Dear Ukraine

Written 2/17/22 A Week Before the Full Scale Invasion

From our book “Accidental Ukrainians” being serialized on Substack

Natasha’s brother, Al and his wife, Ta had left and the shadows of war cast an ever expanding darkness on all of us in Ukraine. We only took it as saber-rattling with the thought in our heads that somehow the Muscovites would act rationally. The US Department of State kept emailing us that we should leave like NOW! Like YESTERDAY! Well, we took the panic in check just like we did back in the US for announcements about impending hurricanes and snowstorms. There is a mad rush to the stores which are emptied quickly of milk, eggs and toilet paper like the Armageddon is coming and somehow having toilet paper will make a difference. Natasha and I just went about our business and didn’t stock up on any of those items for the alleged impending war. We didn’t stock up in the States when they made the storm announcements so why should we do it now? Americans love to panic buy. Maybe it’s the nature of the uber-capitalist beast. Sometimes I wondered if all the retailers and toilet paper suppliers paid someone off to create the hype but that’s neither here nor there.

Embassies were emptying out. Foreigners were getting out. Most Ukrainians were going about their business. We decided to stick with the “When in Rome” tactic. In order to express myself, I wrote…