The Reject

Intro

Mom went to University of Arkansas for her Master’s degree. Upon completing her Master’s degree, she wanted to go to Taiwan to visit her family. I was only 8 months or so in my mom’s womb. Her plan was to fly out from Arkansas to Taipei then to San Francisco to reunite with my dad.

It was a nice winter night in Taipei. Mom was lying on the firm bamboo bed — trying to get some rest the day before her flight. There was a knock on the door. Grandpa walked in and said, “Better watch your luggage tonight. There are thieves around lately. Have a good night!” The next morning, mom woke up and was ready to head to the airport and fly back to US. She found everything in sight except for one item — her passport. Her passport was stolen. Mom never made the fight to San Francisco and I was still inside of her.

I was born on a celebratory day, February 2nd, Ground Hog’s Day, which that year coincided with Lunar New Year. It probably wasn’t busy in the United States, besides Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but it definitely was a busy day all over certain parts in Asia. How awesome that everyone is celebrating the day I was born. Unfortunately, I could never be the President of the United States because of that stolen passport.

When I was two and a half years old, mom and dad finally flew me back to the United States. We lived in a small town in Carrollton, Georgia, an hour away from the city of Atlanta. Dad was doing his PhD. Mom was being mom.

I fondly remember the nursery school I was in — high chairs for the babies and I always sat in the front row gluing my eyes to the TV. The nursery also had these tall trees in the backyard and there would always be that large ball for us kids to kick around. Georgia was the most peaceful memory I had. There were no problems.

Then one day mom and dad decided to go to the big Apple, NYC. They had a small white Toyota sports car and drove all the way from Georgia to New York.

I grew up in Queens, NYC. There weren’t too many unfortunate series before I turned 9. What comes after age 9 is where everything started to fall apart as if a curse were set upon me.