Today was our annual Google Give brunch. I have been doing this for four years now, and as always I had a wonderful time from start to end. It’s especially endearing to have so many kids at home. Today we also had a little puppy – Finn. The house was bustling with energy, conversations, giggles, laughter, with kids running around everywhere. It was absolutely delightful.

As for the food it was OK. I leaned more on the traditional side. But then you cannot play with so many people’s taste buds. There are plenty of leftovers. So I guess that means it wasn’t that great after all. I love cooking and I love people. So net net this works out.

Agam and Tara were good hosts as always. It is endearing that for some one who’d rather sit in a library with a book, Agam becomes a sociable host on such weekends. I think he enjoyed today’s company. And so did Tara with her girl friends and her ponies.

We have several sub-families in Bay area. My Google family is important to me and I am glad Agam and Tara understand that and come along for the ride. And for the record, Agam always finds it fun in the end, although he starts off with several reservations. 😀

It was so nice to meet J, after a long time. They are having another grandkid soon. Fun times. I bet M &J spoil their grand kids so much. Well I had fun spoiling them today. Such a perfect couple. Knock on wood. And of course I love my warm hugs from M. He is the Dad I don’t have. And I have a feeling he knows that. They are off to Patagonia next. I cannot wait to hear all about it over breakfast when he is back.

In the end I finally sat down and enjoyed a cup of filter kapi with a friend. I knew she’d like it, and I needed one 🙂

Friend is an interesting word to describe our relationship. Our professional relationship is rather contentious. But I have a deep sense of admiration for her grit. And somewhere in between our contentious arguments and fiery email chains, we both realized that keeping work aside, we both like a spirited conversation and we are both morally aligned. She offers me nuggets of advice from time to time. There isn’t much that I can offer her. What I could, I chose not to. She knows why.

And so all I could do was make a special cup of coffee for her while our daughters played together and husband’s chatted away 🙂 I love how we are both very comfortable being friends despite our work situation. I learnt this maturity from her. And I am grateful for that.

That’s the beauty of Google. You can bring together people from different teams, roles, profiles, and experiences and they will find some connection, some common interests. It’s the thing I love about these brunches. I move on, people move on, and yet we come back together like one big family every year. Each year the family grows a little bit bigger. And we do a little good by donating to a good cause.

As for me, I will be hitting the sack early tonight. We will do this again next year.

Until, then, thank you Google for letting me Give in so many different ways.