This Reminds Me

Happy Mother’s Day from Moscow! My day has been like the hot chocolate we had earlier today – bittersweet. After 22 months, we are happy to have custody of Julia. But I miss Rachel, Lois and Hannah terribly. Keith feted me with cards the girls made before we left. Generally Sharon and I play the games cum cards Hannah stuffs in my briefcase as surprises for the workdays. Sharon, sorry, you’re missing her “Feliz Dia De Madres” drawing game today.

My real Mother’s Day will start the minute our plane lands sometime later this week (Thursday, we think) in San Antonio.  Shelley, if you’re late, I’m hitchhiking.

We all enjoyed our first cup of the popular hot chocolate sold in cafes – Julia especially so. It’s much, much thicker than our cocoa. It’s more like melted semi-sweet chocolate chips with a bit of milk mixed in. The demitasse spoon can almost stand upright in the cup. Hannah and I make a terrific homemade pound cake. I kept picturing it drizzled over that…..warm and steamy…..served on our Mickey Mouse dessert plates…in front of the TV for one of our family movie nights….with the kids scattered on their floor pillows and a nicely scented candle burning on the kitchen table and Rachel offering to brush my hair……sniff-sniff…..

Eating the chocolate was a full-body experience – face, hands, eyelashes, elbows…

We joined a throng of tourists to view “the dead guy,” as Keith so poetically described Lenin’s preserved body. No cameras or cell phones allowed. We descended stone stairs in a dark and humid hallway (“Not so fast, Keith!”) before entering a dimly-lit raised walkway around the body, encased in glass. Somber armed guards at attention in every corner. Frosty temperature. Deathly quiet. Really creepy. I kept expecting Lois to sneak up behind me and yell, “Boo!”

Later we toured the Kremlin grounds, which are huge and perfectly manicured. As we walked across the square where executions used to routinely occur, I couldn’t help but think of the blood and tears that had washed those cobblestones and flowed into those flowerbeds. That elderly woman ahead of us, so pensive – did she lose someone here? That man waving his hands and earnestly speaking to two young boys – was he relating some important family history? We were surprised by the presence of the large and lovely 15th century Assumption Cathedral adjoining that terrible courtyard. Did any butchers ever see irony in the acts performed in the shadows of those beautiful onion domes, with frescoes of the ultimate mother – the Madonna – looking on?  Maybe no more so than when I sin wearing the cross that Konen gave me years ago.

The Assumption Cathedral (1475 – 79) was the country’s central place of worship, where the Russian Tsars and Emperors were crowned.

I’d like to send a special Mother’s Day wish to Vicki today, as she has cared for our kiddos this week. Next time I see her, I’ll be looking for that halo around her head, because she’s definitely qualified for sainthood this week with Scouts, Storytelling, Bush choir chaperoning, cake decorating, a trip to the mall, etc. I am profoundly thankful for 26 years of her friendship. And a second Mother’s Day wish to my good friend Shelley, who has stood “at the ready” to help at any time. Really, she’s been doing that for the 30 years I’ve known her. She attended Hannah’s 4^th grade Talent Show this week – now folks, that’s love. And a final special Mother’s Day wish to my brilliant niece Sarah, who’ll be coming from Houston tomorrow to keep the girls until we get home. More importantly, she’ll be bringing two-year-old Laura with her to stay with them- and nothing brightens a room like Laura’s laugh.

Mother’s Day is a uniquely American holiday. So best wishes to all you mamas from this unique American celebrating in Mother Russia.

Sing to the Motherland, home of the free
Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong.
O Party of Lenin*, the strength of the people,
To Communism’s triumph lead us on!

*a.k.a., “The Dead Guy”

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