I never set out to write a book, let alone two books. The first just happened by accident. Nearly seven years ago, I wrote a letter to my children followed by twenty pages of what I believed to be a description of my father’s life. I never imagined that years later, those twenty-odd pages would evolve into a 300 page book that involved a trip to the National Archives, genealogy research (which I had never done), and countless interviews with strangers.
It turned out that I never really knew my father or his family. While writing his story, I learned that history is a lot easier to understand and remember when it becomes personal.
Maybe I will inspire you to learn your story and write a book too! Look into you past and you will learn that “what is past is prologue.”
My adventure into researching and writing this book made me think about how much easier it would have been if only my father had written about his experiences, so I decided to write a blog for my family.
I had a lot of thoughts regarding my life and the lives of my parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins that I wanted to share with my own children and grandchildren. I have a great family, but my children knew little about growing up in Boonton, New Jersey with all of them during the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies.
I did it because I wished that those family members who I hold dearest in my heart had done this for their children and grandchildren. I knew that some posts would be funny, some would possibly make them cry, and other would not be very exciting at all. But life is mostly just about our day to day meanderings.
I started with my earliest memories, but then there was a lot of jumping around because memories do not travel in a straight line. I had no idea where I would wander, and then, like my research into my father, I realized I had another book.
I hope my children, grandchildren, and others of my generation will enjoy my walk down memory lane.
Karen Wardamasky Bobrow 