Writing Butterflies and Brokenness {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 11}
I combed through gritty words and searched for my own like a beachcomber after high tide. I pictured this particular shell opening up to look like a butterfly with wings spread. I imagined the swish of the surf, like young love, and then straight away came the weight...
Fresh Language, Quotable Kids {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 10}
We’d read the book so many times that our two-year-old boy had the thing memorized, every line of Duck in the Truck. He’d look at the pictures and recite the story in happy sing-song toddlerese. He’s got the gift of good memory and we’re steering it the best we can....
Accidental Collage {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 9}
A piece of history was set to be put out for the garbage if we didn’t come pick it up, this giant music box handmade in the 1920s right here in my state. My husband and his dad drove 20 hours round-trip through swarms of cicadas to bring it home. We had hopes for...
Write What Makes You Cry {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 8}
Names and numbers hang pretty on the handle of my bag, these cards spreading out like a beautiful fan from the Orient. The collection is a souvenir from my weekend with two-hundred women who have a passion for documenting the nuances of life in their photographs of...
Flowing Well {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 7}
They come there empty. The construction worker in his rusty pick-up, he comes with a used Gatorade bottle. The business woman on her lunch break brings a 5-gallon jug for the water cooler. The little ones and I watch from a picnic table made out of recycled milk jugs,...
Comforting, Never Comfortable {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 6}
It’s like a tickle in your throat in the dark when the tightness in the chest lingers and congestion is an uninvited overnight guest. You try to breathe slow and deep to coax it away, the way you hold so still when a bumblebee hovers over you at the picnic table. You...
Astonishing Discovery {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 5}
The book on my nightstand waits like an old friend on the line, voice buzzing through miles of wire into heavy handset, me listening, twisting my fingers in the curl of the cord of words. I’ve known the author all my life, though he never knew me. I repeat his words...
Words Between Generations {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 4}
Today I’d like to share a piece from another storyteller, my mother. She overflows with meaningful memories from her childhood and young adulthood, and whether talking or writing, she gives those memories beginning, middle and end and I see them so clearly that I...
Spotlights, Spider Silk and Self-Reflection {Preserve Your Story ~ Day 3}
It happens sometimes when I walk into a friend’s house to the sight of pots and pans criss-crossed on the counter and dust bunnies floating near air vents. I get this urge to grab the dishcloth and the mop. I could go on mission to find the counter top again, ready...
I’m Darcy Wiley, co-writer of The Yes Effect: Accepting God’s Invitation to Transform the World Around You. I’m an explorer at heart… Read more