Love Tag

Belief, Family, Growing Up, Love, Mindfulness / 27.07.2021

My husband’s reflection, soft and nurturing, guided one of our sons in the process of tying a tie. “Will it be a full Windsor or half-Windsor knot?” crooned Damon. Of course, he knew how to jazz up ties. This guy, who as a child was given the task of folding napkins into pieces of art for Cousins Bunny and Hal’s Passover Seder. This guy, who learned what Bunny explained, a fairly simple yet elegant fold, and taught himself dozens of others from a Bird of Paradise to geometric patterns of napkin pageantry, which parlayed perfectly into an Origami hobby because…why...

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Education, Love, Self Love / 09.09.2020

**The following experience contains racist and sexist language, abusive situations and other triggering points. Please read only if you have healthy support to handle emotions that might come up.** I was having the most normal of conversations with the produce, as one “normally” does when visiting Sprouts. Well, hello eggplants. You all seem to be looking extra lovely today and shiny, perfect for Bhaghan Bhurta or Eggplant Parmesan. Shall we go Desi or Italian tonight?  Oh, Cilantro – stunning as always. Pakistani it is! As I was mentally calculating roti ingredients in the pantry at home, a voice boomed behind me. “Didn’t you go to...

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Love, Mindfulness, Self Love / 16.03.2020

Sister Sledge belted out “We Are Family” as the five of us cruised towards our local Pieology. It was Saturday, March 14th, pi day and the restaurant chain had a special: buy one pizza at regular price and get one for $3.14. Our fridge and pantry were fairly empty because at 4 am we were scheduled to depart for Maui visiting the Hawaiian Islands, for the first time, as an early graduation gift for our twin sons. They had requested this trip as freshmen so it was a few years in the making. The Universe had other plans called COVID-19. Dusk is...

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Belief, Mindfulness, Religion / 06.11.2019

The duck food was passed out amongst the handful of us that showed up for the Tashlich service after Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The ritual states Jews should go to a body of water and purge their sins from the previous year symbolically using stale bread, breadcrumbs, rose petals, fish food or other organic material that can easily be digested by the earth (if we don’t want to hold onto our sins, I doubt Mother Nature does as well). Our temple is down the street from a local park with a duck pond, so for the last several...

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Belief, Family, Self Love, Women / 23.09.2019

One of the most joyous days of my life, our daughter’s bat mitzvah, concluded with family and friends helping us to our home from the reception hall: carrying in presents and trays of leftovers, making room for the centerpieces that were still to be gifted to Sissy’s friends, and a relative calling me fat. For upwards of 18 months, plans were underway. Honestly, right after our boys’ b’nai mitzvah, three years earlier, the preparations had begun. Mom and Dad, my in-laws, were gracious enough to store the boys’ centerpieces: a glitter-fest, feather-filled, Cirque du Soleil romp of color and splash. Our...

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Belief, Circus, Love, Religion, Uncategorized / 18.05.2019

You would have to ask Umme when I completed the Quran…the first time. Then came the second learning and recitation. What I can share is that it was before I was 10 years old. An ancient language, the last monotheistic religion brought to humans by the Prophet Muhammad, encoded in my DNA for hundreds if not thousands of years, since our family is directly descended from the Prophet himself (or that’s what the family tree reads that Puppa has), and I did not understand a word of it. Not a single word. The warmth of the day was in contrast to...

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Family, Growing Up, Self Love / 18.04.2019

This college entrance scandal has been weighing heavy on my heart and soul; even though I have not committed any fraud or criminal act, how complicit have I been in being part of a society and culture that values success, sometimes no matter the cost. As parents we want the best for our children: a better life; the best of health; access to the best education; and may I add failure. Yes, failure: the act of not succeeding at something, possibly coming in second or not getting on the scoreboard at all. Honestly, our family knows little to nothing about sports....

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Family, Love, Self Love, Women / 02.01.2019

I wonder what saves a partnership from demise? Is it the baby that a couple thinks will remind them of why they got together in the first place? Is it therapy: that elusive relationship with a total stranger – if done well – you pour heart and soul into only to receive nods and no specific direction as to what choice to make, except to go further inward? Or is it New Orleans? In the case of my marriage, if you guessed a combination of therapy and NOLA you’re correct. Almost two years ago, Damon and I decided that it was...

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Belief, Love, Religion / 01.11.2018

I remember the day I could string together letters, making the sounds of each character, and read. I remember pumping my scrawny, brown legs faster and faster and faster until I swung high into the air, flying all the way up to the sky, on a swing. I remember falling off a bike countless times, until the moment where my body balanced, and I pedaled up and down the block. And I also remember the moment where Daadi, my beloved grandmother – compassionate, strong, wise, all-knowing – tried to teach me her anti-Semitic ways. I think Mr. Hinkleman was Jewish; I...

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Family, Growing Up, Women / 19.04.2018

Daadi was cooking again. After the last school bell rang and I began to walk home, the air became infused with garlic, ginger, cardamom, cloves, red chili, and the new immigrant stink which penetrated everything within a one block radius of our house. Head hanging down, desperately hoping that no one – especially a friend – would ask, “Where’s that smell coming from?” I quickly walked towards the epicenter of the odor. “Salaam,” I called out to no one in particular and yet everyone upon entering the home. “Samita, ya low [take this],” Daadi presented me with a spoonful of whatever she...

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