More Stories

"Everybody is a story.  When I was a child, people sat around kitchen tables and told their stories.  We don't do that so much anymore.  Sitting around the table telling stories is not just a way of passing time.  It is the way the wisdom gets passed along.  The stuff that helps us to live a life worth remembering.  Despite the awesome powers of technology many of us still do not live very well.  We may need to listen to each other's stories once again...

"...Real stories take time.  We stopped telling stories when we started to lose that sort of time, pausing time, reflecting time, wondering time.  Life rushes us along and few people are strong enough to stop on their own.  Most often, something unforeseen stops us and it is only then we have the time to take a seat at life's kitchen table.  To know our own story and tell it.  To listen to other people's stories.  To remember that the real world is made of just such stories.

"Until we stop ourselves or, more often, have been stopped , we hope to put certains of life's events "behind us" and get on with our living.  After we stop we see that certain of life's issues will be with us for as long as we live.  We will pass through them again and again, each time with a new story, each time with a greater understanding, until they become indistinguishable from our blessings and our wisdom.  It's the way life teaches us how to live."
--Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., from "Kitchen Table Wisdom"

I'm not very far into this book yet - but I'm loving it.  Thanks, Carol, for lending it to me!  (I think I'm going to have to order my own...  I keep getting out the high-lighter and remembering it's not mine!)

I've had the chance to listen to some great stories in the past week - from a friend watching cockroaches as entertainment when in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, to hearing about faith in healing, to new love stories...  I hope I remember to take the time this week to hear many more!

Do you have a favorite story to tell or hear?

Things I am thankful for today:

1.  Waking up early - without the alarm!
2.  Productive meetings.
3.  A phone call from the hubby this afternoon - he had a great helicopter ride and landed safe and sound!
4.  Book group - so many more stories to hear.  A great group of women.
5.  The worry of parents.  Thanks, Mom and Dad for worrying about me.  While I sometimes get annoyed - I know it's because you love me! 
6.  Also, my parents for letting us make mistakes and learn from them while we were growing up.  I think that's how you learn to cope with life and I'm thankful for that.
7.  Beth H's comment tonight - "Worry is a lot like complaining.  If you don't like complaining, why is needless worry ok?"  So true!  I'm done needlessly worrying...  Maybe I should give it up for Lent!
8.  Men's figure skating - I like the energy.
9.  The kringla cookies turned out great!  Yum.
10.  The hubby made Chipotle Mac for dinner. Mmm....