Tell me a story

As a child, I wonder how many times I made that request of my parents or grandparents. Is this still a question children ask today or has it been replaced with ‘can you put a DVD in for me?’ As I have grown older I have come to see story time as something special, not only in a parent/child setting, but anytime. Stories are history, fiction, memories, jokes and tragedy all rolled up into one.

Now that I am older I get great joy out of hearing the stories of my parents and grandparents, ‘back in the day’; these stories give me a sense of where I came from and maybe insight into whom I am and may still become. They also have taught me things that I didn’t know, and may lead me to ask other questions about people I never met or knew, or about some new skill that I didn’t know existed. I can remember my grandmother once telling me a story about when she was a little girl and she met up with a Native American family near her house on the plains. I don’t remember much else about the story, but I do remember being impressed that my grandmother had actually lived during the ‘cowboy and Indian’ phase of our country although I am sure it wasn’t quite as romantic as my childhood mind made it out to be. After all these years that memory, that piece of story, has stuck with me and all because my grandmother took a moment to tell me a story. It probably wasn’t even a story that she thought was that great, but it impressed me.

So, go out there and tell your stories to anyone especially your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and if you are given the chance, don’t be too much of an adult to request a story from your parents, grandparents or anyone for that matter. You will be amazed at what you can learn and the joy it will bring you both as the story teller and as the listener. Then again this is just life according to Troy.