She was born in 1970 in Zabrze, Upper Silesia, in an industrial part of Southern Poland. She was the only child. She started kindergarten when she was 3 years old. Her Mum enrolled her in a class with older kids as she knew the teacher and she wanted her to be safe. Unfortunately, when she joined the group, the kids knew each other already so she was a bit of an outsider. In the first memory, her Mum walked with her to the kindergarten on her way to work. She had a potato for her as they were going to bake potatoes on the fire that day. However, when they arrived to the kindergarten, the girl realized that her Mom did not leave the potato behind! The girl was really upset. As she was an independent and resourceful little girl, she just ran out of the kindergarten looking for her Mum. But she was nowhere to be seen. She had to return to the kindergarten feeling defeated. However, later on it transpired that her Mum did leave the potato so she did not miss out on the experience. She was elated! The other memory relates to being dressed up.  All the kids had small costumes, but her costume was really elaborate as her Mum enjoyed making costumes. She was Miss Autumn! When she arrived, kids were looking at her in a kind of bemused way as her costume stood out. Years later when she looked at the photographs of Miss Autumn, her Mum said that she was really popular with kids as in the photograph she was with other kids. But she knew in her heart that she was a lonely kid and did not have many friends in the kindergarten.