Last single digit birthday!

Every year I open my letter on your birthday like a broken record quoting my favourite ‘time flies’. How very true when we remember the day you were born and realise how far we have come together in what seems like no time at all. In the initial few years of your lives, when our lives had become topsy turvy, I would always wonder when you will grow up! I couldn’t wait for your next milestone and wished if your growth could be fast forwarded in some way. I longed to enjoy the luxurious ‘Me’ time. Now I can have as much time for myself as I want, as you both have become so independent. But I sometimes do wish to go back to that phase where you were still dependent on me for the most basic of your needs (though I was the one who was in a rush to teach you those skills). I miss those innocent questions that were asked by the dozen, even if I would get annoyed at times. At times like these, I can’t pat my back enough for having started blogging and recorded those simple moments of joy along the years. No matter how many photos or videos we have collected, these snippets of conversations are much more precious as they bring the magical moment alive, which would have otherwise got long forgotten.

 

Mannu,

Like I always say, “What would I have done without you sweetheart?”. You are my Girl Friday. I could barely function if it were not for the assistant like you, who is blessed with so much care, love and responsible nature. You are a leader and always impose your own rules and/or orders on Tammu. As much as she enjoys you taking care of her, she detests your bossing her around even more. We keep talking to you to work on this, you have improved to an extent. But I can’t blame you in totality as Tammu does act kiddish all the time and you cannot handle it. You are an adult in a child body, aren’t you? Abbas and I absolutely admire your ‘never-say-never’ attitude. Tammu and you both joined Gymanstics class, Tammu was a natural due to her body structure and flexibility. It was an uphill task for you, but you refused to give up. We learnt heaps from you, dear, to step out of comfort zone and punch your scariest demon in the face, and with gusto. Atta girl!

Cleaning is something you are obsessed with and I can’t thank my stars enough (Abbas still thinks I have used some kind of black magic to brain wash you into this because we have hardly seen adults work with such precision) I remember the day when we went to our Tax Consultant’s office and it was extremely untidy. When we came out of there, without a moment lost, you commented “Mumma, how dirty was that uncle’s office. I was so tempted to clean it then and there” I was in stitches laughing at your craze for orderliness. You follow me like the proverbial Hutchison dog wherever I go. I declared that I would start going for walk over the weekends. You started setting alarm next to your bed so that you could accompany me, even better wake me up in case I bailed out in the morning. During our walk, you started picking rubbish strewn on the way. Your tiny little hands weren’t enough to hold the amount of rubbish we encountered. So we came up with a plan to carry a garbage bag along. You teach me to do a lot of good dear. I wish you never let go of your attitude towards life and care for people surrounding you.

 

Tammu,

 

My cute little baby, hope you always remain my teeny tiny bundle for life. While Mannu acts all mature and grown up, you are still holding on to innocence to a certain extent. You are a happy go lucky personality with a jovial persona. Your creativity never ceases to amaze us. The funny stories that you spin spontaneously, the hilarious expressions, weird poses you strike in front of mirror, the minion language that you speak… bring so much of zing to our lives. You care a damn about the worldly responsibilities and rever in your own beautiful dreamy space. Due to this nature of yours, you inevitably get to hear the lectures from us about how it is important to do your duties, take up responsibilities, yada yada yada. You try to adhere to the best of your ability. But the carefree soul in you takes over more often than not. Well, it’s not all that bad as I have realised that it is this very trait of yours that makes you forgive, forget and move on like a piece of cake. You hardly ever carry any baggage. So, be the same little nutcase that you are!

 

Your love for dolls and toys are still in tact. You really take care of Johnny like your own son. He is one fortunate doll, I tell ya! This year around Grandparents day at school, you cried because you have never seen your maternal grandparents. That was the day I felt so helpless and incapable of consoling you. Thank you for always cheering me saying you would go to Kundapur when you grow up to convince them to speak to me. You have been going to different classes but you don’t seem to keep your excitement for long. The only thing you have consistently kept at is writing and drawing. You wish to become an author and illustrator one day.

 

Sweethearts,

 

No matter which path you choose in your future, all I wish is for you to be great human beings. Always be kind, helpful and caring towards everyone that crosses your way. Remember to celebrate the simple joys of life as they go a long way than any material possessions. Never be afraid to take chances, as you would either end up with success or a lesson. There is nothing you will lose. Live, let live, be happy and spread happiness!

