A Sunday Full of Stories

Still in the afterglow of Saturday’s “meeting myself” at the Alphasmart Training Session, Sunday morning I was back on my porcelain throne (yes, the toilet). Experimenting with Meta Business Suite to schedule some content, when my husband surprised me with a full brunch spread for the whole family. Especially crispy chicken nuggets, golden and glorious. How wisdom may feed the soul, but food feeds the mood :D

After filling our stomachs, we headed to church for Sunday service and Holy Communion. For me, worshipping in person hits differently compared to online. When the praise songs started, I got chills more than once, and yes, I cried. It’s like the difference between watching a live concert and watching the recording. You just can’t bottle that energy.

After service, my husband and I joined “Cobain Date Yuk!”, a trial program for our church’s small group communities. The idea is to get us rooted in smaller circles, so we have a solid support system. We got grouped with two other couples, all parents too. For an hour and a half, we introduced ourselves, shared about our families and God’s word, and prayed for each other. With everyone’s own struggles, we found strength together. This is the kind of community I’ve been longing for. For years I’d invited my husband to join a Date group, and there was always some reason to skip. This time, no escaping, my dear.

From church, we dropped our eldest at home and drove our youngest to her classmate's sweet 17th birthday party, in the lavish 5 star hotel, Fairmont Senayan Jakarta. Kids these days… makes me wonder, where will they celebrate their weddings? :) While waiting for her, I’d booked a table at Motion Blue for some live jazz. But as soon as we got there, ouch! The cigarette smoke was unbearable. Last time we went, it wasn’t this bad. Oh, if only Indonesia had Canada-style no-smoking rules inside clubs!

So we bailed and strolled through the connecting tunnel to Plaza Senayan. After wandering aimlessly, we ended up at the food court. And here’s the kicker: that’s the very place my husband and I first met 23 years ago. It was July 25, 2002, at a Blogbugs Gathering I organized, and he came… with his girlfriend at the time. LOL.

Over food, I told him about my first-ever visit to this mall back in 1996, when I was still in high school. My cousin, who worked as a Sales Promotion Girl (SPG) at Sogo, brought me here. The moment I walked in, I felt so small. Everyone seemed so polished, stylish, well-dressed, and flawless. Meanwhile, I was scrawny, messy-haired, and very much not mall-chic.

But over the years, with a little glow-up and self-upgrade, I started to feel like I belonged here. In fact, Plaza Senayan became my basecamp with my MIRC and blogger friends in the early 2000s. Every week we’d hang out here, and my days of feeling out of place were long gone.

Mid-meal, my husband noticed a guy at the next table. Turned out it was our friend, Mas Goenrock, happily devouring nasi padang from Sari Ratu. We had a quick catch-up before parting ways again.

Before heading back to Fairmont to pick up our daughter, we stopped by Kinokuniya. I browsed through so many tempting books, but resisted. My “to be read” pile at home is still towering, and I’ve just subscribed to Headway. So I just took photos for later.

Once the party was over, did we go straight home? Nope. We pick up my mom, who flew back from Bangka as soon as she heard I was going to have surgery. We finally reached home around 11 PM, a little bit exhausted. No blogging last night. So here I am, Monday morning, publishing this post dateback while, well… back on my porcelain throne.

And that’s how my weekend wrapped up. Saturday was about meeting myself, Sunday was about meeting others, and both days reminded me that connection (whether inward or outward) is what makes life rich.

Love,

Nuniek

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