Godspeed to you, Darling!!

Yippee!!  JManveer has gone onto third standard.

Awww!! LHe is growing too fast………….

Yeah!! J Today he tied his shoe laces himself……

Ohh!! L Now he doesn’t need me anymore for those small little things.

Wow!! J He is reading his Roald Dahl on his own!!

L He won’t ever ask me again, “mama! Will you read me this story today?”

Every day, there are millions of such things that happen and keep tormenting me: they are exhilarating, they are torturous………… they fill me with pride, they leave me wishing for more moments from past gone by……….they are pure joy to watch, they  fill my heart with longings so rare…………. One moment I am on sky nine, the other moment I am deep in the mellows …………..

“Show me where the signature is required, I will do it…. You don’t need to worry!!”

My pen stalled and breaking my trail of thoughts; I looked around and saw a pair of mischievous eyes looking on eagerly at me!!

“Hi, Manveer! I was just filling up your new Eric; nothing for you to worry about.”

“I know!! That’s why I am here……………. I need to put in my signatures as well,” he chimed.

“Ohh!!!” I rolled my eyes and stepped back.

Mockingly I bowed and paved the way for him………. He went ahead and very confidently and patiently signed on the dotted line.

Me and Jatinder looked on with amusement, pride and excitement…………………. Have you come across such a heady mix of emotions!!

While swelling with pride why were my eyes beginning to fill with the tears……………!!

It was an enormous moment and a memory flashed back to all the previous years when I used to just simply put in my signatures wherever his were required: his Eric, his passport documents, his visa papers, anything and everything was signed by me or his father.

Now here he was standing nonchalantly and wondering what the big deal was it all about……….. Why his mother was suddenly teary eyed and what his father seemed as if he will burst with pride!!

He is and will always remain an extension of me………….

But at that moment it just hit me like a huge blast of air: NOW he has an entity of his own.

The invisible umbilical cord that has been binding us till now is somehow being cut off slowly. He is making way for himself and is step by step becoming an independent individual …………….. No longer only have my little Mani, Manna or such other million names I choose to call him by.

Off course he will always respond to these names and he will always be bound to us in a way that is beyond explanation. But with this small step, he has started on a journey that will be coursed through very uniquely by him and him alone.

Manveer’s own life script is taking shape………… slowly and gradually, but surely!!

And I stand by watching it happen; often an active character responsible for shaping this journey but still every moment is still very much his own unique one!!

God speed to you, darling!!