Dear Kent and Tanja,
I still have a screenshot of the first message Kent sent me on Facebook in April 2022. It began with the words, “Hello, Iryna! My wife and I can help.”
At the time, you knew almost nothing about my son, Zhenya, or me. We spoke almost no English. I could not have imagined that this short message would bring us to your home and change our lives.
That year, our lives were divided into before and after. Zhenya was 16, and we had to leave behind our home in Ukraine, everything we had ever known, without knowing where or how we would begin again. Thousands of miles away, you had just finished building your home in Mountain Brook, and amid all your own plans, you began to wonder whether there was someone in the world who might need your help. And you found us.
I have many memories of those two years, but the ones I treasure most are the most ordinary. Our dinners around the same table nearly every evening. Tanja making me breakfast, and the flowers you gave me on my first birthday after we arrived. All of us cooking together while listening to music, then cleaning up and laughing afterward. Drinking tea and watching a movie. You and Zhenya carving pumpkins on Halloween while I was at work. Our first Thanksgiving with your family at the beach house in Florida. Kent taking Zhenya out on the boat to fish. And, of course, Yoko, Pebbles, Wilson, and Jet—I cannot imagine those years without them.
That was ordinary life. While we were trying to rebuild ours, you shared yours with us. I am especially grateful for the way you welcomed Zhenya. While I worked and tried to build our new life, you made time for him: taking him to parks, bringing him along with you, and simply being there. He is 20 now. He graduated from Mountain Brook High School and is a student at Samford University. You still mean so much to him, and he respects you deeply.
We no longer live together, but every Christmas, we still return to your table. Thank you for that first message and for everything that followed. Thank you for trusting us when we were complete strangers. For sharing your home, your time, and your everyday life with us for two years. For being there for Zhenya. And for still being part of our lives four years later.
With all our love and deepest gratitude,
Iryna and Zhenya