My name is Yiannoula.

I was born of a married mother and father in Messini, Greece, in 1957. My father had accidently fallen into a well after a night of drinking and died there, leaving my mother, Chariklea, a widow before I was born. She was suddenly left with five children to raise and care for all on her own. With the encouragement of an attorney, who was working with the now defunct organization Parents of Greek Orphans (POGO), which helped secure children for couples in the United States, my Yiayia (my grandmother) helped to convince my mother to put me up for adoption. When I was 14 months old, after the preparation and signing of the adoption papers, my mother herself traveled with me from Messini to Athens and reluctantly handed me over to an attendant (a stranger) on a plane. I was flown to Houston, Texas, on November 25, 1958, and was united with an American couple who lived in San Antonio, Texas.

Previously, while my adoption proceedings in Greece were being finalized, my adoptive parents were also in the process of adopting another baby, a newborn from their hometown. My adoptive father had requested a baby boy. His request was not fulfilled. Instead, he received two baby girls: me, from Greece, and an infant from Texas.

The couple who became my parents had lost their only child at the age of 17 months. After what must have been a horrific experience, it was my father’s idea to adopt. My mother wanted nothing to do with it. Even though she had lost her daughter seven years earlier, she was still grieving. I was intended to be the most “suitable” match for her deceased daughter. But from the minute I arrived, I can tell you, I also felt like I wanted nothing to do with her. Could I sense her feelings about me?

Growing up, there were no goodnight kisses, no sweet stories and no “I love you” before bed. There was only yelling and screaming. I was never allowed to go to many places and was desperately ashamed of the way we lived. My father was a self-employed house mover. He was always bringing home “stuff” left behind by the previous owners.