Sharing the threads

NEWFANE-I worked late last night at The Newfane Store and intended to come home and write this essay. But when I sat down to quickly eat my dinner, my housemate asked if he could read me a passage from his morning writing.

He's in the early stages of Alzheimer's and is trying to finish a novel he's been working on for more than ten years. He's on the last chapter, which has been coming slowly, dripping in bit by bit, every day for more than a year.

The book is about forgiveness. I can tell that the fictional characters and the road to redemption they're walking are, in so many ways, his own.

He's trying to finish before he loses the thread.

As I listened, I felt like I was holding the thread of his story for a minute so he could step back, hear what was happening, and see where the story wanted to go next.

I fell asleep with his thread in my hand.

* * *

Now I'm up early, trying to write something compelling about "A Potluck of Stories: Windham County Remembers," a storytelling weekend coming to Union Hall in Newfane on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24 and 25. And his thread is being woven into this.

As I'm thinking about all of this, a bird has flown into my imagination. It's gathering pieces of this and bits of that, weaving them together to make its nest.

Maybe that's what we're doing when we listen to one another. Your story becomes part of mine. And together we make something that can hold us.

I'm helping Annie Landenberger and Henriette Mantel produce this event, sponsored by the Historical Society of Windham County. When we put out a call for stories, most of the people who responded were elders.

At our first preparation meeting, we went around the table, and each person shared a little of the story they would tell.

Listening to these elders, ordinary people sharing extraordinary stories, I was more than astonished by the breadth of life they had experienced. It was as if a candle was lit within a dark room inside of me, and I could see things in my own life and the world around me that I'd never seen before.

Their lives have been full-spectrum. It seemed almost impossible that they could have walked the road of time from there to here.

But they did. And they're carrying their threads.

* * *

We're going to gather at Union Hall in Newfane and time-travel together.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of America's independence. Many of Windham County's towns are older than the nation itself. What does 250 years of history look like from the perspective of the people who've lived here?

I'm relatively new to the area, having lived in Windham County full-time for just over four years. While distributing flyers for the event, I spent two days driving through all 23 towns - each with its own distinct character and history, connected by roads, rivers, mountains, and generations of people who've lived here.

I felt shy walking into town clerks' offices, libraries, and general stores, asking strangers to help spread the word. But everywhere I went, people welcomed me. No one turned me down.

It takes courage to tell a story. To look back over a life and to find the thread. To offer it to someone else. My housemate reminds me of that every day as he works to complete his novel, determined to bring his characters home before his memory fails him.

Listening asks something of us, too. Our attention. Much of our shared history lives in people's memories rather than history books.

Listening together isn't just about looking backwards; it helps us understand who we are becoming. Or perhaps more importantly, who we have the opportunity to become, if we are willing to change.

At a potluck, everyone brings something to the table. At this one, people will bring their memories, their experiences, their pieces of history. Some stories will come from people living among us; others will bring voices from Windham County's past into the room.

And the rest of us will bring our curiosity, and perhaps a few threads of our own.

I hope you join us for the weaving. You are welcome here.

* * *

Kim Willis, an Oklahoma native, spent many years in New York City before moving to Newfane, where her ongoing explorations of consciousness, creativity, and community are all part of a larger inquiry into what it means to be human and love this beautiful Earth. The Commons' Deeper Dive column gives nonprofits in the region elbow room to write in first person and/or be unabashedly opinionated, passionate and analytical about their own creative work and events.

This Arts column was submitted to The Commons.