Backtracking!

So I have been off the blog radar for a while again!  Sometimes I feel I have nothing to say so better to keep quiet!  Other times, life is slow and uneventful, and finally, sometimes I want to say stuff out loud that I know damn well will land me right in it - so again, I write, save draft and walk away.  Sometimes I can come back to the posts later and edit out the acrimony and post!  Other times - delete is the key!!

Well - since last posting, we have been to Dubai a few times, (look for Dad in Dubai - separate post coming soon!) and spent Christmas and New Year in London.  Dubai has become a favourite haunting ground for several reasons - Emirates is a pretty fantastic airline.  They treat the kids well, they treat My Darling like royalty and I found out on the last flight that even The Ray is on their preferred passengers list ie - treat her damn well! I like it!  Another reason is the second home we have there and this makes hotels almost redundant.  the highlight for me is the washing machine and the view!  Oh and did I mention the Dubai Mall is across the driveway - literally...15 steps away!!  Waitrose, Carrefour, Boots, Starbucks and umpteen other stores are conveniently either in the mall or a bus ride away.  The air smells clean.  The public toilets are immaculate and people do not pee and poo everywhere you look.  I love a place that has toilets in the airport and the shopping centres that do not make you retch and that The Ray can sit on the seat without fear!  Ugh!

Christmas in London was spectacular.  The Ray is convinced that her daddy is the one who ordered the snowfalls just for her.  Nikh simply stared at the big fat flakes drifting past the window and did not quite believe his eyes until I openedthe window (4th floor!), shoved my hand out there, grabbed some flakes and melted them on his face!!  Whoops of  glee turned to sheer joy as he scraped off our neighbours cars each morning.  They love him now!  They offered to pay, but I didn't let them much to his disgust and My Darling's!  The compacted ice under the snow was not so much fun, neither was driving in the slushy ice up a hill.  The Ray pointed out from the back seat that Mummy was using bad words, lots and lots and lots of bad words!  OOOPS!!

It was My Darling's 40th a few days before Christmas, so we had a small mulled wine and canapes evening at the Riverside.  His mint choc chip tennis court ice-cream cake with '40-LOVE, Biren' written on the side was a big hit!  Photo on friday!  We still owe our chennai friends a birthday bash!  The watch he bought for himself (from us) made him a Happy Hubby!!  The e-reader from his in-laws has been used non-stop by three out of the four Wasanis!

Santa visited - we all made it onto the nice list - some by the skins of our teeth due to adolescent hormones I think!  Hama beads were the big hit with The Ray, Nikh got a watch too - one where there is a code you decipher to tell the time - way cool!!  My Darling got alcohol and a mulled wine kit and I got a couple of books and a few odds and ends!

We came back to Chennai and The Ray is now at AISC with her big brother and she is settled and happy.  She absolutely loves her new teacher and her teacher adores her - win-win!!

Our school PTA committee is a little thin on the ground at the moment so I am helping them organise the Charity Fair on the 30th.  I have also been drafted to help organise the PTA Ball on the 17th April as a last hurrah!  Mostly for my contacts though.  Glad to be of help!

Finally -I am helping the US CLO organise an Easter event with the Madras Mums - on the 13th March.  This is also well under way and going smooth as silk!!

So now we are all up to date - let's hope I post a little more regularly to keep things moving!!

By the way - wishing you and yours a happy new year and a healthy one at that!

Ladies Who Lunch

I found out today that handing over the baton of voluntary PTA leadership comes with a massive amount of relief, reluctance and rejoicing!

Relief because a massive amount of time suddenly becomes free and not tied up with meetings, minutes, newsletters and a couple of nightmare people.
Relief because I don't need to meet deadlines anymore, I don't need to feel frustrated at the nightmares (during the day and the night!) that I could not eject, reject or suppress.

Reluctance because it was a pleasure organising and creating and working with such wonderful teachers and parents (except for the couple of nightmares!!) and students.
Reluctance because I have pride in the position and know I can do more with it (without the nightmares involved) and would have perhaps, maybe, possibly liked to do another year and continue with the plan.

Rejoicing because I had made it my mission to try and involve as many people as I could and to try and make the PTA seem more like a massive fun factory (than a clique-y group of snotty women out to exclude the rest), and I think I managed that as every position on the new committee had a volunteer stepping up who thought they can easily do the job - many of them new parents. I was so happy.
Rejoicing also because my days are my own, the thought of constantly bearing the responsibility of selling stuff, planning stuff, organising stuff, posting stuff, saying stuff, buffering against stuff, is exhausting and now it is lifted.

So instead, a select group took me out for lunch to celebrate my liberation and to share in all the emotions that come along with watching a friend who has suffered and succeeded and suffered and succeeded. Thank God for good friends.

We decided today that being Ladies who Lunch was clearly the way to go. It may end up being the weight that doesn't go, and the cash that flows, but it would be so much fun!

I told my Darling that he should be careful what he wished for - he wanted me to quit being anywhere near the nightmares (both kinds) and to think more of myself and no-one else. I told him that now I was FREE, I could go out all the time and sit in his office with him the rest of the time. Even from Chicago (on skype) his face drained of colour as the reality of what he has insisted I do hit him HARD!!!

Nikh and The Ray have suffered over the past year - neglect, absence, impatience, irritation ... each time I was knee deep in yet another project or newsletter they were brushed aside. Each time the nightmares grew more vitriolic and virulent they suffered the fallout of my frustration.

NO MORE!

My family comes first - the nightmares can no longer reach me (I am sorry I ever let them) and my friends are still supportive.

A wise woman told me not to listen to the two unfounded critical, malicious voices full of spite, but instead to absorb and surround myself with the compliments and caring, the boost and the enthusiasm of the many positive voices around me. I have finally taken note and begun to practice this preaching.

So let a new day begin .... I am a blank canvass ready to take on new and exciting projects, to create and nurture, to educate and learn.

I am also free for lunch!