Archive of Our Own ^beta

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How did I get here?

It’s a question I ask myself regularly. Here I am, married for the second time, with four adult children, and one school aged grandchild, and two more on the way.
To answer the hook, I took a long, difficult journey to get there. I went through the many twists and turns, the fast and the slow. I will take a long time to share every step of my journey here, in great detail.

Before I share my journey, I need to explain something first. This is my autobiography. A primary source. I will be sharing raw, uncensored details about my life; the half century plus a few years that I have been on this Earth. And I mean raw and uncensored. To indirectly quote my favorite book, Verity by Colleen Hoover, an author did not write a true autobiography if the reader ends up liking the author after reading it, as no one is truly likeable, fully good. As such, the reader should finish it with, at the very least, a dislike for the author.

I will make readers dislike me, just by telling the truth. The books that tell the stories of my family, the Red Medic series, are secondary sources. Since they are secondary sources, the author omitted many major details, to make my family’s stories palatable to the general public. So in my autobiography, I will provide all the details about my life and family history, including and especially ones not allowed in secondary sources.

I will share my journey so far. And it is going to be a wild ride.

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How did this all start? 

That is the likely question that a reader would ask when reading an autobiography. And to answer this question, I have to go back to where it all began, start from the very beginning. 

I am not a second coming of Christ, but I must provide context. As such, this story begins years before I was born. 

To start, my dad was born in the late 1950s(he never disclosed his exact birth date), in a small rural town in northwestern Ukraine. He was born to a very poor family. Unfortunately, his family was supportive of the USSR. So, after he finished high school, he joined the red army. A few years later, he began training to become a military pilot. He completed the training another few years later. Once he had completed his training, he began working as a pilot. He was very good at his job, and therefore received recognition from his superiors, and the government, over his work. One of the people who gave him recognition was a KGB official. 

The KGB official recruited him into the KGB in 1985, having him serve as both an undercover spy and a national “superhero” figure. Six years later, right before the fall of the USSR, he was married to his wife and co-worker, and the couple ended up adopting two orphaned young girls. Right after the fall of the USSR, the family went on an undercover mission in southern Ohio, to investigate a fraudulent research facility, and keep the girls safe, away from great political conflict. The family was undercover for a bit more than three years. The couple finished their mission in the late summer of 1995, when they took down the facility in a violent final battle. Once they had finished, their boss forced them to return. They did, and they all returned to Russia, to work for what was once the KGB but is now the FSB. My dad returned to work, his wife underwent more training, and his daughters underwent early training to be child spies. 

 In the winter of 1996, my dad was assigned on an undercover mission. The mission that would change his entire life trajectory. 

His boss sent him on an undercover mission. He will work as a physics professor, at a government-run research facility in the Canadian Rockies, in southern Alberta. The reason for the mission is to disable the facility, as it has been corrupted. He was given six years to complete the mission. At the time, it would be one of the longest undercover missions one spy has completed. Apologies for the spoiler, but he did complete the mission, to his own detriment.

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I had stated that my dad completed his mission to his own detriment, but what detriment? 

My dad completed the mission, to his own detriment. As in, he turned his life around. Not in a good way. 

He left for the mission soon after he was assigned to it, having been given little time to prepare. The only instructions his boss gave him were his undercover role and his tasks. He knew that the rest was up to him. 

He took a long flight to Calgary, then took a taxi ride to my hometown of Beiseker Alberta, the town closest to the facility. Once he arrived, he set up camp at a local hotel, living there for the time being. 

The next day, he started his new job as a physics professor at the facility. He began his work, and adjusted to his new role rapidly. A month later, he gained respect from his co-workers and boss alike for his job performance. He was a well-liked employee at the facility, a favorite professor among his students. He also fraternized with his co-workers, especially one of the engineers, Dr. Yulia Orlova, who would soon become my mother. The two became close friends. And soon after, they became something more. 

Months in, my dad finally gained the courage to ask my mom out. She said yes, so the two went on a date, a night out downtown, after work. They enjoyed themselves that night, and promised to see each other again. And they did. Soon, they made it official, becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. The two had a thrilling, passionate fling together. 

Only six months later, in June of 1997, Yulia found out that she was pregnant. She told Alexei that she is having his baby, and wants to keep it. The two married in secret. Shortly after, Yulia told her parents and her brother Andriy that she is married and pregnant. They didn't take the news well at first, but eventually, they came to accept it. 

In January of 1998, Yulia went into labor a month early, in the middle of her work day. She told Alexei, then her boss. They then rushed to the local hospital. They made it just in time, as I was escaping fast. I was born a few hours later.

The next day, my grandparents and uncle came to visit their new family member. My parents introduced me to my family.

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“ I see that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” -Mewtwo, Pokemon: The First Movie

Why did I add that quote? 

Ever since I saw that movie, I used that quote as a mantra. A piece of life advice. Not in the way I would use the text of the Bible, but as general advice; like a piece of guidance I had received from a family member or friend. 

The real reason I favor the quote is because I relate to it. I was born in a situation I would never have tried to replicate for my children. My dad was working for the enemy, my mom was the other woman to a married man. And to quote my favorite book Verity again, I was chronic in my young life, having gone through one tragedy after another. But now, I do not let my first circumstances, or my past, define me. I am more than that. I am more than an unplanned affair child. 

…

Over the next few years, Alexei and Yulia slowly adjusted to being parents together, through many struggles, from sleepless nights, to endless worry, to their new roles in their families. Over time, they got better at it with practice, and were able to balance parenting with their jobs and marriage. I am thankful that they were able to adjust.

I had a happy early childhood, with two parents who loved me, loved each other, and worked together. I said earlier in the text that I wouldn’t replicate the home I was born into for my children, but as an exception, I did try my best to give them stable early lives, loving them dearly, loving their other parents, and providing a stable home environment. 

Unfortunately, that changed. For the worse.