Boomer Tales (ePub)

Why would somebody nobody ever heard of write a memoir? An understandable question. I've written this for a number of reasons, some reflective, others responsive to myself and others. Also to vent, express regrets, ask lingering questions. My father and mother are gone, as are my stepmother. I'm next in the line of generational extinction. My father and stepfather both served in the military during wars, father in World War II and stepdad in the Korean War. I know almost nothing about their service. Most of the details and anecdotes that made up their early lives and the lives of my mother and stepmother died with them. Everyone has stories to tell, good and bad, uplifting and depressing, joyous and mournful. Far too many of those stories vanish along with the lessons to be learned from them and the histories of our families. My son wants to remember some of the stories I've shared at family gatherings and around the dinner or game table: Swamping my canoe in a flooded creek with nighttime approaching, terrorizing a drive-in theater, earning a combat action ribbon while absent without leave, editing and publishing a newspaper, looking a ghost in the eye at Gettysburg, hiking the magnificent Grand Canyon. One more reason for writing a memoir: It's entertaining to remember, mostly. Remembering isn't all fun, though. Telling about totaling a friend's car doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy. People do boneheaded things. Those also make entertaining stories, painful as they are to tell. This memoir is chronological to a point. These stories about things that occurred during my life are for my children and their children and grandchildren. I hope they enjoy reading them, and that they learn some things to not do. Perhaps others will enjoy these stories. Maybe someone else nobody ever heard of will be inspired to write their stories for their families.