with so much pride...

i have always been reserved and selective all my life, be it how my phone should be placed when i sleep, or how the only scent of my body lotion should only be strawberry scented, or what shall be posted on here, my blog. my sanctuary. a place where i purposely kept, reserved. but this is a very special one and i believe should be here. 

this is a virtual letter, 

to the most handsome graduate,

mr mechanical engineer.

my sweet boy.

i have known this boy for four years now, but it feels like i have gone through a crazy amount of lifetime with him. i have seen him gone through countless amount of struggles, living abroad all alone, exiled from support that he truly deserved. slowly dipping his toes into the water of Marseille, a city where he found a sense of comfort. learning how to cook meals, spent most of his times on valorant, and the constant gathering in that small long room. IUT days were fun to him, though the bike rides sometimes caused him sunburnt but it was good times. it was a lot of alone times as well in that room. then, along the way, that room in Aix filled with constant giggling, from two voices. constant facetimes, laughters that never seemed to end over Gordon Ramsay's "RAW!" line, small clips on their daily life or they called it 'premium content', and that room was no longer in silence. 

when IUT days were over, he made his way all alone to a town that only had Carrefour which didn't have any chilli on his first visit there. Cluses was a place he felt lonely, beaten down, and clusesless (geddit?) university applications were creeping on him, building uncertainties of the future. the corporate routine didn't help either, nor the messy arabs he lived with. oh god the messy arabs are definitely gonna be the things he remembers most from those few months there, but somehow, life works out for the people that deserved it. UTBM was it for him.

9 hours on the road riding his bike, making his way to Belfort. it was dark, raining, and just, uncomfortable. those long hours were the beginning of a new start of his new home. a place where he found himself again, where he found his family, where he discovered how amazing Bills Burger and Crousti Poulet are, and where he'd fall so many times but got back up despite it all. Belfort was not just a town, it was a witness to the great journey of him building himself into a man he dreamed of. it was a place where he find comfort in his friends, where he finally found a community that shares the same passion as he does, constant rides to Ballon d'Alsace was a way to escape, where life doesn't feel so lonely anymore. Belfort was a witness to his resilience, dedication and perseverance. 

and i too, am a witness to this deservingly earned, Masters Degree. 

my sweetheart, this moment is not a mere measurement of how smart you are (you really are very smart), but a moment to acknowledge how much you have grown into an established man, a man that carries commitment and devotion. to say i am proud of you would be an understatement, considering all the challenge you have endured that seems impossible but still, i am very, very, proud of you. thank you for all the sleepless night you went through to pass the exams despite the urge to hop on Battlefield 6, thank you for still showing up even the weather outside is freezing you at 6 am on the bus, thank you for never giving up even when all that it seems was that way, thank you for surviving despite how dark it can get, thank you for being exactly who you are. i appreciate all that you do for yourself.

now, i know that the future is slowly weighing on you. the beginning of your career had just started and you are no longer a student. there are no more clear roadmaps, no more semesters to measure your progress by. you're on your own now. but please trust me when i say, a person as dedicated as you, as hardworking as you, is bound to leave their mark on the world. maybe not because life owes you anything, but because people like you have a way of turning effort into something meaningful. you have never been someone who waits for opportunities to appear, you go looking for them, you create them, and you keep moving forward even when things don't happen as quickly as you'd hoped. 

all the applications, the networking, the endless LinkedIn updates and connections, the hours spent improving yourself and putting yourself out there, they may not pay off overnight. and they may not always lead where you expected. but none of it is wasted. every attempt, every rejection, every lesson is quietly building into something. progress is rarely visible as we want it to be when we're living through it. 

i cannot promise that every door will open for you, but i truly believe that persistence and determination you carry will open the right ones. the future may feel uncertain now, but if there's one thing i have never doubted, it's your ability to make it work. be it as a small innovation of building a fan in your  room, or installing bidet in your bathroom to finding an internship place despite the 200+ applications. you have overcome so much to become the person you are today. trust that the same strength that got you here will carry you through whatever comes next. 

and when the days feel heavy, i hope you remember that you do not need to have your entire future figured out right now. you only need to keep taking the next step. and you will never be alone ever, as a silly bunny looking girl will cheer you on every path you choose. on days that you worry, on days that fear overpowers, on days that drains you, through it all, you will always have me. to rely on, to take a step back, to ease your worries, and to love you the way that you deserved. 

congratulations my mr engineer. you did it. you earned this. happy graduation my love.

i am so proud of you, and i love you so much.

with so much pride,

aisha. 

31052026 Bangi, Malaysia.