It's her birthday!

Priya, my wife, has turned 41 today, and I wanted to take a moment to pen down what she means to me and record my gratitude to her presence in my life.

Soulmate is defined as a mate with whom you share your soul. Acknowledging how much she feeds my soul, she fits the moniker of a soulmate technically, rather than just a cheesy romantic term. My attraction towards her is the attraction to her mind, attraction to how she lives her life - the intellectual respect she commands, her tenderness and kindness to the world. Intellectually she has exposed me to themes in the world of health and gender with her public health expertise, and on the tenderness side, how she time and again shows up for friends and family with both monetary and logistical support for any medical emergency.

What is exciting now is our parenting journey. We have different styles in parenting our son. Priya continues to be one who leads with tenderness and kindness, which I think is the correct kind of parenting , while I try and counter balance with consistency and discipline. Parenting is hard and I am glad we have each other to support and walk together in this journey.

What I wish she takes up as her resolution is to start watching her health, both physically and mentally, and I want to be an active supporter for that journey. We have finished close to 12 years together, I have an urge to take care of my life as well, to ensure we have another 25 years or so together.

I still don't feel love is projected in media as, that warm fuzzy feeling towards someone, what I feel is a sense of gratitude to the universe for the serendipity giving me of Priya.