All kinds of changes cause stress and make us feel uncomfortable.

If people could, they would usually prefer to avoid these times of upheaval. I am not an exception. Unfortunately, there were some factors that caused me and my family to move to another country. Luckily, I am not alone, and my friends and family did their best to make this process less painful. 

It was a wonderful spring day in March. I had a typical day at school and I did not expect anything unusual. In the evening, my mother entered the room while I was doing my homework. She looked quite serious, so I realized that something important was about to happen. My mom invited me to join her at the dinner table. I noticed that there were some of my favorite Ukrainian dishes: borscht, chicken Kyiv, and flat pancakes with strawberry jam. My family usually cooks all of these for special occasions. While we were enjoying the meal, my mother started to share her thoughts about an important decision we all needed to make. Since there is a full-scale war going on in Ukraine, it is extremely dangerous to live in the capital city, which is constantly attacked by the Russian military. Numerous people are killed every day. As a result, my mom wanted to do everything possible to rescue our family. My parents were wondering what I thought about moving to another country for some period of time. 

To tell you the truth, it was something I was not ready for.

That night it was quite difficult to fall asleep, because my head was full of mixed feelings. I realized that there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages when taking such an important step in our lives. Most of all, I was worried about the big distance between me and my other relatives, as well as my dear friends. I thought they might forget about me because of the tremendous separation. I felt anxious about the impossibility of hugs and face-to-face communication. I was afraid that long-distance friendship is a myth and I would become lonely after losing the dearest people in my life.

The next morning, I looked distressed at school and my classmates noticed it right away. They started asking me a lot of questions, so I shared the unexpected news with my friends. They did their best to cheer me up, and pointed out that in the modern world, distance is not such a big problem, and the Internet helps people to keep in touch quite easily. My school friends also prepared different little presents for me, which was extremely meaningful. There were lots of cute tiny soft toys, small handmade postcards with inspiring phrases, little drawings, and sweet decorations. There was also a special mug with all my friends printed on it, so I could feel their presence in my life each time I drank my favorite tea. 

Two weeks later my best friend, Nika, and I decided to organize a sleepover party. We planned to watch movies, eat our favorite snacks, and do a special project together. We bought two square canvases, as well as white, black, and red paints. The black paint was used for the backgrounds. Nika chose the white paint and I took the red. We both covered our palms with color and touched each other’s pictures. After letting them dry, we wrote some memorable phrases that only we could understand. Then we watched a nice film to relax together.

Time flew by, and a month and a half later I had another meaningful day with Nika. Early in the morning we decided to enjoy a walk in the neighborhood. First, my friend and I visited the supermarket to buy some drinks because of the hot Ukrainian summer. Then, we sat on our favorite bench and talked about the funny moments we had shared during the last two years of our close friendship. After that, we decided to walk around our school, so I would not miss it very much. Finally, Nika walked me home and presented me with an unbelievably beautiful album full of photos of indelible moments with our classmates. I was sure that I would remember that day for the rest of my life, not only because I was leaving my Motherland, but also because I had so many dear people there who did their best to support me in one of the most difficult moments of my life.

It has been four months since I last had a chance to chill out with my friends. However, we text each other every single day and FaceTime each other at least twice a week. This experience taught me that difficult situations and life trials can strengthen me, and proved that true feelings and love cannot be easily destroyed. I feel like I have a new perspective on what it means to be a friend. I will definitely apply these lessons to help my companions when they need support. The distance does not matter for us. With friends, we never feel lonely anywhere on the planet! We always do everything we can to hold each other up.