Reconstructing my past

5/16/10

For over a month, I have been reconstructing my past. It started out by scanning pictures about our foreign exchange students and past travels for their and others amusement, then progressed to putting it on the Internet, http://www.shuraleffsojourns.blogspot.com/ . Since then, it has progressed into typing up my mother's memoirs and letters to her children and distributing copies to my immediate family. Like a cancer, it has generated more questions and the urgency to record my past with surprises all along the way.

So far, I have found out my father had two other brothers, and two sisters, only one of which, his youngest sister, survived childhood; a grandfather who died in Canada, and mysterious family friends/relatives. What narrative should I write to accompany this information? I have no idea where my scanning and questions may lead or what to include/exclude from my investigations on my yet to be published new website, http://www.nickshuraleff.com/ .

For anyone who thinks an autobiography or constructing a biography in any way reflects reality should look first in the mirror and question who that person is. Do you really want to know? What should you reveal to others? What truths can you expect from others, from yourself?