Bye 2007!! Hello 2008!!

Wow. Another year gone! I was thinking about the past year and surprisingly, I kept coming back to Zoya. 2007 was definitely Zoya's year! She has made sooooooooooo much progress that it is almost mind boggling! She has flowered from a shy little girl to a bubbly, music-loving, school-going, cute-as-ever chatter-box!!!!!!!! We are all eagerly waiting to see what she accomplishes in 2008.

Raffae also amazes me everyday with his wit, his mischiviousness, his keen observations, his intelligence, his kindness. In his own words: "He is incredible!" He will start kindergarten in 2008. I can't believe my baby is all grown up!

Tanveer managed to get a job 15 minutes from home. He is lot happier about his commute, though his office mate might drive him to look for another job! (She is growing a garlic plant in the office!!!!!) He plans to go back to school in 2008 to finish his masters.

Ammu has adjusted well to US (I think!). She doesn't miss Bangladesh as much as before. Since the kids are going to school now, she finds herself home with lot of free time on her hands. So she decided to go visit her family in Bangladesh for Eid. Once she is back, she plans to get involved in some sort of work which will keep her busy.

As for myself, I've done a tremendous amount of work this year! Managed to keep the house clean enough that I didn't have to call the Clean House crew in! Did some travelling, read some good books, made loads of friends! Didn't lose any weight! That's what I definitely need to work on in 08. I also want to start looking into MBA programs :-) Wish me luck.

Happy New Year everyone!!! Now lets get the party started!!!!!!!!!!

Different faces of grief

My mom has been depressed for the past two weeks. She misses Bangladesh, she misses my dad, she misses being able to pick up the phone and calling up her friends, she misses taking a rickshaw and going over to visit her family and friends. I've been trying everything I can think of to cheer her up. It's just not working. I am now getting depressed seeing her sad all the time. I miss my dad too, but I feel like I can’t really express my feelings to her because then it will make her even sadder than she already is. How do you make the pain of losing someway go away? It’s been a year and a half almost and I still feel the pain as raw and violently as I did the day he passed away. I can't even imagine what she feels like. I find myself trying to work longer hours so that I don’t have to go home and see my mom’s sad face. I feel horrible.

Keeping warm on this cold, cold day .....

with love! Today is my birthday. I am a big sucker for birthdays. I thought this year there won't be any celebration as hubby is out of town. To my surprise, my co-workers got me a cake. A lot of people called to wish me a happy birthday, some even from Bangladesh! And then when I got home, I was greeted with a card and a smile from Raffae. My mom helped him make the card. She said she had told Raffae that today is Mommy's birthday and he has been saying "Mommy happy Birthday, candle on cake" all day!! She had asked me to bring a small cake on my way home, which I did. We put a candle on the cake, cut it and then Raffae blew the candle off. Then my mom brought out the special dishes she had made for me!! I am so very blessed to have such loving family and friends.

Her whole life in two suitcases

They were a young couple with a small child. They rented a room and started their first "shongshar" in Dhaka. That was 1973. Next week, she will be reaching USA with her 36 year old "shongshar", packed in two suitcases. My mom. A teacher. A grandma. A great mother. A widow. I still can't think of her as a widow.

I think relationships between parents and children change as the children enter different stages of their lives. I feel like I never got to know my parents as an adult myself. I left them in 1992, barely out of my teenage years. I didn't spend more then 6 months in a row with them since then. Now I would never have that chance with Abbu. That's why I am really looking forward to my mom spending some time with us. I've heard stories here and there, but this time I want to sit down and ask her questions, get all the details and engrave them in my memory.

Good thing memories don't get put into suitcases.