WYSIWYG…

What you see is what you get! A simple concept that minime lives by! There is no reading between the lines for her. She has this immense faith in what she hears and sees and derives :)

A few months ago Minime called me a 'mad woman'! To my face! And with a lot of conviction. She knew it beyond all doubts and she had to let me know. So, she did and I was, for a second, taken aback. But I quickly reminded myself that she's a 4 year old (waiting desperately to turn 5), and she probably means something else. So, I asked her what she meant. Her logic was perfect. I was a mad woman because I was always getting mad at her and I am a woman! What can I say? Summer vacations can be tough...

A few weeks ago, we were driving around aimlessly (like we often do) when we passed a bus. It turns out that a transit bus with lots of advertisements and a 5 year old who has spent all summer perfecting her reading skills can be a very fun combination. This particular bus had this huge ad across the door for some store, and it read,"open daily from 9am to 7pm". Soon after we passed that bus, my little one chirped from the back seat,"Amma! That bus door is open from 9am to 7pm!"

M spent all summer interviewing (blame it on the travel bug!). Most of these interviews happened from home and the best of lucks and the hugs and kisses had almost become a ritual now. They absolutely had to be done before every informational and every interview. Needless to say, the hugging and kissing and 'best-of-lucking' took anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Once minime was done, Mr. M would lock himself up in, what came to be known as, the interview room. There was this one time when the 'locking self up' happened a tad bit too early and Minime suddenly realised she hadn't wished him luck. She panicked, ran to the door and banged on it like her life depended on it. And then, without waiting for a response, she shouted out to him in the loudest voice possible, "Appa! Best of luck but I can't hug you coz your interview has already started!"

There was this one time when I was talking to my Amma over the phone and we happened to be talking about bringing up girls. At one point I was telling Amma how I constantly worry about protecting my little angel from all kinds of dogs (read perverts)! The very next instant, I hear Minime say, "Oooohhh! I looooooovvvvvvve dogs!"

A couple of days ago, a friend of ours was telling us how bargaining in China works. As always, Minime was listening carefully, trying to absorb every tiny little detail so she could spend the next couple of days asking us questions about shopping in China. Our friend went on to explain the 2 knife bargaining method (yup! They actually have a name for it) where you ask the price to be slashed by a quarter of the quoted price and then when the shopkeeper gives you a counter offer, you cut that down by half. So, for example, if something costs $100, you quote $25. Then they will give you a counter offer of, let's say, $80. Then you agree to pay about $40 and not a penny more! Now Minime thinks we are poverty-stricken because we don't have $100 to pay for whatever it is that we want to buy and so, we have to plead with the shopkeeper to give it to us for less! She goes,"Why Amma? Because we don't have 100 dollars? We have only 40 dollars?".

What can I say? Kids are funny little things!

Peter Pan was right!

So, I kept my promise and I tried really hard.  I came to a screeching halt on every not-so-fun downhill ride. I wore out the soles on many a shoe but it was worth it. So totally worth it.  I dragged myself up that slippery slope of self-pity every single time and while doing so, I sold myself, ever so breathlessly, the idea that life is good! It was hard. Like my first day on the treadmill...breathless and thirsty and dizzy and so tempted to give up after the first 5 minutes inspite of walking at a pace that other veteran gym-goers might find too slow even for a cool down!

Lessons learnt:
1) Life IS good
2) Swimming does help
3) It's NEVER too late to go after your dreams
4) The voice in the head has no idea what it's talking about
5) When it comes to the voice in the head, there is a 'zip-it-and-throw-the-keys-away' button.

And all these revelations later, I feel like Peter Pan.  Never once did I believe that I could fly just by thinking happy thoughts. But now I know. Happy thoughts matter. In fact happy thoughts are all that matters.