Category: LivzLetLivz’s Musings


EULOGY 2012

As another resounding year gets ready to write it’s final lines, I’ve realized, that I’ve lived, I’ve loved, I’ve lost, I’ve missed, I’ve trusted, I’ve hurt, I’ve made mistakes. But most of all, I’ve learned.
I’ve learned that life is what you make it. No matter what, we are going to mess up sometimes, and that is the universal truth! But the good part is I decided how to mess it up and I decided how to clean it up. I’ve learned to laugh often and love much. I’ve learned to appreciate beauty and find the best in others. I’ve learned not to judge others, and take opportunities for granted, and I still live and let live.
I saw rainbows as I passed along the path, came across tens of daffodils that touched my heart in more ways than one, weathered the rough skies and managed to get over the bumps along the way. I was blessed with meeting so many wonderful faces, that my album of memories is filled to the brink with colors of life. Some have come and gone, and some have held on fast to become a part of my journey to the end.
This year has filled me with more pain and sadness at the evil lurking in the shadows. Innocent lives at stake, but we find it more important to wage war against each other, assassinate other people’s character, control lives of other people and sit in judgment of other’s personal lives. It is disheartening to come across people who have no empathy for those who have gone through periods of hunger, roofless, alone and separated from loved ones.
So here I sit, more than half way down on this wonderful path called life, reminiscing about some friendships that fell apart, the distance and family relationships that cracked under pressure. I don’t regret that certain things have happened and I am trying not to confuse sadness with any regret. Choices have been made and perhaps my belief in fate and destiny pushed me slowly to this place, right now. There was no other way to get here.
And here I am, a different person, a different future, with some same faces who had the grace and humbleness to look beyond material gains and valued me as a person.  Believing that things in life happen for a reason, I had to let people go in the small paths of my life. I needed to let the past remain in the past. I knew that everyone in my life can be a part of my journey, but only a few would remain with me until the end.
Lot of people, think that love is all flowers and good times. To me, love is a journey of togetherness, the bad with the good, the ups with the downs, the petals with the wilts, the patience with the understanding – together!  And my mate indeed made his presence stronger than concrete and reclaimed the crown of my soul mate! And so have my special virtually treasured friends, who stood by me, night and day, rain or shine, moody or happy.
The beauty of living is the acceptance that life is a constant mix of surprises and changes, unplanned pit stops and unexplained roadblocks. So I pushed and shoved, moved with the punches that came my way, swallowed my pride and divided my dreams from the hunches.
As I enter the New Year with renewed dreams, I thanked the year gone by for its priceless lessons. As I welcome the New Year with hope and faith, I draw strength and courage from my husband and children, as they constantly remind me, “Keep smiling as you always do, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” 

                           
 Published in Rangmunch.TV in association with the new Zee TV show “Punar Vivaah”
Watching the new show Punar Vivaah on Zee TV, had me thinking; what drives these mothers-in-law to behave the way they do and for the daughters in law to reciprocate the same.  Is it their insecurities of not being the only woman in their son’s life, or is it because they have been treated the same way by their mothers in law, and want to derive an insane pleasure seeing their daughters in law go through the supposedly same harassment that they endured or is it just plain jealousy.
On one side we have Mrs. Shobha Dubey, middle class, who disowned her own son for the injustice he had caused his wife, and her daughter in law is given the place of a daughter in the house. On the other side, we have Mrs. Gayatri Scindia, rich and an elite member of the society, who is driven by society, lives for the society, goes by the society. False prestige and ego supersedes the feelings of the family members.  Mrs. Dubey wants to give her daughter a second chance at life, and moves heaven and earth to make it happen, whereas, Mrs. Gayatri wants to see her widowed son married to get a mother for his kids, the main criteria being a mother/nanny more and less of a wife.  And Mrs. Gayatri leaves no stone unturned to be insulting in the process, and she is not even aware of this herself. Mrs. Gayatri feels that it is her right as the mother of the groom, and is entitled to certain liberties.
Why is it so difficult for a woman to respect another woman? Why is it so hard for a woman to put herself in the other person’s shoes and think for a second what she has to endure.  How hard is it for a woman to respect the feelings of another woman. I am not against traditions and customs, but I am definitely against any traditions and customs that do not make sense or are not reasonable.  I want to think twice before I blindly follow all these so called notions and restrictions put forth in the name of customs and traditions just for convenience, and give more weightage and respect to the feelings of the people involved.
I wish the world had more mothers in law like Mrs. Shobha Dubey, who puts the feelings of the others above her own. Who treats her daughter in law like a daughter and is compassionate, loving and has empathy to understand the feelings of others.  A progressive lady, yet respects the customs and traditions in her own way. My lament is when god has given us the capacity to think and act, why is that we woman are so caught up in all these so called false pretenses just for the sake of society and end up disrespecting the feelings of an individual? When did artificial barriers and society gain more precedence to importance, happiness and satisfaction of the family?
Of all the paradox of relations, the relation of in laws, especially between a daughter in law and mother in law always fascinated me, riled me, amazed me and flummoxed me.  I come from an extended family and I have the greatest relationship with my in laws. In fact I share a much more closer relation with them than I do with my mother! It was not smooth, had a few bumps along the way, but we took the time to understand each other, we gave enough importance to nurture it and make it work, because our common goal was the happiness of our family. And I am proud to say we have succeeded. Precious and rewarding!
Not every mother in law is the stereotypical, evil, bossy, conniving, nosy matriarch portrayed in movies and sitcoms, so much more in the Indian shows, with them been dressed in heavy saris, jewelry and ugly make up, just to give them that evil look!!! Going into a relationship with pre conceived notions or misconceptions, can be the death of any opportunity to create fond memories or even connect with in laws. If you don’t keep an open mind and heart, you are depriving yourself and your kids of a beautiful relation with grandparents and the support of an extended family. Like any relation, even this needs lot of patience, nurturing, understanding and love. Because ultimately, this is for the good of the family on both sides and nothing can outweigh the health and happiness of a family as an undivided force.
Now it is up to us and the future generations, to make the decision of living a nurturing life with a progressive mind like Mrs. Shobha Dubey or a life chained in misconceptions and false pretenses, like the likes of Mrs. Gayatri Scindia or Buaji.

