I haven't read the Red Tent in a long time, but it is a book that I will always cherish-- it's about the importance of sharing stories, particularly for women.  While the men were out and about finding ways to provide for their families, the women in the red tent were busy preparing meals and caring for all the children.  While doing this work, the women would talk about all their trials and tribulations in life, and in this way they found comfort and learned from one another's experiences.  This is also how family legends were passed down from generation to generation.  Unfortunately, I think this beautiful tradition is quickly being relegated to the occasional family gatherings-- weddings, funerals and holidays-- while the rest of the time we are all just too busy acting as hunters outside the red rent and coming home to focus on our own nuclear families.  In my own life, I've seen this moment coming for some time, and today is the day, with the passing of my grandmother, that I will remember as the day we truly packed up the rent tent in my house. My grandmother was born in 1915 to a poor South American farmer.  She was one of nine children, many of whom she helped raise after her own mother, my name sake, passed away in her early 40's.  [...]