A Toast to Ten Years…

I am in Seattle now; missing the 2 K’s…yesterday was our 10th Wedding Anniversary…also republic day in India. My Bapa’s e-card was poignant – “It seems only like yesterday….” And he is right, memories of too many hair pins holding the fake hair in place, my mother trying to tuck the sari in place with safety pins…the long ceremony (it started at 5.30 AM and went on till noon followed by a break and the reception from 5.00 PM to midnight). Of course, there was a huge earth quake in Gujarat the same day and I had panic emails from my friends in Santa Barbara asking me if all was well on my end.

The first year wasn’t easy, giving up some…compromising some…yet we both learnt to give in…one more than the other :-)…we listened to each other sometimes, we fought a lot…we ate out a lot and lived the American Dream in sunny Santa Barbara (spiked with excellent Mexican food and margaritas). I don’t remember when the ten years have gone by…learning from each other along the way –

• K1 taught me the importance of exercise
• I taught K1 the importance of vegetables in a healthy diet ( his definition of vegetables was potato before he married me)
• K1 taught me the value of “not needing to win every argument” or being right every time
• I taught him the value of being organized and having a personal To-Do list ( I don’t know what it is with Men, they are perfectly organized at work and perfectly disorganized at home)
• Most important we knew we could count on each other …this is especially important when your parents and sibling are on another continent.

K2 added another layer of fun and complexity to our lives. I am exhilarated, frustrated, exhausted and proud to be a mother. I think being a mother is an absolute feather in the cap because it is one of the hardest roles I have had to play in life. I am glad K1 is along for the ride – adding balance, rationale and sometimes much needed light-heartedness – I think sometimes I do tend to get too intense. As I hugged K1 and K2 and left for the airport yesterday…I feel Life is full, and at times it does get overwhelming but there is no place I would rather be than with these two guys in my life. So I  toast the 10 years that have gone by…and of course India’s 61st Republic Day…