             “There is no place in a fanatic’s head where reason can enter”…..Napoleon Bonaparte
And I would not have said it any better than the great Napoleon himself! I had to pen my thoughts on this topic, frustrating as it may sound; this is slowly rooting itself in my brain and had to attack it before I get consumed by the sheer audacity and utter crap of chaos of this so called fanaticism.
I am a fan, an admirer. I may love something with the very depth of my soul. I can be passionate about issues and passionate about things that matter to my family and me. Yet I don’t ever remember, ever crossing the line of reality of humanity into the unreal world of inhumanity.
There is a variety of professions in this world and every profession comes with a baggage. Every profession is accepted within its boundaries and the people involved are very much aware of the pros and cons of what they have taken up in life. They shall deal with the consequences of their profession, in their own way. As an outsider of a particular profession, and as humans, have been raised to respect people, their stature and their decisions and their feelings.
It pains me sometimes to see even well educated, intellectual people crossing that line of decency and humanity. Makes me wonder, if this is what we were raised to believe in; to mistreat another human being? Is this what our parents had instilled in us; to talk about others or their behavior in a way that would bring shame to our very own parentage and moral values? Have we as humans, become so arrogant and obnoxious, that we do not see anything beyond our own warped thinking? Even God is not perfect and we are but just mere humans!
Of course I gossip! I sit with a group of friends and discuss issues, causes and any other subject or person that I am interested, we joke, we laugh; does not mean I cross the line of respect I have for the other person or subject. Besides what authority do I have, to even assume or pass derogatory remarks about anything or anyone, when the facts are not clear. What authority do I have to even make comments about personal lives? Mind you, I am not saying that I do not have an opinion or do not voice my distaste; it is done in a respectful manner within the limits of decency. If I am not perfect, then who the hell am I to sit in judgment of others!!!  If the younger generation and the present generation spent half the time they spend on assassinating other people’s lives and characters, into other more important issues that are plaguing the society, we would be living in a much better world and maybe, just maybe have done something good for our future generations.
God gave us brains, to use them reasonably, not to stop using them and follow blindly, the blind or the ignorant! Before you make your next nasty comment, stop a second and put yourself on the receiving end. Before you go make that next obscene or offensive remark, remember that you are wallowing in your own bucket of insecurities.  Before you go tagging those disgusting names to people, make sure you are not opening yourself to the same repugnant treatment in the future.
Fanaticism can be good, if it is channeled for the right causes and reasons. Don’t let fanaticism obliterate the feeling of humanity…..where we lose sight of empathy, compassion and love for other humans, the very essence of life of earth.

Food for thought…..

As I watched my daughters have their dinner, making conversation about different kinds of food, it suddenly hit me, the similarities between the variety of food and the variety of our life……and bang went my mind into overdrive as thoughts race ahead with all the similes…..
Food….life; life…food and yes my wheels started turning…furiously! How similar is our life to the variety of food we eat? There is food that is to be tasted, food that is swallowed and food that is chewed and relished.
Just think about it….it starts with that first taste or the first bite. Similar to us being thrown into the beginning of life, the first breath, the first cry, the first taste or the first touch. Our very own initiation of ourselves, into the recipe called life. As we progress on our journey, we learn to swallow the bitterness, disappointments, regrets or any other curve ball that life throws out at us….interesting isn’t it? Exactly like how we have various foods that we tend to swallow! And there are those parts of our lives, where we take time to nurture and enjoy them, moment by moment….we savor them and make memories to last a lifetime….just like we take time to enjoy the delicious food bite by bite…..relishing every spice and taste, our tongue dishes out.
Variety adds spice to life, don’t you think so…..literally and figuratively ;-)….a wonderful palette of nuances of tastes as we go along in our journey called life.
Just remember, we eat to live and not live to eat….be healthy 😉

Mrs.Classy Merc!

As I was running errands this morning, and was having my usual conversation with my car, (What??!!!….normal people don’t do that???!!!!), was reminiscing my life and suddenly realized how similar our lives are….she is old and no extended warranty left, and so am I, old and don’t come with warranties; she logged a lot of mileage and so did I; she has been nicked and scratched, and so was I; she has been bruised and battered and so was I; she has been through life’s ups and down, and so was I and still am; she has become expensive to take care of and I am headed that route ;-); she was a part of me as I gave birth to two beautiful brats and she still stands rock solid as she takes care of them; she is beautiful and so me not (checking to see if anyone is really reading this ;-)); yet, never ever for a moment, did I feel that she could not be trusted or cannot be relied upon as my partner on the road for the past innumerable years, she has been with me. In fact my hubby dearest probably trusts me more with her than with anyone/anything else :-). And I suddenly realized how many people depended and trusted me in one way or the other. The simile of our lives gave me a warm feeling of security, dependability and  a sense of fierce loyalty to those who are my family and to those who have become my family as we chugged on with our lives. I just feel blessed and privileged that I am where I am with a lot of support and love from some amazing species on this planet!

Live and let live has always been my motto in life. Take life as it comes along, the more you question, the more maze it becomes. I, for one am going with the flow of life, on a ride of a lifetime along with my partners in crime….and there is plenty of room if anyone wishes to join me 🙂

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