About two hours before the house selling contract was to be signed, Nikita got this idea that she would go back to the old house and do her favorite thing one last time – swim in the pool. And to make it memorable, she was going to jump from the waterfall rocks – something Sharmila did not allow her to do when we lived there. Natasha took her there and took this shot of Niki jumping in the pool.

The sheer joy in her face says it all.

Possibly the last one for her. Not sure if she will keep up with it once she is in college.

“… but just remember – no matter where each one of you go, or who you are with, or what you are doing…”

Delivering the salutatorian speech

3 different years – 2020, 2021 and 2022 – graduating today.
Even the hotels have signs all over.

(2 years late!!)

Watching her in front of the laptop on that May morning in 2020 wearing her purple robe and cap in the basement was very painful. It was her graduation day. That was supposed to be the most joyous day of her college chapter. The culmination of four years of hard work put in, life long relationships made and a lot of euphoria stitched with a few setbacks here and there. That was supposed to be the day that she got to “walk the walk” of her life.

But there she was – staring at a laptop screen watching one of the best moments of life slip by uncontrollably. The pandemic had crippled the world.

Two years later, she got her day back! NYU went out of their way to celebrate the graduates of that year by recreating – as best as they could – the exact same environment.

Looking at all the kids grinning from ear to ear, you got the sense that, in some measure, two years later, justice was finally served.