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.