A note to my family and to all who lived their own stories within this narrative:

I do not claim to have all the facts. I do not claim to remember perfectly. I claim only to express here the memories and feelings of one child who was touched deeply by a decade of memories she cannot, will not shake, memories that seep and spill into her adulthood and continue to shape the person she is ever-becoming.

Madelia was my Wonderland.