I am emailing this from my HOME!!!

After our rescue from the Oberoi Hotel we were taken to the Four Seasons Hotel, about a half hour away. We wanted to be together, so we re-arranged the lobby to sit in a circle while they gave us room keys. Isolation and confinement breeds strong desire for community! The staff were quick and efficient and we were sent to our rooms. At that hotel you can only get to the floor your room is on. Sounds pretty secure. That made us feel better. I was on the 18th floor. I did NOT want to have to walk down that many flights again! The hotel gave us toiletries and a hotel Tshirt and a back pack. All we had was the clothes on our back. (I had taken my laptop and my purse with me.) We stripped and they took our clothes and laundered them in 2 hours! All the hotels have spa robes, so that was my outfit! As soon as everyone was settled we had a group meeting with Master Charles. We shared about Alan and Naomi, we shared about our own experiences and about the power of such a strong meditative practice that we have that allowed us to remain "calm" and attentive and generating love during the long crisis. Then off to bed. This was Friday night.

We were instructed not to leave the hotel. No coercion was necessary! We were staying in this ultramodern skyscraper, behind gates, with guards and bomb sniffing dogs clearing every entrant, and across the street, for as far as the eye could see, were shanty's that were the homes of taxi cab drivers and their taxis were parked in front of them. Behind them was a big garbage dump! I stayed in the room except for a brief trip to the restaurant where I couldn't really eat anything (a blessing from this experience.) and our nightly group meeting. And I read emails from all of you. Hundreds of them. And you had forwarded my emails to your friends and family who forwarded them to more. Your comments back were inspiring and uplifting. Thank you! This was Saturday.

On Sunday I moved to Stage 2 of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I found it difficult to stay vertical. I went to eat a little breakfast, knowing that my body needed protein. I ended up taking my 2 eggs with me to my bed! Everyone was talking about how great the spa was, so I went down around 1 pm. You arrive on one floor and then they walked us up a stairway (beautiful marble floors, candles and flowers on the sides of every step) one flight. When I got to the top, I knew I was going to pass out. They quickly got me to a bench and I laid down. Then we moved me to the Relaxation Room. The Spa Manager stayed with me. She told me that she was in the Sri Lanka tsunami and was engulfed by the water, pulled under for a long time and yet survived. She was so inspiring in her commitment to saving others there first, in her own survival and then in her recovery process. I decided I wanted to be in my room again. So they brought a wheel chair and rolled me up to the 18th floor. The good news about this is that I was inspired to arrange for a wheel chair at the airport. I've traveled many times with my mom in a wheel chair and I know that you get really taken care of. I was to fly home alone. The tales of the Mumbai airport were that people pushed and shoved and that it was a real zoo.

At 3 pm Lisa and I went to the hotel buffet, which was huge and fabulous. We saw my first steamed broccoli in 15 days! You would of thought is was gold by the way we both lit up with joy! I still could only eat the broccoli, a little piece of chicken and a couple of pieces of sushi. Then the State Department sent us a psychiatrist who gave us a one hour talk/session on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He was quite empowering and gave us some benchmarks to look for. And then, a miracle happened: Our luggage arrived! The wonderful people at the Oberoi had brought down all our luggage. For those of our group who were not in their rooms during the siege (3 had escaped the hotel and spent 2 nights with an Indian family they met with the ballroom refugees group, 3 were injured and the two dead) they had packed their luggage for them. Up to the room I went to take a shower, blow out my hair to look good for my arrival at LAX and change clothes. 5 days in one outfit, almost 24 hours a day, was enough! I also spoke with the Manger of the Oberoi and he told me my two boxes that I was shipping home were safe in the Business Center and would go out on Monday. My concern over those packages almost put me in line to be shot by the terrorists as they arrived in our hotel. I was so relieved. Now I was alive, and I had everything I came with and everything I bought. I am deeply thankful.

