My #dearest Medina,
Nine years ago you arrived and quietly rearranged the entire architecture of my heart.
Alhamdulillah, I am endlessly grateful to Almighty Allah SWT for blessing me with you, for choosing me to love, guide, and hold a soul as gentle and luminous as yours.
Watching you grow has been the most extraordinary story I have ever been entrusted to witness – from your smallest questions to your biggest dreams, you fill our days with meaning, music, and light.
Your name means “radiant city,” and that is exactly what you are to me – a place of refuge, warmth, and indescribable love in human form.
You are kind, brave, sharp‑witted and wonderfully yourself, and there is nothing in this world I am prouder of than the person you are becoming.
As you step into this last year of single digits, I pray that Allah always protects you, softens your path, and keeps your heart close to Him, and that you will always know how deeply you are cherished and how fiercely I will stand beside you in every season of your life.
May you never dim your sparkle to fit into smaller spaces; you were made to shine wide and far, my little “city of light.”
Happy 9th birthday, my Medina.
Thank you for choosing me as your parent; I will spend my whole life trying to be as good for you as you have been for me.
I love you more than words, more than time, more than all the birthdays still to come.
Baba😘💖