-3-

  The number three is considered special in many cultures and Russian is not an exception. We all remember folktales from childhood: three heads of the Zmey Gorynich, thirty-three bogatyrs, three ways at a fork. Father has three sons. Main character goes through three challenges.

Knock three times so as not to jinx. Spit over your shoulder three times. Take three attempts to deal with the difficulty.

They say if a father has three daughters, then he goes to heaven…

My dad is the younger brother of three sons, he has three daughters, and I am the elder. My husband is also the youngest of three brothers. At the age of 33 I became a mother and triplet girls were born.

Number 3 became truly magical for me. In it, there is a balance between past, present and future. There is communication, continuity and variability. There is a miracle when life becomes alike an old folktale.