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Creative Challenge: Sarah’s Story

June 9, 2014January 31, 2023 Dana PhelpsBlog, Professional Development, Raleigh PR Agencycreative PR agency, creative writing, creativity in PR, PR, Raleigh PR, stortelling

Taking a Closer Look

Sarah Hattman

Don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a phrase we have all heard at one time or another as a way of being told we shouldn’t base our opinions solely on what we see on the surface. Quite often, after we take a closer look, we find the person or object to be very different than we expected.

The above photo is a great example of why you should not “judge a book by its cover.” At first glance you might look at the photograph and assume the ladies are sisters and that it was taken at the turn of the 20th century. None of them look particularly happy, which might lead you to believe it’s because they were growing up and living in a time period much different than today.

Yes, you might draw any number of conclusions based on what you see in the photograph, but none of them are likely close to the truth. The picture was taken just last summer, and the ladies in it had not met until minutes before the image was captured. This picture exists because a mother, named Erin, was looking to pass along a bit of family history.

It all began when Erin’s young daughter, Charlotte, came home one day talking about how much fun she had looking at old family pictures and videos at her friend’s house. It might sound odd, but Erin was heartbroken. From the moment she found out she was pregnant with Charlotte, she knew that one day she would have to tell her child that she did not know anything about her family history. That’s because when Erin was only a couple of days old, she was found on the doorstep of an elderly couple’s home. She arrived with nothing more than a blanket, a bottle and a mystery.

Thirty-two years later, as Erin sat at the foot of Charlotte’s bed and listened to the excitement in her voice about her friend’s family, Erin knew that the time had come to start the conversation about her mysterious past with her four-year-old daughter.

Charlotte asked, “What did my great-grandmother look like?”

Instead of answering, Erin asked Charlotte, “What do you think she looked like?”

Charlotte immediately responded with “‘Grammy’ had brown hair like me. She was smart and funny. Oh, and she was very pretty!” From there, Charlotte’s imagination ran wild. “She had a large family and was the youngest of five girls. They all lived on a farm and Grammy’s best friend was a pig named Huckleberry!”

Charlotte’s story continued on this way for 20 solid minutes. When she finished, Erin told her that was the way she imagined “Grammy” too. She went on to explain that she never had the chance to meet her mother and therefore did not know anything about her great-grandmother.

Charlotte asked, “What about Nana and Papa?”

Erin explained that the Nana and Papa Charlotte had heard stories about was a kind couple who had taken her Erin into their home and loved her like their own. Charlotte listened and seemed to understand what Erin was telling her, but it did not seem to upset her.

Later that day, Erin found herself thinking about Charlotte’s “Grammy” tale and smiling; so she decided to create a photograph to go along with the story. Erin turned to her friends, colleagues and social media, and in a matter of a few hours had found a woman and four girls to play the roles of Grammy and her four sisters. The following weekend Erin met the ladies at Flashback, a store that specializes in creating photographs that look antique. She was thrilled with how it turned out and could not wait to give it to Charlotte.

Charlotte unwrapped the box, and as soon as she saw the photograph, she squealed with delight and pointed to the young girl at the bottom of the picture. She said, “Ah, it’s Grammy.” Charlotte placed the photograph on her bedside table where it remained for many years. It then went to college with Charlotte and on to her first apartment and eventually her first home. Not only does it now hang in her hallway alongside a large collection of family photos, but it also is the photo she most often points out to people saying, “Have I ever told you the story of my Grammy?”

So the next time you look at someone and find yourself making assumptions, remember the photograph of the five ladies. Let it serve as a reminder to you that things are not what they seem at first glance, and you should never judge a book by its cover.

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Previous: Clairemont’s First Creative Challenge
Next: Creative Challenge: Tracy’s Story

42 thoughts on “Creative Challenge: Sarah’s Story”

  1. Pingback: Clairemont Communications | Creativity Wins The Game! Congrats Sarah!
  2. Carla Hattman says:
    June 20, 2014 at 8:26 pm

    Wonderful! vote

  3. Lily says:
    June 20, 2014 at 1:12 am

    Vote!

  4. Vincent Thome says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:55 pm

    Vote.

  5. Jordan says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    Vote

  6. Sarah says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:24 pm

    Vote

  7. jacob says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:18 pm

    Vote

  8. Joe says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:08 pm

    Vote

  9. LDW says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:53 pm

    VOTE!

  10. Katherine Montogmery White says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:43 pm

    Vote!

  11. Traci says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:28 pm

    VOTE!

  12. Peden Warlick says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:24 pm

    Vote

  13. Jim Hanchett says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:19 pm

    Vote

  14. Buncombe says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    VOTE!!!

  15. Harris Warlick says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:03 pm

    vote

  16. LDW says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:00 pm

    VOTE!!

  17. Chris says:
    June 19, 2014 at 9:53 pm

    Vote

  18. Prin Vasseur says:
    June 19, 2014 at 9:52 pm

    Vote

  19. Claire says:
    June 19, 2014 at 9:47 pm

    Vote! Great story!

  20. Trista says:
    June 19, 2014 at 9:38 pm

    Vote

  21. Andy says:
    June 19, 2014 at 8:06 pm

    Vote

  22. Katelyn Voelelgesang says:
    June 19, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    Vote

  23. Ashley Calhoun says:
    June 19, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    Vote

  24. Greg Tustin says:
    June 19, 2014 at 6:24 pm

    Vote

  25. Emily Beasley says:
    June 19, 2014 at 6:23 pm

    Vote

  26. Tony Dammicci says:
    June 19, 2014 at 6:21 pm

    Vote

  27. Jessica Bohan McElroy says:
    June 19, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    Vote! Great story

  28. Rosa says:
    June 19, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    Your story is so imaginative. Charlotte reminds me of a little girl I knew years ago.

  29. Ryan says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:31 am

    Vote 🙂

  30. Linda Oliver says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:26 am

    VOTE!

  31. Jonathan R. says:
    June 19, 2014 at 11:05 am

    VOTE – FUN STORY!

  32. Carey G. says:
    June 19, 2014 at 10:45 am

    VOTE

  33. Judy Goldsmith says:
    June 19, 2014 at 6:03 am

    I love your story. One of the girls even looks like my mother.
    Go girl!

  34. Debra Hattman says:
    June 18, 2014 at 11:28 pm

    Love your story……creative , fun,
    original. Just like you!

    1. Debra Hattman says:
      June 19, 2014 at 6:33 am

      VOTE !

  35. Kevin Thomas says:
    June 18, 2014 at 9:03 pm

    VOTE!!!

  36. Diane Boyd says:
    June 18, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    Thinking of both your Grammies and how they would love this story. How proud of you, they would be…

    VOTE!

  37. Melissa Jones Matties says:
    June 18, 2014 at 4:50 pm

    VOTE

  38. Tony Arnold says:
    June 18, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    Vote – and I started to tear up. Great story!

    1. Sarah Hattman says:
      June 18, 2014 at 5:08 pm

      Thanks Tony! 🙂

  39. Kevin says:
    June 18, 2014 at 3:53 pm

    Vote!

  40. Pingback: Clairemont Communications | Clairemont’s Creative Challenge: Voting is Now Open!

Comments are closed.

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