Rozaria's memories

The urge to write Rozaria's memories surfaced with much urgency that I set about the story, seeking to demystify tradition, to claim it before it could further diminish. The writing was brave, fraught with panic. I questioned over and over how my family would receive it, in particular some naked truths. What structure or direction might the narrative take? Scattered stories; whose story? In snipping it to personal history from the eyes of my maternal grandmother on her deathbed, I was able to uncloak Rozaria's story. I mended it, fabricated it, created my own pattern, decorated it with detail and wore it as mine. Her story became my story. I had created a brand new design from the original. According to Donna Lee Brien, biographers recognise that they collect data to yarn stories removed from the disorder and complexity of real life, now neatly packaged in literary form (2014: §2). A good biographer is like a seamstress, an artisan who creates. Recollection is patched, darned, colour-matched. Rozaria's memories remains a cathartic story whose significance grew manifold after the writing with the deaths of key players. Like any biography, there is still room to expand, to develop. But in its simplicity, this written artefact is my metaphor for life.