A Method to my Madness

I do not think my visits to Gladys madness at all. I would suggest everyone take some time during their week to visit an elderly person. Granted not every elderly person might entertain as richly as Gladys does but they all have stories to tell if we are willing to listen. The title for today's entry came from something Gladys said yesterday. She had just asked me how my writing was going. I had talked briefly about my work in progress which is only fifteen pages along. I told her about the stage of the editing for my spring release and then told her about the manuscript I finished before Christmas that has a character with her name and story telling qualities in it."That is your method" she said. I quickly understood her to mean my reason for visiting her. I chuckled at her astute observation and explained I wasn't simply using her for fodder for my writing. I assured her the character had been written before I started my weekly visits . We went on to talk about how much we both enjoy the stories of the past. She told me of sitting on her grandmother's knee soaking in all the stories her sea faring grandmother had to tell. Her own mother also filled her children with stories of the past. Gladys lost that beloved grandmother when she was thirteen and her beloved mother when she was fourteen. What a wonderful thing it was that a young Gladys already knew the value of those story telling moments as she lost those two women so early on. And Gladys and her sisters took up that torch and gave stories generously to their own children and grandchildren. And me; I am just a friend , an acquaintance ,a want to be Fullerton sister , an interloper who gratefully shows up to absorb all they have to tell.My motivation might be selfish but only as a story teller who loves being in the presence of a master story teller, a wealth of memory and knowledge, a teller of the real stories of all our lives. Stories of family, of loss, of struggle, of humor and bravery.So the jigs up. I visit Gladys to benefit my writing. Turns out the benefits are so much more. Thank you again Gladys!