What a month!

It has been a sad, happy, busy, messy, disturbing and distressing kind of month. So much has happened in such a short time that even now, it seems surreal. My paternal grandmother, who has lived with my parents for as long as I can remember, also passed away within a  month and a half of my maternal grandma passing on. A hardy 93 year old who had the stamina, enthusiasm and mojo of a 70-year old, she always used to claim that she would cross a century, a claim we had no trouble believing! She used to gently scoff at her many granddaughters who each had "only" 2 kids apiece, and was forever encouraging me to try for a third :)

My parents were under enormous stress; just as my mother was slowly coming to terms with her mother's illness and death, she had to play ministering angel to her mother-in-law and start the whole round of ICU/hospital visits along with my father. Fortunately, help arrived after a few tense days in the form of my uncle and aunt from abroad, who were able to provide the much-needed moral and physical support.

In the interim, my mom turned a year older, Advaith turned 9 (that was the happy part of the month!) and my father-in-law came down with pneumonia! S came back from the trip to the US and rushed the same day to Chennai to do his bit for his parents. We cancelled Ads' party for a more favourable date, probably sometime in the next week or 10 days.

Today, for the first time, there is some semblance of normalcy. The relatives have departed for their distant homes, f-i-l is recovering and school and work routines are back to normal. The four of us made use of the long weekend to take a long-awaited and much-postponed break in Kasaragod in Kerala (about which, travelogue coming up in a couple of days).
What a month it's been! I'm glad its over. Still can't believe the paatis are gone. It is going to take some time to properly sink in.