Dear 123Greetings subscriber,

Long time eh ?! Dontcha worry folks, genuine friend cares without hesitation, remembers without limitation and loves even without communication. So what if we didn’t communicate for a while….I’ll make sure you don’t miss on the action, wonder what I am up to ? Tag along and take a peek…

Aaliyah and I decided last weekend that we won’t attend a concert neither a game, but just walk around. Yes, there will be window shopping, but no shopping. There will be coffee, but no dinner. Yes, she didn’t want us to sit in one place and yap, but just walk around hand-in-hand all over the town. Fine with me ! When was the last time I said “no ?!”>

We lazed around the lanes, the mall-studded roads; mixed with the crowds, and seated ourselves on a shrubby mound to catch a breath when we spotted a garden. And I noticed the rose bud. Yes. The rose bud at the second stem of the plant…it was a bit large for a bud and too small for a flower. Something made me look at it closely and I just stared. Following my gaze Aaliyah too fixed up on the sight. I guess we lost a few minutes and then it happened, the bud slowly but surely opened it’s petals for a bloom and inched towards the formation of a flower. Rose. Yes. Oops ! We just saw a baby born, I mean, it was almost like that. For no reason we held each other tight and shared a kiss. No wonder, they say rose denotes love. Tell ya what, I don’t know about you guys, but for me whenever I am out with Aaliyah, these goosebumpy-moments are a regular fixture !

Meggy loves teddies ! Well, which girl said “no” to a Teddy, tell me ? We were in the Wal-Mart and browsing through the shelves and piling up things on our carts. She is like a girl at Disneyland when she is in the confectionary section. She would stare at a bar of chocolate like a newly wed looking at the groom. Hmm….I’m pretty sure chocos and cookies are her first love. Nah ! I did a double take…the Teddy-like dressed up guy was on the front of the shop waving to kids, dancing and prancing. The giant teddy moved around effortlessly and deftly led the kids into a rhythmic salsa. Scoooooot ! That’s what Meggy did. The grownup kid Meggy was with the Teddy until the lights were out in the shop. Poor me, I had to carry all the junk she had bought and I had chose, and wait for her to give her feet a rest. Of course, that didn’t happen for a long time, but tell you what, how much ever you grow up, the kid in you looks for a window to be kid again and in front of my eyes, I could see Meggy turning to be one. Hmm….life is good !

Life is a gift isn’t it fellas ?! Yes, I’m in a poignant mood now as the Patriot Day comes near. 9/11, changed our lives forever alright ! Megan, Steve, Kate, Ron, Kong and Me are gonna be there on Ground Zero this time and we will observe a few minutes of silence in remembrance of the deceased. That’s all, I thought. But, Meggy had other plans. She has ordered for at least hundred bouquet of flowers and cookies. We will remember the deceased, but we will also appreciate the survivors, especially the brave firemen. We will visit as many of the valiant fire fighters as we could, who fought with the hoses to douse the fire on that day, and try to make their day. The buildings turned to rubble may take it’s rightful place in sometime, but the hearts that are broken needs no construction, but solace. We will try our best. Remember folks to remember !

Rachel, my niece, chatters nonstop. She had to tell me all the stories from school. Well, I take it for a while and then scoot. But there are exactly two people who never get bored of her antics. Sample this,

Ring. Ring.

Rachel: “Hello”

Grandmom: “Angel…Rachel is that you”

Rachel: “Yeah, granny, I fell down today”

Grandmom: “Jesus Christ ! You hurt ?”

Rachel: Nah ! That’s alright, I fell on Ronny, you see…he tripped and fell, it was funny granny, I thought it would be…(giggle)…..hehe…I jumped on him…

Grandmom: “Naughty girl… Mom there ?”

Rachel: “I came third in Spelling Bee”

Grandpop takes the phone from granny.

Grandpop: “That’s my sweetheart. I give ya a Teddy this time”

Rachel: “Thanks grandpa, lemme give ya a kiss” “Ummaaaah”

“Mom, Granpa is on the line…”

My sis took over from there….

I called Rachel by my side and asked her, “You won the Spelling Bee just like last year, didn’t ya

? Why didn’t you tell me Rachel ?”

“Nah, Uncle Bob, I told him about last year’s…he doesn’t mind you know, he gives me a Teddy every time I tell him”

Prankster. I mock-chased her all around the house. But truth be told, Grandparents don’t care what you are and what you achieved, they just Care. This Grandparents Day, I should visit them and make sure they have a good time.

“Happy New Year !,” “ Happy New Year”….now, now, don’t look at me with “Oh ! Bob you’ve gone nuts” look; Aaliyah, celebrates her New Year or Rosh Hashanah this week. Well, kiddos, gimme your ear, it’s always best to follow your girlfriend’s calendar. What say eh ?! Well, at least this time, I would behave better than I did at their house last year. Now there I’ve started, you better listen to the rest….I was invited for dinner on their Rosh Hashanah last year and they had their skull caps on while I had my cowboy hat that Aaliyah presented. It was a coincidence I swear, but it put them off. How in the world would I know ?! And then the dinner itself, when time for grace, I stuttered trying to bridge a gap between Christianity and Jewish and lost miserably. Every time I tried to impress them I ended up making a fool of myself. Well, may be my overexcitement won them over, I guess…coz they approved of me later. As Aaliyah’s father summed it up when their family saw me out after dinner, “Bob, yes, you tried to please us, pretended to be what you are not, and when you failed, the real “you” was quite obvious.” “We like that “you,” Bob. You don’t need to pretend anymore, we like you.”

All I could say was, “Happy New Year.”

Peace,

Bob
Editor, 123Greetings
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