FW: Farewell at Detroit Airport

[Guest guest]

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Kenna <kenna

Sat, 01 Dec 2001 17:40:49 -0600

Amma Hindunet <amma-l

Farewell at Detroit Airport

 

Namah Shivaya dear siblings,

 

One last story from Ann Arbor. Not being an airport driver (transporting

Amma's tour staff to the airport), I did not know when Amma's plane was

leaving, though I did suspect it was near the time of my own flight back to

Madison. Of course I was praying by her grace to somehow see her off, but

thought with security the way it is, it would be unlikely. Ah, that queen of

every detail! My friends were going to drive me to the airport, but we

thought first we'd visit the Ashram since one hadn't been and I hadn't been

this trip. Thus began another one of Amma's famous leelas. None of us knew

the way and we had no directions and couldn't even remember the name of the

road it was on. So we drove around, "wasting" many precious minutes. Finally

we went back to Sandra's room to get the brochure, which had the address but

no directions. Miraculously, Karen answered the phone there and gave us

directions. We arrived to discover that Amma had just been there, dishing

out food. We had a bite of that delicious prasad (by the way, the food

served at the program was superb), enjoyed a few moments at the altar,

connected with a few people for a final goodbye, stopped by the Ashram hall

which was filled with the scent of all the spices used to prepare the food

for the program, then headed off to the airport.

 

For some reason ( ), my friend dropped me at the international terminal.

He also offered to drive my luggage back to Madison, so I left my big bag

with him to save myself some trouble. We unloaded me and said goodbye and I

headed for the first door only to see a bunch of very familiar faces all

standing expectantly at the curb. Joyfully, I realized they were of course

waiting for Amma, so I quick ran back to tell my friends. Not long after She

arrived and blessed us. My friends had to leave because of the security

(couldn't leave the car parked). Inside, Amma, as usual, manifested an area

clear enough to give her farewell darshan, heading to the desk for check up

only at the very last minute.

 

This child was standing around with other devotees in bliss when suddenly my

friend pointed out I only had about 30 minutes until my plane was scheduled

to leave! Even as I was rushing over to the domestic area (thank Amma's

grace for no big bag), part of me was thinking, "don't worry, she won't let

you miss your plane". Still the monkey mind was a little panicked,

especially when the security line wasn't even moving at first. Finally got

to the gate, only to discover that, by her grace, my plan was half hour

late. Amma, Queen of Every Detail.

 

On the plane I sat next to a young man from the Ann Arbor area who was

headed to a bachelor party in Chicago, having just consumed some beer with

his friend while they waiting for the plane to arrive. He kept asking me

questions about where I was from, etc. I wondered what I would say if he

asked me what I was doing in Ann Arbor. He never did, but I decided that if

he did, I would say I was there for a family reunion.

 

koti pranams to my brothers and sisters in Amma, and to our beloved Amma.

 

premarupa