I and my wife Alla Bialik, photographed on vacation in late 1980s.
I was a bachelor for many years. Of course, I wasn't ascetic, but I got married at the age of 45. I married my friend's sister Alla Bialik, a Jew. Alla is much younger than me. She was born in 1937. Her parents came from Rzhishchev. They were intelligent people. They didn't observe any Jewish traditions. Alla's father Wolf Bialik was a distant relative of Chaim Nachman Bialik, one of the greatest Jewish poets. There were literary and theatrical critics and doctors in Alla's family. During the Great Patriotic War Alla and her parents were in evacuation somewhere in the Ural. After the war they returned to Kiev where she finished secondary school and the Kiev College of Economics. She worked as chemical engineer. We exchanged my small apartment into the one where I live now. We had a good life, although we didn't have children. We got married at a respected age and we just shared the warmth of our souls. I earned well and we could afford to spend vacations at the best recreation homes in the country. We went to concerts and theaters. We also had a dacha [cottage], but we had to sell it since doctors didn't allow me any physical strain after an eye surgery. We didn't have a car since I could use my office car if I had such need. I've collected pictures of my favorite German watercolor painter, Feldman. Regretfully, Alla died of cancer in 1992. Now I am alone.
