A Good Wife

One of the things I really appreciate about Violet's blog and I have said it before is that her husband figures in almost every one of them.  Things they do together, how he looks after her and how much she loves him.  With three boys to raise, they need each other and that kind of positive reinforcement is wonderful to see.

I should take a cue from her and start the New Year by saying thank you to my wonderful wife for how much she loves me and how well she looks after me.  First a couple of stories:

One morning I was trying to convince Tanya there were better things to do than get up.  (Now, I am decades away from "tri-weekly"; sort of half way between "try weekly" and "try weakly").  At any rate, she carefully tucked the quilt between us and said "I am a Canadian woman this morning", got up and went to work.

A few days ago there was a note in The Economist which I read out to Tanya, to the effect that the governor of some Indian province had been forced to resign, having been filmed in flagrante delicto with three women.  He was 84.  Tanya said "Quick, write to him". 

I get no respect.

She is my organizer and manager.  I have a small contract in Kazakhstan in mid-January.  First off she offered to come with me.  Russian is the business language and I will learn much from her just being there and listening to what is going on outside the official discussions.  She spent two or more days on the phone. To the Kazakhstan Embassy in Kyiv to find out what I needed as a Canadian applying in Ukraine for a visa.  To various airlines and travel agencies to find both the cheapest and most direct route from Dnipropetrovsk to Astana.

Then she spent a full day finding tickets for us to go to Kyiv to apply for my visa (she doesn't need one).  Holiday season and the trains and busses are full.  We could get to Kyiv but not home.  All seats on the train are not available at all sales wickets.  She and Andrei went to P'yatikhatki finally and Andrei knew people who had "reserve tickets" they didn't need.

That same night we (she came with me, just in case there were problems) caught the midnight train in P'yatikhatki arriving in Kyiv at 8:00 next morning in a heavy snowstorm that dropped 30 cm of wet snow on Kyiv during the night.  We took the Metro (subway) to the stop nearest the Embassy and waded through snow, slush and ice for another 20 minutes to get to the Consulate and drop off the  application.

The streets were a disaster.  There was an army of people clearing sidewalks but could not keep up.  Steps down to the underpasses were like 45 degree ice ramps.  Watching a classy but clueless woman in stiletto boots trying to climb without breaking a leg was interesting.  Tanya said that they averaged 17 broken legs per day for the next few days according to the news. We went back to the railway station by 12:00 pm and slept in the first class lounge as best we could until our train left at 5:45.  We were home safe and warm in our house by 11:00 pm that night.

That day was Masha's Grade 1 Christmas concert.  Tanya missed it to make sure I would get my visa OK.  How do you say thank you for love like that?