Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! The title "Stories Matter" is something I came across two years ago while taking a Children's Literature course in college. Doing some research for a particular topic, I came across this phrase and it has stuck with me ever since. My mother, aunt and grandmother loved to tell their stories to us kids. I have wanted to write them down to preserve them for our future families for the longest time. And there are my own stories of childhood, teenage years, young adult, young motherhood, and on to record. Taking the time away from the daily living of life to reminisce is difficult to do. I do not intend to sit down and begin writing my memoirs or autobiography, but I do want to record certain stories as I remember them.

I focus on the present and I think about the future, but rarely, quite honestly, think about the past. Not until something happens, or a word is said, a particular song or sound, such as the call of a blue jay,is heard, a neighborhood familiar in my youth is mentioned, then memories come flooding back. Such has been the case with news of Hurricane Sandy and how it has caused so much damage to areas where I grew up and spent much time - Howard Beach, Broad Channel, the Rockaways, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Long Island. From here I will begin.