Long cold lonely winter

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6j4TGqVl5g

'Here comes the sun' but the ice is far from completely melting in the longest winter of my life. There have been brief moments when the sun has peaked out and I've felt its warm sunshine soothing my soul. One such moment has been when Bryan received his admission letter from VIT for a B. Tech in Mechanical Engg. When did the years go by? 

We stepped down to the lobby of the building with him all packed for his hostel stay. Monsoon hugged him and wept as it dawned on both of us that the house would be sans the typhoon that blew in and out every day; the untidy room with school books strewn on the study table, the football boots on the window sill, the stinking socks in the dustbin instead of the washing machine and the Man U jersey hanging from a drawing pin on the board meant for posting his school notes. I sat in silence next to him as the car pulled out of our society gate. He asked for a tissue to wipe a tear that rolled down his cheek. The enormity of the task at hand for the next four years of his life had struck him just then. 

I bought him a mattress, buckets, mugs, glasses, mops, dusters and all the other paraphernalia he'd need. He waltzed thru' these two years living in a hostel, washing his own underwear and muck filled T-shirts, eating food from non-negotiable menus at regulated times in the mess, waking up on his own and probably rushing late to his lectures. We celebrated his birthday yesterday with a quiet dinner at 'Le Pain Quotidien'. He is all of twenty now and I can see girls giving him not just second glances. We have a small birthday party scheduled for tonight with our friends that have seen him grow from a thumb suckling baby to the broad shouldered six foot frame that intimidates them now. 

Meanwhile, I had begun running hesitantly about a year ago and even completed a few half marathons at a bumbling pace, a far cry from the breezy gait I possessed. It didn't matter though because it felt good to run again and I clutched my finishing certificates with a prayer on my lips. You will surely find the exhilaration and joy on my face as I come in for the finish at SCMM 2015, refreshingly motivating I hope. My excitement with getting back on the road was short lived because the medication I've been taking since falling ill has caused me to develop an over-active Thyroid. I was punched to the ground once again because the hyper-metabolic state this condition brings on, does not allow even the slightest of exertions without bringing on palpitations; something I've learned to dread.

I've been blighted often in my life and each time I've picked myself up after remembering that to my parents, quitting was never an option. They trudged on like weary travelers on a rock strewn meandering and undulating road. Why should I then not attempt to make a lemonade from the lemons that life hands me? After running 20+ kms several times over the last 8 months, I'm now back to being able to run just 3 kms. Arms akimbo and my chest heaving after just 20 mins of jogging, I shake my head and grin at the vicissitudes in my running life. With that same grin I wag my finger and delude myself that some day after retirement I will run the Comrades :). But when I look at my aging body in the mirror, despair engulfs me with the realization that I'm over the hill and such a goal is surely 'A bridge too far'.

One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful - Sigmund Freud