Uncharted Territory!!

I have come back to write after much time has passed. Somewhere between, coming back to India and trying to settle back in a very changed country, my first born is a teenager!! The birthday was celebrated with the usual fanfare but realizing that this WAS a milestone for all of us a family. I was determined to approach this with my usual sense of upbeat-ness and coast along with a few bumps along the way.

Boy, was I wrong!! my teen is now 13 and a half and within six months i have been through the entire gamut of emotions - sad, confused, upset, angry, helpless, happy (yes, that too!!). Are we talking about the teen or myself here :)

I am convinced that things are going to get a lot more choppy and roller-coaster like before there is a semblance of calm. I say semblance because I believe that at a basic level, children are a work in progress. You will never know how they have turned out until some years later and even then you will always want to advice them and save them from the pitfalls that you might think you know better. That is a frightening thought for any parent, anywhere. In today's world, everything is up for grabs. As a parent, I am in personally uncharted territory - I will learn as I go along and hopefully somewhere along the way, I will see my teenager go through the chrysalis to butterfly transformation.

In my mind the problem is aggravated for me by coming away from my friends in Naperville Chicago. Children went to school divided into geographic districts. I was friends with many parents from children in her class both boys and girls and sharing hopes and fears was a phone call away. Here in Bangalore India, children are bused from far off places to their schools. There is no handy PTA to meet other parents. I have not connected with many parents from her friend circle in the brief discussions about pick ups and drop offs for birthdays. Simply, I do not know who they are!!

So - here I am. hopefully other will read this and we will have a discussion of common experiences. Maybe we can support each other in this journey. Do read and post if you find this interesting. I hope to write back often and while I don't expect any "aha" moment, there might be moments of clarity in an otherwise fuzzy times.\