Somewhere In Time...

Dave sez, Cathy and I are somewhere in time...

 

 

 

I like time travel stories. Cathy like romance stories. They came together in a unique concept when the late Christopher Reeve travelled back in time through self-hypnosis to the turn of the century and a renowned actress played by Jane Seymour; who was, in turn managed by a sinister Christopher Plummer. Reeve is set up this journey by an elderly woman who comes up to him after a performance and pleads, "Come back to me!" He discovers that she's an older version of Seymour and sets about his journey. His journey comes to a crashing end when he is showing off his suit to Seymour, and discovers a 1979 Lincoln penny in one of the pockets. The look of horror on both of their faces as they are tragically torn away from each other across the decades is priceless. If you follow the rules of the story, he basically just vanished into thin air. Through time.

 

 

Yeah, that's a long walk around the block for a punchline, but we are basically trying to adjust to being EIGHT HOURS AHEAD of Central Standard Time, where we are from. Right now it is dinner time, where it is almost lunch time back "home-home". There is home where we are staying here in Kiev; and, home-home where we are from. A very nice single bedroom apartment. The bedroom and living room are a combination. That's pretty typical. There are some apartments that have a bedroom separate from the living room. We have a "water closet" with a small wash machine. Across the hall is the shower and sink. We also have a foyer just inside the front door. We are Apartment 13 on floor 3 1/2. We are on the landing between the third and fourth floors. Igor made a joke when we first got here that we are on floor 3 and 3/4! We don't actually have a door, we just run at the wall to get into the apartment!

 

Adjusting is not easy, because, try as we might we're still in two time zones. We're still keeping up on how things are going back home from here. Our cell phones have local time, but I haven't changed the clock on my computer.

 

We're trying not to stay up to much passed midnight - that's not easy. We're trying to not sleep in to late. Right now our routine is pretty slow and laid back. We didn't have any plans this morning before our SDA appointment at noon with Igor and Valentin, so we just relaxed at the apartment. We're only a five minute walk away, so we left about a quarter after, and meandered over. Along the street toward the SDA office, there are street vendors selling paintings on the right side and over on the left are two rows of metal kiosks for more vendors. One could probably assemble either a complete military uniform - or Yuri Gagarin uniform - except for shoes from one of the kiosks. I've seen the winter hats and the gas masks, but I always seem to be a few hryvna short.

 

We met Valentin and Igor outside the SDA. Igor introduced us to Valentin. With our boys, we had been working with Victor. Now, we would be working with Valentin. he took us up to our appointment.

 

There is a part of me that wants to know everything. I'm curious. Since Ethan introduced us, I've been wondering how this wonderful young lady came to be where she is. I knew that today, I would find out. There is also a part of me that isn't interested and doesn't care. I have met my children. Each one of them has chosen me and Cathy to be their parents. I am blessed, fortunate and honored that they have made that choice. If they want me to know where they came from, if that is a part of our relationship and has anything to do with our future together, then they can tell me on their own. It's like when Neo was trying to explain to Morpheus what the Oracle said to him. Morpheus told him that what the Oracle said was for Neo and Neo alone to hear. The blonde lady with the SDA was an Oracle to Cathy and I. Valentin was our translator.

 

Now, tomorrow, we will go back to the SDA office and get our referral. That's our permission to visit Masha, will we count down to our court date. We will probably visit a notary on Wednesday morning and head out for our first visit with our little girl. This will be the first time we have seen or talked to her since before the Olympics. I think we last Skyped with her at the end of January.

 

Since we have no plans before our return at four tomorrow afternoon to the SDA office, we will probably walk around the city.

 

After our appointment today, we walked down the hill behind the SDA to a grocery store we frequented on our trip to bring Justin home. We hadn't been back there the whole time we were here bringing Ethan home. There was graffiti on buildings along the walk. One of the phrases that jumped out was, "Be Rich In Spirit".

 

Instead of walking back up the hill, and past the SDA back to the apartment, we made our way to the Metro subway station and rode back to Maidan, and Independence Square. Not much has changed since our last visit. Except the Pizza restaurant is closed. Maybe remodeling. We're not sure. The restaurant was dark.

 

The square is sectioned off by tire and brick barricade. Across from the Number 18 bus stop there is a pile of tires. We'll probably only use the same entrance in and out of the Metro, by McDonald's. We saw a few that looked blocked off by barricade.

 

Otherwise, it seems like things are back to normal. We see people walking around the barricades as if they are not there. As if maybe they have blended into the landscape. We've seen roadside memorials of portraits with candles. So, not everything has blended in and been forgotten.