Stories

One of my favorite programs in the states was a little spot every Saturday morning called "Everybody Has a Story." It is still around, I think, but I've missed out on a lot of the stories from that show. The premise is this: the reporter was blindfolded and threw a dart at a map of the U.S. and went to that location, no matter where it landed. Then picked up a phone book when he went in that town, randomly picked a page, closed his eyes and picked a number. He called the number, and the first person who answered the phone would be who the story was about. And you know what? It was ALWAYS interesting. Sometimes the stories were uplifting and encouraging. Other times they were cautionary tales.

The fact of the matter is that we all have little tidbits and interesting things about ourselves, and as we become friends with people, we slowly share those stories, allowing our new friends to view new facets of ourselves. Sometimes friendships are shallow. Either there is no chemistry there, or there is no reciprocation. Those friendships only seem to share enough to present a certain view. They usually fizzle or don't go very far. But other times, there are those friends who are just as interested in sharing their life experiences, good and bad, and reciprocate by doing likewise. It's those friendships that last through the years. They are the friends that you can go for 5, 10 years without seeing, then all of the sudden meet and pick up where you left off. It's rare, but when it happens it is truly a Godsend.

The little tidbits can be so fun, and work to endear us to each other. Sheila, for instance, had a crazy cat that literally climbed walls. She also had a St. Bernard named Bear that was in a LoneStar Beer commercial. She could run three miles during track meets and not pass out, which is why she's a marathon runner now. She also got to tour Europe with Phil Collins. How cool is that?

Kim has some amazing TP'ing stories. She also is great at talking herself out of all kinds of tickets. It's her natural charm. I really envied that in her, because I couldn't talk myself out of a paper sack. She was also great at talking me into some of her escapades. (We'll just make it seem like it was all her...if she takes the fall, she can talk herself out of it. ha!)

Sandy is not only a great volleyball player now, but she was an awesome softball player as well. Pitcher at that. I hear I wouldn't want to be at the plate when she was throwing. She's also as obsessed with reality TV as I am.

Colleen makes an AWESOME spinach dip. And she's great at entertaining a lot of people for one night, or a niece and nephews for a bunch of nights. I used to tease her about making salads (we both hate doing it), but she's the Queen of Entertaining at this point.

*Edit* (I was leading up to Kay, then forgot to add her! Such is life in my house...)

Then there's Kay. She was an awesome athlete when she was younger (and probably still!). Softball and basketball were the sports she was especially good at, and she took some of her skill and coaxed me along for a year. (Remember my ONE basket in basketball? We won by two points that game. Of course you guys let me think it was my points that won the game. ha!) She used to get nosebleeds, and once when I went to her house for two weeks straight, she got one every night. What does that say? Oh, and it's a lot of fun riding by bus to Oklahoma with her. Oh yeah, and beware when she dreams of snakes.

As we all get to know each other, we share a bit more of ourselves, learn each other's stories. It's what makes friendship fun, interesting and sustains our friendships over time. Makes you wonder about the stories these guys have probably shared, doesn't it?