Hannah's Stories

Hannah's story list

My Dad is an expert storyteller. Growing up I often asked him to "tell me a story!" Growing up on a farm in a teeny tiny town in Southwest Oklahoma (along with four other siblings and multiple cousins) gave my dad a plethora of stories to choose from. And my dad retold them expertly, with lots of funny voices and dramatic pauses. It was captivating to me as a child.

My dad has so many stories to choose from-- like the stolen bird dog puppies story, the story about how my dad fell off a horse and broke his arm, the story of how a rooster attacked him as a child (and he's never liked to eat chicken since), or how my dad and his cousins sold eggs for candy without their parents knowing. There was also the story of how my dad survived a horrible case of meningitis when he was in the second grade, or the story about Pat the bird dog having a heat stroke while never breaking point (she recovered thankfully!). But my very, very favorite story was the RIP story. It told the gripping true tale of how my dad and his father took in an old, sick horse that was going to be put down, and they nursed him back to health. Shortly after buying the horse, the man who was going to put him down came by the farm to check on the horse's progress. My dad and his sister ran out and asked him what the horse's name was. The man jokingly laughed, "R.I.P.!" He meant "rest in peace", but my dad and aunt thought it just spelled "rip." And so that was how Old Rip came to be.  Rip lived a long and healthy life and was my dad's favorite horse ever.

Now that I have kids, they also beg my dad to tell his stories. And guess what? The RIP story is their favorite as well. They also ask me for childhood stories (none of which compare to my dad's in my opinion). But they love to hear classics like how I got a spanking for hiding in the bathroom at church or how I got lost in Hobby Lobby one time when I was six. They also love to hear how Mike and I met or the day they were born.

I guess all this storytelling business was floating around Hannah's mind one day because it inspired her to write her own list down. I found the above piece of paper in her room while I was cleaning one day recently. She had made a list of "Stories I Will Tell To My Kids." I sat down and read her entries:
1. Lucas fell in a fountain (Head first at the mall this past November)
2. My wasp sting (Four stings on her hand this past Fourth of July)
3. Sonic gift card (Handed it out to a random stranger while we were downtown this past Christmas)
4. Mom got the flu then we all got the flu (Last year, thankfully no flu this year!)

I loved that she had taken the time to think about what stories she could retell to her kids one day. I love that she thinks we are making fun memories as a family, even if they involve the flu or falling in a fountain.

This morning at breakfast, she and I were talking about the time last summer when we went to visit my aunt and uncle at Lake Tenkiller. It was a hot, 110 degree summer afternoon and their boat died out on the water. We had to call a "rescue boat" and wave our hands around calling for help until someone stopped to tow us to shore. We were discussing how funny that was looking back, and then her eys lit up as she said, "Mom! I need to add that to my stories list. Ya know, the one I am going to tell my kids about!"

What about you? Do you have certain family stories that are told over and over again?