10. At the Homefront

(By Natalia Kashina, my Mom)

So, after 3 scary days in France, when we were mourning my son-in-law, who was in coma, the kids and I were getting ready to go back to Garmisch, Germany. Scott's friend, Dusty, came to pick us up. He left his pregnant wife with their other two little kids home and came to our rescue. He came Wednesday night, exhausted after the long road trip. Early next morning he and Steven miraculously found our car at some carpark, put babies' carseats into Dusty's van, loaded our suitcases and bags with food. At 11:30 we buckled the kids up and left Nice. My heart was bursting with pain for Scott, with fear of the unknown, what to expect, and how Ulya can endure all this. It was comforting to know that she was not there alone, Scott's Mom and brother were there and could give her support she needed at these difficult times.

Meanwhile, our way was leading us to Garmisch. For a long time we were following the mountain road along the Mediterranean coast. Down below the sea serenely shimmered in the sun and extended its azure all the way to the horizon. Steep rocky shores, beautiful scenery of the South, white boat sails - all this floated passing by, without evoking any emotion in me. All my thoughts were about children only. Nadia and David were sitting in the very back, sometimes picking on each other, I even had to hush them a couple of times. But as a whole, they bahaved well, understanding the seriousness of the situation. They also helped me with the babies. And babies, buckled so tightly in their seats that they could not change position, were fussing quiet a bit. I had to calm them, give them drinks, feed them, stroke their heads so they could make this long journey. I had to unbuckle myself a few times to turn around on my knees looking for a lost binkie or a bottle, talk to them or cheer them up. We stopped at McDonald's a couple times - to eat, to rest, change diapers, and let kids play on the playground. And when babies dozed off in the car, Dusty drove at full speed! France, Monaco, Italy...  Finally, here are the Austrian Alps, going strictly north now, to Germany. We arrived in Garmisch after 7 pm.

When we climbed on the third floor of our apartment building, we saw 5 or 6 bags sitting by our door. There was milk, diapers, and all kinds of food. Someone was so thoughtful as to think of that for us... The first thing babies saw entering the apartment were their big riding cars. Immediately, they jumped on them and started riding their vehicles through the empty apartment. Poor things, they got so tired of sitting still during the road trip, they could finally move freely. And yes, the apartment was practically empty. Right before France Army has packed and moved all their stuff and furniture in preparation for the move to Boston. Army has provided some uniformed government furniture and the bare necessities, so you can live but it's not cozy or comfortable.

Soon, Royanna, wife of Scott's boss, came over, as well as Anya Tsekhanovskij, wife of Scott's coworker. Anya is from Ukraine, so she could translate for me what Royanna was saying. Next morning Vika, Ulya's friend came. They all ask me - What do you Need? And I don't know what to say. I don't know what we have, I don't know what kids like to eat, I don't know what exactly babies need. I am just lost, and tired, and sick (it's been only one week since I got out of the hospital myself)... I felt like crying... I fed the babies, gave them a bath, put them to bed... Dusty brought all the luggage and carseats upstairs. He stayed overnight and left in the morning for Grafenwoer, leaving his own double stroller with us. (Ours, with missing part, stayed in France.)

And so, our sad summer days bagan. On Monday Ethan and Levi started going to CDC (child development center), and Nadia and David - summer camp. The Army post arranged this totally free of charge for us. At first, babies' cry caused me to jump in stress in the morning, hurrying to the kitchen to warm up their bottles of milk, then to their room to change and dress them. While I took care of one, the other one took all his clothes off, or worse, ran to the bathroom, grabbed the shampoo and squeezed it all out on the floor. One time they both got into the fridge and smashed the whole carton of eggs... And so on, without end. Ulya was right when she said that they each need a policeman assigned to them. While they are in CDC, I work like a horse, cleaning the place, getting groceries. But to be able to buy stuff on post one needs to have a military ID card. I don't have one. They issued me a paper, saying that I am a legal guardian of Thompson's children and have the right to buy food for them at the Commissary, no ID card required, only my passport. And it worked well except for when it didn't. One time at the cash register they refused to let me buy the groceries since I had no ID card. They took my cart full of groceries and I had to leave the store humiliated and stupid. I called Ulya in France, she got in touch with LTC Butler, he talked to his wife, Royanna drove up to the store in an instant, settled the issue with the store management and gave me back my milk and other things. But I was hurt, my began having heart trouble.

Nevertheless, we felt outpour of love and sincere concern almost every day. Despite my often depressed emotional state, I still could see all the attempts to help us: Sylvia took babies on a walk many times; Lenka invites older kids to her house to play with her kids; Natasha Holland gave me rides to the German grocery store; Anechka Bikbaeva volunteered to come for the whole 2 weeks to stay with me and help out with kids; after her Melanie Mueller, a German girl from the Church in Munich came to help for a week; Royanna opened a bank account in my name, and Church members were donating money so that I could buy food and necessities; American neighbors brought dinneres for the first couple weeks; Vika came several times to help; Anya Tsekhanovski often checked on us as well..... Perhaps, I forgot to mention someone, but I express my deep appreciation and gratitude for every act of service performed for us. Americans, Germans, Slovaks, Czhecs, Ukrainians, Russians, - people, I've never known before, and will probably never see again, offered their time and labor to me, a simple Russian woman, who could not even properly thank them, unless they understood Russian. It touched me and made me believe that things would get better. Even despite the fact that my favorite son-in-law was so seriously sick.

At nights we anxiously awaited а call from Ulya. We waited for good news. Nadia and David had long conversations with Mommy. We were all hoping for a miracle.