Someday ..

I hope all you are lucky enough to be invited to the humble but loving home of a Russian woman and her family.

It will be really time, "You'll never forget."

So let me go back in time a little and share with you that "I will never forget."

On the first evening of my arrival in Siberia, I was invited to attend his mother's house in our beautiful Inessa's for dinner.

It was the first time I've ever been in a normal Russian at home and my first task was mental to get used to a small living space throughout the apartment.

Upon my entrance Inessa led me into a short narrow corridor, which is probably half the volume of a single person mattress, if you put it on the floor.

I watched as she quickly turned the corner and I ran to the kitchen, which was the size of a small office cubicles for one person.

Tiny shell, narrow and squat refrigerator, pantry dish that looked more appropriate in a miniature doll house baby, and a small wooden kitchen table, which reminded me of the old fold card game tables that were once popular as a boy for the night.

Inessa beautiful mother Natalia was in the midst of finishing off her cooking and greeted me with a level of warmth is reserved only for family and long lost visits from old friends.

She warmly hugged me, and I gave her a bottle of Bulgarian Merlot and a large bouquet of pink roses. A bouquet, which seemed to overpower a small room with their long stems because it seemed that every square inch of this room was busy with pots and pans with a pair of freshly prepared Siberian delicacies.

Obviously, we are dealing with a very talented chef who put a lot of time and attention to the food prepared for me, and I felt totally owe them is given less than an idea related to cooking that I experienced in the U.S.. From my own experience with the preparation I figured that Inez and her mother started to prepare this meal for us all morning.

Inessa wanted to give me a proud tour of his house, so she encouraged me to follow her around the corner again to her immaculately kept, but a tiny closet in the bedroom. I remembered the most typical walk-in closets in the U.S. to be more then that. But it was her room, she lived all her life and she is proud of it.

The first thing she showed me it was a bookshelf next to her two feet wide table, which had a large number of classics and specialized fiction from Russian, German and Japanese authors, who deeply impressed me, as she was only 21 at the time. All of these novels have been translated into the native language, but she expressed a desire to be able to read them in their original language.

She pulled out her small collection of photos showing different capture slices of time with my friends and family. While we were looking through them, her mother, Natalia called to tell us that dinner was ready. Inessa led me into the modest living room, that little TV antenna works of the old Soviet films in the background.

There was a master table located next to the couch with 2 other chairs at opposite ends. The table was decorated with a colorful array of dishes that I've never seen before, and I'm looking forward to this culinary adventure.

One thing I noticed was a bedroom for mom Inessa and her stepfather. I embarrassed myself thinking that there must have been another room somewhere, as I tried in vain to make an inventory of it, to learn more about what the real Russian house looked like.

Well the biggest surprise for me came when I realized that I was sitting in it, and literally sat on the bed shelter beneath me.

I think this was the moment when the total energy of certain realization hit me.

By American standards, these people had so little in terms of material things ..

But by my standards up to this point in my life ..

They had more soul and warmth, that I could ever imagine.

Before we began our meal, I just closed my eyes for a few seconds to thank the man upstairs is a chance to experience the best moments.

And then the biblical story about a rich man, who poured money into the treasury of the temple fell into my consciousness.

He followed a poor woman dropped a coin in the collection.

Here I was face to face with the spirit of a woman ..

And in this peaceful and loving space ..

My life has been enriched beyond measure.