"Back in the USSR"

Well not really.  A few weeks ago we were at a concert of a Beatles tribute act (Classical Mystery Tour) and one of the songs they played was this Beatles classic.  It just further reminded me how things can change.  There is no longer a USSR in existence.  Yet this week with the Syrian crisis, the intervention of the Russian President and the strained relations between the US and Russia it brought back memories of our issues with Russia.  How many of you remember practicing nuclear attack drills in elementary school.  Even as a kid I wondered how hiding under my desk in my elementary school would protect me from a nuclear attack and radioactive fallout!

Last year we had a young Russian hockey player live with us for several months.  He has since returned to his home in Kazan and is playing for the Kazan Bars, a minor league hockey team to the AK Kazan Bars of the KHL.  He and I correspond by email regularly keeping up on each others' lives.  He tells me about visits from his fiance, his current studies to become a coach and his playing statistics.  I tell him about our life after he left the US, our grandson and updates on what we are doing.  We often exchange photos like the one he sent me here:



We developed a connection that transcends language, culture and politics.  To my husband and me,  he is our Russian son and we are his American parents.

As I was talking to my son (the one who lives in Nashville) he was saying that I better be careful right now with communicating with someone in Russia.  I know he was joking yet it brought back memories of when I was a child and Russia was our enemy in the Cold War.  I can't think of that right now.  I just want to be able to continue to send emails and keep in touch with my "Russian son" in Kazan.