Sunday, September 1, 2019
Remembering Lidzia
Lidia Cionka-Kawecka was my neighbour, dear childhood friend and playmate during our preschool years on Mickiewicza Street in Lubaczow.
I remember well our games on the verandah of my parents’ house and in the large sunny kitchen of Lidzia’s new home after her family moved to our city where her father had been appointed a judge at the Court.
While I remember clearly our dolls and picture books, one incident remains especially clear in my mind: while our parents were out, Lidzia brought a new colorful picture book to our house and we looked at the pictures with much pleasure, but my brother Radoslav was annoyed that we did not include him in this activity. He snatched the book out of our hands and threw it into a pail of water, damaging it. Lidzia’s mom scolded her, but I remember taking the blame and apologizing to her mother for our misbehaviour and for damaging a very pretty book.
My brother remembers too, how, while I was also out, he played “hairdresser ” with Lidzia and how they, getting hold of scissors, shortened the fringes of a new table cloth in our dining room. Similar memories of Lidzia and our children’s games remain clearly even now.
Many years later Lidia, her husband Yurek Kawecki, a brilliant engineer, and their sweet daughter Alicia, arrived in Montreal, along with Lidia’s parents. Radoslav and I were caught up in the Kawecki’s vibrant social life, our younger brother, Ireneus, played with Alicia, while our parents were happy to reestablish their old friendship.
When the Kawecki family moved to Massachusetts, opportunities to meet became less frequent, but continued when they would visit their parents in Montreal, during our academic trips to the Boston area, and most recently, contact by telephone.
Now Ala, you remain our precious link to memories of your Mother and the whole family.
With fond memories and in deepest sympathy,
Luba, Radoslav and Ireneus
