I remember my first day of school. Bright white sneakers, new clothes, and a backpack with fresh notebooks, crayons, pencils, and a packed lunch. With as much anticipation, my two young cousins prepared for their first day of school in a small community about five miles out of Kyiv. But on this day, the excitement of the first day of school was broken by bombs and missiles racing toward the city of Kyiv, arriving around AM, just before daybreak.
Repeated explosions, and finally the bright flash of a fireball on the horizon is what woke me. I stood up and went to the window in amazement. Between the two houses to the north, the horizon of the city was aglow with another explosion. The house was astir as the two young girls were relocated to the center of the house, between the bathroom and the stairwell on the first floor, on a folding mattress.
Their father closed windows and curtains, checked in with me, and went back upstairs. Dim flashes of light breathe like fire on the ceiling, trickling past the curtains. I listen, trying to determine how absolutely normal this day is to them, while I reckon with the new tapestry of sound I had experienced, oddly reminiscent of a passing dump truck, neighbors laying sheet metal roofing, or a distant freight trainβall sounds I had to re-catalog the next day in real time as I scoped the horizon.
And then we dressed, the eldest student and her grandparents in traditional embroidered shirts. I showered and put on some real shoes for the occasionβbut still no sleevesβand off we went to our first day of school. Note, for in-person learning, all schools must be equipped with a certified bomb shelter ,.
Doors open at 7PM. Ride your bike! For more information visit The Bicycle Shop on Facebook. These three stories were first shared with friends and family via email, reprinted here as a vignette of touring life in Croatia and Bosnia. His English is less accented than our own, speaking in a precise manner, pausing only to find the best words to describe his thoughts.
