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The Beginning of My Beginnings

To get right to it, this blog was created to document my research into where and who I came from. I've always wanted to conduct a personal history of my family, but never actually sat down to do it. I can't tell you what made me decide to do it now. Maybe it was a combination of things. Maybe it has something to do with my Grandmother, Josephine, passing this past September. I'm not really sure why but the most important parts about this is I plan to find out information that I never knew before, to satisfy my nature of always asking "why, how, who, when, and where" - Equally important, I'm doing this for my parents. I can't understand why they never asked these questions before but they want to know now.

Before I get started I guess I should tell a little bit about myself. I was born to Lynn and Luanne Lujan on February 5th 1983 in La Mirada California. I grew up in Pico Rivera, California where I currently reside at the age of 27. I went to Whittier College where i studied History and Art. I graduated with a dual degree in 2006 and am currently STRUGGLING to get into Grad School to study Ancient Greek/Roman Art History.

My fascination with history started with my mother's father, Ernest Avila. He was a Marine in WWII. As a child that made me feel special. I thought very highly of him and his stories. I can't tell you how many times I took his purple star to class for show and tell.

My regret now was that I never asked him more questions back then. Even in High School when I lived with him and my grandmother, I never thought to ask deeper questions as we stayed up late talking about his past. Grandpa had trouble sleeping. I think he was worried because he knew his lung cancer was getting worse. Grandma had Alzheimer's so my time to ask her questions ran out long before I even knew to ask her any questions.

I now have to rely on the small snippets of memories I have of speaking with my grandfather and the stories others have to relay to me.

My father's side is equally, if not more interesting. I am not as close with them as I am with my mother's side, and even then there are family secrets that will undoubtedly prove to be a great obstacle for me.

As I stated before, my educational background is in History. I live for this stuff. I love research, I love finding answers, I love hunting and searching for the truth. So, well see where this quest will lead me, and hopefully in the end I will have answers and information to tell my family, while documenting my past for future relatives.

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