The stories we tell

It is Thanksgiving. My brother and his family are in town and we are joined for a few hours by my cousin and her family. Stories fly around, fast and furious, some well-remembered, some I was hearing for the first time. There is gossip, there are jokes, there is some intense analysis of people and incidents. Howls of laughter periodically punctuate the conversation. The children flit in and out of the discussion but mostly they just look bemused or…