Day 156 - Jasmine

Thought of the day: My in-laws left today.  The house felt big and empty with them gone.  I am already missing their warm and calm presence.  Jasmine took it even harder.  As adults, we have a lot of practice saying good-byes and embracing life's many changes.  We accept things as they come as we know that they are inevitable.  Not so for the kids.  I am sure she will get over it, but it had been a tough day for her.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine in the central park.  We had a nice lunch in Dushanbe Teahouse with the grandparents before they left today.

Day 154 - Jasmine

Thought of the day: I had a good conversation with Jasmine tonight.  We were walking home from dinner in the dark.  It was chillier than expected so we cheered each other up with stories.  She retold the story of Stone Soup, which she learned in preschool. When I asked her what she learned from the story, she said "Sharing makes people happy."  Indeed, fearing your neighbors and, in general, being too self-defensive can make your life bleak and miserable.  On the other hand, opening up your heart and sharing with your community can make your life richer and happier.  Sharing may even save your life during an emergency, as manifested by Japanese villagers who were trapped and isolated from the outside world in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.  Apparently people in the trapped communities promptly organized themselves, shared their supplies and duties, bended together and survived until they were rescued.  In a way, in the face of the emergency, an entire village came together to make a big pot of stone soup so everybody can share and stay alive.  These real life stories warmed my heart and made me admire the human spirit and gave me hope for our collective future.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine on the way to dinner, with grandma, daddy and Lila in the background.  It's another sunny, beautiful spring day in Boulder.

Day 146 - Biscotti

Thought of the day: It's so good to have grandparents around.  You may not end up doing a lot less work, but there's suddenly an additional level of flexibility in your schedule that you could only dream of before.  I envy people with their parents near by, as much as Jasmine envies her friend with grandparents living next door.

Photo of the day:

Biscottis in Brewing Market - I got a taste of these today during Jasmine's music lesson when Lila was being watched by her grandparents at home.

Day 143 - Rolling

Thought of the day: My in-laws are here to visit for a month.  They come twice a year and we always have a good time together.  They have the vitality and open-mindedness that are enviable traits for people of any age.  And they are completely comfortable with who they are, wherever they are.  I recently read on a book called "Geography of Bliss" that the Swiss people are among the happiest on the earth.  It has less to do with their material wealth - Americans are not poor in comparison but Americans are not among the happiest in the world - and has more to do with their connection to the earth, the nature, and the community.  My father-in-law hikes a couple of hours every day regardless of the weather.  The public transportation in Switzerland is superb and it takes them to visit many beautiful areas whenever they want to.  They live in the same community for many years and have developed friendships that last for a life time.  The majority of their relatives also live close by or are within a train hop or two. What's a better place for people to retire and grow old than in their own well-beloved close-knit community? Another reason for the Swiss to be happy may be that they are less obsessed in fame, money, or any other worldly possessions.  For them, it's a lot less important to have a bigger car, bigger house, bigger yacht, bigger plane than to have a happier family and a happier life.  All these factors combined make them a more grounded, and thus, happier people.  Perhaps for similar reasons, I feel more grounded and happier in Boulder too than in the Silicon Valley.  The valley is great for ambitious people as one can practically feel the vibe and creative synergy in the air which make the valley an extraordinary place but at the same time also make one feel restless, unfulfilled and a constant need to "do" something.  In Boulder, I feel comfortable just to "be" who I am and enjoy day-to-day life and my family.  At the end, it's probably just a matter of balance between the "do" and "be".  If you don't let your drive to succeed overrun your pursuit of happiness, you will much more likely to be a happy person.  My in-laws are good examples of that.  I admire them for who they are, I am happy for them, and I am happy that they are staying with us.

Photo of the day:

Lila playing inside a tube.  She was rolling around all over the floor and was as happy as happy can be.  I can't help thinking that the little beings are more connected to the secret source of happiness than the rest of us.

Day 140 - Sandy Hands

Thought of the day: We went to a beach at Half Moon Bay today.  As it was a workday, we had the beach pretty much all to ourselves.  We had a picnic while enjoying the sound of the ocean and the company of seagulls and many other birds.  It was a little windy and a little chilly, as often is the case on that beach, so we didn't stay for very long.  We occasionally see seagulls in Palo Alto, but there's nothing like a trip like this to remind us how close we are to the Pacific Ocean.  On the way home, I made a mental note to visit the ocean more often in the future.  Coming to the bay area and do not visit the beach is like going to Colorado and do not pay tribute to the Rockies, the trip would have been incomplete.

Photo of the day:

Lila showing me her sandy hands after playing on the beach.

Day 138 - Dessert

Thought of the day: Today I biked with my dad to their old townhouse which was for sale.  The realtor did quite a bit of work before putting it on market.  We were surprised when we entered the door - it felt as if we had just stepped into an Ethan Allen showroom.  It even used my favorite color palette.  But it didn't feel like home any more and it made me really miss the simplicity and familiarity of their old home.  Moving can be difficult because you will inevitably leave a part of your history, and a part of you, behind.  It's hard to reckon with the fact that some things that you have gotten so used to and taken for granted are not yours any more.  It could be a tree that you climbed on, a pool that your kids swam in or the view from a window there was special to you.  It's even harder to move when you grow older.  Luckily for my parents, they didn't have to move very far this time and their old friends could still visit them in their new home.  But I know that they are not interested in moving again any time soon.

Photo of the day:

Lila got a special treat after eating dinner well tonight.  She really, really, I mean really, enjoyed the apple strudel from Ester's German Bakery and devoured it within a minute.  She demonstrated to us the reason why we humans came equipped with ten fingers.

Day 135 - Running

Thought of the day: Airport is one of my favorite places to photograph.  Unfortunately I don't get to take many pictures there as I'm usually trying hard to make it to a flight, or holding the hands of a little one, or doing both at the same time.  When I do have the luxury to photograph, it's usually really fun.  The light, the architecture, the travelers of all sizes and shapes, and everything else are so different from what you encounter in your daily life that certain things, or in fact, many things are jumping out at you all at once and crying to be photographed.  Airport is indeed a strange and unusual place.  It's chaotic yet orderly, colorful yet bland, imposing yet insignificant, trivial yet vital.  When you visit an airport the first time, it seems vast and impersonal, but over time, you would have developed your list of favorite bookstores, coffee shops, sandwich places and you feel more at home.  Since I spend so much time in small, quiet cities, visiting the airport gives me a taste of big city living, express style, without actually having to set foot in a big city.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine running on the moving walkway of Denver International Airport - don't ask me at which direction she was running or how the bag got to the other end before she did...  She was very excited to fly to the bay area again to visit the grandparents, so we let her get a little wild, perhaps a little too wild!