Are You Warm Enough?

We leave in an hour to pick up Ben. In the mean time, I thought I would share this story. For those of you that know me well, you know I am a bit squeamish. A mouse in our house has been known to send me up on furniture. I know as a mom I am going to have to give this up. Benjamin will be bringing all kinds of things home and I am going to have to deal with it.

Well, today was my first test, of sorts. Mom, if you have worried at all about me being sick here in Russia, you needn’t. Nina is my other “Mom.” She arranged for the doctor visit yesterday. I never mentioned that when we were hiking in the forest Nina actually insisted that we switch boots for a while. (I didn’t really pack the right shoes for a long walk through a snowy forest.) Today she called and told Ed that she was bringing me a fur coat. She has been insisting that I must keep warm. No amount of Ed’s protests that my coat is actually quite warm would dissuade her. A half hour later she showed up with the fur coat. Ed went down to meet her in the lobby and brought it up to me. Not the luxurious, soft fur coat that I see on streets, but I gave it a try. I pulled it on. I even put the hood up around my face.

Then Ed said it. “Nina said it is made of rat fur.”

What!! I had that coat off so fast and began protesting that surely Ed must be teasing me. (He likes to tease me like this.) But looking in his eyes I knew he was serious. “Water rat fur,” he said.

Yes, folks, there is a rat coat hanging in our hotel room. Actually, after thinking about it some, we think it must be beaver, not muskrat. I'll have to ask Nina. I know I’ll have to give up my squeamishness for Ben some day, but still I don't know that can bring myself to put on that beaver/rat fur coat again.