The Witty Wordsmith

I was in the midst of a thick fog of losing. That much was obvious. The conversation with my husband last night somehow landed softly at the bottom of my heart, and maybe that was exactly what I needed. He said, “Instead of making a list of things you didn’t get to do with your mom, why don’t you count the things you’ve done with her, and the thin…

I was in the midst of a thick fog of losing. That much was obvious. The conversation with my husband last night somehow landed softly at the bottom of my heart, and maybe that was exactly what I need…

I thought I was strong. I thought grief would knock me down for a while, let me gasp, then loosen up. I thought being her daughter for thirty-two years was savings I could draw on. When she died, the…

How do you grieve someone who’s still alive? The question sounds absurd, maybe even cruel. Like betrayal, like you’ve already dug a pit for burial while the body is still warm. And yet, I did it. No…

Duniaku porak poranda sejak poros kehidupanku berpulang. Aku selalu tahu bahwa kehilangan adalah bagian dari hidup, bahwa setiap manusia hanyalah titipan, bahwa pada akhirnya semua yang kita cintai a…

It’s been twenty-one days since Mama return to the mercy of Allah SWT. I keep counting. I don’t know why, maybe because numbers stay still, while everything else keeps slipping. Twenty-one feels both…

It’s been sixteen days since my mother passed. Sixteen days. I keep counting, as if the number itself would help me grasp what forever actually means. But my body knows better than my brain does. My…

I wrote this on August 20th, 2025. A day after my mom's funeral. I feel like I bottled up my feelings—what I felt during my mom’s funeral.  Grief really does come in layers. I tried to notice so …

Let me just say it upfront: This cake wasn’t born from a moment of inspiration. It was born from deep annoyance and a very specific kind of Indonesian culinary grudge—the kind that brews quietly whi…