The Stories We Tell
I’ve lived a pretty good life, at least by my own standards. I’m sure there are those that would disagree, siding on one end of the spectrum or the other. What I want to set out to do though is not so much write about what went right and wrong, but more about all the little things that have happened along the way. I said once while either teaching a class or giving a talk (it was in church one way or the other) that I don’t suppose that if something has happened to me, that it has only ever happened to me.
What I mean to say is, I must assume that with 7.x billion people in the world, there can only be a finite number of things that I have experienced that only I experienced. The overwhelming majority I will assume have happened to others, in some form or another. I don’t see this as a bad thing though. It’s one of the things that has made me want to pursue this (journal/book/I don’t know what?) for some time now. Because so many experiences are probably unknowingly shared throughout the world, it is what we take away, and remember about these experiences that lends to them feeling more unique, and sometimes special.
I have A LOT of stories. Just about anyone who has ever gotten to know me could likely attest to this. It is one of my primary motivations for wanting to meet new people. I want to have a chance to tell My stories to a fresh set of ears. I am sure this is self-serving. I enjoy making people laugh. I enjoy having the floor for a moment or two. I don’t intentionally try to be a one-upper, but inevitably I’m sure that is a part of it too. As I begin this whatever it is, I’m currently forty-two. Not young by any means, but also not quite with one foot in the grave as it were. I want My stories to have a way to carry on. I want my children’s children to have a chance to hear some of granddad’s stories.
It’s not a life in pictures, though there are many of those as well. It’s not a life in recording, though I would like a chance to do something like that eventually. No, this is a life as lived in stories. Random memories plucked from here and there, some more vivid, and probably more richly told than others. My fear is that some of these stories may not hold quite the same oomph without facial and vocal ques that a personal telling would provide. I will put this disclaimer here; I am a bit prone to exaggerating. In the frenzy to get a good story out into the world, some numbers may become bigger or smaller, people may sound crazier than they were, even circumstances may be a bit blurred. But at their core, they are just as advertised. True stories of things that I personally witnessed within my life. I hope you enjoy them.