Ashwin was eight months old the first time he landed in India. His parents wanted him to know where he came from before he was old enough to remember the flight. That instinct to root their children deeply while opening the world to them is the thread that runs through everything the Parikh family does.
For Dr. Kati Parikh, a trauma surgeon at Ascension Sacred Heart, and Dr. Nisarg Parikh, owner of Star Smiles Dentistry in Gulf Breeze, life is not predictable. It is intentional. Their story began at Florida State University, where they met through a co-ed chemistry fraternity. Friendship came first. They made it official on New Year's Day 2007 and married at First Baptist Church in Pensacola in 2012—a relationship built not on shared backgrounds but on shared values. "We grew up very differently," Kati says. "But we had the same core values—family first, kindness, honesty, respect and education."
For Nisarg, those values were forged watching his parents pursue the American dream. His father immigrated from India alone, worked multiple jobs, then sent for the family. His parents purchased a convenience store and worked seven days a week for decades to build something better. "My parents worked nonstop," he recalls. "Everything we have today comes from their sacrifices."
Now the Parikhs are passing those lessons to Ashwin and Aidan through a family culture built on connection, curiosity and perspective. "We're trying to broaden their view that we're not just local," Nisarg says. "We're also global. There's a big world out there."
Beyond India, the family has explored France, Spain and the Dolomites. While some families measure vacations by attractions, the Parikhs measure them by what their boys discover on their own. In France, despite a day at Disney Paris, the boys' favorite memories were finding a creek and the freedom to roam. In Mallorca, surrounded by vineyards, orange groves, goats and donkeys, they picked oranges straight from the trees."If you ask them what their favorite orange in the world is, they'll tell you the Mallorca oranges," Kati says with a laugh. She is honest about what family travel looks like. "It's work," she says. "But the goal is to open their eyes to the world." The payoff is perspective no classroom can teach.
That philosophy shapes gifts too. For years, the boys received experiences instead of presents: a rented pony for a birthday, a Christmas in the Dolomites. A Nintendo recently made it into the house, now that Ashwin is nine. Kids remember what they did, not what they unwrapped. Those experiences are already shaping Ashwin and Aidan's dreams. Ashwin has developed a passion for engineering, while Aidan talks about working alongside Mom and Dad one day. At home, values show up in smaller moments. Years ago at an Easter egg hunt, an older girl shared her eggs with Ashwin after he arrived too late. The family still talks about it."We remind them how that felt," Kati says. "Then we talk about how they can make someone else feel included."The same goes for accountability. "You can't control everything around you. You can only control yourself and how you respond."
Managing two medical careers while raising children requires planning and support. Kati relies on a monthly calendar to coordinate schedules and commitments. Rather than traditional daycare, the Parikhs invest in a permanent nanny who bridges the gaps that surgeries and on-call shifts create. Two medical careers don't leave much left in the tank," Kati says. "Having support at home means that when we're with our kids, we're actually with them."For Nisarg, the balance looks different, but the commitment runs just as deep. Between his practice, his patients, and his role as the steadier hand at home, showing up sometimes means being the one who keeps everything else from falling. "We're on the same team," he says.
That team is tested in ways most families never face. There are moments when her children don't understand why she can't be there at a school event, a bedtime, a moment that won't come back. She feels every absence. But she has stood beside patients in their worst moments, when fear is the only thing in the room. She carries what happens there with her."The impact I have on people in the hardest moments of their lives," she says, "that matters." Kati has never believed it has to be a choice. Success is showing up fully for both, proving it every day.
Their goal remains simple: a "storybook childhood" for Ashwin and Aidan filled with adventure, connection, and the certainty that they are deeply loved. Whether it's "kissy attacks" at home or a hand-squeeze that means I love you, the moments matter. When asked about her legacy, Kati's answer goes far beyond medicine. She wants to be remembered for helping people, patients, colleagues, her boys, a stranger in the grocery store. The impact she leaves on others matters more than any title.
While medicine will always be part of their story, the Parikhs have found that their most meaningful work happens long after the scrubs come off. It's in the memories they create, the values they pass on, and the life they are building together.
"We're trying to broaden their view that we're not just local. We're also global.
* Dr. Nisarg Parikh
"My kids don't always understand why I can't be there. But the impact I have on people in the hardest moments of their lives that matters."
*Dr. Kati Parikh