Yo Ho, Yo Ho!

A few minutes after the chrismation service was over, I headed north. I had caught wind of a random excursion my friend Stacey was taking, and we decided that I would take a drive and meet her in Vegas.

It's interesting trying to explain a day trip that involves driving for eight hours. It's interesting trying to explain that I'm skipping out on the festivities celebrating ten of my friends becoming Orthodox so that I can get to Vegas and back before the visit from the bishop the next morning. Yes, it was a very odd context to sandwich Vegas into, but what can you do? She lives in New York. We'd been friends since summer '05 without meeting in person. The situation needed amending!

So it was that RevStacey, the alpha pirate and Spidey, the definitely not alpha pirate, finally met in person. So it is that we finally have photographic evidence of a pirate meeting involving Stacey.

Stacey did not want photographic evidence of being in Vegas, so I suggested the picture be taken in front of a Denny's sign. There were certainly enough of those! However, as we strolled past Treasure Island, it was clear that the only place we could possibly have our picture taken was right there.

It was a fun time. We walked the Strip. We called Mark. We half expected to run into someone we both happen to know (we had no idea who, it's just that we seem to know the same people). We ate at a sidewalk cafe at Paris. Three hours went by fast, though, and she had to meet her travelling companions for a show, so I headed home. As I sat in the parking lot that was Las Vegas Boulevard, I texted Counselor. Pirate meetings are made of total win.

Re-Linked

The last time I was in Russia was August 2004. It was my fourth trip. By then, the church in Nolinsk was nothing less than family. The language barrier itself was barely noticeable.

My birthday came while we were in Nolinsk that year. It was so much fun! Some crazy things happened on that trip, but for now I'll stick to one piece of that last week in Nolinsk.

This is my Russian sister, Luba. She's two years younger than me. We sing together. That's all we really could do. For four summers we spent as much time together as possible, and only once in 2004 did that involve a translator. Maybe we somehow knew it was the last...

Luba gave me a silver bracelet that last summer. For two years, I never took that bracelet off. I lost it briefly last summer when a link broke, but I was selling double shots of espresso every morning to the Vietnamese jewelers next door, and Loc repaired the bracelet for me.

That lasted about a month. I was still living at the condo when the bracelet disappeared again. I searched everywhere for it. Nothing.

This was heartbreaking. I am not a jewelry sort of person, but this wasn't just a bracelet. It was a constant reminder of Luba and the others. It was a link to my home on the other side of the world. A home I was watching slip away.

Last Thursday I lost what was left of my watch, so last night, I was digging around in my car looking for it. I was reaching behind and under the driver's seat when my hand ran across something it couldn't identify. I picked it up.

I almost cried when I saw what I was holding. It was the bracelet! It had been missing for almost a year. I thought it was gone forever, and there it was! It wasn't even broken. The clasp was merely stuck in the open position.

I know I may never get back to Nolinsk. I may not see Luba or any of the others again in this life. But I will never forget them, and as long as this bracelet stays on my wrist, it'll be easy to think of them often.




Luda (my homestay host), me (in my Really Short Hair phase) and Luba, June 2001