The Family Storyteller-Is It YOU?

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

You’ve probably heard the old saying that everyone has a story. Let me add to that, every family has a storyteller. I’m not sure that’s me in our family, but I’m the keeper of the genealogies on both my husband’s and my sides of the family. If storyteller is part of that, then I happily wear that title.

We’ve had the pleasure of sharing this past week with my husband’s sister and her husband. They live in Birmingham, Alabama, and they visit with some regularity. Events of the past year have made those visits a bit less frequent, so we were overjoyed that they could be with us this week. We’ve had fun outings, traveling here and yon, and we’ve taken pleasant drives even though our leaves have yet to show off their vibrant colors. 

Fun Outings

Today we ventured into the nearby towns of Saluda and Tryon here in western North Carolina. If you should want to visit these lovely cities, just know that many of their shops are closed on Mondays. In fact, in Tryon, many are open only Wednesday through Sunday. I can understand that. It would be a waste of resources to remain open for a handful of customers when your foot traffic increases exponentially, midweek through Sunday.

We wove our way into and out of the few businesses which were open, then we drove about five miles to the cute little town of Landrum, South Carolina. The Hound and Hare is a local restaurant which has been there about seventeen years, according to our waiter. Another waiter in the establishment brought us refills of water while our waiter was busy elsewhere.

A Born Storyteller

This second waiter proceeded to tell us stories about his family. It seems his grandmother was Cherokee. For once, she truly was Cherokee. Many people think they are Cherokee when they are likely from another of the indigenous people of the area. But our waiter spoke in the Cherokee language with ease, citing names of the old chiefs and regaling us with stories of how some acquired their names. Fascinating to listen to him.

While he couldn’t remain at our table and tell his stories for the remainder of the afternoon, I certainly could have stayed and listened. As we left, I asked if he’d written down these and his other stories. Sadly, his answer was no. I encouraged him to write them down.

If you are the keeper of family stories, write them down. Don’t take them to Glory with you. Leave them where some family member will have access to them so that they may be passed down generation to generation. 

Pass Them Down

My sister is our family matriarch now. She is a few years older than I and she knows things I don’t remember. I was a baby when many events in our family happened. But she was old enough to recall. Some she has relayed to me, but neither of us has taken the time to put these into journals or files somewhere. Entertaining stories are much easier to remember. As you can see, we have work to do for future generations.

Who is your family storyteller? Are those stories written down? Let me urge you to get them into your computer files. Share an interesting family story with us here. I know you have one . . . or two.

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