Holiday Story Telling

As my family has gotten together at various points in the past, I have found myself not often looking forward to these gatherings.  In recent years, the thought of getting together has often caused feelings of anxiety.  I am not exactly sure when or how this began, but it has become the predominant thought.

Deep down I know we are truly blessed.  Both my wife’s parents and my parents are alive, in good health, and still living on their own in their own homes.  Considering my in-laws are in the mid-80′s and my parents in their early 70′s (my wife and I are 3-months apart in age – there is an entirely different story embedded in the age difference of our parents.  Maybe I’ll tell this at another time), that is pretty impressive.  Both sets of parents live within 15 minutes of us – as does my younger brother, his wife, and his two children.  Between my children and his, the oldest is nearly 13 and the youngest 4-1/2.

While the diverse range of age and experience is a blessing, it is also the key source of tension.  In my opinion, the expectations of the different generations creates a lot of the issues.  It would probably make for a fascinating study to observe how each of us handles the tension.  For my part, I tend to keep it all in.  Christmas dinner is always at my house, so I find I get tied up in food preparation, food serving, and dinner clean-up.  The main reason for this is to avoid the potential situations that I believe will come up.  Despite my best efforts though, someone always seem to suck me into some drama – but at least I can hold it off for a while.

But something different happened this year.  At last Thursday’s Christmas Eve Mass, the associate pastor at my church gave an excellent homily about how families tell stories during important gatherings.  He talked about how the stories of the Bible were passed down for many generations through word of mouth.  I have heard similar stories about this in the past, but his message has stuck with me this week.  As we gathered for dinner last Friday, I found myself relaxing a bit more and focusing more on listening.  There are some great stories to be told between my father-in-law who was in WWII down to my nearly teenage daughter who is just beginning to understand the value of family history and her contribution to the make-up of the family. 

While I have heard most of the stories before, I realize that is what makes getting together as a family important.  The only way the stories can get passed down and savored is in the telling and retelling of the stories.  The trick with stories is that you must have someone willing to listen.  The younger children in our group haven’t quite gotten to the point of telling stories, but their time is coming.  I honestly can’t wait to hear how they tell their stories.  I only hope the older ones amongst us give them their due when it is time to tell their stories.  The first step in making sure that happens is by making sure that each story-teller has listeners.  If we demonstrate that for them, then we set a new expectation that everyone deserves to be listened too.

So, as we gather for New Year’s and events throughout the coming year, I truly hope I can keep the message of my priest clearly in mind.  If I can, there is proof that important changes can come from the stories told by others.

Captain’s Log Stardate: Right Now!

Growing up I spent a lot of time with my dad watching the original Star Trek series.  I was never a big fan of the original series, but because my dad was, I watched and I came to care about the characters.  So as I got older and the original cast moved to movies and a Next Generation cast was created for the TV – I found myself becoming a huge fan.

When the J.J. Abrams movie hit the theatre last summer, I was at the theater opening night with my dad and younger brother – thrilled to be having another Star Trek experience. 

As I continue to be a fan, I can’t help but marvel how many of the devices that Roddenberry introduced in the 60′s are becoming mainstream in today’s technology culture.  I know many people have noticed how our cell phones seem to look a lot like the portable communicators.  I can’t help but laugh every time I see someone walking down the street with a blue tooth phone device hanging from their ear.  Let’s face it, it was silly when Uhura was doing it with her communicator / translater in 1963 and it is still silly now.

As my wife and I watched the new Star Trek movie at home last night, I had a sudden shock as I realized another comparison in today’s world.  (Spoiler Alert) – Shortly after the destruction of the planet Vulcan, we see the crew and Vulcan survivors on the Enterprise as we hear Spock enter his “Captain’s Log.”  Captain’s Log or Personal Logs were always a favorite of mine as I watched the shows and movies.  It was an excellent way to get critical insight, knowledge, or updates on character feelings and development.  It took the understanding of the story and characters to a deeper level.

It dawns on me that those of us who write blogs or who create podcasts are really just doing Captain / Personal logs.  I know the topics are not always about us specifically, but they are about things of interest to us, or our personal knowledge and observations of events in today’s world.  Just like the characters in Star Trek, many of us don’t exactly know who will be reading / listening, but that is not important.  What is important, at least to me, is to record the thinking at the time.  I think it will be a wonderful record of who I was and what was important to me at this moment in time.  Those who are interested are welcome to read and comment – if they so feel inspired.  If not – that is fine too.  I’m having fun and know millions more join me.

So for now, this is the “Personal Log of Delaware Jerry.  Stardate 121909.”

Blog About Nothing

My blog post today is about nothing.  I suspect most readers of blogs would say they have encountered many a post about nothing.  I am new to blogging – both writing and reading - so I am not really versed enough to offer an opinion, but my suspicion is that all blog posts are usually about something - at least about something of importance to the author.

However, in this case, I will admit my post is about nothing.  I am actually frustrated about this because it means I have fallen into a bout of writer’s block.  Do they call it writer’s block in cyberspace?

When I began this blog less than two months ago, I admitted in my initial post that I really didn’t know what I would be blogging about.  Some of the best practices sites I have reviewed said you should develop a theme, or image that is your blogging approach.  That is the best way to attract readers to your site.  Anyone who has read my various posts knows I haven’t done that.  I have written about President Obama’s Nobel Prize, the Philadelphia Phillies attempt to win another World Series, the passing of the family pet, and my week-long revisit of our family’s trip to Disney World in 2000.  But two weeks after my tribute to our cat Pumpkin, I am left wondering what to blog about now.

Perhaps this lack of creativity is due to the pending holidays and being concerned about getting those last few presents.  Maybe nothing interesting is going on in my life, or the world.  Or maybe I am just working to hard and have nothing left for my personal blog.  Any of these could be possible – but it is probably that I have just hit a period of non-creativity.

So, in keeping with the spirit of the title of this blog post, I should make sure I don’t go on too long about nothing.  I will, however, end with one small request.  I don’t really know how many unique people are viewing my posts – but to those of you who are curious enough to visit – please add a comment or two to this post.  Tell me how you think I have been doing as a new blogger, and if you have any ideas about topics you would like to see me cover in the next weeks and months, I welcome your ideas!