Today was a bumpy day. Things happening here and there in the personal life, but after hours long talks with tears and hugs, things felt like finally settling down. We decided to take a scenic route towards a supermarket we have been accustomed to, discovering new for us streets as well as revisiting ones we've seen during the last long stroll we've taken during the winter time. Spring-time has firmly grasped the nature all around, young leaves and bright flowers sprawling all around. It was a long day, dissolving into night.
Then a message comes:
From: Mom.
Time: 23/02/2023 20:09
Message: "Are you going to congratulate your Dad?"
My brain start running through ideas like a slide projector through the pictures. Have I missed something? Was it his birthday? No this can't be it, it was a month ago. Did I congratulate him though? I think I did... Did he buy something new and great that I know nothing about? Nah... A couple more ridiculous ones float up, but to no avail... What is it? As I sense my mind slipping away into a spiral of spastic thoughts I feel the urge to seek out other way to find an answer.
From: Mom.
Ok, It's from Mom.
Message: "Are you going to congratulate your Dad?"
The question seems sincere, without a push that one might expect.
Time: 23/02/2023 20:09
It is definitely not his birthday... It's the 23 of September for the whole of Russia. The National Defender's Day. The Men's Day as many understand it.
A deep breath in, long one out...
My Dad is a veteran, no less. And I am here. Thousands of kilometers away from the place I called home. Thousands miles away from the place that he went on a war to defend. I guess. Yes, "I guess." Have we really ever talked about it all? Why he went there? He volunteered. He literally saw his friend get dismembered by a mortar shot and now he doesn't talk really at all about it all. He is there, and I am here. What am I supposed to say? How would I even start the congratulating speech and do I even want to? What was this war that he chose to participate in? Russian soldiers there, were they told the same story as the ones on the front now? If so, then are we all, as a country, jumping up and down the same rake just to yell in pain, stepping on it once again? Is he now accepting the way things are just to NOT accept the slightest thought of his actions and the loss he experienced to be... meaningless?..
Picking up my phone now. Here it goes.