Family Matters: The Story of an American Family from the Shtetl

This is the story of a family starting with the birth of my grandparents in what is today Belarus in the 1880s. It describes details of extreme living conditions in the shtetls of Czarist Russia and documents the contrast of tremendous financial and social success realized after immigration to the United States.

The story evolves with the next generation that was dominated by the actions and narcissism of the firstborn son, Sam. His, for the most part, disregard and disrespect of his father and siblings along with unbridled ambition catapulted him into a position of economic, social, and political power. In short, he was ruthless.

The last born, who was more than a decade younger than Sam, was my father Ray. Ray had "two fathers": Philip and a surrogate-Sam. He was dominated by his older brother and accordingly developed a wide range of insecurities which created challenges in his development. On the other hand and in contrast, Ray was born into the "lap of luxury" whereas Sam was born in Russia and grew up with his father's financial and social success.

It continues with my own generation and gradually becomes more self-centric. Details of my life of sailing adventures, wilderness living in the mountains, entrepreneurial pursuits/experiences across America, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Turkey, the UK and elsewhere on the globe are described as well. My struggles to discover a balance between "adult behaviors" and taking the time to "smell the roses" are also chronicled.

Humor or at least my interpretation of it along with anecdotes and brief philosophizing hopefully make this an enjoyable read.