Stories rely on Details

Sharing a bit more about the process of developing my new story Arlington National Cemetery: My Forever Home for the 2013 Capital Fringe. While it is not a major theme of the story itself

the process has been more than just story-creation it has also been a means to reach beyond the fog of grief to embrace Arlington and to return to life. Storytellers look for details to help bring a story to life. In the past year of visiting Jim and investigating Arlington I really see the surroundings and have come to appreciate how well cared for the grounds are. As well as noticing the colors of changing leaves on the trees and dashes of color from flowers in Spring. Lately I am particularly appreciating the presence of birds. I think I will keep binoculars and a "bird book" in the car. For more than forty years Jim and I walked in our neighborhood in Chevy Chase and watched the varieties of birds which are drawn to our close-by area by the presence of the Audubon Naturalist Society. I like the connection I feel when I see many robins flitting through the stones just as they flit across our front yard.