We think death is evil, because it takes away. But death takes away what was on loan to us from life. When the parting is in peace and love, death is the final part of all the happiness we shared. But the pain is still soul-crushing.

Sonya supported me through the dark days of being single and stupid, she was there when we moved in together with my future wife. On the first night, she somehow lured a bird onto a Moscow balcony, killed it, and brought it to Vasilisa as a housewarming present. She supported us through the tumultous Moscow days and through our difficult move to Western Europe. Since 2022, she had been with us here, sharing the joy and pain of building a new life.

Anthony Bourdain is gone.

He was such a light in his TV programs, and he was a wonderful companion to anyone who travels and loves food and life. It is unfair that someone who was this alive is snatched from us by depression.

In the wake of his passing there has been a lot of talk about the need to reach out, both for those who find themselves trapped inside their minds and for their loved ones. I feel like all the right things have been said on the subject, so I won't add anything.

So many people died this week. People who seemed immortal to me. People who helped.

It's a real shame about Carrie Fischer. She is primarily remembered as an icon but she was brilliant as herself and very different from the princess she played (although also strong and fiercely independent).

She took a severe mental illness—bipolar disorder—and turned it into strength as much as she could. She looked so alive during her interviews, was such a maelstrom of emotion that it's impossible to imagine her dead.