Margarita with a Twist

I love the fact that nothing ever remains the same. Change is not only constant but also sudden or gradual or a regular occurrence for many. Being the daughter of a civil servant, my childhood was full of hopping across the country. We never had a choice, we had to embrace changes. It was the easiest thing to do at the age of 5 or even 10. I would jump with joy at the thought of airplane journeys, packing the entire house, the smell of  new school uniforms, making new friends, being a part of new neighbourhoods, walking on new streets, learning new languages and exploring diverse cultures. Everything that was ‘new’ appealed to me.

I guess it was somewhere in high school that I began praying for no more transfers. I did not need new friends. But that barely stopped us from changing our address. I mugged up city and state codes and landline numbers to keep in touch with my closest friends. And yes, that helped but it was not the same. The luxury of knocking on your friend’s door and dropping in unannounced was gone.

When we finally grew up and began getting paychecks, we travelled cities to be together. When we could finally make it look almost like the old days, bigger opportunities greeted us. They took us to foreign lands and got us newer people.

I am glad that Science was on our side. Today we can connect through various gadgets and know that we are the same girls although disguised in a few added kilograms and bonded by the fear of approaching 30s. We glare at our skinny old pictures from school and college and laugh to the same tune. We talk about the weekends and the slumber parties that didn’t care for a Monday. We log in after considering suitable time zones and sit reminiscing about the plans we made then and how none of them worked out. The ones that we barely imagined happened to us in the most beautiful ways. We laugh uncontrollably when the most talkative girl, a mother of one now, runs about taking her little one for potty training. She doesn’t only describe how to do it, she warns us of the near kid-full future! She logs in a few minutes later only to discuss some more plans, but this time for the future.

The one in the U.S. fears no Trump and lives all by herself independent and feisty! While I have forgiven them for not attending my wedding, I now tell them tales of how responsible I have grown and how understanding my in-laws are! These girls have seen my relationship start and grow into a wedlock and hence, the tales of adventures with bae bring them no shock or surprise!

We three have not always met when we were supposed to, forgot to return missed calls, and often called up a day or two post birthdays to wish... but always pardoned for no matter how grave the sin. I so wish for things to continue in the same flow and that we always find innumerable reasons to toast a margarita!