Story telling is a precious and invaluable way of holding on to your history and never forgetting. It’s a way to create memories that can last a lifetime.
I love to lay in bed on some nights with Rain and talk instead of reading a book. She often asks me to tell her a story. We love the “Story of Rain,” filled with colorful details of when I carried her, as well as details of her birth and milestones. I realize how many magical moments can be forgotten, but reliving them in story form brings back so many precious moments.
We’re so lucky today to have access to the video options on our phones and high quality cameras to capture every day moments. I often drive my family crazy pushing life’s pause button to take pics. Its not just for Twitter and social media, it’s for me, for us, to try to make time stand still for a second so I can capture those beats, to relive them over and over again.
Yesterday 15 people came over, rearranged my living room and made it a stage to shoot a special for E!. I sat with Giuliana Rancic and went back to my roots to relive my story, starting in the present going back in time.
She’s a friend so it was easy, but she reminded me of many things and brought me back to places I had forgotten. I remembered the first time I laid eyes on David, (that “aha moment” I’ll never forget), we talked about my first job application, memories with my stepfather, favorite childhood moments and even ones I wanted to forget. It was a walk down memory lane filled with laughter, and some surprises – considering I didn’t know then what I didn’t know…
Now I am reading The Red Tent, laying in my cabana alone enjoying the peace and quiet of a day off. My international playlist is softly looping in the background, taking me out of my daily stress and into another place. The kids are close by; playing in the house but far enough away for me to enjoy the peace and lose myself in a selfish read, which is something I never get to do.
I stopped for a moment to write this blog because this book is reminding me how important story telling is and it makes me want to share more with my kids even when I’m too tired to did into my imagination or into our past. I know that my stories bring color to my children’s life interpretation. The more they know me, the more they can understand their own experiences and the better understand parts of their lives.
Being a great storyteller is a gift, but not one you need to have. You only have to be willing to remember and committed to telling your stories so that you will never forget.
Tonight after two days in the ballroom, away from my kids, I will tell them the story of my week and then they will tell me theirs. Being interested in their daily events is super important to my kids and equally valuable to me when I’m at work missing that chapter.
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