Friday, March 8, 2013

Stories

“The universe is made up of stories, not atoms.” – Muriel Rukeyser

Who doesn’t love a good story? I know I do. I also love to record them--on paper, on film, in my head—so that I can preserve and share them with others.
Try this if you have a moment during your busy life. Think about something that you have a memory about and take a darn close look at that thought. Hold it where you can really feel it your mind. Picture it with your eyes closed (unless you are driving). Now grab a hold of that thought and what it really is made out of. It is a recorded, remembered story from your life. Memories truly equal the stories that we hold on to.  They are like different color paint that takes thoughts into the drama, the clarity, the lesson and the joy of our mind. They decorate the wall of our soul.
My Dad wrote me several e-mails with some childhood stories that are some of my most treasured words. Stories about childhood dogs, his first shotgun and his first car. They describe the events with details that would not have been remembered with just verbal words. Thanks Dad.
So tell your stories. Write them down. Paint them on a canvas or record them with camera and video. Build them in the sand on a beach.  Don’t let them fade into the vast universe of unremembered things.
Build them for collectors like me.