It was June 22, 2041. Now, thinking about it .... (My grandmother is looking like she sees something funny in front of her and smiles) Beautiful summer day, all I remember is it was warm and sunny. And for us, children, it was summer holidays too.
I was in school back then.
Even when we were told about the war, almost the next day my father's old friend stopped at our house, already wearing a military uniform. And all his calm look, the feeling, we will soon win the war. It was nothing like the war would take four years and half of our country would be occupied. I still can't admit how we missed that.
On this day, me and my friends went to bring our cows, we had a cow, to the grass field near the river. It was my everyday chore for the summertime because my mother had to start work earlier in the summer. She was working on the farm and in the summer she would leave earlier, get everything ready for the harvest together with the group of farmers she was working with. She would come home late, do some housework, make dinner, check my homework and work in our garden. My mother had only a few classes of education, she wasn't illiterate, with a very basic education. She went to school only after the Russian Social Revolution when basic school education became mandatory for everyone. Until then, she was only prepared for the housework, helping to raise her younger brothers and sisters. She was the oldest of five children. Before the Revolution, in 1917 it was never a thought of her going to school or studying anything. Now, on the farm, women like her, uneducated, were only able to get one of the hardest work. And when she would get home, in the evening, she would already be tired. It was normal. All the housework, especially when I was growing up, was already on me.
Poems,stories and pictures by Irina Mouravleva.
