As you can see from the title, today’s my 18th birthday. With everything that’s been happening in the last few years, growing up doesn’t seem that exciting anymore. Pandemic this, hospital that, and now there’s also a war. Nonetheless, I try to stay hopeful, even though it’s so goddamn hard nowadays.

Last night I went to bed to air raid sirens blaring outside. Despite the war going for almost five months, that sound is still something I’m not 100% used to. Especially if it’s in the middle of the night. As one drill ended, another began mere 8 minutes later. It was almost 1 in the morning at that point. Not a particularly exciting way to start my birthday. (I stayed up a little past that watching Blade Runner, though! Love that film to bits.)

I woke up in the morning to find a birthday card from my mum under my bed. I just think it’s a really cool card. Another nice birthday surprise was a russian ammunition depot exploding in occupied Crimea. That was some great news.

I went to the shops to get some groceries and a cake for my family and I. As I was walking I stopped for a moment to see the nearby street that was bombed when I was staying in Chernivtsi a few months ago. There’s that shopping mall and the apartment buildings surrounding it. Everything’s nearly fixed by now, but it’s still so hard to describe what I feel every time I walk past this particular area. I think of all the people who were affected by the bombing. All the loss and the outrage. It’s so scary to think about, especially if you imagine yourself in the shoes of these people.

I quickly ran my errands and was about to check out, when all of a sudden there was another air raid alert. Everyone was quickly shoved out of the store with all their stuff left behind. I didn’t manage to pay fast enough, so I was also left with nothing in my hands. I sat with everyone else in the nearby shelter for an hour or so before eventually we were good to go. Sadly I didn’t get my cake in the end. And what’s a birthday without cake? It’s a sad cake-less existence.

I’m writing this after successfully getting home. I’m not very sure what to do. The russians seem pretty pissed with all the stuff that happened in the last few days, so there’s no way of telling what they might do next. And I feel pretty bad for even thinking about celebrating my birthday during a time like this.

All the air raids and the bombed buildings is just mundane stuff for me nowadays. I know it’s not very interesting to read about. But I hope my posts serve as a reminder to all of you that the war is still going, and it won’t stop until us Ukrainians get all the necessary support to finish off russia once and for all. Tonight I’ll be drinking for putin’s demise. Have a nice day, everyone. 🍻

p.s. A good birthday gift for me would be a donation to Ukrainian foundations. Every single dollar/pound/euro/whatever matters! Check out the Serhiy Prytula foundation, ComeBackAlive and UAnimals. 🎂