I understand that the following may not be clear to some:
I hope to realize that the distant dreams of a 3 year old girl from America don't need to be acquiesced with the onset of adulthood.
Perhaps a little background information is in order...
THE STORY
Two plus decades ago, when I was a very little girl (just a little older than in this picture with my grandmother), I went on a walk one afternoon with my grandmother...
...but this first...
It must be said that my grandmother was a devoted Catholic practitioner. This led to her suffering the scandal of my not having been baptized by the age of three (3).
My parents, you should know, were of the genus free-loving hippie-us. They, at that time, rejected conformity, particularly that of the organized religous nature.
My grandmother, however, would not be out done be this radical approach to life. After all the spiritual well-being of her first grand-daughter was at stake...
...This led up to the aforementioned walk.
As we walkd that fine summer afternoon grandma spoke to me about my baptism. Apparantly I was quite a cognitively aware child (or so I've been told) so it wasn't surprising that she asked my opinion about what I'd like my baptismal name to be.
On one of the days preceding this walk (or maybe that morning), we had watched a documentary program on TV about Mother Teresa of Calcutta (now Kolkata). There had been something inherently impressive about the woman presented in that program. At three, though, I don't suppose I would have been able to verbalize that, but I was able to express it...
"What would you like your baptismal name to be?" Grandma asked.
"Teresa, just like Mother Teresa." I answered.
Grandma smiled and looked extremely pleased that I should choose that name.
And so I was baptized that August in 1979 as Jarucia Marie "Teresa".
THE FOLLOWUP
Since that time, I've grown up feeling an unusually personal bond with Mother Tereasa: a woman I would never meet from a place I was unlikely to ever visit.
While I haven't necessarily seen eye-to-eye with her on some issue, she overwhelmingly lead an admirable life that even at my saintliest I would be unlikely to replicate.
However, I have long desired to visit the center from which she started her humble work serving those that others would leave as foresaken.
I now finally have the opportunity to go to this place I've longed to see since I was...3.
When visiting her Ashram in Kolkata I will likely recall that day with my grandmother and share that moment with her in spirit.
With deepest dedication to the human spirit,
A Pink American
