11.11

It's been four years since the best day of my life. Today is the Deoccupation Day of Kherson!

I've been filled with emotions and memories the past few days, as is usual for me now this time of year. Fear. Hope. JOY. It's been especially poignant, though, because Asya and Will are in Kherson now. (And I want to be there!) They are back in our house, under similar conditions to what we had on 11.11.22. They have electricity and gas, but no heat or water. It's cold enough to see breath inside, which is something I remember from those November days four years ago. Phones work now, though; they didn't in 2022. Will says that it's "buzzing and booming"; the buzzing is new since those first days of freedom, but the booming certainly isn't.

Will and Asya went to turn in her documents yesterday and needed one more set of papers, which I sent. While they wait for those, they're sorting out how/if Asya will be able to live in our house. In our neighbors' side of the house, the water isn't a disaster like it is in ours, but four out of the six heat radiators have burst. This is why Will had to be there. In general, I could tell that there were problems, but I didn't even know how to start figuring them out or fixing anything. We only have one bad radiator, but it exploded spectacularly. Back when I first saw the damage, I thought we had been hit by something, until I remembered that the windows are still whole. And there was some kind of catastrophe with the plumbing, too.

Anyway, we're celebrating, mourning, remembering, hoping, and carrying on. Kherson is free, and someday the Left Bank will be too.