For the restless spirit!

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities." Today my 16 year old daughter is going for her first Prom. Since the last few days, that's all we have been talking about ......I am sure that's what they have been talking about for months at school!! Since yesterday, she and her friends have been completely taken up with preps for this one evening and their excitement is infectious. I am completely caught it in and enjoying their fluttering of wings that will soon take them away .... I spend the whole day with them and saw Life again - through their eyes... excited as only 16 year olds can be - their dreams, their imagination.... not a care in this life....it felt so unadulterated that my eyes went moist at times. I prayed hard to my Lord that He allows these girls to hold on to this excitement ...for as long as possible. Who knows what Life holds in store for them? How much of it is good, how much of it is bad? But then, why ...

Recently, while talking to a friend about a relationship problem, I was reminded of something I taught my daughter long ago when she was around 2 years old .... I used to tell her that there was within her a "good" girl and a "bad" girl and they both would always give her advice and tell her things she should do...and their opinions would always differ greatly. I would encourage her to take "control" and not listen to the "bad" girl, but to support the "good" more and more and each time she succeeded in doing this, we would celebrate as she had won a "battle", however small.  My daughter took this very seriously ....she was far more serious as a child than she is now, thankfully :)  She would rush back from pre-school on some days and and gleefully tell me about her "victories" when she wanted to take someone else's pencil or pick up food from the ground and eat it...but didn't! Small decisions for most,...

“Empires collapse,  Civilizations disappear,  Health deteriorates  And bodies turn to ash,  But life will always go on”  ―  Mouloud Benzadi I realize more and more that we are almost like prisoners of our own lives......we like to think we are in control but are we really? I feel Life is like a flowing river....constantly moving towards its end ....taking everything with it, willingly or unwillingly, joyously or painfully...but constantly flowing in its own direction. You could jump in and use its fierce motion to add to your flight....or you could also struggle like a sapling in the river bed, trying futilely, to hold your own against the tide.....but the mighty river will go on its way....you have to adjust to it, make your choices, shift your gears.... Life indeed goes on. Even if a river comes across a blockage, it pauses for a while, tries to push forth - and if it fails, channelizes its energies elsewhere, in another dire...

A lot has happened since I last was here ..... I am now settled in my new nest...in the new year..... Most importantly, I lost my mother quite suddenly on Jan 4.  For one so looking forward to the new year, it's been quite a start...really! As sometimes happens - when you start something with a lot of enthusiasm....something bad or sad happens and that kind of throws you off gear, leaves you rattled. But that I believe, is a test..... of Life....to see how you are really shaping up, how resilient you can be, how firm you are in your convictions...... At the stage I have reached in life, losing a parent is almost natural...many of my friends have been through it. I honestly have no regrets. My mom was always a passionate woman and loved and hated with equal fervor. She had lived a full life. She was getting very lonely ...and tired .....and just then, God decided to set her free. We could not have asked for a more peaceful death for a woman like her. For that, I will...