Long Walks On Leafy Streets

7/13/2015 Beach Drive, Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
Saturday morning I went for a three-mile run. It was a beautiful summer day. Sunny and not too warm, with a nice breeze. Crape myrtles were in bloom all over the parts of Takoma, DC and Takoma Park where I run, with their big efflorescences of pink flowers and shiny barks. I ran at a good pace for me. When I got home my five-week-old son Prashant was sleeping peacefully as was his mother. I had to pinch myself for a moment in order to know that this was real. It was only six years ago that I was still searching for a life partner. I was getting older and was even preparing myself mentally for the possibility that it might never happen. Similarly two years ago we were wondering if and when we would ever have a baby. If six years ago you had told me that I would soon meet the woman of my dreams and that we would have a little boy when I was almost fifty I might not have believed it.
Whenever I hold him in my arms I feel like I am in a dream world. Not only because he is my son but also from the sheer admiration for the miracle of life. I wonder what he is going through. It is clear from his bright inquisitive eyes that he is taking in everything that he sees in the world, especially when I walk him outside. What does he make of the trees, the flowers, the birds chirping and the sun shining? How much of it he is able to see clearly? What is going through his mind when he looks at them? Our world is also full of many man-made wonders, much of which did not even exist when I was his age. What does he make of the flickering images on the television or the computer, the automobiles on the road and the water flowing out of a tap?

It has been an exhilarating time but also an exhausting time. My body is getting slowly used to sleeping about 4 to 6 hours in the night, although sometimes I get a nap during the day. It is harder for the mind to be always calm under these circumstances. It takes a good effort of will to stay calm and prevent negative feelings and emotions from creeping in and taking over. In that way this has been a great training in mindfulness. Our friend Richard when writing to congratulate us started his message by saying that Prashant is going to be our teacher for the rest of our lives. I am beginning to understand that more and more as the days go by.

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