The thirteenth day. The sun came out and the morning snow melted. We are getting used to the new conditions. With the first wailing of a siren, I do not grab my child and try to hide with a fuss. It’s not that we are careless about air alerts. We just react to it less excitedly. The panic made a retreat and made room for the thoughts about our future. I started planning what I am going to do when the war is over. Perhaps, everyone compiled such an optimistic list.
The day before yesterday, it dawned upon me that there was one unfinished embroidery I started before the war. I started working on it in January. Back then it was just a beautiful image – a small cottage, the sun, and the moon. And the day before yesterday, I finished the last palette of beads, dark-brown on the roof of the house and now the embroidery serves as the family talisman. I hope that every ribbon, every stitch on the embroidered shirts and on flags will stand up fo
r our country and all Ukrainians. I am grateful to our defenders and proud of their invincibility and commitment to Ukraine! I have no doubts that we’ll make it. So, I
I want to meet my parents again and hug them.
I want to go to bed in comfy pyjamas, not fully dressed.
I want to go out with my child again and not to feel afraid anymore.
I want to travel freely in my country and see its broad lands and peaceful skies.
I want to create paintings as beautiful as the artworks of Tetiana Kuhai, David Galchutt, and Elisabeth Trevisan (Mrs. Tanya Kughai, do you give classes?)
I want to find a Ukrainian teacher and improve my language skills. If you could suggest a teacher or an online course — I would be extremely grateful for it.
I want to show my son the world — the diverse, wonderful, and interesting world. A world where there is far more good than evil in it.
I want to see my hometown, Luhansk, at least once.
I want to make embroideries for my whole family.
I want to meet up with my friends once again, to have a good laugh and a good talk for hours. And for us to regain interest in things that are currently meaningless — books, calligraphy, colours and inks, coffee varieties, getting shots at dawn, magnolia in bloom, snaps of cats, and so on.
I want to build a house on my own land.
I want to bear another child (and maybe not just one).
I want to have a memory retentive enough for me to be able to tell the truth about the events of the past days and never to forget the terrible cost of the Ukrainian freedom
And what are you dreaming about? What is your list?
March 8, 02:50 p.m.
Ukrainian Text by Tatiana Pin. Translated into English by Ukrainianvancouver team – Mar 13, 2022