Dave sez,
Dear Cathy,
I can believe that today was the day that you had to go. What a nice three-week second-honeymoon we've had, huh? I know that we've had a LOT of time, just the two of us, to do whatever we wanted - twenty-one years before Justin found us; and, he's only been home thirteen months now, still it's nice to have what we've enjoyed for the last three weeks.
It was really, really hard to let you go through the security gate at the airport this morning. But...Justin needs you back home. Max, Maize and Peanut miss you; and one of us had to get back and stock up for the coming Twinkiegeddon.
It's quieter here now. The weather's turned a little colder. It drizzled today. The weather is staying pretty damp, and blustery.
I just wanted to curl up in bed and miss you, but we both needed me to get out to see our boy today. It was really what I needed. I'm not taking the Number Eighteen anymore. There's no reason to ride the bus from the apartment to the subway, since there's no one to sit and spend the time with. So, I leg-it the half hour walk. It's a good brisk walk, and I need that right now. To keep moving. Across from the apartment there's a little convenience store, like a Casey's without the gas pumps, I picked up a Coke for me and a Sprite for Ethan. I hiked down to Independence Square and in to the McDonald's there. I found a cashier that new a little English, and I ordered four hamburgers, four cheeseburgers and three fries. A hike across the square and down the stairs to the subway. I spent a good half-hour to forty-five minutes waiting for the 507 - It's like finding a rare jewel! There was some lady dressed in Joseph's technicolor dreamcoat, painted like she was performing in The Mikado spent most of the ride talking and gesturing grandly. Not only could I not understand her, but she had a Big Time Rush soundtrack. I had my headphones in.
I got to the orphanage a little early and Shani came out to let me in. They'd let him have the key to the lock and he struggled a few minutes with it, until one of the older girls, Masha (Maria, in Ukrainian) came out to help him. It turns out he had the key in the lock and was turning it right, he was just not pulling the right end out of the lock. It was pretty comical to watch him twist and turn the key, yank; pull the key out, try the OTHER key, twist, turn and yank - nothing. Masha came out, took the key from him, put it in the lock, turned it and pulled the RIGHT end out. You should have see the look she gave him and the look he gave back.
Ethan and Masha are the two oldest children at the orphanage right now, so they pretty much spend a lot of time together. We'd seen a little of that before you left; that's why it kind of made sense to get a couple extra burgers and fries. They got permission to pull a table from the dining room into the music room while one of the ladies mopped the floor, and the three of us sat and ate together. The other children were napping. You've seen Ethan eat. He's like the Tasmanian Devil. A cyclone swirling, devouring whatever gets in the way. Masha sat quietly and nibbled at her burger, while Ethan machine gunned questions at me. Can we play soccer? Can we play base ball? - He was actually trying to say "bowling", but his English comes out as base ball. Can we watch a movie? You know he was asking two questions: either, A) can we watch a movie on television like we have been doing on the weekends; or, 2) did I bring the computer and disc drive to watch a movie that way. Since it was nap time, television was out of the question; and carrying lunch was enough. I'll probably take the computer out, maybe Monday or Tuesday...he'll have plenty of time for movies when he comes back to apartment with me before our trip here is done.
I started repeating the mantra: finish eating. Wash your hands. English first; then games. Slowly his confusion melted away, and he finished eating. I had one of the hamburgers, then a cheeseburger, Ethan and Masha both had hamburgers. I made sure Masha had a cheeseburger. There came a lull in the feeding frenzy, so I packed up the food in the backpack, and pulled out the gifts you left for them. Ethan shared one of the two packs of Skittles with Masha.
They washed their hands, and when Ethan started in on his English, Masha found her own notebook and an English book. She opened it to a page on "Family". The first paragraph was headed "My Father". Below that was a paragraph headed "My Mother". She asked me to read the first paragraph to her. Then she started flipping pages back and forth with topics like "aunt" and "uncle"; and qualities that family members have.
Then she saw what Ethan was working on. He's still working on the alphabet and numbers, plus three pages of words that he is writing out three times. She started writing the words down one page. Then I told her to write them out three times. She must have thought I meant three MORE times. Pretty soon, Ethan caught on that she was finishing what she was doing faster than he was - her four times to his three. I almost thought his head was going to pop, he was racing so fast to stay even with her. She had some spelling errors that we corrected as she went and she was still finishing quicker! Fortunately, he doesn't stay frustrated for very long. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
We played a couple hands of Uno, then Shani asked if he could play Angry Birds. He let Masha have a turn, while we set up the plastic pins and bowled there in the music room. Masha discovered a bowling game and we spent the rest of the afternoon bowling.
When I left at five, I told them both I would be back tomorrow at the same time. I may take a few less burgers and fries. They both asked for Snickers. I might stop over at the store by the orphanage and grab a couple bars.
I waited over at the bus stop for nearly and hour for the 507. When the fourth 255 bus came by, I decided to risk it. I asked if it went to Holosiivska. It takes a different route from the 507, but believe it or don't it comes right to the same spot as the 507 to the station. It sounds like the fare is different for the 255. $3, instead of $2.50...But, from now on, when I see a 255, I am on it like Blue Bonnet!
Looking at the clock, you're still somewhere between Frankfurt and O'Hare. I hope your trip is uneventful and you get to enjoy a Chicago style hotdog in the terminal before you head on to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Say "Hello" to the Windy City for me.
There'll be more excitement here tomorrow, I'm sure. Ethan still wants to go outside and play soccer. Not sure his cough and the weather will co-operate on that. I'm sure he'll ask a million questions about when he's coming back to the apartment in Kiev with me, and then home to America. I think I understand now that he says "tomorrow" and "tomorrow-tomorrow" for the day AFTER tomorrow. So, we're working on that and seven days make one week, so that he understands it'll probably be two or three weeks before he comes back to the apartment with me. Right now it seems like a long time. But, we're in the home stretch now and everything should move along pretty smoothly. Lord willin' and the crick don't rise.
I'm pretty sure I miss you more now than when I started this. I wish you were here to proof-read this. There really isn't any other way except spell-check to make sure there aren't any typos.
Time to go turn some pages and see if the words on them make any sense at all.
I think I need to tell YOU the same thing I tell Justin and Ethan.
Never let you go.
Dave
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