Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
My parents came to the US from India about five years before I was born. What is really cool about my upbringing is that it effortlessly melded together my Indian roots and my American identity. Immigrant families assimilate to varying degrees and in different ways. My family managed to acclimate to American life handily while retaining strong connections to Indian culture, language and food. One way we were able to achieve this was through relationships with what are usually known as “family friends.”

I think of family friends as two or more families in which all of the adults are friends, so the entire crew, children included, spend a lot of time together. The town I grew up in happens to have a significant Indian American population, and many of us knew each other socially. To this day, many of my close friends are from this pool, and our moms and dads are good friends too. It’s like having second family. Sometimes these makeshift families can get competitive as is human nature, but when times are tough you can really see how much we all care about each other. A few years ago I had a tiff with a friend that lasted for months. Even in the midst of it, I knew her family would do anything for mine and vice versa.

I think of myself still as the “kid” in the family friend equation. Yet recently I’ve been thinking about all of the good friends I’ve made over the years, particularly since college. When we were in our early twenties, we were just figuring out who we were. But now, we’re moving up in our careers, getting married, having children, worrying about our own parents. And through it all, we are there for each other. Our children are meeting and bonding, too. Lo and behold, my own little family as family friends, and I’m the adult here! Nothing has made me feel more grown up that this. Haley, not me, is the one being thrown into friendships because my old pal has a “kid your age.” It’s mind-boggling to think that these relationships are being passed down to another generation. When I think about what I want out of life, this is a big part of it. I hope we can make these connections last, and that Haley will continue to have both family and friends that have known her forever and will care for her always.