My Circumstantial Odyssey

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