A new month

With October just around the corner and Diwali early this year, I was reminded of this piece I happened to write many years back in October 2008. It is a conversation where my little one made me ponder and taught me something in the process. Don’t they always?!

A few weeks back as I was getting dinner ready my four-year-old was all smiles.

“I am so excited!”

He has a wide, dazzling smile and eyes wise beyond his age. I couldn’t do anything else but return the smile.

“What is it sonu?”

“You know what is tomorrow?”

“Hmmm….no….” I was wondering what this was leading to.

“It’s OCTOBER! It’s a new month and I soooooo excited!”

Of course, I had to share his wide-eyed excitement at that moment. We got the calendar off the kitchen wall and marveled that Halloween would be at the end of October and Diwali was early this year.

Later that night I thought how a small, seemingly routine thing could turn out to be so special and exciting. A four-year-old had discovered the fact that a month was ending, another was beginning, and it thrilled him.

There was indeed a time when the beginning of a new year brought me excitement but after three decades of new years that had worn off a little. As a busy multi-tasking mother, wife and professional, most days were a blur. I wondered if that was true of all adults – did everyone’s enthusiasm for these new beginnings wane? Do birthday and wedding anniversaries year after year lose their shine too?

The next morning my little one and I exchanged high-fives – after all it was the start of a new month. ‘Twas the season of pumpkins and costumes and firecrackers and yummy treats! The start of October was not just one month following another, but a new beginning for me. All those forwarded emails with life lessons about “take the time to smell the roses”, “cherish each day for the joys it brings” seemed a lot more enlightening.

I am excited now for it to be October, November, then December going on to 2009. My little sunshine, in his sheer innocent wonder had unknowingly taught me something very deep.

~AK Irvinekar