We reached the end of 2019 with much pomp and joy as we had a new member in our family. My son who was born in October. With great plans and hopes, started the year 2020. The Christening of my son was into planning phase as my husband was out of India for work and could come only somewhere in January.

With the date finalised to 2nd of February, my husband arrived somwhere after the mid of January and the preps took the final hike. The naming ceremony of “Eric” at the church and the celebrations later went on fabulously with many of our relatives and friends being there to bless us.

Then in no time broke the biggest news of the year. Covid-19 pandemic!! With many Indians stuck out of India and not able to get back home easily with one of the biggest disease in the history of humankind on the loose. My heart thumped every time at the thought that what if my husband would have been one of them, had he not come back in time. The thoughts that would run through our minds were scary and dreadful. Being thankful to God every second of my life is all that I can be!

With that started the struggle of the year for everyone. Work from home, online schooling, and the long hours in the kitchen making varieties of food from various cuisines. Everyone posted pictures of the same on social media. It all felt good for a while, but my kids started feeling stuck and bored. Eira was stuck between a set of grown ups and a baby. Nobody her age to play limitlessly and nobody who would not say I have work or I have to cook.

Eric started saying his first words. All this little child of mine had to call world was our home, his toys and books. When lockdown opened and I took him for vaccination, he was surprised to see that there was another thing in our home (main door) that opened up to another world altogether. There were people other than us. He used to watch everything and everyone with his bright eyes all widened up. That was when I understood the importance of having a sibling. They are the ones who you can depend on and that my daughter’s urge to have a sibling were absolutely right. They had each other in the most difficult time for them.

Rakshabandhan of 2020 was so exciting. Time to know the perks that Eira had heard of being a sister. It was time to reap in all the benefits. Hehehe! She was over the moon on that day. It felt special to her as it was her first time celebrating the festival. Her first experience altogether and Eric did all the justice by making his sister happy with all the precious princessy gifts.

Eira lost her first tooth. She was so happy about it. Waited for days for her teeth to fall off as many of her friends were already into that phase. Btw, we do not want tooth fairies to take away our teeth. She has been storing them away so that one day when all her milk teeth are fallen, she will hide them somewhere away in a land so thag our generations to come might see how earlier people’s teeth would look like.

Eric turned one during lockdown in October. It felt like this year just flew by and my boy grew up to be a toddler. We couldn’t have his paternal grandparents that day. None of our friends could join in as we were all staying home and staying safe. But we tried our best to make it all happy and memorable for Eric as well as Eira who did all the planning for the day. From the decor to food and his outfit, etc.

So many incidents happened in this year that were disheartening and a year that none of us will be able to forget. Our future generations will hear of it as stories from us but I choose to remember the bright side that my kids saw. The milestones they reached, the memories they made with each other. The ups and downs they saw in and between themselves. The strength they have shown in overcoming everything that came in their path. Exploring their true capabilities and power!!

It’s the end of this year now and these little ones have hope that one day everything is going to be alright and they will be able to step out without their parents hovering over them without any fear. Hopefully 2021 is going to be good to all of us.

This blog post is part of a SpeakEasy Blogging Challenge with Dipikka and Ruchi #SpeakEasyWithRuchiNDips