Thursday, February 22, 2018
22/Objects
My friend Karen was invited to conduct a poetry workshop in St. Petersburg. My Russian penpals offered to show her their city. I sent gifts with her: a watch for the father, necklaces for the mother and daughter. They had a gift for me: a beautiful tea set in a heavy box, carried on her lap for the entire flight home.
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How wonderful! Except for Karen.
ReplyDeleteHow utterly fabulous, and I hope you never undertake a Russian death purge. Do you still write (or email, or possibly even text) them?
ReplyDeleteWe email occasionally--not often enough, and I should do something about that. But as someone who shall remain nameless can tell you, I have become a less-than-stellar email correspondent. Nick and Nina became my penpals when St. Petersburg was Leningrad, and Russia was the USSR. Their daughter was a pre-adolescent. Now she has children of her own. It would be a shame to lose touch with Nick and Nina. I hardly know what to say about the current political situation--both in America alone and regarding America and Russia.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the correspondence will serve to remind all of you that there are plenty of good people on both sides.
DeleteThe first letter they wrote described their home, including a proud reference to their 12 books. Apparently it was unusual to have so many. Ever since then I've been aware of my overabundance--of books and of the crazy number of items on supermarket shelves, including our ridiculous number of toothpaste choices.
ReplyDeleteSo true... I imagine people in many countries wouldn't have need of a Swedish death purge.
DeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good friend Karen.
ReplyDelete