I began writing initial drafts of this memoir in late 1994, not knowing where
it would take me or when it would end. Though greatly expanded from
where I began, my intention is still for my memoir to be fairly focused . . .
focused somewhat chronologically on personal and societal changes within
specific generations of my family's and my country's past, including our legacy
with wars.
Some segments have been fast-forwarded through as they are impertinent,
insignignicant, or reveal things too heavy to share. It's not my intention
to delve into gruesome war story after war story. I'm not strong enough for
that. Many of my specicific war experiences have been addressed in poems
and other writings, while some are unspeakable. If only the experiences
were erasable from memory.
A few names and related details have been changed to protect the identities
of those who have passed and their loved ones.