Tuesday, July 16, 2013

A Refreshing Evening

My routine has altered a bit. I now pick up my daughter from her day care on my way home.


Yesterday, as usual, I parked my car and went in to fetch her. As usual, she was involved in her art work (I seem to pick her up always amidst her favorite activity!!!).

This time, I decided to wait and let her complete her work. I was looking at the other kids and what they were doing. Alex looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. She asked for my birthday. I most hesitatingly told her, "its in february". she persisted "Feburary ?" I said "14th". Ms. Claire (my daughter's teacher) said "oh wow... my son was born the same day too".

Alex asked me "can you guess how old I am?". I most kiddingly said "90?" - she did not seem to get it. She persisted again. I said "8 ?" considering kids love to have everyone believe they are older.

She went on to give me a bio about herself - she will be going to Zachary Lane for 1st grade, her parents wont allow her to use the school bus because it does not work for "us", she has a pet bird - his name is "captain" but she does not know what kind of bird he is.

Suddenly, most of the kids stopped by me to talk to me, introducing themselves and talking about their pets, giving me their birthdates... wow - that was fun.

Then came this little boy who said he was 4 and he asked me "Can you guess my dad's name?"

I said, "um... I dont know"

He said "His name is Josh"
Then he added "His other name is Honey; My mother's name is Honey too"
I had to put lot of effort to stop myself from laughing out loud. This, perhaps, was the most cutest thing I had heard for the day.

I picked up my daughter's stuff, held her hand and walked out of her school laughing out loud. Thank you little one for making me laugh and making my day with your sweet innocence.   I am tempted to add this incident:   Every day post their nap time, the kids get to do art work. Usually it will be drawing or gluing paper figures to a paper. As the teachers hand out the papers to the kids, they write the name of the child on top of the paper.   Every day when I go to pick my daughter, I stand near the work table and see how the kids are doing their new art work. It is very interesting to observe kids at work.   Couple of days, I have read their names from the paper and addressed them as "Alex, are you done with your work? Did you like doing that?" Or "Gracie, wow, that is beautiful".   After observing me do that consecutively, one of the kid asked "How do you know all our names?"   I almost told them that their teacher has put their names on top of the paper she has handed out. But instead, I said "It is magic. I know each of your names" and winked. The child looked stunned at this revelation that I knew all their names magically ;)  

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Time Warp

For the last couple of years, I have  been constantly on the look out for peace of mind. I just wanted to get away from everyone - family, friends, foes - everyone. And to me, this international assignment came as a blessing in disguise - or so I thought.

Little did I know I would be staring at a time warp just in a year's time? Looking back the past 13 months - nothing has changed - the same problems, issues, headaches, fights, and over same topic.

However, one thing has definitely changed - i have become a little more vocal about my thoughts and opinion and to a vast degree developing a "i care the heck" attitude (May be good for me!!)

For 13 years, I have kept quite - knowing what was going around me, fully aware of consequences - both long and short. And after this long span, I decided to speak up - make my point very clear that I do not like what is going on - I feel cheated and had for. I don't know if speaking up was the right thing - nor do I know if this was the wrong thing. It is more like the christian wedding vow "If anyone has an objection to this marriage, you may speak up now or for ever hold up your peace".

Speaking did not bring me any solace either - but it did make one thing clear that I am not understood - perhaps never going to be too. Only thing I heard was "you are misunderstanding the issue; you are taking decisions based on your insecurities and I cannot tolerate your insecurities and your behavior"

My response was "My insecurities and behaviors are mine. If you cannot tolerate it - learn to live with it. After 13 long years, I have found my voice and I am not going to keep quite. Every married woman has insecurities and it is her absolute right to have those"

The only response I got for this was complete silence - this time, it feels like this silence is permanent. There is no break through I am seeing or should I even see?