(Pic: Raunak when he was 3 or 4 yrs old)Dear Raunak,
7 more years and you will be 14!! Going by how quickly the last 7 years went by, you will be a teenager before I know it.
I thought hard about what I want to write to you this year. After a little debate with myself in my head, I decided to give you a lecture about my philosophy behind how I am bringing you up. Papa and I are slightly different in how we approach raising you. I am an idealist and adventurous, papa is practical and ambitious. Its a good combination together. Unfortunately, he is not a blogger, and unlike me, does not think of the entire world as his family he can share his thoughts with, so you will have to sit him down and make him talk about this later.
There are no good or bad decisions in life. There are decisions and there are consequences. Be confident about your decisions and courageous about the consequences. Papa and I try to let you make your choices at every available opportunity and you are doing brilliantly well.
Learn to use the knife, learn to use the fire. I was not afraid to give you a knife and teach you how to use it the right way. You cut vegetables for your salad and you make your own omlette. Not all episodes were nice and cute, there were cuts and burns but soon you learnt how to be careful with them. Life is the same. If you are scared of scary things, you'll miss out on living a part of your life.
Learn to be tolerant. You believe in Christ, I believe in Science. I am a vegetarian, you are not. Telugu has been my primary language all my life, you have been multi-lingual since you spoke your first word. If there are so many difference just between 2 people, imagine how different all the people in the world are from each other. There is no need to judge everyone and everything all the time. There are lot more important things to do in life. Focus on them.
Life is full of hurdles but it is also full of workarounds. Be creative and find your way out. Learn never to use the hurdles as excuses. They are great opportunities to hone new skills and to become self-aware.
As you grow up, you will develop your own set of values and principles. You will build your own moral code, and your philosophy of life may end up being very different from mine. When you are old enough, you may read all this and completely disagree with me. If that ever happens, I promise to be tolerant. Happy birthday, Raunak!
-Mummy
Other birthday posts are here.