My mom is silly. It’s one of the wonderful things about her — she’s always known that life shouldn’t be taken so seriously. In line with this, she’s done a lot of silly things that we’ve often looked back on and laughed a lot about, hence the need for this “(F)unlessons” category.

As I mentioned in my introductory post, this is the fun section of the blog. We all have a lot we can learn from my mom, but perhaps we’d be better off “unlearning” from her in a handful of instances — the funny, sometimes crazy, instances that make up this category 🙂

Speaking of crazy, let me share with you that time that my mom was rescued by a helicopter during what should have just been a harmless walk.

A few years ago, our family (minus Sanam, who was away at the time) visited Sedona, Arizona over the summer for a getaway. My mom, dad, Nikhil, and I drove down from Pleasanton to spend a few days in the Arizona desert.

Anyone who knows my mom also knows that she loves to walk. On our family vacations, our dynamic was as follows: Mom would go on a walk along a nearby beach or trail, Dad would drop Mom off to her walking site, then catch up on naps and read, and Sanam, Nikhil, and I would possibly join Mom (less likely Dad — sorry Dad) or go swimming or do something else.

In line with this, my mom decided to go for a walk late into the afternoon in Sedona, a desert region known for its beautiful red rock formations. My dad dropped her off at the walking path, and the plan was that he would drive back in an hour to collect her. Nikhil, and I opted against going due to the heat (it was a scorching summer day in the desert, after all).

After an hour, my dad returned to the pick-up spot, where my mom wasn’t waiting. She called him to tell him that she was lost; she had thought that the path was a loop, but apparently it was not. (My mom being typically carefree, she hadn’t looked at the trail map prior to starting the walk — if only!) Upon realizing this, she had tried to turn around and retrace her steps, but without success; unfortunately, the trail was not well delineated. With high shrubs and trees all around, it was also not possible to identify into the distance where the opening to the trail was. After trying to find her way back multiple times, it appeared that her efforts were in vain.

After it became clear that this was the case, my dad returned to the hotel to ask them what we should do. They recommended he call the local police. The police then put him in touch with the region’s search and rescue team, who said that they would come help find my mom. This was a most unusual case for them though, they told my dad; people did not generally get lost in this way!

As it was approaching nighttime, the team decided that they would immediately dispatch a helicopter so that it could circle the expansive desert and try to locate her using a spotlight. It would take an hour for the helicopter to arrive, and more time for their ground unit. They requested for my mom to sit tight for the next hour, as continuing to try to find her way out could result in her getting lost even deeper in the desert.

During this hour, the sun set and it got very dark outside. My mom was only armed with her cell phone and one of those eensy water bottles — the cute kind that are about half the size of normal 500 ml ones. We were regularly calling my mom, and although we were frantic, she was very calm and relaxed waiting to be rescued. I recall her even being content to spend the night out in the desert, but with the prospect of rattlesnakes and wild desert pigs (yes, they’re real) coming out to play, the rest of us were not quite so okay with this.

After an hour or so, the search and rescue helicopter team arrived. With no leads on my mom’s whereabouts within the desert, they began circling from above and shining their spotlight down. It was decided that my mom should also illuminate her cellphone screen and hold it in the air to help the helicopter spot her in the darkness. A further complication soon became apparent though — her cellphone was running critically low on battery.

By this time, we had also driven back over to the desert. We decided to shine our car headlights in the case that my mom could see the lights through all the trees and shrubs, which could help the search and rescue team to figure out how deep into the desert she was. By this time, her phone was dangerously close to powering down.

Finally, my mom spotted the car lights and was able to squeeze in a quick call to the search and rescue team, who were then able to locate her under the helicopter spotlight. After she had been located, the ground team was sent into the desert to collect her and walk her out. After about 20 minutes, the ground team found her, relaxed as ever, and guided her back to safety.

Quite the adventure, eh? I’d say we took away some key (un)learnings from this wild experience — perhaps the main being that when going on a hike/walk, don’t assume that the path you’re going on is a loop without checking the map! On a more serious note, I can’t help but admire my mom’s cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor in this situation. Despite being stuck in an almost pitch-black desert that was home to bizarre and dangerous creatures, my mom stayed so calm. She decided that this was not a situation to worry about; she trusted that she was taken care of. That’s something, don’t you think?

Similarly, when faced with a challenging scenario, we can all take a moment to really consider whether it’s worth stressing about or not. More often than not, I think we’ll find that we worry about things that turn out just fine — and sometimes we come away with a great story at the end of it.