Fourteen years ago, we brought little 5-year-old Ruchi into our home all the way from New Delhi, India. Last night we celebrated her arrival as we do every year.
Today, she is a sophomore in college studying environmental science. In the attached photo, she is surrounded by our two dogs, to whom she is mightily attached.
It’s always a time to review her arrival story, and last night I learned something new.
The airplane ride over didn’t make much of an impression, as we left in the middle of the night, and she was sleeping. It wasn’t until she looked out the taxi window as we zoomed down the Dulles Toll Road that Ruchi realized we had left her world.
The highway, office buildings, and our neighborhood were all sights she had never seen before, so different from the world she grew up in. It was very disorienting to her. The early years were times of profound transition.
Today, she has spent almost 3/4 of her life as a US citizen. And she is at home bustling to and from her classes on campus.
“Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