 

Love,

Mumma

 

Testing the waters

I always wished to learn swimming some day in my life. But I realized that it was more of a need than want when we booked a Snorkeling tour a few years ago during our Goa trip but could not get into the water as the coordinators warned us not to try if we have don’t possess this basic life skill. Imagine going on a boat to snorkel, where rest of the folks enthusiastically dived into water and we were sitting inside the boat like stupid dumb spectators killing time by watching others do it. That day I decided that I will learn swimming some day. Like a lot of other things on my checklist, this one was forgotten soon. Well, there weren’t many opportunities to learn when we were in India. We moved to Sydney, got our kids admitted to swimming classes and inquired for Adult classes. Unfortunately there were advanced classes for adults but no basic ones. Last year our local Aquatic centre launched Beginner lessons for adults. We kept procrastinating as there were other priority tasks (as is always the case). One fine day when Abbas went to renew Mantam’s swimming lessons, he called me and said “We’ve been pushing this to the backlog for ages. I’m getting both of us enrolled. Let’s do it.” I was shocked, “Whattt? We can’t afford it now, we have too many things going.” Abbas “Arey, we will always have too many things going. Let’s do it.” Me replies “Errrr, if you say so, fine! Let’s do it then!!”

 

Each group has 4 students and one instructor and they conduct 30 minutes class every week. Abbas and I were in the same group and two other men. I missed the first class! Abbas came home and told me that other two guys are also not complete amateurs. I was a nervous wreck before my first class. Abbas could float and also move ahead in water, although he didn’t know the techniques. In my case, I could hardly even stay under water for more than a few seconds. The D day arrived and when I spoke to the instructor, she asked me where should she begin from. I told her that from the most basic level as I have never ever done anything in water! She tried to hold my hand and drag me forward, and told me to lift my feet from the ground. I was worse than the kids who learn swimming. My feet refused to budge. She gave me a pool noodle but nay, my feet were as adamant as before. She then procured a kind of waist band that helps people float from somewhere. With too many gears to lean on to, in my first class I learnt just lifting my legs from the ground but they were still diagonally immersed in water. Phew!

 

We started going on Saturdays to practice. We bought a pool noodle for me to practice. The fun part about going over the weekend was that a lot of other parents came with their children to teach them. In our case, the roles were reversed. Mantam were my teachers, strict ones at that. I was the tantrum throwing child saying I just couldn’t do it. They would comfort me, encourage to do better, applaud when I did better. I thoroughly enjoyed being a kid to my doting daughters. These practice sessions helped me so much. I let go of the waist band in my third class. With due progress, I learnt to float without any clutches. I was on cloud nine the day I floated by myself, without any help. I missed one more class due to flu. Altogether I took about 7 classes, at the end of the term, I was able to float and swim the distance of a metre on my own. We have decided not to go for any further classes. We need to practice more and more with our patient, in-house, loving instructors.

 

Any of you who has been thinking of learning some new skill, but never got to do it due to fear or other commitments taking priority, I insist that you do it on a whim right away. Trust me, tomorrow never comes. Live in the moment and make the most of it.

 

Eleven completed, forever to go

Dear Abbas,

Just another year passes by with the hope of my family accepting our union, and honestly the chances seem to be slimmer with each passing day. Sometimes, I tell you that I have given up but you rekindle the belief that they will come around one fine day. I dunno if we will have the much hyped ‘happily ever after’ with my family but today I want to rejoice the ‘happily-married-for-eleven-years’ moment.

Our relationship has grown so much. We both have transformed a lot shouldering responsibilities together, facing new challenges life hurled at us and most importantly by being parents to the two little fairies who we brought into this beautiful world. It has been one helluva journey, hasn’t it? As much as a fairy tale that it sounds, we have had our fair share of obstacles, downfalls, skirmishes and the not-so-nice moments. But they have only made us and our love for each other stronger.

The life in this country tests our patience at times. With no support whatsoever, the going gets tough. Both of us seek downtime and we hardly get any. Atleast I have a great deal of fun as I go to my company’s parties, go out for lunch with colleagues/friends, do things that I enjoy every now and then. But you have been working tirelessly without any rejuvenation. I wish you took some time off for yourself but you tell me that you would rather spend time with the three of us.

In the last one year, as my workouts saw the transition of going from seldom to almost non-existent, I became increasingly lethargic. Although I still do all the cooking, and the usual chores in the house, I do realize how I drag myself reluctantly to tick them off. Those were the days when I would be up at the break of dawn even during the weekends and by the time you and Mantam woke up, breakfast and tea would be at your service, But these days, not only am I sleeping in but also am waking up so late that you make tea and wait for me get my lazy butt off the bed and make breakfast for everyone. As a result the lunch and every other weekend chore gets delayed by domino effect. You always pitch in and help me to get my act together in every possible way that you can. I can’t thank you enough for supporting me even in my worst possible avatar. If this is not true love, I wonder what is?!

