Rekha's Ramblings

  This year marks the 30 th anniversary of me graduating from college, as an Occupational Therapist. This year will also be the year when I let my professional license go.  It broke my heart, but my heart was also not in it anymore.  I grew up in a household where getting a degree was not negotiable, whether you were a son or a daughter. My mother was a homemaker while my father was a working father.  There were several women in my extending family who worked full time, but they had help at home, in the forms of their mother-in law, their moms, or someone in their extended family.  We moved to the USA because of my job. There would be no external support when the time came to raise the children. We had not thought that far out.  Surely, I knew a few working moms but nobody was in the same situation I was, three children, two of them twins and a husband who would barely be there due to work conflict and there was no village for me to rely on.  It would...

As I sit here and look out my window, I see my little patch of happiness . The gladioli in my little patch of garden are blooming once again. They are my pride, my joy, and my happiness. As I admire their colorful blooms , I can't help but reflect on our journey together. There is an interesting story behind these flowers. I planted these gladioli bulbs during the pandemic, in 2020. In the beginning, it seemed as though everyone around me had discovered a new hobby. People were baking bread, gardening, knitting, painting, and learning new skills. I, however, wasn't particularly interested in any of those things. To be honest, I don't have much of a green thumb. In the past, I had planted a few things, only to watch them slowly wither away. So, this time, I wasn't expecting much. I found these bulbs on sale at a local home and garden store and decided to plant them as an experiment, almost as a challenge to myself. I planted them in mid-April and then completely forgot a...

  When the pandemic hit and we were forced into a lockdown , the anxiety and stress levels were extremely high given the fact that my husband and I are both healthcare professionals.  We have three children; I had been working part time until then but decided to quit my job altogether not knowing what was ahead of us. It then meant lots of free time at hand; I am not much into cooking, sewing, gardening and I had to find something to keep my mind occupied. During the lockdown, we were allowed to walk outside, of course observing social  distancing. Up until this time, I was not much into any type of exercising . Hence, decided to challenge myself with walking, with a daily goal of 10,000 steps. The Samsung health app was already on my phone but had never paid much attention to it until now. I started walking in our neighborhood, in and around where we live. The first week was very rough, panting, knees hurting, barely making it to  even my halfway mark. But then, mag...

Today marks day 270 of the pandemic! We have been into this for 9 months, for some of us here in the USA, since the initial “lockdown and stay at home orders” were issued on March 13th.  These have been some really long 9 months and believe me when I say that, I was pregnant with twins once. The novelty of lockdown is long gone.  I am naive and I had really thought that this is America, here people follow rules, everyone would wear a mask, follow all the guidelines and it will be over in 3-4 weeks. But boy, was I wrong!!!  Now we are entering into its 10 th month and doesn’t look like it’s going to be over soon. Ya, the vaccine is coming but it is going to a while before everyone is going to be vaccinated.  If you think you are exhausted, think about a healthcare worker who has to be at work, 10-12 hours shifts, sometimes even longer, wearing all the gear. The numbers are going up, the hospitals are at their full capacity. And there is no time off, no going anywhere...