The ice pond near my home

My family and I have been living in Ottawa, Canada for the past 16 years. My wife Smita moved to Canada 13 years ago. Since then her parents (Mr. Suneet Kumar Srivastava, father, and Mrs. Amita Srivastava, mother) from India have visited Canada once in the summer. I visited their house in India 4 years ago. I insisted that they visit Canada during the winter once so that they can witness the winter for a few weeks and see how life in winter really would be in a cold country. I knew they had a great time during the summer but I wanted to ensure that they had a wonderful time during the winter as well.

I guess my persuasion was satisfactory as in December 2019 they came to Canada for 6 weeks to stay with us. We were very excited, especially my two children (Trisha aged 5 and Krish 2).

After arriving in the winter, my in-laws rested for a few days and then started going for evening walks with me. The cold was too much for them but they still enjoyed it here. It was nice to show them our beautiful city Ottawa and places like Parliament Hill, the Byward Market, different museums, various malls, etc.

One evening my mother-in-law was not feeling well so she stayed home. I asked my father-in-law if he wanted to go on a walk with me. The temperature was -3 degrees centigrade that evening but my father-in-law still went for a walk with me. That evening we went a little farther than usual. On the way back we came across a small pond. This pond has frozen over so it was a frozen pond.

Walking across it would take a few minutes. I started walking on it. My father-in-law hesitated.

Father-in-law: "Are beta (Oh son)! I don't want to walk on ice! I am scared! No, no!"

Me: "Don't worry papa ji. I will help you. It will be fine."

I held his hand and helped him walk on the frozen pond. We were able to cross half of the frozen pond. At that point my father-in-law fell on the ice and hurt himself a little.

Me: "Papa ji, don't panic. I got you!"

I helped him get back on his feet and then slowly walked with him and we were able to cross the frozen pond safely. Now, my home was about a 15 minute walk from there.

Father-in-law: "Beta (son), you are like my son. Thank you for helping me. I am glad that you are part of my family."

Me: "Yes, Papa ji. You are like my father. I am glad to be like a son to you. Ok, let us go home now. It is so cold!"

He nodded his head and we were ready to walk home. Before we did so I gave him a big hug. He smiled. I smiled as well and my eyes got a little teary.

As we were walking towards my home, I was very appreciative that my wife's parents were visiting for a few weeks. It has always been very nice whenever they visit Canada and I hope they will come again in the near future. We were walking slowly and some snow was falling. I looked up towards the sky and the small snowflakes landed on my face. I looked at my father-in-law and said, "Papa ji, thank you for visiting us in Canada. I am so happy that you came." "Me too beta. Let us go home." My father-in-law's words were so nice and we were looking forward to reach home so that we could tell our little experience on the ice pond to our family.