Mother, mother of pearls, marriages :)

For about the past month, my siblings and I have lived in our huge house all by ourselves. Our parents, for the first time in their entire twenty eight years of marriage, went on a holiday, (mostly) purely for the sake of a holiday. They had a great time in Malaysia. When they called and asked what they should get for each of us, I said they should get something to do with memories. So, for me, they got a beautiful bracelet made of mother of pearls, an almost equally beautiful pair of sandals and some other clothes. I hate to be so mushy and materialistic, but they truly are beautiful! :')

They also went to Bangladesh. Some parts of myself regrets not going with them because I could have seen Nanu, a woman I have grown to love in the past few years. Her health is deteriorating soon, and I really don't know when I will get a chance to see her again. But some other parts of myself loved the space I got. Sometimes, you need a little bit of space from people to realise how important they are to you, how much you need and want them in your life and how you can never imagine really living without them. Even though they were in a different part of the world, they were only a phone call away, most of the time. And when they weren't, whenever I spent a few days not talk about them or with them, I felt like a part of me has gone missing. I think my parents have learnt a lot from this trip too. So, the past month (although it felt like a few months!) was worth it. :)

The two days before they came back, we went on a massive cleaning spree of the entire house, front garden to backyard. My arms felt like they would fall off, on both days, and it reminded me again of how unfit I am. But I found cleaning to be quite useful, especially for thinking about the huge questions of life (what am I doing with my life? Etc.) and for serving therapeutic purposes in calming the mind. :P But even then, there was a few things that I missed doing, such as wiping down the sofas, and of course it was clearly visible. *sigh*

Talking about housewife-ly duties seem like a good time to transition into the topic of weddings. On Friday night, I went to the reception of a friend, as a 'friend', rather than a family friend or family. So far, this is the only friend that has invited me to her wedding in such a way. To say I had a lot of fun would be an understatement - it was one of the few weddings that I REALLY enjoyed, every moment of it. So, after cleaning the whole day, I fell asleep for about two hours when I intended for much less, only to be woken up by a phone call from the people who were giving me a ride (I still haven't gotten my Ps even though I've aged and grayed). So, I fell out of bed and quickly found something that I can get dressed in in twenty minutes. Another call from that uncle told me that they would be a little late. I really wanted to wear a sari, but then I didn't know how much time I had. Big dilemma. :P Anyway, I ended up wearing a sari by myself (Sum, if you're reading this, this would probably make it the 30th time that you're having to hear it. Sorry. :P), making dua, the entire time, so that it actually looks okay. We ended up getting there after the entre, but before the program, so it turned out fine. When speeches started, we realised that the groom's side was extremely prepared with many funny stories and even a comic video (which had three bangla cinema songs and showed the stages from 'chasing' to 'bribing' to finally getting a yes). The bride's school friends did a very impromptu speech, and I was told, along with another 'random' friend of hers, to do a speech, but no time was specified. In the end, we ended up doing it just before the cake was cut. So, while I was talking, the juice glasses and knives were brought in, people were looking around and talking quite loudly, so yes, 'fail' speech. But it was fun. In the few seconds that I had, I mostly got to talk about how our friendship flourished on Facebook before we even met properly. I thought it was funny, but I'm not sure if everyone else thought so… So next time I start a wedding speech (if there is a next time), I am starting with 'every time I speak publicly, I am known to end up with a huge foot in my mouth…' so that people forgive me even if I do end up with a foot in my mouth. Again. :)

There is a really cute and cheeky toddler laughing away in her mother's arms, while she is held upside down. One of our apus recently had a baby boy, and from his photos, he seems to be the cutest new born baby boy alive. Babies have a way of cheering up the space around them, most of the time.

I have a list of emails to go through and a whole bunch of work to do. :( :( :(