Tradition passes on to the next generation

I LEAVE FOR INDIA TOMORROW AND THEREFORE LEAVE THIS NOTE FOR ALL - SOMETHING HAPPENED TODAY THAT CALLED FOR THIS POST...SO HERE IT IS:


I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the kids before I left for India; therefore the weekend was quite busy - Saturday started with the soccer practice and then off to an indoor play place and then to Burger King with an attached playground. The evening was spent in Kohls, Walmart and Barnes and Nobles - by the time we were done it was almost midnight!

The kids came home with presents from Walmart - mom wanted them to have some new toys to keep them from missing dad. The kids wanted to spend their money to buy gifts for their cousins in India. Others wanted to buy things to sent back home for their loved ones, which I was supposed to carry...

Meera bought this bow and arrow that she practiced the whole Sunday morning. By the afternoon she was done and Jaya wanted to get some action - I helped her find the grove and while she shot the second time she broke the arrow. That lead to Meera crying and Jaya feeling guilty - Meera accused Jaya of breaking everything that she liked and Jaya sulked in my arms, self-guilt consuming her.

I tried to reason with Meera and said that this was just a small thing - nothing to cry about. That just added fuel to the fire. I became quiet and started thinking about this situation as a learning opportunity for the young ones - something that dad/mom had taught us - not to cry over spilled milk.

Meera was adamant that Jaya was after her and used every opportunity to break her things. Now Jaya was out of the picture as she was distracted and at some other part of the house. I asked Meera how much the bow and arrow cost her and she said 5 dollars. I threw 20 dollars at her and told her not to cry as that was not needed - she could go ahead and buy 4 of these bow and arrow, if she wanted. It was not worth her tears to cry over one broken arrow.

At that time I remembered an incident when I was still new at learning how to drive a car. One day Bobby and I had gone to Jawalaheri and while coming back had to brake suddenly as a cow came on the road. The guy behind us could not stop in time and banged his car into ours. I was upset but could not do anything and returned back home, nervous, scared and expecting dad to be mad. Dad saw my dejected and shaken self and asked what had happened and I sheepishly took him to the car and narrated the whole incident, crying constantly.

Without even looking at the damage of the car, dad caught hold of me and shook me and said 'are you ok?' The only concern I had was of the car and therefore did not get out of the fit of trying to show the damaged car to dad - he again asked me 'are you ok?' I looked at him and said 'yes, I am ok but dad the car is damaged' to which he replied, 'I do not care about the car - if you are ok then we are good. Cars come and go - you are what is more important to me!'

Without relating the incident to Meera, I told her a similar thing. She understood that the things are not important but the relationships are - off course the 20 dollars helped the case! She went back and talked to Jaya and then both were ok.

Now I am calling Meera upstairs and plan to tell her the story about the car incident.....