"Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form" - Jean Luc Godard

I remember reading Stone Soup as a kid. I was an ardent rule-follower as a kid and I remember wondering whether the young man was technically lying to get everyone to share their food with him. After all, he could make soup from a stone. I remember feeling the twinge of jealousy that I always felt when I read stories like that, where someone was brave enough to break a rule and it ended up benefitting others. 

Like many books, this one helped me better understand myself and how I fit into the world around me. We think about this a lot with kids -- we know how critical storytelling is for their development. At NoVES we even honor this with our weekly Story for All Ages. 

We sometimes forget how important storytelling is for us as adults, too. Stories are more than just an escape from the day, Stories are how we learn and process things around us. Imagine that someone is trying to explain something abstract to you that you're not quite getting. What do you do? You probably ask for an example. What you're really asking for in that moment is a story to give you real-life context. 

On Sunday, I hope we can all embrace the joy of making a story come to life!