Life Lessons

“Experience is like the police. It comes too late”

“Parents ruin the first half of your life. The second half is ruined by children”

I’m learning so many aphorisms during this trip. Russians like to compose adages or sayings to pass on (usually while drinking).

Last night, we went to the home of the Krakowsky’s. This is a couple that my parents were friends with when they lived in Israel. While my father served in the war in 1973, my mother worked nights. This couple, Ena and Zev, didn’t have an apartment yet…so they would stay over at my parents’ apartment at night and look after Anat, who was just a toddler.

How they could be friends, I have no idea. They two couples are like oil and water. While my parents are prim, proper and “just so”, this couple is rip-roaring fun! We did shot after shot of vodka or whiskey (by preference). They joked and laughed and teased my parents (which they took very well, by the way!). Then they took pictures of me in order to circulate around the country to find me a husband. But they said I wasn’t as good of a “candidate” as my sister because I don’t drink as much! (Apparently, they liked Anat because she likes Jameson’s whiskey). We were all on the floor laughing!

What a cute couple too! You could tell that even after 40 years of marriage, they are still passionately in love. They laugh and joke with each other. He kept slapping her ass and holding her hand. It was sweet. I can only hope that I’ll have a marriage like that!