Monday, September 08, 2008

Story telling

This morning, I was reading through some blogs, and something Antiquemommy said in her post on photoshop really made me think. She said " At the core of my being is a story teller......." and it stopped me in my tracks. I sat here just thinking, and her words whirled round in my head. She is a consummate story teller indeed. And she is looking for other ways to develop her story telling, through her photography, art etc.

But back to the story teller part.

Centuries, if not millenia ago, story telling was a fundamental part of daily living. From the beginning of time, stories were passed down through the ages. Then came the art, and then the word, then paper etc etc and now we have the computer today. But the need to keep telling those stories is at the core of our beings, as she put it so beautifully.

We are born with a need to communicate, and so that is what we do right here. We tell our stories, and those of our ancestors at times too. We are preserving the past for the future generations yet to come. Our stories about how we grew up, how we raised our families, will in time make up a glorious patchwork of what life was like in our times.

How many of us have found old letters from our great grandparents and read them, enthralled at their lives back then before we were born? How many of us still have living family members with wonderful stories to tell? How did your families come to live in the country you call home? This is history in the "subjective" sense. The best sense.

And we use our words, as well as our hands to create those stories. Some paint. Others take photos. Some create beautiful quilts, or embroider tiny stitches into beautiful pictures. Some use their art, whatever form that may take, and some their voices. We are all singing the song of our lives in one way or another. In real life, our faces are part of our stories, too.

We tell our stories so we can remember. Or so we can warn. So we can share. So we can learn. So we can smile. For so many reasons. In so many ways. We are leaving traces of each of our lives right here.

"At the core of my being is a story teller..."

Me too, AM, Me too.

8 comments:

Antique Mommy said...

Excellent post Linds and thank you for expanding on that thought and also for the link.

Our stories remind us who we are in the cosmic scope of the universe - unique but at the same time, all the same and enable us to live beyond the span of our own lives.

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

Loved this. I think story-telling is one large component of why personal blogs have taken off so. There's a need to document for posterity and a need for creative outlet and community. I do hope my grandchildren enjoy my blog posts in spite of the fact that my kids do not.

Chris said...

My children may not love the blog posts now, but I'm confident that when I'm not here anymore they will look upon them as a history of all of our lives. My little gift to them, in a way. They won't listen now, but maybe in years to come they will look back and see.

Olson Family said...

Hi - commenting re: your comment. I don't mind you listing our blog. I enjoy seeing your list and how many of the same sites I visit.
Good luck with the Knee! Oh, that we had been given spare parts!
Won't even mention the "D" word. One of the moms from school said something about her laptop crashing, losing the business files, won't restore the backups - do I need to mention which brand she had bought?

Needled Mom said...

Great post, Linds. As we cleaned out my in-law's home this summer, I found many "stories" of their lives.

Crystal said...

You are so wise! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and thoughts. I love this post!

Speaking of creating - how are your textile art projects coming? The ones you are making for your children for gifts, I mean. I'm curious - will they be finished in time for Christmas?

Lori said...

Yes! I love to blog and post pictures for the memories. I copy all the pages and put them in a binder. It's like a scrapbook. Memories to look back on and cherish. I want future generations to look at them and get a glimpse into our lives.

Definately storytelling. We all have a story to tell.

Joyful Days said...

You are a great story teller!! You've made me feel like I am there so often.

Bloglines hasn't updated your blog for me for several days and I just popped in to see if you were there still. Apparently I have a lot of reading to catch up on here. Stupid Bloglines.