From usatodayopinion: If everyone had their wishes, Vlad and Vitalina wouldn’t be spending Thanksgiving – a holiday that until recently they’d never heard of – with us.
Until air raids meant huddling together in a bunker, trying to attend classes online or playing cards in the dim light as troops from neighboring Russia – just 30 miles away – rumbled into the city.“In my body I am 14, but in my head I am much older since the war,” Vlad told me in the summer, a few weeks after they arrived to live with us in England.
In his eyes he was older, too. By contrast with my own 14-year-old son, Vlad’s wide-eyed stare spoke of months of being on high alert, trained for the first sign of danger. He spoke little and smiled even less. The particulars of this family’s six-month test of stamina are similar to those of millions of other Ukrainians who have fled their homes since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24. But every individual has their own losses, worries and wounds. Familiar items and beloved pets left behind in the scramble to escape. Friends scattered to the far corners of Europe and beyond. Family members left behind to fight and struggle to survive. Loved ones who are no longer alive.
When he was smuggled from home, the driver instructed Vlad to wipe all the photos from his phone. Why, I asked, you’re only 14? “Because if they stop us at checkpoints and see pictures of Ukrainian flag or symbols,” he said, not elaborating.
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