December 27, 2009

  • Life and where it leads

    Do you have a story to tell but have not told it to those around you because the right opportunity to discuss it has not come up, you think you already have told it, or you just fail to see how interesting it really is?  I think everyone has a story to tell and sometimes we just fail to listen to it.  How much do you really know about your parents, grandparents, family history or lineage?  If you think about it I am sure you would realize there are a lot of blank spots that just never crossed your mind.

    I got to thinking about this when I read the book "Sam's Letters to Jennifer" by Robert Pattinson.  It is a beautiful book where a woman (Jennifer) learns about a side of her grandmother (Sam) that she never knew.  She finds out about much of it through a series of letters that her grandmother has written to her.  Jennifer finds them when going back to see her grandmother in the hospital after she has become ill and is in a coma.  It's a touching tale and it got me to thinking about my own life.  I realized just how much I could tell through my experiences, lessons learned, and what I have gathered for myself so far.  It also helped me realize how little I know about the history of some people around me.  I only learned last thanksgiving that my grandfather installed the first closed circuit cameras in the White House.  He has been through every square inch of it except the oval office, and the bedrooms.  AMAZING!  I knew that he had invented the technology of a close circuit camera (the patent is in his office) and that he had installed them in Vegas but not the White House.  He just didn't think of it as a big deal because that is the kind of modest man my grandfather is.  What a story none the less though huh?

    I have been thinking of documenting my life by writing it out.  I have been mulling it over but it seems kind of ego centric doesn't it?  I remind myself that it's not ego driving this thought though but a desire to share what I have worked through, overcome, and accomplished in my still young life.  When I have kids it would be nice to share with them as well.  Why pretend I never made mistakes, or struggled for anything?  Share it with the world and let it out right?!?!

    What stories would you share with the world given the chance?