Milestones

  Milestones

It was a beautiful sunny day. Flowers bloomed, leaves started to crisp up, and trees whispered to the wind. That month of May was filled with a variety flowers and beds of wet grass, and the colors reflected on the ground, creating an illusion of pigmented air.

We were all ready.

Everyone had waited for this day to come, partly because they wanted to put an end to me waking up, and wanting company. The anticipation really got over me, I didn’t even know if I was breathing properly or not! It was like ice flakes, tickling my spine layer by layer. Cars and trucks zoomed past my ear, leaving a gush of wind in the warm air. The boiling sun melted on my head, and then subsided with a cool breeze. Before I knew it, my footsteps slowed down, and the sun faded away, leaving distant golden rays around the rims of the windows. There were posters and signs, dragging me through the hallway behind my mom. Fingers pointed towards a room, and there we were, in a waiting room, my mom laying on a cart-ish bed, my dad sitting in a chair. I was with my mom, constantly taking selfies. The darkness, and a mild smell of peach swam around the room. After some time, trails of walking echoed in the nearby hallway, getting louder and clearer by ever step.

“We’re ready,” two nurses cheerfully chorused, holding the door to drag my mom out of the door.

“Who is going with her?”

My dad stood up, and he was gone too.

I then sat down, not knowing what to expect. I had woken up totally fresh and energized, but the more I waited, the more I started to feel nervous and weary. All the emotions I had had inside were banging simultaneously.

The telephone suddenly rang, disturbing the peace in the room. I checked the time frantically,

What, it has been an hour already?

The telephone rang again. I picked it up reluctantly. I started to ponder over so many thoughts while a vague voice was talking to me.

“Come down to the first floor, Vainavi,” my dad gently demanded.

I wanted to ask him so many questions, but I felt so hampered. There was no time to waste. I darted towards the elevator, then flew across the hallway swinging my arms, and letting the wind carry it for me.

I halted.

There I saw my dad, gently smiling at a cart- two carts sorry, and he glanced at me from a distance. That’s when I started to get the shivers from face to toe, and toe to face.

I darted some more, not caring how the wind was treating my arms. I felt shaky, I felt weird. I was confused. All of the feelings I had, melted down. I couldn’t handle it. It just exploded-

Suddenly, it all blanked out.

           I looked down in front of me, and my hands felt numb. I couldn’t believe what I saw, I wasn’t prepared for that moment. I didn’t know what to do, and all I wanted to do was slow down and stop s-s-hhh-aki-ng.

           I just kept on staring at the carts, my eyes reflecting down to fragile skin, and eyes closed. I needed someone to hide my face and emotions, so I just threw my arms around my dad- who was astonished for a second, and buried my face as deep as possible. I could see people passing by, some stopping to take a look, so I knew that I wasn’t fully covered. But no one knew that behind my arms and hair, tears were trickling down my cheeks. Only my dad could sense my movement and breathing. I was overwhelmed and excited, but a bit shocked and stiff, and I never knew getting two siblings together would be so weird! I sped across the same, familiar hallways, and restlessly waited to reach the 3rd floor in the waiting room.

             (DURING THIS TIME, I WAS JUST TRYING TO TAKE IN WHAT I SAW.)

          It did hit me though, when I got to know that they were premature, and my brother was in the ICU because he had some breathing problems, but the doctors said he was going to be perfectly fine in a few days, and that currently, my sister was in the nursery, sleeping with other babies. So I relaxed, bringing my arms back from the wind.

           The moment I saw my sister, peacefully sleeping, while others were crying I said,

“Mark my words, she is going to be the cutest, calmest, and the sharpest girl in this nursery- although, she would be a little shy!”

After a few days, when my brother arrived in the room where my mom was staying, I felt like he would be the naughtiest, and the most social. Turns out that a year later, my sister (Parisa) is a total tomboy. She is super interested in sports, books, and music. She is super talkative, and is the boss who runs the whole house. I was right though, when I said she was going to be sharp and cute! My brother (Panav), on the other hand, is naughty, yet very shy. He is his mom’s boy, and isn’t fully attached to me yet… but I’m almost there!

“OUWWWW!! LEAVE MY HAIR!”

Now, when I think about all the responsibilities that come along with having the pleasure to be a big sister, I also think that wow, I am such a lucky person that every morning when I wake up, the first thing I see are my brother and sister on my bed, laughing and waking me up! I think about every time I would feel like I needed some company. I realize that this is one of those times, that will never forget no matter how matter how many years pass by,

and no matter how many milestones are complete.