Precerpt from In with the East Wind: A Mary Poppins KInd of Life - Armenia; the personal side
(Armenia)
One of my early acquaintances, who later became ass close friend, at the University of Moscow, when I was doing dissertation research in 1984-1985 and my oldest daughter, Echo, was living with me and attending School #77 on Mosfilm Ulitsa, was Zitta. We spent many an evening together at the various amenities that Moscow had to offer (limited in those days) while Echo babysat Zitta's daughter Yuliya, four years her junior and the age of my younger daughter Fawn. Echo's Russian skills matured quickly as a result of school and babysitting. And Zitta and I became close friends though we were in different departments, she in Philosophy and I in Linguistics.
A decade later, under a free Russia, Yuliya came to live with us in Salinas, California, and a few months later Zitta showed up. I found her employment in the US, and she later took over a nursing home, and Fawn, who is disabled, moved in with her.
During those years, Zitta's family moved from Yerevan to Moscow, making the move in the early cold years of the 90s when Armenia and Azerbaijan (home to one of my co-authors) were at war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within the boundaries of Azerbaijan but inhabited by Armenians for whom the region had historical and sacred significance. The war depleted Armenia of resources, and, finally, Zitta’s brother decided to leave his homeland and bring his family to Moscow. The catalyst was the day that the school chopped up his son’s desk for firewood; it had become his turn. They moved into Zitta's apartment.
I spent a lot of time in Moscow that decade, finishing and defending my dissertation and ultimately earning my PhD from Pushkin Institute. Whenever I was in Moscow, I stayed with the family, helping Zitta's nephew, a fifth-grader, with his homework, talking about life and university plans with Zitta's niece, sharing life and space with Zitta's brother and sister-in-law, and spending much time with Babulya ("grammy"), Zitta's mother, listening to her tales of WWII in Armenia, and turning to her as to a mother when I needed a guiding hand—or my back washed. (Yeah, that kind of thing differs between the US and Armenia.)
When it came time for me to defend my dissertation at a tense public event (40 people showed up and the Learned Council that questioned me and had to make the go/no go decision stuffed the room), followed by the "banket," a gala party, celebrating that rite of passage, Babulya demanded to know what I planned to wear. I showed her, and she shook her head. No, that would not do. She pulled out a blouse (a frilly one that I would never wear) and stated, "You will wear this." Before I could demur, she added, "This is the blouse I defended in; it is the blouse my daughter defended in; and now it will be the blouse my other daughter defends in." Of course, I wore it. It did not fit my daughter when she defended, but I hope it will fit on of my granddaughters -- if either decides to seek the PhD. (Yes, I still have it!)
by Dr. Betty Lou Leaver
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