Russian Vodka Part 1

This week's update will have a part 1 and part 2 to follow, next week.

When I came to America, I only had a handful of items that came with me. I wore the clothes I had in the orphanage, a two-headed dragon necklace and three bottles of vodka, that my parents got me in Russia. I had no idea my Dad got vodka for me until I was older. I found it one day and asked where he got the vodka and he mentioned in Russia. He told me he would give the bottles to me upon my 21st birthday. I waited and waited . When I turned 21 the bottles still stayed with him. I couldn't get myself to ask to give the vodka in case he had some sort of attachment to it. In time, he realized he still had the bottles and gave me a couple. I kept one of the bottles in my house. I wanted to open up a bottle for a special occasion. Initially, I planned to open the bottle upon my book publishing but somehow forgot to open it. A couple months pass and I realized the perfect opportunity to open the bottle.

Through my book publishing process, I realized I had many friends who were also adopted. A common bond we never knew existed. Through that, I realized, there's so much more work to do. Publishing my book was just a simple stepping stone to helping others who were also adopted. Therefore, I reached out to one of my friends and asked if he would be willing to do a project with me. He said yes and we selected a day to meet up and let him share his story. He invited his family and friends over and we all just sat down and talked about his story and shared my own, a bit more deeply, as well. In that, we opened the Russian vodka my Dad had gotten.

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB1vEjkkkes

Podcast:

https://soundcloud.com/elenaleec2a/coming-to-america-russian-vodka-part-1

Russian vodka bottle