Monday, December 8, 2014

Hello December: Today Is My Birthday!


Today, I have completed 55 years, and stepping into my 56th year,
can't believe, more than half a century has gone by. Like everybody else, I too have gone through many ups and downs in my life, many frustrations, many disappointments, seen many dreams come crashing down.........
Many good things too have happened, and looking back at my life,  I feel the downs were nothing compared to the good things that happened in my life.
I am grateful for everything, that seemed to be bad in my life, for I would not have become the person that I am now without the so called 'downs' in my life. Looking back, I can see how things had happened the way they had, and I have no regrets, for there were some reasons for things to happen the way they did. In fact, I could have handled them better if  only I had the maturity required at that time.
However,  the only way to achieve some maturity, is learn from our mistakes, yet make more mistakes, and then come around to understand how to deal with such situations. We are always learning something new every moment of our lives.
I remember getting very  irritated with my kids, during their growing years, for it was also my own growing years. With absolutely no training in parenting, life was difficult for all of us.
Again, I am really thankful, that my bad parenting skills did not turn them into bad children.



There are many things to be thankful in my life. 
Like, I am happy I was born to my parents, and despite the dis-functional family I belonged to, I have learnt from them and survived.
I have a very tolerant husband, and I am grateful, that despite my occasional nagging he has the patience to put up with me.

I find myself being more understanding of people who have a totally different view about certain things- my views and their views don't match at all.
I am grateful my children have chalked out their life in the way they wanted to, despite having a perpetually nagging, and worrying mother.





I am grateful for having Loki, our daughter's dog, with us, despite my initial hesitation.I am grateful we have two lovable dogs who are so loving- their unconditional love is so over powering, making me feel so bad that initially I did not like the idea of having two dogs in our house.

From 2005 I have been blogging, and blogging has given me so many friends, and some of them have become so close, that they always make it a point to come and stay with me, even if it is only for a day.
                      This is with Sandhya who is also a blogger and lives in Chennai

Just now I had a call from one of my blogger friend from Atlanta, her name is Anpu.
Anpu, Padmaja, Sandhya, Shanthi,  Rohini, Mytri, Sharon, Patricia, Joseph..... oh, so many of them- such good friends. I am really blessed to have them as my friends. Plus I have made so many friends through the Cloud Formation Society site, from the Light Stalking site. We have shared so much through our photographs in these virtual sites. I think I have managed to have so many friends because I have become more open to friendship.

 I have lived in very small houses/ flats, and also some good decent houses and flats, but I never thought I would be living in such a beautiful house as ours, which we had built with so much love and dedication. Every time I look around me, the beautiful garden, the lovely dogs, I can only say, "Thank you God"



This year,  I had the opportunity to visit 5 European countries too, and it was so good.








By hook or crook, I seem to have done well for myself, survived all the trials and tribulations, enjoyed all the good things, learnt a lot, made a whole lot of good friends, and intend to be more patient, more loving, and more caring as time goes by.

A Very Happy Birthday To Me!!!





33 comments:

  1. Very Happy Birthday Day wishes to you Rama. You have God's blessings. I am glad you are having a peaceful and prosperous life. May God give you the same good life for another 55 years.

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  2. Thank you SG.for tour lovely wishes. However, nobody would want to live for another 55 years, at least not.me.

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  3. Happy happy birthday, Rama!

    It was nice knowing you, Rama! I too was an introvert before starting blogging. I am changing now, slowly.

    Your children have come out well and both of you are happy. So you are a successful person. Your house is beautiful.

    Thanks for coming home with your husband. It was a happy occasion for us.

    Take care. Love, Sandhya

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  4. Many many happy returns of the day Rama ! its nice to see the way you document everything.

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  5. Many happy Returns of the day.......Lots of good wishes.

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    1. Thanks Alpana.
      Welcome to my blogs. As you must have noticed I too have a cooking blog, please feel free to drop in any time you feel like to any of these two blogs.
      Have a nice day!

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  6. Happy Birthday!! You are so wise and I love the gratitude you have for your life. You have a beautiful family!

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  7. Happy Birthday Rama Ananth, nice memories you have shared with us.

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    1. Yes, birthdays always seem to bring out a whole lot of memories. Thank you rajesh.

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  8. Many happy returns of the day Rama! A lovely post:)

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  9. For me, this post touched somewhere deep inside, your gratitude brought me tears of joy. Wish you all the very best for the future years and thank you for being my friend :-)

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  10. You have beautifully summarized your 55 years of your life in this post. Stay blessed Rama and hope you had a nice birthday. Have many more healthy and happy years!!

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  11. Belated happy birthday!! Love the gratitude you have for what you have got in life.

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    1. Thanks SV. How have you been, have not heard from you for a long time?

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  12. Many more pleasant returns of the day,Rama.Your children might not have judged you as a bad parent.That is why what they are now.

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  13. Hello Rama, a fabulous post in connection with your birthday. I had already wished you on your FB, However, I would like to wish you once again. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. You are a wonderful person and surely you have achieved many things which would make others envy you. You have made your life wonderful with special inbuilt qualities which others cannot have. I am glad to see my name appearing in your friends list. I am greatly honored to be considered your friend. Many,many thanks.

    Your greatest achievement is having a loving family. This is the utmost priority in everyone's life but many fail in the long run.

    God has been good to you at all times. I pray to God to shower HIS blessings on you throughout your life and shower upon you and your family all happiness.

    Best wishes

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    1. Thank you Joseph for all your good wishes. You are a good friend and I have known you through blogging for so many years.You were one of the few people who visited me regularly when I was new to blogging.Your encouraging words inspired me to continue to write. Thanks a lot for everything.
      Merry Christmas!

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  14. Thank you Ashwini, for your kind wishes. One must make the most of the good things in life and not waste it thinking of what could have been. I am glad you liked this post.

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  15. Many happy returns of the day (belated)
    Now its easy to remember as it happens to be the same day as my sister's birthday.

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  16. 365 days to celebrate your birthday, so my wishes are not too late. Happy Birthday. That was a lovely post. I think as we grow older if we can reflect and count the blessings, it is not too difficult to forget the hard times. That must have only made you stronger. Wish you more happiness.

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  17. Thank you Radha. It has been ages since I visited your blog. Was glad to see you blogging again, for I think you had stopped for sometime, and that is how I lost touch with you.

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  18. I entered to see my answer and I observed that my greeting was not registered! Nevertheless, I say it again: Happy Birthday, Rama! You are a wonderful woman and you have a great family, so you have every reason to be proud of you!

    I wish you also here a very Happy New Year!

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    1. TH, I never got your previous comment, I searched the spam folder too, nothing was there too.
      Maybe you forgot to press publish. It is okay, it happens.
      Thank you for your lovely wishes for . You are one of my very good friends, and I am happy although we have never met, we are still good friends. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  19. MANY happy returns of the day , wishing you a very happy birthday..

    Heyyyyyyyyy how are you .. Wishing you and everyone around you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year

    Bikram's

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    1. I am fine, Bikram. Strange we both remembered to visit each other at the same time. That is what is known as real friendship, where, despite not being in touch in along time, one always remembers true friends.
      Thanks very much for your wishes for my birthday Bikram.
      Merry Christmas to you too!

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  20. OMG ! How did I miss this one. A bad bad friend I am . Anyways Wishing you a wonderful life and time Rama. You have been one of the nicest people I met in the virtual world and had opprtunity to come and spend some time at your lovely home. Wonderful to have met your son and Ananth. One day I look forward to seeing you in Hyd / Norway. God Bless dear.

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