Meeting family for the first time

When our grandmother, Anna, returned from the camp at which she had been imprisoned, she did so with a new husband and child. A stepfather and half-brother that my mother, Nonna, never knew she had. The photo below is of Misha and his delightful son, Arseny. Misha is my first cousin, grandson of Anna and Misha. Although we did not get to meet Misha, we did have the pleasure of spending the afternoon with his wife, Marianna, and Arseny at their home in Konstantinovka, just a few short blocks from the house where my mother spent time as a girl with her grandmother, Fedosiya, and lots of uncles, aunts, and cousins.

During our visit, Marianna brought out some photo albums for us to look at. I was captivated by the photo on the left and had to know who was in the band, especially since it looked like a cool 1960's era group. I also thought my husband, a guitar player and band member himself, would appreciate the guitars. Marianna told me that the handsome, smiling guitar player was her father, and the keyboard player was our Uncle Yuri, who died in 2006. Of course, Anna, the very talented pianist and singer, would teach her son to play music. How intriguing to find out that Misha, who is also a musician, and Marianna probably grew up together with their fathers playing in a band. Our visit that day was one of my favorite parts of our trip.