Filling In the Blanks

A brief dialog between my mother and myself, regarding a photograph of her grandmother she was reproducing.

Mom: At first I felt guilty for not being true to the way it really was. But it's not there, I have to make it up!"

Me: Omg mom it's crazy to me how you say things that fit so perfectly into my writing. I write creative non fiction because so much of our history is lost. We fill in the blanks and try as best we can to tell what we think would have happened, but we can't know. It's important that we try.