From The Innkeepers

August 2024 Blog:

The Power of Story

This morning I had finished reading one book, and had gone to our overfilled library shelves to make my next choice.  Thumbing through several volumes, and still in a bit of a quandary about which to choose at this time, I made the off handed comment: “It is amazing how many stories there are.”

This sparked a conversation between Pat and myself about the function and place of stories in our lives. What follows here is a thumbnail sketch of that conversation, and we hope it generates similar feelings of appreciation about the power of stories in your lives.

From the time we were very young, stories and storytelling had a place in our lives. Books were very important, and coveted holiday and birthday gifts.  I could never imagine a house where there were no books.   Dutifully every Saturday my father dropped me off at our little library to get my books for the  week, while he drove off to run errands.  Pat would be dropped off at her local library on Saturday mornings for story hour.  After choosing her books for the week, she fondly remembers going with her Dad to Art’s Nut House for doughnuts and chocolate milk. Our stories not only came from books, though, they also came from movies, live theatre, television, and each other.  I have fond memories of many stories told by my grandmother, mother, and aunts, especially on Sunday afternoons when everyone came to grandma’s house for their weekly visit. 

I would like to reflect with you now about the importance and the power of story. What is the place of stories in our lives?  What role do stories play in shaping who we are and who we want to become? 

Stories are pivotal to our growth and maturation. They transport us to different places or different times in history. Stories can affect how we view others and ourselves.  They are the links to our traditions and they can connect us to a reality that is larger than ourselves.  Stories help us transcend the immediate circumstances of our lives and help us connect with others.  They form a common ground that lives in the neutral territory between what divides us.  And lastly stories are what people remember about us and share when we are gone.  They provide the link to keeping the memory of who we are alive for those who come after us. 

The role of storytelling here at the Inn, from its inception, was viewed as an important and powerful thing.  Over the years people have inquired about “Our Story”, so we would gladly share our origin story of how the Inn came into being.  But then we open up the discussion and ask if anyone else wants to tell their story. It provides an opportunity for people to be heard, at the very basic level of who they are and where they come from.  We have witnessed many stories over the past 20 plus years, and we concluded, that as a whole people are “under-listened-to” in our culture.

As the three of us prepare to undertake the next chapter in our collective and individual story, what we will remember most and carry with us as we go, are all the stories we were privileged to hear in the time that we were here.  So, thank you for sharing who you are with us, and for creating the tapestry of stories that will to keep the experience of the last 21 years alive in our hearts.

 With Gratitude,

Marcia, Pat, Sharon, and Ryan

Keepers of the Rustic Gate

FYI:  The book from our shelves that I chose to read now is The Paris Hours by Alex George.  The story takes place in Paris around 1927 when the likes of Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway, Maurice Revel, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas roamed its streets.  I thought it would be a good read now while the Olympics are going on in Paris.  So, by day this book is transporting me to another place and another time history.  In the evenings when we turn on the TV and watch the Olympic games, we are being transported to modern day Paris to watch Olympian’s bodies perform feats that we can only dream of and marvel at the possibility of how they are able to do the things that they do.  Both experiences are satisfying to the imagination.