While I was on the east coast with Vivian back in Fall, Jo and I reached a milestone of being married for 19 years, a nice round number in base 19 I suppose. Jo and Evan were back in Austin. I called a good florist in Austin who was willing to go through a bouquet flower by flower. I replicated the colors of our wedding centerpieces and made sure that there were no lilies. This is the photo they sent when they dropped it off reluctantly at our doorstop (“Sir, it’s 76 degrees and sunny in Austin and the flowers shouldn’t be outside for long”).

It has been a good 19 years. For the first two, Jo and I travelled a lot. The next 17 were keeping the kids alive. Somewhere in there we spent two different years living or traveling abroad. My dad lived with us in Austin for one year. For the last year we have been involved in a back-yard redo. We’ve made it through that and are still mostly nice to one other. Two years ago I got back to working for the first time in our marriage and Jo hasn’t yet flipped. But she 100% oversaw Evan’s high school application process, is the adult in the room for Vivian’s college apps, keeps the fridge and pantry stocked for their lunches and snacks, and plans all the travel. I occasionally count ‘em to make sure we still have two kids.

When we met 19 years ago I changed the oil in my car and mowed the lawn. I couldn’t tell you where the oil filter is or has been in the last half a dozen cars I’ve owned. Things change. But as I finish this post that I started six months ago and watch Jo and Vivian and Evan discuss playlists over an outdoor lunch in El Valle where we are for spring break, I do know a few things that thankfully haven’t changed.

Here’s to the next 19, sweetheart. Happy belated anniversary : – )

Last month we welcomed the newest member of the fam, the first of the next generation among all six Clark and Chatterjee siblings, Quinn and Noah’s lovely baby B. He is the chillest kid ever and he even snuggled up to my belly. The last baby in the family was 13 years ago. As you can imagine, the ladies are bonkers over the handsome fellow. Carol is officially a great grand mama and Jo is a great aunt. Nicolle and Michelle are very proud grandmas. Vivian and Evan had fun meeting their second cousin, and in approximate Hindi/Bengali-to-English family naming schemes, their nephew, B.

B – welcome to planet earth and the family.

Over the last couple of months the kids and I have travelled one kid at a time a few times. Vivian and my trip to Brooklyn was sandwiched between two trips with Evan for soccer, the first to Memphis, and the second to Mesa. Jo and I aren’t particularly rabid soccer parents. Evan isn’t a bad soccer player. He tolerates playing the game. But he has no interest in soccer outside his play – he would not be able to pick Messi in a lineup. Till this year we and Evan’s friends’ parents had opted for a local league. Most games were in Austin with occasional matches in San Antonio and tournaments in Houston. For completely accidental reasons that I am to blame for, this year Evan and a few of his friends have ended up in a team that plays in the local league in San Antonio and a regional travel league. Which is why we are on our way to Mesa. I am secretly hoping the boys bomb so we don’t have to travel to California for the nationals next. Odds are in my favor. This is a new team and needs to play together for a bit to be less sucky. They are beating every team in the local league and getting their asses handed to them in the travel league. A teammate’s mother has taken it upon herself to be the team photographer. She is pretty good. Thanks to her, here are some of Evan’s antics from the field. 

Mesa was a blast. Not because they won. In fact they lost every game. But we were there to have a good time. Some of these kids were together at Magellan years ago. The parents meet at the sidelines often twice a weekend and three times at practice so we know each other well. Evan and I had gone to Milan last year with one of these boys and his dad.

One night the boys celebrated a birthday with a zombie escape room experience. Then we went out for a super cheesy fun dinner at Beni Hana. Yes, they still do the volcano and the Japanese egg roll. We saw The Marvels in Imax and then cruised a retro mall (I don’t think they knew it was retro) till closing time. The kids raced RC cars and bought retro (by design) clothing from an Adidas store.

The Phoenix area is a sprawl in the desert. Highways and malls and big box stores and single family developments stretch in every direction. I managed to get out one morning and hike in the South Mountain Preserve. But we mostly drove back and forth to the tournament facilities and ate and drank and chatted. I dare say Evan enjoyed himself.