There’s often this concept where humans say, “Remember where you came from.”

adding to this, we may all have a different perception of this concept, and today I will share with you one of the most intimate stories of my life - that links to me (not where I am from), but links to me why I am like this.

~ ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE SOVIET UNION ~

It all started back in Soviet Union times, period I can recall from stories, not from experience, but those stories also are pretty accurate and I got it in first person from the front line of those times - my grandparents - Dimitry, Vladimir, Vio, and finally my actual HERO - Grabuelinna Silvy. Those are part of my ancestors and the main influence on who I am nowadays. Each of us may have this privilege, to have met them and live, learn from them. I learned later in life how precious they were. My Grandad passed away in 1989 - Mr Vladimir, followed by Grandma Vio, whom I never met ( apparently she abandoned my grandad at a young age and left for another man - that must have been heartbreaking indeed). she passed away in December 1996, on Christmas Day. Later on in 2004, grandad Dimitry passed away, and I wrote a poem for him, that later on I passed it disclosed to everyone in the last episode of the magic series - International Grandma. Grandad passed away on December 27, again in December… then in 2011, I decided to start the first episode of the series where we meet the values of my hero - Grabulinna Silvy.

How often do we stop to truly listen to the stories of our grandparents?

In a world that moves so fast, their voices can feel like distant echoes — fading, yet never truly gone. This is the story of my hero, Grabuelinna Silvy, and please allow me to take you in detail on who this person is to me and to the world. Across the years, she had so much to teach, but so much to bear too, due to her kids' conflicts (5 of them). They all judged her for her decision to give away the home to Mama because she took care of them. There, the conflict has erupted, and nothing can be fixed nowadays… but despite that, she is one of the strongest women I’ve ever met, in action and in words. Rarely see her smiling or joking (probably never heard her about it), In first episode we get to see her purity about life, and her desire to advice young generations about how life could work in a country side scenario - that’s not that bad (back then everyone migrate to cities thinking for a better life) nowadays we see people moving back… she was right almost every single word about it. How did this first episode happen?

The Surprise Visit ~ LIFE RECIPES | POPA ~ Episode 1

It was a chilly morning in 2012 when I arrived at Grandma’s gate, cameras in hand, after a long bicycle ride from Italy. The old wooden fence creaked as I pushed it open, and there she was — small but fierce, flour dusting her hands, eyes sparkling with life.

“Valentino! What are you doing here with all these people?” she laughed, her voice warm and full of surprise.

We came to collect memories and to write history,  but what we found was much more: a recipe for potato pancakes, and a recipe for life.

In the Kitchen — More Than Just Food

Grandma’s kitchen was a world of its own, filled with the comforting smells of wood smoke and frying potatoes. She moved with purpose and grace, her hands steady despite the years. With nothing but an old stove, a battered pan, and a lifetime of experience, she showed us how to make “POPA” — potato pancakes that were crispy on the outside and tender inside.

But this was about more than just food. It was about tradition, love, and passing down stories from one generation to the next. Every flip of a pancake was a lesson in patience and care, every bite a connection to the past.

This is just the beginning of our journey with Grandma Grabuelinna — a journey through time, family, and the unbreakable spirit that defines her.

RUN CHICKEN - RUN ~ Episode 2

Lovely Morning with Grabuelinna

The morning I spent that day was lovely. My grandma asked me to catch a chicken right from her backyard. It was my first time catching a chicken with my bare hands. It took me three tries, but I am a terrible hunter. Luckily, as I’ve told you before, my grandma is a hero—the strongest and cleverest woman I have ever known. She caught the chicken in just one try! She has been doing that for a lifetime. Well, embarrassing for me.

In the Kitchen

With that chicken, Grabuelinna cooked her special chicken sour cream soup. While she cooked, she told me that this dish was her childhood comfort food. She always made it for her mom during World War II. Since she has many chickens, I suggested her to start a business and sell them for profit. She simply answered, “I don’t need money.”

