Your Story

I opened a new book yesterday that I honestly know nothing about. Sometimes I like knowing nothing before getting into a story... and it came highly recommended from a girl with great taste, so I just up and started it.

This is what I found when I opened the first page:

Don't you love that? It's the truth. No one remembers when they were born, but we all remember the story of the day. We mythologize it based on what we hear from the people who love us, based on what we love the most about those details we know only from the tellers. Let's be real, even knowing our birthday is just a trust thing.

I was born early, early on a September morning. The last Miner baby. My dad always tells me about the first time he held me, next to my exhausted mom after a long labor. He said he held his new daughter, and I immediately calmed down and stared right into his eyes. I looked at him and just jabbered, intensely, for 20 minutes straight. My mom and the doctor just watched, and my dad let me "talk and talk and talk". He says I jabbered with all the intensity my awkward new body could manage, even trying to lift my head up a little and just drive whatever point I had home. He kept looking at his watch, amazed at those 20 minutes and wondering what it was I wanted him to know. I held his eyes until I finally finished whatever it was I had to say.

Then, I sighed. Big. Fell asleep. And that was that.

That was how I entered the world. I don't remember it, but sometimes it's like I almost do. Stories get told and told until sometimes they're almost memories, almost real to your mind's eye. Do you have those stories you're sure you remember, but you were so young it's almost impossible? Maybe we do remember. Maybe the stories ignite something in us that our body knows is true, and we listen because we remember. Maybe we don't. Maybe we just hold onto the stories because that's innate in all of us, loving words and loving the heart, mind and soul of the teller.

The best part is we all have a story to tell. And we're all still writing it.