Life....: June 2005

59 months...

Thursday marked the start of the 60th month of our matrimony. At the end of this month, it will be 5 years since we got married. 5 years !!! That is hard to believe that such a long time has passed. It has certainly been an amazing ride, not without its bumps, not without the pluses and minuses, but thankfully, it has mostly been pluses. I believe that God had a big hand in this and I am really thankful for a wonderful companion.

We are not sure what we are doing for our 5th anniversary, just because we don't even know where we are going to be in 4 weeks. We might not even be in this continent. It is kind of incredible that we have been living such uncertain lives for a while now, but that is the truth and there is no denying it. We are still waiting for the clouds to part and show us the path that we need to walk on.

In any case, we put all uncertainties and worries to the wind last Saturday and decided to go out. We first went to the Farmer's Market and checked out the flea market. We ended up buying a few toys for Prarthna. Then we went to the river. It was a really nice day. We put the baby in the stroller and took a walk. Then Prarthna sat in the swing for the first time. She was a little scared but was fine overall. She had her lunch while swaying slowly. She also played with a one year old girl there named Tori. We then went for a walk on the street when she finally fell asleep. We talked with Meeta, as was the riverfront ritual.

Then we decided to go to the Chinese festival. There was lots of good Chinese food, music, dance, chinese things for sale. It was quite nice! We ended the day with a big icecream sundae at the farm which was opposite where the Chinese festival was. It turned out to be a great day!

So in the midst of all the selling, we made a few purchases too. We had just got a couple things for her two days back, including a walker.

End of the road

God has blessed us with a really relaxing, comfortable, precious, and sheltered life over the past year, if we think about it. Although we have been racking our brains about what the future holds, there have been several opportunities to just enjoy the time that has been presented to us. However, this probably cannot go on for ever, at least in the present form.

What hit me hard a couple days back was the sale of lots of stuff. Our apartment looks totally different from what it used to a month back. The living room is practically empty. We have been preparing for any eventuality, and hoping that something works out quickly!

I am yet to hear anything from Inductis and hope an answer comes soon!

After a long time...

I am overdue for an entry in the blog. It has just been a hectic last few days. I have thought of writing for the last three days, but did not.

We went to Washington, DC a week and a half ago to apply for Prarthna's PIO card. We left around 8:30 AM and got there at 10:30. After submitting the application, we went to get Bhuvan from his campus. It was good timing as we reached his building just when he finished meeting with his advisor. Then we went to his apartment and got his stuff. We ate some cookies/chips and then loaded the stuff. After that, we started driving back home. We stopped for an extended lunch break and then reached home.

Originally, the plan was to go to NY on Friday but I had a phone interview and therefore, we thought we will go on Saturday. But it was not to be as the weather was predicted to be rainy and therefore, we cancelled the trip. In the end, it turned out to be a reasonably nice day. We almost decided to go in the evening but then we finally did not. Instead, we went to Newark nite, the annual Main Street festival. Bhuvan really enjoyed it (we had gone many times before). There was a sea of people. The street was closed to traffic. There was lots of food, color, performances, music, and stuff for kids. It turned out to be a nice evening!

On Sunday, we took him to Elk Neck. We did an adventurous hike (there are a couple pics below) and then we sat by the bay and had a little food. Then we walked back to the car. The baby had falled asleep in the snugly and so we waited a few minutes for her to get back. It was an enjoyable time!

Bhuvan had to go to Seattle on Monday for his internship. So, I took him to the airport. Oh ya, on Friday when we went to the farmer's market, our cingular cellphone stopped working (Prachi had it at that time). It could receive calls but the keypad had stopped responding (except 3 and 4). While I was dropping Bhuvan off, the phone started to work (I was really surprised to get a call from Prachi) in the same miraculous way as it had stopped working! Praise God for that.

I had an on-site interview with Inductis on Friday, and that is partly the reason I had not written. I still have to get an answer from them, and we are really hoping it is positive, God willing.

While returning from NY, I heard on the radio "Do you have a little one in your life who makes you forget life's worries and lets you live life to the fullest?" That role is played really well by the little angel in our life. She makes us rise above all despondency of the current time and really lets us live well! Her current favorite activity is standing and she has started to do it really well for about 1-2 weeks now. She has two more teeth!! (the top ones came out a couple days ago). She is also getting a couple more (Prachi thinks).

I think my favorite time is when she laughs. It is such a music to the ears. She did that for a couple times today, once at home, and once at Sangeeta's place. We went there this evening for a visit as we could not go to Charu's graduation party. We had a good time. Prarthna also played a lot, especially towards the end. We had lots of nice food, including patties and bhelpuri. Talking of food, we had the ultimate "decadent feeding time" yesterday at the Taste of Wilmington where we went with the Schumans. We had fun. The babies did really well inspite of the heat. We went to a cooking demonstration, ate lots of good food, chatted, and enjoyed each other's company. Eric's comment summed it all "Only in America do you eat for fun!" It might not be true (considering India) but it is true amongst the two families.

A few pictures now:
I am so cool !!

Happy in the feeding seat (hope it happens always :-))

Hauling my own laundry

I am a hiker!!

What are these two guys doing to me?

I stand well, don't I?

How do I look in mommy's dupatta?