Of course, everyone in this world needs money to live, so I asked, “How do you make money, then?” It turns out she still gets her pension monthly, but she said she only gets paid 2 euros a month. How is that possible for a 90-year-old woman to live on? I made sure to check if she really got paid that amount by the government, and it turned out she was mistaken. She actually gets around 165 euros monthly, and she also makes some money from the marketplace. She sells many things except the chickens (I still don't believe that). I joked with her, asking for 100 euros, and she was willing to give it to me. She said, “How many grandsons do I have? Only you, of course, I will give you!” She answered with an unwavering expression. That’s one of the reasons why I love Grabuelinna so much (for that hundred). She has qualities that I inherited from her: strength, ambition, and, for sure, stubbornness. “Grabuelinna, I said you’re stubborn,” I told her. She replied, “VERY STUBBORN, EXTREMELY STUBBORN. You’re also stubborn like me!” 😅

While waiting for the chicken to cook, she taught me how to make original sour cream.

“Get out of my kitchen!”

she said, as I tried to help her make the polenta, but she said I was just ruining the kitchen area. Finally, the recipe was ready, and it was the best dish ever! Nothing can beat a grandmother’s home-cooked meal. I asked her for a special message so I could always remember it. She said, “It’s important to get married, have kids, raise them well, be a hard-working man, and always listen to your mom!” Yet here I am, a couple of years later, living life and still single. What to do?

DUMPLINGS ~ Episode 3

No Recipes - Just Feelings

Back in Grabuelinna’s kitchen, Bukovina. We were making Dumplings. With her old hand, she could still knead the dough. It shows how strong she is. She told me that if you’re not good at what you’re doing, better not to do it. But anyway, if you don’t try it, you will never know. With confidence, she said, “I do my best (Cooking) as I know, if the audience doesn’t like it, then don’t eat it! 😂”.  In this episode, Grabuelinna will teach us how to make cheese dumplings. The recipes? Oh, it all depends on her feelings.

Grabuelinna is the strongest yet the smartest woman I know. During the cook, we talked about the food recipes and politics!! Yes, POLITICS! When she cooked, I gave her a little gift from Morocco, as you can see, I wore Arabian clothes. She was about to be upset when I opened her hat, but then I replaced it with something special, and it seems she’s happy about it. And finally, the Bukovina style Dumpling is ready…

It will be the last recipe from Grabuelinna. “You’re not sad that it’s gonna be the last recipe we cooked?” She replied, “No, I’m not sad. I’m always happy”. It melted my heart for a moment, indeed, she’s the happiest woman feeling has longer the time to teach me lessons.

Surprises

We surprised her with a birthday cake, sang for her, and she was moved to tears. We celebrated Grabuelinna’s 84th birthday, and suddenly it turned into an intimate moment. But yes, we enjoyed the dumplings we made and the birthday cake. It was another great memory I’ve had.

To lighten the mood, I asked her what her wish was for this birthday. She replied that she hoped her eye surgery would go well, because she was so scared of it.

“Grandma, what’s the number in my hand?” I asked.
“I’m not a child!” she replied.

Again, in this episode, she gave messages for my future kids. She wishes for the best health and always be happy (Even though she mentioned she doesn’t know what makes her happy). I gave her a little message from my perspective. I thanked her for being a part of this life and for teaching me about it. She cried and hugged me. I talk to the camera loudly, “I love my grandma and everyone will know it!!!”

ONE DAY IN LIFE ~ Episode 4

Sometimes we wonder what grandparents do when they’re at home, especially in the countryside. If we haven’t spent time with them for a while, we often forget their daily routines. This video offers a remarkable glimpse into the life rhythm of International Grandma Grabuelinna Silvy, from early morning at 4 a.m. until late at night.

Throughout it all, she shares a powerful philosophy: “No matter how tired you are, don’t leave things unfinished. Once you start, you must finish.” This lesson is incredibly valuable and resonates strongly today.

