The Tree Next Door

For as long as I can remember, I have always lived next to a tree. Growing up in Kathmandu, our ancient house had a courtyard with only one tree. The tree grew on a raised brick rectangular mound along with some other small plants. The tree was thin and windy and acted like a green umbrella providing shade to the small plants and an ancient well situated next to the rectangular mound. I learned later that this was the night flowering jasmine tree or parijaat flower tree in Nepali.

As kids, we spent countless hours playing on this courtyard under the shade of the parijaat tree. Every once in a while the green moss on the yard would be speckled with the white and yellow of the parijaat flowers. Our grandmother, the matriarch of the household would immediately dispatch someone to carefully collect these flowers to offer to the household deities next morning.

In this house, I shared a room with my sister and my parents, a long rectangular room that was divided into two. My parents slept and entertained on the outside room. My sister and I slept on the inside room and later used it as a study and for storage, napping, and any time we needed some space. There was a low bedding on the floor right next to a wall to wall window that looked out to the tree.

I spent countless hours on this low bedding finishing my homework from schools or preparing for multiple exams. My mother, my sister, and I, all three would congregate on this bedding in the evenings talking, sharing, laughing, crying, and sometimes just working silently. Some of our most joyful and most difficult times happened here, overlooking the courtyard and the stoic and silent tree.

I did not realize this until recently but the tree was our silent, green, and reassuring companion that stayed with us and listened to all of our challenges, heartbreak, joys, and wishes. Fast forward a decade, the house and the courtyard are empty and falling apart slowly but my mother tells me that the parijaat tree is still alive and sprinkles the yard with flowers from time to time. My heart aches for this tree like it would for a long lost friend. I cannot help but think she was our guardian who was sent to watch over us.

I left Nepal and moved to the US and eventually to an east coast city for a job. I lived in an old brick house and my room looked into yet another courtyard with trees. The courtyard belonged to a church. I spent hours sitting on the window hunched over my books and computer, all the time aware, that the green of the trees was there waiting for me to feast my eyes upon. Alone in this city, navigating the ups and downs of professional and personal life, I often turned to those green friends when I needed to feel the compatible silence of a dear friend. No judgement, no advice- just the green earthy and soothing presence that immediately calmed my mind and warmed my heart.

Now I live in yet another US city with a family of my own. Our neighborhood is green and situated right next to a trail. When the weather allows, I find myself automatically gravitated toward this trail. The tall green trees invite me take a walk, luxuriate in the silence, and feast my eyes and calm my mind. Days and times when I feel like the walls are closing down on me and I feel stress and despair in me rising, I make myself a tall mug of tea and hike through this trail. I let my mind wander and come into a silent commune with my friends and most of the time I feel a sense of quiet and reassurance.

I have a daughter now. She spends far too much time on electronic devices. As one of our first adventures together, we are trying to complete this trail- my husband and I and the toddler. We are halfway through the trail. Every weekend when we have a little bit of time to spare we jump into our car and dash off to the trail, eager to finish off even small bit. The rain, the sun, and my growing pregnancy has hampered our effort, but we are in no rush and enjoying our little adventure together. I am hoping that my daughter will also find a connection with these silent green friends like I did.

The mother that I was going to be

As I rushed out the door this morning at 6:30 am to begin my two hours commute to work, I took one last look at my eight month old daughter. She was sprawled on the floor on her back getting her diaper changed by her grandma, throwing hands and legs in the air, eyes wide awake, ready to play. I looked into her eyes when I said goodbye and blew kisses at her across the room. I tried to squeeze in as much love as possible into that gesture to last us through the day.

As soon as I reach the office, I call home and if she is awake, I will hear gurgling on the phone. Then for the next 4-5 hours I switch into my work mode until the afternoon when I call her again. When I can, I dash out of work early, but most days I do not get so see her until 11 or 12 hours after. Sometimes I see a small child on the commute back and everything in me twists in a visceral instinctive want to see and hold my daughter.

In the evening when she sees me, she puts forth a little energy dance, her hands and feet shaking not unlike the wagging tails of a happy puppy dog. We hug, we kiss and we make up for the long hours of separation- or at least I do. She is perfectly happy at home with her grandparents. My mother then brings forth the tales of the day, the new tricks she learned, what she ate, how many hours she slept, the number of diapers she went through and I savor these like little pieces of treasure and quietly tuck these away in my box of memories to be pulled out and examined later in detail.

My parents are taking care of my daughter full time. Yes I am very fortunate. This is the genuine unbridled and unconditional love, the kind that only grandparents have reserves of. They wake up well before her, change her diapers, coddle her, play with her, prepare her food from scratch, put her to sleep, give her an oil massage and warm bath most days, and everything in between.  All of this happens while I am sitting at my desk answering emails and dealing with situations at the other end of the world.

When I was pregnant, I had several ideas about what kind of mother I was going to be. I was going to be that mother who would go through the pain of labor and push for a natural childbirth. I was going to be that mother who would only breastfeed her baby exclusively for six months. And when she is ready for solid food, I was going to feed her organic only. I was going to be that mother who would keep her away from TV and phones. I was going to be that mother who was going to send her daughter to day care when she reached six months.

One by one I had to let go of all these standards. After three hours of labor, I broke down and took epidural- some would say the easy way out. Breastfeeding was painful -she did not know how to latch on and once on she did not want to let go. My back was on fire most days and I did not produce enough milk.

Once I started working, I could not keep up with the milk demands and after several days of guilt tripping myself, I finally broke down and introduced formula. She was exclusively breastfed for three months only. She is eating her solids now and these are by no means organic but at least they are all homemade for now.

To soothe her from time to time, we give her a good dose of you tube and Television. The ‘animal songs’ and the ‘old mac Donald’s’ and all other baby songs are on repeat on our phone. And I did not have to send my daughter to day care at six months after all, her grandparents agreed to take care of her for six more months.

So what kind of mother have I become? The kind that knows she is missing out on her daughter. Yet if I were given the opportunity of becoming a stay at home mother, I will still not take it. I know that I am not a home maker by any means. I need my job but it is more than just a means to pay my bills.

I have become the ‘do it all, have it all, and be it all’ mother where life most days becomes a logistics, a juggle to find the right balance, cutting this out and adding that in, to keep moving. The mother who is bursting with pure flashes of love and longing and sometime there is a crushing pain of separation and guilt. Sometimes there is a sense of balance and Zen and have it all, sometime I feel like I am failing at everything. Increasingly I have learned to let go of definitions and standards and expectations and make peace with this messiness, this roller coaster ride.

The only standard that I am keeping to these days is that at the end of each day is to spend time with my daughter, we sometimes take walks together, or play with her favorite toys, or I sing or read to her, or if I am too tired, we lie down together in bed watching you tube videos.