"Beti"

My daughters are my strength and my sons are my weakness. Thanks to modern technology you can't feel the tremble in my hands but I am pretty sure this keyboard made out of plastic and metal is experiencing every emotion I feel right now as I believe these are the most intense words I will ever write.

I think a woman is God's strongest creature and BETI is the most powerful phenomenon. A beti is the most forceful thing on the face of the earth as it forces you to do things that are sometimes beyond your imagination. When her tears come down her cheeks and drop right at the most tender corner of your heart, you are bound to acknowledge the true power of a daughter.

Beti is a gift from Almighty Allah that he doesn't bless everyone with. God has been good to me, blessing me with four daughters. They are as precious as they come. Each one recognizes her responsibility to her family with her loyalty intact, and recognizes her own worth as a woman and, more importantly, her worth as a daughter. Each of them can and will move mountains for her family if she has to.

At times she is so gentle and fragile that if you touch her she will break, and at times her tenacity is mind blowing. As a mother, quite early on in her life, you start feeling her joys and sorrows much more than she would feel herself. You know she is going to pay some kind of a toll at each and every corner she turns in her lifetime, much more than her brothers or husband will.

The picture that I have attached is of my son Haroon with his first born, Ariana. This was taken at at a pediatricians office while waiting for her first shots. The baby obviously has no idea what is coming her way. But according to Anila (Haroon's wife), Haroon was about to cry. He could not handle even the anticipation of the little pinch his daughter was about to feel, lasting no more than half a second. To me, this photograph is worth a thousand words. I see it as a moment when my son experienced and acknowledged the power of a beti.

Of all the roles that I played during my life as a woman, my role as a beti is most precious to me. Although both my parents are gone, I still am their daughter. I was their daughter first before i was "anyone" to anyone else. I have to admit I didn't fully realize my worth as a beti until my own daughters became young ladies. What I saw in them, I'm sure my parents saw in me, and that is the whole world. What my parents did and what I'm doing is the exact same thing, sometimes making the impossible possible just to catch a little glimpse of smile on her face......at times, a very EXPENSIVE smile in every sense of the word. I have my four daughters, one daughter-in-law, and three granddaughters, and when I am surrounded by them I am the "richest' woman alive as they are my most expensive accessories.

On a lighter note, if you don't have a daughter, you better get on your knees and beg Allah for at least two (as long as you are still in your reproductive years) as they could be your ticket to Jannat. They will keep you grounded more than anyone else would dare. I love them to pieces but I have to admit there were times, more like years (their pre teens and teen years) when I wanted to mail them back to sender. Besides stealing my heart they have graduated to stealing my shoes and bags and I suspect pretty soon my identity as well. They occupy each and every corner of my heart and prove to be the worst tenants as they don't pay any rent but refuse to leave.

"A mother's treasure is her daughter." -Catherine Pulsifer

Much Love,

Shehla