Category: Birthday
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Birthday Baby!
“It’s birthday eve, wake up.” I caress Laddu’s forehead as I cajole her into waking. Her sleepy eyes look at mine before fluttering shut. “In a minute…” she mumbles as I leave. All week long, I have been celebrating this child of mine. She is a gawky tween. A child on the cusp of teenhood.…
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Sweet Sixteen Darlings
“Can I pretty please get a picture of the two of you?” I run behind Ammu as she dodges me and disappears into the neighboring room. I look at my phone camera app and see the other twin bending over to tie her shoelaces. I click and she looks up. I click again. “Mom!” the…
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Leaning Into Joy
I walked around my home in the dead of the night, long past the time the kids and spouse went to bed, with only the twinkling warm lights of the holiday decor for company. I lingered by the nativity, pausing just a bit before the tiny lighted ceramic tree by the doorway, lingering just enough…
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Birthday Reflections: Fifty Years
Fifty years. Five decades. Half a century. It feels momentous. Salt and pepper hair, curling at the edges. A ready smile. A fit body from playing tennis incessantly. A minimalist before it became an in thing. A progressive before I knew what that term meant. A boomer living in a Gen Alpha world. You are…
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Letters To My Daughters: The Big 1-0
“What should I dream about?” Your voice still carries a trace of babyhood that is fast disappearing. Your round face wrapped in a plush hoodie, surrounded by pillows makes me want to squish you tight. I limit myself to planting a kiss on your forehead and walking away. Just as I turn out the light,…
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Letters To My Daughters: Birthdays!
Dear Ammu and Pattu, The house is quiet today, kind of like the calm before the storm. I open the packages from Amazon that line my study. I sort the gifts in two piles, one for each of you. I bag it up, discard the boxes and put the bags away to be opened by…
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Mother. Daughter. Mother.
“Skipping time” Amma calls out to my prepubescent youngest child who is upstairs talking to a friend over Facetime. I am in the kitchen doing dishes, amused by the interaction. I hear the sound of jumping upstairs as Laddu counts and jumps a hundred times. She is out of breath but rushes proudly to her…
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Ending The Year On A High
Last night, after a dinner made by my husband, we drove through our neighborhood gawking at the holiday light displays. Some were classy, some gaudy, some muted and other blingy. As we cruised around slowly, I got to see twinkling lit up trees through the window, families gathered around the dinner table, TVs with some…
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Winter Solstice: In With The New, Out With The Old
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America Today the Sun ingresses into Capricorn. We move from the warmth and abundance of Sagittarius to the dark and restraint of Capricorn ruled by Saturn. The winter solstice marks the…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Missed Milestones
“Can you bake me a chocolate cake?” My littlest one asks, her round eyes wide with anticipation. I add ingredients to my virtual cart and cross my fingers and pray. “How many days to my birthday?” “Can I wear a dress for my birthday?” “Can you get me an Elsa bike?” “Can you get me…