The Things That Stay with You

It’s not every day you have a private breakfast with the ex-Prime Minister of a country.

It’s actually really insightful, and really interesting to speak on a personal level with someone I’d only read about before, someone I’d only heard of, and listened to his ideologies; the type of person who I thought I’d only look at from afar.

Sitting and having breakfast with him and his wife, who truly make a cute couple, was quite an experience.

We were all pretty quakey, and nervous laughter was definitely prominent leading up to his entry, and we kept joking around until he actually came into the room. He sat down in front of me, right in front of me, and I realized then that sometimes, certain people have the ability to put you at ease, and both him and his wife definitely made me and everyone else at the table feel very comfortable.

Breakfast was good, the conversation was light-hearted and flowed freely, and I asked what I wanted to ask and said what I wanted to say.

He reminded me of my grandfather in a way.

It’s interesting.

All that intellectual talk, all that time picking at his brain during the breakfast and the thing that stays with me the most is the way he looked at his wife. The way he smiled at her, and laughed at her words. The way he touched her hand. The way her face lit up when she smiled at him, and the way she talked about him with such affection.

I guess it’s the things that make you human that endear you so much to other people.

Needless to say, it's been a very busy couple of weeks, and kudos to all involved, especially to a particular Mr Izhar Moslim, who kept going and going, regardless of the obstacles we've faced. I've been lucky to be involved.

And I say, sometimes, pictures are worth a thousand words.