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…
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COVID-19 Diaries: Birthday Edition
Today was a day I had a lot planned for my twins. Ice cream cake, pizza, a sleepover with friends and possibly surprise gifts. Instead, we woke up to giggling girls, skipped breakfast, ate badam kathli, downed a simple kootu and rice for lunch, napped and cuddled as a family and spent the rest of…
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Birthday Wishes For The Man In My Life
His voice undulates as he reads. Laddu is on his lap, her hands raised to circle his neck. Ammu is sitting on the sofa behind him, a smile playing on her lips. Pattu scrambles downstairs at the sound of his voice, leaving behind a trail of LOL dolls and their accessories. I walk around the…
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Milestone: Five Years Old
“Can I towel myself off?” “Can I put Aveeno all by myself?” “Can you help me with my shirt?” “Can you warm this pasta up?” “What did you pack for lunch today?” “Can I have some chutney please?” This girl of mine is exceedingly polite. She says sorry and thank you. She asks for permission…
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Milestone: Ten Years Old
Pattu bounds down the stairs each morning, a full hour before her sister Ammu wakes. Some days she hugs me around the middle. Some days, she sits at the island waiting for her dad to wake and give her company as she brushes. Our early morning conversations are limited but a growing reminder of how…
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Finally, A Gift He Likes!
“This is the best birthday gift you have given me!” Saathi beams as he chops vegetables and lifts his eyes to mine. I search for snark and find none. He truly is enjoying the breeze the portable fan in front of him is generating. For years he would sit at the island, sweat beading above…
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These Little Girls Of Mine
She stands in her batik printed dress, the silky fabric clinging to her body as she strikes a pose for me. I click and I am taken aback by the young woman staring back at me in the photo. I turn the phone off and suggest that she wear a Capri pant underneath. Year over…
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The Morning After – Birthday Edition
I lift the blinds on the side door. The room feels suddenly chill and I shiver. I continue to sort clothes into piles. When I am done, there are three. I start the washer and the sound of the walkie-talkie startles me. The twins are sitting next to each other on the sofa and talking…
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Wishes
The cold is uncomfortable. The kids shuffle along looking for their cozy slippers long buried under a mountain of fleece and wool. I long for a sweater but hold out hope for a return to warmth. The rain does not help. Incessant, drab, the drip, drip of the water is grating on my nerves. I…
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Unbridled Joy
In the minutes before the clock struck three and the cars would start arriving in our driveway, I prowled the first floor of my home, camera in hand. Just as I thought I would head to the basement and snap pictures of the hastily made decorations, I spied Ammu and Pattu by the window. The…
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Serenading My Darlings
I watch from the front door, the stoop damp from all the snow melt as my children trudge through slushy piles of melting snow and ice. Their backpack hangs heavy from their shoulders. They carry a huge unwieldy trifold board in their hands struggling to keep it off the ground. “I love you.” My voice…
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Birthday Musings
Ammu nuzzles my cheek with her nose, throws her arms around my neck, kisses me and flits off to do whatever it is she is occupied with at the moment. Today she is working on a school project. There are sticky notes all over the place. She painstakingly colors the first American flag and sketches…