Love from Ukraine

I'm writing this week's Wonderstruck to you first thing Sunday morning, from a bunk bed in Ukraine.

My son is asleep in the bed above me, we're staying at his Ukrainian fiancé’s family home and I can hear her mum starting to make breakfast in the kitchen.

My son’s partner is one of five daughters so it's a busy, bustling family home, which as one of four siblings, feels very familiar to me!

I arrived here in Lviv on Friday evening after a two day journey - I had to fly from London to Warsaw and then to Krakow on Thursday and then take a bus from Krakow across the border as there have been no domestic flights in or out of Ukraine since the war started over two years ago.

Coming here is a very moving experience as there is evidence of the war everywhere - when I arrived at the main station I saw a lot of soldiers heading off for the frontline and you see a lot of soldiers on leave walking around in their uniform, usually with loved ones or partners. This piece of street art I came across perfectly captures the emotion of an occupied nation that has had to conscript so many men ..

Other sobering reminders that this is a city that has suffered bombing attacks are the boards on the windows of all the beautiful churches here.

And some people have sandbags in the windows of their homes, to protect themselves from shattered glass in the event of an explosion.

They also have a curfew because of the night time air raids so everyone has to be off the streets by midnight.

As a World War 2 novelist I try not to get too depressed that this is happening in Europe again in 2024. But it's hard, especially with a son here

But… in spite of it all, this has really been a weekend for counting my blessings.

We have had such a beautiful couple of days celebrating my son's engagement and I've been welcomed into his partner's family with open arms.

Yesterday her grandma hosted us all for a celebratory meal in her home - a meal which went in for about six hours, with course after course of traditional Ukrainian food, plus very moving speeches from our lovely host and my son's future parents-in-law.

As I sat there listening to her grandma thanking God that there had been no air raids, allowing us to celebrate, my eyes filled with tears and my heart brimmed over with love.

It was yet another reminder that in spite of the terrible wars raging around the planet, we are also capable of such incredible acts of kindness, warmth and love.

Our epic meal ended with them all singing a rousing traditional Ukrainian song that is apparently sung at every celebratory event.

And it reminded me of the first evening I got here, when we came across a street performer singing in a square in the centre of Lviv.

A crowd had gathered, all singing, and some dancing, along.

We humans are capable of some incredible things, and I personally believe that the most incredible of all is our ability to keep loving in even the harshest of circumstances, just as wild flowers have the power to grow through concrete.

Until next week, let's keep loving as an act of defiance against all those who would hope to divide us.

Siobhan