“We can’t be everything to everyone and still be true to ourselves.”

As someone who loves to play with words, often times I come across sentences that express thoughts so purely, that I wish I could have written them myself. That’s how I felt when I heard this dialogue in The Crown last night. Season 3 is here, and it is the best yet. The entire season is a lesson in leadership. You have to watch it to believe me.

We saw Frozen II this morning. There were 21 of us. 10 kids and 11 adults. It was sheer joy to see the kids enjoy the movie and giggle their way through Olaf’s gaffing moves. There was enough entertainment for adults as well. I must admit that I enjoyed the movie. I went with really low expectations, but was delighted to see something a little more than just a sweet sister’s tale. Elsa and Anna are brave. They are sharp, and they do the right thing. And when they don’t know what the future holds, they do the next right thing. It’s a good lesson to teach to our kids. Because more I experience it, life is just doing the next right thing. There is no game plan. There is no mystery to be solved. It’s just going one day to another, one week to another, one year to another, doing the next right thing. And the “right” is determined by the maturity of your faculties that you are blessed with, at that point of time. This simplifies things. At least for the short term.

While Agam and Tara were at a birthday party, I marched off to enjoy some afternoon sun. I realize how I cannot just walk. I sprint. I observed my pace, and tried to cautiously slow down. But when walking by myself, I cannot walk slow. It was strange. I love my solitary walks. They clear my head. But I have been bad about them ever since I witnessed the boy who was tossed in the air by the merciless driver, back in June. Excuses, perhaps. I need to go back to my daily walks. Just don’t know where to find the time. Excuses again. Perhaps!

Today, I wrote thank you cards for my team, and stamped and sealed the holiday cards for our friends and family. I love this time of the year. It’s so gratifying to reflect on the months that have passed by. This was a tough year on a few accounts. The first six months were especially grilling. Tara’s diagnosis was hard. It still is. But we have come to accept it. Losing a young cousin was also hard, but life seems to have moved on for his family, and for us. Helping a friend with her mother’s last rights when I was not even there for my own father’s funeral, was an experience, tormenting and yet gratifying at the same time. I know I was given this chance to experience what I did not, so I can settle in my mind and heart what happens when people die. All I ever experienced was absence, and grief that comes from absence. I did not experience the farewell.

But despite the personal and professional upheavals that this year brought, it did go by rather quickly. I distinctly remember writing thank you cards for my team last year. All I did this year was do the next right thing. It was never clear where things were heading, I just did the next obvious thing, and looks like I managed just fine. Or did I? Only time will tell.

For now, it’s Tara’s birthday week. My munchkin is turning 5 this Tuesday. And I know she is the wildest, yet most caring 5 yr old I know. She is a blend of all things Agam, and all things me. And I love watching her grow into a fine little girl. So confident, so happy, and so full of life.

I pray for her joys to be plenty, and her worries be just a few.