Origin Story

Origin Story

 

When my mother was entering into her third decade she got an art’s grant to travel to Cyprus while working on her book “Friends I Never Knew.”

Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea that is a sovereign nation that gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. It is de facto divided into a Greek portion and a Turkish portion. My father is from the Greek Cypriot side.

My mother met my father, George, in Cyprus on her first trip there. She travelled back to Cyprus a second time after inheriting some money from her aunt who passed away and the couple decided to conceive a child together. However, George stayed in Cyprus, and my mother moved back to Canada for several reasons.

George, like most Greek Cypriots is devoutly religious and having a child out of wedlock was not considered acceptable for the mother at the time. George is extremely claustrophobic and as such cannot get on an elevator, much less a ship or plane to travel.

I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba where my mother raised me as a single parent with lots of help from her mother, father and sisters. My mother sent pictures of me to George as I grew up, but he wasn’t in contact with me in early life. After my father married his now wife, Anthula, he told her about me, and she encouraged him to be in contact with me, his son. Anthula got in touch with my Granny, and then George got in touch with me when I was fifteen. We talked on the phone.

I have no ill will against my biological father, but I just think of him as “George.” My Grandpa was around when I was growing up and was my father figure for what mattered.