I miss my girlfriends :(

While I am blessed to be surrounded by great friends here in the US, I miss my girl+friends the most!  Most of my friends, who live closer to us are mostly guys that I know through my husband, who knows them through his Phd program.  Now I am not saying that they are not fun or anything, but all you girls know what I am mean.  My BESTEST friend in this Whole Wide Universe, my love, my blessing, my inspiration, my rabb, and much more.. my Mom is in India.. I miss being able to spend as much time as I would like to with her.  Going shopping with her, eating out in fancy restaurants, enjoying tea and coffee together are just some of the things that I miss the most.

My mom and Me, US 2009

Then my brother, bhabhi, and his family are in India.  My in-laws and my sis-in law are in India.  My cousin sis Mandy and my maami are also in India.. all in all no family in the US.

bhabhi ji and me, 2012

Then most of my other girl friends like Shelly, Rajshree, Nidhi, Ruchi, Preeti, and Shivani Ji are in India. My school friends are obviously in India, what the heck!

Shelly, Rajshree, DD, and I were the SPICE girls of Pipal.. My spice girls, I have no pics......
Update- Shelly emailed me a pic of all of us.. yes a collage of 4 facebook profiles, but we are together in this one.. love you shelly!

The Spice Girls, Pipal, Delhi

Preeti Nayyar now Chadha, was my first school friend and the bestest. ...we were inseparable.. no pic Nayyar...

Ritu, me, and Ruchi, Feb 2009, way back in the day

Then my college friends like Binsy, Madhur, Priya Natarajan, Nidhi, are now in different parts of the world.  While some friendships are growing through WatsAPP, others are kind of dormant or at a standstill.

My friend Miz, is in London, has always been there!  I think I have not seen her in over 5-7 years...

Another (friend) Debo, is in India.  I use friends within parentheses, because I don't know where we stand as of today!

A friend Harju, was in US, but she moved to India. Then one of my closest friends is in Florida, same country but different time zones :( and thousands of miles away...we talk for hours on phone and always complain wish we lived closer so that we could just grab each other and enjoy small things like shopping, trip to farmers market, beach walks and much more...and her Mother, my fav. aunty is also in India :((

Harju and me, US 2012, when we met after 10+ years

Uma Aunty and me in India, Dec 2010

Tina and me in Florida, May 2012

Then some of my other friends like Rituparna and DD, who recently moved to the US, are not anywhere close to LA.

Last but not the least, my office is also 85 miles down South, which makes it difficult for me to spend time with some of my work friends like Christine B.,and Dre or develop new friendships with some others like KT, Teresa, E. Ireland, and a few others...

My American Mom Katherine and a very very good friend from  HP days are in Portland area... :(

My American Mom Katherine and me, 2012

Jane and me, 2012

and then there are some like Sangeeta and Smrithi, with whom I shared a fab time, but guess some friendships are temporary!

and others like Indu bhabhi and Malvika, who I would like to know more but one is in Texas and the other one in Germany! And others like Richa, Jhumy, and Chhavi, with whom I was able to spend only a few months...may be more in the future....

Shivani ji, me, Chhavi, and Jhumy, and  the  one who has been cropped! :),  2009

I could go on and on.. but I need to stop now

But before that, I am thankful to select girlfriends I have here like Soudeh, Suzy, and Patty.., my teacher sangeeta maam, who lives in Redding, and all the guy+friends in Irvine..Dont know what would I do without all of you ::) and to all my other friends (guys) they know who they are.. may be one day I will write about you!

Soudeh and me 2009, she still looks the same, while you know how I look

and I will close with this -- "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it sure makes the rest of you lonely."

Last disclaimer - I for sure have forgotten to mention a couple few, but please know that it is not intentional... This space is too short to mention everyone who touched my life!
And to those, I say, please don't shy away from giving me a piece of your mind in the comments below. I deserve it.. :)