You have always been and still are the best at calming me down when I’m agitated, admonishing me when I lose my sensibility, correct me when I am at fault, praise me generously every so often that it makes me wonder what I have done to deserve you. You put me on a pedestal in front of Mantam and encourage them to appreciate all that I do for them. You are so proud of me and keep yapping away to all and sundry about every trivial of my achievements. I try my best to reciprocate all this but I think I still have a lot to improve on.

Thank you for being the kind of man that you are. I love the way you always make sure that you ask me before even making trifle commitments with friends/relatives. I feel so proud to have married a man who has no qualms about declaring that he will be able to confirm after checking with his wife. I feel at peace thinking of what a good example you are setting of being a lover/husband and a father. Mantam would clearly know what qualities they must look for in their life partner.

Marrying you was the best decision of my life and I consider myself fortunate to be your wife. Here’s to many more years of nagging, annoying and of course doing what we know best, loving each other!

Forever yours,

Seemu

 

Driving diary – Part 3

Continued from Part 1 and Part 2:

Practising with Abbas pretty much came to an end after that incident. Then came the month of March and I picked up the phone to call the driving instructor my friend had recommended. It was a landline number and nobody answered my call, I left a voicemail with my number and requested to call me back. A few days passed but there was no response. I called back in the second week of March and Mr.H picked up. he said tht I was too fast in saying my phone number that he couldn’t comprehend my phone number, gah! Unfortunately I was too late and he was going to be out of the city the following weekend. And I could only take classes over the weekend. So I booked classes in the 3rd weekend of the month.

In the first class, I drove quite decently. I asked H if I should postpone the driving test as we hardly had any time to prepare as there was hardly any time to practice.It was too early for him to say anything but Abbas told me that there is no rush and it was better for me to reschedule the test. We moved the test date to 11th April. With some breathing space, I took 6 classes in all over three weekends, 1 hour class every Saturday and Sunday. H’s way of teaching was so plain and simple that I could easily grasp. I grew more and more confident with handling the four wheeled demon.

On most Saturdays I would drive like a dream. H used to say “You are really smart. Well done” And the veyr next moment I would make one mistake after the other. It was funny sometimes all the silly errors I would commit. Once H told me to take the right most lane and I had the right indicator on even after changing lane. I was under the impression that he wants me to take right turn. H said “Why don’t you turn the indicator off?” I retorted with “Because I want to turn right”, And guess what, he pointed towards a couple of big bright signs right in front of my eyes that read ‘No Right Turn’. I was always good at 3 point turn and kerb side parking but sucked at Reverse parallel parking. H taught me an easy way to reverse parallel park and I started doing it perfectly. And guess what! That day he made do a kerbside park and I did a totally crappy job.

H was a funny man, he would sometimes get stressed when I made mistakes but immediately try to lighten the moment. If I ever sped up and exceeded teh speed limit, he would say “If you like pushing a lot, don’t push the accelerator, push me out of the car”. If I rotated the steering wheel more than necessary, he would say “The steering wheel is not your husband. Control your emotions”. There is this one place where the speed has to be less than 40. As soon as the 40 zone ends, H would say “After this sign, you can increase the speed. But that doesn’t mean you can push accelerator to 100. Keep it below 50”. It might not sound funny when I write it here but when H spoke with his Iranian accent and his dramatic expressions, it was hilarious. When I would crack up, he would say “Are you laughting (read laugh-ting) to me?” H would keep telling me that I either stop my car too close to the stop line or too far. I started working on it and was getting better. Once at a traffic signal, I stopped at what I thought was the right distance from the stop line and at the very same instant a car came to my left and stopped way ahead a of me. I asked H “Have I stopped at right distance?” He nodded in agreement. I asked him “What about the car to our left?” He instantly replies “He already has the DL. Once you get yours, you can also do that!”

