Family lore

We are headed up to Niagara Falls bright and early tomorrow morning, where we will meet my Dad and Lala. They are making a crazy circuit, IL to Alabama to pick up my grandmother. Then they are driving to upstate New York, where they are dropping Grandma for her 60th high school reunion. Finally, they'll head up to Niagara Falls to spend a few days before making the circuit in reverse.

When Dad told me about their big road trip, he told me that they were going to "Podunk" to drop Grandma. It made me smile. You see, when I was about 15, my family took a road trip to visit my grandmother in the sleepy town in upstate New York where she lived. To hear my Dad tell it, as we rolled in, he heard me say "Welcome to Podunk" in the way that only a teenager can. To this day, that story gets retold, and we all still refer to the town as Podunk.

I love family lore. I love the stories that get retold, the phrases that get reused and the pictures that capture a fleeting moment. When my sister was 4 or 5, my Mom was making her a sandwich for lunch. What did she want? "Ham," my sister replied. Did she want cheese? "No, Ham." How about lettuce, mustard, mayo? "Ham," my sister replied, until finally (and now famously) she said, "Ham, I just want HAM!"

I wonder what those stories will be for our little family? What stories do you retell?