An Introduction

The first box arrived at my parents' home in mid March the Saturday morning I was miles away final processing "out-of" the Army and about to "get home" for the first time in three years. The arrival of that box, like the others that would come quarterly for the next 36 years (until my father's death), was 40in x 12in x 12in, made of corrugated cardboard and covered in brown paper with knotted and tied crisscrossed white strings every two inches. My name and address were in that same perfect script my 1st grade teacher snap pencils against the top my head cajoling me to "try harder". The return address on the box was (as it always would be) KBOW, 239 Minaire, TAMARACK (pronounced "MINE AIR" and "TAM ARE RACK" as I was about to learn.)
Directions were handwritten on a sheet of plain, white paper scotched-taped to the long side of two overlapped -end to end- paper bags holding (as I counted later) 19 manila folders, each about two inches thick. The message:
Greetings Knight *Historian and Keeper"
You will honor your birth right
1. After your parents' death, report/publish or otherwise make known the Knights' history, philosophy, and connected matters known and made known.
2. Memorize the contents in each folder: note taking is forbidden.
3. Burn all papers and folders and boxes within two years of receipt.
Falling to achieve these expectations will mean the remaining records will be destroyed
[More about my reaction later. For now, just try to appreciate the shock.]
I remember opening, scanning. and reading that first folder and the odyssey of discovery, disbelief, awe, hope, and fear beginning with those first moments. My experiences and outlook have been shaped, directed, and influenced by what I found; gathered, combined, memorized and now, years later, recall.
Now is the time to share Knights lore and history. In doing so, it is my hope that other descendants recognize themselves. The heritage we share lives on.
Knights Know

KBOW--first installment--Thanksgiving, 2008