CHARLOTTE — Iryna Zarutska’s family has been dealing with the tragedy of her loss for over a year; in a new interview with Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz, we’re learning more about Iryna and her family.
As our emotional conversation continued, we saw how much love Iryna’s family has for her.
“What would you tell your sister if you could see her, hug her, talk to her today?” Goetz asked Valeria.
As Valeria takes a deep breath, it’s not the words that bring up such deep emotion; it’s the pain of not being able to say them to her.
“I need her a lot. First thing when I find her in the station, I drive back home and I just talk to her. I just tell her, I love you, I want you to be here,” Valeria said.
Valeria had never lived in a world without her older sister until now. They were kids growing up together, but the chance to grow old together was taken away from them. Iryna’s death is now a reminder that every pinky promise they made together as little girls is now broken.
“We also have a dream with Iryna: if I will have a daughter, I will name her Iryna; and if she will have a daughter, she will call her Valeria. She said we’ll have like best friends for each other. So I will raise my daughter for her, and she will raise her daughter for me, and we will have like best friends with the same name,” Valeria said. “I really need her.”
Valeria and her mother hold onto each other and the small, beautiful moments of Iryna’s life.
“She helped me to, you know, look around, ‘See, you have something beautiful around you,’” Valeria said, recalling what Iryna told her.
You can still find little pieces of Iryna around Charlotte in the poeple and the things she loved, and in her final pieces of art.
Her memory is also painted across the city skyline.
“There are murals of her painted on sides of buildings, there are flowers. What do you think when you see that?” Goetz asked.
“I’m just crying; it means so very much for me,” Anna said.
Anna remembers the last time she talked to her daughter.
“She contacted me from that new place that she was living in ... she was so happy. She said that she is really, really happy to be there, to live there. She showed mom a painting that she made, a bed, and every little detail that she was taking care of in that building, and telling mom, ‘I’m so happy to be here. I just like it so much,’” Anna said.
“If she were here today, what would you say to her?” Goetz asked.
Anna can barely get this answer out as tears dripped onto her shirt.
“She is always with me. I would take her in my arms, and I would have never let her go,” Anna said. “No words. No words are needed.”
>>See the first parts of our exclusive interview with Iryna’s family at this link.
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