In between the classes, I drove a couple of times with Abbas and even he could feel the difference in my driving. But his passenger vision had not gotten any better and he still thought I drove too much into the left side of my lane. And the very next class I started intentionally placing the car towards the right and H freaked out and asked “What happened to you?” When I told him why I was driving the wat I was, he said “Don’t drive with your husband any more” Hahaha. As days passed, Abbas started saying things like “You might get your DL in second attempt”. Nobody, known to us, had ever passed the driving test in our suburb in the first attempt as it is known to have difficult routes. Abbas had passed at his 4th attempt. The day before the test, Abbas said “In the remote likelihood that you get the DL tomorrow, I would be doomed for life”

So folks, the D-day finally dawned and I had taken the day off. The test was to begin at 10 AM. I hadn’t had a good sleep the previous night. H came at 8:45 to practice for an hour before the test. I drove well by consciously remembering all the mistakes I had done in the previous classes and not repeating them. Though I committed a few new trifle ones instead. When we reached the RTA at 9:45 and got out of the car, I had a stomach-churning feeling. I was very nervous. But I observed that H was even more stressed than I was. When my name was called out, he accompanied me. The officer my signature on a form and said go to your car, I’m coming. H wished me good luck but he was visibly worries for me.

I got into the car, put my seat belts on, started the car, officer did the customary indicator checks and got in. He just said that we will drive around the local area today. Whenever I ask you to turn left or right, do so. If I don’t say anything, keep driving straight. He did exactly that like a robot. I kept telling myself that I will not forget anything, and give my best shot. I drove at the right speed as per the road marking, used indicators diligently, didn’t miss a single shoulder and mirror checks. I might have stopped a bit close to the stop line once. And one mistake I did was during the 3 point turn (which apparently was my strong point) after going forward, coming backwards and then I was supposed to go forward. I used the indicator, did my head checks and observations but guess what I forgot to change gear. As I slowly let go of the brake, I felt that the car was slightly moving backwards. Immediately I changed gear and moved forward.

After we came back, I parked the car. The officer and I went back inside RTA. H came almost running to know how the test went. I told him that I was alright. The officer called out my name and I had butterflies in my stomach. He said, with the same robotic expressionless voice, “Congratulations, you passed”. Believe me, it sounded too good to be true. I just couldn’t wait to tell Abbas and make him fall off his chair. H was finally relieved and was very proud. That, my friends, is how I succeeded in achieveing what I thought was not my cup of tea.

PS: For those curious, Abbas is still not able to believe that I got the licence.

PPS: I have kept my precious I-got-my-DL-in-the-first-attempt trump card to use in occasions if and when he tries to show me upper hand while driving

Special thanks to all you lovely people (you know who you are) for the encouragement. Wouldn’t have done it without you.

Love,

Seema

 

 

 

Driving diary – Part 2

Continued from Part 1 here:

After my initial goal of getting my driving license flew out of the window, it left us alone till I turned 31. That one year went by with endless running around over the weekends for house hunt, selection appointments and tonnes of other commitments. As the next birthday dawned I realized how I had one item on my checklist before I turned 30 but a whole year passed by without me sitting behind the wheels. I wondered if I would ever get that box ticked ever in my life (Yeah, I can get a bit dramatic from time to time). Whenever I would look at women driving on the road so confidently, I would tell myself how I had failed at learning this life skill and had to always be dependent on Abbas. I had given up the slightest hope of driving. Let alone aiming at getting a license.

And then the universe conspired to slam me with so many of my friends and acquaintances getting their driving licenses. Although I was happy for all of them from the bottom of my heart, it drove me nuts and made me feel like a total loser. I slowly started asking Abbas to let me drive and practice when we went out together. But husbands, I tell ya! Abbas would pant, yell, sigh, scream, hallucinate in the passenger seat and make me go bananas. He once shouted at me thinking I was driving too much towards the left that he thought I was going to bang all the parked cars to my left like some Rohit Shetty movie. We would then return to our designated seats to regain normalcy.

One of my friends informed me that she had got the DL on her 5th attempt. She told me how the officer almost yelled at her saying “You will kill me”. She insisted that if she could do it, anyone could. The only key is to not give up. It stuck with me. Also there were posts by RM and DM about how they got their DLs and the thought of getting DL started haunting me. One of my friends M got her driving license in February and told me how her instructor was amazing and gave me his contact number. I declared to Abbas that I was going to book my driving test first. I would keep procrastinating otherwise. If I had a date fixed, I would certainly work towards it. So we booked 31st March for the driving test.

