Category: <span>Life</span>

We’re back from our self imposed pause in blogging. The reasons for the break in the depictions of the trials and tribulations of our family life are threefold. Firstly, there was our pause to take a break and think about the tragedy in Connecticut. Then, Sophia caught a very bad cold that brought our daily normalcy and rhythms to a halt. Then … just as Sophia was on the upswing, having shared her plague with us, we were setting off on a vacation with the hubby’s family.

Before I talk about my newfound admiration for people traveling with young children, I’d like to share a quiet wish; this year, I wish not to see and feel unimaginable sadness that is brought by unjust treatment of those who are unable to defend themselves. And in case anyone’s listening upstairs :-), I’d like to win the lottery and travel around the world, too.

If you’re a reader of this blog, you will find that it has no specific purpose other than to share and document a life of a young family through all our trials and tribulations. However, there are those days when even though there is plenty to share, none of it matters. Today, we pause to allow everyone to take an introspective look assessing what is important to them and what real joy and real sadness are.

A few days ago, I would have said that real joy is listening to Sophia say “Come-ear oney” (Come here, honey) and real sadness was that she was and is still very sick with a terrible cold. But truthfully, real joy is coming home and hugging your child and real sadness is suddenly loosing that joy for the rest of your life.

Until recently, well… before Sophia, I felt young and that my whole life was in front of me. I could go anywhere, do anything, go out on on the town with friends with almost not notice, take a last minute vacation. I relished that freedom.

I realize that I can no longer go out on or take a last minute vacation what with having to pack all those diapers and baby food, but I still mostly thought I was young. I now realize that I am on the decline. It used to be that I could drink many a cup of coffee right before bed, go to bed, fall asleep and wake up rested and refreshed. Then, I had Sophia and I dreamed of just going to be and having her sleep a solid 4 hours. Now, I have insomnia! When she doesn’t sleep, I am miserable. When she does sleep, I cannot fall asleep and I don’t even drink coffee in the evening anymore.

The holiday season is upon us. Every fall I wish for a calm, quiet holiday season. Every December 1st, I realize that my wish won’t come true. For one, the social calendar is once again packed with obligations (some pleasurable and some, well, obligations). Secondly, there is all that shopping to be done for presents. Thirdly, everyone else has similar thoughts to mine: all that shopping to be done.

Where there is shopping, there is traffic. Where there is traffic, there are bad tempers and impatience. Add in the D.C., metro area into the equation and you have an intolerable, unbearable situation that has driven me straight to my personal computing device for taking care of most of my gifting needs.

My early holiday resolution is to try to take it easy and be “done” with everything and ready to relax by December 21st. I’ve even contemplated taking a vacation day to get caught up on chores and todo’s. Is your holiday season busy? What do you dread the most?

Sophia was up from 1 am until 3 am. It was obvious that she wanted to get to sleep, but alas between our creaky floors and whatever was bothering her, Zzzzs were evading her and thus, hubby and me. While she speaks a few words, she can’t quite tell me what is bothering her and we’re not keen on medicating her without a clear and obvious reason, so sleep has eluded us.

Most parents know what it is like to work after a few sleepless nights and come home to a child who is more like a gremlin. The alarm startled me out of my sleep this morning and I thought “surely this is all some sort of a joke and it is NOT 6:00 AM”. Oh but it was, and then serious frustration came over me. I came into the office, okay, stumbled into the office in my sleepless haze and promptly caffeinated myself enough to be cordial to coworkers and productive. While having a cup o’ Joe, I read up on the happenings of the world. I didn’t need my coffee after watching those pictures and reading what has been going on in Israel and Gaza. The images of children pulled out of the rubble on either side are now seared into my memory. I promise not to complain about my little gremlin Sophia so long as I am blessed to hug her every morning and night. Sometimes we loose perspective; I know I do.

Today is Veteran’s Day. It is a great time to recognize all the women and men who serve their country tirelessly, safeguarding those in need putting their own welfare at risk and sacrificing time with their families. I know very well what it is like to be a member of a military family. My father served in the [USSR] army for 26 years. I remember very well what it is like to miss him, to see him in his full gear going off on patrol into the night, away for exercises and also the joy that it was to see him come home.

I alluded to this briefly before, but we lived in Baku during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Soviet army was ordered to keep order and defend the Armenian population in Azerbaijan. As a result, the families of the armed forces became targets themselves and we were subject to constant harassment, threats that culminated with sniper shoot outs. In the winter of 1989 while under heavy sniper siege (which saw the deaths of several of my sister’s classmates), we were transferred to the city’s barracks and prepared for immediate evacuation. The few days we spent there, sheltering from sniper fire were tumultuous. I saw my dad lead a fire-team in returning fire from the room we were staying at, my mom in tears as we said our goodbye leaving for Kiev while he and the other officers stayed back. I was 5 or 6 then and didn’t understand the gravity of the situation, but the memories and visuals stayed with me. So I really mean it when I thank those who put their lives at stake to make sure we live ours to our fullest potential.

… and I think it is a perfect reminder that there is NO traffic in either direction on the Washington D.C.’s beltway! 🙂 My commute was just shy of 25 minutes, a far cry from the usual 50 minute commute (each way).