Homeward Bound: Chandigarh - Mumbai - London - Boston and our friend Ellen Grossman

Dear friends and faithful readers,We are are in Mumbai for night, waiting for our early morning flight nome and I am thinking about stuff. I foresee only a couple more posts after this one - notably our drive yesterday from Shimla to Chandigarh - as we are on our way back home. I need to sort through the thousands of images both on media cards and on almost 30 rolls of 120 film waiting to be developed, Then I'll know whether or not I was able to capture 12 images that I can be proud of. Or was it 10, or 8?So often on this trip we were reminded how incredibly lucky we are to be able to realize this dream of extended, slow travel, taking almost four months together to explore places in both Southeast Asia and India (and of course Taiwan as well).The most heartbreaking reminder to follow your dream, not just dream about following your dream, arrived via email last night when we received word that our friend Ellen Grossman had died. Seeing the words 'died' and 'Ellen' in the same sentence was totally inconceivable to us. Then the flood of emails began to arrive from people on the Cape and in Boston confirming the news that Ellen had died on Sunday night.We saw Ellen and Rick in Provincetown in early October. She looked as vibrant and energetic and, of course beautiful, as always. Over dinner the four of us talked about our upcoming trip - especially about what kind of photo equipment I should bring along. Seeing her that evening lighting up the room in her inimitable way, it's impossible to imagine that she would receive a diagnosis of cancer shortly thereafter and then die only 4 months later, leaving Rick, their children and extended family and friends totally devastated.I can't help thinking that it was almost a year ago to the day that our mutual friend Judy Salzman died suddenly. Rick and Ellen took tender care of her husband Carl during this terrible time, supporting him emotionally and (knowing Ellen) culinarily, in their typical loving way. I can imagine that now those roles are reversed with Carl (battle-scared as he is) helping his friend Rick and his children through the same sad passage.In one of the emails I received last night from Ellen and Rick's daughter Erica, was this advice:"Life is short don't waste it on the unimportant stuff!! Hug your family, tell them you love them...and eat dessert first because you never know what the next minute will bring!" Ellen never wasted a minute on the unimportant stuff, and I distinctly remember when we sat down for dinner that night at Devon her asking to see the dessert menu before ordering an entrée. We're on our way home to hug our family and hope there are some good desserts to eat. And then to plan the next adventure.By the way those flowers are growing in someone's garden on the road from Shimla to Chandigarh.