Andrei Podell

…. went to Blondie’s Pizza and Tower Records

….rode the Ninja down Bollinger Canyon Road and up into the Hills

….ran out of the house during the earthquake in 1989

….watched the Berlin Wall fall on TV

….talked about Rush and how the reverse osmosis machine made the water taste sweeter

….took turns hanging upside down on the ortho pod

….made oatmeal from fresh oats

….never fought

Today, I came across the alabaster bowl Andrei got when we were visiting the temples in Upper Egypt.

Andrei and I had joined a French-speaking group from France and Switzerland.  The tour was led by my sister, Odette, who was treating both of us for a cruise on the Nile! I was the translator for Andrei - from French whenever Odette would make a presentation and from Arabic whenever she had a conversation with vendors and other Arabic-speaking people.

We were in Luqsor.  We had just visited the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens at dawn and we were touring the alabaster factories - a tradition for tourist groups in that area.  Andrei was handling an alabaster bowl, obviously fascinated by the story of the process and very interested in that particular item. Odette was speaking to Ahmed, the vendor, introducing me as her sister and introducing Andrei as my son.

My siblings and I were all born and raised in Egypt. As I was listening to Odette’s and Ahmed’s conversation, I soon stopped translating. Ahmed was clearly moved. His eyes kept going from Andrei to me and back to Andrei. He soon became transfixed on Andrei. With tears in his eyes and choking over his words, he welcomed Andrei back to Egypt, expressing his pride in him, a message interspersed with a number of  “Ya habibi”  (my dear or my beloved when addressing a male).  In Ahmed’s eyes, Andrei was Egyptian, a pure Egyptian. He belonged to the land.

I was still not translating the exchange. As it turns out, I did not need to. Ahmed’s communication was so much from the heart that Andrei “got it”.  Maybe because ya habibi was one of the few Arabic expressions he knew. Maybe because of Andrei’s intuitive sense and ability to connect. Whatever it was, they soon fell into each other’s arms – with tears flowing and faces beaming.

And Ahmed gifted Andrei with the alabaster bowl.

with much love,

Marcelle

The company that does all the magic on the server side of this site goofed - and for a couple of days AndreiPodell.com was down. Sorry to those of you who enjoy checking for posts!

Here’s a great photo of Andrei!

Marcelle, how old was he in this photo? 2?

~Caity

Andrei and I were looking for something to do.

“Let’s go to Great America!!”. So we did.

And we rode all the hard core rides and we laughed all day.

On the Edge, we put coins on our knees and we watched them float and dance before us through the short-lived but intense freefall.

On the drive back up to Moraga, the music was blaring, and Andrei slept right through it.

What a great day that was.

This may be extremely difficult for some of you to hear - Andrei’s voice. I’m posting it because we’re all sharing precious memories of Andrei and this is one of mine. After he died, I found this birthday greeting he had left me a month before and it filled my heart with joy to have this memento of him.

andrei_bday_message

With best wishes to you all,

~Caity

When we were clearing Andrei’s house, Stefan, Caity and I came across these statements on his desk and at his bedside.  Here to you - friends, family, and colleagues - sharing some of what touched him, moved him, and inspired him.  My experience of Andrei over the years is that he lived these principles

Live with Intention

walk to the edge.

dare. listen hard.

practice wellness. laugh.

continue to learn.

play with abandon.

appreciate your friends.

do what you love.

live as if this is

all there is.

here is another one from Andrei

Growing and Surrendering

There is no growth

without pain (pain is

not optional), so hurt a little bit

There is no laughter

without tears (don’t be

ashamed to cry for if

you don’t, you will

ever be secure, but always

lonely)

so cry often

There is no peace

without first knowing

turmoil in the soul (so

be at war with yourself

sometimes)

There is no grace

without first wrestling

with guilt.  If you’re

wrestling, let divine

grace engulf you and

give you new life.

It has been years since I seen or spoken to Andrei. I vaguely remember him in Santa Cruz when Stefan, Andrei, myself, and quite a few other people moved there after high school.

The memory I remember was when Gary and I went over to Marcelle’s where Andrei, Stefan, Marcelle, Gary and I were going to try our hand at making sushi. Making the rice was a pensive task because we all wanted it to turn out good (we all had a hankering for Sushi!) Once the rice was cooked we all took turns fanning the rice while it cooled. What a great meal that was!

Whenever I visited the three of them I was amongst people of profound integrity. I have rarely found others with this and I have even struggled with my own integrity over the years.

It is very sad that Andrei is gone but he is still an example for myself and I appreciate him for that.

Peace in your heart,

JulieEcho

Thanks to my friend, Susan Howe, here is a statement that strangely sounds like Andrei in different spots.

Death is nothing at all

I have only slipped away into the next room.

I am I and you are you:

Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way you always used.

Put no difference into your tone;

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow;

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was:

Let it be spoken without an effort,

Without the ghost of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same as it ever was,

There is absolutely unbroken continuity.

What is death but a negligible accident?

I am but waiting for you, for an interval

somewhere very near,

just around the corner.

All is well

On Children
Khalil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Painting by Khalil Gibran

On Death
Khalil Gibran

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.