Email: "We Lost"

On a lazy weekend afternoon we are walking around downtown with the little lady enjoying the 1:1 time we rarely get with her. 

I get an email from Miss V from her Robotics competition Reading "We Lost". I show my slightly shattered phone screen to Sumit saying: I think we should go to her competition to support her and cheer her up. Losing is tough always!

Along with her team Miss V has been working to compete in FLL, A city wide Lego Robotic competition. It is her first time and is a team of middle school kids: 6th, 7th and 8th graders all working for a common goal.

Now, back to the afternoon: We reach the school and all 12 participating teams and the supporting parents/ guardians coaches are all seated on the gym bleachers awaiting the results. I was expecting sad long faces, but no, they were sitting beside each other and cheering the other one on! 

I was left astounded. Here I came prepared with pep talks and cheer up messages in my head and the kids were fine!

The Award presentation ceremony begins!

Such amazing sportsmanship seen from all teams and such little kids is unbelievable. You can see the sadness in their faces when their team is not called out, but you also see their immense happiness for other teams as they go to pick up the trophies. So much to learn from this generation.

From the sidelines of the bleachers, I see my daughter with her team crossing their fingers! The younger siblings crossing everything and being there mini cheer leaders! And they describe the next category "Judges Award: "Allows the judges the freedom to recognize remarkable teams that stand out for reasons other than the Required Award categories."

And the winner is…….. Drum roll Drum roll….. Miss V and her Team

WOWZA!!! Of Course I am misty eyed, I do the proud parents "wohoo" and hold my husband's hand a little tighter. Her team also qualifies for the State Championships!

Man, this is one roller coaster evening!

The hi-fives continue, the cheering continues and the customary pictures are clicked. The smiles stay frozen on each and every one of their faces.
 

And her email which made us rush to school was : "We Lost"

In the evening, we talked about that one email, she said the following "I was really mad and upset after the final round. And then we realized we had nothing to loose after the final round, so we kept our spirits up, played games and just relaxed a little. We had worked so hard. It was amazing just to compete. And of course winning is unbelievable"

She did learn a very important life lesson in those 12 hours herself ."Keep trying, be consistent and win or loose, it does not really matter. Just keep trying. You will be fine".

Absence of screen time

No, I am not going back to the dark ages. Screens, all forms, latest gadgets etc rule our household. They are used as barter, bribe and of course being 'connected' in all forms all the time. But I am 'trying' to make a conscious effort of making screens 'absent' for certain periods of time.

1. When I return home from work, until kids are in bed. I am trying to keep my phone in my purse on 'silent' mode. And the purse far away so I am not distracted by the 'buzz'. The only reason why an iPad is picked up is to start some music and an impromptu dance jig with the girls. This is hard. But it makes me less distracted, I don’t ask V to hold off since I am responding to this one text. I actually sit with Little Lady and not just take her pictures, but enjoy the mini-milestones she reaches each minute.

2. When I hit the bed, the phone is outside. I used to use the 'phone needs charging' excuse to have phone by my side. Now the gadgets and the chargers are all outside of our room. And yes, I have not needed alarm in the last couple of years. Having kids does that to you. This is harder. Since catching up on Facebook, unread emails, witty messages all get piled up. But you know what, I am learning if this really can wait, let it wait. Hence the phone is outside.

3. When I take the bus to and from my work, I keep my phone in the pocket of my jacket and look around. This is the hardest. But this has also made me realize that there are 4 nail spas en route (why does one need 4 in 10 blocks, I really don’t know), couple of bakeries which are so inviting (Must try with the family over weekends). The sun and the sky that I can peek at from the bus, makes me just decompress.

I am learning that I can switch off from screens and be switched on in person.

I can’t make bold statements and say- that’s how it will be all the time. In a week, even if I can do this for a few days, it’s a small step for me. Just to disconnect and really connect.

Scheduled life

The one application/ tool that I usethe most is calendar. Yes, its antiquated, old, been around forever. But this is the one thing that I cant live without. Simple reason. All the technology we have also does not help in making mind and memory sharper.

So if its not noted on the calendar, its usually forgotten or over looked. Not Cool.

I maintain the family calendar which means, I track school stuff, important dates, play dates, birthday dates, school commitments, parties, school volunteering etc. Then I track extra curriculars, like classes, missed times, returns for books, gym classes, opeing dates for parks etc. Add in our social commitments for parties, picnics, gatherings, date nights, girls nights, movie nights. The top layer becomes travel shcedule for spouse, just so that I can plan my week around that, include my work commitments outside of regular hours.
The end product is a super busy calendar which is color coded so I know what type of commitment this is. It also has reminders set based on type. If its a birthday party, i will get a reminder a few days before to ensure i have the gift for it. If its a school volunteer, then I will get a reminder the night before to plan for Little Lady. You get the gist.
Yes, its crazy, but its organised. I know what we are doing when the time comes, so we are not double commited. At the same time, I plan so that we have some down time of lazy park walks, chiling at home and just being silly with the girls.
To the reader, it might seem like we are this super wanna be couple who are busy all the time. Well, I dont know about that. We have a good set of friends whom we like to meet regularly, do new activities with them and just relax. At the same time, we have an active toddler who enjoys her friends and company. There are so many Friday mornings that she asks us, who is coming tonight? Or where are we going? At the same time, Sumit and I love each others company so I have to equate for that.

When Sumit says, my weekends are out sourced to the wife. He is correct. He generally has no clue of what we are doing over weekends until I tell him> He however does know when we are doing nothing, he will nudge me to make a 'Plan'.

We like being busy. Its busy doing nothing. But we love this nothingness and hope we are blessed with it all our lives.

No more Night Night!

I love technology, the ease of communication, getting true global experience at your fingertips, be it professional life, personal life or just gossip life!

But technology is a sleep killer.

There was a time in our early married life, when hubby and I would pop into covers and get our favourite books out, read and doze away. If we did wake up in the middle of the night, it would be too painful to start the night lamp and read again. So a glass of water, and plop into bed again.

Sadly it’s different now!

Technology rules. At any time on our bedside, you would find two smart phones, iPad, laptop and lots of chargers and maybe one dust covered book! In the night if I do wake up, I check on V and then come back in covers and just start the i-Something. I might surf the net, play a game, read the news. And then after twenty minutes, I am wide eyed.

And then the glass of water/ walk around the house just does not work. I am awake. And then, the story continues, I am making my to-do lists, researching project work, reading some stuff. Basically anything that should wait is keeping me up in the nights.

I should switch from technology on my night stand to a good old book and glass of water! Of course, it implies I need to get an old school alarm clock