January - Friday (letter to Babushka)
1110 Words
14/01/2020
Dear Babushka,
I am sorry for not replying to your letters sooner.
Life has been very busy here.
Mother has gotten married to David recently.
You remember that I wrote to you about David and his daughters, yes?
I despise him.
I hate how, in public, he seems like the nicest, most honest, most just man you could hope to meet, but in private, he most the most condescending and unjust person in history.
He goes out of his way to make me and my mother feel stupid.
And whenever his daughters do something bad, he turns a blind eye and blames me instead.
For instance, yesterday one of his daughters sneaked into my room, took my clothes and had David burn them.
And yes, dear Babushka, those clothes include all the wonderful pieces of clothing you made for me.
Mother and I were furious of course, so Mother punished her.
David did not like that, so he shouted at Mother and blamed me for what had happened.
Mother was speechless and I was so angry, I almost kicked him.
In the end, Mother decided it would be best if David and his daughters stayed in New York for the weekend.
So as you can see, dear Babushka, David is a horrible step-father.
As for Mother, she has been nothing but stressed since the wedding.
David does not do anything in the house.
He says that it is not the man's duty to look after the house or look after the children.
So he expects my mother, who has a full time job as a psychiatrist at a mental health facility, to keep the house clean at all times, make all of our meals, make sure we do not fight, etc.
I have never seen Mother so stressed.
I try my best to help around the house to relieve her of some of the stress.
Papa is doing well.
He is very focused on work and making sure Peter and I are happy.
He is also trying to help me make sure Mother is not getting overwhelmed with work and her house duties.
Babushka, I have a theory that Mother and Father still love each other.
Papa is your son, what do you think?
Peter is doing well.
You would love him, Babushka, he is such a sweetheart.
He reminds me of your description of Papa when he was young.
Except, Peter actually likes to talk.
He does not seem to run out of things to talk about.
Peter just seems to have so many stories to tell, just like Dedushka (grandpa).
Jeremiah requested that I write about him in the letters that I send to the family.
I hope you still remember him, because I plan on marrying him someday.
Not because I am in love with him, but because we made a pact.
The pact was that as soon as we both graduated from University, we would get married.
The reason being that we cannot and shall not imagine ourselves with anyone else.
For Jeremiah, I am his one constant and he knows I shall not abandon him.
For me, I know that I can be with him and not need to worry about having to be romantic.
Babushka, you have asked me whether I have loved Jeremiah.
The truth is, I am not sure.
I love him in a way that is more than a friend, but I do not love him the way that you love Dedushka, or that Papa loves mother.
But I do love him in a way that I am not sure about.
Do you have any theories?
I for one, have never loved anyone in a romantic way.
It concerns my mother a bit.
Mother blames herself for it.
Lately, Mother has been trying to get me to be more expressive, since I do not like to show affection in the way others do.
She believes that might be why I cannot have relationships outside of family or friendship.
Jeremiah says that I am perfectly normal, and that I do not need to experience romantic love.
What do you think, Babushka?
Is there something wrong with me?
Babushka, how is Dedushka?
I hope he is well.
In the last letter I received from him, he seemed rather upset.
He mentioned that Papa has not contacted him in a while.
Of course, I asked Papa why he does not stay in touch with Dedushka, to which he replied saying that Dedushka has not sent him any letters in months.
Their relationship and overall reluctance to speak to each other concerns me, dearest Babushka.
Perhaps you can speak to Dedushka and I can speak to Papa.
And perhaps, you can explain to me why Dedushka and Papa are always so cautious around each other in the first place?
I sincerely hope Papa's relationship with Dedushka does not become like Mother's relationship with her parents.
My Mother's parents still have not contacted her.
They despise her for marrying Papa, for becoming a psychiatrist instead of being a homemaker, for having me.
I remember when I was eleven years old, Mother's parents finally called.
They wanted to see how I looked at least.
I remember that they said I looked nothing like Mother, besides the fact that we had the same eyes.
I also remember that they called me ugly.
They said that my hair was too dark. my eyebrows were too thick, I was too thin and I always looked angry.
And then they never contacted Mother or me again.
Babushka, since then, I never saw myself as beautiful or pretty.
In truth, I never preoccupied myself with such things.
I never cared about such things, and I still do not, but do you think that I am beautiful?
And I know you will be honest with me.
Is Cousin Vladmir really going to join the army?
I always thought he would go to University to study programming, since he always showed interest in those things.
But I suppose his love for guns will always trump his love his love for computers.
I hope he stays safe.
I shall send him a letter to congratulate him.
Is Cousin Boris in Belarus?
He has not sent me a letter or a souvenir in a month, which leads me to believe that he is hiding something.
He promised me that next year we would go visit as many Slavic countries together as our money allows.
I also wanted to visit Finland.
Please Babushka, is Cousin Boris hiding something?
Enough about the others for a moment, how are you?
Are you well?
Please be honest.
We can always tell each other anything.
I have always loved that aspect about us.
The fact that we can tell each other anything without the fear of the rest of family knowing.
I cannot wait to visit you in the summer.
You can teach me how to knit properly, I can help you prepare meals for the family, and we can laugh about everyone in the family's funny moments together.
I wish you well, dearest Babushka.
Send my love to all the cousins, uncles and aunties.
Also, please remind Cousin Masha to focus on school instead of boys.
Love,
L.V
- Writer
