(no subject)

[avrelia]

Last month I celebrated 100 hundred years since the birth of my grandmother. She died in her 80s, and never really expected to live that long, but we celebrated her life and our memories of her.

I had two grandmothers, of course. The Grandmother, and Another one. This was The Grandmother, because of her role in my life, and in me being me. I still dream of her, I still think of the lessons she imparted on me consciously or not. Not all that influence was good, she was a person of her time, with her traumas and her beliefs, and her ways of doing things. She survived the war, and horrors of the Leningrad Siege, and all the losses, and all he hardship that came after that. But her one superpower was being a great friend. She maintained and nurtured her friendships for decades. She was best friends with her school boyfriend and his wife all her life, she was friends with her girls from work long after retirement, she immediately befriended all the neighbors after moving into a new apartment. And she really was a very good friend.

Another one lesson I wanted to share, was a more practical one. She taught me to wash my face with cold water before going to bed at night. The effect is more psychological that cosmetic or magical or whatnot. I splash my face, trying to wash away worries of the past day and looking forward to a new one with a bit of hope.