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.