Telling Stories

My husband and I have been spending a lot of time together in recent months due to a surgery apiece. This is great and I’m not complaining, but the problem with so much together time is that we have no new stories to share. Whatever adventures we’ve had, we’ve experienced together. No new stories! As a storyteller, this just about breaks my heart. Fortunately, things are back to “normal” now and the phrase “How was your day” is once again answered by twisting and distorting and downright lying about all the funny details that have made up our time apart.

Story telling. Sometimes the story is simply the retelling of a movie or book plot to someone who never saw or read it. Sometimes the story is a tweaking of everyday events tied to something completely unrelated, a leap that takes both the teller’s imagination and the listener’s willingness to play along. Sometimes the story is a “revitalized” family story that grows more outrageous with each telling. Sometimes the story is completely new, something I’ve made up that would not exist if I didn’t tell the tale. Sometimes it seems like lightning flashing in my head, the connections made, the normal turned inside out and a story blooms into being, a story I’m creating for myself at the same time I’m creating it for others.

My husband happens to be away this week and I have all sorts of stories to tell. So will he.