Life

It dawned on me today that it's Christmas Eve Day...which you tend to forget here, since Xmas is celebrated according to the old calendar (Georgian? I'll have to check that one)- which is Jan 7. So, it's life as usual here; nearly the whole month of Jan, though, will be 1 celebration after the other, by the time they celebrate New Year's, Xmas and then 'old' New Year (2 wks after 'new' New Year).One of our friends is dying. She's often been ill, but this fall, her family finally convinced her to go to the Dr- diagnosis? Diabetes, high blood pressure, liver and kidney failure. She's 43. And has always reminded me of my own mom. Anyway, they live in a village 'at the end of the world'.


Had a night train into Odessa; fish sandwich at McD's for b'fast (at 6am); 1 hour by bus to Yuzhniy (a port city on the Black Sea- and it's COLD in Yuzhniy); 30 min bus ride to the end of the road...and then 20 min walk through the fields to the village. I forgot what it's like when it's muddy...wow! Thankfully, it was mostly frozen today. Still managed to add a few inches to my height by the time I got where I was going.

Anyway- spent several hours with them. It reminds me again that it's not easy to die and it's not easy to watch someone you love go that last stretch. Especially when that someone is the mom that took care of you always- that took care of everybody. Both the sick lady and her hus are deaf, so that complicates things as far as communication (for me). Hard to know just what to stay. So you just hold a hand and stand there.

I'm at the neighbor's for the night- also our friends, also deaf. The boys were here the end of last week and will come again this week.