There is No Place Like Home...

Thanks to a combination of good planning, thoughtfulness and perfectly executed surprises, our trip back to Lynchburg, Virginia was a very memorable one. The surprises are described in Sahana's and Dad's posts below. However what I enjoyed the most was spending such quality time with Deep, my parents and Sahana's parents, all under one roof. I'm not sure the next time that will happen, although I hope it's relatively soon.

There were several highlights from the weekend, including the baby shower, surprises, delicious meals, picnic and hike in the Blue Ridge mountains, etc. But Sahana and my most memorable and meaningful moment was our trip to the Awareness Garden, a place where cancer fighters and survivers go to celebrate a milestone. Watching mom ring the victory bell so strongly, proudfully and courageously (in other words, like her old self) was indescribable. It symbolized a passing of a difficult last twelve months and the excitement of the next twelve. Can't wait to celebrate the next year and after with all of our loved ones.

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Lynchburg Trip

We had a wonderful time in Lynchburg last weekend. I was so happy (and very surprised) with my surprises (my parents coming and Sanjiv & family coming). Tej's mom did a great job planning the entire weekend and the surprises. It was so nice that Deep came as well. The shower started around noon on Sat and it started with a pooja where we received blessings from friends and family. We then went to a local Indian restaurant for lunch. After lunch we rested for a bit and then went to the awareness garden. Tej will explain more about how wonderful it was to celebrate Mom's fight and win over breast cancer. The main reason we went to Lynchburg was to celebrate this. Of course Mom had other things in store for us (the baby shower...).


On Sunday, I got to see the real beauty of Virginia. We went to the Blue Ridge mountains. We had a picnic there and then hiked a bit. We went to the top of one of the mountains (we had to take a bus to get there). It was really beautiful there. We had such a great weekend with our families.

It was the perfect timing for a baby shower. As I am now in my 24th week, it doesn't seem so far away anymore. We are realizing that our baby boy will be entering this world very soon -- as soon as 3 months from now! I am starting to show (which is very exciting) and I can feel the baby moving. He is an active one. It is a pretty unreal feeling. We are starting to prepare our home and our lives for the little one. We can't wait for him to come!

Lynchburg Surprise

Dad's (Tej's Dad) point of view:
"This is a short write-up about the Sahana's baby shower we had on August 30. It was not a gala event. But we all had a great time as Tej, Deep, Sahana and Sahana's parents were all here visiting us. The highlights of the event were the two surprises that Kali managed to give to the Beheras family. Sahana did not know that her parents were coming (of course Tej knew). Tej and Sahana came to Lynchburg in the morning on August 28. Kirttan and Mamata (Sahana's parents) were coming at 9:30 pm by air and Deep was coming at 10:20 pm by train on August 28. So Tej had to go to the airport to pick up the Sahana's parents and I had to go to the train station to pick up Deep. Kali kept Sahana busy by asking her to arrange some games for the baby shower so that when Tej said he is going out to pick up Deep, Sahana did not say that I will come with you. When I went to pick up Deep, Sahana did not even know that I was gone. So when Tej came back home and pressed the door bell, Kali asked Sahana to go and answer the door bell. When she opened the door she could not believe that her parents were standing there at the front door. Tej said to Sahana that I made a mistake. I picked up your parents instead of Deep. The next day another big surprise was Sahana's God brother, his wife and their 3 children (all under age 4) all came from Durham North Carolina to attend the Sahana's baby shower.

We had a good time. But the visit of all the family members was too short. After they left, I really started missing them".