The Human Family 2: Families are Universal

No matter where we are from, where we live, what we do, we all have families. Some are more functional or dysfunctional than others. Some are scattered, some live close. Most are ties that bind. Most give us roots and wings, like my family at home in America and Natalia Dohadailo's large family in Ukraine.

Natalia's sister Olga and brother Vlad live near Starobilsk. Their brother Sasha lives with his wife Valya in Siberia, Russia. The family is originally from Poltava, in central Ukraine, then moved to eastern Ukraine, but they still consider Poltava home. The siblings, spouses, and some of the grown kids got together at Natalia's and husband Vasyl's spacious home in the village of Lymon last weekend for an old-fashioned cookout and family reunion.

This is the first time they have been together since their mother died three months ago, a sad gathering then for all of them. This time it was a happy reunion, although their papa couldn't make it. Natalia invited me, and I felt like part of the family, the English-speaking side!

Valya prepared a delicious fresh fish soup, a traditional Russian recipe, complete with a cup of vodka and the end of a burning stick that Sasha put into the broth. Quite dramatic! I recorded this for posterity (photo above). The soup was delicious, and the food plentiful, mostly from Natalia's large garden, plus fresh bread and hearty toasts. To health! To family! To Ukraine and America!

Between meals, all meticulously prepared and artistically presented by the women, we shared in conversations, games, and a swim in the river. I hadn't brought a swim suit so I stripped down to my underwear (another first for me) and plunged right in with a splash. It didn't make a bit of difference, like my Peace Corps bikini. Normal'no!"

It was a wonderful reunion, the kind we know and share with our own families in America, the kind that envelops and embraces us. We may be spread out, miles apart, but no matter where we are, our family means the world to us. Families, like babies, are universal.