Friday, January 31, 2014

Scheherazade’s Tenure


Into every project, at some point, must be interjected a moment to step back, assess where we are, and take a deep breath before continuing.

Last night, while preparing for today’s post, I took that step back and realized I was on the eve of reaching a milestone. While it is not for any compelling reason—I am not, thankfully, doing this under threat of having my head cut off, for instance—nor is it under the guise of diverting my audience from their day’s intended purposes, I have succeeded in telling the stories of the families in my past for one thousand days straight.

Though not as exotic as the stories crafted by the legendary bride of the Persian king—who for a thousand nights postponed her mandated death sentence by crafting a tale so compelling that the king stayed the execution just one more night—the everyday lives of the ordinary people in my past have provided enough pathos to inspire me to keep on writing.

And, though not as exacting as the all-powerful king for whom Scheherazade wove her mesmerizing tales in One Thousand and One Nights, you as the readers at A Family Tapestry have played your part by being a responsive and ever-present audience, still coming back after all those days, just to hear the rest of the story.

Thank you for your encouragement in being here to help insure that I get those stories written down and preserved for future generations. It is so important (for all of us!) to pass these things along—but oh, how hard it sometimes is to make sure to sit down and actually get the doing of the thing done!


Above left: "Scheherazade," oil on canvas, Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823-1903); courtesy Wikipedia; in the public domain.

8 comments:

  1. I'm glad to have been along for many of those 1000 days.

    Your family's story is unique - but it has the same underlying "thread" that all of our families have - joy, adventure, strengths, weakness, illness, and sadness. From the time of the first "Greek tragedy" tale - to this very day - the human element - is something we all share.

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    1. That's the beauty of every family's stories, Iggy: there is so much worth telling. Life--whether happening to the great or the small--is so complicated and unpredictable. That's what makes our family's stories more compelling than pedestrian. I totally agree: that human element that we all share, in all its themes and variations, makes us want to know "the rest of the story."

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  2. I'm glad you compared yourself to Scheherazade and not Anne Boleyn.
    Here's to the next 1000!

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    1. Ah, point well taken. I'll be steering clear of that other one thousand!

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  3. Jacqi,

    Great article on Scheherazade. Love you writing style.

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    1. Thank you, Grant! Nice to see you back...I've been wondering how your research is going...

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  4. Congrats on 1,000 now onward and forward to the next 1,000! :)

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    1. Thanks, Far Side, but I don't think I could make it if I kept focused on 1,000! I need to see it as one step at a time, or it is too overwhelming!

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