Natalija posts family photo on day she and Andrej would have marked 11 years of marriage

Natalija marked an October day that held special meaning for her family by posting a family photograph — a moment of memory on the date when she and her late husband Andrej would have marked 11 years of marriage.

She shared a picture of Andrej together with their daughter Jana, a keepsake from the years they spent together. Jana was born on 29 November 2015, and Natalija has repeatedly said that her daughter is now the family's greatest comfort.

Speaking in the past about her husband, Natalija described his place in their lives: "Andrej, as a father and as a husband, was first and foremost our best friend... So after that he was our husband and father."

Life after loss

After Andrej's death, Natalija has spoken openly about the difficult months the family endured and about trying to continue without the man who had been their main support. She recalled one of the hardest conversations — the moment she had to tell Jana that her father would not return home: "I told my daughter that her father was somewhere far away in the sky that same day," she said, describing how the girl withdrew for a time.

Small comforts now matter. Natalija often posts photos with the family pet, which she says brings tiny moments of joy and helps them cope with the emptiness left behind. She keeps and shares the photographs and memories of Andrej — the man she once described as, above all, their best friend, then husband and father.

One particularly emotional memory comes from 2020, when Andrej marked their fifth wedding anniversary online in his characteristic wry tone: "If it weren't for these social networks, I wouldn't even know that five years ago I got married..." Six years on, the same date carries very different emotions: instead of celebrating together, the family holds on to the images and the love that remain.

Photo: press material from the event