Mamma Mia

It was the most glorious time today, watching Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again with Mom. Such a carefree vacation! The theatre was mostly empty. Other patrons were family people just like us - a retired Mom and daughter and retired couples. One kind patron, Angel, thanked us for sharing the viewing experience with her. We oooh-ed and aaah-ed together after the movie, delighting at the beautiful scenery, pretty clothes and timeless Abba music. She told me to make sure I took my Mom out for further expeditions. Her daughter does the same for her and she said, “you young people are the ones to take us out.” Mom liked that she gave me her dua, “God bless you.” 

There were times through the movie when the audience in the theatre erupted into joyful clapping. It was an audience that had assembled together ready and open to be moved to exuberant highs and low lows. 

Oh! It was all so glorious. 

It’s the simplest of days doing simple things that bring the most pleasure. 

Family

The older I get and the farther away I am from them, the more I value family.

For the first time in a long, long time - some seven years - the majority of my family got to spend some time together. It was good, it felt like the cliched 'old times'. Family brings so much variety to life, to the dinner table, to shopping experiences and to perspectives.

It's a good summer. There's sun, warmth - or, heat, maybe! - food, family and, I feel like getting back to writing again. I've found that my writing impulses are triggered most during phases of life when I feel emotion stronger than usual. This summer, my heart's soaring.

Shukrana.

The Non-Facebook Post #131

Sometimes, it's just 30 minutes to get past.

Sometimes, it's 90-second intervals of those 30 minutes to make it through.

Sometimes, it's 'just-5-more-reps' in one 90-second interval of those 30 minutes.

Those 'sometimes' can be days when a 15-second crescent lunge can be your Mount Everest.

Those 'sometimes' can be days when you have to push yourself to make it through the smallest unit of time-activity you can break your scaling of that peak down to - one second of one 90-second interval of that 30-minute period. One baby step at a time. 

As gruelling as those baby steps are to accomplish, in the grand scheme of things, they add up, don't they? They are what make that grand scheme materialize.

So, for taking that tiny step towards becoming better tomorrow than you are today, give yourself a pat on the back. Because, the only person who will always root for you is you.

You did it, Fra!

The Non-Facebook Post #130

So, the best laid schemes of mice an' men, gang aft a-gley. 

What will ya do?

Take a step back, take it slow. Things change, people change. 

Decide if you want to allow that for you or not.

Facts are great but feelings matter too. 

And, be optimistic.

It's one life, you might as well enjoy it.

I

”You’ve fought many fights, you’ve come such a long way to preserve and protect you.
Be you.”  - one of my North Stars

Plurality, Always

No, this month is not going to have one singular post. Because that would mean that my growth has been static. It has not, though. And that's why, here's another post. To mark life happening in the background, even as other events take place. Life - all the many layers that make it up - are running concurrently. And the growth, learning and wisdom now dictate that balancing all of life's intricacies is the right thing to do.

Here's balancing all of life's concurrencies.

'Focus on what's important to you, and the rest will fall into place.' - Netflix's Reality High.

'Kismat mein jinki milna hai, woh kis tarah bhi mil jaye' and, 'sochna kya, jo bhi hoga dekha jaayega.'

The Non-Facebook Post #128

'Kisne dastak di yeh dil par,
Kaun hai?
Aap toh andar hain,
Bahar kaun hai?' - Rahat Indori