Bunker Hill Monument

Our old house where we lived few years ago was very close to Bunker Hill Monument; we used to drive by it multiple times in a week.This monument was erected to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill – one of the first major battles fought between Patriots and the British; it’s an obelisk and looks similar to the Washington Monument in DC. For the last few years, every summer or fall I would tell my husband that we should go visit the monument, spend a day there but it never materialized till now. Few weeks ago, one of the summer weekends we were at home just lazing around with no specific plans, and I thought this seemed like a perfect day to check out the Bunker Hill Monument. We packed some lunch, lathered some sunscreen and drove to the monument site
After reaching the park, we realized that one needs tickets to go to the top and tickets can be obtained at the nearby Bunker Hill Museum. Typically I research all this online but as this was on the spur decision I was a little clueless. As we went to get the tickets, they looked at me carrying baby Nivi in my infant carrier and told me there are 294 steps to climb the top. Well that didn’t deter me to get a ticket for me and Nivi (the tickets are free, they just need to know how many people are going up and then they give you a time slot to get in, they try and manage the number of people going up a down as it’s a tight fit inside and the stairs are pretty narrow.)

We spent some time at the museum, reading about the war, how the Patriots were outnumbered and still fought hard before being defeated. I had read about the war long back, since I didn’t learn any of this growing up during history lessons, I find it all fascinating and like to devour as much information as I can. Also, I love to just stroll through the museums reading and trying to fathom the “what ifs” and “what nots”. There was a map that showed how the region looked in the 17th century and all the current bustling towns were just some hills back then, so much history the places have seen.

At our given time, we walked up the stairs to the top of monument. It was a little strenuous carrying a baby but between me and my hubby she changed hands every 50 odd steps and we reached the top. You get a beautiful view of Boston through the windows. We spent around 5 to 10 minutes looking out and then headed back down. The lawns around the monument are very inviting, so we spread our blankets and let the kids play while we cloud gazed and soaked up the sun.  It was a pretty good afternoon and the monument is totally worth a visit, I am not sure why it took us more than 7 years of living in the city before we visited one of the landmarks. Better late than never!

I had totally bizarre (in a good way though) experience – while I was pushing Nivi’s stroller  apparently my wallet fell off from my backpack and I didn’t even realize it. A couple nearby saw the wallet but didn’t know whom it belonged to, however they had seen someone walk by with a stroller. Few minutes later they saw my husband with a stroller and this guy walks up to him asking did he lose a wallet and obviously my husband says “No”. And then my hubby told me about this encounter, while we were hanging out near the monument waiting to go up. I don’t know why but I have this insane urge to check my backpack and lo and behold, I find my purse missing. I run back to that couple and they hand over the purse to me, I was so thankful to them. They were just packing up, planning to leave and were at odds on whom to hand over the purse. I was so grateful that I didn’t lose my wallet and my IDs, my CCs, library cards, health cards and all the hundreds of things that somehow end up finding its way into your wallet. Just restored my faith in humanity, mostly people are good and will help others as much as they can.

Has something similar happened to you before? 

Mother in law Saga

Well I am a daughter in law (DIL), and like lot of DILs before me, I have a Mother in Law (MIL) who doesn’t like me. I am not sure why she is critical of me, but it just happened. That doesn’t mean we have the saas-bahu fights that you see in Hindi serials, we are far too civil for that. She wouldn’t openly criticize me but I know she is judging me, sometimes I can see her snorting her displeasure, cataloguing my behavior and sharing it with my Sister in Law (SIL). Same thing could be said about me, I don’t criticize on her face or for that matter even tell her that I don’t agree to her thoughts, though I have shared few of her idiosyncrasies with my mom, my friends and many a times with my husband, so I guess that makes us even.

Why is this relationship so hard, is it because it is two women who are unwilling to let go of their control over the way the house is run, the kids are taken care of, and is unwilling to accept other person’s point of view. Why is it that rules are different for a daughter and DIL and I think the same could be said for mother and MIL? Why are we willing to ignore the faults of one person and not of another? Is it because in the case of a mom or a daughter one knows them for a long time and have played a role in molding them or being molded by their love? Why isn’t there similar turmoil in relationship between a son in law and father in law or for that matter a daughter in law and a father in law? Is it because two different genders come into play and we are more accepting of the flaws of the other gender? Again I don’t have any answers but I have been thinking about this for the past few months. And no I don’t think any of this is going to make my relationship better with my mil, I currently see no choice but to just continue the way we are trying to be polite to each other.  The best thing that works in our favor is we don’t see each other often as we live on the different parts of the globe and meet each other only for weeks most of the time. The only exception to this is when she is visiting us, she stays for close to 6 months, but she is not keen on coming back again when she leaves this time, because the travel takes a toll on her. I think that is something we both agree on.

Apparently my mil didn’t have a favorable relationship with her mil too, but that didn’t change a thing for her, and that is something I get to learn from her. I am hoping that when I become a MIL, I will be more cognizant of my relationship with my dil. My relationship woes will make me a better person.!!!