Building a dream

Bismillah.

After the rain, at my kampung (hometown/village) in Penang, I found a cat curling up on my car. The car was right on the piece of land where my late grandfather had cleared up to build our family home more than 100 years ago. 

The cat and I are dreaming one same dream. That is to build a house on the plot. And we are having a lofty aspiration for once, we are planning to have a lift in da houze! I am feeling nervous as I write this because we are kampung folks, we're supposed to be backward people, nah...maybe not. We want to be braver, lift up any mental barriers and keep pushing boundaries - all for the sake of our loved ones. 

I feel there's a need to document this story. I remembered my first experience building a house. I was a naive inexperienced 26-year old lady. I was practically alone on the project. But it was a tall order from my dying father - to build a house. Building a house and buying a house are two different things, that I learned the hard way. A few days before he fell terminally ill, he went to the land office, limping in pain, to grant me full ownership of the property. 

I had no clue how to go about building a house. I looked up the Yellow Pages for the phone number of the best architect firm at that time, and the rest is history - a personal achievement after much sweat and tears. 

***

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself in a similar situation. I braved myself and phoned a commercial construction firm looking for an architect. Deep down I feared a rejection. I knew no one there. They build mega projects for the country, including all the iconic mosques in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, they don't do peanut sized projects. But I so much wanted to work with somebody from the company, it's a reputable organization, they must have great people working there. I drive by their new headquarters almost everyday. After 30 years of being in the industry, they finally moved to a grand office building in my neighborhood. 

But to my surprise, Allah Kareem indeed, one person agreed to help on the first phone call. MashaAllah it's like getting a strike, all ten pins down on the first attempt! YaHu!

***

I wish to impress upon my nieces and nephews who are reading this that you must consider these three success principles [by Jack Canfield] when building a dream.

• Experience your fear and take action anyway.
• Ask, ask, ask.
• Believe it's possible.

And trust the Lord.

The view from the sofa at the lobby
of that firm I so admire.
Impressive.

"If you don't build your dream,
someone will hire you to help build theirs."
- Tony A Gaskins Jr.

Happy weekend folks.