The Selfish Prayer and Fifth Grade Graduation

Daanish cake

We ate cake tonight, baked and decorated by our daughter for her big brother. We were celebrating Lil D’s fifth graduation with cake and biryani, and although he had eaten his meal half an hour before and had since retreated upstairs, it was still a celebration. I served the cake to the family on a familiar square yellow platter, decorated with red and blue large dots and covered with Arabic and English writing Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim -- In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most … [Read more...]

Behind the Parenting Mask

Dilshad and Kids

Parents are pretty good at wearing masks, keeping up a solid front in the face of stressful situations, making sure the kiddos don’t know when things are barely in our control. Most parents are good at that. Even I, who has been told by several people that every emotion I’m feeling is seen on my face -- even I am pretty good at putting up an fairly controlled front. One night last week during dinner, my husband, our two younger kids and I were eating dinner while our eldest son was in the … [Read more...]