Grace Malko

15 November 2024, 14:12

Contributing Reporter

Jessai Flores

Last week I bought myself Joan Didion’s “White Album.”” as a belated birthday present. As someone who reads almost exclusively ancient books and scientific articles in my classes, I thought it would give me some pleasure to read something purely for pleasure again. Tired of the day, I opened the book but decided to revive my old hobby.

“We tell ourselves stories to survive.”

“Oh,” I thought to myself. I had no thoughts for a few seconds as I processed what I had just read. Didion summarized in a single line the fundamental mission of my life and the lives of the people who make me who I am. The stories people told me shaped me into the person I am today.

The biggest influence of storytelling on my life was Beth, who became my babysitter-turned-honorary big sister. There are always funny incidents where the characters suffer some kind of fiasco, but in the end the heroes prevail. For example: the time she got kicked by a horse during sorority rush and had to do everything in a boot, or the time her house burned down in college. His humorous, humble and self-deprecating tone leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat. Suddenly it hits you with the punchline and the story ends happily.

Some people have a great talent for telling a story. Growing up, I would ask him to tell me more stories than I can count. But underneath these interesting and funny stories was an important message, a framework for approaching life. Beth taught me that if you experience life with a sense of humor, you can turn almost any experience into a fun and grateful experience later on. In other words, when life gives you lemons, make a great story out of it.

When Beth tells you a story, you can imagine the story coming true and you can’t help but root for her and all the heroes. I called him yesterday and asked him to tell me another story; It’s a story I remember hearing, but I don’t remember the exact details.

He was exploring Portugal with his brother, his wife and two other brothers on rented Vespas. Even on the phone the picture was very clear. They took a wrong turn on the Portuguese road with the Vespas and somehow found six Vespas in a row on a busy ten-lane highway. Cars were honking at them, and as the cars got closer, they were all freaking out. And get this, Vespas were going no faster than 15 miles per hour. A herd of Americans are crawling along the side of the highway on their stupid Vespas that they barely know how to drive. They eventually found their way off the highway with limbs intact, but with the reputation of driving a Vespa on the streets? Not really. “My family jokes about it to this day,” he said. Their wholesome, fun, and fulfilling stories make you feel grateful for your own experiences in your life and the people you share them with. They allow you to imagine you and your friends in the same situation, laughing after a tiring day, grateful to be together.

I subconsciously adopted the same storytelling framework. My best friend and I spent a life-changing week hiking the Camino de Santiago this summer. When people ask me about my experiences, I first tell them not about the beauty of old Spanish churches or peaceful meadows and ivy-covered walls, but about the time our train was canceled and we were dragged around in an old, rickety bus. For two hours to return to the same train station. I tell them we went crazy crazy, eventually got home on the train, looked at each other and realized how lucky we were to have found each other and experienced life together.

Every time I tell another story about a stupid adventure I had with my friends or a stupid problem in my life, I think of 5-year-old me sitting on my bed listening to Beth tell me a story before falling asleep. Joan Didion so perfectly embodies in the first line of her book what all of Beth’s stories have taught me: storytelling is one of the great triumphs of our lives because it allows us to define who we are and what we value. Whenever I tell a story to try to make some sense of my life, I try to channel it.