Who am I?
I’m a woman. I’m the eldest daughter of an eldest acting son and a youngest daughter. I’m a sister. I’m a friend and I’m a soulmate.
I grew up in a small Eastern European town that’s still residing in me. I moved to a big city, only to then move to another country. I left Bucharest for Utrecht and I gave Utrecht for Amsterdam.
Everything I’ve been and everywhere I’ve lived shapes my stories. The books I’ve read, the movies I’ve watched and all the music I’ve ever listened to has found a way to sneak into my stories. The people I’ve met, the places I’ve visited, the stories I’ve heard, they all got themselves a spot into my own stories.
I guess who I am is not so much a solid body, but rather an ever changing flow. I guess what I am is a collection of stories, some that I’ve lived, some that are living through me.
A little joke. Well… not really. It’s all true. But life is not all as romantic as I make it sound.
I did live a big part of my life in Romania, born not too long after the communists had fallen, but long before they actually left. I did grow up in a small town where people talked, and if they didn’t know you directly, they knew someone who knew someone who knew your mum. I have a brother and my parents did their best to raise us. I turned into who I am today partly because of their efforts, mostly in spite of them.
I left home not to look for a better life, not even for a better job. I left because I didn’t know better. I didn’t find a life here. I built it. I found people, both in this country and back home, that I can’t imagine my life without. And I found myself. It only took me a few decades. But here I am. Naked, raw, unfinished.
Life is not as romantic as I sometimes make it sound, but it is as romantic as we want it to be.