[unclebilly]

I’ve been watching at arms length as my friend and his family have been trying to evacuate his mother in law from Ukraine.

Some of the things he has told me have helped me to reconsider some of my first world problems.

She tried to take the train from her town to Warsaw initially where she could get on another train to Amsterdam and fly direct to Calgary. The line up for that evacuation train was 3 kms long. 2 miles of people (not cars, people) - let that sink in.

She was able to get a train to a border town and then cross into Poland the other night. From there she got on another train to Amsterdam and fly to Calgary today.

She had to leave her son and his family behind as well as all of her possessions. Canada gave her a 2 year residency permit and work visa when she arrived.

This war IS real. She didn’t leave her town until the Russian tanks showed up. She had a chance to move here 3 years ago and decided to stay in Ukraine.

She is safe now, she has a job lined up starting on Monday and now has to learn some English. Her Canadian family are all really great people - my friend is of Ukrainian descent but is 2nd or 3rd generation Canadian.