Self-Help & Personal Growth

Parental Bloopers: Learning to Laugh while Parenting

by Paes, Loyson

I still remember the day, I knelt in front of the altar with my very pretty wife by my side. She looked so beautiful and I felt my heart skipped a beat every time I brushed my gaze on her glowing face. It was the day the parish priest in the little town of Cuncolim in South Goa had just pronounced us man and wife. For both of us, marriage was a huge task accomplished and an achievement in itself given the fact that we belonged to two very different cultures and religions. I remember a lot of naysayers telling me that life will change after marriage.That all the love will diminish when reality and finances settle in. But apart from a few arguments here and there and a few fist fights (sometimes beyond) being thrown in to dramatise the whole relationship, a lot otherwise was just the usual. And it continued to be the usual till that one day! That one day after which, life for Soumya and me was never meant to be the same. That day when I was parading up and down against the white wall of the nursing home's corridor, my brotherin-law was busy making a video in order to record the viii Parental Bloopers expressions that were expected to be expressed. With all the storm of thoughts that was swirling in my mind, I was hardly cognitive of his presence; leave alone the video. I could constantly, feel a lump in my throat that I'm sure was my heart. The phrase 'having the heart in the mouth' was actually experienced by someone before me who contributed this phrase to the rest of mankind