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Ok – so I’ve been tagged.

And while I have a rather notorious (or should I say infamous) reputation for shying away from tags, this time around there seems to be no excuse. Cos I’ve been tagged by not one but three people …. and I rather not risk their ire by following my age old tradition of simply not taking up the tag:D.

This tag which was started by HBM was passed on to me by Itchy, Hip Hop Grandmom and The Mad Momma

A very interesting tag, this one – because it did make me retrace my steps and think very hard. Not so much because there is nothing that has been learnt but rather because there is so much that motherhood has taught me. To try and pin it down to five points and try and encompass as much as possible in just five points, to capture the essence and the gist in just five points – that’s the tough part.

So here goes. What has this journey through motherhood taught me or brought out in me that was hitherto absent, you ask ?

As a mother, I’ve learnt that the awesome awesome love that one can experience for and on behalf of one’s child can be absolutely blinding. It can take your breath away, it can actually choke. That sense of pride that fills the heart is incomparable and unique. It makes everything worthwhile and then some.

As a mother, I’ve learnt all over again – to look at the world through the eyes of a child. I’ve learnt how to experience the world around me like a child. Little things that would earlier on have just been brushed off as a part of life and the life cycles around us – took on an entirely new meaning after the kids came along. They taught me to actually throw my hands up in the air and say “yaaay” when we get caught in the rain without an umbrella or when a ray of sunlight actually manages to refract through a single droplet of water and make the sky burst into an arc of seven delightful colors or when an ant actually managed to carry a sugar cube 10 times its weight to its home under the soil. Little things, simple things ….. but when viewed from the standpoint of a child …… get transformed into little wonders.

As a mother, I’ve learnt that it is not just Barney and Elmo who can sing offkey tunes and be forgiven. It is not just Elmo or Big Bird who can be loved even for having flapped around, hopped around and generally acted silly. I can too. I’ve acted like an absolute loon with the nutty duo and have gotten away with it. The nutty duo have also increased my levels of patience to extents that I’ve never thought possible – and they’ve actually gotten away with it.

As a mother, I’ve learnt that the protective instinct is a part and parcel of parenthood. It is instinctive – something that nature instills in you when you step into the realm of parenthood. Even the most docile, the most unassuming and tame parent can take on the most aggressive persona when their child is in the spot. And God help the person who put the child there. Yes, there is that streak of strength, of power untold – a very intensely protective force that parenthood brings alongwith it.

As a mother, I’ve learnt that the age old principle of “letting go” has to be applied to many different situations – big and small. I’ve learnt to “let go” when my children stopped depending upon us to carry them around from place to place, when they found that they have legs that could do that for them. Legs that could take them North when their parent said South. I’ve learnt to “let go” when my children started kindergarten and school and started waving back from the school bus with an enthusiasm that suggested that they thoroughly enjoy those few hours away from home. I’ve learnt to “let go” when the elder sibling goes off on sleepovers or camps and is away from home overnight or 3-4 nights in a row. And as a mother, I’m still in the process of further learning to “let go”. There might be times in the future, near or far, when “letting go” gets to be a rather tough call – but then again – it is all a part of this thing called life. And in their own little ways, I guess, it is the kids who teach their parents that.

And now, on to tag more moms and spread the joy :). I've decided that I'm not going to stop at five moms/dads. There are more than five moms/dads I have in mind. Hence, I tag :

MayG in Dubai

Fuzzylogic in Canada

Neera in India

Tharini in Chicago

Maggie in Singapore

Kodi's Mom in Seattle

Suma in Singapore

Orchid in Texas

Sundar in California

Priyanka in Singapore


P.S : Here are the rules:

Just write a post of your own (5 things that you love about being a mom/dad) and find someone to link to and tag - someone from your own country, if you like, but definitely someone from another country (Google is a good resource if you don't know any; google any country name and 'mom/dad' in their blog search function) (be sure to let them know that you've tagged them!) - and link back here and HBM and leave a comment.