The dictionary defines vitality as ‘the state of being strong and active; energy.’ I think someone with vitality is someone with lots of energy and high levels of activity. And the first example that comes to mind of someone like this is ‘Moms’. Almost all Moms I know have amazing amounts of energy, fairly robust health and the capability to do incredible things. Women aren’t born with this ability but becoming a mother does this to them.

Yesterday was our day out and as Che and I rode across town catching up with friends we hadn’t seen in ages, a conversation got me thinking about vitality and mothers. Coincidentally it was mother’s day too! Going down that rabbit hole I thought I’d look at what makes mothers so active and energetic. After all being a Mom is not easy, it’s taxing, its tiring, it’s exhausting, [yeah yeah, it’s rewarding too 😀 ]. But if being a Mom is all that tiring, how do Mom’s stay mostly healthy? How do them have so much energy? How do they pack so much into their every day?

Mom’s Indiscriminately Eat

I learned the value of food from my mother. It was a rule in our house that you had to finish what was in your plate. You couldn’t turn up your nose at any dish and had to eat all. But aside from this I learned not to waste food from my mother, not even a little bit.
Mom hates wasting food so the dinner table doesn’t have just today’s food but also a little of yesterdays. Kids being kids we tried to escape the old and have the new always. This meant a lot of times there was just a little bit of something left; rather than put it back in the fridge or throw it, Mom would force herself to finish it.
When it comes to waste, she wouldn’t even let some fruit slide. If we hadn’t scraped the custard apple clean, she would. When she cut mango or watermelon, there would be no fruit left on the skin or seed. Mom was a stickler for no wastage.
My Mom isn’t the only one I’ve seen do this, almost all Mom’s I know are like this. This seems to be why even though it seems like they aren’t eating well at the dinner table, Mom’s still have good health.

Lusty Lists

Mothers don’t have a to-do list, they have very many to-do lists. There’s a list for the little one’s food, the little one’s school and homework, then there’s a list for the kitchen, a list for the house, a list for the husband, and it goes on. And mothers manage them all and achieve 90% or more on their lists. I have difficulty managing one to-do list on paper, how mothers manage so many boggles my mind.
Have you come across Luminosity? It’s a site that helps you exercise your mind for a few minutes everyday. I’ve been doing the exercises for a couple of weeks now and I find am performing better everyday. The more I exercise my mind the better it’s getting.
Maybe all those lists explain why Mom’s are so sharp and alert.

Home-Work

Then there’s all that physical stuff, picking up after kids, sweeping, moping, dusting, washing clothes, cleaning vessels, and again the list goes on. Mom’s make what they do look easy but it isn’t easy at all, it’s a lot of hard physical labour that brings me to my knees most days.
But all that physical stuff they do explains their physical fitness. The home is like their personal gym, where they exercise while no one is watching.
I notice that I am more healthy and fall sick less when I don’t have help and have to do a lot of the house chores myself. Not that I don’t want help!

What else do you think gives mothers the vitality they have? How do they acquire the qualities they have? Is it really only a mother thing? Or are all women like this?

What do you think gives your mother unlimited energy? And if you are a mother, please tell me the secret of your energy? [And don’t say Boost 😛 ]

P.S. – Thanks to Mom, after peeling a mango, you’ll find me nibbling on the skin for a little extra fruit. Do you do that too?

Photo Credit: OpenClips and Richi on Pixabay.

[This post is late and should have gone online yesterday but I had a bad migraine and couldn’t sit at the computer long enough to finish and post it. So it’s two posts today. 🙂 ]

There are a lot of days when I feel like I have nothing, I am nothing. Most days it’s a passing phase, and some days it’s lasts for a while but no matter which day, what makes me snap out of it are a list of beings. These beings make me smile and make life feel worth while.

Since my word for the year with ‘G’ is Gratitude, I figured I’d make a list of these beings so I can read it when I’m all down and out and snap out of it and smile sooner. 🙂

Mom and Me years ago

The first person I think I met in this world is my Mother and I’m glad I did. She is selfless, always offering her shoulder or advise when I’m ranty, and someone I still go running to when I’m hurt and upset. The days of scraped knees when she blew on the wound and made it feel better are long gone, but even today she makes me feel better with her magic. She has done so much for me over the years that, nothing I do will ever equate it, an infinite number of thank you’s will not be enough. I have learned so much from this extraordinary woman and I have still so much to learn. She reminds me of one of my favourite songs,

“You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy,
When skys are grey.
You’ll never know dear.
How much I love you,
Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

When I grow up 😀 I’d like to be like my mother, if I can be even 50% the woman she is, I’d have achieved greatness I think.

