BEING A MOTHER

Recently my friend Bhawna, who blogs under Yellow Mellow Life, asked me to share my thoughts on the challenges of Motherhood,for a post she was compiling. In my crazy weekend schedule, I manged to scribble in my honest thoughts, while trying not to provide an ideal answer. As I went through her post,and read about a few other Mothers and their journeys, I knew a post on my own Blog was surely due.

I am a Mother to a beautiful toddler girl Riona, who is my rainbow baby. I had missed being a mother years back. And that scarring was too deep for me for quite a few years. Then came the brilliant journey of pregnancy for the second time, and we had our Queen with us.

Bhawna's post got me thinking on all that I have learnt along the way being a Mom or what exactly were my memories with my Mom.

As a student in school, I remember how we would all draw up our Mother's Day cards in our Crafts Class a week before Mother's Day. I still remember what I had drawn one particular year. A simple hand made card and a big Hug for my Mom. Its fresh in my memory how happy she used to be very year. And now I get to see my Mother every few years,given that we stay in two different countries. So Mother's Day usually means an extra long phone call, or even a Skype Session if internet networks don't get jammed on that Sunday. Last year we were beyond lucky as three generations got to celebrate Mother's Day together. And did I mention we even color co-ordinated our outfits without so much as consulting each other. Great ladies think alike, I guess. Its this memory which I shall hold on to be the best Mother's Day memory for me,so far. Not often will three generations get to celebrate such special days together.

My Mother is my idol.I have learnt all my life and continue to learn every day from her. Even a simple phone call from her, can make my day wonderful, even if we are stuck in two feet of snow for the Nth day here in the cold Midwest US. She is my biggest Diva and she will always remain so. She is a lady who has perfectly balanced her career and family life with perfect elan. She has always made sure that we had our weekend outings as a family. we never missed any fair, or any circus which was visiting town. And she dressed us up in the most stylish of outfits. A few days after she had given birth to my younger brother, she was out with my Dad, picking up new outfits to wear for the upcoming Bengali New Year. Now I know how diffilcult it is to even stand on yor own feet after giving birth, leave alone go out in the hot summer in sultry Kolkata to shop. But trust my Mom to do it all in her signature style with a big smile on her face. My Mom always smiles,and thats something I try to imbibe every day. A smile can win a thousand battles and it makes you stronger.

So when it came to my own journey of being a Mother, I have learnt every step of the way from her. She could not be physically present when I delivered my daughter, but she was there with me in spirit all the time. She taught me always to be tough and suck it up and face all that life threw my way. So when I had to pull my PJs exactly 48 hours after pushing out a baby, I remembered her words that I could do it. I had been in labor for 18 hours, pushed my baby out, had third degree tears, and it was snowing heavily. My daughter had high bilirubin levels so had to be taken back to the Hospital for a simple blood test. But a simple act of pulling your pants up can be so difficult when you have trouble standing up. Not to forget you have to walk through snow to get to your car.

As I mentioned in the post in Bhawna's Blog that you can read all you want on what Motherhood is, but you can never be fully prepared.

For years I have had many critics tell me that I suffer from the incurable urge to be a winner at every step of life. Yes, I completely agree to that. I like to win. Even with my Motherhood, I wanted to win every challenge that came my way. But to be honest, I may have managed to fare not so greatly at some of the challenges that Motherhood brought for me, and super succeeded at others. So its been a great balance. I have learnt to take things in my stride and go with the flow. That's whats helped me out all these 2 years of Motherhood plus the none months of successful pregnancy.

So while I had milk soaked Nursing Bras, I dabbed on some bright red lipstick and loads of mascara, and shook a leg at party with my baby in my arms. My mom used to dance with me and my brother,when we were younger. That was one of my favorite dances ever. She used to hold us in her arms, do a Waltz with us. Did I mention that she is a trained Ball Room dancer and I have never been able to match a step with her when she hits the dance floor. So the simple fact that I could dance with my baby in arms in exactly the same way, as my mom had danced with me and my brother, are the memories I cherish. We carried on the tradition of dancing with my Mom, even on the morning of my wedding. And we hope to continue the tradition of dancing together among every other fun thing we do together.

Happy Mother's Day MAAA !! Love you !!!