today, my eldest daughter, my 21-year old will graduate from university after countless years of schooling and four hard years of university.  As I sit here today and think about the celebration we will have tonight, I wonder, hope, and pray, that she has everything she needs to face the world.  I know this is the end of a big chapter in her life, and I know from here on out, she will mostly continue the other chapters independently.  As her mother, I always tried to give her the best I could give her to love her, nurture her development, and ensure her success, but, now, all that I gave her and all that she has earned on her own will be put to the test of life.  I pray what she has is enough.  I pray that she has the essential life skills to make it in life.

Ramadan is a time for charitable acts.  During the holy month of Ramadan as we work to fast from sunrise to sunset, we spend more time praying and doing good deeds.  Our focus turns away from ourselves towards others and how we can help them in their time of need.  In an effort to accumulate as many rewards from Allan (SWT) as possible, we look for any opportunity we can to feed the poor, make donations to the needy, and help others in our community who require assistance.

I first understood children could experience stress when my eldest daughter was just in second grade.  She was my first born, so her father and I, wanting the very best for our daughter, had enrolled her in a first-rate, academic-focused elementary school that not only got excellent results, but also had children sit for exams as early as first grade.  What did I know?  I thought I was doing the best for her by preparing her for later academic rigors of middle and secondary school.   Unfortunately, it was too much for her.  Every day on the way to school, she would complain of a stomach ache and insisted on stopping to go to the toilet.  Our only choice was an EPPCO on the way to school, and as I waited for her outside of the toilet stall, urging her to finish as quickly as possible so we would not be late for school, I worried about her health, wondering why she had a stomach ache every day.  When I took her to the doctor and insisted on a scan to rule out any horrible malady, I was relieved to learn that nothing physical was wrong with my daughter.  However, I was ashamed to hear that my daughter was probably having a stress reaction due to school pressure.