This is a terribly sad weekend for me. I came home from work last night to some heartbreaking phone calls from my family. My Russian Uncle Joe, one of the last remaining Russian Wolkonsky princes in exile, is dying. He has cancer. Thankfully he has not been in pain. His battle has been about a year long and it is only a few days before the 1st anniversary of my brother's death. The last time I saw my uncle in person was during that trip to the west coast last Oct. to attend my brother's funeral My aunt said my uncle has a couple of days left at most & that he still looks good in spite of the severe illness.
My last memory of interaction with my uncle is very sweet. I am the only one in the immediate family who is learning Russian. My Russian reading skills were good enough I could read the Russian website with my Russian Great Grandfather and Great Great Grandfather listed historically as some of the official Russian nobility from the past. It is comforting to see the family recognized in Russian culture now. I called my uncle and told him about it because I new he was interested in our Russian heritage. I am not sure if he remembered much of what I told him, he was already sick & one of his first symptoms was memory loss. But I know he comprehended and liked what I told him for a few moments and it made him happy.
2 comments:
I'm so very sorry to see that about your uncle. Losing a loved one is never easy.
You left a comment on my blog and I've just now had the chance to follow it and answer back. I'm a novelist-in-training and write historical fiction. My obsession with Russia goes back getting to see The Palaces of St. Petersburg exhibit that was in Mississippi in the early 90's. I was reading a series called The Russians, set in the late 1880's and goes through November, 1917, and seeing all of the things that I was reading about was an experience I don't have words to describe.
Right now I'm doing research on the Russian forces during WW1, concentrated on the Western front. I'm in the middle of reading a book titled "With The Armies Of The Tsar", which is the diary of an English woman who joined the Russian Red Cross as a nurse. It is fascinating! She was also an amateur photographer.
The project of my heart is a trilogy that starts out in 1895 and closes in 1946. The family is nobility with the father being a count. The oldest son is an officer in the Imperial Army when WW1 breaks out and he's captured by the Germans. The second son ends up fighting with the Whites after the Bolsheviks arrest his father. Then the family flees in early 1922.
I'm still in the process of looking for books to research the White side of the Revolution. I've got an extensive wish list on Amazon that is made up mostly of books I want to read about the Whites and stories of families who fled the Bolsheviks.
I would love to learn Russian someday. It would make some of my research so much easier.
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