- 5 -
Two days after I had connected with Rohan, Jay reached out to me. He was in his garden about 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, thrilled about some new seeds arriving. “They won’t be peonies—Mom’s favorite flowers were peonies,” he had written. “My mother would say, ‘Peonies provide the awe and wonder that only a seasonal flower can—because we wait most of the year just to catch a glimpse of the local crop for a few days.’”
I had come home from work early that day. Lakshmi had given me a hot oil head massage. I was about to turn off my electronic items and take a hot shower to get dressed for the first fundraiser for the conference. But instead, I found myself chatting with Jay and not asking about his sudden disappearance from our chat.
“I can feel the presence of my mother around
