My sister said our family stories are boring and I think she's wrong

We were cleaning out our mom's attic in Dayton last weekend, and she called our old vacation slides 'just a bunch of pictures of trees and cars'. It really got to me because I remember every single one of those trips, like the year we drove to the coast and got lost for 3 hours. Those 'boring' photos are how I learned about my grandparents' first house and my dad's old job. I think the small, everyday memories are what actually hold a family together, not just the big events. Has anyone else had to defend the value of simple family history?

4 comments

4 Comments

craig.mila5d ago

Wait, are you sure she meant the stories are boring, or just the slides? In my experience, people get turned off by the format, not the memory. My brother used to groan at home videos until I put one on my phone with just the audio of our dad laughing. Suddenly it wasn't a "boring tape" anymore. Maybe she just needs a different way into it, like hearing the story behind one specific car in those pictures.

reesel505d ago

Ugh, I get what you're saying but sometimes the story itself is just flat. My aunt tells this one about a grocery trip every single year... and nothing happens in it. It's just a list of what she bought. Changing the format won't fix that. If the memory isn't interesting to begin with, dressing it up won't help. Some stuff is only special to the person who lived it. You can't force a connection if the story has no point.

drew_reed625d ago

I mean, the grocery list story might be flat, but maybe the point isn't the list. Idk, maybe the reason she tells it is because that was the first time she felt independent after something hard, or the store just felt peaceful that day. The "what" is boring, but the "why" she remembers it could be the actual story, you know?

tylerj225d ago

Yeah but that's the thing, reesel50, I feel like the boring list is the point sometimes. My grandpa does the same with fishing stories, just lists catches and weather. But when I finally asked why that day stuck, he told me it was the last trip before his buddy moved away. The boring list was just his way to hold onto the feeling. Maybe your aunt's grocery trip was a really good, simple day she doesn't know how else to talk about. The connection isn't in the stuff she bought, it's in why that normal day stuck.