…. She has a blog. Why a blog?

In one of the conversations with a close friend who visited me last night came a statement, when she saw my Facebook update for blog ‘…. She has a blog’ and it struck to me that I have not taken the time to share my reasons for a blog with my friends yet…. Yes, they will be there for me and yes they will support me. But, gosh wouldn’t it be nice if they knew my goals for the blog. They could support me even more, and be on my side when I need them the most. So here I am listing my goals for my blog. Your feedback is very important to me either through comments on the blog, facebook, through phone, email or in person. So keep them coming…..

Improve writing skills. Sounds boring huh..?

Some of my friends call me ‘Tube Light’. In India, we had those lights in our houses. So when you turn the switch on – they will blink couple times before turning on. So in sarcasm it means that I don’t get a humor right away. It takes me a few minutes to get it. Sometimes I am the last one to get the humor and laugh at it while the moment has already passed. So why am I explaining this? Well, I would like to learn, practice and incorporate humor, and light heartedness in my writing. Some of you who can make people laugh right off the bat know it is very hard to learn the skill. Not everyone has it, but once you have it…. Oh my, only who has it can tell us the benefits… So there, one of the reasons that I am blogging is to practice ways to add humor & lightheartedness to my writing skills and eventually in my day to day conversations. Bored already?

Expand my circle of support… Selfish?

I love you all my friends!!!! I am so fortunate to have friends in my life here in United States. I came to US about seven years ago with no family and friends close by. Being from a conservative family in India, I was not as likely to open up and reach out to create friendships. First couple years here in US were very tough. Other than one of the supervisors at Cleveland State University, I didn’t have many friends that I could share and talk to. I am still in touch with her and she is the most open, genuine, and supportive person I know. Then as I joined my internship, I met another person from India. I was very happy to have a friend that I could see every day and talk to. I shared both happy and not so happy moments with her about my day to day life, and the best part was she lived two blocks from my apartment at the time. So we even shared some walks and many trips to Starbucks. Due to a new job, I had to move a little farther away… about half an hour. Our day to day interactions became weekly or monthly visits and then in few months she told me, that she will be moving to ‘Florida’. I was devastated and in tears. I hid most of them from her as she was going to a place to be with her hubby. Our occasional visits converted into occasional phone calls, which kept on subsiding as life got busier for me here at work, and for her with work & baby. We still keep in touch and I saw her last year when she came here to Cleveland. In my new job here since 2008, I met another person and it took me two years to be friends with her. I think it was mostly because I was scared of opening up and then loosing the connection with a friend. Yes, it’s not love it is friendship. But it creates a deeper connection at least for me. The last year was fabulous; I did not just become friends with her but few other fabulous people at my work place. But this year she told me that she is moving to Dallas. It was something that she had to do for herself and I totally respect that. But here I was, again in tears that I was losing the deeper connection with yet another friend. I miss her and know she will miss me and our close friendship but sometimes you have to take care of yourself and whatever life brings to you. I still am friends with her and she is the one who visited me last nightJ. I recently switched jobs myself in 2011, but I am still in touch with all the friends and working on building that deeper connection with everyone that I have become friends with. And, now I know the power of friendship that lifts you up when you are down, that makes you laugh, that allows you to share anything and everything that is going on in your life with the trust that it will be kept safe, that lets you whine and complain and still know that you are loved and supported, that helps you grow, and that allows you to be yourself. I am sharing it, with all my friends right now and would like to expand my network and those of my friends’ so we always have a shoulder other than our spouses’ or partners’ to let us rest and just be. I know it’s a bit selfish of me but I treasure my friendship with each and every one of you.

Share my experiences….. Sounds easy?

I already started sharing my experiences with the newest member in our lives. My cute handsome little boy, Yash Aditya Jain. We call him Aadi at home but at his daycare, everyone calls him Yash. It has been quite easy to share my experiences with him that involves all smiles, silliness and fun. But will it be easy for me share my opinion on any controversial topics? I don’t know, I haven’t crossed that bridge yet, but I am keeping tab of all my thoughts and if I have enough material to write a blog…. Well then it will be something that will be discussed with my friends… a healthy debate J. I am still young (at least that’s what I keep telling myself) and have a lot more to learn and see. So I do look forward to sharing my experiences, and blog about the topics of my interests. I do not have a list of topics that I will focus on, but I am definitely open to suggestions if you have any.