Gratitude: 2017 and I

2017 was one of the best years of my life. I didn’t do anything extraordinary, but it was all about spending quality time with family and discovering new friendships. It was also full of surprises, travel, a good life and flourishing. After a terrible couple of years, such a year was like a breath of fresh air in my life.

Gratitude: Looking Back on 2017

January

2017 started with a bang. P successfully executed a plan to surprise me(that is something, you know!) and I spent the New Years at Dehradun and Mussoorie. He took me to the Indian Military Academy where he recalled his days as a Gentleman Cadet, going through strenuous pieces of training. He showed me the first rope he had climbed in the obstacle course, the puddles of muddy water he had to crawl through, the balance, the hang, the jump – all kinds of tactical movement used in combat. We then went to the Queen of Hills, Mussoorie where I met one of my favorite authors – Ruskin Bond and got two of his books autographed.

Dad visited us in Jan and P and I made sure that he takes a dip in the holy waters of Ganga at both Haridwar and Rishikesh. Yeah, the ice cold water in the month of January. It was also Dad’s first dine-in experience at Barbeque Nation. We also headed to IMA (again), Forest Research Institute and to New Delhi visiting Qutub Minar and Lotus Temple. I won the BlogRock Awards, was one of the finalists in Orange Flower Awards and was nominated at the IFBA as well.

February

You know that February is my favorite month of the year – it is always about love, happiness, and smiles as we celebrate our Wedding Anniversary at the beginning of the month and my birthday at the end. Our Anniversary celebrations weren’t anything spectacular. I recall my friend saying, “It’s just the fourth anniversary and you are already behaving like an old couple”, but I knew in my heart that this was the best anniversary we had till date. He wasn’t with me the last year and so…

…knowing that he was right next to me, the comfort of his silence, looking at our wedding photographs together, sipping wine, the kisses, the dance in the balcony at midnight chupke se without waking up the neighbors were all the best moments of the day. 

We also took our first international trip together and that meant me celebrating my birthday lunching at the one and only Grotto,Rayavadee overlooking the pristine white sands of Krabi island. We were drooling over the powdery beaches, limestone cliffs, turquoise water bodies, lush green forest, Buddhist temples, and the food of Thailand. Two weeks went by in a jiffy, ticking off so many things from my bucket list and you know all about that from my April A to Z posts.

March and April

March saw us unwinding and relaxing at home and celebrating P’s birthday with close friends. April was all about the A to Z Challenge as I recalled every single bit of our Thailand journey through 26 posts. It was also a month of culinary awakening as I attempted to cook 26 delicacies from India, on my food blog. I wouldn’t have dared to cook half of the recipes, including Aloo Paratha, Gulab Jamun, Medu Vada and Samosa, if not for the challenge. My heart fills with joy and gratitude as I say that many bloggers/friends including Parul, Ruchi and Tina had tried my recipes and they had sent me pictures as well. Wowza!

May

May saw us confused and bewildered as our posting came. But that also meant that more traveling was in our cards. My parents and sister visited us this month and we again visited Haridwar and Rishikesh and was fortunate to attend the Ganga Aarti.

June and July

June was about visiting Dehradun again with the little sister and roaming around like little kids at the Malsi Deer Park. After P’s exams, we headed to Rishikesh again and that was when I had a soulsearching experience as P went about with his work. I also started writing for one of my favorite Blogging communities – the Write Tribe. I’m so glad that I got this opportunity. Back home we began packing our home into boxes to head to the next station.

..and we went on a tiring, but an adventurous road trip in July to Chota Kailash – Pithoragarh. While I reveled in what nature had to offer in this stunning place, I gasped in horror when I found the state of my windowless kitchen in our new accommodation. Perks of being an Army Wife!

But I couldn’t brood over it for more than a couple of days as I realized the nature of his work.

August

Heavy rains were in store for us in August and that meant getting a call at 2 am and husband gearing up for a rescue mission. Rains and hills don’t gel well together! The roads were blocked due to heavy landslides and the fog, rainfed muddy waters, humongous rocks falling from the hill right in front of the vehicles weren’t helping as well.

And as much as I would like to hold my tears back, put on a brave face or smile warmly to his subordinates who comes in with a cup of coffee every now and then, just to check up on me, I tried my best not to let loneliness and fear set in and bother. 

September

September saw my blogs celebrating their fourth and third anniversary. I cooked up a storm at Something’s Cooking from Falafels to Corn Cheese Croquettes, to Coffee Spiced Chicken. We also went back to Roorkee, because yes! P had secured the Gold Medal from the IIT. His Dad visited us and of course, we had to head to Haridwar and Rishikesh again to offer thanks to Ganga Maiya. October and November saw me running around the house with my furbabies – Simba was like my baby.

Oh! I’m missing this idiot!

It was also kind of a wake-up call when I found that I was sick. But yeah, that meant taking some life-altering decisions.

October, November, and December

My sister got engaged, and I packed my bags to attend BNLF by Indiblogger. I met some of my favorite bloggers, made new friendships and came back home to Pithoragarh to brave the cold. Yup, it is about 3 to 4 degrees here, but I find myself having fun this winter. Though I am lethargic most of the time (now you know why I don’t blog often), I love winters because the local market is always brimming with fresh greens. I am cooking some healthy recipes and I am sorta becoming a vegetarian. Na, not happening! 🙂 P gave me the shock of my life when he said we can meet the Bollywood stars – Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra who was here for their movie shoot. He gave me 15 minutes to get ready. Phew! Men, I tell you.

We celebrated Christmas and I was on cloud nine when I laid out the Christmas feast. I made chocolate cupcakes out of nothing, on a steamer (because I couldn’t even get Cocoa powder or vanilla essence here!).

P is kinda sad that we cannot spend our New Years at any place exotic. But I’m just glad that we are already in a beautiful region, far from the maddening crowd, with a view to die for and can spend our days wrapped in each other’s arms.

So that’s it. How was 2017 for you?

❤ ツ ✿

I am so grateful for this year because it was simply amazing!

All thanks to friends and family!

I am looking forward to 2018 with a grateful heart!

❤ ツ ✿

I am linking up with Sanch and Corinne for Friday Reflections. This is one of my favorite weekly prompt and the prompt for this week is Looking back on 2017.

Oh! this 2018, I am hosting it on my blog with Corinne. Hope you’ll join us. As usual, all you’ve to do is write on any of the given prompts of the week, link your post and spread the love by visiting other bloggers. More details, soon.

Also linking to:

Gratitude Circle at Vidya Sury,

Gratitude 2017 at Shailaja and Chatty Blogs at Shantala.