Probably Azkia’s last race in Perhentian Islands and most likely her last swim race until she starts university. 🥹
As usual, everything was planned and prepared at the very last minute. After the 4 km in 2023, and the 10 km solo swims in 2024 and 2025, this year she decided to do a 16 km relay with her friend, Brett.
Honestly, everything was fine… until this morning, when my friend Trex told me there were SO many jellyfish in the water.
I was like, “Oh really? Azkia has never encountered jellyfish before.” I even told Rumaysa, “The water is safe. My daughter tak pernah jumpa jellyfish.”
And then, just a few minutes later, I saw a rescue boat evacuating swimmers from the 4 km race, less than 30 minutes after they started. Several swimmers had to DNF because of jellyfish, and one girl was badly stung all over her face. 😭
That’s when I started to worry.
Somehow, my daughter is always loved by animals. During our trip to Karimun Jawa, she was the one getting bitten by mosquitoes non-stop.
And then… my feeling was right.
My friend Farah, who was also swimming the 16 km relay with her kids, texted me and sent me a picture of Azkia.
She got stung by jellyfish too. 😭
It was obvious Azkia was in a lot of pain. The medic had to treat the stings, and yet she kept going.
The rest is history. Alhamdulillah, Azkia and Brett made it to the finish line, 4th place! 🏊🏻♀️🏊🏻♂️. They made it only 2 mins behind the 3rd place.
She told me that so many people, including the medic, asked her if she wanted to stop. But she decided to continue.
That resilience. ❤️ And that really stayed with me.
Maybe this is it. Maybe this really is our last Perhentian race together.
And I think this is my retirement too , from being your Mommy Manager.
Thank you for giving me this job, Azkia. ❤️
For all the races, the early mornings, the packing, the last-minute panic, the waiting at the finish line, the worrying, the cheering, and all the “Mama, can you bring this?” moments.
I honestly loved every bit of it.
I think I’m going to miss being your race mama more than I realise.
But now you’re growing up, and there are bigger things waiting for you.
So I’ll change my hat, from Mommy Manager to Tiger Mom. 🐯
No more worrying about swim splits and feeding stations for a while. Now, let’s focus on university. 🎓
And Azkia, if one day you look back at all these races, I hope you know that Mama was always there, sometimes nervous, sometimes overthinking, sometimes completely unprepared, but always, always proud of you.
Thank you for letting me be part of these years.
I may retire as your Mommy Manager, but I will never retire from being your Mama.
Love you always, Azkia.
Now go and conquer your next chapter. The world is yours 💙.