Skip to main content

Gambaran itu jadi kabur

Beberapa hari yang lalu, saya berkunjung ke rumah tante saya. Ia punya anak laki-laki yang belum genap satu tahun umurnya. Namanya Karl, seorang anak laki-laki yang lucu – putih, bermata sipit, tapi berambut keriting – perpaduan yang manis hasil peranakan Cina – Jawa, tidak seperti saya yang berat sebelah ;) Om Robert, suami Bu Tari – saya biasa memanggil tante saya dengan panggilan Bu – iseng mencandai saya. “Nggak segera pengen bikin mainan kayak gini Mit :) ?”. Saya cuma bisa nyengir kuda.

Alih-alih ingin menggendong bayi seperti banyak teman sebaya, keinginan yang dulu pernah ada kok seolah menghilang ya. Dulu saya selalu membayangkan, saya akan berdiri dengan menggendong seorang anak perempuan kecil, bermata belok (seperti mata saya ;), pipi berwarna merah jambu yang tembem dan sehat, berambut pendek ikal, dengan kulit yang lumayan putih, hehehe. Di samping saya berdiri suami saya (wajahnya sih beberapa kali berubah-ubah, tergantung gambaran saat itu, yang menurut saya bakal jadi ayah dan suami ideal, hahaha), sedang menggandeng putra pertama kami, anak laki-laki yang sehat, lincah dan bandel seperti umumnya anak-anak, dan anak kami itu sedang tertawa nyengir badung.

Dulu saya juga selalu bilang kepada sahabat saya bahwa saya ingin tinggal di Bandung, jadi dosen yang pekerjaannya tidak terlalu mengikat, sementara suami saya tetap bisa merintis karier di Jakarta. Dengan adanya tol Cipularang, hal seperti itu sekarang lebih mungkin diwujudkan. Seperti Bu Ita dan suaminya (dosen saya dulu). Dan sahabat saya selalu menimpali, “Ya iyalah, siapa sih yang nggak pengen jadi seperti Bu Ita. Dosen cantik, punya suami yang baik banget dengan kariernya bagus, anak-anak juga ‘kopen’ karena jadi dosen relatif gak menyita waktu.”

Tapi itu dulu. Sekarang, susah membayangkan seperti itu. Bukannya saya tidak ingin berkeluarga dan punya anak, tapi sekarang gambaran itu jadi kabur.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thanksgiving 2020

What a crazy ride we have been riding in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has pretty much put our life on hold, if not going on a slower pace. I feel that we are running a marathon, and it's not over yet. The emotional toll that we have been experiencing since March is real. Everything that we used to take for granted, like meeting up with friends, birthday parties, kids activities, traveling, the convenience of doing grocery shopping anytime we want, a lot of them have been taken away from us, from my family. No more parties, no more lunch or dinner with friends, no more invitation for birthday parties, no more traveling. Perhaps my life had become too easy before the pandemic. We had to switch Nathaniel from a brick and mortar school to a cyber school. I tried to plan my grocery trips ahead of time to avoid crowds. We had to wear masks everywhere. But at least we are healthy. At least I am facing this together with my husband and kids as a family. At least I am at home that is fu...

What would they decide ?

When I was a little girl, I heard a lot of stories about far-away lands from my mother. She told me stories that she got from my father's letters when he was away. Our family was apart for four years. My father went to school to Montpelier, France while my Mom raised my brother and me in Yogyakarta. Every other year Dad visited us, brought a lot of books and pictures home. Pictures of Versailles, Lourdes, Marseilles, Spain, and a lot more. He told us many stories, brought me from our little home to those countries, although only in imagination. Since that day, I convinced myself that someday, when I grow up, I will see those places with my own eyes :) About twenty some years later, my turn came. I stand here, a few thousand miles away from home. About once a week I call home, talked to my parents about this place. About the harsh winter in Pittsburgh, about my new town near Philadelphia, about my new job. I might not be here if my father never brought me those pictures, told me st...

Turned out alright

Last week everything turned out alright :) Jumat siang, dengan restu teman2 kantor :p gw cabut dari kantor, walaupun area leader gw ngajakin meeting buat next recipe, tapi dia bilang "Go ahead and don't worry about the meeting, you better get your license today :p" . Jam 12.30an, gw dijemput sama orang dari driving school, dan ngebutlah kita ke DMV Norristown ngejar ujian jam 2 siang. Gw deg2an banget, apalagi karena udah gagal 1x. Kalau gw fail lagi, means that I screw everything up. Karena in the next four weeks para tebengan bakalan cabut ke site di Oregon (gak mungkin kan gw jalan 2 mile ke kantor), kontrak apartment gw habis akhir September dan gw harus cari apartment baru, dan ada chance gw bakalan dikirim ke Oregon juga (walaupun bukan shift pertama). Tapi above it all, hidup tergantung sama orang lain itu sucks. Gw gak bisa bebas ke mana-mana, gak bisa cari kegiatan dan temen2 sendiri (temennya ya cuman temen dari temen gw), gak ada social life sama sekali. Nyampe...