Today I want to tell you a little bit about my maternal grandfather. His name was Andrew and I was named after him. He was born in 1914, a pivotal year in history. He was a very strong and wiry guy from a young age. Very hot, grew up in a large family and often at a disadvantage. It was the custom in the villages for the older children to wear the clothes of the younger children.
Grandpa told me how he loved to skate, but the skates were such that they had to be screwed on to boots or booties. And since he didn't have boots, my grandfather would tie them directly to his bare feet tied with burlap. In their village there was a wonderful bet, in winter it was an excellent skating rink. I'm even scared to imagine how it's possible? My grandfather, as a kid, used to run out onto the ice in those barefoot skates. But he always calmed me down and said that he didn't tie them on his bare feet, but on a sack cloth. It was such a show on the ice.
When he was already a couple and went to the neighboring village to dance, a bully from that village wanted to scare him and told him not to come to them and not to seduce their girls. My grandfather was a brave couple, and when a scuffle broke out with this guy, who was two heads taller than him. My grandfather grabbed him by the belt and lifted him above him, shook him a little and let him go. The guy wouldn't stop and tried to hit my grandfather. My grandfather grabbed the guy by the belt again and lifted him up and dropped him on the ground a couple times. The bully calmed down and backed off and didn't try to confront my grandfather anymore.
My grandfather learned to be a blacksmith at the wagon depot and was always a great worker and a very kind man. Everyone respected him at work in the wagon depot. When the war broke out, he had a reservation as an employee of the wagon depot, at that time a strategic enterprise. A blacksmith was worth his weight in gold.
My grandfather retired and continued to work, being a great blacksmith he made a tool for digging wells. He himself made circles and with the help of a team that was gathered by the owner, to whom he made a well, they dug a well in a day. At that time, my grandfather took a little money for such work. He did a lot of good to many people.
He loved me very much, unfortunately in 1982 he died, it was not an easy childhood and hard labor and deprivation that he experienced. He was for me always an example of a caring father and grandfather. He never took the best piece when boiling or stewing a rabbit, my grandfather always took the head of the rabbit and ate it, leaving us the best, saying that he loved it. I didn't believe him and always tried to put him a piece of meat from my plate. He loved me very much and often called me: grandfather's Cossack. I was his only grandchild, his hope, as he had 5 granddaughters and only one grandson. He was very fond of listening to Ukrainian songs, which were wonderfully sung by my grandmother Vera. Today I want to sing a Ukrainian folk song for you, dear colleagues. I always remember with warmth my grandfather Andrei and grandmother Vera, they were and remain for me the best ...