Stories

Following on from how to describe myself comes the dilemma of when do you tell someone new in you life your story? We all have stories they are the things that shape who we are. As we get older we have more complex stories. But when you are privileged and lucky enough to make new friends where do you start? They take you as what they see in front of them, without knowing what or who has made you what you are. The people who are currently in our lives are their to see and tell their own stories.

This became clear to me this week talking to a new friend, someone I've known for a while now but we realised that I didn't know her background or she mine. Maybe it is just a natural part of any new friendship - learning about each others likes and dislikes, their friends and families and their stories is all just part of it. It comes out bit by bit not in one huge lump, you don't have to swallow it whole in one go.

I think the thing that makes it poignant is that for me my story includes another person, and many of the friends I have today didn't know him. So it can be hard to talk about him sometimes because there is no shared experience or memory. I suppose it becomes like reading about a character in a book - so its up to me to make my descriptions and reminisences more real to make the character come alive. When you read a book you expect to experience laughter and tears and life is the same.