Vote for me

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http://avantgardebloggies.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/best-consumer-rights-post-2/

http://avantgardebloggies.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/most-humorous-post-2/

That is, if you liked the post...

For me I already won the day, when I started this great adventure, started sharing my stories, found so many wonderful people along the way and discovered a world where we could just write it out....

Thank you for voting for me

But more than that, thank you for travelling with me, for egging me on and being with me as my blog celebrates it's first birthday.

The Best Birthday Gift Ever

That was what Elena said when we gave her the watch with its entire set of interchangeable straps, dial etc

That got outvoted when Mami sent both girls gift vouchers for the Oxford bookstore.

I too loved the idea because it meant we could delay buying the books till the exams were over.  (Well, I still can’t work/sleep with an unread book at hand so couldn’t expect that from them in any way.)

The exams done with, we finally made the trip and I could see optimization at its best:

Mom what is 65+65?

What if I take another book for Rs 65? How much is left over from 250?

Why don’t you take a St. Clares’ instead of all Secret Sevens?

Oh but I’ll be able to buy only two of them. And will not get anything for the remaining 30 bucks.

(Being Loverna-I obviously don’t offer to pay up the balance)

Oh where did Aurora go?

We found her tucked away between two bookshelves: I finished two fairy stories. I want to read another one.

Mamma, can you please select the books for me?

I shortlist some really fancy collections:

Mamma they are all tooo expensive...

(Can you believe that? So that’s what happens when they spend out of their own kitty!!)

Ok, if you are buying them for us we'll take these two, but they will not be counted. Ok?

Yeah. Ok.

So call me a weak Loverna, but I really couldn’t resist buying some non-counted books for them before I went around “just looking” for some good deals..

We spent just a little more than two hours: Selecting, rejecting, balancing, prioritizing…till we were all finally satisfied.

So what if I ended up spending four times what the vouchers were worth?

It was still the best gift, because it gave me a chance to spend an entire evening with them and with books. To watch them select what they wanted, give up what they could not get, take decisions, and learn a far more important lesson.

For them, it was the best because as Aurora said it, it gave them choice..

My daughter and my best friend

Elena grew up as my best friend.

She looks like me and even thinks, talk and reacts like me.

And she hates me.

She proclaims this at least 10 times in a day.

She hates me because I refuse to let her change her school bag for the fourth time in this month.

She hates me because I refused to let her go swimming when I am not at home.

She hates me because she has to take my permission at times, while I don’t need to take hers.

She hates me when I don’t let her use lipstick, but I do so myself.

She hates me when I do “personal work” (work which is not directly related to them or the household).

She also hates me when I am around too much.

In fact, if I start compiling all the reasons, it will go on till next week. And the conclusion will remain the same.

Is it because I am such a dragon/ogreee? Or because she is of “that” age? Or both?

Or because, as our Grand Referee says, Elena and I are just so similar in the way we think, talk, react….

There are times when she does stop treating me like a friend, and comes looking for a mother. I see my baby in her and we are both glad to find each other.

And then we go back to being “best friends” again.

Sometimes, I prefer her being only a daughter. Sometimes, I am not so sure….

An old conversation

Bits of a conversation long ago, which lingers on, and feels so real now:

I was taking a couple of years off employment, waiting for my babies (four and one year olds) to grow a little more, before I could resume my career…

I could not understand why a woman who had worked all along, juggling home, bringing up two kids, building  a great career, would need to quit because she could not manage anymore..

Her sons were fifteen and twelve, independent, self-sufficient, and yet…

“My children need me emotionally NOW” she explained.

“They have out-grown nannies and day-cares. I cannot control their phone-calls, internet time, TV habits through my phone calls any more. I need time to be there now or their whole education and career is at stake.”

Oh, but aren’t kids supposed to be responsible enough to look out for themselves by that age? I had wondered all those years ago. 

I grew up fine with an office-going mother. So many children do.

And being with them all the time is no guarantee that they will not stray.

But now that my children are reaching there, I can empathize with her so well.

Coming Back

It’s been so long..

..that I had the time to write,

..the space to think,

..the energy to key in a few words,

..the enthusiasm to spin the words,

..the will to make the effort,

So trying hard to get back-yet again and I start with again with saying a big Thank You to those of you who are still with me in my travails and tales…