Well Behaved Women

The other day I was listening to an interview with the woman who coined the phrase “Well behaved women seldom make history,” Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Over the years I have seen this quote become a rallying cry, a self-mantra and a motivational saying. This interview however, put these words into a different light. You see, Ulrich has spent much of her career writing about the ordinary woman, often dissecting and digesting diaries, journals and even sermons to get a feel for the day-to-day life of women during different periods of time. Essentially, when these words were uttered, Ulritch was saying, if you want to know what life was like, don’t look to the newsmakers, look to the everyday women, the people just living their lives.

As I have started The Bunting’s Tale, one of the things I have heard most often is that people don’t think their life is interesting enough to talk about. That they are too ordinary to interview. Once I actually sit down and talk with these people, I hear extraordinary stories.

I have heard about childhood adventures, young love, journeys spanning multiple countries, divorce and heartbreak. I have had the pleasure of preserving how people met, families were made and homes were established.

These stories are precious to people. These stories hold a lifeline to the past. As these stories are told and captured, I have the ultimate privilege of being able to pass on to families how traditions came to be, how geographies were determined and bloodlines passed on.

These “ordinary” stories don’t make news, but they do make history.

The whole interview is really good, if you are interested, check it out here: