" Where was I before I was born?” she said. “That’s what they all ask.” “Who?” “Children. Adults. All of us. Where was I? Before there was a where. Before there was an I. It is inconceivable,” she’d said, “for there to be no self and no place to put it. That’s what it will be like. Like falling backwards into a pocket of space that constricts and then pops out of existence. "
― Derek B. Miller , American by Day (Sigrid Ødegård #2)