Grandfather
On this day It was like watching a happy family movie to me. Many members of my big family gathered at my parents' country house to do a project together - to build a summer shower.
My uncle came from Nikopol to weld an iron structure. My dad, grandpa, mom, and I dug holes in the ground the day before to pour concrete over them. My sister was babysitting my newborn niece, and her three-year-old sister was running around trying to help.
It was a sunny August day outside, and everyone was busily going about their work. But I don't think anyone noticed the halo of happiness that surrounded us all as much as I did.
In between jobs, my father, winking, in spite of my mother's exclamations, handed me a bottle of cold Ukrainian beer. I gladly accepted the drink, knowing that at this moment my father felt more pleasure from such a rare moment of men’s unity with his son than I did from the taste of the beer itself.
Grandpa would sometimes leave with his elderly stride toward the blackberry and blueberry bushes, and in time he would return with hands full of juicy berries, dropping them right on the grass beside me.
I would pick those berries right off the floor and eat them with bits of earth and cobwebs on it, ignoring the rules of hygiene for this forgotten feeling straight out of childhood.
Mom would sometimes argue with Grandpa, who disagreed with her approach to work, my uncle would sit quietly and listen to them both, and my niece would sometimes come running in and start jumping on the still unwelded structure.
Despite arguments and the "help" of a three-year-old, we finished work much earlier than planned, and the rest of the time was spent just relaxing, enjoying the cool of the evening.
It was one of those rare magical days spent with my family that I will take with me to France as a souvenir.
Also on this day:
