The stains mystery

I finally solved the mystery of stains on my pants.


For the last few months, I kept noticing my pants having oil-like stains. First, I thought it was just a sign that I am just getting older and clumsier. I thought may be I am just not being careful when eating my food or drinking coffee. It was so embarrassing to be in a meeting or right before giving a Khutba (Friday sermon) and then notice the obvious stain circles, in various sizes and shapes, all over the pants. Of course, I learnt my lesson quickly and the hard way that trying to clean such stains with a wet towel will only make the stain larger and more obvious.


So I decided to start tracking my actions to find out when and how I was causing those stains. Three nights ago, after finishing our last Iftar (breaking of the Ramadan fast) I checked myself and was happy not to find any spots. I assumed that by being careful, I won't spill anymore. So I went on with my daily routine playing with my little girl Safiyya. Safiyya is one year old (next week) and is very playful. She would crawl and slowly walk away then back to me, repeatedly. She would get more excited every time she succeeds. It then occurred to me that every time she came back to me, she was actually wiping, rather stamping, her drool from her mouth on my pants, creating a wet stain. I finally solved the mystery. So I carried Safiyaa and tickled her in celebration. Little did she know that she was, both, the cause of that mystery and the key to solving it. May be one day I will tell her about it and that I even wrote a blog post about this matter. (Of course, by then, a blog would be as foreign to her as a letter to today's teenage kids.

I was relieved to know that I wasn't necessary getting clumsier (though I was still getting older).