Marina Palenyy is a Ukrainian-American citizen: equal parts responsible and critical. Having exhausted childhood in Ukraine, Marina had the pleasure of being brought up a young adult, alongside her 9 siblings, in Sacramento, California where she first learned English at the budding age of 12. Now, a high school Writing teacher in the Bronx by day, and a student of Language and Literacy by night, Marina uses creative nonfiction writing to examine and relish in the nuance of multilingualism, excavating joy in the crevices between the two cultures. This love letter is dedicated to its recipient, my mother Nadezhda.