A few morsels of hope
My paternal biological grandfather, whom I've been calling Grandpa Gena G. in this LJ, was born in what is now Belarus. Though, as he pointed out to me a few times, he moved to then-Leningrad for college and hasn't really left, he usually went back to Belarus every summer to spend a few weeks in a house he inherited from his dad, in the small village of Rossony. I've never been there myself, but I heard stories and, back in 2019, I got to see the house and some of the surroundings thanks to the Skype app on his mobile.
With the COVID-19 border restrictions, he wasn't able to visit last year. Under the current restrictions, he can drive there by himself, but his common law wife, a Russian citizen who doesn't own property in Belarus, can't. And, with Grandpa Gena G.'s health not being the best after cancer (literally getting one's stomach removed, suffice to say, has some lingering side-effects), and aging taking its toll, that just isn't going to work.
A pond in Rossony | © Иван Бай/Ivan Bai
As I think I've written before, on this LJ and elsewhere, Grandpa Gena G. has always been an optimistic person - and that, as I got older, I came to appreciate that his optimism was something he held to in spite of everything his life put him through. So when he lets the optimism crack, I take it seriously.
My grandpa and I Skype every Sunday, almost without fail. Lately, he's been talking about how he wanted to go, because he was worried he might not get another chance next year. He might be right, he might not. So I don't tell Grandpa Gena G. not to talk like that. I just tell him that I hope that it will work out,
I do hope, even in the face of steep odds, that my grandfather would get to see his home village again, at least once. Because I know how much he enjoys those trips. Because the last two years have been tough, and he didn't get to see his family in person all that much, even the ones who are in the same city. Because three people caught COVID-19 in his building, and two died - including one that happened to have the same name as me and my dad. And because it doesn't escape me that, while one of his grandkids was going through COVID-19 half of the world away,I know how much it all weighed on my grandfather, a defiant optimist. A change of scenery, I think, would do him some good, especially now.
At least, unlike last year, he's vaccinated this time. One less thing to worry about.
So, for now, I'm going to take a page from Grandpa Gena G's book and try to find hope when there isn't a lot of reason to hope. And to try to make him smile while we Skype until that hope bears fruit.
With the COVID-19 border restrictions, he wasn't able to visit last year. Under the current restrictions, he can drive there by himself, but his common law wife, a Russian citizen who doesn't own property in Belarus, can't. And, with Grandpa Gena G.'s health not being the best after cancer (literally getting one's stomach removed, suffice to say, has some lingering side-effects), and aging taking its toll, that just isn't going to work.
A pond in Rossony | © Иван Бай/Ivan Bai
As I think I've written before, on this LJ and elsewhere, Grandpa Gena G. has always been an optimistic person - and that, as I got older, I came to appreciate that his optimism was something he held to in spite of everything his life put him through. So when he lets the optimism crack, I take it seriously.
My grandpa and I Skype every Sunday, almost without fail. Lately, he's been talking about how he wanted to go, because he was worried he might not get another chance next year. He might be right, he might not. So I don't tell Grandpa Gena G. not to talk like that. I just tell him that I hope that it will work out,
I do hope, even in the face of steep odds, that my grandfather would get to see his home village again, at least once. Because I know how much he enjoys those trips. Because the last two years have been tough, and he didn't get to see his family in person all that much, even the ones who are in the same city. Because three people caught COVID-19 in his building, and two died - including one that happened to have the same name as me and my dad. And because it doesn't escape me that, while one of his grandkids was going through COVID-19 half of the world away,I know how much it all weighed on my grandfather, a defiant optimist. A change of scenery, I think, would do him some good, especially now.
At least, unlike last year, he's vaccinated this time. One less thing to worry about.
So, for now, I'm going to take a page from Grandpa Gena G's book and try to find hope when there isn't a lot of reason to hope. And to try to make him smile while we Skype until that hope bears fruit.