A Facebook Family Forum

My boys love to hear stories about their relatives. One of their favorite stories is the time their uncles broke the toilet. Their uncles were teenagers at the time and Uncle J was trying to paint Uncle C's toenails while their parents were gone. Can you imagine two teenage boys wrestling over that? Well their fight moved into the bathroom where, somehow, these two teenage boys broke the toilet off....at the floor! Water everywhere. Luckily my brothers, the uncles,knew how to turn off the water to the house and avoided a major mess! My boys just love to hear that story. Probably because they like to imagine their uncles getting in trouble.

Since hearing that story they kept asking to hear more. Frankly I have a lousy memory and was running out of stories to tell. The other night I sent a Facebook message to my siblings and couzins asking for any family stories they could remember that my boys would enjoy hearing. Boy, did my family come through! We were sending messages back and forth on Facebook for hours!

There were stories about Grandpa's many dogs who never seemed to like anyone but him. There were the Easter egg hunts where Grandma hid candy in the trees, she lived at the very edge of the woods, and we often found candy from the year before. The fireplace built from rocks collected from the cornfield. Mushroom hunting. Being bit by fire ants in Oklahoma. Camping, family reunions...there were so many memories and stories that we were bouncing back and forth. It was great.

Although I have easily embraced technology, there are many old traditions that I regret haven't survived the passage of time. Oral history for example. One of my favorite memories growing up was simply sitting and listening to the older generations talk. Not only were the stories interesting but I am related to some wonderful storytellers. I really miss that experience.

Facebook has restored my faith a bit that just because technology has taken over our lives that old traditions can't survive. Thanks to Facebook I have a permanent record of the stories my cousins and siblings shared with me the other night. Perhaps it's not the best storytelling but, A Facebook family forum...the best way to bring together family from 1000 miles away.