March 2022.

Buongiorno, good morning as they say in Italian. Welcome to the March letter. How is the first week of April going for you guys? The sun is shining bright as I sit down to write this post.It’s one of the good spring days today. Spring here sees rain, freezing temperature, wind and sun all in a single day and not always in that order.

Angela King tells me that weekend is looking bleak with a avalanche warning up on the mountains! Aha.

Angela King, Steve Inskeep and many more from local news channel NPR give me company early in the morning. Keeping me apprised of the happenings around Washington and the world as I prepare for the day ahead.

Do you have favorite FM channel that you tune into? Somedays I crave for our Indian news channels, specially Arnab Goswami’s “India wants to know” 😂😜.

Coming back to the topic in hand. Here is one for the month of March. By now you know the drill, these letters are what I would like to call a “throwback ” to a month gone by.

Dear March,

Bonjour March, Comment vas-tu? I am doing just fine, thank you. Let me tell you right now, you were a special month for us.

You are going to remembered this year for N’s milestone 5th birthday! ! Our little N turned all but FIVE on the first of this month and boy did she keep me busy for good part of this month with her birthday celebrations.

N’s birthday celebrations concluded when I finally invited two of her school besties over for a “birthday playdate”. These little girls brought the house down with their giggles, dancing and loud singing to “Surface pressure” by Jessica Darrow from Encanto! I kid you not, all the girls knew the lyrics. 😍

Surface pressure is our current favorite song the girls wake up to on school days. Alexa doesn’t even wait for us to finish the word. All you have to say “Alexa play Surface pre… ” and she’ll be already playing the song! Beat of my own drums” from Vivo and “Soy yo” from Sing 2 were replaced by Encanto a few months ago.

Oh did I tell you ? N got her COVID vaccination shots this month. She is now fully vaccinated. Yay, yay and more Yay’s 😍. Phew what a relief that was. Summer we are ready for you!

How did you feel about the masks mandates being lifted off? Tell me that you are not just a wee bit happy about the masks being optional? I for one was glad when I heard it.

When the schools lifted the mask mandate earlier in the month, N was more than happy to leave the mask in her backpack while V uses it on need basis.

There is no denying that the virus is still around, hiding in dark corners and lurking around in back alleys. We still have to continue to be alert and watchful. But at the same time I am happy that we are slowly inching towards normalcy.

It’s about time we start seeing those big smiles and pearlies white, don’t you think?

March my dear what colorful month you were! Rainbows for birthday and then HOLI. Holi is always my least planned festival of the year and yet I have the most fun in holi !

What a fun holi we had this year with our friends. Who doesn’t like a splash of colors, a touch of sweetness and loads of fun?!

This month we went to our first circus as a family. Cirque du Soleil was everything I had hoped for and more. I have had this in our bucket list for few years now. We were waiting for N to be of the right age to enjoy it. Glad we did, the girls loved the aerial acts while I enjoyed the trampoline and the hula hoop show the most.

Along with the circus we had also booked tickets for a theater performance that we completely forgot about. We realized we had missed the show when S got a sms text asking him to rate his experience! One of those days.

Aha well that was a bummer. No worries, we will make up for it soon!

This month we stepped out to enjoy everything spring in Gasworks Park. Located opposite downtown Seattle on the shores of Lake Union, this park was a former coal gasification park. The park offers panoramic views of the lake and downtown skyline with Space Needle standing tall at a distance.

On this particular evening the park was dotted with University students who were on their spring break. The view was gorgeous and the weather just perfect. We spent about two hours just strolling about and taking in the view.

Inventing Anna, Madhuri Dixit’s The Fame Game and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel were the highlights of my March entertainment.

This season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was disappointing for me. I am not even sure where the story is headed. I quite enjoyed the mystery and the gorgeous Madhuri Dixit playing Anamika Khanna in Fame Game.

I did catch up on the Kashmir Files this month. When I walked in with Satya, I was surprised to see a full theater for a 9pm show. That says something about the movie. There is enough being discussed about it on news, I’ll leave it there.

Books Little Secrets and Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier kept me on the edge of my seat this whole month. After them I couldn’t pick up another thriller. I needed a change.

Phew. We almost at the end of this letter. March you were fun, mad, colorful and busy this year. Here is hoping you will always bring smiles, colors and fun our way every year. Au revoir my dearest.

You are only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it. ~ Robin Williams

Love always,

Anusha