Letters to My Daughter

Sometimes we need a facelift. It looks like Blogger has a new (inter)face. Since this is the first change I've seen to Blogger since I started 7 years ago, I have decided to start anew, with an introduction.  Hello, my name is Sadia.  I am a Project Manager at a nonprofit consulting organization in New York City. We provide capacity building expertise and strategic consulting in 3 major areas: resource development, governance and special events. I am responsible for tracking outcomes, program support, marketing and communications, and new business development.    I have extensive marketing, program support and monitoring experience in the nonprofit and private sectors. I've basically grown up within the nurturing spaces of NYC nonprofits like South Asian Youth Action, where I served a Board member, and  Sadie Nash Leadership Project , which helps NYC youth become life-long leaders.  My greatest achievement was starting  Remembering...

My weekends, as you know, consist mostly of cooking (you can see my labor manifest in the photo) and catching up on housework. I wash hundreds of plates, cups and pans by hand for our family of 5. I never use the dishwasher, since I would have to load and load it at least 4 times, or wait 80 minute intervals until the cycle ends. Also on the weekends, I relax with my Atlantic monthly at panera bread. I love paying my bills, and analyzing my expenses on mint.com and EEBA. Besides my usual errands and list of responsibilities, this Saturday, I slept for 14 hours straight, from 4pm to 6am the following morning. I was so tired, my molecules were so in need of repair, that I was knocked out for an entire day. This was the source of grief in my household. Every weekend, my husband naps for 2-3 hours, after each game, so sometimes 4-6 hours total between Saturday and Sunday. I had an early night--4pm in the afternoon is a VERY early night--and roughly the same allotment of time except in ...

Last night, my husband and I attended the UPenn MSA Alumni banquet, where we saw some friends that we have grown with over the past 6 years. I remember the first banquet dinner I attended in 2007, when Mohamed and I had gotten back from hajj. As the wife of the alumnus, I felt strange to be there simply as a "wife." There were a few wives I met at that first banquet, and many MANY weddings I have attended since then (maybe 8 Upenn weddings). I witnessed the pool of banquet attendees gradually increase from 30 to 40 to 60, as people got married and started their families.  The only markers of that time that has passed is the children. Once you get married, there really is no other progress to indicate the health of a relationship other than a child--and perhaps the fact that you are still married. It is quite a strange deliverable and marker, but I believe this is the marker set by my particular community. After 6 years, I am at times still struggling in this role of "w...