LIFE
How I Stayed in America (Part 32)
Alexandra, Shura, Sashen, Shurimon, Shuriko…………. My beautiful magical girl
turned out to be a real angel. She never cried. You could feed her, put her on her back, and she could just lie there motionless, blinking her piercing blue eyes. Sasha has a very beautiful eye color. It’s blue, but it’s a very unique shade — icy blue. Her eyes are a little “prickly”.
Shura had a great appetite. Therefore, despite the fact that the girl was premature, seven months instead of nine, by the time she was two months old, she looked like a sumo wrestler in the junior weight class. It’s amazing how it all works. In the first year, there was a feeling that she could never eat enough. It’s strange, because she never starved!
Apparently, this is how the subconscious works. I am convinced that even an infant feels and unconsciously reacts to the events of her life. I am sure that at the moment when her mother refused her in the hospital, she felt hungry… It was also quite clear why she never cried. There was no one to cry with before.
Psychologists claim that you should never compare your children. However, with the appearance of Sasha, it was impossible. My boys were just really complicated compared to her. Even Stepa, who ate and slept well, was and remains so energetic and active that many complain that their eyes get tired when they look after him. He requires constant attention, and in principle, he is a very demanding person. Sasha never cried. And even when we vaccinated her, she just squeezed her eyes shut and made a small squeak. Sasha is a very patient girl. She tolerates pain very easily, although she gets really worried when she has something that hurts. In general though, she is strong-willed. She never whines and always knows precisely what she wants. Although it might not seem like it at first. It is noteworthy that out of everyone in the family, she has the strongest immunity; Sasha almost never gets sick.
When Sasha became a part of our family, my life changed completely. I suddenly felt very “grown up”. Even my biological children couldn’t provoke this sensation in me the way she did. I never could and never will take it for granted. For me, she turned out to be the best teacher. I think that it was the appearance of Sasha in my life that marked a new stage of my awareness. And yes, I fell in love with her much faster than I thought.
Vilnius, 2011. European Championship. I’m in the lobby of the hotel waiting for the bus to go to the quarterfinal game. The second (or third) coach of the Slovenian national team approaches me. He introduces himself and says that he wants to discuss something interesting with me. He’s holding a laptop. He opens his photos:
-Take a look. These are my children. They are from Russia.
In the photo, I see a very nice-looking boy, who is about five years old and a girl, who is about three years old… with a gray strand of hair…