Weaving Stories

My friend Colleen truly loves her work here in Italy as a hostess of her casa di vacanza, her vacation apartments. What she enjoys most is telling the stories of Piegaro, Monte Vibiano Vecchio and Umbria, the places she loves to her guests and friends. Since I live here there are many stories I have heard over and over again, but in her telling and sharing they are always fresh and new for the listener, and the excitement and joy for her home here in Italy shines in her eyes.

It is a common experience of most of us, we have our favorite stories we like to share with others, the stories our children and close friends can often tell as well as us because they have heard them so many times. These are OUR stories they are the words that define who we are and what is important to us. When people hear us speak, we reflect who we really are, where our hearts live and breathe.

For Colleen Monte Vibiano Vecchio is place she names as a spiritual home. She loves the rich history of the family with their regal, centuries old heritage, their ties to this land, and their use of their privileges for their town, region and world. These are all qualities she admires and in the telling of the stories of her ties to them, you hear the honor for the family more so than their business.

The day we enjoyed watching the workers harvest the grapes of the special vineyard which was established before the days of Christ, she sat and shared her stories with beautiful friends, one of whom she had known since the woman was just a child growing up with Colleen’s daughter. It was a sharing of stories with cherished friends. Colleen glowed with the joy of the friendship, the joy of the place, and the joy of a new home in a land of rich history. Her stories flowed one to another in the gentle setting overlooking the vineyard under the shade of olive trees that were 3-500 years old.

As I watched and walked around the story teller, and this place of centuries old stories of ancient walls built to keep out Hanibal’s warriors, and the prayers of a mother to keep her sons alive amidst those wars, I reflected on the importance on our stories and how they interweave over the centuries. Mothers today pray for sons and daughters at war, people still build walls to keep out enemies, and we still need the fruits of the land to survive. Still, today, everyday, we need to tell and hear one another’s stories to know what is important.

I know I pray for my son, my daughter daily, that I build walls to keep out those I am in fear of (not literal, but still very real), and that there are basic needs which I grow for sustenance. What is interesting is how I often question and say I am not certain of my future, but friends and family will tell me what they hear in my stories, they know where my heart is. In telling the stories of life, those who listen know what is important. To listen to others is to know them intimately. Life is built on our stories, the ones we tell and the ones we hear. To understand how our stories interweave, reminds us how we are connected, it is the basis of our relationships with one another.

The bible as a book is made up of many stories, and it has always inspired me that Jesus’ would so often respond to a question or a challenge with a story or a parable. So often the listeners wouldn’t quite understand at the time the depth and breadth of the story, but it was central to understanding the heart of the message to listen and engage the story….and the storyteller.

What are the defining stories of your life? Of your last year? What are the stories you have heard from your friends that touched you? How do your stories interweave with your friends and loved ones? What are your favorite stories? And Why, Why, Why do you feel they move you?