Life Stories

I love stories--fairytales, novels, autobiographies, thrillers, you name it.  If there's a hero/heroine and a villain that must be overcome, I'm hooked.  I love a good story.  My dear friend Sandy once told me that I am a "lover of finely crafted words." And she's right.  I love reading the words that burned so deeply within another person's being that they had no choice but to spill them out on paper. There's something that is intensely connecting and rawly human about reading another's words in that way.  

As much as I love picking up a good book and reading the black-and-white print, there is something that engages me even more-- the stories of people around me.  Life stories.  Heart tales.  When I take a second and sit back to think about all of the poeple I encounter every day, I am blown away by the incredible stories their lives must be writing.  On Friday, I went with my husband to a conference downtown for Christian Community Development.  It was a group of the true movers and shakers who are really trying to make a difference in the poverty and crime-stricken areas of our city.  One of the speakers was an incredible woman with such life experience that I was practically hanging on her every word.  Dr. Lulla Barton told of being a young black girl, growing up in a time when segregation was being implemented and the hardships her family began to encounter.  When she was 17, she found her way across several states to the Washington Mall and participated in Dr. Martin Luther King's Million Man March.  She has a hillarious story about getting kicked out of catholic school for questioning the infallibility of the pope, but that didn't stop her education.  She went on to become a 5th generation college graduate, eventually earning her MA from Northwestern and a JD from UCLA.  I learned all that in just the short 15 minutes she was given to introduce herself.  I wanted to sit and listen her full life's story over several cups of coffee.  

Through our journey with Whitney, I have met some amazing women.  As painful as it is sometimes, I love listening to their journeys... hearing about their babies and how as parents they have managed to keep living even after their loss.  I see people around me every day and I can't help but wonder "What's your story?"  Where has my coffee barista been in her lifetime?  What are her dreams?  What makes the man at the post office so unhappy?  Has he lost someone too?  What adventures has the old man sitting behind me in church had in his lifetime?  What stories would they all tell?

 I kinda get the feeling that I'm not alone in this affection for strangers' stories.  Afterall, once you've heard a strager's story, you're not really strangers anymore, right?  And who doesn't want a world with few strangers and more friends?  Donald Miller has a 'contest' right now that asks people to tell a story in a 90 second short film.  I've watched some of the entrants... they range from ridiculous to captivating.  The ones that get me the most are the stories of life... tragedy, triumph, love, determination.  Just seeing how God moves in peoples' lives is incredible to me.  Christian recording artist, Matthew West is working on writing a new album.  Several months ago, he asked people to send him their stories... something they wanted to tell the world about their life.  He is now writing away in a cabin in Tennessee, working on his new album, based on the stories of people just like you and me.  (You can read some of his experience on his blog, as well as his adventures with a new 'friend' he affectionately calls CabinMouse.)  Our stories bond us, they let us know we're not alone in our struggles.  But sharing our stories does more than just that... sharing our stories magnify and illuminate the goodness and glory of God.  Even in the life of the not-yet-believer, God is present in their story.  

I went to the allergist this past week.  (Hell-o spring time in the agricultrual/pollution hot spot of the world!)  The last time I saw him, I was pregnant.  He remembered that and asked me if I was still pregnant.  I told him no, so he said a quick "I'm sorry" and went on to talk about inhalers and antihistamines.  I wanted to stop him... I wanted to tell him our story, Whitney's story.  I wanted to tell him how she changed me, how she brought so much joy, and how grateful I am to God for walking with us every step of the way.  But I didn't get to.  And while I'm sure he would have listened, I don't know that he would have cared. 

 My daughter has a life story.  It seems almost ironic to say that, since she never took a single breath of earth's air.  But she has a story.  A LIFE story.  You know how every story seems to have sort of an overall 'theme'?  The overwhelming theme in Whitney's story (and all of our stories, really) is the goodness and sovereignty of God.  Even in these weeks and months after Whitney's life ended, I continue to see the goodness of God in her unfinished story.  Sometimes I worry that people will forget her.  But God, in his goodness (that is far beyond what I deserve), sends people my way to remind me that she will never be forgotten.  This past week, a friend sent me a message on Facebook telling me she thinks of Whitney all the time.  I got a text from my friend/hair stylist, just letting me know she thinks of Whitney every day.  A friend from church hugged me and whispered in my ear, "I will never forget your daughter."  And a fellow mamma who also lost her baby to triploidy emailed me to tell me that earlier this week, as she was outside in the yard, she saw two white butterflies dancing in the air together... God's way of letting us both know our little girls are being taken care of by the greatest of all Caregivers, and perhaps they are dancing in heaven, chasing butterflies together.   

There is a project called StoryCorps.  Have you heard of them?  Its a huge, national project to basically record our stories.  Everyone's stories... young, old, happy, sad, priviledged, poor.  They go from town to town with a moblie recording studio and record on CD an interview conversation between two people.  That audio CD is then preserved in the Library of Congress.  This is the largest oral history project of its kind!  You can look at the website to see if it is coming to a town near you.  (You can also listen to some of the stories that have already been recorded.)  This next week, a mobile StoryCorps unit will be in our area.  You have to reserve a time, and they are filling up fast!  I reserved a time for Sean and I to go do this next week.  Our story- Whitney's story, and ultimately God's story- will be recorded and preserved along with thousands and thousands of other life stories.   

So what's your story?  Who will you tell?  And more importantly, who's story do you need to hear?  It has been said that listening is one of the greatest acts of love.