As many of us transition to involuntarily working from home, minimizing quality time spent with our friends and clicking on headlines that tap into our collective anxiety, I thought I would offer a brief retreat from the justified angst surrounding COVID-19. Originally planned to be released at the end of April, below you will find more teaser bits from my upcoming memoir (coming in June!) titled "I Met Myself in October: A Memoir of Belonging" (in case you didn't see it before arriving here).
I am purposefully not offering specific context to these teaser bits. The words themselves should lead you to a place of deeper curiosity about what else the chapters include so in June, you can help spread the word amongst coworkers, family members, neighbors and friends alike. If you pay close attention, I assure you there is something in this book for everyone, regardless if you have a direct connection to adoption, adoptees or not.
Here they are then, dear reader. When you're finished, feel free to leave a comment. I'm genuinely curious to know what your thoughts are. Enjoy!
FROM CHAPTER 2:
"The logical conclusion was to tackle the formidable question head-on: am I black? If the answer was to be “yes”, then I needed and wanted to know how and why. Similarly, if the answer was “no”, I also wanted to dissect why. I deeply wanted to know what made a person black aside from the color of their skin. It made sense to take the question to my black friends in order to get their perspective on the matter. There was just one small problem: I did not have any black friends! I WAS the token black friend in my social circles. The task before me was to determine what the concept of self meant for me and my particular set of experiences."
FROM CHAPTER 3:
"It had been quite some time since I felt the unsettling fire of ambition towards anything. For lack of a better word, I was ecstatic about the prospect of searching for and finding this woman. A colossal search to find one person out of approximately 46 million with nothing more than a name seemed completely insane. It seemed ridiculous. It seemed impossible. And yet, it was entirely intriguing. Something about the challenge excited me, even if it implied a major leap into the uncertain and improbable."
FROM CHAPTER 6:
"Suddenly, silent panic fell upon the bus as we slowed down once again. Audible gasps were heard from some passengers at the front of the bus. I glanced quickly at Ana to gauge her expression. Her eyes were fixed on something outside, yet she was not squinting. She pressed her lips together, let out a quick sigh and immediately started rummaging in her purse. I turned my head again to see what she was doing, and I saw her shove two cards into the folds of the seat between herself and Leider. “No hable, oyó?!” (Don't speak, you hear?!) she instructed with a whisper as her eyes jumped to the front of the bus. I turned around from her and saw them at once, two men in uniform holding rifles with others outside the bus. The general feeling in the air was one of urgent consternation. The uniforms these men wore were somehow slightly different than those of the soldiers we had seen..."
AND THAT'S IT! (OK, ONE MORE...)
FROM CHAPTER 9:
"...They nodded and then a man sitting toward the front, to my left, motioned for the microphone that was being passed between the guests. He wore a light pink button-up shirt, glasses and I could not tell if the moisture on his forehead was sweat or the gel leaking down his face from his pointed short black hair. In any case, he described how much he loved his child and how he and his family could not be happier with their situation. He went on like this for a few moments and finally asked why he should eventually tell his child they were adopted. He argued it was too much of a headache for everyone involved and that too many problems could come from their knowing the truth about their origin. “Usted como adoptado qué nos puede decir al respecto?”(As an adopted person, what can you tell us about that?) he pleaded, clearly passionate about the decision he made about never revealing the truth to his child. I found two things uncomfortable about what this man requested......"
As always, your continued support is i m p e r a t i v e. Your messages of support and your questions from so many places continue to push me forward with this project. Leave a comment below and include where you're writing from! Spread this around as much as you wish. Be good to yourselves and those around you. And of course, wash your hands!
Gracias, dankje, asante, grazie, አመሰግናለሁ, obrigado, mahalo, salamat, 谢谢你, merci, kiitos, dankeschön, ευχαριστώ, enkosi, 고마워, thank you!