We had just come back from the Bahamas cruise and life was just getting back to the daily humdrum. We worked like dogs on the weekdays and chilled at home on the weekends. Worked hard, play hard had become the name of the game. We spent our weekends catching up with family and friends and sleeping. I don’t remember exactly when but sometime in February or March, Punni called and invited us to her brother’s engagement party in Illinois. I wanted to go. It had been a while since we had seen them. I kept ranting about how she had promised she would come visit us but hadn’t and how we should go see her. The thing is, they live too far away. If only the United States was smaller. Anyhow, they had not decided the date yet but I promised her that I would go.

In the meantime, my good friend K from work asked me if I was interested in going to Paris with her. She had planned a trip later last year with her husband but it had not worked out. This time, her plan was that she would go for a few days, perhaps a long weekend. My gut reaction was a yes. You see, when you are married, your gut reactions usually have to also think about your other half. I told her I was mostly in, but I would get back to her later. I went home and talked to B about this girls trip I wanted to take. His thought was that I should go if I wanted to go. Great, done. I called K back and told her I was in. Before I knew it, we were thinking “Hey, if we are going to Paris, might as well stopover in another city on the way.” We picked London. London and Paris it was. Next, we picked possible dates. Turned out, we were both off around the same time in April. Searching and booking of tickets was done quickly and efficiently. We would leave on a Wednesday and return on a Monday. Done.

Soon after this was planned, Punni called to let us know that her brother’s engagement party was scheduled. It happened to be just Read the rest of this entry »

2011 has been full of events so far and as I was talking about these events that took place, a patient asked if I kept a journal. I don’t. It would definitely be a good idea to keep track of all that has happened this year, and so much has!

2011 started off quiet with a colder than usual winter and in anticipation of our first cruise. The planning that went into this cruise was something. B and I argued back and forth about going. I, as usual, wanted to go for a full week and B, as usual, wanted to go just for the weekend. Actually, if he had his way he wouldn’t want to go at all. Leaving work for him is too hard. Its not that he does not like to travel, but he is reluctant to leave the daily business with someone else. So after several weeks of bickering and nagging on my part, B finally agreed to go on a cruise. He said two days was okay and I said fine, we will go for four. I think he knows that if he settles for two days off, I will make him take four. And I think he was okay with going for four days but was afraid that if he said four, I would book it for eight. Ah well, we have now learnt to make our compromises.

The cruise was our first ever and as we went through check in and immigration procedures, it felt like we were going away to a far far away land. We found out later that the closest Bahamas island was Read the rest of this entry »