Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Shy Little Girl.

Once upon a time in a land faraway was born a little girl. Her parents had wished for a daughter and there she was, a quiet shy little thing trying to make her space in this beautiful world.  In time she too grew up, still continuing to be quiet, shy and content in her little world. Challenging the world was never her style, but walk camouflaged amongst a crowd was more her style.  Amongst the crowd, though camouflaged she met some like minded friends. Some stayed with her, some she lost along the way.  

Father time did not stop for her either, it kept moving and so did she. Today as she looks at the mirror, she remembers the young girl that crossed the seven seas to start a journey far away from home in an unknown land.  She was nervous, but not afraid. She took small confident steps and today as she stands in front of the mirror she sees the woman who continues to live in her little world, but is not shy to explore the world around her. She walks amongst the same crowd but does not camouflage. She continues to stay true to her old friends and has made a few new ones too. 

A year and 50 posts later, here she is reflecting upon the past. What does your birthday mean to you?   To her, its her very own personal new year.  

The little girl always loved birthdays. She would turn the house upside down just because her birthday was only two months away.  Today, her kids do the same to her.   She no longer creates the hoopla for her birthdays, but rather on her birthday she pauses and thinks. She thinks about stuff. Yes, stuff in general. No philosophical retrospection. She ponders about all the little imperfections she has seen and how despite the glitches in life, at the end life finds its way. It's quite amazing to her.   

She thinks about the year ahead and tries to write down a plan for achieving her dreams and objectives for the year and realizes that the more she tries to pen them down, the more far fetched they seem so she tears the paper and being true to herself, she once again leaves it to life and decides to keep her thoughts to herself and go with the flow; for life she believes has a way of preparing us for the future in its own unique way. 

As her big day gets closer and everyone asks her about how she plans on celebrating. She realizes that now her birthday is not about the party but its about reflecting upon her life and being solely with her family. She loves receiving the phone calls from her friends and family from lands faraway. She loves seeing the effort her family goes through trying to keep it all a surprise, but most of all she loves just being thankful for another year. 

Around her she sees a world trying very hard to stay young, and she wonders, why is the world so afraid to grow old? Maybe because growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. Sometimes in an effort to stay young forever the gap between growing old and growing up becomes so wide that it leaves us feeling and looking confused. As she thinks to herself, she is thankful that the gap is not so for her. She is staying young just enough to be able to talk to her kids and growing up just enough to be there for them when they need her. 
So true. Be thankful for growing old. 

She stops staring and instead smiles at the mirror, for now she is a year older and a year wiser. She is no longer afraid or shy because she knows its not the leaps and bounds but the one confident step every time that makes the journey possible.  And for that she is thankful not to herself or god, but to her better half. He doesn't surprise her with roses and diamonds but yes he took  the shy little girl by her hand and continues to introduce her to the confident girl that was and in some ways is still hiding inside her.  He tells her that at this point she should do what she likes.  

She looks at the cake in front of her and realizes that the icing is no longer pink and purple, the number of candles keeps changing, but the cake beneath is still the same.  She closes her eyes, makes her wish, cuts the cake and once again closes her eyes to secretly thank for and the imperfectly perfect world she lives in. 


Its YOUR very own personal New Year. 


2 comments:

  1. Shilpa, very nicely written :) Resonates my thinking as well. Celebrating birthday is adding one more year with happiness, contentment and love to your already blessed life. And this, I believe, can't be accomplished alone, have to have family and friends make you feel special. And today was that Day! Thanks a ton:)

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    1. Likewise Amrita. It was a great day. Here's to many more such celebrations.

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