A Solitary Swimmer

I always felt different, an outsider in a family of outsiders. I was adopted as an infant. My one brother was also adopted as well as my mother. Being adopted made me angry. As a small girl, I ripped my clothes off when my mother tried to dress me. I often had tantrums, the down-on-the floor screaming and kicking kind. Mom had to lock me in my room for fear of hurting me. Before seatbelts and car seats, I once tried to leap out of a moving car.