I was born in a small village. After graduating from eighth grade I entered a culinary school and graduated four years later. At that time there was a lot of talk and writing about the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. I also felt a romantic urge as a young girl, so I went to work there. I was working in my field, but five years later I understood that romance is romance, but you have to make something of your life.
While working on the Baikal-Amur Mainline, I met Thomas, who was an impresario from Moscow and had the right connections in the capital. I went to Moscow, tracked Thomas down and asked him to help me get into the institute. He did not turn me down, but said it would cost money. I had money, I had saved a good sum of money while working at Baikal-Amur Railway. I paid 4,000 for the service, a lot of money for those days.
I also managed to change my certificate and passport. I also paid for the new documents. Now my passport says I am five years younger, and my new certificate has only B’s and A’s.
Thomas helped me get into the institute, but when he saw my passport, he was surprised and said that I got in by unreasonably changing my year of birth. But I did not want to listen to anything, all joking that I will find myself a young husband. After all, my documents said I was eighteen years old and I was a first-year student at the Food Industry Institute.
A new life had begun for me. I was now surrounded by completely different people, they were yesterday’s schoolchildren, young and cheerful guys. A year later I got married. My husband was Mark, who was nineteen at the time. He was from Moscow, and I registered in his parents’ apartment.
After I graduated from college, perestroika began in the country. My husband and I managed to get our bearings quickly, rented a small space and opened a diner. After that we managed to buy it back and became owners of our own bar.
My husband and I lived pretty well, although we had no children. And then one day we decided to visit me in the village where I had spent my younger years. I met my classmates and friends. Of course, I had a very different life than they did, and I looked much better than my classmates. I was envied, and one of my classmates told my husband that I had worked at BAM and was more years old than he thought.
Mark began to reproach me for cheating. He changed a lot, started abusing alcohol. He and I divorced. The family business had to be divided. I bought an apartment for my part, and my husband gave loans to banks, which after our divorce he took at a predatory interest.
At this point I am still working, although I have reached retirement age. I often think of Thomas, who said that I was unwise to be five years younger with my new passport. But no one can bring back the past, and no one can correct the mistakes of youth.
Recently I was visiting my mother and met a classmate. She has been retired for two years already and is taking care of her grandchildren and vegetable garden. I still have four years to work, but my health is not good any more. When we are young, we do rash things which we have to pay for in adulthood.
Maybe anyone has been in this situation or heard of a person making themselves younger. I’m hoping to get some advice on how to fix my stupid thing I did years ago.
