Rekha's Ramblings

 Day 18 , Values. As I reflect back on my journey of motherhood, I cannot but think of my parents, two of the kindest souls I know. Though they were physically thousands of miles apart, I felt their presence daily in the values I was teaching my children. Growing up, they often used to tell us, "In a world where you can be anything, be kind. No acts of kindness are ever wasted."  I hope we practiced the same and the children saw us being kind to people around us.  But in pursuit of being great parents, we had forgotten  to extend the same courtesy to each other, as parents of our children. We were not kind to ourselves. We were racing to the finish line. The children did not see us being kind to each other.  Sadly, it took a global pandemic for us to reflect and value our priorities.   As horrible as the pandemic was, it allowed us to pause and regroup. It allowed us to not only be kind to each other but others around us. Amidst the chaos, we found a n...

This year, I am celebrating 25 years of being a mom, mommy. I started looking back at the journey, sort of reflecting on how I got here. And some of the things I discovered while looking back were pleasant , some not so.  There were so many expectations of me, as a mother, from me and from others; some I met, some I could not or did not want to. There are some things I would keep the same and some I would change if I could. At the end of the day though, it was a good journey, I love my three children who have had a hand in making me a better, a more informed person if you will than I used to be.  The teachings were mutual; I may have taught them a few things, but I have learnt a great deal from them as well. Anyways, these are my ramblings spread over next 25 days, my own way of a celebrating my milestone. This is not about offering advice, rather about sharing stories, as a mom, as an immigrant first generation mom.  Disclaimer – My husband was very much a part of our ch...

  Not too long ago, someone I deeply care about was going through a rough phase, feelings of loneliness and didn't know what to do, how to cope with it. Of course, we talked about seeing a therapist, counseling. While we were on the subject, he said “what do you know about loneliness, you always seem happy, I see all your pictures, you are always busy doing something. You are always smiling and happy." Hmmm, long pause.... What do I know about loneliness??? I know  plenty about being lonely, especially now, recent empty nester. My world revolved around my children and their activities. Now that they are gone, all the running around is gone. Sometimes it's very rough, especially on a weekend when everyone else seems to be busy but I am not. I wish I could show you how often I was sad and lonely....  I go through those days of loneliness, a lot. It was very rough and difficult at first. Now, I try to not be "alone" when I am lonely. I force myself to go out, be w...

 I very recently started listening to podcasts, I do not know why I waited this long. I was stubborn but that is not important right now.  I finally started listening to them and I have been listening to this particular podcast, “Wiser than ME” hosted by none other than the iconic Julia Louis Dreyfus. In these podcasts, she interviews a different accomplished woman who is older than her and therefore wiser, she takes us through their journey, how they became wiser and concludes the podcast by calling her mom and they discuss the details of the podcast.  I got hooked on to it immediately, undoubtedly for all the wisdom from all these wise women but also because of the way each podcast ended. Julia and her mom have a loving chat about the host, the things they talked about, they reminisce about her childhood amongst other things; and it was these conversations that sold this podcast to me.  I love hearing their conversations, the mother-daughter bond, their loving rela...

    It has been a long while since I wrote down anything.... so much going on in my head but unable to transcribe it into words, into formal sentences. It is like my brain is frozen; my mind is numb. Yesterday, while scrolling endlessly on Facebook, I came across a post, something about being at a point of life not knowing where that point is and that is exactly where I find myself, at a point, do not know what, where or how I got there. This is our year one of being an empty nester. It was going well for my children, they had settled down and were enjoying their first year of being away from home, however it ended up being challenging for all of us as life decided to throw some unexpected turns at us.  When everything seemed to be going well, we lost one of our nephews, 26 year old, to a tragic motor bike accident in October and 2 weeks later my children had to endure another loss, a loss of their peers,  of 3 of their college mates to an horrific act of gu...