After 35 years my mom is off to India for a visit.
Can you imagine? 35 years is a few year shy of my whole life! So much has happened in that time. She was very excited! Her immediate family have all lived in the States for many, many years. As she goes back to her town, she will meet cousins and extended family. My mom probably hasn’t comprehended the extent to which her country has changed. As my brother and her were planning things, she would mention that ‘there’s a great eatery here” … probably not realizing that so much time has gone by.
I hope it is a trip that is full of good health and she doesn’t get sick. I hope that her heart is full when she leaves of amazing memories. A trip of a lifetime. I wish …
Well life is funny how things turn out. The last time I was in India, I was 5 years old. I have some select memories of things that happened. I remember us boarding a train from one town to another. We all got in except my dad. He got left behind, for some reason. I remember the look of panic on my mom’s face. I remember eating Tang on the train. Obviously my dad found us and all was well. I remember us climbing stairs to my grandma’s apartment. We knocked. My dad’s mom, Takuma, as we called her, had no idea we were coming. When she opened the door, there stood three kids. She had never met us. Then my dad came around the corner. My grandma started to cry. I love that memory.
My dad’s whole family, with the exception of one sister, still lives in India. It is kind of weird to think that I have a whole bunch of aunts, uncles and cousins who I don’t know. I love that through modern technology, Facebook, I have “seen” some of them. I love that we can at least have a superficial relationship, with the occasional chatter.
It’s funny… for so many years, well for my whole life, I thought that so many of my parents quirks were just them. You know how especially as a teen you see your parents as strange? The funny thing is as my curiousity grows about all things Indian, I realize that so much of their quirks were really just part of their culture.
I can’t wait to go to India. Soon… very soon… Well, here’s hoping!