The Russian Man

by Hayley Y.

This morning, while walking through a small park, I passed a man I’ve talked to once or twice before, sitting at a picnic table, but I didn’t recognize him at first. In fact, I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone so I just kept walking, but one of my dogs approached him and his cocker spaniel, Elton, who got up from under the table and then I walked over to say hello. Then I recognized him as a friendly foreign man from the neighborhood. After the usual small talk, I asked what country he came from. Russia, he said. I thought so. As a teen we had a Russian boarder for a while, and I had to learn some Russian from her in exchange for free room and board. I hated those lessons but my father insisted. Anyway…

The English version of his name is Leo. In Russian, his name means ‘lion’. I took this as a sign that it was no coincidence that I met him again. Lions have been in my thoughts quite a bit the past three years. I made friends with one at a sanctuary, and sometimes “practice” on him¹.

Leo comes from St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad. A mechanical engineer. Told me in an almost humble way that he held a “high position” in his chosen field. Been here 28 years. Impeccable English. “I didn’t have to search for a job; the work found me.” I asked if he spoke English prior to emigrating. No. He spent 4 years taking English as a second language at night school at a community college.

“My sister died yesterday.” Oh, I’m so sorry. “She was very old, 95.” That surprised me because I didn’t put him past 65. He said how old do you think I am? I politely said, oh, I dunno, maybe pushing 65? “I’m 82”.

Then he went on to tell me about life in St. Petersburg. Most people there live in apartments, large very old buildings of beautiful Old World architecture. “You don’t have that here.” Well, today being Canada’s birthday, I note that we are only 141 years old, and Russia has been a civilized country for centuries. He said in Canada people live in houses with lots of parks and green space. In St. Petersburg the population is condensed into a smaller area, mostly living in apartments, so not as much green space, but the parks they do have are lovely. “Russia is a very beautiful country. The architecture, the churches, the parks.” He stopped talking for a while, and we watched the Canada geese.

“My brother-in-law was a remarkable man.” Oh, yes? How so? “A great humanitarian. Everyone was drawn to my brother-in-law. He died a few years ago. He had a beautiful singing voice and in his younger days he sang in concert halls all over Russia. He was actually Ukrainian, not Russian. Ukrainians have wonderful voices, you know.” He got quiet again, lost in thought. “I miss them.”

“Why did you emigrate?”

“Oh, have you got a few hours?” And he smiled. “It was always a dream of mine.” Friends of his who had emigrated before, also engineers, urged him to come over. Also it was thought that his wife, who has a bad heart, would receive better care here. And she has. His daughter and grand-daughter also emigrated. Life has been good.

“I followed my dream.”

This struck me as a wake-up call and suddenly I realized this chance encounter was arranged by my friends and helpers who guide me from Non-physical reality. So much so that I took a moment to silently thank them. I have a dream too, which I’ve been actively pursuing in the past year. I’m learning about Animal Communication, and a new interest in Reiki as a means to assist in animal communication. I’m taking workshops and courses and practicing on just about every animal that I come in contact with, and starting to have small successes. There are now so many learning opportunities out there that I can tap into, that for me weren’t available before the internet and Amazon brought a new direction, new goals, into my life.

Elton and Vero were getting a second wind and starting to play-fight. I asked, “Why did you name him Elton?”

“Because to learn and understand English, I practiced by listening to the radio. One of Elton John’s songs has a line, ‘I finally decided my future lies beyond the yellow brick road.’ I knew what that meant to me.”

Ah. Another message from my non-physical friends.

“Do you miss Russia?”

He stared ahead and watched the Canada geese picking at the grass. “Sometimes.”

“But I had a dream. I knew the Soviet Union would collapse some day. We all knew it, my family, my friends. It was inevitable. And we knew it would get worse before it got better.” I told him about a friend whose parents came from Russia, who went to visit relatives in the late 80’s, or thereabouts, and her impression was that life was “suppressed”, with no outside influences. He agreed.

“In this country there are so many resources, so many opportunities.”

Little did I know when I started out on my walk this morning, that on this day, Canada Day, I would be reminded of that by a friendly old Russian man and his cocker spaniel, Elton.

He went on to compare East and West, but I was thinking of personal goals and the freedom and opportunity to pursue what I think I’ve been waiting for my whole life. Now it was me who was lost in thought.

Note:
1 a type of Reiki practice, as explained later on.