The Gift of a Family Story
When I was very little, Daddy borrowed his daddy’s truck on Sunday afternoons to take Mother, me, and eventually my brother Steve, who was born almost three years after I was, to visit Mother’s parents in nearby Springfield. That practice continued after we got our own family car, a used green Chrysler. After our trips to see Granny and Granddaddy, we went to the home of Daddy’s parents, whom Steve and I called Mama Sue and Daddy Leland.
My aunt Emily was always there on Sunday afternoons, because she was still a little girl like I was, she being only 18 months older. Sometimes on Sunday afternoons and always on holidays, my uncle Ronnie and his family and my aunt Dot and her family were there, too.
Eventually Mama Sue and Daddy Leland had ten grandchildren, but for my first three Christmases, I was the only one. One year my Aunt Dot and Uncle Preston posed with me in front of the Christmas tree. Actually he might have been my future Uncle Preston at that point.
A few months ago, my Aunt Dot started reading my daily posts, much to my delight. Minutes after it arrived in her inbox yesterday morning, she sent me two pictures of her wearing things my mother made for her many years ago. She told me that Mother used to do a lot of sewing for her and Mama Sue, a fact that I didn’t know, and added, “I miss that a lot.”
Above their dining room table, Mama Sue hung portraits of each of their four children. Dot’s picture now hangs in her own home. I remember looking at it again and again as a child and admiring her beauty. I didn’t know until yesterday that she was wearing a favorite purple blouse that Mother made.
The other beautiful picture Dot sent me yesterday was another I remember seeing in my childhood. I love how it captures each of those four smiles exactly the way they continued through the years. Again, I didn’t know that Mother made the dress. Dot said that the fringed tie and dress were wool and that Mother had lined them. Women used to have a “best” dress. Dot said that this one was hers.
One of the most priceless gifts that one family member can give to another is a precious family story. Those family stories don’t have to be grand and important in the eyes of the world. They can be simple ones like those Dot gave me yesterday: your mama made these clothes. IÂ hunger for those stories and am grateful for the gift.
Not every person in the world has the opportunity to know their family stories, but it is sad to think of the people who could know them, but don’t. I encourage you to do three things:
- Share your family stories,
- Give your children opportunities to hear family stories from other members of your family, and
- Teach your children to value what they hear.
This verse is from the Song of Moses and refers to the Israelites remembering what God has done for them as they have traveled to the Promised Land, but I think it applies to our learning from our own families still today.
Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of all generations.
Ask your father, and he will inform you,
Your elders, and they will tell you.
Deuteronomy 32:7