Linking up, as ever, with the divine Mrs Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday. This week's prompt is: Story.
GO.
"Miss Thornley, Miss Thornley! Can we have a story?"
Second only to their appetites for Lego, Friday snacks and 'dad level jokes', my boys have an insatiable hunger for story. For tales. For adventures. Don't we all?
Sometimes I look at my own story, and my teacher instinct, the need to change, edit, embellish, omit, tingles like an itch. There are parts I love about my own story - the deep friendships, the moments of success, the first kisses, the late night chats, the curled up cosinesses, the travels, the fun. Likewise there are parts I'd love to take a red pen to - letting people down, being let down, being hurt, rejected, abused, bullied, invisible, worthless.
But I can't. None of us can. All the love in the world can't change what's gone on in someone's story. The past is always there. We can ignore it, hide from it, wallow in it, avoid it, reframe it....but it's still there. As sure as shadows on a noonday pavement.
What love can do, however, is change the story from this point on. What we do, what we give, how we love affects the story of each and every person we encounter. Each sharp word, each swear at the steering wheel, each harsh reaction shapes the stories of those around us, and our own story too.
Much more excitingly, the positives we send out have just as much power. The seat given up on the tube, the cake given to colleagues, the warm greeting, the appreciative comment, the thank you note....these impact too. In a busy crazy world like ours, we all have the chance to change the narrative.
So let us be joyful, kind, and loyal. Let us be fair and understanding and warm. Let us revel in stories worth telling, worth sharing; in the joy of the power our actions and reactions have.
It's a beautiful story. It's a beautiful life.
STOP.
