It's a wrap

 New year's eve again. That time of the year when 12 months seem to have zipped past and it seems like yesterday that it was last year.

This year has been one of certain uncertainties for me. Sitting in 2022 I was sure of the things that were going to happen. There was a trip to India, there was renovation work for our house, there was Chiyaa starting secondary school, my parents visiting UK, my sis moving to her own place and then a holiday. That was a bit long list but we were uncertain of how things would pan out.

First up my parents arrived in February which coincided with my sis moving from our house to a rented house of her own. It was a different experience for her getting everything sorted independently. It was also a tug of war of emotions. There was a desire and longing for all of us to stay together. But then mummy and papa were keen on supporting my sister as well who was setting her own place. It was a bit of a roller coaster of emotions the meeting and parting every week. But eventually we started getting used to it.

April we made the trip to India. It was an epic trip with us managing to stay at Bengaluru for the major chunk of our holiday. It enabled me to meet up so many of my friends! It was an amazing and utterly soul soothing experience.

We came back from the trip to have Chiyaa face her Standard Assessment Tests which is like a public exam. She did quite well and it was milestone for her. With that over we had to look at her starting secondary school in September and a whole bunch of changes to our routine. The two kids would goto two schools which would start and finish at different times. It would throw our work patterns a bit out of whack. We used to brainstorm literally every day how we would go about the whole thing. But when September started it just wham! naturally fell into place!!! K would drop her and I Pumpki. On good weather days they walked and K would await mid way and we would drop Pumpki together. Else it was a car drop for Chiyaa. Most days she walked back by herself which for me was a major letting go. Pumpki had her first year in school without her elder sister in the playground. I saw her strengthening her friendships with her peers and seniors. Since we were ending up starting work a bit later cos of the 2 drops we started after school club for Pumpki so that we could stretch our working day. It also added to her set of experiences. Chiyaa settled down perfectly in her new school and it was so nice to see her forming the social connections which she missed in primary. By God's grace the kids were finally settling.❤️

All this while we had quite a bit of renovation planned for the summer. The summer became late summer and that became early autumn. That turned the whole house to pay turvy. K and I used to get into arguments about this or that regarding the builders or the cost or the layout or some random stuff. The season has changed to winter and the work is well and truly underway. But there is still so much more to do in the new year. 

Which makes the coming year a year of uncertain uncertainties. We have to make some financial recoveries since the renovation has run a bit over budget. How  needs to be figured out 😀Also we have no idea when all the tasks will get over and the house will be fully usable. My parents might be making a trip again. But we aren't sure when, for how long and what we plan to do together in terms of trips etc. My Mil is coming over and it will be a different experience for her coming over first time since the pandemic. We have no certainty about any trips or holidays we might be undertaking.  I will be changing teams at work with new people, new systems and new tech stack. There are just too many things up in the air and I would love to see my thoughts on 31.12.2024 😃

But here's wishing anyone who chances on this post a very happy new year. May your uncertainties result in pleasant outcomes. May you have the strength to live through them and the results. May things forge ahead and be enriching. Wishing everyone a new year full of pleasant surprises!

Toodaloo 2022

 This time of the year comes around so quickly doesn't it? Literally seems like yesterday I was penning this for 2021. And we are about to draw the curtains on 2022. 

I have savoured many things in 2021. Since I am typing this from a hotel room it makes sense to highlight the best thing to happen this year. It was the trip to Iceland. It was to be a trip of dreams..something we could only imagine  given the fact that Iceland is quite an expensive place. But an of the cuff discussion led to prices being checked, with plans being made, with holidays being booked and a trip being made. It was the best place I have been to. It was tiring, rejuvenating, unique and spiritual. I have written many posts about it and I could keep waxing eloquent still. I had not experienced anything like Iceland and I am grateful to God to have brought it to me. The amazing trip came with its dark cloud too. The kids didn't like it as much as we would have wanted them to. :( Especially Pumpki who simply hated it. She is not yet game for the long tours that are a part of covering such exotic places.

We were able to make a trip to the Jersey islands which were another unique place to have been. It was deeply educative to be through the numerous museums and forts. And we managed to ring in Pumpki's birthday with a trip to London's natural history museum. The wannabe paleantologist deserved this as her birthday gift. It was every bit fun for Chiyaa and the adults. 

Talking about trips, the one I hated was those to my work place which had been made mandatory twice a week from March. When lockdown hit in 2020, working  from home became a part of life. Going back to working at actual desks in formal attire seemed like a thing that happened to other people  by late 2021. But 2022 saw the 'opening' up of places and the return of normalcy as defined pre-pandemic. I was not game for returning to office  and had to start looking for places which had a flexible attitude towards it. I was not very keen on carpet  bombing my resume through job sites either because I loved the place where I worked, loved the people I worked with, loved the stuff I worked on and also loved the pay I got for doing the stuff I loved. Looking for another place satisfying all these criteria was going to be hard. So I took the delicate approach of sending my resume across to ex-collleagues who were more or less friends. And one shot clicked and I ended up getting a new job in July! 

Anything new comes with a ton of re-adjustment. On the surface most things were hunky dory. But I had too many good stuff  happening at my previous work place. It would have been impossible for any new job to match up to it all. At the moment, I am quite dissatisfied with a lot of things and harbour a keen desire to move on. But the work from home is too luscious a carrot to forsake, so for the near future I am sticking with that as incentive. 

Talking of incentives, K and I bought a pair of adjustable dumbbells as an incentive to workout. And somehow they have been the best thing ever! We have encouraged each other to carry on stenght training. But I must confess we have neglected the cardio aspect of fitness. The new year we both plan on coming back to running and improving on stats there. New year comes with many more plans too. There are plans for the house. There are plans for a few more trips. There are plans with family. There are plans with friends. 2022 had taught me, not everything every time goes to plan. But hoping for the best and mentally preparing for any consequence helps. Here is hoping to anyone passing by this post that 2023 brings to fruition all the pleasant plans. And if some plans don't work out, may it just be a pleasant learning exercise. Happy New Year!