A Search For Deep Connections with Martie McNabb
- A Search For Deep Connections with Martie McNabb Jane Leder 27:35
Are some or most of your precious memories stuffed in a box (boxes) and stuck in a closet?
Have you sworn you’ll organize the photos, keepsakes, and letters from an old boyfriend but just haven’t found the time? It’s understandable. You’ve been crazy busy. But you’re not getting any younger, and in those boxes are stories you want to share with your children and other relatives and friends.
Martie McNabb is a believer in objects and the stories they tell. She is a “Legacy artist” whose nomadic childhood shaped her constant search for deep connections. Martie was born on a military base in Okinawa, returned to the States with her parents when she was not yet two and moved nine times before high school.
“I don’t have long-term friends or a sense of belonging to a place,” Martie says. “When people ask me where I'm from, I'm never sure what to answer.”
Martie's search for a “home” and extended family has taken her from a graduate in soil science (Who knew?), a housekeeper (She likes to clean!), a sign language interpreter, and a middle and high school teacher. She loved the students but got burned out by the administration. So, she moved on to found Memories Out of the Box, a one-woman business to help people put their “stuff” in order. It has been wildly successful . . . if success is determined by her love for the deep legacy work she does.
Ten years ago, she developed the “Show & Tales” series. (Think “Show and Tell,” the game played in elementary school.) Participants at these gatherings share personal objects and the stories attached to them. An item as simple as a bracelet made of rubber bands or a carton of eggs will suffice. “It is the power of stories,” Martie says. “It's amazing how what seems like a simple activity can tell us so much about others and ourselves.”
This episode takes listeners on a “ride” in Martie's 21-foot Winnebago named Brooklyn as she travels from New Mexico to Vermont. She is still on a journey but a journey that has led to new friendships, new experiences, and an ever-growing understanding of how the sharing of stories of the Things that matter can build deeper connections, community, and legacy.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/martiemcnabb/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-that-matter-with-martie-mcnabb/id1643973318
