Category : Books-Non-Fiction

Sub Category : Biography

This is not a story of good vs evil  this is just a truth my truth my life if you wanna get specific and if you want to know something else, being born in the wagon of a gypsy camp in sofia bulgaria is cold and hard especially on a young 17 year old mom, i dont really remember too much of the camp besides all the worn out wagons that were circled together and the horses that roamed around free, but mostly I remember my mom, or the very little that i do remember about her was her name, anka benchova kotzev; i know try saying that 3 times fast. you might ask how i remember the name? Well ive got adoption papers.  but anyhow, my mom was for the first few years of my life the best thing i knew and i kinda hope i was the best part of hers definitely when she had a choice. see back then the government would pay you to abort your child and i know in America its a matter of pro choice or pro life but in Bulgaria in the 90s it was you want to feed yourself or have another mouth to feed and im thankful mom chose the latter cause i know every time we didn't have food and had to boil grass she probably remembered she had a choice if your wondering where my father was in this wonderland childhood and i honestly couldn't tell you much except he was Turkish, scared the living hell out of me and was the love of my mother's life i guess he didn't love her or me enough to stay but  fuck him when in the summer i turned 5 the russian army aka Soviet union invaded Bulgaria i remember soldiers coming to our caravan breaking down doors  to trailers and wagons throwing people on the ground pointing guns at my family speaking russian for what i can only guess was stay on the ground or i blow your head off and i remember this one soldier pointed his gun at my face and yelled at me but i didn't know what he was saying he just keep yelling and yelling until my mother came off the ground and grabbed me shielding me with her body with tears rolling down her eyes with a hand out saying in Bulgarian please don't hurt him as he lowered his weapon and returned to the other troops and left the caravan a ruined mess and my mother somewhat broken by almost losing me a few weeks later I remember walking with my mom to a gigantic white building we entered, as my mom sat me on a bench she walked to a fat woman with glasses and began to talk to her and started writing something down on the desk and then she she shook the lady's hand and then walked over to me I looked up at her and her eyes were  red as she bent down and held my hands and squeezing them very tightly trembling and she just gave me a small smile and told me she would be back in three days and to be a good boy while she was gone well three days turned to a week then a month then before I knew it I was in what i later learned was a orphanage for a year  she left me she abandoned me alone it wasnt till I was older that i forgave her understanding that it wasn't cause she didn't love me or want me but because she wanted me to survive and not starve or be killed in some forest or in the streets like some rabid dog but for that year the orphanage was my new home it wasn't all bad like when me and this other stacky bald boy would race each other around the yard of course I won most of the races or when we got to watch Scooby doo and yes surprisingly they did have Scooby doo in Bulgaria back then, or just when the teachers would come and teach us my favorite teacher was this thin blonde woman with blue eyes and glasses who use to teach math she would always tell me that someone was coming to get me and take me from this here to a better place and that always gave me hope that my mom was coming back but the best part was Rudy she always could  Brighten my day herwith  brown reddish hair and goofy smile especially when we use to act out snow white  even when we use to get knuckled by the fat lady and her equally fat sister for cutting our tongue to get the older kids in trouble even with all that everyday before we had to go in i would still look outside and pray i saw my mom walk up and say svork with open arms ready for me to jump inm I remember a lot of us would knock our teeth out and throw them on the roof and make wishes and i always wished for that moment to happen little did I know half a world a way in Las Vegas there was a woman named Robin Olson who would just wake up from a dream that would change my life  the next morning she would talk to her husband kent and tell him they need to adopt a child he stood there dumbfounded and asked her wht adopt when they have have been blessed with seven beautiful kids why do we need to adopt because he needs us a few days later as Robyn was with her sister looking through adoption photos and then as she flips past a photo she jumps out of her chair and yells at her sister to go back a few pages as her sister looks confused at theu she was acting and gives in a returns a couple pages and tells her to stop she then sees a picture of a small Turkish boy and says thats him thats the boy from my dream 
