How I Came to Be

They say my people are descendants from a dragon and a fairy

who gave birth to 100 children 

who later became known as the Vietnamese people.

My origins are a reflection of my ancestors.

My mother,

at the age of eleven,

fled from her country by boat.

She is the dragon who came from the sea.

My father had escaped by airplane

at the age of eighteen 

by sheer luck from a sponsorship.

He is the fairy who had descended from the mountains and fell in love with the dragon.

Giving their children opportunities for a new life in America,

we are the decendants of the Vietnamese people.