In January, I flew 4,473 miles to spend 24 hours with you. You flew 3,986, and bought me dinner. Also in January, you made me pull on a third sweater, because you “had to keep your Pakistani warm.” You taught me the word for the dumplings I loved: pelmene. In…

Say ‘thank you’ always, and quickly when you mean it most. Perhaps a little girl could benefit more from hearing “You’re so creative!” Or, “Wow, you seem so joyful!” than “You look so pretty in that dress!” Print out simple things like where the laundry basket is, and the Wi-Fi…

Today marks the start of that last grand stand. The sun shines in its annual radiant defiance, throwing up its brightest rays to blind you — a challenge before the inevitable sweep of autumn steals our hearts away. It’s true, you know, that autumn is so much easier to love…

Five years from today. — I don’t quite know what you look like. Sometimes, when I let myself dream, I see you laughing in the soft city lights, on a cold terrace, with a cup of tea in your hands and friends all around you. I notice the laugh lines around your mouth, and crow’s…

Dear reader, I grew up knowing “if it didn’t kill you, it only made you stronger”. I grew up knowing that women cried — superfluously, often, at the drop of a hat. I grew up knowing it was so inconvenient when this happened, because it put the other, non-crying person in such…

A short story — You’re not fat… You’re not fat… You’re not fat… I look down at myself with twelve year old eyes, wet with tears. The jeans won’t fit. The flimsy waistband stares up at me, open zipper like a right angle, it’s stretched so far apart. Like a mouth that can’t be…

Four days before the ball dropped in December last year, I decided I would finally stop apologizing. I had somehow fallen into the habit of apologizing for everyone else’s feelings, my preferences, and a lot in between. …