How did they get so close to Pope Frances? A one in a million chance. Isn’t it like winning the lottery? The question on most people’s lips when I showed them the video of Lakshmi being blessed by the Pontiff. Even my elderly patient wanted to know. He had a local anaesthetic procedure and became a bit faint as the biopsy was quite painful. I stayed with him in recovery and when he perked up, I showed him the video. I don’t know if I did this to make my patients happy or to make me happy, but it seemed to work both ways.
Little Lakshmi is in Rome this week. Her parents decided that it was time she visited the Vatican. It’s her first birthday soon and with Kavitha’s maternity leave coming to the end, there was time to squeeze one last holiday in.
Kavitha decided to be brave and asked the guards at the Basilica for tickets to see the Pope. The other choice is to go to the bronze door on a Tuesday and queue up. The queues are quite long and queueing up with a baby is not practical. The guards were kind and they also told them the best vantage point.
Wednesday came and Lakshmi decided that she didn’t want to wake up. A baby who normally wakes up at the slightest disturbance, decided that today is the day I would like to have a lie in. Anyway it looks like her parents got their way and soon she was fed and changed and queueing up to watch the Pope go past in his popemobile. Somebody on their entourage spotted her and before she knew it, she was whisked away. As the crowd around her gasped and looked on in envy she was blessed by the Pope, and returned to her parents. She is too young to understand the enormity of it all.
Her grandparents and great grandparents are chufffed to bits. They are not Catholics but it doesn’t matter. Being blessed by the Pope, means it is not just the little one, but the whole family who benefits from the occasion. Kavitha has bought official close up photos for all of us. It will take pride of place on our mantelpiece for years to come. The day our little treasure was blessed. We always knew she was special, now everybody else knows that as well.