Later that day when Robert came home she showed him the picture and Robert stood there in shock and slowly grabbed the photo out of her hand and held it up and said this is the boy you had the dream about he let out a huge laugh as he told her last night I had a dream about him too they come together and hold each other close the next day the couple begin making the arrangements for adoption but when they notified the adoption agency in Bulgaria they  turned them down see there were a lot of orphans especially after the war so most orphanages wanted people to adopt older children but Robyn and Robert said no we want him when the agency continued to refused they called the Bulgarian government and told them about the situation and  Bulgarian government came down on that agency like the wrath of God threatening closing down the entire agency and if you got fired back then you were blacklisted in the entire country so the agency gave the couple an ultimatum they would let them adopt the child but they had to have the paperwork completed and sent in two weeks and if you know anything of adoption it can take anywhere from 8 months to a year to adopt but little did the agency know our couple already completed all of the paperwork in advanced so when the agency received it a week later they were in shock so in the  fall of 1999 the couple flew to Bulgaria the two fat ladies called all of us into the lobby and lined us up in rows and told us to be on our best behavior but we all knew what was going on someone was getting adopted as i stood next to Rudy and she kept saying that this couple that was showing up was coming for me I blew her off saying that was impossible so when their car pulled infront of orphanage the two fat ladies told us to be quiet and opened the doors as Robin and kent walked in when i first saw them they had warm kind smiles on their faces and as Robyn went into her bag and pulled out this huge bag of twizzlers and gave every kid one we all laughed and cheered as they walked by every kid passing out candy they got to me and they both bent down and 
Asked me what my was i told them it sashco and they told me that means Alexander in English i had no idea what that even meant as they asked me would i like to go home with them and be apart of their family i just teared up and was about cry as Robyn pulled me in close to her and hugged me and told me its all right so that day i left the orphanage and Bulgaria and my mom behind as I got on a plane and headed for Las Vegas Nevada in the u.s of a when we landed i was entranced by everything the swooshong doors all the cars that drove by and the food the food was the best part when i got to my new home i got treated to a feast i ate until my stomach hurt and cheeks looked like they would bust but as my new family looked at me and laughed and enjoyed my hilarious actions i had an ulterior motive i never had that much food before so when we all went to bed i would sneak into the kitchen and hide food underneath my bed afraid that one day there would be no more my first week in America was pleasant and progressive i managed to learn English fairly quickly my family was enormous with 4 older brothers and 3 sisters plus my newly adopted younger brother i never felt lonely or bored even when we moved from Vegas to Nashville Tennessee or just outside Nashville on a farm in Maryville it was actually kinda cool we raised horses chickens cows i never went to school well besides bible study my mom and dad homeschooled me and my siblings and for six years it was really fun when i was 16 i would go to these dances at the highschool in town and it was pretty awkward but i remember saw this cute blonde gurl who i recalled seeing at church and i super scared to go up to her so i kept going to these dances just to see her then finally around the fifth time i went i got up the courage to talk to her and surprising thing is she remembered me from church so we danced and had a good time but at the end she told me she was moving and if i would write to her of course I said yes and we wrote each other for about year until she just stopped and i was kinda heartbroken by it so a few years later I was getting more involved in my church that they decided to send me on a mission now i know most people don't really know about the church of latter day saints or more commonly known as Mormons/lds but going on a mission is great honor and privilege so for 9 weeks i would be trained to go out and spread the word of God and Joseph Smith until I got pulled aside by one of the pastors and for reasons i won't disclose here almost got removed but by God's good grace i was allowed to go and a week later I would fly to long beach, california and meet my companion who would accompany me on this journey 
Just to give you little overview of what a mission is like everyday you wake up at 4am workout then 1 hour of self study with scripture then 2 hours of group study with you and your companion breakfast then you go out and spread the word then around 12 lunch then spread more of the word and head home for dinner and evening prayers i did this everyday for 2 years and i forgot to mention you go no where without your companion well besides the bathroom for you with filthy minds but there where 2 great moments where I felt that god had really sent me to long beach for a reason the first was a young man named Kenny Ramos who numerous other Elders had spoken to rejected the teachings until I meet him he always thought i was this cool boss type dude after we meet we really clicked and when it was ready to get baptized i was the one to perform the ceremony and welcome him back into the world anew he would later be a very integral part of the church and im happy and proud that i meet him the second was my wife