The Tale of a True Captain. The whole truth from the first mate 🙂
I’ll skip the usual “despite the distance, we’re always together” and “always stay as wonderful as you are” (though of course, do!) and simply say that I have been lucky enough to share my life with a man who possesses a unique combination of qualities, namely:
Decisiveness
When I was a student, I worked as a night cashier at a fast-food restaurant. One day, a drunken customer broke my nose. Andrey dealt with the customer. And with my nose. ...He came to collect me from the police station (because the customer had been caught), said, “Get dressed,” and took me to the maxillofacial surgery department to have my nose reset, as it was drooping mournfully towards my ear, while I thought it would “sort itself out.” It turned out that if it had sorted itself out, I would have ended up looking like Mike Tyson. Just the look for a girl, right? 🙂
Incidentally, for nearly a week afterwards, he came every four hours to give me painkiller injections himself. So it is only thanks to you, Andrey, that I remain unspeakably gorgeous to this day ))).
The crew of the sailing yacht Lady Mary in Mindelo Harbour, Cape Verde Islands
Courage
When Nastya developed bronchial asthma, she and I spent several months in various hospitals, where she was put on steroids and we almost lost hope of her ever recovering. After we were discharged, Andrey said, “Get dressed,” and took us to Altai. Then he said, “Let’s stay and live here” (after the metropolis and our plans to move to the capital). And so we settled down in a mountain village. A month later, he threw our daughter’s inhalers into the stove: “We’ll manage with the Buteyko method. On our own.” I was terrified at the thought of suddenly losing the medication that stopped her attacks. But we managed.
A talent for quickly reaching a high level in everything
My love—snowboarding... Every winter, after a mug of mulled wine, everyone revelled in the speed, weaving on their boards between gnarled fir trees and flying off jumps. Everyone except Andrey. Between runs, he read up on the theory and practised his technique: how to edge properly, enter a turn, and scrub off and build up speed as efficiently as possible. Down and up, down and up... He bought a hard board and bindings, moulded his boots in the oven... The result: a year later, even highly experienced snowboarders were asking him for advice.
It was the same story with the motorcycle: while the bikers were giving rides to girls in short skirts, Andrey practised cornering at high speeds, learned to wheelie (which was how he broke his ribs), and much more besides. Weeell, of course he gave girls rides too, but between breaks he kept working hard at it. The result: a couple of years later, even highly experienced bikers were asking him for advice :).
And although I am still convinced that the motorcycle, the snowboard and the yacht were my dreams, he simply came along and made them our life. And so it was.
Patience
When Andrey is teaching someone, he never raises his voice. Even if the student is thick. Even if they’re very thick. Even if that student is you. And he’s teaching you to drive a car. Meanwhile, you have accidentally driven onto the tram tracks and then onto the pavement, without noticing either the tram or the pedestrians. Without saying a word, he sharply snatches the wheel from you, swerving away from the tram, the pedestrian and the wall of a house. Then, quietly (and not ominously!), he says, “Start the engine.” And not once does he call you an idiot :).
He alone knows how to chase my demons into the corners with such panache and blow the heads off my imaginary geese. If he says, “We’ll manage,” then we will. I am not afraid to entrust the fate of our young crew to him. He acts calmly and decisively in any moment of danger. I have never heard him shout or seen him give in to panic.
The very latest photo! Taken today (31 October 2016), with presents from the young sailors 🙂
He has an unimaginable sense of humour and lightning-fast reactions. Sometimes you have not even had time to think, and he has already whipped up something funny out of a play on words. His brain works incredibly fast. It is a digital mechanism, not an analogue one, ...like mine :).
I can see how much he has grown over the sixteen years we have been together. I am glad that we have managed to stay together despite our temperaments, difficult conditions and circumstances. I am happy that we are looking in the same direction.
It is wonderful to be on your team ! May life with us be joyful and easy for you. May our love keep you warm over any distance and off any shore. May everything you have planned come true! Happy birthday, our Captain!
Nastya’s present to the captain for his 42nd birthday. But Andrey turned the candles the right way round 🙂
P.S. From the chronicles of 2015, when this post was written :):
As it happened, our crew had not yet managed to reunite for the great voyage. And Andrey, like a true old sea dog, was celebrating his birthday alone. He was at anchor in the Canary Islands , while we were in the Altai Mountains .