Dear Granddaughter,
Thank you for inviting me to your wedding. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world but this being the third trip back to the U. S. within four months did dampened my love of flying. These trips will have to count as my vacation for this summer.
It was lucky that the Peace Corps paid for my trip in April when I had to be med-evacued to D. C. to have a breast biopsy. The mammogram I had taken in January showed a spot they wanted to check out. I wasn’t very worried about it, but it did give me a start when I read the letter in Kiev (before I left) saying they couldn’t rule out cancer. That word seemed to stand out on the page. But it turned out ok and I just had a cyst that they aspirated and I was back in Ukraine within 10 days.
The second trip was the only one I had planned to take this summer. It was good to see you and your family at your cousin’s graduation in Oklahoma City in May. You remember how worried we were about her because of the auto accident she had about 10 days before I got there. Her injuries were more severe than the other kids in the car as she had a lacerated liver. After a week in the hospital, she was able to go to graduation. I was glad she had so many of her family there since her father was in Iraq and couldn’t attend.
The trip from Ukraine to Nebraska and back again for your wedding about did me in. At the start, my flight didn’t leave until later that night, but I knew from experience that I had to start the trip early. My tutor left a message for the taxi driver to pick me up early in the morning to drive me to the bus in my city. That part went well. I can’t say as much for the rest. The bus only went to the center of Kiev so I had to find a way to Boryspyl Airport several miles from there. Nothing is easy when one doesn’t speak the language. Finally I was able to locate a bus that went to the Airport. From then on the journey went pretty well. Your mother picked me up at the Kansas City Airport and we drove in a rain and hail storm to their home in Manhattan, Kansas.
Your wedding in Nebraska was beautiful and it was great seeing the family members that were able to attend. You can be happy that the rehearsal, wedding and reception went off without a hitch.
Going back to Ukraine turned into the worst nightmare of the three trips. I felt things might not go well when I learned that the flight from Kansas City to Chicago was delayed. Sure enough, when I got to Chicago the plane to Amsterdam was loaded and my seat had been given away because I wasn’t there to claim it. The service personnel tried to be helpful by rerouting me to Detroit thinking I might be able to get a flight out of there to Amsterdam. I did get on that plane. There was only one problem when I arrived in Amsterdam the flight to Kiev had already departed. So ok, I’ll take the next one. That’s fine but there is only one flight a day from Amsterdam to Kiev which meant I had about 22 hours to wait. I did not want to go into Amsterdam since I was alone so I chose to spend the night in the airport. I found that a person can sleep, not well, but get some sleep in the airport chairs. There is a section set aside for just that. The next afternoon I was able to board the plane to Kiev.
All in all it took me three days to get back to my apartment. I was so glad to get back I didn’t want to see an airport for a while.
Honey, I hope you are very happy with your new husband. I wish you the best of luck and I am so happy to have been there to see you enter this new life. All the trouble was worth it.
Love,
Grandma
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