I went to the hospice this morning around 7:30am.  I can’t believe how different the grounds look with all the snow gone.  There is a beautiful waterfall out front but it wasn’t on yet.  I can imagine how it’ll look in the summer with water running and flowers all around.

I checked with the nurses and they said that Dad had a good night.  He was tired but doing okay. I went to his room and he was sleeping all curled up and very tangled (not in a bad way)  in all the sheets and covers on his bed.  I woke him and he was pretty happy to see me.  I asked if he had breakfast and he said no so I told him to stay in bed until I heated it.

I went to get a bowl and a cup of coffee for him and came back to heat his dhall and roti.  He got up and I put him in the wheelchair and wheeled him to the table.  The first thing he asked was how the focus group last week went.  I told him that it went well and he said “Praise the Lord.”  He said he has never met anyone more persistent and hardworking than me and he was glad that I am getting through with my studies.  Then he said “Persistent bombing weakens defence.” 

Can’t you just hear him saying that? He would say that when I was a kid that I should not give up if I wanted something and I know that I can be pretty single-minded if I set my mind to something.  It’s been a long road and winding road when it comes to my studies and one that’s sometimes paved with what seems like broken glass and sharp nails but I find a way to traverse it anyway because also along the way, I can take those broken pieces of glass and make beautiful mosaics.  Have you ever taken a look at a stained glass picture?  When you think about it, one piece of glass is just that.  But when you combine it strategically with other broken pieces of glass, you get a wonderful picture – one which you can admire for many years.

Anyway, he started eating his dhall and roti and he said it was very tasty and enjoyable.  Now, you have to realize that he has little or no sense of taste but he said it was very tasty.  He was making happy noises when he was eating and in between spoonsful, he would say that he was glad that I was there.  He had his cup of coffee while I changed his bed linen and removed at least three blankets and then I took him to the bathroom to brush his teeth.  While I was waiting for him he said he had a strange dream.  This is how he explained it: I had the strangest dream last night.  I was dreaming of the day you were born and I remember how I drop my milk can and run up the steps at Ma.  Then I grabbed your big toe and looked at it.  It looked like mine.  I said to myself, what the hell is that dream supposed to be?”  I said maybe the dream was telling him that I would come to visit this morning,  He agreed but didn’t sound convincing as if he thought it was some kind of premonition. 

I called mom and told her about his dream and she said it was not a dream.  It really happened exactly like he described it.  That was exactly what he did the day I was born.  He told everyone he wanted a baby girl and when he came home to Nani’s house which is where I was born (a blessing by itself), he heard that he had a baby girl so he dropped his milk cans and ran up the stairs, took off my booties and looked at my big toes which looked exactly like his.  I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing but he seemed to think it was a good thing.

Nani wanted to name me Savitree when I was born but mom said that she couldn’t use that name because Mr Kawall (where she worked) had a daughter by the same name and he would think that she was copying him.  Besides I needed a name from a pandit.  Dad apparently picked the same name but mom told him the same thing she told Nani.  So off he went to the pandit to get my name and the pandit said “Savitree” so Savitree it was and still is.  BTW: Sandra is also my name for those of you thinking that I have Anglicized my name.

He was in a good mood when I left and was even calling Chandal “Sugar Plum.”  I told her that was a good thing.  She said “He also calls me mama sometimes.  Is that good?”  I said yes, that is almost akin to daughter.  She was happy.

I went off to work to deal with the mountains of work I have to do but one bite at a time.  Right?  Right!