Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska

Wanda's Diary Entries

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The dismal grey stretch of Warsaw weather was broken yesterday by a stand-alone sunny day. But today, Sunday, the skies let loose again, and we were drenched before we reached the Old Town, where we were attending ecumenical Christian services at Warsaw International Church.

Henry was grousing that he’d a whole lot rather sleep in this morning than go to church, but in Warsaw, if you wait for the weather to get better, you’re pretty much consigned to being a stay-at-home, stick-in-the-mud type. Besides, we had something wonderful to celebrate today. Or I should say “someone” wonderful to celebrate.

Before leaving our home away from home in Bielany, I’d learned via email that my dear friend Ann Lewis Vaughn, has just become a grandmother the second time, to a baby born Thursday to her daughter-in-law Susan and son Jay — a baby girl whom they named Scarlett Lewis Vaughn.

I saw pictures of the darling newborn who appears as healthy as a horse. If little Miss Scarlett turns out to be half as pretty as her mother, grandmother and 18-month-old first cousin, Madison, she will be a stunner! So Miss Scarlett inspired me to keep plowing forward through puddles and downpour.

While Henry and I were wise enough to take umbrellas with us, we had not adequately protected our feet. When we set foot into church, all four were wet. I started thinking: Not only would we have to suffer through service, but we had a walking tour around the City — from the Old Town, to Nowy Swiat, to a few streets that actually survived World War II — planned with friends. My mind started turning over solutions.

We’d already made our way into the makeshift sanctuary when it occurred to me to take off our shoes and let them dry out under a radiator heater. As it was only our second visit there, I was a little reluctant to do something out-of-the-ordinary like this, to call attention to ourselves. Would this be seen as some crass show of devil-may-care Americanism, I wondered? But then, the church is casual in style — with all of us expats sitting on folding chairs, hearing a marvelous minister named Murray Gow, a New Zealander, married to a young Ukrainian woman and now the father of two adorable young children. (Perhaps the boy I spotted in the entryway abusing the umbrellas — who was none other than the preacher’s son — inspired my creative thinking!)

Well, I made the decision then and there: dry feet are simply more important than propriety. So I took off my shoes and cajoled, begged, persuaded Henry to do the same. One act of boldness spurred on the next. Next thing I knew, I was removing my socks, too, to lay atop the radiators.

When his barefooted Mom came back to her seat, Henry whispered, “Mom, they’re all laughing at you.” And he gave me one of these, “I draw the line at the shoes; I’m not about to part with my socks” looks. But I cajoled, begged and somehow persuaded him again to follow suit.

Unorthodox? Sure. Practical? You betcha.

Besides, in our efforts to learn Polish, we’d just come across the word “bosy”, which means barefooted. So we were the “bosy” Americans digging in at our new church in Poland. And when I stood before the congregation to proudly announce the birth of baby Scarlett Lewis Vaughn, I was quite sure that God had bigger, happier thoughts and plans in his mind and was not in the least concerned about our naked feet.