Everything is a story ...

For almost three years now, I've been spending every Tuesday evening visiting with my 95 year old mother, the woman who started me on my writing journey.  As the last of her eight children, I have a unique perspective but not a special one.  In the beginning, I focused on asking her about the life she and my dad lived with my older siblings. It both strengthens my connection to our family and reveals it's fault lines - I was simply not a part of so much of it.   

My favorite discussions revolved around religion, human nature and, of course, the craft of writing ...the same things we talked about when I was a teenager and she and I lived alone without any of my other siblings. More recently, her short term memory has faltered and she might ask me thirty times during the course of my visit what day it is. But her long term memory is stronger, which brings me comfort. She can still tell her story ...and everything is a story - especially the lives we've led.