As I am starting to write a little about me, it feels like the first week of school where I ask my students to make a page called “All about me”. Tell me about your family- a picture is better than words, I say; do you have a nickname, your favorite book/ lyrics/song/color- anything that will help me get to know you better!
So back to where I started- I am a full- time mom to two beautiful kids: 19 and 15 years old. I love spending time with them, they are growing up so fast!! As you may have guessed I am a educator by profession. I have taught high school and middle school students, and this is my 14th year in Education. I love doing what I do, as I feel I make a difference in kids’ lives every single day; and if I can guide or nurture even a single student every year, my job is done! Although I do feel I can do more than that; I can shape my students’ thinking and get them ready for their future on a daily basis when I enter my classroom every day with a smile, zeal, love, respect and a determination to be a role model for these young hearts. I am really lucky to say I love my job!!
But what I love most is being a mom to my kids. My older one is a sophomore in college and my younger one is a sophomore in high school. As other moms of high schoolers know this is the hard year and next will be the hardest for kids as they prepare for their SAT, take the most AP courses, start thinking about which colleges to apply to, which majors they are interested in, and most important being autonomous and struggling to become the young adults which they are not, at least not yet😊 .
All about me includes my high school sweetheart Praveen, who I have been married for 20 years now. We have known each other since 1990 and got married in 2002. A long time to know a person; we have shared our rides of ups and downs, laughter and cries, fights and arguments, conflicts and consensus, smiles and frowns; but in the end it is our love that holds us together. We are still learning and growing in our relationship, and hope our kids remember us more for our quiet together times than the argument times; I hope…
We enjoy traveling and try to take two trips every year- one in summer and one in winter. Rarely we will also add a shorter trip during spring break or Thanksgiving break; any break from school or routine gets us going😊 Last year in 2019, in winter we visited Disney World, Florida after eight years break, and we had a fun time! I didn’t think we will enjoy going back to the same place again, as I love visiting new places but listening to what our kids wanted and planning around it was really wonderful.
In the summers of 2019 we went to visit India, and also visited parts of Europe. We spent 9 days altogether exploring Vienna, Austria; Zurich, Switzerland; and Prague, Czech Republic. We visited Calgary, Canada two times, once in summer and then again in winter and they were both different but beautiful experiences. We love to take road trips and have driven to New York in the northeast and up to Minnesota in the north. I will write about our travel experiences in a different blog, so stay tuned.
My life would not be complete without talking about our foster dog “Tigger”. We started fostering in 2016 after my kids have been pestering me for years to get them a dog. I surrendered to their plead by compromising to get foster dogs. Our first dog was Ruger, she was very sweet and with us for just a week before getting adopted. Then we had Pixie for few months, Halley for two days, Kendall for little more than two years (!) and now Tigger since October. I can’t even begin to tell how having a dog has changed our life for better; fostering gives us joy as a family knowing we are able to rescue dogs, give them temporary homes, give love to them and get tons of love in return, and meet their basic needs till they find their forever home💗 I am writing more about our fostering experiences in this blog.
To end my little intro, I would add that we volunteer at local animal shelters, host social gatherings once a month or so, like watching Bollywood Hindi movies together as a family and love to eat, lol:)
Till the next time, take care and let’s all keep hoping…