Upcoming Tribute to Girl Gone Wild

John and I took the kids up to New Jersey and New York on a calm and peaceful journey up 95 for Christmas this year. (BTW, driving on 95 is never peaceful and is not conducive to my New Year's Resolution to not curse. For that reason, I will try to avoid it at all costs this year).

We usually have to do a lot of driving once up there. Both my family and John's family are located close enough where we can make plans to try to see them all, but far enough away from each other that its a total pain in the ____ (Insert banned word. Hint, rhymes with class). We go from house to house, visiting both sides of our family, and lugging just a few things around that you need when you have two kids still in diapers.

Basically its a lot of crap. Not just in the diapers. We just are very clunky travelers.

Is crap a curse word? I am not sure. If so, please just ignore. Baby steps. . . .

When we were up on the first leg of the trip, at my parent's house, my mother reprimanded me.

"Kiran - I am sooooo, sooooooo mad at you!" she said. She has an uncanny ability to stretch out words.
"Why, Ma?" I could only guess at which offense she was upset about. I screw up a lot.
"Well . . ." (except when my mother says "Well", it sounds like "Vell.")
"Vell, in your blawg, you wrote a letter to John, you wrote a letter to Nico, but vhat about my Shailu? She will tink you dawn't love har."

Shaila (also known as "Shoogly")

Now, my daughter's name is not Shailu. It's Shaila. With an "A." But like many other Indian parents, my mother thinks if she calls my kids the names I actually gave them, they might think she doesn't love them.

Hence, Shaila becomes "Shailu", "Shuggie", "Sonu" and lots of other things that don't make any sense to the non-Indian.

But all my Indian peeps are nodding their heads right now because most of them are pretty familiar with this. (Read this if you want to know).

Aside from recognizing the fact that my mother is constantly trying to invent new names for my children, I also recognized that she had a point.

Shaila, why have I neglected to write you a letter? It's not because I don't have anything to say to you. As my firstborn, you hold a large piece of my heart that is impossibly, totally in love with you.

You also have an uncanny ability to test, prod and manipulate me more than any other human being I know.

And this scares the living daylights out of me, because you are NOT EVEN TWO and a HALF.

So I'm working on it. Ma, rest assured. In my next "blawg" post, you will be reading a letter to Shaila. This house has an anti-discrimination policy so I need to make sure I spread out the "smack talk" fairly and equally.

Because it's the right thing to do.

So stay tuned . . .