I arranged a hotel car to take me to the airport. It was a Mercedes! With bottled water, movies, shaded windows, deluxe. And the driver was really nice. We talked all the way to the airport. He told me his brother had just gotten off work on Wed night and went to the train station to go home just as the terrorist attacked. He was killed. Oh my heart went out to him. His brother had a wife and two children, as does my driver. Now he is sole support for the 7 of them, plus his 65 year old mother. I gave him a big tip. And he started me thinking . . . The arrival at the airport was amazing. A hotel liaison met the car with a "trolley" (luggage cart, they are FREE and plentiful at Mumbai airport) and a wheelchair. I was taken thru each step of the way easily. Every person at the airport was warm and caring. I went thru security twice (as did everyone). All of our hand luggage was carefully scanned and then I was wanded and patted down. The last time the man asked me about a "tool" in my bag. WE took everything out and looked for it sending parts thru again. Finally we found it. My nail clippers. I happily turned it in and thanked him for being so attentive. By then the whole group of us were friends and they knew a little of my experience at the Oberoi. Then I went to the bathroom and then they boarded the handicapped. I called Dad, Andy and my best friend, Lynnie, from the plane, letting them know I've begun the journey home. As I write this I have 6.5 hours to go on the 15.5 hour flight from Mumbai to Newark, NJ. I then have a 1 1/2 hour turn around before I fly on to LAX. I've already had dinner, watched a movie and slept for 6 hours.

I woke up thinking about Shamim, my driver in Mumbai. He works for a private car company that provides a car with a driver to the guests at the hotels. They work for the Trident and the Oberoi (both of which were destroyed by the siege). That means, he no longer has any work. Shamim is so smart and so sweet and so caring. Anything we wanted, he provided. We made 4 trips to Malad together. That was an hour and a half each way, and then he waited while we had our treatments at Ayushakti Ayurvedic Clinic. Another day he took us shopping. We went to this fantastic store where they sell custom made clothes and saris. We spent 3 hours there, choosing fabrics and styles and getting measured. Shamim had lots of coaching for us! He is my new best friend. Before we left India, Carol Wise (my traveling companion on these ventures) and I gave him $200 in cash. That will get him thru a couple of weeks.

The third stage of PTSD is looking at your life anew and now that one is aware of just how precious it is, seeing what one wants to do with the life in front. I feel so fortunate that most of my life I have been blessed to be employed doing what I would do anyway, my passion. I love my work and my clients. I love everything about B'nai Horin (Rabbi Stan has assured me that everyone will preregister this year!). I have a wonderful family that I am very close to and am blessed with many friends. I have an even stronger commitment to eradicating poverty in the world through my work with RESULTS. And, I'm madly in love with Andy! (Tip number one for jump-starting a new relationship: Leave and go half way around the world, and get caught in a terrorist attack. It brings up all the emotions for both parties!)

Many times during the siege I prayed to God to save me because I have much work left to do and people who really need me. I couldn't imagine what my death would have done to my Dad, having just lost my Mom and my sister two years ago. I had to live.

So, I want to take on a fund raising project for Shamim and the other indirect victims of the terrorist attacks. I'll start with Shamim. I want to raise a year's wages to support him and give him a little "cushion". He spoke to me of his ambition to buy a car and start his own driver's service. That might be hard right now, as the Oberoi/Trident Hotels were his clients and they are going to have to be rebuilt, which will take at least a year. Shamim is smart and could do anything. Maybe one of you knows someone who knows someone who has an excellent job for Shamim in India. (I believe in teaching a man to fish rather than providing fish forever.) For the moment, if you want to contribute to the Shamim fund, please mail me a check, made out to me and put Shamim fund in the memo. If people I don't know want to contribute, make sure they send me their email addresses so that I can keep them informed. He needs help now, so please start sending contributions. If each person reading this email sent $5, we'd be over the top.

I am planning to call the Oberoi Manager early this week and ask him about his staff and how we can help them. We dined every morning and evening in the Tiffin Restaurant in the lobby. We would come in and join a table wth others in our group. That is where so many people died. The wait staff knew us and our food preferences. They coached us about the different Indian foods and could arrange for ANYTHING our hearts desired for food. It didn't need to be on the menu, which was extensive. The love we felt was reciprocal. The manager was Sabrina, a beautiful woman. It seem that she was always there. I don't know when she slept. She was the second person from the Oberoi that I met when I got to safety. She hugged me and held me tightly. I was so thankful that she was alive.

I hope many of you will find it in your hearts to help me in this project.