The Memory of Story Telling

Friday, November 18, 2016 | Davilyn at Friday, November 18, 2016 |

I admire my kiddos, who are not kids anymore!  I have several, out of the six, that can sit down at any moment and tell a story, and make it up as they go along.  I could give them pretty much any random topic and an hour later they would have told me an incredible story.  That is a talent, I wish I had!!  I keep telling them to get writing down their stories, before they forget them.  Some have written them down, some are working on typing them on the computer, and I imagine some have been lost in the world of their brains!

I love writing, but to come up with such a story on the spur of the moment, I struggle with.  I must take time and think through the plot, the characters, and add in all the details by reviewing and editing, then reading it to my kids and asking for help.  Oh, if I could rein in their talent and get them to slow down long enough to write their stories down.

They could use a blog to write their story one post at a time.  They could use a notebook, and some of them do, but then it takes time to type it in from the notebook, for all things must eventually end up on a computer!  I think one of them has even tried recording their story on an old school mini tape recorder, which is great, but again it will eventually have to make it's way onto the computer.  But do whatever works for you  - just get it down on something for now! 

I remember a couple of times when my boys were teenagers, they would gather around a table with some cousins, and a large piece of brown paper off the roll, and they would create a story.  Story complete with the map drawn of the different parts of the world.  I saved those pieces of brown paper rolls and gave them back to the boys recently.  I may even have a couple more stashed in a closet somewhere.  What memories when they look at the maps and remember the hours spent creating it, and then remember they have the story written in some notebook somewhere.

You see, not all stories need to be written and sold.  Some can be just for the fun of it, and some can be just for the memory of it.  I remember as a little child, I had a great uncle, Uncle Roy.  He told the best stories ever!  We used to pile on his knee, or on the couch around him, and he would tell us the best stories.  I don't have a memory of what the stories were, but I have the beautiful memories of him telling stories.  His face, his couch, his laugh, the clothes he wore, his garden, and his kitchen.  I remember him.  I remember loving being with him.  No story could replace that story of him.  His story is my memory.  If I think of great story teller's, I think of my Uncle Roy, and the joy he offered little children.

So get out there and tell stories.  Tell them.  Write them down.  Draw them out.  Make those memories of telling stories, because years from now, people will remember you loved to tell stories, and if you choose to write down those stories, they may even remember what the stories were that you told.  Nothing more precious!