On the 6th would have been my grandmothers 87th birthday, I felt really sad because I miss her. I even cried which is normal for me and it made me think of all the awesome times we’ve had together. She was an amazing person, loving, caring and a great friend to everyone. I learned a lot from her and the advice she gave me about marriage was not only insightful but useful, I still put out her trick when I hit a rough patch with my relationships. Works without fail! I never realized how her influence on my life shaped me as a person and I’m very grateful. I have been reminiscing over several events in my life that I still remember vividly to this day. Thanks to her it was extra special.
I was about 6 and my younger cousin was 3 or 4, I was an adventure seeking kind of child so I took my cousin for a long walk at our Dacha (Summer House) back in Russia. We were gone from the house for a good 3 hours and I saw the ominous clouds rolling in … before we could reach the house there was a huge downpour and then just normal rain. We walk in and my grandmother freaks out … starts giving us a huge lecture how we could have been hurt. She dries us off and gives us tea … out of nowhere she says “girls follow me” … she took us swimming in the rain. The excitement of hearing rain drops under warm water, being with family and having her swim out and us following her along (my cousin on a round floaty) was something I’ve always remembered. It’s a pretty early memory from my childhood that I really cherish.
When I was between the ages of 11 to 17 my grandparents always took us (my cousin and I) to Glen Spay, NY (Upstate) … it’s between Monticello and Port Jervis. We were shacked up in a small bungalow on a pretty large property … we called it Perog’s because that was the last name of the old couple who owned it. Even though I always complained how boring it was and how I wanted to be in the city I still look back at those days in my life and realize how amazing it was …. I would do almost anything to go back in time and say to that girl to enjoy it while it lasts 🙂 The property was really great and there was an amazing lake. My grandmother usually went swimming with her friend but on days she didn’t I went with her and it was so much fun circling around her while she took her long swim to the middle of the lake and back. My grandfather didn’t swim but he would go into the lake waist deep … take 3 dunks up to the shoulders and walk out to read his book. Ah those were the days. The best stories from my childhood start with ‘when we were upstate …’ and to this day I remember all the great memories I’ve had with my grandmother there <3