There are multiple days that can be considered “when it all started” between Boris and me, and “by default,” we agree on March 20, 1983, the day we met for the first time. However, there are several other days, including the Day When Our Hands Touched for the First Time, which was September 30, 1988.
It was Friday, and we were flying back from a technical conference in Rostov-on-Don, the first conference I ever attended. Four conference days, when I could barely understand anything presented. Where Boris had a talk on the third day. Where we spent hours walking the city streets in the evening and talking. Where we sat in my hotel room, eating fresh fruit and fresh bread in place of dinner (and those who were not born and raised in the Soviet Union won’t understand that having an abundance of fresh fruit was a luxury available only “in the South”). Both of us were married, and both of us happily pretended that nothing was happening.
It was much warmer in Rostov-on-Don than in Leningrad, and the farmers market was overpouring with yellow pears and blue grapes. In fact, when the subject of the conference came up, I was hesitant to attend because Igor’s third birthday was in the middle of that week, but Boris told me: you will bring him fresh fruit. I did, and also lots of clothes: somehow, the private enterprise was rolling out faster in Rostov than in Leninigrad, and I bought several nice-looking outfits for Igor, still “a deficit” in Leningrad.
It was only on Firday evening at the airport, that Boris took my luggage from me to place it on the luggage belt, and our hands touched, and he didn’t move his hands away for a couple of seconds.
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We talked about it on Saturday, because September 30 was in the middle of the week and busy, and we both admitted that in our wildest dreams we couldn’t imagine the future outcome of that day 🙂
My historical posts are being published in random order. Please refer to the page Hettie’s timeline to find where exactly each post belongs and what was before and after.
