Her Family, My Family | 1001 Stories

#243 Irene Froome Her Family, My Family

I'd been home to England three months before, but had to go back to Russia to complete an assignment. And she told me, off the plane, Mom, I'm pregnant.

Irene Froome

I left Russia just in the last days of the last century. It was 1999 December, I came home. And my daughter told me she was pregnant, or well, actually, I'd been home to England three months before, but had to go back to Russia to complete an assignment. And she told me, off the plane, Mom, I'm pregnant.

Now I'd been “adopted” by a family in Russia, who were sort of returnees from Kazakhstan, but ethnic Russians. They had only been back for three years, when I arrived, but still felt very alienated - and Tanya, the mother of the family sort of adopted me, we became like sisters. Her family, my family. Her daughter would call me her English mother.

So her daughter had come to me just before I left Russia and told me she was pregnant. So both Tanya and I were going to be babushka’s at the same time more of less.

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The beauty of being in a company of older performers is the kaleidoscopic range of real-life experiences that they bring to the table. These experiences cover everything from the vivid and strange world of childhood, to the unexpected late awakenings of old age. Take our newest batch of anecdotes, for example. These new stories are delightfully diverse: from the earthly, sensual joy of baking bread, to the cosmic dreams of outer space; from an unnerving encounter with a poltergeist, to the risqué glories of adult pleasure products and burlesque. Running as a rich theme throughout, is the possibility of love, and the simple wonder of human connection. As one writer tells us, in her story of funeral rites and flirting, “Amidst death, life goes on”, and indeed it does, delightfully so.

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#243 Irene Froome Her Family, My Family

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