Mother Teresa at Easter

I caught a glimpse of Mother Teresa on Easter Sunday in Calcutta back in 1990. I didn't realize at the time how special that meeting was going to be - it just seemed like another day in many ways. I even kept a journal during that trip and if I come across it one of these days, I'll transcribe a few of the pages.

The meeting did make an impact on me though and I dreamt about it shortly afterwards and came up with a new word to describe the quality of experience. "Siquid." As in, "that was a siquid situation, meeting Mother Teresa." It is when time goes more slowly or things seem more clear. Like if you're heading into an accident or meeting someone special. It's a bit of a time warp...

I had been in Thailand for 3 months teaching english, studying meditation, and basically hanging out when my visa ran out and I needed to come up with a plan. I had to leave the country and to head to Malaysia was going to cost more than flying to India, so I went to Calcutta because it was the cheapest, closest place I could go. I had been there for a couple of weeks staying in The Salvation Army downtown and had made a few friends. We were making plans for that day, which happened to be Easter Sunday and someone said, "let's go see Mother Teresa." So we walked to her place and made it there in time for the Easter service.

There were maybe 20 nuns there and 8 visitors, at least that's what I remember 17 years later. I thought it was strange that she required the services of a priest, but it didn't bother me. I just noticed. My easter tradition includes the Easter Bunny leaving eggs, so I didn't relate much to the service.

Afterwards she received people. If I'd had a camera with me I could have had my picture taken with my arm around her. Instead I waited in a very short line to be greeted by her. She was very small, and her face was wrinkled much like in this picture or her. She took my hands in hers and looked at me and said, "Happy Easter." I'll never forget it...