EILEEN ADLER

Anton Chekhov was born in Russia 1860 and died in 1904 from tuberculosis, just 44 years old, but despite his
short life, he is regarded as one of the greatest writers of all time. This portrait of Anton Chekhov by Isaac Levitan was completed in 1886. Two years prior, he attainted his medical degree but clearly this was not his passion. By 1887, when he found himself exhausted and in poor health, he embarked on a trip to the Ukraine where he was reinvigorated and, upon returning home, began writing in earnest. He believed that “the task of a writer is not to solve the problem but to state the problem correctly.” “Wisdom … comes not from age, but from education and learning.”

Of his marriage, he wrote “By all means I will be married if you wish it. But on these conditions: everything must be as it has been hitherto—that is, she must live in Moscow while I live in the country, (Yalta) and I will come and see her ... I promise to be an excellent husband, but give me a wife who, like the moon, won't appear in my sky every day.”  What a guy?!

Life Lesson: “Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.” Anton Chekhov. A marriage? A relationship? A calling? A loving? 

Although there are days when I question my abilities as a care partner, I am thankful for the life lessons I have learned through this journey.