I signed up for an invitation to Cowbird.com over lunch. Part of their process is to ask about who I was and about the stories I tell. Cowbird is primarily aimed at biographical and autobiographical work.
This is what I wrote:
I used to say that I wanted to live a life worthy of a story. It took me thirty-some years to realize that life is the story.
In that time, I’ve been a lot of things. I was a boy on the farm without electricity or running water who watched his world disappear in flashes of tears and violence. Then, I was the poor kid in a rich school, living with relatives and kind-eyed strangers. Eventually, I made my way out and up the proverbial ladder only to find that nothing matters as much as the people around you. After all, we’re all storytellers of one form or another.
I learned to write, found a voice, and then found people. I got to be entranced by their stories. I’ve fallen in and out of love more times than I can count and each time it feels like the first. I’ve been the hero and the villain, the fool and the wise man, made a thousand mistakes and been luckier than I ever should have been. That’s my life, ten thousand stories making up one person.
It’s true. I really do love telling these stories and I have a lot of personal ones to share. Fascinating how that little text box made me think about that. Over all, one of the better lunches I have had.
