writing & rambles

SPRAY & WIPE

The life of an actor.

It's funny sometimes how life has a way of tying things together.

These two lovely little people are my grandparents: Anna and Wasyl.

I adored these humans.

Here they are in Germany, about to board a boat, pregnant with my aunty Sophia, heading off on an adventure to a country they had never seen, to start a new life. It is so strange to be finding out so much about them now that their lives are over.

We are currently in the process of clearing out and selling Anna and Wasyl's house. My grandfather died 5 years ago, my grandmother nearly 2. But these things take time.

I grew up in that house.

I went there every day after school.

I brought my friends over to sew homemade hacky sacks on my grandmother’s Mitsubishi sewing machine.

I helped my grandmother, Baba, make vareniki on the round kitchen table covered in plastic lino and flour.

I watched my grandfather, Dido, stir milk in the saucepan quietly for my breakfast cereal.

I did this even then knowing it was special, that Time wouldn't quite allow us to be together forever. Moments always tinged with sadness and gratefulness all at once, knowing each flicker is somehow that much more special.

I don't think I've ever felt more safe and at home anywhere in my life than I did in their house.

Concurrently, I am rehearsing a show called Hotel Bonegilla and I am finding out so much about the trip they went on to get here, who they may have met on their way to Australia from Ukraine, what they faced, their experience on this unknown soil.

So. Maybe we will sell their house soon, maybe we will get rid of their belongings we can't find homes for ourselves, maybe the flowers they planted in their garden will get torn out one day. But the life they gave for us, the wealth of spirit and generosity of their love will live through us. And it is incredible for me to still be discovering and learning about them, long after they have left this planet.

What an amazing thing life is, hey? So interconnected. I wish I could tell them.

Here's to you Baba and Dido. I hope you know you both did it all. I hope you knew every time you were scared, or unsure, or lost that it would all turn out okay. We, your family, live and are so very lucky. We are all clothed, fed, looked after and loved.

Date Published: June 16, 2017.

© Eva Justine Torkkola