PERMATANG PAUH: It was a long-awaited reunion for nurse Nurul Rafidah Jaafar and her blind parents.
After three months of not being able to meet due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO), they finally got together on Monday.
As soon as Nurul Rafidah, 29, and her husband Mohd Irfan Imanullah Murad, 28, arrived at her parents' home in Taman Ara Indah here at 1pm, they hugged the elderly couple.
In return, her parents Jaafar Hashim, 62, and Hamidah Mustaffa, 57, presented their daughter with a cake to celebrate her recent birthday on June 11.
"There is no other gift more precious than our daughter and son-in-law's return.
"We missed and yearned for them but could not meet due to the MCO. So, every day, we would talk to each other via video and voice calls," Hamidah told the New Straits Times at her home yesterday afternoon.
This was the first time time Nurul Rafidah has been away from her parents for such a long period.
In her college days, she would return home to see her parents every week. Even during her first year of marriage, she was in a long-distance relationship with her husband, opting to stay with her parents here.
Her mother has been blind since birth while her father was rendered blind at the age of two due to an illness.
She left for Kuala Lumpur on March 15 after being offered a nursing position at the UiTM Private Specialist Centre in Sungai Buloh.
Three days later, the country was under the MCO.
During that time, the blind couple were staying with their son, Mohamad Shukri Jaafar, 27, at his house in Kepala Batas. Shukri is a medical assistant at the army camp in Sungai Petani.
On her birthday, Nurul Rafidah sent her parents gifts and a message through a surprise event planner, Siti Sarah Abdul Shukor — a gesture which went viral on social media.
Jaafar said while it was convenient to stay with their son and his family, they felt more comfortable staying alone at home.
Nurul Rafidah said she was grateful, even if it meant she was only back for a night.
"Every day, I worry about my parents' wellbeing and I prayed for them. I am glad that they are doing very well. In fact, they have become 'rounder' since the last time I saw them."
She intends to treat her parents to their favourite pulut and durian before returning home today.