San Rafael: The Beginning

By Cliff Potts
Bay Bay City, Leyte, Philippines — April 2, 2026

This is a serialized installment from the autobiography of Cliff Potts.

The Year of Sputnik

I was born in 1957, just weeks after Sputnik 1 entered orbit and marked the beginning of the Space Race. The world I entered was already recalibrating itself. The future had become measurable, competitive, and urgent. My timeline began at the same moment humanity began counting its own.

A Practical Arrival

I was born in San Rafael, California. I remember none of it. My mother’s account provides the first detail of my life. Labor began, but there was ironing to finish. She completed the basket before allowing herself to go to the hospital. I arrived afterward.

That detail set the tone. She worked in order. I waited.

A Family Already Formed

I was the third child. My oldest sister had been born in Chicago in 1950. My middle sister was born in San Leandro, California, in 1955. By the time I arrived, movement was already part of the family pattern.

My father did not change careers; the job sites changed location. We followed.