Sunday, March 29, 2020

Taking a Pause


More than a few of my posts over the decade of blogging have been around the "missing hour", "not enough time", "always running around" and of course the "mysterious balance of work and home"

As we all charter through these turbulent waters of "Covid-19" which for all intensive purposes feels like a "pause on life", I sit on my couch which has become my work from home table and ponder on what this means to me.

Firstly, THANK YOU to all the professions deemed 'essential' and risking the unrelenting virus to keep us safe, pantries stocked and above all as I sit and complain on "slow internet" these people help patients every minute to go back home. Their dedication, stories and perseverance is inspirational! So THANK YOU

Secondly, touch wood, we are blessed. We have stayed self isolated, connecting with friends and family over video calls, play board games with the family, cleaning some closets, cooking a lot more and above all in the midst of this realizing what a wonderful and supportive network of friends, family and co-workers I have. 

Work has been busy but no commute has helped the productivity, more check-in calls with teams and definitely getting to know the co-workers and their families since invariably we have some much needed background levity with the group. 

We are all staying paused and positive. Its been an experience! We stocked up on groceries some out of pure fright, some out of peer pressure and some out of "what if". A friend reminded me I love being around people and this must be weird for me. In a lot of ways it has been and in some ways, its been a breath of fresh air also. I am connecting more to myself also in the process also. Something that in my now not so recent Pitt trip I was chided for! It's also been more hair oil days, PJ days, home made face masks, reading, zoom virtual meet ups, video calls and above all just being "chilled". 

Kids have been AMAZING. My gosh, I cant say that enough. Luckily their spring break coincided with this self isolation order, so they have sort of gone with the flow. Of course they miss their friends, there are occasional outbursts of "what now" but they have built puzzles, learned cross stitch, caught up on their worksheets, learning new "computer" skills and picking up chores as much as possible! Our cousins universities shut down abruptly and the two of them are over adding fun to the stay-at-home party. They are such amazing influences on the kids. Above all the 6 of us are definitely making most of this. Coming  week "e-school" begins and we will have to establish "new schedules" again!

Life is "Paused" and we continue to keep it "Positive". I miss my massage place, my eyebrow place, my lazy evening with friends, the 'normal' schedule, the endless chatter with friends, the dinners, the normalcy of life. But I HONESTLY am making the most of the newly filled peace and quiet, the LAUGHTER and relaxed smiles of those around me!

How is your "Pause" been?


Monday, March 2, 2020

Food & Loosing in family game night does bring me Joy!


And it was.

A regular Monday night, I came home, the kids were away with Sumit for some errands. I had the home to myself! (Insert Grin Cheek to Cheek)

After changing into my 'home uniform aka PJ's ', I started Rafi station on Alexa and got into the rhythm of the music and cooking dinner. Visualize this, music is on at a higher than normal volume and there is clanking and chopping and beautiful aroma's emanating from the kitchen. There was rhythm in the house, not just with the music even with the food. By the kids came home, dinner was served!

They all changed, laid out the dinner table and we sat down for a family dinner. The relaxing atmosphere whilst I was cooking made me ambitious and I was happy to make a favorite item for everyone: Bhindi for the little lady, Lauki for me, Green Daal-palak for hubby and paratha for Miss Chatterbox. And of course topped with Raw onions and chilli's!

We enjoyed our dinner together, chatted about the day, complained a little, high fived a little and played a game called "Don’t say No or any negative like not, don’t etc etc" My gosh, was it hard! I lost miserably, even simple statements like "Lets not waste food" has a negative, an alternative way would be "Lets clear up our plates" We giggled, we chuckled, they tricked me into saying 'no' way more times than I would have (I think).

Of course the evening ended with the mundane chores like clean up time, homework time and other regular evening to do's

But as I sit and type this, those 2.5 hours that Monday evening " Brought me complete and utter joy"!

Now think about what those moments were when you were just in the moment and really be 'Joyful'. Be thankful for them!