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Kara Reece
Professor Jan Reiman
English 1103-001
September 26, 2010

Storytelling

Telling stories are a great way to remember events that have happened in our lives. We

tell stories to remember the past and to help it live on forever. Stories talk of culture, love, and

life. In some cases, storytelling is a way of life.

My family has one storyteller in it and it is my great grandma. Now that she is getting

older, she likes to talk about my great grandpa. He died of a heart attack before I was born so I

never got the chance to meet him. Every time she talks about grandpa she says, “I wish you

could have met him.” Since my grandpa and grandma met in Fayetteville, she often sees places

that trigger a memory somehow or someway.

I specifically remember one day my grandma, my mom, and I went out to eat the day

before I left for school in downtown Fayetteville. We walked by a building and my grandma

stopped and stared at it. It was an empty building with a For Lease sign on it and I did not see

the appeal. My mom and I stopped to ask her what she was doing and she told us that she used

to work there when she was young and my grandpa would pick her up from work and they

would go out on dates.

When it comes to grandpa, my grandma can remember everything about him and

everything they have done together even though he died almost 20 years ago. I think that is

grandma’s way of keeping him alive in some ways. It does not matter that I have never met him
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before because I feel like I have known him all of my life. Grandpa meant the world to grandma

and every guy I date, she compares them to him. Nobody is better than grandpa and I am sure

she is right.

It is crazy how my grandma has trouble remembering a lot of things but when it comes

to grandpa, there is not one thing she cannot remember. Stories keep people’s memories alive.

In my opinion, those are the most important stories to tell.