STORIES

We all have our stories. If we’re among the fortunate, they are long stories, both personal and global.

I am always the main character of my story. Except when I’m not. If my story takes place in the midst of wars earthquakes floods and/or any other cultural and political upheavals, then where is attention focused? Certainly not on me. In fact, my presence is dwarfed in the swirl of life.

As we age and witness ever more history, understanding our personal stories in relation to all of the other characters in all of the other tales has become both more complicated and more important to me.

But, the older I get, and the more chaotic and threatening the present, the more I want to see how my personal story began and has played out in relation to world events. Will I have any wisdom whatsoever to pass on…or for that matter, any happy, sad, humorous bits to share? Perhaps?

Just in case, I have made a project—of course I have! It is called Decades, and it has now moved past the idea stage, to the gathering of every scrap of paper upon which old documents, letters, diaries, and news articles are written; to relevant books; and to an assortment of pictures.

The intention is to review my life story decade by decade against the historical background of its time and place. Decades will be presented as a series of short essays/posts in my Time and Place blog.

The stories will commence with a quick look back at the earliest of places and people to which I have any connection, paying homage to my Norwegian origins. Details will be added as we approach the first decade of the 20^th century, the decade my father (1903) and mother (1907) were born in Setesdal Valley, Norway and South Dakota USA. The earliest and ongoing influences on my parents obviously played a huge role in my childhood so I find them worth spending words on.

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

Let me explain an emphasis you will note on the first and last decades of my life. The first decade forms us all in the most profound of ways; the last gives us the opportunity to review and to share what’s gone before. And to comment on it all with ramblings infused with both humor and alarm if I so choose!

My brand-new great granddaughter, Leila, is only a few months old, beginning the most important years of her life. The number of daily discoveries this small human is already making is nothing short of miraculous, and this time of exponential learning won’t slow down for a long while.  

At the other end of the spectrum, also on an almost daily basis, the small, sometimes nearly imperceptible, increments of language and skills I am losing is not quiet exponential, but nevertheless most alarming. Leila’s first decade; my last. Expansion and contraction of life. The greatest dramas we ever encounter, although we’re usually unaware of the momentous nature of the passages as we live them.  

“Give me the child until he is 7 and I will give you the man” is a quote usually attributed to Aristotle. Used in numerous studies and writings as a starting point for childhood development, and in a brilliant British tv series called 7 Up, the point is that humans are formed for good and for ill by the time they’re seven years old. Whether the age of seven is the key year or not, we do know that our early years are formative, extremely so based on my own experience.

So, Leila is even now deep into the process of becoming the Leila her family, friends, and peers will come to know throughout all of the decades of her life.

On the other hand, I am busily reviewing all those decades when I became and was and am the Marjorie you know. Thinking about my mom and dad, born into a big world about to experience its first world war and about their great-great granddaughter Leila born into a seemingly much smaller world rife with many of the same kinds of battles that led to that earlier conflagration.

In any case, welcome to Decades. And here’s to Leila, beginning her journey with all of the love and best wishes her family can offer. She is a grand addition to our world. And here is to me, grateful for the times and places that comprised my world…and intending to share them for a while.