Often times you will hear someone preface a story with, "to make a long story short". It's a great way to tell, and listen to, a story. You don't want to listen to all the boring details of a story when it could be summarized into a few short sentences, and you can save yourself some breath by summarizing your own stories you are telling. "To make a long story short" is a well known phrase used by all at some point or another.

Today we met up with some friends to play at the gym. The kids were running wild (for 3+ hours!!) and I had a chance to sit and chat with a friend while we watched our kids slowly lose all the energy they had built up from a day of lessons. Soon I found my eldest child standing in front of my friend telling her he had a story to share. She was all ears and he began his story. After about a minute of talking he paused and said, "to make a long story even longer...." and he proceeded with his story telling. She glanced at me and I shook my head knowing all too well that he was not joking. It was true. He could have summed up what he was trying to tell in a few short sentences, but instead, Russell decided (in true Russell fashion) he would tell every little detail, plus a few he decided to throw in just for kicks. His story that could have been told in a minute or less soon took 5 minutes to finish.

*I realized, as I was writing this, that I should take my own advice and cut to the chase on most of my stories. Whoops! I'll try, I promise.