MY HAPPY PLACE

 I am an introvert. When I was small I enjoyed doing my own thing, listening to children’s story cassettes, playing with my Legos, or drawing. Whenever we had visitors I would get irritated as a child because the house was so messy, mom was busy cooking, setting the table, or clearing the table and washing the dishes. Later on, I started having a special interest in books. I enjoyed reading a wide range of fiction. From Authors back home, and the classics from British and Russian authors. 

Another introverted and creative joyful activity for me was drawing and painting. It started with sketching in high school art classes and then became more sophisticated such as watercolour or oil on canvas. A lot of the artworks are framed and on the walls back home. Three of my favourite works are framed by mom’s house, 2 other nice oil paintings are by my brother’s house and a small daffodil painting and some random watercolour work are in my office. My life has been crazy with all the medical school and specializing, getting married, and having a child. I have not had the passion or energy to frame any new works or put them on the wall in our house. 

Recently I started gathering pictures of some of the previous art and decided to laminate some others and put them on the walls in the spare room. Some of my early favourite sketches are from the book I found at my grandparent’s house and which had beautiful black and white pictures of ballerinas from the Bolshoi Ballet in Russia. I used to love those beautiful and graceful ballerinas. Later on, when I grew up I watched the movie Black Swan and it changed my point of view on the ballet story. 

After having a baby I lost my identity. The whole day and night revolves around the care of the baby. Only now that the child is about two and half years old and can play with herself independently and go to school I am starting to find myself again, and reflect on my favourite hobbies and activities. One of my very favourite places to go are the bookstores and libraries. I try to avoid the bookstores because I can't control myself and I end up buying books that I won't read or need. The Norscot library has a beautiful building and garden, and it offers a very tranquil environment. I usually go there once a month to unwind, do some deep reading or writing, and pick some interesting books for myself and Aryana.