Staying Connected

Have been rather busy... with what you'd ask! - cannot translate coherently into anything that makes sense. A jamboree really :

N finally met up with his cousin, he viisted The Nest for dinner. The food (that I served! ) was not much to my liking, am not sure hence if the guest went back much sated!! Was good to listen to some anecdotal teasings & nostalgia between the cousins. And some dark family secrets (as they termed it). Net net - it's proven: it's always fun catching up with cousins, despite lengthy periods of no 'connect' over the width of seas, STD/ ISD lines, hundreds of kms, family functions, family group Ids, birthday wishes and the rest.

The surprise on my Birthday saved more than a few bad hours (N?)... what with Chaya and gang conspiring with my husband to gift me a surprise-gatecrash with cake, love, hugs, et all. Some photo moments will be posted soon. Secret well kept N! and a great one at the dusk of a day when i'd silently wondered ' why has none of them remembered?!' 'Is this all there is to my 'connectedness' with them?' For dinner, the choice of the cuisine and venue was mine and the Mohan's and us polished off a lovely spread at Thai Ban. A day replete with long lost voices, apologies for mistaken birth dates, catching up and incessant wishes from friends who i'd lost 'connect' with, or so I thought. All 'picked up from where we left it'... I think I'm going to be in touch again!

My Mom's birthday was quieter... she said!! But all us kids were connected, i promise!

The book shelf arrived (in parts) and was 'nailed and screwed' up in the corner of our TV room... big, slim, majestic and I love it! Next day spent in meticulosly arranging our long-ignored library according to the genre & geography of authors. One more wish solemnised.

Met the other N... celebrating life!! I had to meet him that day, no matter what! Never seen him so shaken & relieved {oxymoronically}, a 'first' realisation, perhaps, of human vulnerability to disease, destiny and despair; the despair & dread he says he experienced, every moment, while awaiting the biopsy report. Is he going to change( however subtly) hereon... only time will tell. I felt mommy-like again... and was glad to give him my warmest reassuring celebratory hug (my first bear-hug to my mentor). I'm going to be his mentor i think, maybe for a while... only to assure and confirm that it's ok to express & emote, it's natural to feel fear, it's logical to worry and panic and that there are always people who will stay 'connected' with you, however distant, intuitively, instinctively, in your worst times.

This is why we continue to live, hope, pray & believe.