There were almost 2 months at my disposal to get ready to face the demon (In this case the Driving Test Officer). We had too many things going in February, so I decided to start taking lessons from the instructor in March. I thought I would practice with Abbas in February. Abbas would let me drive only in quiet eerie streets as he would lose his mind as soon as he sat in the passenger seat. One evening when I was in high spirits about driving, I said that I would drive to our favourite restaurant. All was well till I did some silly mistake and Abbas yelled at me. I totally went blank and my mind wandered elsewhere. I jumped two signals, Abbas snapped! He lost his temper and I was too stunned to react. I don’t know how we reached the place. We parked the car and had our meal without any conversation with each other. We were only talking to Mantam and in our own heads. I kept asking myself how I could jump signals and that I had been a hazard on the road. One voice in my told me that I must never drive ever again in my life, the other backed Abbas and supported his reaction, and the last one calmed me down and asked me to get the keys and drive back home again or this incident would prove a major setback again in my driving journey. I had to overcome it by driving again at the earliest.

When we walked towards the car park, two voices in my head were battling with each other – to drive or not! As we reached the car, Abbas, who was silent till then, brought his right hand towards me and handed me the car keys and smiled. I grabbed it, I just had to! I drove decently back home although he had to park the car as I was still confused about the direction in which the car moves in reverse gear! Sigh….

To be continued….

 

What’s up?

It’s been a while since my last post? This year after the Blogathon, I had vowed to be regular throughout the year. Almost everyday, I have had a blogpost drafted in my mind but somehow other mundane chores take priority on most days. On remaining days, it’s my slumber!

I just want to write down what’s been happening in our lives in my favourite bullet points:

• First things first, We got the  much awaited council approval of plans for our home on 20th of Feb (Co-incidentally the same day 3 years ago we had got our Australian visa grant letter). Subsequently, we also received the letter of authority to commence construction by the end of February. We were thrilled and couldn’t wait for the construction to kick start. But as the old adage goes, “Man proposes and God disposes”, March dawned with heavy and continuous rains. There has been no breather since and it’s going to rain cats and dogs till the end of this month. In summary, we are just waiting while paying our monthly installment for a piece of land. Sigh!!

• I have been practicing driving with Abbas (only to increase his blood pressure everytime he sits in the passenger seat). I have booked my test on 31st of March. I booked driving lessons too, just to be thorough with rules. Although I have no hope of passing in the first attempt (No human that I know of has passed in my suburb in their maiden test), I am determined this time to keep at it. Thanks to RM, Maya, TP, Roopa and some of my other friends here who were as scared as me but went ahead and gave the tests till they achieved that lucrative Licence. I am hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.

• This year when we went to enroll Mantam to the swimming classes, Abbas told me that the adult beginner class has slots too and we grabbed the opportunity with both hands and got enrolled. I must write a separate post on our journey.

• Mantam’s school music band conducts try-outs for kids when they enter Year 3. Mannu was sleected for flute and Tammu for Clarinet. Mannu had already completed her basic course in Drums and was so passionate about it, so we requested if there was an option for her to do drums instead of flute. Initially they denied but later told us that there is a spot available for drums. Tammu had also done keyboard last year but we saw that her interest in keyboard had hit rock bottom by the end of the year, so we let her go with Clarinet. They have lessons every Monday after school and rehearsals every Monday morning before school.

• I had joined a bootcamp near office and went atleast twice a week but ever since the Monsoon season started, workouts have taken a back seat.

• While we are talking about learning new skills, I have learnt to make the heart pattern on coffee that the baristas make. We have a professional coffee machine at workplace where we start from the scratch by grinding the coffee beans. After several failed disastrous attempts, I am now able to make the heart pattern and planning to slowly graduate to the leaf pattern.

• Mantam are continuing with the gymnastics classes this year too. But they don’t have the same enthusiasm as last year. Abbas and I are wondering if we should let them continue or quit. We did ask them a couple of times but got very neutral answers.

• Mannu got selected in her school’s dance group this year while Tammu got selected in the T-Ball team.

• Too many things going on our lives and we are loving it. 2017 has been a great year so far and we hope it continues to be so

How have you all been? How’s this year treating you so far?

 

 

After effects of Valentine’s Day

How we celebrated Valentine’s Day:

We don’t do anything special like buying each other gifts or going on romantic dates as such. I mostly bring out the love letters, cards, fleeing boarding pass, train tickets, hotel bill from a stack that I have preserved. I pick a few and hang them on my magnetic photo frame. It feels so good to revisit the adrenaline rush during my teenage years, and to reminisce the amateur love that has grown older, stronger and more mature over the years. There are only a couple of items that Abbas had sent to me for obvious reasons J but the ones that I sent are so mushy and make me blush when I read them.

