Last few months in review…

Here's why I've been MIA from blogger land...

• Mom’s in town for the summer as usual. All goes well and she heads back to Dubai
• Miss India Arizona pageant stuff as usual… the saga continues
• I go to CO for the National Sai Young Adult Leadership conference – I’m a regional YA rep
• Mom lets her heart rule her mind and decides to come back to AZ for 2weeks to celebrate Pari’s 1st b’day
• Right after Pari’s b’day on oct 8th I’m in CO for a week – tonsa college recruitment trips in CO Springs and Denver.
• The trip culminates with me attending the Sai retreat in CO.
• We’re wrapping stuff up and waiting to head back to AZ and my phone rings. Day’s of no cell signal but it rings! My sister tells me about the earthquake in Hawaii. They’re all stranded! Mom, Pari, my sister and Jiju.
  I get home to AZ and start figuring out alternatives for mom to get back to Dubai. They finally get back to AZ in one piece. Shaken up, but back. I drop mom off the next morning.
• A few days later I find out that I need to have a visa appointment and actually get my H1 renewal stamped in my passport if I leave the country! There are no visa dates available in Dubai. If I can’t get it stamped before I head there, I can’t go! So now I’m trying to figure out getting it stamped in Canada.
• A week or 2 after mom heads to Chennai because my grandfather(thatha) is critical. Multiple cardiac blocks, failing kidneys, potential for prostate cancer etc. things are really bad and finally my mama and mom decide to move thatha to an assisted living home. It’s a better situation for him and much more hygienic and healthy. Mom’s understandably upset, but she understands it’s for the best. And hopefully he’ll get better enough to travel and stay with her in Dubai.
  In the meanwhile I’m waiting to hear back from Canada with an appointment date. There were none. So I had to go through the exception category to try and get a visa date.
• Mom gets back to Dubai and of course, she falls sick. After all the exhaustion and stress from one travel after another her immune system gives up. She’s on antibiotics that don’t really do much. Dad catches whatever mom has and now he’s coughing away! Will my parents ever admit that they’re growing older physically?
• I get a visa date, book my tickets for Detroit where I will hopefully get my Canadian visa. I will then cross the border, get my US visa stamped hopefully and head back.
  Mom calls that night and says they finally got a date in Dubai! I decide to go for that instead and cancel Canada plans.
• It’s Sunday – the week after mom gets back from Chennai – and I get a call in the morning from mom. “Rams, Manni Patti passed away a few hours ago”. That’s dad’s mom. Yup, dad’s mom passed away. Not mom’s dad! She was 89. but healthy. Dad’s on his way to Chennai now to do the last rites. His annual pilgrimage trip is cancelled now.
  I’m numb. I want to cry and I want to deal with whatever I’m feeling. But I don’t know what i’m feeling and how to get in touch with my emotions.
• It’s Saturday night now – almost a week later – and I get a call from my sister. It’s almost 11pm and I have already talked to her a few times about stuff for the Discover India show the next day. So I’m debating answering. But I do anyways. And she’s having a meltdown on the phone… “Ramya, mummy just called…thatha just died!” “what! Are you serious?” “Ya. Mummy called and she’s freaking out. She’s heading home to figure stuff out and leave” “ok I’ll call her” “rams, are you ok?” “no….”
  I’m finally sobbing. The emotions finally come rushing through. 3more weeks and I would’ve been there. I could’ve seen them. No grandparents anymore. None for my wedding, none for Pari to see, none… I know they're still with us. But…luckily for me Dipti and Jignesh walked in right at that moment and stayed up till 2am consoling me, making sure I was drinking water and eating something. I really miss having them at home.
• Mom head’s to Chennai and she figures out a temp solution for our dog. But I’m stressed and praying that nothing happens to the dog. We won’t be able to take it.
• Mom comes back to Dubai after the cremation. She tells me all about how thatha looked so peaceful and the best thing they did for him was move him to the home. He listened to veda chanting everyday, ate at the right times, befriended folks etc. I was relieved to finally hear the calmness in mom’s voice.
• Dad gets back to Dubai after the ceremonies for Patti. Mom leaves to go back to Chennai for 10th day ceremonies.
• She’s finally back and is now stressing out about finishing IHS coursework with her students, before the exams.
• I think it’s all over…how much more can really happen in a short span anyways?
  Life has something different in store for me... I get locked out of my apt! had to call the locksmith and deal with that whole drama.
• I’m finally ready to head to Dubai for my vacation. I planned it in June and bought tickets….
  If you were playing the guess what happens next game, you guessed right! Nothing is ever simple in my life. So more roadblocks face me. You’ll have to read the next post to hear about that. Yes, there’s enough to have a whole other post!