Days like this...

10:32 AM

Bitterly cold days when every sound echoes for miles and you can see your breath midday and no amount of warm socks will defrost your toes make me think of my childhood in Russia. They remind me of late afternoons when I would trudge home in my ten pound fur coat, arriving home just as twilight would blanket the sky. They remind me of the crunch of the snow under my feet and the way I would crack icy puddles with my boots. They remind me of dogs barking late into the night, probably in frustration from being too cold. When I think of winter and Russia I think of quiet, darkness and the overwhelming feeling that we were all just biding time until spring. There was a perceivable hush that would lie over life until the first drip drop could be heard from your roof, often not until mid-April.
That's what I love about life here so, so much - how often it reminds me of my life back in Russia. The simplicity, the silence, the way the cashiers at grocery stores strike up genuine conversations, the dogs barking in the distance and the braying of horses, the mud and the ease with which one day rolls into the next.
When I close my eyes, sometimes, I am instantly transported to my tiny little desk next to our bunk bed where I'm working on my homework and the radiator is hissing and my feet are cold and it's dark outside and I am ten years old again...

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2 notes

  1. i loved this free write (?) at least i'll call it that. i can only imagine how cold it must have been in russia during the winters - it must be so brutally cold. i love the memories that can so easily and visually transport you back to your childhood - it's funny, one of the reason i enjoy reading your blog and seeing your pictures is because it reminds me of growing up in virginia and everything i miss, a bittersweet read sometimes. thank you for sharing this beautiful post.

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  2. Colleen - Thank you so much! It was freezing! I told husby that we didn't get days off at school for snow we got them off if it cold 30 below zero centigrade :). I had no idea you were from VA! How cool!! I can imagine how much you must miss it! Thanks for always sharing here, I love getting to know people better! Have an awesome rest of the week! xo

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