Highlights of Amma's Trip

Amma will be leaving in just 2 weeks... the time has gone by too fast. She's been here with us since the end of August and we will miss her a lot when she goes home. There are so many friends and family back in India waiting for her return, so we must let her go. During her visit we have run the gamut from spending lazy days at home to shopping all the local thrift stores to sight-seeing out of state.

She visited New Mexico, Niagara Falls, Denver and the Rocky Mountains. She reached the summit of Pikes Peak by train and immensely enjoyed the view from 14,000 ft. She met and became close with several Indian families from our town. She engaged herself in a few heated, but fun political debate sessions with one of our close friends. She ensured that we celebrated all the Hindu festivals properly... which sadly we do not do when she is not around to help us. She entertained three groups of my friends by teaching them Indian cooking, making them laugh and quizzing them afterwards. She invited and has been invited to several dinners with a variety of friends, each time wowing them with her fabulous cooking. Although she had a lot of fun with all these activities, they are not among the top entries in her most memorable experiences.

On Monday night this week, my neighbor took her finally to a place which she'd been asking to see since her arrival. Unfortunately, I had something else going on so I could not join them, so imagine my disappointment when she came home talking about what a great time she had and how it was her favorite thing from the past 4 months. They went downtown to the local soup kitchen to feed the homeless. My mother-in-law, who really cannot stand the smell or even the sight of any meat, served pasta with beef in it to those in great need. She asked a lot of questions of my neighbor about the shelter and I can only imagine she was as curious as a child with her eyes wide open observing the whole night closely. She is in her element when she is helping people. It is her passion and it's very inspirational to me and everyone around her. Luckily, she traveled with her camera and we have a couple of pictures from the night. Thanks again Laura for helping make these memories for Amma!





Turns out that this morning I had the good fortune of being with her when she added another thing to her list of "most memorable moments". Together we worked out the details of a slideshow on Indian culture and she presented it to a classroom full of first graders. The kids called her Paatti and were thrilled to have a real visitor from India joining them. Amma talked for almost an hour and the kids were engaged the whole time... of course, she'd promised them a yummy Indian sweet after the lecture. :)



I really admire Amma for stepping out of her comfort zone and making these fun plans during her visit this time. She really knows how to keep herself busy... one thing for sure, Amma doesn't have a lazy bone in her body.