Or, Subtitled: “Everywhere in the world people led their lives unrecorded”
~ Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything (NY: Random House, 2024), p. 79
Stories; stories handed down in families; family stories: these are precious gifts that demand to be shared, if not in our family circles, then more widely, since stories told within a family circle are never meant entirely for that family alone. My family’s story links to yours, and for that reason if for no others, I have a vested interest in hearing your stories, and you in hearing mine.
With this year’s day of celebration of the feast of one of Ireland’s two patron saints, St. Brigid, some family stories entrusted to me came to mind all over again. These are stories handed down to me by the generations before me, which I have an obligation — since family stories are gifts, and very precious ones — to pass along to others.
BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS 