"How many of our memories are truly of an event
and how many did we rewrite simply by the telling of them?
Until they became a memory of a story, more than of an actual event."
~These Three Words 11/15
I love family stories. When I was growing up, brothers kept things interesting. One of my favorite stories is the time two of them started a fire in cinder block and when someone was coming down the drive, one of them sat on it. (Please note, I'm not naming names here! LOL) But there my brother sat, smoke billowing out from under his butt, thinking that was going to hide the evidence of the fire. Uh, it didn't. I wonder how many of my memories are accurate and how many have softened and altered with the telling? I suspect more than a few because now I get to listen to my own kids repeating our family stories and I can see slight variations.
I think it's kind of like something reflecting in a pond. The real picture is there if you really look at it, but its slightly distorted in the reflection. Sometimes other things show up in the reflection. Sometimes a big fish swims by and sends ripples through it. But if you look hard enough, you can see what's really at the core.
I guess, maybe in the end, it doesn't really matter if a memory is accurate or if it has softened with time. I think what really matters is the feelings that go with it. When my kids look back at our family stories and someday share them with their own children, I don't think I'll care if the story is totally accurate. I'm not concerned about the ripples and the additions. I simply hope that when they look hard enough they see that the core of most of our family stories is...love.
I just sent my editor back These Three Words. It's another of my women's journey/romances. It's a story in which the heroine is forced to look back at her memories and her family stories. And even though I've hit send, it's still with me as I write this blog. I suspect that this is a story that's going to stay with me a while. And I suspect, next time I hear one of our family stories, I'll think about it.
How about you? Do you have a favorite family stories?
Holly
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| Carry Her Heart |
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