Update on my Parents - Refugees from Ukraine - July, 2024. The war is still going on.

An update on my parents - who are refugees from Kharkiv, Ukraine and have been living in California for a little over 6 months now. This week my parents celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary. Here is how they spent their 50th wedding anniversary and 49th anniversary - both during the war. Here is a little portrait of them. We gave then a new pan for borscht and a bouquet of basil. 

This was also a week when a horrible attack on Kyiv Children's Hospital happened. Attacks are happening every day all over Ukraine and my parents are in touch with the family and friends who live with daily air raids, lack of electricity, and the reality of losing someone you know often. It is tough for them not to be able to do much but they try to support people as much as possible by calling, sending messages, little funds that they have after payments for the electricity and water in their apartment in Kharkiv, and trying to support me by being as positive and healthy as they could - they do their best.  

Since my last update on my parents in May of this year lots of things happened. Not too many things changed dramatically but little shifts here and there are visible to me. During daily walks some new connections were established: there is a policeman with a black labrador who lets my Dad play with the dog regularly. There is an elderly couple whom they meet every day - only one of them speaks English a bit - which matches the situation my parents are in. Their encounters consist of slow, animated walks and talks for two people and awkwardly silent slow walks for two others. My Dad pauses for a whole 5 seconds when I ask him about learning English - instead of immediately going into a conversation about their home in Kharkiv. There is a plum tree and grapefruit tree on the street, and the whole system is developed around when to go for a walk before street cleaning clears the fruits - so that they would not go to waste. There are books that I brought Mom to read and she is back to reading several at the same time. 

My parents learned that if something is standing on a street with the sign "FREE" it is free to take and are now participating in the whole exchange economy - leaving things and picking up things almost daily. This is how an exchange of chairs and tables was facilitated and the latest item is a huge tripod (???). I have no understanding of how they carry things with the limited mobility situation - but they are surely having fun. Many plants were brought from the street too and I am planning to sketch their little patio garden. There are wisteria, nasturtium, and morning glory grown from seeds, succulents, and geraniums from the neighbors. There is a mystery about a fruit that is hanging above their patio too - I hope it is not poisonous - it will be hard to convince Dad to not try it when it is ready... :) Multiple visits to doctors are teaching us all lessons in patience and shades of honesty.