Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

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Two weeks ago, Boris had the same surgery as I had in February. Yet another time, I see a striking difference between our health care system and the one they have in Finland. But I do not want to elaborate on this subject just now 🙂

The fact is, that it was always thought that his vision is way worse than mine, because he has limited vision fields, and some blind spots right in the middle. So, I guess he has been thinking for a while that in comparison to that, the miopy in not an issue. And it is. So a couple of days after he had his first eye operated, he told me: you know, today I realized that I need to clean the kitchen floor! And I was: awww! I am so happy!

It’s not something you would comment on when you visit, so I aways suffered in silence 🙂

The second surgery is going to be in a week, and I think that after that, he may be able to see even better than me!

More of Chicago – I Just Can’t Stop!

It’s getting colder, much colder! I was doing my weekly laundry yesterday, and could not believe I wore shorts just last Sunday! But even cold and cloudy – isn’t our city beautiful?! Isn’t in gorgeous?!

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Celebration

We had a launch of new product today. It does not mean, that “it’s all over,” but that’s an accomplishment, at life will be just a little bit not so crazy 🙂

I was alone in the office today, and I celebrated with a glass of four different flavors of Jeni’s ice cream:)

Summer 1996. Lichtenberg Park

Our University Campus was built close to the old Lichtenberg Park. I know that I should check my facts and tell you exactly who from the Lichtenberg House was related to the Russian Royal family, but I will not do it now. It is not essential for my story. What is important that there was this beautiful park on the other side of the train tracks. The park was in the half-deteriorated state, and the palaces and pavilions and the church were even more so, but it was a great park for walking.

I do not remember which days the pictures were taken, but it was one of the days when Boris and I already knew that those might be the last week of my staying in Russia. If not that, I am sure I won’t convince him to take pictures with kids. Igor was most likely with my mom in the city, or possibly with his other grandma – she was taking him sometimes to another vacationing place, which Igor himself can describe better.

That’s all I can say about these pictures. Now that I look at them, I can sense a bittersweet feeling, joy, and sadness simultaneously.

Vlad is wining about something, as usual 🙂

The next several pictures are almost identical, but I am going to post them anyway, because we do not have that many pictures, and I know that Vlad and Anna would like to have them all 🙂

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A Short Description Of The Past Several Days

Working around the clock on a critical project at work (launching tomorrow 6-30 AM). Around the clock – literally. At the same time – trying not to miss a next chapter deadline with our book (had to ask for three days extension). The past nine days were the planning miracles because I managed to get it all done and have this Art Institute outing.

Today was all work, with no lunch break and no coffee breaks (all in front of the computer). Then, I went to my neighbor who lost her daughter, and when I came back, I saw more messages on the work slack. Which I am going to ignore for now because I need to do a couple of personal things, and I also need to prepare some teaching materials for tomorrow. OK, I didn’t ignore them :). But I told them, that I can’t allow this thing to go to production:).

And now I am going to spend the next forty minutes doing stuff fo myself, and another forty minutes to prepare teaching materials.

My First-Born Birthday

Today is Igor’s birthday, and it’s hard to believe that he is thirty-five. I can’t even describe how proud I am of all the things he achieved in life. He faced way more challenges than Vlad and Anna, not the least one being a first-born for the 22 years old mother. But here he is. A kind and compassionate person. An accomplished professional. A cancer survivor. A person who stands for his views and beliefs. Happy birthday @igorstudenkov!

Harvesting The Prairie

I do not know who saw my Instagram post about the wildflowers (a copy of this one), or maybe my fellow forest preserve volunteers spread the word and reached out, but today, I spotted a Forest Preserve Police car :).

We spent Saturday morning collecting the seeds, .which are in abundance, and enjoying the end-of-summer prairie. There are still lots of flowers, blooming!

Grass seed collecting
Canadian rye
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A Field Trip To The Art Institute

(It is a very long post, but I want to record my memories of that day)

On Thursday. we had the best-ever field trip to the Art Institute. The best in almost four years that I volunteer at the Open Door Shelter!

When I came to cook dinner the first time after “the start of everything,” we discussed what we can do outside the shelter, and I said that we could do the Art Institute and see the new Monet Exhibit. I also suggested a couple of other things, but this one was embraced immediately.

Remembering all out previous Art Institute outings, I was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm but held a pinch of skepticism. It happened before that when it is time to go, the youth forget, or just do not want to get out of the house, or whatever. I remember all delays in departure, losing people on the way there and back.

This time around, being late was not an option. I was not even sure how to secure our place in line for a Monet exhibit for the future date. A week after our conversation in the ODS, which was a week before our Art Institute outing, I went there during my lunch break, trying to see more of the exhibit and finding out what my options are for next Thursday.

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Canceled Performance

Today, Igor. mom and I were going to see an outdoor performance of the Goodman Theater new production Speak Out! And we went, only to find out about the last-minute cancellation, and it was a long trip for us from Palatine to Portage Park.

One of the performers was tested positive, and they suspended all performances until everybody would get tested and receive results. Which is the right thing to do, but why in the world they didn’t notify us?! Although the performances are free, they asked people to sign-up for email updates, just in case. And that was the case! Also, they didn’t have any updates on the theater webpage, only on their Facebook page.Total wasted time – almost two and a half hours.And that’s me trying to take a break from my two weeks non-stop work + book marathon. I could do something more productive at that time…

My Neighbor’s Daughter

Yesterday. my neighbor told me that her older daughter died from a heart attack. And for the past 24 hours, I can’t come to terms with that.

My neighbor and I moved in almost at the same time, 23 years ago. I knew all her children, two daughters, and a son, for almost the same time.

Her older daughter was fifty-five, and I can’t come to terms with her death.

I am blaming myself for not stopping by or texting my neighbor for the whole week. She is literally next door to me. We talked on Saturday, and her daughter died on Sunday. And I didn’t know until Friday.

Because of COVID, there was no service or anything; she was cremated, and that’s it.
It’s just something that should not happen…