23 Years ago yesterday.....Chernobyl...and

...this little girl was inside my belly, at the end of the first trimester. I normally would've travelled to the USSR, but for this trip went to Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia. I drank the milk, ate the salads, and the cows were dying nearby us from the winds coming from Chernobyl, in Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union where the worst nuclear disaster occurred.

I took tour groups around the world, and the former USSR was my specialty. I traveled there quite extensively, making it to Moscow alone, about 70 times. I would take about 100 flights a year in general, and learned to sleep in contorted positions, in order to have the energy for my work. It was a 24 hour a day job. The hours were insane, and I had to be at the beck & call of my tourists, who I escorted from the US to the country, or countries that we would visit. 

The company I worked for the most had trips that took professionals for continuing education credits- for seminars in other countries with renowned professionals within their fields.

So yesterday was my sister-in-law's birthday, and her anniversary. 23 Years ago she got married, and I had to miss the wedding because of my job. I was already scheduled, and there was no one who could replace me. When I came home, everyone was very concerned about me. I'd heard a little about Chernobyl, while abroad, but not to the extent that I would hear about it in the US. They tested students coming back from the area for radiation-but a young pregnant woman, at the end of her first trimester? Hahaha! They did nothing in this country for those returning from the area. Kind of like how we're doing nothing on our borders, with a potential pandemic. Big brains in Washington and the CDC ! (drug companies have a bit of a say in that one!)

So, at the hospital after I delivered Alex through a mid-wife, the young resident in the Long Island, NY hospital just happened to be a former Soviet citizen. He said that she was so healthy, but we wanted to check her out thoroughly. He said that he would do it, but that it would be for us, not for her, because she came out so strong and healthy. She hung from his fingers with her own 2 fingers, right after delivery. Amazing. Of course, I prayed daily during all three of my pregnancies-actually, whenever I thought about my baby inside.

But, we watch out, limiting x-rays  of any kind as much as possible, especially for her and for me.
And as you can see, here she is all grown up and gorgeous. She has been extremely good at mind over body in healing herself always. She is so motivated to be healthy for events or things that she wants to do, that her body follows suit. When she's had enough of , say a cold, she gets on and gets going, and gets it out of her. She's good and stubborn, like her parents:)