Stories

I promised Owl a new post and remember so as I lay in bed at 12:30. I can't really decide on a subject and figure it can wait but then I come up with too many possibilities and sleep doesn't want to come. So I get up and find that Henry is at the computer because she can't sleep either. After tooth fairy duties she goes to bed and I take the 'puter.

I still don't know which route to go with this though. Owl just went for a visit to our old school, Belhaven and attended the masquerade ball while there. Last year she and Binker won the best dressed couple award which was funny because, well they didn't co-ordinate their costumes and they weren't a couple. Wynken and I won cutest couple which was funny for the same reason. Owl and Binker wound up matching again this year which I found amusing. Or 'Amoosing' as some may say. ;)

So thinking about the ball and about my dear friend and about writing a post mostly for her reading enjoyment brought up numerous story possiblities. Such as when she tried to tell me a story that she swore wasn't scary and yet began "I woke up screaming...". Or when she got me to try to make up a story and the moral of it wound up being never ask Merc to make up a story again. There are also beautiful old classics such as "The Akward Luncheon" and "The Civil War Ball".

With Owl your life is filled with story. She is a natural born story teller. I don't give her enough credit for this because as a story teller she often makes things as colorful as possible. She also leaves out things like...perspective. Owl remembers things the way Owl remembe rs them and sometimes that isn't quite the way it happened. Binker and I were her self appointed story "referees" when we were around. But when she isn't around I miss the way she conveys things. How she can capture a person's essence with her voice and mannerisms and take you into that moment. I often wish she were there to help me bring a moment to life when I'm trying to get it across to someone else.

At Belhaven we had a great group of story loving friends too. We used to get together at my house on Sunday's and read children's books aloud together. 'Winnie the Pooh' was standard and we each had regular characters we read for everytime. I was Christopher Robin and Rabbit. Wynken, Binker and Nod got their nicknames from stories and stories are in fact what brought Nod into our little group to begin with. You can read about it on his blog.




Binker is an excellent writer and he loves fairy tales. Owl conveys stories from her life experience so that you feel as if you were there and Binker weaves new fiction. He used to narrate stories for us on the spot and we'd jump in as different roles as he brought new characters in. Despite the weird (and sometimes fantastic) bits we'd throw at him he could always turn it into a cohesive story.

As for myself I write about my story loving,telling friends in my journals. * My journals remind me how rich I am. My life has been filled with stories and characters of all different kinds. I miss the ones I write about here, enjoy spending time with those I'm with now (oh the stories of those characters known as my family!), and look forward to meeting those that I don't yet know but guess I soon won't be able to imagine my life without.

I recently got to spend time with my best friend from Americorps. I hadn't seen her in three years and it was so good to catch up. It was encouraging too. Because even though it had been so long, we still got together, we still made it happen. And we fell right into our old rythym. She's still part of my story and that gives me hope that others who are far away in time and space will be too. And not just in "happyland". Now there's another story...

*(I also like to tell funny stories out loud. Everyone laughs at them. Granted no one actually knows what happens in any of them. They can't understand what I'm saying because I laugh too hard to get the words out. But that in itself makes them laugh.)