My Life Before

"What's the first thing you remember?" The question was asked by a mother looking for a way to get to know her newly-adopted, 13-year-old son. She wondered if the boy would understand her question, or speak enough English to be able to answer. Before coming to the States a few months earlier, he had been in a Ukrainian orphanage. The boy's answer was so remarkable she wrote it down. The memory he shared was, at the same time, naive, worldly and shocking.  Over the next several years, she li