IT’s AN OPEN! don’t be sad!

Some days are better than others, and some days just suck.

Mrs Coldwarrior is on her way to New Jersey to help attend to her father who will pass soon. Arch-Priest Dedushka Coldwarrior does not have long. He has fought liver and prostate cancer for 5 years and will soon finally lose. His pacemaker was shut off last night.

This was an extraordinary fellow. His family was kicked out of the Soviet Union in 1984. Even in the bad old days, the Soviets didn’t shoot or gulag the priests. Pope John Paul II secured passage to Rome. JPII did not need to do these things as there has always been some animosity between Rome and the Orthodox church, as silly as the arguments over Filioque are. They left Moscow and lived in the Vatican for a year. What a difference! My sister in law worked in the papal gardens and Mrs Coldwarrior had run of the place! Rome worked with the Orthodox Church to find him a Parish. And, as luck would have it, he got one in southern New Jersey. The Vatican paid to get them from Rome to NJ. There are reasons that JPII is a Saint and has Eastern Orthodox Icons written of his likeness.

After the move, Dedushka started working in the Parish and took a job at Green Giant where he worked for 30 years. Babushka Coldwarrior cleaned houses up until she passed 6 years go, MEMORY ETERNAL! His story of how he tried to pay back the state of New Jersey for the welfare benefits they used are legend. NJ had no idea how to process his payment. PAID.BACK.IN.FULL. He finally had to get a local state rep involved. There is a framed letter from Gov Whitman lauding his pay-back that Mrs Coldwarrior is going to try to get. Dedushka is also a shockingly amazing artist. His copies of famous paintings are unreal in their accuracy. As long as the copy is of different size  from the original, it’s legit. This passes to our middle daughter, quite the artist.

Imagine, you are a teen-age girl and have no English, enter a new high school in a foreign land, and then become successful. It’s extraordinary. All three daughters are RN’s. One is a nurse practioner, Mrs Coldwarrior is advanced practice neurotrauma / stroke, and the other is a burn/trauma specialist. All 3 are VERY MAGA. This is how immigration should be.

So, my next few days are up in the air, waiting for the sad inevitable. Our girls are very sad. We would all see Dedushka on our trips to the beach. We would make sure that he stayed a few days on the ocean and relax. He would always buy us too much fresh fruit to carry home. This became somewhat of a family joke to the point that I would have may largest cooler empty for the trip home for the 30 pounds of fruit! Tell me, how are 5 people supposed to eat that much fruit before it all goes off? He would have one  cigar a year, with me, out on the fishing deck where we rent. A Hammer and Sickle Hermitage. I have 3 in reserve in the humidor, they haven’t been made in years. I will have one now, look out over the Ohio River Valley, have a shot of Russian Vodka, and wait for my kids to get home from school.

Our local Orthodox Church will have this day’s vespers for him, Sunday’s Liturgy will be dedicated. I will refrain from ‘memory eternal’ and lighting incense, and praying at Icons until it is time. For those of you of the religious persuasion, no matter the denomination, please pray for consolation for Mrs Coldwarrior, her sisters, and the Parish who are losing a great man.

He is the reason I converted from Catholicism to Orthodox, he is always serine, always at peace, always bigger than life in my eyes, yet he is only 5′ 4″ on a good day.