Her day begins with hitchhiking (it’s in her blood) to the market, she mad at me because I was suck at it, I didn’t give a sign for hitchhiking. But now, I’m a professional at it. In the marketplace, she will sell the plan that she harvested. That's what she taught me when I was a kid. My first work was at 5 years old.  Before lunchtime, without even having eaten, she’s already busy with other tasks like collecting grapes and pressing them to make wine, feeding chickens, dogs, cats, and other animals, gathering apples from the garden to prepare homemade brew, chopping wood for the fire, and much more. Her work seems endless, every single day and every single minute. By the end of the day, she finished it by measuring the cornflour. How tired she must be, but nope, because the next day she is again in the same shape. Where is this energy coming from?

~ This is PADURENI ~ the place I found you and the place I left you in peace

Grabuelinna is 92 years old now. She didn’t believe she would see me again… but here I am, again with a bigger crew coming to record another memorable episode, and probably one of the best so far in the series… or not, you can tell that… In this episode, I take Grabuelinna around her lands to see with her eyes and tell me the story of each place.. what it means, and how it feels to go around… is not just a story of her life, but is the testimony of thousands of village inhabitants in the past 100 years…

The sensitive moment arrives when we stop, under a light snow, in the forest area - the place where she lived more than 50 years ago, together with her husband… the forest ranger - grandpa Dimitry. She recognised the broken well, and the place where they plant the apple trees and pine trees for the Christmas period. As we step on (scratching sound on the crunchy leaves) through the forrest … I tell her the poem I wrote 18 years ago for grandad… a sudden pain and tears burst through her eyes… she is touched… she is reliving those times… as been yesterday… and she tell me “since now you have memory with me too!”

She did it for me also to have memory… probably one of the most painful and amazing memories I ever had…

Despite -5 degrees outside for her age, she endured the cold to tell me those stories… then we went to cook together… in a warm, beautiful setup… hard I knew or want to imagine that will be the last meal she cooks for me…. The perfect Polenta… and the wild shrooms from the forest collected by her… meanwhile I cook her favourite strawberry sour cream sauce … wild flavour… unreplicable… by anyone… no robot or AI will ever be able to replicate this…

We finished the video.. meanwhile mom got angry calling her on her nickname… nothing new… we laugh, we eat, we drink even the sour cherry alcohol and is done the show… curtain pulls off now… we have few more moments to spend together … I always sleep with her in same room.. in the other bed… meanwhile the TV goes on like a radio to make her fall asleep …

BEHIND THE SCENES ~

She was always tough, but I could feel the love under that iron cover. We've been sharing the room every day.... I choose to sleep with her as I always did since a kid and since Grandad left this planet. I've been watching football games on TV and the news also, as that is what she loves the most. the big difference now from the past is that she's not watching the same news channels and has moved to another one. That's pretty impressive. can see her evolution. aside that, in the morning I was making the fire... to heat the room... warming the tea water... and having always a morning message to her... “good morning Grannyyyyyy!!!” with big strong vibes. to wake her up. meanwhile she’s in bed continuously complaining that everything hurts her... but I think mostly what hurt her was not working... every time we were moving out the house for small reasons like visit my Movie Museum or other actions,  we find Grandma moving somehting doing something in teh house... and very very careful and smart on her words and behaviour. I would say an incredible lucidity that almost makes me believe I can see her reach 100 Years Old.

The stories with Grandma those days are not many in these last week, but they are meaningful... even every second I watch her wake up... after a full night full of screams and crying during her sleep... it feels like she's fighting every time with something or someone. I wish I could do something, but I just listen... from the bed next to her... well ... during the day we eat together... sometimes salad... sometimes soups... sometimes just a glass of sour cherry or tea. The most common thing I found with her... and we match is the CHOCOLATEEE she loves sweet and chocolates.... eating almost the same amount as me.

I … tried to make her a “TikTok” dance style, but no success, she's wayyyyy tooo serious.

The UNCONDITIONAL LOVE & HELP

Just before leaving My Hero told me...

"come here to me baby... open there behind the Jesus praying icon hanging on the wall... open there... take that... that is for you... because I dont know if I am going to see you again"

my heart is melting i feel drowning,  she did this gesture same as she did back in 2016 when I need the 3000 euro to start my business, the first supporter of MYMOVIE financially without any condition. She has been the base of it... she is the one who believed in me when no one else did (nor my mother).

