March 23rd, 2007

It's been a year since I started this blog. I got on the blog earlier this morning and realized that it has been exactly a year to this date when I decided to make the blog. It was a portal for me to let everyone know how mom was doing. Now it's become a place where I update friends and family on how dad and I are doing. I'm home for spring break. I've been home for a week now and have successfully not touched a book. I have a lot of studying to do but haven't done much yet. Dad is enjoying his time with me. We've planted a few flowers in the front yard. with his knee bothering him, I don't know if we will get around to doing the vegetable garden this year. I wonder if some of the plants will grow by themselves like they did last year. Besides that, everything is going well. We are trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.

a happy memory

hajra and i were talking the other night and a few happy memories popped in our heads so i thought i'd share. During high school and undergrad, when she called my house, often times my mom would pick up the phone. "Hi aunty, this is hajra" ...
mom: "ohhh huhjra, how are you? you want talk shaylee. shaylee to hamra, just step in house and i knew the phone going to start ringing. you friends......." I don't even know what else she used to talk to hajra about, complain about me and how i didnt do anything in the house, talk about her garden or i don't even know.
but eventually like 5-6 minutes later.
hajra would be like: "ok aunty, is shaylee there?"
mom: yea...she's riht here......something something something
hajra: "yea aunty.....is shaylee there?"
lol..

March 4th, 2006

Hi,
This coming Wednesday will be exactly a year since my grandmother took her leave from this world. Who knew then that only 4 weeks later, Mom would go too. I'm blogging right now because I'm not going to have time during the week. I have an exam in a week and will be studying a lot during the week. I'm listening to my grandparents on I-tunes right now; last year mom helped me convert these religious hymns that my grandparents sand many years ago, from tape to mp3 format. A year ago this time, I was at home spending the weekend with my parents. I was spending the weekend with Mom as it was the first weekend I could come home since we had found out that she would be having an operation. We talked about the operation a little but it wasn't the main topic of conversation. On saturday evening, I talked to my uncle and he told me in a round about way that my grandmother was leaving. So, I was preparing myself, and mom was helping me. My grandmother had been getting worse over the previous months but I didnt expect her to leave only 4 days after I had the talk with my uncle and mom. We spent some time finding old videos and tapes of times I had spent with my grandmother. Mom and I talked about my upcoming spring break trip that she had agreed and encouraged me to go on. What a weekend, I can remember parts of it vividly.
After my grandmother passed away, I went on my trip, and I came back and talked to mom about my trip a little. To ease the tension and make her laugh, I told her there was nothing for her to worry about, there was no room for her up there in heaven cause my grandmother was a handfull and they needed to adjust to hosting her before mom could be allowed in. We had a good laugh. I can't believe a year has gone by since ben left. And even more than that, I cant believe that it will soon be a year since that dreaded day.

This weekend, in 2007, fell on Holi, one of my favorite hindu festivals. I chose not to play last year because Mom was in the hospital and that was more important to me. I chose not to play this year because i had to study. priorities :o) but one of these days, I'll play and she'll play with me wherever she is. Dad stayed busy with weekend, with taking pictures at the temple. I was pretty proud of him.