Sruthi Yejju

They say it takes a village to raise a child.

Well, I miss my village. I have to admit I didn’t realize it’s true value when it was functioning…now I would give anything to get back to having its support.

Most dearly missed are the teachers. With just one student at home I’m ready to pull my hair off by the end of the day. Teachers do it day in and day out with 20-25 kids! How do they do it?? After 2 months of lockdown, I still ask this question every single day.

Teachers have raised above and beyond their calling during this pandemic by adopting almost overnight to online classes and providing resources for continued learning of their students. From the bottom of our tired hearts, THANK YOU TEACHERS! We are ready for you to take back our kids.

Also, now I know exactly what I will be gifting you every single time – wine 🍷and coffee ☕️.

It’s not just the school teachers. We miss our music teacher, martial arts coaches and others who we interacted with and learnt from on a weekly basis in the pre-covid era. Online classes are just not the same, though kudos to you for doing your best to make it seamless for the kids.

Thank you for making our children better, all rounded individuals. We are so ready to get back to seeing you in person.

We miss our friends and neighbors. The play dates, birthday parties, bike rides together around the neighborhood…the smallest of routine things like walking to the school bus stop with neighbors to racing back home together after getting off the bus at the end of the day. These actions may seem frivolous when everything is normal, yet now we realize how significant those are for a child’s mental health.

Now, we talk with friends on the phone, FaceTime or across each other’s yards maintaining social distance. It follows with a short period of mopping around saying how much they miss their friends, before they dust it off to go read a book. Because kids are resilient that way.

I miss the laughs and shouts of joy of a group of kids in my house or in my backyard. Of course, I also miss the quiet me-time when she would go to someone else’s house. Now neither is there quiet nor is there a me-time.

The biggest hit, however, is that we can’t meet the grandparents. It hurts me as a mother and it hurts the grandparents that this entire year no one will be visiting/traveling to meet us…meet my daughter. It tears me up every time I think that for the first time in my life I will go without meeting my mom for more than a year. First time in my daughter’s life there will be no grandparent spending time with her over the summer holidays. It’s really heartbreaking.

I miss my village.

Yet, I remind myself and my daughter that it’s for everyone’s safety and health that we all need to stay put in our own homes. We can’t wait to get back to normalcy but we want that normalcy to be filled with all of our teachers, family, neighbors and friends in good health. And for that, we will do whatever it takes to be responsible citizens now.

We will do the zoom calls and google meets, we will call on FaceTime and send 100s of pictures/videos – we will maintain social distancing but we will strengthen our bonds.

We got this! Stay home. Stay safe.

My maternal grandma passed away almost 13 years ago…but her stories still resonate in my ears. She had a tale to tell for every scenario!

You name a disease and her sister’s friend’s sister-in-law’s son’s wife’s aunt had it – and she will tell you the home remedies you need to follow for it plus scare you enough to practice healthy habits.

You name an unfortunate event and it has happened to her grandma’s brother’s daughter’s husband’s nephew – and she will tell you how they overcame it plus scare you enough to never get into such situations, if you can help it.

Name it and she knew someone who had been through it but at the same time scare you enough to not want to go through it.

Sounds a little complicated now that I read through it myself, but you get the hang of it.

Add to this her faith in God and you know that’s bound to be thrown in, in good measure.

All said and done, there are 2 sides to it. Be scared enough to take all the precautions, yet be prepared enough to get through it, and survive. With a good dose of belief in a higher power, and hope.

Applies for our today, tomorrow and always.

Ammamma, Covid-19 would have stumped you though. It’s a first! No cousin’s husband’s niece’s friend who had it so many years ago. Wonder what you would have said about it now…..

Mind you though, till date neither I nor my mom and aunt know if any of those stories are true! 😳

Miss you Ammamma… ❤️

Welcome!

This has been a long time coming. What better than 2020 worldwide coronavirus pandemic lockdown-inspired ramblings to kickstart my very own blog.

It’s been an unprecedented year so far for the entire world. I hope to do my wee bit to alleviate your mood and provide you some smiles amidst all this gloom.

We will rise through it all and survive – together. I mean….in our own homes – more than 6 feet apart – but together in spirit! You get it.

So, welcome to my blog. Hope you like what you see. Love, hope and good vibes to all! ❤️