by Rudri | Jan 7, 2016 | Children, Fathers/Daughters, Mothers/Daughters, New Beginnings
Tonight will be the last night I tuck you in as a nine-year-old. Ten will greet us in the morning. Ten. I keep repeating this number over and over. Each time, tears brim in the corner of my eyes. I remember your first bath in our home, a small apartment in Texas. I... 
by Rudri | Jul 29, 2015 | Fathers/Daughters, Loss
Two weeks ago, tears streamed down my face while watching a movie in a packed theater. My visceral reaction unleashed a grief I try to keep under wraps. Most of the time I am successful, but in this particular scene, a daughter eulogizes her father at his funeral. I... by Rudri | Jun 21, 2015 | Fathers/Daughters
As a little girl, Sunday mornings meant one thing: donuts. I woke early, opened the door, creeped onto the driveway and fetched the morning paper. Rushing to the dining table, I shuffled through the headlines, grabbed the comic section, the glossy Parade magazine and... 
by Rudri | May 26, 2015 | Fathers/Daughters, Life Lessons, Loss, Love, Memory
We helped my father die in home hospice. The oncologist said those words, the ones that are repeated in hospital rooms, in the middle of alleys and in the back of ambulances, “There is nothing more we can do.” With those seven words, we began participating in his... 
by Rudri | Feb 17, 2015 | Fathers/Daughters, Loss, Love, Memory
As February winds down, I am confronted with the birth of March. It is a month that presents a paradox – the arrival of Spring, but the anniversary of my father’s death. This year will mark six years since we lost him. There are days that I still struggle... by Rudri | Nov 24, 2014 | Fathers/Daughters, Loss, Love, Memory
It happened during a break from writing. I looked at my morning coffee mug at the corner of my desk, recognizing the stale smell of what’s forgotten in the air. The afternoon sun beamed through the slits of my office window. I glanced at my watch, knowing that... 
Welcome! I am a lawyer turned freelance writer, essayist, and editor. On staff at Literary Mama and the co-founder and co-editor of the literary journal, The Sunlight Press, my essays and reported work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily, Saveur, Civil Eats, Brain, Child, ESPN and elsewhere. I am currently at work on a memoir on grief and culture and how it provides perspective on life’s ordinary graces. I invite you to appreciate the ordinary with me. I hope my daily practice of seeing the magic in the mundane helps you celebrate and find more of these moments in your life too. Read More