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Ch 1 - The Dinner Ch 2 - Mickey Ch 3 - Elizabeth Ch 4 - The Poster Ch 5 - Self-Discovery Outing Ch 6 - Shawn’s Boyfriend Ch 7 - Taking The Step Ch 8 - My First Student Meeting Ch 9 - Don’t Trash Ch 10 Meditation & the Wreck Ch 11 In The Desert Ch 12 After The Desert Ch 13 The Ebell Theater Ch 14 So, You Want To Be A Teacher? Ch 15 The Visit Ch 16 The Golden Oldies Ch 17 The Correction Ch 18 The Gift Ch 19 Disneyland Ch 20 The Letter Ch 21 Starting Out Ch 22 First Night As A Teacher Ch 23 The Thank You Card Ch 24 Priorities Ch 25 Corrected Again Ch 26 Returning Home Ch 27 The Call Ch 28 On The Road To New York Ch 29 Christmas At Golden’s Bridge Ch 30 Jumpy Ch 31 The Initiation Ch 32 Time To Leave Ch 33 Keeping It Clean Ch 34 Looking Back Epilogue   Visit Shiva's web site   About Rama

Chapter 28 - On The Road To New York

Mom and Dad were great!  I had left Riverside just two days before and had stopped by Carlsbad, New Mexico to leave my car with my oldest son, Chad.  I was told by people who had never been to, much less lived in, New York that I would not need a car there.

I had arranged through a drive-away agency to deliver an automobile to New London, Connecticut.  The only problem was that the car was in Albuquerque, about two hundred miles away.

Mom and Dad packed up all of my belongings that could fit into their car and drove me. They did not like the idea of my traveling so far away, but they were doing everything in their power to help me.

We picked up the car and dad pulled me aside.

"How much money do you have?" he asked.

"I have two hundred and fifty dollars," I replied.

Dad reached inside his pocket and handed me fifty dollars.

"Your mother doesn't know that I had this socked away.  I want you to take it and don't let her know that I gave it to you."

I fought back the tears.  My dad was over seventy years old. This was an enormous amount of money to him.

A few minutes later Mom pulled me aside.

"Here, take this and don't let your dad know that I gave it to you.  He doesn't know I had it put away."  It was another fifty dollars.  This was so touching I could hardly choke out a thank you.

They then took me out to eat at a Mexican restaurant.  I savored every moment with them.  I wasn't sure that I would ever see them again.  They were so old and frail.  I had no idea how or when I would ever make it back to see them.

Mom and Dad helped me load the car and had me follow them to a Shell station.  There they filled up my car.  Once again they talked quietly, then dad came over and handed me Mom's gasoline credit card.

"We don't want you using up all your money on gas getting there.  Take this card and you can pay us back when you are rich and famous," he grinned.

I was almost forty-three years old when I left Albuquerque for New York to study with my Teacher once again.  I had three hundred and fifty dollars and my Mom's gasoline card, but I felt rich.  My parents' extraordinary show of unconditional love had left me profoundly moved.

I was starting out on the greatest adventure of my life.  I was scared and excited.  I had never been east of Oklahoma City.  It was a whole new world.

One more footnote to this story.

Rama said that in India, when a son went off to study with an Enlightened Teacher, the family held a big party.  They knew that if they supported this direction that their son was going, it would mean incredible good luck for the family.

During the three years I lived in New York, my parents had three financial windfalls of over forty thousand dollars each.  When I returned from New York they owned their house along with three rental houses and a trailer park.  Their new car was paid for along with a new pick-up.  They had over fifty thousand dollars in the bank and were living better than they had lived in their life!  Rama was right once again.

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