{"id":5604,"date":"2011-08-01T01:10:12","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T06:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=5741"},"modified":"2011-07-27T09:13:36","modified_gmt":"2011-07-27T14:13:36","slug":"greetings-from-afar-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2011\/08\/01\/greetings-from-afar-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Greetings from Afar"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Face in the Window<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tatyana Andrevna is not a beautiful woman\u2026 she does not have the “face that launched a thousand ships”\u2026 in fact, it is safe to say, that on the “traditional” one to ten scale, that is crassly used, worldwide, to rate beauty in women and good looks in men, she would rate about a <\/strong>one. Getting a zero rating is impossible\u2026 Tatyans\u2019s looks are legendary in Mamontovka\u2026 As a child, she was burned horribly when a kerosene heater in her parent\u2019s flat exploded and showered her with the burning liquid. Ever after, she was undeniably the most recognizable person in the village. Her scars didn\u2019t matter\u2026 Her late husband would simply smile when someone mentioned them\u2026 Then he would state a simple truth\u2026 Tatyana <\/strong>is beautiful<\/em>\u2026 physical beauty is not everything\u2026 It is not Tatyana\u2019s face that makes her beautiful\u2026 it is her soul. You see, everyone in Mamontovka loves Tatyana Andrevna\u2026 She has a beautiful spirit\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

For years, she was the community “welcome wagon”. She took it upon herself to greet every new person and family moving into the Mamontovka area\u2026 armed with the traditional Russian offering of bread and salt\u2026 and the warm smile of an angel. In rain, snow or summer heat, Tatyana was always there. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four generations of children played under her watchful eye as their parents went about their daily tasks\u2026 Since she did not work, it was “the least that she could do”. In times of sickness and times of mourning, Tatyana was there\u2026 always with a word of comfort and some small offerning\u2026 home baked bread\u2026 a bottle of home made wine\u2026 cakes\u2026 She was there\u2026 Tatyana with the beautiful soul\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

In time, age, and artheritis\u2026 the fragile bones that come with eighty-odd years<\/strong>\u2026 took their toll, and Tatyana Andrevna could no longer carry out her self-appointed duties. Still, even now, when weather permits she sits in her wheelchair, on the balcony of her little third floor flat on Kuznetski Most Avenue, and watches the people pass, waving to each, and smiling brightly. When the weather is foul, as it often is in Russia in the fall and winter, she sits by her kitchen window and watches the street below. Everyone in knows her. Everyone waves and smiles when they see her face in the window\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

But\u2026 no one ever goes to her flat\u2026 No one ever goes to see Tatyana\u2026 For her, there are no gifts of “bread and salt”\u2026 no cakes and wine\u2026 For her, there is only the balcony and the window\u2026 <\/strong>and the smiling faces below. She doesn\u2019t seem to mind. The smiles of passersby seem to be enough for her. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, after all the years that Tatyana Andrevna spent making people welcome, after all the sleepless nights she spent sitting with the sick and watching over the bodies of the departed, you would think that those people would be kinder. She might not be a beauty, but she does, in fact, have a beautiful soul\u2026 The thing is, you see, the little flat is locked. If you look close<\/strong>ly<\/strong>, when the light is just right, you will see that the wheelchair on the balcony is a rusting relic. Tatyana died almost ten years ago\u2026 The entire community mourned the passing of their “welcome wagon”. It was one of the largest funerals in the history of the village. Everyone turned out. The<\/strong>y<\/strong> even let out school in her honor\u2026 It is Tatyana Andrevna\u2019s beautiful soul\u2026 her spirit\u2026 that greets people from the window\u2026 with the warm smile of an<\/strong> <\/strong>angel\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Face in the Window Tatyana Andrevna is not a beautiful woman\u2026 she does not have the “face that launched a thousand ships”\u2026 in fact, it is safe to say, that on the “traditional” one to ten scale, that is crassly used, worldwide, to rate beauty in women and good looks in men, she would rate about a one. Getting a zero rating is impossible\u2026 Tatyans\u2019s looks are legendary in Mamontovka\u2026 As a child, she was burned horribly when a kerosene heater in her parent\u2019s flat exploded and showered her with the burning liquid. Ever after, she was undeniably the most recognizable person in the village. Her scars didn\u2019t matter\u2026 Her late husband would simply smile when someone mentioned them\u2026 Then he would state a simple truth\u2026 Tatyana is beautiful\u2026 physical beauty is not everything\u2026 It is not Tatyana\u2019s face that makes her beautiful\u2026 it is her soul. You see, everyone in Mamontovka loves Tatyana Andrevna\u2026 She has a beautiful spirit\u2026 For years, she was the community “welcome wagon”. She took it upon herself to greet every new person and family moving into the Mamontovka area\u2026 armed with the traditional Russian offering of bread and salt\u2026 and the warm smile of an angel. In rain, snow or summer heat, Tatyana was always there. Four generations of children played under her watchful eye as their parents went about their daily tasks\u2026 Since she did not work, it was “the least that she could do”. In times of sickness and times of mourning, Tatyana was there\u2026 always with a word of comfort and some small offerning\u2026 home baked bread\u2026 a bottle of home made wine\u2026 cakes\u2026 She was there\u2026 Tatyana with the beautiful soul\u2026 In time, age, and artheritis\u2026 the fragile bones that come with eighty-odd years\u2026 took their toll, and Tatyana Andrevna could no longer carry out her self-appointed duties. Still, even now, when weather permits she sits in her wheelchair, on the balcony of her little third floor flat on Kuznetski Most Avenue, and watches the people pass, waving to each, and smiling brightly. When the weather is foul, as it often is in Russia in the fall and winter, she sits by her kitchen window and watches the street below. Everyone in knows her. Everyone waves and smiles when they see her face in the window\u2026 But\u2026 no one ever goes to her flat\u2026 No one ever goes to see Tatyana\u2026 For her, there are no gifts of “bread and salt”\u2026 no cakes and wine\u2026 For her, there is only the balcony and the window\u2026 and the smiling faces below. She doesn\u2019t seem to mind. The smiles of passersby seem to be enough for her. Now, after all the years that Tatyana Andrevna spent making people welcome, after all the sleepless nights she spent sitting with the sick and watching over the bodies of the departed, you would think that those people would be kinder. She might not be a beauty, but she does, in fact, have a beautiful soul\u2026 The thing is, you see, the little flat is locked. If you look closely, when the light is just right, you will see that the wheelchair on the balcony is a rusting relic. Tatyana died almost ten years ago\u2026 The entire community mourned the passing of their “welcome wagon”. It was one of the largest funerals in the history of the village. Everyone turned out. They even let out school in her honor\u2026 It is Tatyana Andrevna\u2019s beautiful soul\u2026 her spirit\u2026 that greets people from the window\u2026 with the warm smile of an angel\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}