Stories Collected While Living in France
What story are we living in?
What story are we sharing?
What story are we listening to?
Are we the storyteller?
Or the one who listens?
Or maybe some of us drink it in and process it later?
A child's handwritten postcard tells her story to her friend Claudie.
What story will we write today?
Will it be a big fish?
Will it end happily?
Or maybe it will be a poem or a song?
Exclamation! Period. Coma, Never-ending…
Let your voice, the inner one, be heard.
In my family my Dad has always been the storyteller. Over the last two years he has seen many Doctors for memory problems and it looking like he is going down the path of early on-set dementia. A very sad diagnosis at any time but harder still when is just in his 60’s. I find myself listening to his stories and trying to retain the details so I can pass them on to my kids. I guess blogging is part of how I do that… It must be in the blood.
Corey, Your stories are very entertaining. Whenever I need to tell my husband something, I find myself starting at a point where I can give him the background. He has this half smile/half head shake that he does and says, “Get to the point!” I think every good story needs to have a scene set! Now I’m off to tell and listen to stories on the trail with my friends as we run.
My Dad was always the storyteller in my family. My kids loved hearing a story from him when it was time for bed. When we moved to Canada he used to record tapes of stories for them to listen to. Sadly he passed away quite a few years ago, but we still have those wonderful stories on tape. I think it is in the blood, but it skipped a generation, my son writes and tells amazing stories, I always say, “he got it from his Grandad”!
I love those children’s illustrations Corey, really beautiful. They remind me of an artist of children’s illustrations here called MABEL LUCY ATLAS. Are you familiar, she captures a moment in time.
What are “honey-do’s” ? Im thinking it must be asking him to do domestic chores ? If so what a lovely expression. Softens the blow in itself.
Hope that the sad day in Willows yesterday ended happily re-living precious shared moments of joy.
My love, Jx
Hi. Can you go to Willows for a visit now and another visit in the summer? …If you feel that you should go now, that’s probably enough reason to make the trip.
I would say that my best friend is a good storyteller. My former husband was one as well, although his tendency to “embellish” was a joke between us.
I myself, am not a storyteller. I tend to “cut to the chase.”
For a good storyteller, perhaps a tape recorder would be a good idea. This way you have not only the story but their voice and inflection saved as well.
My philosphy and story of life is love and that’s the story I spread.
Love you♥
Corey, click your Ruby Slippers and head home.
no story tellers around here, but if you blog there is a story.. but I am my granddaughter’s best listener and if you listen closely then you get the story that is going on in the background. That rocks my world!
I’m the family storyteller. Krista will ask me to make up a story for her at bedtime. How’s that for a spin on “read to me”? Oh the pressure. I wish now that I had written more than one of them down. Hmmmm. I should talk to her today and see if she remembers any of them.
I am our family storyteller but I think it would surprise most who know me, I’d really rather listen.
Wonderful thoughts to ponder. You always get me thinking!!! Beautiful posts. You know how to experience both Joy and Sorrow and write about it so beautifully. May joy overtake your sorrow and lift you up on angels wings. ~ Violet
Today’s story is about to be written.
Our Nephew his wife and two daughters will be coming for a visit.
They are on their way back from a gymnastic meet. Their older daughter is a young gymnast. They travel all over the country for her meets…someday, perhaps we will see her in the Summer Olympics 🙂
Me…I am both the teller of stories and the listener. I love doing both.
Amazingly, I had the op to write a part of my story this week. Take a look, and thanks for the clever post.
I am definitely the story-teller, as evidenced by my website. I always have my camera handy, and people groan when they hear me says, “I feel a blog coming on!” And most days I do feel a blog coming on! It’s in the blood. There is no cure. For instance, there I was cleaning the horse’s drinking trough (an old bathtub) and while waiting for it to fill, a looked around and spied the most beautiful toadstool peeking out of the dirt and leaves and manure. Hence this current blog entry:
http://thebutterflymind.com/ramblings_0152_toadstools.htm
PS I think it sounds like you NEED to go to Willows now …
There is piece of my story here …
http://giftsofthejourney.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/reaching-for-more/
Now. . . and Later.
