A baby’s life in Russia is very different from the one in America. Babies are left alone at home, they are left alone in strollers next to supermarkets. They use public transportation alone as early as four years old. I remember my early childhood very well. When I was three, I was dropped off in a summer camp with a lot of children of similar age. I would go into the woods by myself and search for magic. The entrance into the magic world was inside a circle made by tall trees. I would walk for a long time to find this circle of trees. My little feet getting tired as I enter it. But it was worth every step. Inside the tree circle I would find bliss. Protected and peaceful, I would enter a parallel Universe, filled with fairy tales and magic. No one else knew about my trips and no one else talked about anything like that. Many-many years later I found this circle of trees again. The entrance was still there, the magic world intact. I did not stop listening to fairy tales when I grew up. Maybe that’s why magic comes back into my life. And that’s what I can teach you.
