I've Got a Story to Tell

While reading to Emeline tonight I read the most wonderful lines...

"Oh, Sara!" she whispered joyfully. "It's like a story!"

"It is a story," said Sara. "Everything's a story. You are a story - I am a story..."

It's from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Yes, it's a little bit heavy for a six year old, but she loves stories however long or complicated. She "gets" them, follows them, sees the details in the fabric of them. I love reading to her.

People have said to me "why do you write a blog?", "I can't imagine what I'd write about", "who wants to read about me?". Ben is baffled by the Facebook and Twitter phenomena. Why do people want to put out there what they are doing and why do people care? I think that quote reveals the answer.

We are all stories.

In the book, Sara Crewe is a little girl who loves to tell stories - for her friends and for herself. When her father dies and leaves her pennyless, she is reduced to the life of a scullery maid and forced to live in the sparse attic. She starts using her storytelling skills as a method of coping with her circumstances.

I love telling my stories. I share them on this blog for my family and friends that we don't get to see as often as we'd like to. In the beginning, there was also the lure of moneymaking from my blog so I added a Site Meter to keep track of my "hits", but now I don't check it because my readers are not the main reason I write. (And I don't write consistently enough to or write only about one main topic to gain a following anyway.)

The main reason I write is personal. I love writing. I have a pile of journals... one for Holden, Emeline, and Owen; one for tracking diet and exercise; and one for just me. The ones from my childhood and teenage years have laid untouched for years. Sometimes the current ones lay untouched for years. The blog is a bit more of a commitment and obligation... whether I have readers or not. Plus there's the bonus of hearing from my mom about how much she enjoyed this or that she read here. My biggest fan.

For whatever self-serving purpose... I'll keep sharing my story.