Tuesday, June 9, 2009

(Don't) stop me if you've heard this


I've been thinking lately about how our stories define us. I was recently visiting CB and found myself saying, several times, "I've probably told you this before, but when I...." Then I'd use the story as an example of the thing we were talking about at the time. Does that count as tedious repetition? I hope not. I suppose the people who love us have heard our stories lots of times.

When my family gets together (not often enough, I might add) it seems like retelling stories holds an important place, right alongside getting everyone up to date on what's been going on in our lives recently.

Yesterday, I left work late and had to: get the dog, drop off the dog at home, get the kid, feed the kid and take the kid to karate. We are sort of new to the twice a week after work/camp/school activity, so I'm still very much getting the routine down. In my haste, I left my parking lights on and had to call AAA for a jump. First time I've used it - they were there in 20 minutes - good service!

Anyway, while we waited, I asked Mr W if I had told him the story of when I had been hiking, left my lights on, and my battery died. Just me and the dog and an empty parking lot, no cell phone reception, etc. It was a moment of triumph when I pushed my car out, popped the clutch and got it started. Yes, he had heard that story before. Darn, I really like telling it, too.

While I sat knitting during Mr W's class, I sat next to a teenager whose father was participating. She had nothing good to say about his form, or the fact that she had to be there. So boring, and he was sort of embarrassing her. It reminded me of a time when my dad came to the community pool and did goofy belly-flop cannon ball things off the diving board to embarrass us. I look back so fondly on that now, I hope that girl looks back fondly someday as well. I couldn't restrain myself, though. At the end, when she sighed and said, "finally!" I looked at her and said, "maybe next time you could bring a book". It just popped out, I didn't mean to make her feel bad.

I don't mind hearing stories again. I think it helps to reinforce bonds and remember the things that shaped us into who we are now.

2 comments:

  1. L is out of town. I took the girls on a bike ride over to the park. It's hot here, low 90s. Ab on her bike and K on the back of mine. They have an animal park there that is on the far side of the park. So we biked over there, parked out bikes and went to the park: saw bears, buffalo, otters, etc. We came out got on our bikes and rode maybe 20 feet and "pop" SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Ab's tire had popped. The bike was too hard to peddle so we walked it over to the snack bar. I then tried to devise a way to fit Ab on my bike along with K. Hmm. no go. Ab wanted to walk it back home and I was a little apprehensive. its about 2 miles or so. So she sucked it up and started walking. I funny thing happend, here's how I would describe it - She had never walked long distances before - or never could see a point far in front of her that she needed to walk to. So she kept looking backward saying " I can't believe we walked this far, we were just back there." I think it was kind of a time and space moment for her. We were pretending the walk was a survival test. She was so proud of herself for making it home, for pushing herself and having a good attitude about it. I was proud of her too. K on the otherhand, riding on the back of my bike, would drop the periodic, "Ab your a slow poke" coming from a 3 years old it caused some sparks, but all in all we made it through our adventure. RTK

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  2. Ha! I can just imagine commentary from a three year old. Glad you made it home without having to call in the cavalry. Hopefully L's home by now.

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Hi, sorry to make the humans do an extra step.