Endurance

Sometimes we underestimate the abilities of young children... Our recent trip to Havasupai revealed the physical and mental strength of my 5-year-old son. It was a 10-mile hike (one way) into the deserts of Grand Canyon. The hike consisted of about 3000 feet rapid change in elevation in the beginning followed by 8.5 miles of almost flat, hot and dry canyons. Not a cake walk for a 5-year old. He did need coaxing and cajoling... A little bit of pushing and carrying... However on our return hike, he did much better than all the adults at the switchbacks. He lead our group out of the canyon... He showed me the power of true endurance... And he very well deserves the endurance badge!!!

Yet another move!!!

Last few days in this home sweet home!!! It has been over two years since we moved in here... seems like yesterday!!! The best house I've ever lived till today... I just love the beautiful play area at front!!! Such beautiful memories were made here!!! And all the friends I made in the neighborhood!! I'm going to miss you home!!! a lot!!!
I wrote this when we moved last time.
Here we go again!!! just a part of our nomadic life style!!!

The 8-8-8 rule

Someone close to my heart once asked me - Do you know why God has given us 24 hours in a day? 8 hours to work, 8 hours to sleep and 8 hours for family. I was questioned by this person why I work 10-12 hours a day. Now this same person does not seem to follow the rule - spending 5-6 hours on sleep, 3-4 hours for family and all the rest for work.

Guilt

Guilt - a feeling that starts to develop around the age of two and haunts us for the rest of our lives!!! I know it is the feeling that guides one's moral compass... But sometimes, you feel guilty even when there is no big moral issue involved. Living abroad is one of them....
I feel guilty when something goes wrong with folks back home - especially our parents. I feel guilty because we are not around to help them. They spent their lives taking care of us, but we are not there to take care of them. I know that is the circle of life.... I know they are grown up adults and can handle things by themselves. I also know that they are not too old yet that they need help. Still I feel guilty. I feel a moral obligation to be there when they or sick or during a mishap. They may not even need the physical or financial support. I think they would appreciate the moral support that we can provide.
So here is the million dollar question - Do we stay or leave? If we leave when????

Us time (just us)

From the time we were visited by the stork again, about 8 months ago, life has been pretty full. Full of commitments.... Me committed to the newcomer of the family, apart from the other things I was already committed to (older son, hubby, house chores, college, etc, etc.). Hubby too, has been quite busy at work with meetings starting at 9:00 AM and going on through out the day, sometimes as late as 10:00 PM. I find it funny when he says that all these meetings are not work and he has to stay up until 1:00 or 2:00 AM to do his "actual" work... Long story short, my hubby and I have hardly had time to even see each other, leave alone have a decent conversation. When he announced he was going to take a day off, as he had peaked on accumulated vacation days, I pounced on the opportunity immediately to make it a "date" afternoon. My older son would be in preschool, but what do I do with my younger one? Luckily my mom is here helping my sister with her newborn and she was happy to have him for few hours.

On D-day, I was super excited. I picked out my clothes with a lot of thought. I picked out complementing jewellery and even a scarf! I styled my hair the way hubby likes. For someone like me, who has not cared about personal appearance for a while, this is BIG!! I fed my little boy lunch, made him nap at my sister's place, left behind a cup of yogurt for his evening snack and took off with hubby. Interestingly, this time I did not feel guilty. I felt shy and nervous like a teenager going out on a date. When we parked our car and got out, I held my hubby's hand. Wow that felt good... I wondered how long had it been since I held the hands of 'MY MAN' lovingly... I could feel that I was blushing. We watched a beautiful movie with coffee, ice cream and pizza. After the movie, we stopped at a burger joint opposite to the theater and shared a burger. While we sat at the table, I held his hand, looked deeply into his eyes and said "I love you". Somehow I felt really connected to him (something I've not felt for a long time). I must have been in a trans the entire 3 hours, because I did not think of my children. Hmmm.... Dating is so blissful while married life can be sooooo stressful.

An Ode to a new friend

She is a new friend... Yes, I have known her only for the past 2 months... She's been my neighbor for almost 1 1/2 years, but we became friends recently. Even though I have been seeing her around for quite a while from my kitchen window, we never got to say hello. And then, we got introduced by another friend in the library. We started meeting more often to chat and for kids to play together. Very soon we were talking or meeting up almost everyday and we became best friends. We also found that we had a lot of similarities in our interests, our past lives and the day-to-day problems we faced, which brought us even closer. I had found "The friend" that I was longing for, from the time I moved to the Bay area. She left to India for a 5 month vacation this morning. I was at her driveway waving bye and wishing her a safe trip and a great vacation when they drove away to the airport. I suddenly felt this heaviness descending into my heart. I felt this void for a friend after a very long time, perhaps first time after 12th standard. I did not feel it even when I finished my college. Why now, after so long? The only consolation is, I'm going on a vacation to India too very soon and she'll be back soon after I come back... Looking forward to those days.

Is it mean to back answer??

It was another sunny afternoon. I was in the park, as usual, with my son, playing. My son walked into this area where there are a couple of benches, some counting beads and some figures. There is this girl sitting in one of those benches, coloring a disposable plate. She may be a 2nd grader, or a 3rd grader perhaps (I am not good at guessing the age of kids here). My son and I started counting the beads and I was showing him the bus figure, pointing out to its wheels and started singing the nursery rhyme "The wheels on the bus", my son's favorite. Suddenly, this girl shouts at me "Will you keep quiet? I am not able to concentrate." I generally do not answer back to mean comments by strangers especially in public places... But today, I did not keep shut. I said, "Baby, this is a park and people will play, talk and sing. If you want silence, go to a library". I don't know why I made such a comment, that too to a small girl. I felt a little bad after saying that. May be if it was an adult, I might not have felt bad. If she had asked me to be quiet in a polite voice with a "please", I might have actually kept quite... But, none of this happened... I made a mean comment to a little school girl... Did I react the right way? Or did I over-react?