Category: Family
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Three Different Mothers
Three daughters posted Mother’s Day tributes online — a scrapbook, a photo grid, a music video. Each one a different mother. An essay on being seen.
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Through the Door
My daughter was in the shower. The sentence that arrived before I was fully awake was: this is my child, but I don’t know her. A reflective essay on the week my daughters began to feel like strangers, and what my own mother said when I asked her the same question.
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Bringing Home Felix
“Felix, come here. Come here baby…” Pattu’s high pitched baby talk sounds so good to me. Ammu is walking around with the twelve week old puppy draped over her shoulders the way one carries a human baby. Saathi is on the mattress in the dark, patting Felix through the bars of his crate late at…
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Musings On Love
The doorbell rings. I realize with a start that I forgot to open the garage door for the kids. I make coffee while my girls wash up and sit for coffee and snacks. I cut myself a slice of cake and as an afterthought, break off a piece of the yezhu suthu murruku from my…
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Yin And Yang
“Ooh! I forgot to give mom kisses…” Ammu runs to me and smothers me with kisses all over my face. When I pause to catch my breath, she removes my glasses and attacks me again until I am bent over, wheezing with laughter and desperately trying not to pee. “Screw off” Ammu grumbles when I…
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Unplugged Parenting: Walking, Conversations, and Embracing Moments of Joy
“Can we go on a walk?” My middle child pops into the living room where I am prone on the sofa, the lazy ceiling fan lulling me into sleep. Amma is seated across the room. I squint at the window. The sun is still pretty bright for 6:00 pm. “How about after dinner?” I suggest.…
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Embracing Teenage Years: A Parent’s Perspective
It’s 8:45 pm, typical bedtime in our home. One of my older girls pauses to fill her water bottle. She is giggly. I look askance and she spills the tea. First loves, crushes, kisses. It all comes pouring forth. I smile along with her and as we walk upstairs remind her that actions have consequences.…
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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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Boxed In
It is dark when I pull out into our driveway. Pattu is hunched over in the front seat tying her shoe laces. Ammu is in the back seat, headphones covering her ears, looking at the slowly lightening skies, hues of pink and purple in the horizon. The bluetooth connects and Taylor Swift sings “Welcome to…