Chapter One

I was born on November 15, 1979 at St. Mary's Hospital in the Brooklyn district of New York City. As my luck would have it, I was supposed to come out to be a girl - the only daughter of three children: Peter, Paul, and... ugh Mary... Ok - are you done laughing now? Alas, I was not a girl, and thank goodness they still didn't call me Mary.

Let me go back for a moment first, before I was born. My parents came from Korea in 1975. By this time, my father had recently graduated from medical school, and started his residency all over the east coast of the states - New York, Maryland, DC, Virginia... Shortly after arriving to the states, my eldest brother, Pete, was born. Two years later, came Paul. Unfortunately, my grandparents on my father's side were only able to see Pete before they passed away. My only memory of them are the yellowed aged pictures that sit in the living room of my father's house. Standing prominently in front of the camera, my grandfather looks much like his son - very stern and confident on the outside, yet selfless and so caring underneath. My grandmother looks so much like Paul - reserved, quiet, yet very pensive. I wish I could have met them, my grandparents. The most been near them is their buried ashes at memorial park when my father bows to them, giving them his offering and prayers. I know he loves them so much, despite the fact that he doesn't talk much about them. But I know, because I can see them greet each other as he walks into his living room after a hard day's work.

Well, enough digression... My name ended up being Phil - after one of the doctors at the hospital. My parents were probably fed up after their severe disappointed of yet another boy :P that they probably just grabbed the next guy who walked by the door and snapped "What's your name?!?!", "Ph-ph-phillip...", "Ok, fine! Write that down on the birth certificate!" And indeed, that name is on there - Phillip... only that my name is spelled with one "L" on every other legal document!

Boy, things must have been extremely happy the first couple years of my life - here we are, my two brothers and me running around committing senseless acts of silliness in New York - too bad I don't remember a thing :(

I often wonder what my earliest memory is - certainly it's after we moved to Virginia in 1981. Well, I'll just sit here long and hard, and try to dig the deepest memory hidden within the mass network of neurons housed in my skull... So here I go!

Earliest Memory >