THE LAST TEACHING - THE LAST POWERFUL WORDS

She told me - “Never give up, and finish what you have started, doest matter how tired you will be, finish it ~ remember that from me” it resonates till now and forward in my life but now... the road remains behind... km ahead going... and I can’t live in present... as always... living in past or in the future... always a race between those two... and I already feel it is time to move forward.

THE GOODBYE

Leave on my road and say goodbye to Grabuelinna Silvy .... my heart is breaking more than happened in past years... looong time... I don't feel so sad... I feel sad into the future, depths hardly can be explained, I feel something is braking again... to say goodbye to Grabuelinna is an …UTOPIA I wish I never live and seeing her in this scenario … and yet the scenario had come - she bless me and kiss my forhead, meanwhile is night 25th November 2022, I head out to the car in front of the gate I always been welcomed - she does not stay in house, she gets her stick and comes out ~ walking slowly after me, waving her hand… 20 meter till the gate… Is it cold… I exit the gate fast, she didn’t come out this time is so cold, so dark… but behind the rails of the gate, her eyes are looking for me, her eyes are there between those dark red bars, in he darkness watching me… I shut the car door, but I look at her… I don't see her with my eyes, but I am filming the gate… I don't know where she is… but I am filming… car starts… and I scream through the car window - “I LOVE YOU GRANDMA I LOVE YOU FOREVER ~ SEE YOU AT 100! I LOVE YOU!!!” And the car leaves…But I stay, with every cell of my body and every atom of my heart, I STAY - I NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE, and I burst into a cry mode that doesn't stop till nowadays… almost 4 years later… I keep crying…

18 February 2025 ~ Grabuelinna Silvy moved on from this dimension, now is time to see what I had been doing for real in life, now is time for her to travel freely and understand she has to be proud that has a grandson that truly loved - loves - and will always love her, here and the lives after. Meanwhile, I honour her with more than just a memory, but a whole 5-episode series which testifies to the latest 21 years of her life.

We all know they have to go at some point, we all know we will go at some point, but we never face the fact until it happens, and then, we have to deal with it. Many of us got into depression, others got motivated, and others got suicidal. Getting through such moments, you will never know how the “departure” of someone you love will affect you. But now, it reached me and ain’t not good, meanwhile I am fighting to bring a positive outcome ~ is easy to think but a lot harder to do.

Is probably the hardest piece of text I've written in the past 5 years, is hard not to spread my tears over the keyboard. The tears are flooding my face and turbulence the thoughts so much, the flashbacks of memories spread throughout 40 years of life I could capture and drop, capture and grab. Fingers shaking, heart beating fast, shock alert in every second, panic conquers my brain - and yet when I finish the breath, I come back to my senses, I realize nothing to do about it…  But more talking about it, is more drowning me into the pain… why do I choose this, is another story to talk about in another blog.

As for now

Honour and peace for the core, and the first model of MY MOVIE platform, channel, and LIFE. This is not a story about “my grandma”, this is a story about a woman who seen, hide and had in house soldiers during WW2, who seen & lived in communism, who seen her dad dying on her hands bleeding, who give birth first child at 14 years old, forced marriage, worked into a mental illness institution for kids, got epileptic sever crisis for 60+ years, lived a revolution, raised and educated 5 kids in the poorest times having nothing, build and own a home for her and for her kids, got married at 70 years old, never travel in a plane, speaks 3 languages but learn to write by herself (never into school), entrepreneur over 60 year of life, loving gardening and flowers, not believe in God until age 60, worked in slavery CAP (Soviet Union agricultural organisation), climbing trees at age of 90+, getting sick but never stop working, the person who understand that marriage is not the only solution for the young generation and the being who advice million of people when they didn’t even know about true values of life. Simple but strong, angry but sweet, fire on her words but smooth on her actions, a survivor, the greatest person I've got to meet in this life, and for the dimensions to come. Please honour me by watching, drop your thoughts, and maybe if you have grandparents, spend as much time as possible you can, cause we all know what the end line in this life. Thank you, my HERO, thank you, my LOVE, thank you, MY LIFE!

Dear Grandma ~

REST IN LOVE ~ my EVERYTHING

#fym