National Day of Listening 2009

I wrote about StoryCorps National Day of Listening last year. This year, I'm giving all of us a heads up: National Day of Listening 2009 is November 27, the day after Thanksgiving. StoryCorps challenge is to spend an hour recording--audio, video, or pen and paper--a conversation with someone important to you.

This, too, is part of capturing and keeping memories. For many of us, Thanksgiving is a time spent with family and friends, a time where we share stories and memories with each other, even if they are just about the small things.

During my four years in Provo, I spent three Thanksgivings with my mom's family. One of my memories from those Thanksgivings was helping my grandma prepare the meal and set the table. Just before dinner, as she set out the canned cranberry sauce, she mentioned her method was the same her mother had used. I never had the chance to meet my great-grandmother, but that small story and small act is a link between us.

Most of the our own story telling focuses on the interesting stories. And when you are entertaining a group, it takes skill to turn simple interactions into those interesting stories. On the other hand, maybe the simple stories of interactions are the ones that stay with us longer, become part of us. For me, I think about my grandma and her mother every time I think about cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.