Happy Birthday Kannamma

Today is L's (fondly called by me as Kannamma) birthday. Here's wishing a very special person a very happy birthday

Lake Tahoe/Reno - Half century

We went to Lake Tahoe/Reno for the weekend. We, along with L's parents, left on Friday evening and halted overnite in Sacramento. We spent the nite there eating some really awesome idlies (with and w/o milakaipodi) and curd rice with tomato thokku, which L's mom had prepared for the trip. We got up early on Saturday morning and headed out to the Soda Springs resort.

The weather was awesome and wasn't very cold at all. We picked up some breakfast (read hashbrowns) from McD's. The drive was very scenic and nice. Before reaching Soda Springs, we made a small detour to visit an unsupervised snow play area (Cisco Grove exit off I-80E) and we all had fun sliding down the slopes in our own saucer. This was the first snow experience for Vidyuth, Vishruth and L's parents and we could see the excitement in all of them. We played here for 30 minutes or so before leaving for Soda Springs.

Vidyuth and Vishruth had all the fun at Planet Kids at Soda Springs. There was a really cool snow carousel for kids. They had lot of fun on the kid-sleds as well. L and Vidyuth also made snowman. After playing there for a couple of hours, we headed out to Reno and had lunch at IHOP before checking in to our hotel room. After relaxing for a few hours, we decided to check out the night life in Reno. We ordered in pizza for dinner and then visited Circus Circus first. We enjoyed the brilliant gymnastics show that was performed. I took L's parents around the casino and we played for sometime in the slot machines. L was watching the kids since they weren't allowed in the casino area. Since the kids couldn't hang out for long, we headed back to our hotel and dropped of L, her mom and the kids.

L's dad and I went back again, this time to Peppermill Casino and had a lot of fun there until midnight before returing back to our hotel. On Sunday morning, we headed to South Lake Tahoe driving via Carson City. We wanted to take the gondola ride at Heavenly. Unfortunately since there were very high winds, the gondola rides was cancelled for visitors and Vidyuth was very disappointed.

We then had lunch at an Indian place - Nikki's chaat place. The food/service was extremely good commensurate with the high price that they charged. I would say it was still worth it. We then headed back to Fremont and reached home around 5.30pm

Overall it was a fun filled trip for all of us. We did take some pics and I'll be posting a sample here when L uploads them from our camera to the PC :-) BTW, this is the 50th post in this blog and hence the title

Words of Wisdom

I came across the following words of wisdom in my admin's office. Here it goes

Happiness keeps you Sweet
Trials keep you Strong
Sorrows keep you Human
Failures keep you Humble
Success keeps you Glowing
but only Faith & Attitude keeps you Going....

Leap Day

Today, 02/29, is a leap day. Some fun facts about this day can be seen at

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leap-day-february-29.html

Life's like that!!

Some people will always have to go thru a struggle to get what they want in life. Seldom will things fall into place. Tension will precede any event that it will almost be predictable that even the simplest of things will not happen in a easy straightforward way. This is very true in my life too, in almost all of the major events. I have, over the years, learnt to reconcile with it by telling myself, heck, life's like that!!

However things have now come to a point where even simple things are beginning to be complicated. I don't know if what I'm feeling is really true or if it is just me over-reacting.

I begin to wonder why my "life's like that"?

Happy 70th Birthday Periamma

Today my periamma (my mom's elder sister) turns 70. I can't write enough to say how much of an influence she has had in my life and how much I owe her for everything I am today.

I really would have liked to be with her on this special day. I did call her promptly and wished her over the phone. Here's wishing her a very happy birthday once again and I pray for her success in her brave battle against cancer

What-IF

Nearly everyday we all go through thoughts that circle around 'What-IF.'

What-IF this happens or that happens, how things would have changed if I had done some things differently, how I would have been if I took another route instead of the one that I am taking. Sometimes we go to the extent of thinking and talking about 'What-IF's' in a way that we start living them instead of perceiving them as mere thoughts.

One such major 'What-IF' is about life and death. In January 2008 (not a week ago), I had a near-death experience, where I was in the ICU and the doctor's could not predict the outcome to my husband. Those 3 days were sheer hell for him while I was lying unconscious, unaware of what was happening around me. The first thought that came to my mind when I woke up was why am I in this place and not with my family. The nurse told me that they almost lost me and they could be certain that I was out of danger only after I had woken up. As you can imagine, I was shaken by this experience and the only 'What-IF' that came to my mind was, "What IF I had died? Would I have tried/ fought to come back or as we see in a lot of movies, hover over my husband and kids and feel bad for not being able to spend more time with them?" After I came home, I realized how many people (including my family, friends and even co-workers) were scared for me and were praying and hoping for my safe return and even more glad that I am back safe and sound, better than ever. Boy, Am I glad to be ALIVE and KICKING:)

This near-death experience had made me think about my priorities and 'What-IFs." No matter what you think you could have become, it is only a thought that makes you lose your perspective and hides your present from you. It has made me realize that by taking each day as a fresh new start, you can try and correct your mistakes, each new day is a chance for you to be a better person than you already are, each day is a chance for you to make people around you special and loved.

Ultimately it does not matter if you had a lot of money or a Phd or whatever it is that you don't have right now, if you don't have people who love you and hug you and tell you that 'Everything will be alright, no matter what,' you don't have anything (even if you are the most __________(whatever, fill in the blanks yourself) person.

Revaluate your priorities and be thankful to a power higher than us, to that power that has granted me a second chance to be with the people I love and the people who love me.

All the best for those who have been given a second chance and for others who are lucky enough to live their first chances. Not everybody will get a second chance so do make best use of this one life that we get and be thankful.

~Laks

The expected is just the beginning. The unexpected is what changes our lives." - Meredith Grey (Grey's Anatomy)