We watched Toy Story 4 today, with Tara. It was such a special feeling. The first Toy Story was released in 1995. We had just moved to Delhi that year. I heard all about it from my friends and I was bummed about not watching it. But somehow Woody and Buzz made it to my creative corner. Back then I used to cut out my favorite cartoon characters from newspapers, magazines and greeting cards and put them up on my cupboard. Haha I am totally dating myself here. But I have been a Toy Story fan since so long that to watch it now with Tara was so special. She really enjoyed it.

I am pretty certain this was the last of the series. Woody doesn’t need the kids anymore, and he moves on. Such is the life of toys, and ahem, humans. The movie has meta themes, as always, and is definitely has a more deeper narrative than any of the previous three. So glad we watched it 🙂

In the morning I was on my weekend cooking marathon, and Tara helped me peel some carrots. Assigning chores to kids is a wonderful way to build work ethic in them. Tara knows she cannot help in the kitchen until she washes her hands with soap. She knows she has to be OK with messy hands, and has to clean up the mess after her chore is done, which includes taking the scrapes and putting them in trash. Her reward – marshmallows. 😀 She is a good learner. I am so happy that she shows initiative in the kitchen.

My Mom always told us, “no matter how busy and successful you are, you should always make it your responsibility to put together a healthy meal for your family. There is nothing demeaning about cooking for those you love.” I am usually a rebel when it comes to my Mom’s sayings. But I follow this one pretty religiously. And it helps that I absolutely love cooking. It is my medium of expressing love for my family and friends. I hope Tara enjoys cooking too. And if not enjoy, at least she should not think of it as a chore.

I started my annual reflections and a few interesting themes are emerging. Balance is definitely one of them. It is like a meta theme that is appearing across the major themes. The others are learning, and community. Learning – more like proactive learning, instead of just reflecting. And community is a theme that I’ve struggled with quite a bit. I cherish the individualistic society I am part of, and yet I crave the communal society I left behind. Isn’t there a way to blend the two? Does it have to be so polar?

I am extremely influenced by David Brook’s Second Mountain, and have been reading a little more about the Aspen Institute and especially Weave. I want to be a weaver. Because if I don’t then Tara will inherit a very broken society. But for that I need to start somewhere. And I want to start, this year.

We are spending July 4th extended long weekend in Laguna Beach. A quick trip down the coast to meet family, and enjoy southern California beaches. I am hoping we can catch some of the Disney fireworks. Tara is a little jealous that on my birthday there are fireworks everywhere. I cannot wait for her to find out that I have been kidding all this while. I have never seen 4th of July fireworks (aka my bday fireworks). I am not sure why. So may be that’s going to be a thing we do this year 🙂

Next week is ‘no meeting week’ at work. So I hope to get a lot of pending work done. I can’t believe it myself, but I am actually excited. Can’t wait to start tomorrow.