Social Work (May 24, 1996, to January 2010)
On May 24, 1996, Sandra received her Master of Social Work degree from San Jose State University. When she graduated, she continued working for CPS for two years, from 1996 to 1998, to fulfill the requirement of the student loan she had been granted to enable her to attend the program.
Social Work (May 24, 1996, to January 2010)
From August 20 to October 3, 1997, Sandra and our mom visited David and Maureen in Mississauga.
In 1998, upon completion of her two years of employment with CPS, Sandra applied for employment to the Parents Center Santa Cruz, the organization where she would work for the next twelve years. The Parents Center is a private, independent, nonprofit organization formed in 1975 and tax-exempt since 1976. It is not owned by Santa Cruz County, being governed by its own board of directors and executive, but works closely with public agencies, especially the County Mental health systems, child welfare and foster care services, and schools and community agencies.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, it grew its bilingual and culturally responsive services, reflecting the County’s demographics. Today, it offers “culturally competent…counseling…for youth…and their families.” Its services included individual therapy for children, ages 3 to 18, family therapy (parents and children together), behavioral and emotional treatment plans, and crisis-oriented counselling.
The Parents Center accepted Sandra’s application, knowing that she would be unable to begin work until she returned from her trip to India.
On February 9, 1999, our mom underwent surgery to have her cataracts removed.
In 2000, Sandra completed the building of her house at 103 Wavecrest Avenue in Santa Cruz. Sandra paid $52,000 for the land (all she had from Michael’s and her lease/purchase proceeds of the Nassau house) and Bill put up $95,999 for construction of the house, with the understanding that she would rent from him, which she did for a number of years at market value. The construction ended up being slightly more because of her contractor leaving, etc. when Leif broke his neck and Sandra was in Canada, but she managed to get a couple thousand back from the contractor’s $5,000 bond, after the lawyer’s fees. Bill and Jane “gifted” Sandra what would have been their allowed tax free donations over the next years, based on the appraised value of the house at the time ($200,000). They could each donate $10,000 tax-free per year to recipients. Sandra valued the home, in part, because it had her “blood, sweat and tears” in it. It was a joint effort of bill’s (and Jane’s), Peter’s and hers. It was, she noted, a huge risk because no one in our family had ever built a house, Sandra was a single working mom with two young kids, but Babaji told her “Do it”, so she did.
By 2000, Mom’s dementia was making it difficult for her to navigate the halls at Dominican Oaks, so she was moved to Sandra’s home where she lived until her death in January 2002.
From June 21, 2000, to September 2000, our mom lived at Sandra’s home in Santa Cruz. Bill arranged for her to have home care there from a rotating group of personal care workers. Below is a photo of Sandra and Luke with Pat, Chris Thompson, Bill, Jane, Andrew and Jonathan, and our mom at Pat’s home in Sausalito.
Below is a photo of Sandra with her dog Neelam in about 2001.
Mom died at Sandra’s home on January 27, 2002. Sandra organized a funeral service with the customary Hindu rites practiced at Mt. Madonna.
Early in the morning in March, 2003, Sandra’s car was t-boned by another car going 55 mph on the coast road (Hwy 1). Sandra had a side air bag, but the firemen had to cut Sandra out of her car, which Sandra had received for her MSW graduation in 1996, and had Sandra transported to the hospital by ambulance. Luke was working in SF, Leif was an addict, so Sandra took a cab to the junk yard to remove her belongings from the trunk. Later, when she visited an osteopath she knew, and was in pain, he recommended a massage, and the pain caused him to refer her for x-rays, that revealed compression fractures to her vertebrae.
On September 2, 2003, Sandra received accreditation for five years from the State of California as a teacher of Adult Education for English as a Second Language and of Social Sciences at the Elementary and Secondary School level. She had taken this training as a back-up plan, but as it developed, she did not need to employ it.
Sandra began work at the Parents Center in October 2003. A month later, on November 10, 2003, she received her license as a Clinical Social Worker from the Board of Behavioral Sciences of the State of California after 3200 hours of supervision and successfully passing both a written and an oral exam.
From January 21 to March 29, 2004, Sandra made a second trip to India, staying at the Ashram, as by then, guest apartments at the orphanage had been completed.
In 2008, Sandra attended Eric Thompson’s and Sherry’s wedding at Redwood Park in California.
David was appointed as a judge in Canada on June 30, 2008, and was to be sworn in on September 10, 2008. In the interval, David attended Bill’s wedding to Joan Frost on August 8, 2008. During his visit, he travelled to Santa Cruz, where Sandra drove him to Mt. Madonna to attend a Satsang with Baba Hari Dass. In the question period, David asked Baba Hari Dass, how a person whose job sometimes requires him to harm someone can perform “selfless service”. Baba Hari Dass asked what kind of job; like a soldier? David replied, “a judge”. Baba Hari Dass wrote in his reply, “a judge is paid”. Sandra explained that I had recently been appointed to be a judge. He then wrote, “For a judge, it is impartial service”. Sandra later attended David’s swearing in ceremony with Bill and Pat and after he began working as a judge, David had the note from Baba Hari Dass and photo of him framed and hung them in his chambers at the court house.
Sandra attended David and Maureen’s son, John David’s, wedding to Eleanor Leacy in Gatineau, Quebec on Aug. 22, 2009. The photo below on the right was taken across the Rideau River, at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa.
Sandra and David visited Bill and Joan for Christmas, 2009.
