It has been a year now, since my mother moved to her new home, moving across continents. Such a big change at any stage of life is challenging but to make it in her late seventies with failing memory has to be hard. Yet, she bravely marches forward, doing the best she can. Sometimes she complains and sometimes those of us who support her from near and far complain, and together we muddle along, intending to be helpful, even if it may seem difficult, with love and care. I my three visits to spend time with her, I have had to handle logistics in a place unfamiliar to me, as well as explain the basics to her to get her integrated into the new community around her. To coax her into meeting her neighbors during Ganapati, a big festival locally, but totally new to her and me, I had to get her excited about it by saying this is the local equivalent of Christmas time, the largest festival of the year where she lived before. And then she agreed to dress in her fine clothes to join the neighborhood celebrations.     



This evening, she invited one of her new local friends in to her home, wanting to make sure that I would meet Shakuntala during my current visit. It was delightful to meet her friend who retired as a teacher, and is a self-taught artist who has used her art as activism for women's causes. Somehow, my heart is really full after just a few minutes of meeting her. She can no longer hear very well as her hearing aid is not very good. She said she was grateful for that as it leads to her being left out of a lot of things are not relevant for her now. She cares for her bedridden sister, with the help of a maid. Her warm energy is expressed without need for words or hearing. I felt that my blessings are doubled as I enjoyed the company of these two happy ladies, with Shankuntala reassuring me to not worry about my mother, and yet urging me to stay on here in the same sentence. 

My blessings are also doubled because of the way my mother's memory works now. Even though I have only been here for two weeks, I overheard her tell someone what she thinks is true: that I have been here a month. As the world news is dominated by women's march and alternative facts, this is my personal experience of women's power and alternative facts. Doubled blessings indeed.