My MIL and Me at my wedding

The saas-bahu serials on TV had me wishing from early in life that when I got married I get a good M-I-L. I must have prayed quite diligently coz I did get a great mother-in-law. She is so like my mother that when she’s around I don’t miss my own.

When Che and I got married we had a reception in Kovilpatti, a town near Madurai where Che hails from. The morning after the reception I tentatively stepped out of the room (while Che slept) wondering if I could sneak into the gift room and check stuff out until he woke up. Tip toeing my way across the floor I got to the room full of gifts without encountering anyone but as I stood at the door, my MIL looked up at me from inside where she was sitting in the middle of it all and said, “Ah, you’re awake, can we now open the gifts?”. An hour or so later when Che found us, we were sitting in the middle of gifts strewn around with silly grins on our faces. My MIL became my mother that day, how can she have not. That was one of my first impressions of her and even four years later, she continues to amaze me with all she understands and does.

I’m the lucky bum who didn’t get one mother, I got two. It’s a double whammy!

My Five

I still remember the days when Che and I talked about getting a dog but every time talked, we put it off saying this wasn’t the best time. Then one day in August 4 years ago, during a week of crazy torrential rains, Che found a puppy huddled near the dustbin outside our apartment, shivering. He picked it up and looked around for the mother, when he couldn’t find her he brought the puppy home to dry her off and get some food in her. Fifteen minutes later he was looking at me with puppy eyes that said, please can we keep her. The rest like they say is history.

Cuckoo was followed within months by Sentimeter, and then a year later by Buddha. I didn’t know when one dog became three and then five when William and Maximus joined us too. Today I have five dogs and I’m working hard at keeping that number from increasing. 😀

These five fill my life with such joy, only people with dogs will know what it feels like. When I wake up in the morning I have 5 dogs vying for my attention, so happy to see me, thumping their tails with such vigour that sometimes I worry for the grandfather clock that loses or gains time every morning when they thump it. When I’m down in the dumps and no-one and nothing can make me feel better, these five can make the sun come out again. They know just what it would take to make me happy again.

Even when they do something wrong it’s so difficult to be angry with them. Try it, try being angry with someone who looks at you with such unadulterated love while you are screaming your head off. My dogs are my life, there is nothing in the world I wouldn’t give up for them. Nothing!

Bro and Me years ago when I still could bully him

Making this list, I wondered who else would be on it and one name kept popping up and that’s my brother. The little kid I bullied, who bullied me in turn a few years later has grown into a man I’m proud of. Thoughtful, caring, soft-hearted, kind are just some words that describe him. His is the number on my speed dial coz I know he will always be there for me.

All us Grandkids with Gran on her 90th (except 1)

Then there are all my other brothers (coz using the word cousin wouldn’t be fair to how they treat me). Each one of them going out of their way for me with never a complain. As kids when they were around I’d be exasperated but today when they are around my heart smiles.

All those rakhi’s paid off, eh? 😛

The Entire Family on Gran's 90th

Then there’s my family and friends, who are just such amazing people. Looking back at myself growing up I see just the prick I was [not that am not one now :D] and yet these people have loved me all the way. Could I even ask for more.

Last but not the least is that man I married who makes my blood boil so much some days that I want to scream and pull my hair out and yet he remembers the small things I like, eats bland khichdi everyday without a complain when I’m ill coz if he ate spicy food I’d be tempted. He does things that amaze me and leave me speechless when I least expect it.

We don’t fight like cats and dogs, we fight like a mongoose and snake and yet without him I think life would be empty. Come on wouldn’t the mongoose miss the snake, where’s the fun for the mongoose if the snake’s gone. 😀

Gratitude is the right word, for I’m grateful, immensely grateful for the beings in my life. I must have done some pretty awesome stuff on my last life to have all these people in my life. No one gets this lucky, unless they deserve it. Knowing me I don’t know about that, but I do know I’m damn lucky and very grateful.