Re-Visiting My Childhood Playground in Ukraine

Whenever I think of  Ukraine, I always remember the childhood days I'd spend with my dad and family. My dad grew up in a tiny village a few hours away from Lviv called "Hlibiv." When I was little, I used to come visit my dad every summer, so I spent a ton of time exploring, playing, and getting in trouble in this little village.

When I got older, my dad moved to live with us in the States  so my yearly trips to Ukraine ended. It's been over five years since I've last been back.

Re-visiting Hlibiv meant more than ever to me this time around because my father was no longer here.

My father and me.

My dad passed away last November from ALS (Lou Gherig's disease), a nuerogenerative disease that paralyzes the body.  For his 50th birthday, we were supposed to take a family trip back home to Ukraine. But unfortunately, my father's sickness took hold and he was never able to make the very longed-for trip back to his hometown. After a very difficult year for our family, this summer I knew I had to come back.

Coming to Hlibiv was a mix of emotions- rejoicing, reminiscing, rediscovering, remembering and re-living childhood memories. And aftrer all this time, the only major thing that changed in this town were my childhood friends who were no longer children anymore

My Grandma and me

I was a kid again. I loved exploring, finding secret hiding spots, running through the fields, petting everyone's farm animals, picking fruit off trees, spying on neighbors, starring at the stars, chasing chickens, getting messy, visiting childhood friends, sifting through old photos and taking a million new ones.

My new philosophy in life, shaped partly by my fathers death and partly by my own experiences thus far:

"There is no next time. It's now or never." 

There are some moments in life that we wish could last forever, but never again will the same moment be recreated, because people, situations and things in life change every second. So you have to make the most out of each and every day. You only live once and you time flies so quickly! So sieze opportunities, have fun, enjoy life and spread love. Carpe Diem!

My friend Zach shared an awesome video with me of Eddie Vedder talking about time and he said:

"There is no such things as the past. It only exists in our memory. And there is no such thing as the future, it only exists in our imagination. If our watches were truly accurate, the only thing they would say is now. And that's what time it is: now!"

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