My Dearest P

My dearest P,

You answer yes to each and every question below! You indeed are God's gift to me!

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for,

and if you dare to dream

of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know if you have touched

the center of your own sorrow,

if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,

mine, or your own,

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you

to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us to be careful,

to be realistic,

to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me

if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty,

even when it's not pretty, every day,

and if you can source your own life

from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of a full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know

where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up,

after a night of grief and despair,

weary and bruised to the bone,

and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the center of the fire with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me

where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you, from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. 

Love and grief

When a baby is born, he is not yet conscious of his-self. He knows only hunger and sleep and is mostly surprised by external stimuli. Somewhere along the way to being a man, he learns the ways of this world and is introduced to this bizarre, absurd concept on love! Love adds color, purpose and a sense of belonging to in life. It provides a safe haven, comfort, joy and peace.

When you lose someone special in your life, it feels like that love which has no where to go, is constricting your heart, and it causes the scary sadness, we call grief. Those who have lived through grief will tell you that its nature's way of healing a heart in love. Just like a physical injury needs to heal, grief allows an emotional injury To heal.

It's the heart's way of paying homage to the one it loved. With time, grief takes away the pain of absence of your loved one and leaves instead beautiful memories to be cherished.

So sometimes we just need to give "time" sometime to heal us. And pray that the soul of our loved one finds purpose again in this universe.

Here's to keeping my faith in this wonderful emotion we call love and trusting grief  to hand back my precious memories sans the pain soon.

Miss you V-ajji: you were and will always be an epitome of grace, strength and dignity
Misss you S-ajji: you were and will always be an epitome of humility, kindness and compassion
I hope I can grow to be half the women you were, I hope to be that lucky

Reunion

Reunions are fun when you love your batch mates. And how much the lot of us does was apparent from the fun and laughter that drowned us all last long weekend!

We were meeting (together) after almost 9 years and how much life has changed! To begin with, I was very concerned that we wouldn't make it to the weekend, cause we had 3 infants amongst us! But Lady Luck probably wanted to join our late night gossip sessions, and so micracously we all made it 😀

After settling in on the first day, we headed out to lovely beachside seafood restaurant.
Next day we headed to the beach which was a mere 5 min walk from our villa! Burdened with diaper bags, baby foods and sunblock we trekked our way across to a cozy beach area and hid from the scorching sun under beach umbrellas! While the babies napped A and I risked a swim in the Atlantic waters! How much warmer it is than far up north! It was so heavenly that it was almost unfair! As we sipped our frozen drinks by the beach, the babies woke up and enjoyed playing in the sand. Our pop up tent was the perfect shelter For little P as he grabbed sand and squealed as it slipped within his fingers. He also loved to feel the waves crash against his legs. He seemed a little surprised to see the waters recede as he squatted on the shore, attempting to grab the waves. He finally managed to gulp down couple salty mouthfuls before daddy grabbed him and held him up. His excitement did not wane as he giggled at mommy lounging in ankle deeep waters 😊
After nap time the lot of us gathered for a lovely dinner at the salty dog to remince old times.
Next day arrived with promises of lazy lamhes as decided on the previous night! Somehow we still ended up on a biking tour with all 4 kids in kiddie karts and tandem bikes. It was a fabulous 2 hour ride that ended with a quick lunch. The sky literally opened up but failed to drown our excitement! We hurried to the south end of the island for a boat trip and just made it in time. Over the next hour, we spotted at least a dozen dolphins as they came up for air. It was my first time seeing dolphins and I relished the excitement.

As we bid goodbye the next day, promising to meet again next year, I couldn't help but wonder how different our lives would be then! 😊

Until then.. adios!