I can’t imagine my morning without a newspaper

Hospitable hostess

« Is it worth writing about me? Will anyone be interested in reading? » Jadvyga Pocienė said « yes » by convincing the second call, but asked to dial her phone number on the day of the meeting. – In our family, many have left suddenly, in minutes. In the morning, he was with the sun, and in the evening there was gone. I, if I feel worse, I pull the key out of the lock before lying in bed. ”

On the agreed day, I called Jadwiga on the phone for the third time, and when I heard her voice and heart -melting, I « wait very much » and tieled at the door of the apartment. As the handle was stuck, the bright face of the housewife flashed through the slit, like a cloud of sun. Truth be told, I did not expect to see such a 97-year-old woman of honorable age in front of me.

« Just don’t get the shoes, » Jadwiga did not stop smiling, seeing that she would not obey her request. Then he offered a cup of coffee. I refused it because I still felt the taste of the morning beans in my mouth, but I scolded a few chocolate candy without a re -call.

« I also really like sweets. I eat lunch and my heart still wants something – a crystal vase pushed with my left hand, the right grip took a handful of chocolate sins and broke me in my handbag.

Experience: The grandmother is not cremated, not childish crossword puzzles, but a serious task. Photo by Edgar Cickiewicz

Worked in kindergarten

Still, I was not the candy, and I did not smell the stories of Jadwiga. About the love of reading, born in his childhood, about a sister who left Anapilin left her ritual, and about the little joys that Jadwiga finds in her mailbox.

« I’m not from Kaunas. I am from Rietavas, » the seniors said, who spent more than 20 years in Samogitia and then came to a city with her husband Alfons.

In Kaunas, the couple had a son Remigijus, Gediminas, Saulius and let the roots in. At the beginning of the 19th century, the mother of three worked at the Outpatient Clinic, the Driving Commission. At the same time, she studied at medical school. Dreamed of being a nurse. When the diploma was already in his hands, he was employed in the Red Cross Hospital, the Children’s Inland Department.

« I didn’t work there for a very long time. The connection was not, we had to go from home to work for an hour because we lived in another place. We only got this apartment in 1965, » said Jadwiga, not the most favorable graph of work in the hospital. Having distributed her day and children on her day, she went to the medical facility for the night.

« Living somehow needed. The salaries were low. We had to spin, » Jadwiga moved to a kindergarten that spent more than 30 years.-formerly he was called 66, then a « grinder. » I was responsible for vaccinated, nutrition. The kindergarten was exemplary. All the guests who came to Kaunas first visited us. The institution had both traffic safety and masseurs. We had four groups of children with disabilities. ”

I like to feel needed. That is what I am.

One brother remained

Jadwiga has three sons and is from twice as many families.

« We grew up in six brothers and two sisters. I am the eldest, » seniors speaking eyes to a younger sister’s photo. Surrounded by white rings, she looked at the floating clouds. Jadvyga is a sacred conviction that one of them is now sitting on a beloved sister now sitting and looking at the rest on the ground, sipping coffee and inviting her to do the same.

« We were very close. We called every day at the same time. She made a coffee and drinking while talking. The sister went out in January … And I, though I’m not a big coffee lover, at 10.30 I poured myself a cup, » The elder of the family often calls him, only to meet less frequently.

« We go to our homeland together, visit the cemetery. We were now in Kretinga, my sister is buried. Just 28th was her birthday. By the way, today my youngest brother’s birthday, and I congratulated the world on November 17th, as poet Salomėja Neris. At least a dozen years younger, Jadwiga has been satisfied with the armchair.

Feels needed

On the day we met, Jadwiga had already visited the store after paying utility bills. The first half of the day’s seniors are always quite active.

« I usually get around 5 hours from Monday to Friday with me one of the sons. He lives in Birštonas but works in Karmėlava, so it’s more comfortable to drive there. It’s about 6 hours a meal for breakfast, my son goes out and then I go to the stadium for an hour. I did not go to the Magnolias with a week ago with a watched clock.

After exercise, the seniors shop and make lunch. Some – for himself, others for a son that he would have something next day to work.

« I like to feel needed. I am like that, » the grandmother was not just about her son’s attention. Before the two meetings, a neighbor -care nursing workers were visiting her. Jadvyga protects the keys of an apartment that does not walk.

« Danutė lives on the fifth floor. I used to visit it more often, and now only occasionally. I still talk to a doctor from the third floor. There is a neighbor on the fourth floor. Of course everyone has their lives and no one wants to communicate with the old ones. I understand everything perfectly, » Jadwiga said.

Reads from childhood

When it remains alone, she is aware of various activities. As you say, you do not sit down with your hands, and if you are sitting, your fingers work with needles.

« When I was thirteen, I put on the first sweater for myself. Since then, it has started! It would be hard to count how much I have for myself and my loved ones. Books.

They are lined with several rows hiding on the shelves of the room. A lot of literature is brought by Jadwiga and martyrs.

« He still reads new books. – Jadwiga did not hide that reading for her was the greatest happiness. She read her first book written by Ieva Simonaitytė while she was preschoolers. The girl was like a sunflower glued to another, very unchanged literature – the magazine « Šaltinė », the newspaper « Farmer’s Advisor ». After moving to Kaunas, Jadvyga started reading Kaunas Day.

« I won’t tell you how much a year, but I remember how much I remember myself. It is not now that I have been subscribed to three months now, » the grandmother, who likes to read the « gaze », the city news and the stories of bright people. – I start reading from the end because there are horoscopes there. I definitely find a crossword puzzle over the weekend. I liked it when there used to be various recipes. I cut them, I accumulated. Now, unfortunately, there is no. ”

Album: The most beautiful photos of Jadwiga are those in which she is a little girl. Photo by Edgar Cickiewicz

Happy life

We talked to Jadwiga for about an hour and during that time I never heard that the grandmother hurts something, that she was annoyed by a neighbors’ dog or a ball beating in the yard, that taxes were too big and a pension too low.

« I am happy, I am happy with spring, every new leaf, explosive ring. I never go because there is nothing to do. I am fine, and here for families who are raising young children, really do not have a lot of costs. What do I need. What do I need? » – When he thought for a moment, Jadwiga replied that he had everything, but measures happiness not with material things. She is curious to solve the crossword puzzle. Delicious mouth melting chocolate candy. It is interesting to read the inspirational story. It is important to have small but expensive rituals.

« Well, let’s say I can’t imagine my morning without a newspaper. It brings me early – about 5 pm – in the mailbox, very often, according to Jadwiga, there are not one but two joys. – I have a friend who writes to me. I always find a few poems in the envelope. so would not be read anymore. ”