Celebration

This year I celebrated Christmas, Easter and my birthday in Canada. Before each event, I had sad days. I didn`t want to do anything for these special holidays. I had never spent so much time out of my native country before. I had only spent maximum two weeks abroad.

On February 24th, 2022 my life really changed. When I lived in Ukraine, I just thought about my son and his future. What should I do for him? Will it be good for him if he stays in Ukraine and continues his education in the last grade of high school?

In May we decided to go abroad, so we chose Canada. It was such a difficult decision. We left our family, our friends, our life and came to Canada in September.

For six months we met a lot of amazing people, and we got a huge experience. My son studies in a Canadian’s school. He improved his English, he participated in competitions with a swimming team, and he found a lot of friends.

I also improved my English, started to work and found beautiful friends. My birthday was last week. I got so many congratulations from my Ukrainian friends, and from friends from all over the world.

This year, on my birthday, I started to get text messages at night, and when I woke up, my heart was broken and I started to cry because I had to spend my birthday away from my loved ones. After several minutes, I wore sports clothes and went running. I ran more than 2 kilometres. After that, I felt that I could speak with my family and friends, and till evening I was speaking. In the evening, my Canadian friend picked me up and organised a short special evening for me. We went for a walk in the park, drank wine, ate sushi, and we were speaking and laughing. When I went back home, I had a small dinner and decorated eggs for Easter with my Canadian host family. Now, I recognize that I have friends at the other end of the world. I have strong shoulders, support and love.