January 2, 2023. Day 313 of war.
Mom is talking to me by herself - holding an iPad on her knees so the angle is unusual. We talk a lot about the results of 2022. Mom says - "we had a lot of pluses this year - more than last year for sure". To my surprised face, she says: there were so many horrible things and really hard moments and so many of them could have ended so much worse - but did not. Every morning can be counted to pluses!
She found an iris on the street and now visits it daily on her walks.
We go over all the friends and relatives - holidays are the time to get in touch and there are many updates that we exchange. It is cold in Ukraine. And hard when there is no light and heating, air raids continue. About half of the people on our "list" are displaced.
My parents are bringing new words for me to learn in Ukrainian every time we speak. They miss their books and dictionaries a lot and argue about some spellings and meaning. But they are glad to be in a safe and warm place.
They tell me about things that they saw on their walk - dogs and cats are prominent features, as are plants and birds. There are some unusual Christmas decorations that they noticed - made with sticks and thread, lichen and moss - very interesting.
Since there are so many animals around them and I am losing track of all the stories, so I asked for the names of the main characters. And today they delivered - one dog is called Conrad and another Nessit. Mom is asking permission to pet them every day and Dad does not. Cats are still without names but Mom thinks that since they do not come inside the house they can be just called "cats" for now.
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