The Long Walk Back

Dave sez, It's not the walk down the hill to Maidan station, the waiting outside Holosiivska for the 507, or the walk to the Cradle of Children's Hope orphanage that is the longest and hardest. It's the long back from there to the bus stop heading back to the apartment.

One of my all-time favorite televisions shows growing up in the '70's was The Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby as David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk. The same guy (Kenneth Johnson) that brought The Six Million Dollar Man, with Lee Majors - from Martin Caidin's novel Cyborg - developed The Incredible Hulk for television. Johnson said that he had been reading Les Miserables, a book his wife had given him, and the idea came to him for the whole concept of Banner being chased and hounded by newspaper reporter Jack McGee. Growing up watching the show it looked like an updating of the '60's classic, The Fugitive; you know, David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble, chased across country by U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard. Janssen's Kimble was pretty much the same kind of drifter as Bixby's Banner. Every episode of The Incredible Hulk ended the same way: with David Banner heading out of town, hiking with a backpack slung over one shoulder. Sometimes he was just hitchhiking. Sometimes he was catching a bus. He was always moving on to stay one step ahead of Javert.

(How interesting that I keep circling around Jean Valjean...)

I would imagine every couple that has done exactly what we have done, that it is hard to say "baka-baka" even for a day. Today was especially hard.

Masha's birthday cake

Today was Masha's 13th birthday. Thank you for your birthday wishes for her on the event we posted on Facebook! We certainly would welcome as many comments as would like to be left there! We found a cake at the market across the street, and éclairs and treats at the market at the bus stop near the orphanage. We got her a purse and some earrings and a necklace. Weekends at the orphanage are quieter and more laid back. The children have naptime midday, and then snack time at four in the afternoon. We brought the cake, the éclairs, treats and milk out; and, after we each had a slice with some hot tea to warm up with on a cold, cloudy day, the rest was gobbled up by Masha's friends during snack time.

After snack time, the tables were cleared and cleaned and reset for egg decorating.

Mama watching Masha decorate her Easter egg

We've done this three times in a row now and that long walk back never gets any easier. It's time to go for the day, and we have to say "baka-baka" and come back again tomorrow.

 

The best part is that every day we count down; and, we get closer to "Goodnight! Sleep tight! Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

 

The Birthday Girl!