Go home now while the family is gathered. You will get the chance to hear many long forgotten tales of times past.
now or later, I know the exact delemia. Agony, for me anyway. I found the answer in the middle 🙂 hope you find one that makes you too happy.
Oh I hope your treasures survive Ms Corey. I can’t imagine seeing precious papers covered in water. I think I would cry, scream or beat the neighbor!
You’ll know when it is right to go home. Whatever decision you make, whenever you make it,it will be the right one. Again, my deepest condolences, it is hard to lose a pillar of your family.
NO HARM IN GOING HOME NOW…SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED A BREAK FROM WHAT IS HAPPENING AT HOME (FRANCE)…With all the crap going on with neighbors etc..why wait?? besides airfares are better now and this is the prettiest time of year in California.. your kin is calling…
On many of the last days of my mother’s life while she could still carry on a conversation, my mother told wonderful stories about growing up in the 1920s, marrying at age 18 in 1936 and moving to St. Louis to be a wife. Here is where her stories got so interesting…she decorated their tiny apartment that was over a nightclub with objects she found in small, dusty antique shops. Her passion for antiques never faded; and I was blessed to enjoy her passion! She became a fabulous interior designer and when she lost her battle to cancer just 2.5 years ago, I was blessed with many of her lovely French treasures. And her stories of life during the 1920s through the 1940s will always be in my heart.
I guess I am the keeper of the family stories. I have my grandparents bank book from the depression and when he lost his job, I have the letter of recommendation, and watch the bank balance go to zero. I have the beautiful greeting cards family members sent each other before the depression and see how small and plain they become. I have Telegrams announcing deaths far away and letters telling of new babies. My great grandmother/grandmother’s trunk has now received the accumulated records and pictures of my parents. And in there I found the birth announcement of my daughter Julie. I added it to the box of keepsakes of Julie that joins the story in the trunk.
Today my story was one of interrupted chapters…nothing I set out to do got done the way I thought it was going to be…but I’m okay with that and that’s a big deal for me, because 5 years ago I would’ve thrown the book out the window and now I can just say “Oh well, thats the way this chapter turned out”, and turn the page.
Julie Ann,
the children’s illustrator was Mabel Lucy ATTWELL.
And her images bring back memories of my childhood too
Je ne sais pas. What is your heart, and your hubby, and your pocketbook telling you???
: )
Julie M.
postcards from the edge, that’s me just now.
Karon x
Everyone has a story, just some are better at recounting, whether orally,written or illustrated. These cards have much charm, but I would not attribute the artist as Mabel Lucie Attwell.
If I may be so bold…once you ask the question, ‘now or later’…now is always best.
Perhaps you need to see your old (chronological and otherwise) people?
That is one of the things I love about portrait painting…you get to tell a story every day. A privilege. And the items you buy at the Brocante get to tell their story through you.
*hugs*
I’m more of the kind that soaks up the story and ponders it…But today my story involved snuggling with puppies, wearing flip flops for the first time in ages, working, being stressed out…getting a phone call from my love, and coming home for hot dogs on the grill and watching movies. The weather was so beautiful today that it was sad to get home as it was too dark for a bike ride…which is perhaps my only complaint about Spring. Wishing I was in Paris enjoying the springtime sniffing the flowers at the flower stands….
Dad was the chief storyteller/joke teller in the family.he wrote a 10 page autobiography a couple of years before he passed. I’ve shared it with dear friends who never had the opportunity to meet him. Main comment is “Your tether was amazing. I do wish I’d known him”.I also have handwritten letters on hotel stationary from when he went to Europe. Wish I’d recorded my Dad telling jokes. I’d love to see him slap his knee, his eyes twinkle and his wonderful laugh when everyone laughed at his joke.
I love that you share your inner stories at times.
I actually did that today on my blog.
Stories color our world.
Bonjour à tous,
J’adore la lettre! Thank you Corey for sharing such a powerful visual; I think I’ll send some snail mail so in the future some creative person may be able to use it for whatever platform may exist.
Bonne journée,
When shadows on the bedroom wall or a thunder storm frightened me, I would race down the hall and dive into Grandma’s bed where she would comfort and reassure me by reciting beautiful poems,and telling me stories of her Iowa childhood. As the eldest of eight children,there were many stories to tell.
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