Shadows and Echoes

Many of these early memories have come to me unbidden without any prodding or poking; always there part of the fabric of my childhood. Others I suspect will not be so easy to retrieve. Until I started this journey into the past I would have said I had a very good memory but now I find I am severely challenged. Do I actually remember that or have I heard it so many times that it has become as mine? Was it really like that or has time and distance enhanced embellished or distorted it? How can we know? Can we know?