10 years flies by

On our tenth wedding anniversary, we did what we do best. Did the SFO tour for visiting relatives.

The golden gate may not rank in the top 5 romantic spots in the world, but it sure ranks in the top 5 for us! Most notably the most romantic spots in our life being

1. our bedroom
2. our bedroom
3. our bedroom
4. our bedroom
5. golden gate bridge vista point

This was our umpteenthuncountableth visit to the vista point over the last ten years and we still had a blast in spite of the cold winds and chilly weather.

We also had a nice dinner at one of our local favorites, the Chaat house and followed it up with some dessert at out other favorite place (the reason we went to San Francisco in the first place!), Ghirardeli Square.

The ice cream as usual, was excellent.

So are the moments and memories!

This week will not see that many posts as we are going to celebrate the anniversary over a whole week with relatives and friends!

Once again, thanks to our parents who by logic or fluke got us together and more importantly to all powers unknown to us that played a part in this partnership!

As for the next ten years, we say "Bring it on!"

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Short shorts

How did we ever manage to wear those ill fitting shorts during our difficult years?

Found some black and whites from 1980...

In case of any doubts, the dude on the right is me.

After starring at these photos for some time, started thinking, will Jr. and the little one will ever understand what it means to be poor? You can always start poor and climb up in economic strata, but the other way around is very difficult to deal with. San and me have been promising ourselves to take the kids to local soup kitchens to volunteer and it keeps getting postponed.

Then again, does one have to live in an asbestos shed to understand the concept or is it enough if you watch others living in difficult times?

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Please sleep with me

It has been a while since daddy slept in his bed.

Let's say that it has been since the little one was born..

During the recent India trip, San had somehow made sure that the LO went to bed on her own. I never believed it. When I got back, the LO tried her "daddy, please sleep next to me!" puppyface routine and without realizing what a mistake it was,(and being guilt ridden for leaving her and going to India), gave in and slept next to her two days after I got back. She promptly used my hand for a pillow and went back to sleep.

Then we tried to say things like "remember how you slept on your own in your bed when daddy was in India. Do that and make us proud ! " etc. and it seemed to work. Still, she would wake up at 3, 4, 5AM and come to our bed and say "daddy , you lied. you are not next to me" or "I have bad dreams" or "my tummy hurts" or just plain wail for 30 minutes till I relented, afraid that she would awaken everyone else in the house.

That went on for 2 weeks.

Yesterday, she slept on her own. Cried at 4AM for 15 minutes and I came over and gave her my hand to sleep on.

Tonight, while drinking milk before bedtime, she asked me

LO : "daddy will you sleep with me"
me : No. sleep by yourself and make me proud
LO : but, but, I will cry!
me : why should you cry? you are a big girl. your akka sleeps on her own in her bed. You want to be like your akka right? go sleep on your own.
LO : but I am going to wake up and come to your bed.
me : If you wake up and have bad dreams or something, I will come sleep in your bed later. But right now, go sleep. I have work to do.
LO : I am having a bad dream
me : (!!!???!!!) what do you mean?
LO : I am having a bad dream right now daddy. will you come thacham(tamlish kidspeak for sleep) with me?
me : But you aren't even sleeping yet!
LO : I know. I am just trying to see if you will come...

so much for the deviousness of a three year old.

If the little one was a three year old boy, would he be this devious? the eyelash batting, the puppyface, the devious logic... somehow this has to be part of her being a girl and don't think anyone is even teaching her this stuff. Mommy doesn't do anything like this.. at least not in the last four years...Mommy just glares at daddy if she want's anything done! So where IS she getting this stuff from? Has to be in-born right?

I know.. I know.. that last paragraph is going to spark something somewhere, but cannot help thinking that!

This is like making a four month old baby to sleep through the night.. all over again.. except this time making her sleep through the night on her own!

I need to be strong
I need to be strong
I need to be strong
I need to be strong
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Okay will write it a hundred times in a notebook somewhere.. and yes, didn't cut paste it 3 times.. actually typed it! and that should show you how serious I am about the being strong part.

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Meeting her ex...

Yes. It is never pleasant to meet your wife's ex boyfriend.

Especially when he is still pining for her, circling around her photograph two dozen times a day, and more times at night!

He looked depressed and tried to hide as I started clicking away. . .

That photo of my wife this creepy dude is circling with devotion? Well, it is a black and white of my wife taken when she was eight months old, standing up against a wicker chair, in her chaddi!

That photo always cracks me up everytime we visit her grandparents.

A really chubby baby. Real cute. They never mentioned the advertising experience in her horoscope. Found out about this only after we were married.

ps. Ever tell you I married the Farex baby?

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Four square years in four square kilometers

A picture is worth a thousand words. Will leave you with two, pictures that is...

A map (thanks to google) which defines 16 years of life spent just going between the marked spots,

and a very important "X" on that map that got special mention!

More than two thousand words rush into my head at the realization that a life that was centered around crossroads denoted by a small "+" on the map, branched out to locations, far and away.

Life does take you places.

You know I am good for all two thousand words given the time, but will stop with the first 60.

Know at least one person who would exclaim "thank god!" after reading that sentence!

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