K is for Klepa

Inspired by a friend and a fellow blipper kaitlynbrooke, I am doing a mini-blip challenge. For the next eight days I will focus on things that I am grateful for.

I will spell with my posts "thank you". :-) This is a fifth post in the series.

Ki is for Klepa, my sister. I have never met anyone more stubborn or determined. She decided at a ripe age of 3 or so she wants to be a veterinarian, live on a farm, have a slew of cows, chicken and such. It took her about 30 years to get all of the pieces collected, but today she is just that: a veterinarian, living on a farm, with chickens, cows, etc. Her journey took her to St Kitts island, as well as to Perth, Australia, for a year-long internship. It's been a very long and windy road. I have no idea whether at any given point she remembered all of the pieces of her dream life to keep her going, but keep going she did. I am so very proud of her!

K is also for books. No, really! Books in Polish are "ksiazki". Since I am bilingual, and it is my blip challenge, I can jump languages if I so choose, you know... ;-) When I was growing up in the communist Poland, books were hard to come by. My childhood home was filled with books, but they were not exactly children's books per se. Some ideas were ageless and timeless, like abstract humor. I read a lot of Edward Lear as a kid, Jerome K. Jerome, and a lot of Polish authors. I fell in love with science-fiction early on, especially with the works of Polish author Stanislaw Lem. Reading certain books and authors was an act of rebellion (George Orwell, Aldous Huxley). Read them all. There were the classics, too. I loved Pushkin! My grandpa (Dziadek Mikolaj) used to read Pushkin short stories to me. Good times... My mom read "Master and Margarita" to me when I was 11. While I was very capable of reading it on my own, it was her favorite book, so she wanted to make it special for me, too. Aaaand there were the "not-age-appropriate" books floating around the house, like "Lady Chatterley's Lover". Read it, also. My parents' attitude towards books was straightforward: if you want to read it, go ahead. If you don't like it, don't read it. If you have questions, ask. No books were ever forbidden. I look back at it all now and I see how a house filled with books influenced my worldview. I am comfortable with the written word. I recognize and appreciate its power. I hope Little Man will effortlessly fall in the same mode of operation.

K is also for Kitchen, my favorite space at home. One of these days, when I have my own house, the kitchen will be painted warm yellow, and will sport a leather sofa with tons of washable blankets on it. A perfect set-up for the morning tea and a book!

This is a very full week. There will be lots of backblips.

Good night blippers. Sleep well.