The year 2022

The three publications above would symbolise the happenings in our lives which Anna and I experienced during the year 2022. 

The publication, Bird Movements around our home-Inner responses, was a summary of our encounters and enlargements since we came to live in our cottage in the village ten years ago. The feathered visitors brought the garden to life through the day, with their presence, bird calls and movements between flight stations. Anna was able to summarise the insights that we received as we watched the avians and received the messages they bought to us. Our formative journey since coming to live in the cottage continued through different strands of experiences. One significant contribution came from the birds, who 'befriended' us by making our garden their residence or made it their regular flight station. They came to greet us where we are! They became a metaphor for the Good Shepherd, who gos searching for the one sheep! 

The second publication, Accompany Your Child, was a handbook published in the fortieth year  since ASHRIVAD trust was formed to engage neuro-developmentally challenged children. This is a facilitator for developmental monitoring of children at home by observant parents, who are briefed about the different domains of child development, which they can oversee and record, when a child shows signs of developmental delay. It became a good document, for families for providing home based learning support for their children. Thanks to Shalini Shaji who helped in compiling it and Anna who edited and formatted it for publication. In one sense, it was a consolidation of thought process that began in 1983, when Anna and I began our activities for Neuro-developentally challenged children at the Child Development Centre  of ASHIRVAD at Chennai. Anna and I remember many professionals who contributed to enlarge our thinking, who were our colleagues at Chennai, Developmental Paediatrics Units at CMC Vellore and MOSC Medical college, Kolenchery. 

The third publication, the, Flowers for the Year, a  table calendar for 2023, was conceived by Anna who gathered photos of flowers from our collection and presented it as a visually friendly calendar. It is a 40th anniversary publication of ASHIRVAD trust. The flowers that are presented, mostly from our garden and few from the wayside, brought cheer and refreshment to us. The flowers add a charm  to the garden. The butterflies, honey bees  and birds come visiting for nectar through out the year. The flowers are for others! That message keeps surfacing in our mind as we grow older! Each day is added to our lives to live mindfully of others. It is when others live in our mind space, we can live fully and purposefully!

Anna and I say farewell to the year 2002, with gladness and gratefulness for the gift of days added to our lives. We felt touched when others reached out to us to enquire and encourage.  

We now move on to the threshold of the year 2023, remembering that it is 'in God we live, move and have our being'!

Life that is before us is yet another opportunity to live gratefully!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)