My Grandma's Secret

My grandmother was a night owl. Her childhood passed in 40s, when the Soviet Union was battling its 5 years in World War II. That’s when she got the habit to listen to the radio all day and all night long. The radio back then was the only source of information – they had huge radio speakers in the streets when the announcements about frontline were made. My grandmother loved to tell that the famous radio announcer Yuri Levitan had such a deep giving chills voice, that everything he’d say sounded monumental – bad sounded horrible, and good sounded great. There were rumors that Hitler personally was dreaming of hanging Levitan once he’d take over Moscow.

My grandmother used to say that she remembered the day when Levitan announced the end of World War II. And when he announced that Stalin passed away, “grown-up men been standing in the streets, listening to radio announcement and crying like babies” – she’d add. Deeply in her heart, she believed Stalin was a great person. She believed that she had to keep her Communist Party Membership card even when the USSR was destroyed in 1992. “Just in case” – she’d say. And would keep the card in the upper drawer of an old cabinet table from my deceased grandfather. Till her death, she’d collect crumbs from the table in a separate clean white pouch – “just in case” … because hunger she went through during the war, also came unexpectedly. Yes, she had a hard time adjusting to peace, but most importantly, she could not adjust the restriction on listening to the radio before going to bed.

Let’s be honest, in 2005, when she died, almost nobody kept the radio except her generation. She had two best friends, and they had been close since they were in their 20s: Tamara called Chito, Elena called Lyalya, and my grandma Nino called Nushi. They gave those nicknames to each other and grew old together, and closer to her last days, all three would talk on the phone for hours every day. And they would share and discuss news they heard on the radio. No other source would matter.

And all was great until my aunt – anthroposophist Marina, a professor at Waldorf School in Canada – moved back to parental home after her retirement to work on her next Ph.D. degree. She was a strong believer of Rudolf Steiner's philosophy and even was a priest at their community church. She was battling cancer for many years and had a set of rules that followed strictly. But now she decided to include my grandma (aka her mom) too.

All restrictions of sweet, sugar, food by blood type, no red meat, and TV screen time limitation were fine with my grandma – she believed in Marina’s knowledge, education and trusted her on many levels.

But going to bed BEFORE 11 pm hit her the hardest.

Because the daily news on radio been starting exactly at 11 pm.

She started to talk on the phone so much longer – because now she had to ask daily Lyalya ad Chito, what was in the news on the radio a night before.

Always easy to talk down, for that one she fought hard – she secretly installed a tiny radio by her bed that she could cover by her pillow. And for a while she’d say good night leaving for her bedroom, pretending she is going to bed before 11 pm and we’d think she sleeps, but she was listening to the radio – turning it on very low.

Once Marina walked in and discovered my grandma’s little secret. You know, when this time comes one day, that you feel now you can lecture your parents and they will listen? My aunt was talking so passionately about the health, about the importance of getting into your bed before 11 pm, explaining why this one hour is so crucial and how getting into a new sleep pattern will benefit her longevity.

My grandmother died at the age of 89 from a heart attack. I don’t know if she’d live longer following my aunt’s teaching about falling asleep before 11 pm, prioritizing her sleep. Or she’d live longer listening to the news on the radio at night times, like a true owl gasping all words she could barely hear behind her pillow. I guess I’ll never know.