Loss
We lost so much when we could have had it all.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
YOU HAVE GOT MAILThere are few memories that make me feel butterflies in my stomach - a postman and letter mail era memories are one of it.
I remember the lady but not her name, who carried newspapers, journals and letters for us. I remember her huge brown leather bag hanging over her neck down the shoulder. Some days she came by the bicycle. Sometimes our neighborhood dogs chased her and other times they did not bother.
I ran to her each time it was around the time to bring "Murzilka" for me. It first was published in May 1924 and Soviet children around the Soviet Union could enjoy its illustrations, stories and poems. I loved to read the stories about nature and cultural practices of other regions. I also enjoyed the puzzles and other entertaining tasks."Kolokolchik" was also one of my favorites. Later when I was a little older I educated myself on "Sem'a" magazine and laughed at "Krokodil".
I loved to receive letters from my extended family in Belarus, cards for the New Year, the 8th of March, the 1st and 9th of May ,and the 7th of November and the 23rd of February. I liked to collect the postcards and in summer with my friends we sat on the grass and looked at each other's collection, sometimes we exchanged it.
I also was very expectant to hear from my brother who was in the soviet army in Hungary and managed to send me chewing gums along with the letter! Sometimes we had only the letter inside with the smell of the chewing gum - someone on the way -in the post office- took the gum. That was a tragedy for me!
I loved to take a 30 minute walk with my mom to the post office, in the snow with the slide, to pick up the parcel from my aunt and uncle and cousins. They would send us dried blueberries and dry pork and few Belorussian dresses for me. I still can remember the smell of the parcel on my dress. I loved it!
I remember one summer when I went to a pioneer camp for three weeks six hours away from home, and I received at least two letters from my mom saying that she missed me a lot and hoped that I had a good time and updating me on the neighborhood kids. I cried as I read and kept the letters for the longest time.
I also remember that when I grew a little older and was around 9 or 10 years old I had a correspondence with a girl whom I met in Issyk -kol resort. She lived in Bishkek, the same city, but those days we did not have a phone and so we wrote to each other and it was also special. Near our house we had a big blue postbox, where our boys through the rocks and stick too and I felt so bad! I even had a fight once, trying to protect the safety of the letters.
My mom also was a post-woman. I heard some of her stories. It was not an easy job and one had to walk for many kilometers. One day mom told, another post-woman was discovered to dump the letters into the canal because she was too tired to carry the huge bag. So not everyone got their letters.
I feel nostalgic of the post-man era. These days communication is so much faster, so much easier and so much casual that sometimes one does not bother to open the letters because there are just too many to read.
Do you think we still have the hearty letters these days? And what are your memories of the post-man era?
I remember the lady but not her name, who carried newspapers, journals and letters for us. I remember her huge brown leather bag hanging over her neck down the shoulder. Some days she came by the bicycle. Sometimes our neighborhood dogs chased her and other times they did not bother.
I ran to her each time it was around the time to bring "Murzilka" for me. It first was published in May 1924 and Soviet children around the Soviet Union could enjoy its illustrations, stories and poems. I loved to read the stories about nature and cultural practices of other regions. I also enjoyed the puzzles and other entertaining tasks."Kolokolchik" was also one of my favorites. Later when I was a little older I educated myself on "Sem'a" magazine and laughed at "Krokodil".
I loved to receive letters from my extended family in Belarus, cards for the New Year, the 8th of March, the 1st and 9th of May ,and the 7th of November and the 23rd of February. I liked to collect the postcards and in summer with my friends we sat on the grass and looked at each other's collection, sometimes we exchanged it.
I also was very expectant to hear from my brother who was in the soviet army in Hungary and managed to send me chewing gums along with the letter! Sometimes we had only the letter inside with the smell of the chewing gum - someone on the way -in the post office- took the gum. That was a tragedy for me!
I loved to take a 30 minute walk with my mom to the post office, in the snow with the slide, to pick up the parcel from my aunt and uncle and cousins. They would send us dried blueberries and dry pork and few Belorussian dresses for me. I still can remember the smell of the parcel on my dress. I loved it!
I remember one summer when I went to a pioneer camp for three weeks six hours away from home, and I received at least two letters from my mom saying that she missed me a lot and hoped that I had a good time and updating me on the neighborhood kids. I cried as I read and kept the letters for the longest time.
I also remember that when I grew a little older and was around 9 or 10 years old I had a correspondence with a girl whom I met in Issyk -kol resort. She lived in Bishkek, the same city, but those days we did not have a phone and so we wrote to each other and it was also special. Near our house we had a big blue postbox, where our boys through the rocks and stick too and I felt so bad! I even had a fight once, trying to protect the safety of the letters.
My mom also was a post-woman. I heard some of her stories. It was not an easy job and one had to walk for many kilometers. One day mom told, another post-woman was discovered to dump the letters into the canal because she was too tired to carry the huge bag. So not everyone got their letters.
I feel nostalgic of the post-man era. These days communication is so much faster, so much easier and so much casual that sometimes one does not bother to open the letters because there are just too many to read.
Do you think we still have the hearty letters these days? And what are your memories of the post-man era?
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