Randy Stark  |  yolkstar@gmail.com  |  33 posts

How did I happen to get from Missoula, Montana to Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, with over 3 ½ million people? It started when I sent Lyudmila a message over the Internet. She was at work and we were both at the same site. Upon reading her profile and seeing she was on line I sent her a simple message. “Hello, Miss Kyiv, are you there?” With those simple words began our courtship on a daily basis for over three years. It was on March 4, 2004 when I landed for the 2nd time at the airport in Kyiv to begin my new life in Ukraine. (I had been to Kyiv six months before to meet Lyudmila). It was a warm spring day and all traces of winter had disappeared. I had arrived with two suitcases and my trusty friend, Pepper John. Pepper John was my daughter’s cat, who adopted me, and became my owner. Pepper, too had made the trip in fine fashion and was sitting on top of the suitcases in a triumphant pose showing no fear as the two of us walked through the lines of people waiting outside. Pepper John had been a crowd pleaser at every airport we stopped, Denver, Washington, D.C., Vienna and finally Kyiv. I would take him out of his cat kennel and put him on his leash and we would walk around to the delight of women passengers. When we finally landed in Kyiv, Pepper sensed our long trip was over. I once again took him out of his kennel and put his leash on. He sat atop our luggage while the custom agents reviewed his paper. Once we were cleared to pass through the doors to our new life he somehow knew that this was his moment to let the people at the airport know we had come in peace to live among them and to introduce the pleasures of catnip to the cats of Ukraine!