May 26, 2007

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've had the chance to post a message. A year ago today, we performed that last and final rites for my mom; we spread her ashes in a place where she would be at peace. Its hard to imagine that a whole year has gone by. Coincidently, with a little encouragement from an uncle of mine, I am spending the weekend volunteering at the Special Olympics held at Emory University. My mom had a special thing for people who overcame physical and mental adversities. She didn't say much about it; it's not like we had great scholarly/philosophical discussions about what life was like for people with chronic health problems. But her actions and her facial expressions were worth a thousand words. I remember visiting Yosemite National Park with my parents about 8 years ago. We spent a week touring the park and enjoying nature and puting our feet in every body of water we could find. One morning as we were walking around taking pictures with my father, when mom and I noticed a group of mountain climbers. We were both pretty excited and walked towards them so that we could get a better glimpse of these adventurous individuals. Mom and I realized that there was a paraplegic mountain climbers amongst the group and we both were so excited and curious. Most of you who know my mother know can imagine her reaction..."Ehh, RAJ, jo to..loook mountaineering people over up there!!" We had Dad zoom in on the group as they were pretty far up the mountain and not visible to the naked eye. We saw a man climbing several thousand feet above group using mainly his upper body strength. All three of us were pretty amazed at his skill and inspired by what one could achieve despite some significant physical challenges. When I signed up to volunteer this weekend, I didn't realize that it was this particular weekend that last year, I said my final goodbye. It must have been her wish from up above that I take this opportunity to be amazed and inspired by some awesome atheletes.