By Elizabeth on Thursday, June 30th, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays, Politics 5 Comments
The following story happened to us this past week. I did not send these letters. I just chose to share our experience through them. From the Mother – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Dear Hospital, We needed help this weekend. You came through! You kept us safe and alive and comfortable. Your staff is friendly and competent. They know how to treat […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Thursday, June 2nd, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays 4 Comments
A poet, I am not. This ditty slipped out of my head last night though and I wanted to share it – think beatboxing. Enjoy! —– National dialogue, differences so strong What unites us, what makes us wrong? All of this noise seems hateful some say, We need to express ourselves some other way. So what is it that makes us all one? Are we really so broken we feel […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Thursday, May 5th, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays 3 Comments
Last weekend my daughter, who’s six, asked me if I would take her adorable, hand quilted, bear family blanket off her wall and replace it with something she’s “into”. She’s into Michael! When I say she’s into him, I mean if we let her she would probably prefer to watch YouTube music videos every day. She rolls her eyes when her 5-year-old brother wants to watch Dino Dan and Octonauts, […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Thursday, April 28th, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays 1 Comment
Mr. Incredible from Pixar’s The Incredible’s, poo-poo’d a graduation ceremony his son was going to have, for going from the fifth grade to the sixth grade, during a marital spat with his wife. I never gave his comment much thought, until it came flooding back through my brain as I picked up my daughter from kindergarten today and her teacher said to me, “check her backpack, there is a promotion […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Thursday, April 21st, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Politics, Real Life Snippets 6 Comments
When I think about our planet and protecting our home, I mostly focus on minimizing our family waste. With a severe drought in California and the streak of hot weather we’ve been having I can’t help but obsess a little over our warming planet. It is not the legacy I want to leave my children. What kind of gift is that? In recognizing earth day, and celebrating the importance of it, […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Thursday, April 14th, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays, Real Life Snippets No Comments
We just returned from a trip to Australia to see family and friends. I loved the vocabulary (nappies are diapers, chips are fries, biscuits are cookies), the public transportation system, the seriously amazing play grounds, the family toilets, mothers nursing freely in public, visiting with family and catching up with friends. Traveling with little ones is always a challenge though, whether you have one or three. Here are a few ideas […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Thursday, March 31st, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays 3 Comments
Saying good-bye is never easy and it certainly is never fair. When it was time to put our second cat down, I noticed how seriously my veterinarian was taking part in my loss. Gizmo was a sweet old guy and just ran out of steam. He had a great cat life — licking his paws, sleeping on our comforter, and cuddling with his cat siblings. It was his time. […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Thursday, March 17th, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays, Politics 1 Comment
I grew up in a Southern California beach town called Ventura, playing water polo and swimming on my high school team. I spent my weekends at the beach and skateboarding around town. I had everything I needed, free to roam completely content in my environment. My biggest insecurity was which hand-made skirt I’d wear to school for swim meet day, the day everyone on the team dressed up. Now that […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Wednesday, February 24th, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays, Politics 4 Comments
Last weekend we had our first barbecue. That’s right, our first barbeque EVER. We’ve been to barbecues before, but we’ve never owned our own grill or barbecued for other people. Before anyone arrived Vijay read up on barbecuing. Mainly, how to start the thing and how to cook the meat. I had a little ping of American pride which made me immediately ponder a bigger question. What qualities make a […] Read More
By Elizabeth on Wednesday, February 24th, 2016 in Elizabeth Chennamchetty, Essays, Politics No Comments
It has been months since I’ve been to the gym…MONTHS! This morning I woke up and decided, today is the day! I fed the kids, combed three heads of hair and brushed teeth belonging to three squirrely-bouncy-kangaroo jumping children, separating those old enough for fluoride from those who aren’t, got myself and my crew dressed, and dropped off my kindergartener at school. Entering the Y, I felt a rush of […] Read More