This year, I was very cautious when I chose which cards to hang as Mantam read anything and everything. I chose cards that had my love for Abbas scribbled all over them but nothing very sensuous. As expected Mantam went right to the cards on the morning of the 14^th and went Ooohhh, Aaahhh and Awwwing and said “Wow Mumma, you must really love Baba so much” and I nodded in agreement trying to hide my pink cheeks. I made a rose with a strawberry, cut a few watermelon slices in heart shape using cookie cutter and made a sizzling dinner with some Paneer cut in heart shape and that was pretty much it. Abbas and I went through some of the cards together and relived the beautiful memories. Abbas told me that he would have to go to the city next day where my office was and we decided to meet up for lunch.

After a lovely Val day, the very next morning we had a fight, a very serious one at that. I was being a bit slack that morning and not rushing as I knew that I didn’t have to cook anything but just pack whatever was there from the previous night. Abbas was totally worked up because he had to leave early and it didn’t occur to me. He made tea, fixed breakfast for kids and was also struggling to wake them up while I was recharging my dying batteries. He got so pissed off that he started saying things that prompted that he was doing everything while I wasn’t doing anything. Well, it was true at that point but he meant that it was the usual routine and that he was burdened with too many responsibilities. I retorted and told him that he didn’t have to do anything if he thinks he is doing me a favour and that I was capable of managing everything by myself. One thing led to another and the argument got a bit carried away.

Abbas got ready and by then I had packed his breakfast and fruits. He kissed Mantam good bye and declared “I will not kiss Mumma today as she doesn’t deserve it”. And I murmured “Who cares!” under my breath. He stormed out saying he wouldn’t even meet me for lunch.

Flashback:

One of those mornings when Tammu is very upset with Abbas as he woke her up against her will. And she refused to kiss or hug or say good bye to him in the normal way. He left home and I gave her a big lecture on how we must always express our love, hug and kiss our loved ones before saying bye. You might regret it if something happens to your loved one and the guilt that you behaved badly with them is too painful to bear. Tammu had cried profusely and called Abbas from my phone and apologized to him.

 

As soon as Abbas slammed the door behind him, Mannu started crying. I felt terrible but I was very mad. I asked her why she was crying. She said it was because her Baba and I had not kissed before he left home. I told her “It’s ok Mannu. He thinks I don’t deserve his kisses.” Mannu retorted with “But you should’ve told him that you do deserve it. You should not have let him go” I did feel ashamed and was worried about what a terrible example we had set in front of them. I tried to console her saying “Don’t worry Mantam. Baba and I will sort it out soon. By evening you will probably see that we are back to normal. There is nothing to worry about. Even if we fight, we will never stop loving each other”.

Flashback:

Our very dear friends, who Mantam had been very close to, got separated a couple of years back. It did affect them to a certain extent. Ever since, I have noticed that even if Abbas and I have silly arguments which we are not even serious about, they feel jittery.

 

Mannu was so very upset with me that she chose to sport a pumpkin like expressionless face till we reached the station. Tammu, on the other hand, was on my side as expected. She was very upset too after the drama but as I have mentioned before, she loves me blindly. She came and hugged me saying “I am very angry with Baba. He knows that your parents are angry with you. How can he hurt you Mumma?” with moisty eyes. I couldn’t help but smile at her innocence and embraced her tightly and told her that her Baba does love me immensely and that a few skirmishes only strengthen our love for each other.

I kept on thinking about the whole episode during my train journey to work. I didn’t think it was my fault but to be fair, it wasn’t Abbas’s either. I blamed it on the stress! The week had started off with too much pressure. Both Monday and Tuesday had been longer than usual as Abbas had to leave early on both days and come back home late due to swimming classes in the evenings. It must have been pent up fatigue that showed up its ugly colours. My adamant self was pulling me back from messaging Abbas to sort things out. On the contrary my sensible self kept on taking the phone to text him and putting it back with a battle going on within me. Sensibility triumphed over stubborn ego, and I picked up the phone finally to type out an apology and a request to meet for lunch.

And so we met for lunch. Although the conversation started with a bit of friction, it all ended well and I told him about the girls’ reactions. In the evening when we reached home, Mantam had forgotten about it all as we were back to business as usual. When I brought out the topic of us having had lunch together, my daughters literally had their jaws on the floor 😀

 

I had to write about this fight as a reminder to ourselves that we don’t ever want this to repeat. Even if we do, we must prevent it in fornt of the kids. Abbas, hope you remember this too! 😀