The blog has been dark for a week. It has been a bad time. Harry went into atrial fibrillation last week, so on Monday, he went into the hospital to transition onto a new anti-arrhythmic drug and to get a cardioversion. He gave me permission to blog about it.
But before I could get to that, we had terrible news. Misha, Vlad’s son, died of a heart attack on Monday night. “Dark, Dark, is all I find for metaphor”, as Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote in her poem, Interim. We have been devastated. Misha was 45, loved his wife, Severina, and adored his son, Max, who is only 8. He was brilliant, intense, funny, talented, sensitive, beautiful, wise and unique. Misha was a real artist, who felt the world more intensely than most of us, who saw beauty and ugliness more vividly, and felt joy and tragedy more acutely. None of us who knew him expected this.
As older people, Harry and I are losing friends, but we never thought we would lose Misha. Our hearts are broken for Severina, and Max, for Vlad and Tamara, and Daniel, Misha’s brother, and for Dolores, Misha’s mother. We attended the visitation on Friday, which was the saddest experience we have ever had. So many people were influenced by Misha, so many loved him and are destroyed at his loss, that it is impossible to describe.
Misha was born in Ukraine. He was extremely stressed by watching the country he knew bombed to rubble, by worrying about friends there fighting. I believe Putin killed him.
I don’t have many pictures of Misha, but I will carry visions of him for the rest of my life. He was a ballet dancer when we first knew him, and as Harry said, he taught everyone to dance with his virtuosity and vitality. I will forever treasure his description of me as “an intellectual peasant”. Godspeed, Misha, you brilliant, flaming comet, who lit our lives too briefly.
Be safe, be well, be grateful. Slava Ukraini. Peace.
Heartbroken, our prayers
So sorry for your loss. Peace, love
So sorry to hear your sad news. Deepest sympathy to you and Harry and Misha’s family. Be safe and be well friends. Slava Ukraini
Peace, L
Oh dear, how very sad. It’s always a shock to lose a friend much younger, it disrupts the order of life. Prayers for the families, including yours.
It sounds like the world lost a beautiful soul. Your pictures were lovely.
Anne, I am so sad for you. Sometimes I feel that really special people are like bright stars that burn out too soon. It is very hard to accept the loss of someone so young and so loved.
My best wishes to Harry. I hope he is doing better. And to you, as well.
My thoughts go along with all these sentiments. This is heartbreaking. Anne, I believe you are right. May God somehow lift the sorrow that you are feeling; you, and all who knew and loved/love dear Misha, especially his family.
And, I hope Harry is seeing and feeling the sunshine today, and back to good health! Let’s keep looking at that field of beautiful sunflowers!
Misha’s vibrancy, these joy-filled photos of him, his beautiful family, and adorable Max, a life so big, I understand your shock. And, your comment about Putin explicitly captures the far reaching ramifications of his war. I’ve been hoping someone might assassinate him. I am so sorry, as it seems, your good, good friend got caught in the crossfire of this horror. Heart hugs to his family, and to you and Harry.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Sending lots of strength, hugs, prayers and love to you and Harry
Xoxoxo
Tellement de tristesse, Anne. Je vous embrasse, toi et Harry.