On stories

My theory about stories started developing when I was a senior in high school. One of my friends had graduated the year before and gone off to BYU. Her mother worked at the high school, and I used to visit on my lunch break to hear stories on how my friend was doing. This friend started dating a gentleman rather seriously toward the end of the year, and her mother was concerned.

One of the reasons the mother was concerned was the stories my friend was telling about her gentleman friend. Apparently she told stories that made him appear, to the concerned mother, that he was not as caring or considerate as she wanted for her daughter.

As I listened to the mother repeat the daughter's stories, I realized how important the stories we tell can be. My friend was in Utah; her mother was in Alaska. The mother had not met the boyfriend in question and wasn't going to have the opportunity to do so in the near future. The mother only knew the boyfriend through the stories her daughter told and was trying to glean as much information as possible from each and every story. And I though I could over analyze things!

My friend ended up breaking up with the boyfriend before too much longer, to the relief of her mother. But I'm glad I had the chance to learn--before I left home--to select the stories I told my family when I dated boys far from home.

There are other facets to my theory on stories, but those will have to wait for another post. I had a long day to day and need some non-computer down time.