My interview with Oprah

Well, sort of. This is my first time of playing along with Mama Kat's writer's workshop and this week's prompt is: Oprah says we all have a story. If you were on her show, what would your story be? What would you be talking about? What advice would she give you?

It's funny because I have seen the commercials lately to promote her final season. In these commercials she says the thing she has learned after doing her show for so many years is that we all have a story. We all want to be heard and we want to know what we said made an impact on someone. I agree.

While my life is nothing extraordinary- I don't come from a place of trauma, or of extreme circumstances- I've lived quite a life. Most of us have had some struggle at some point in our lives: divorce, loss of a loved one, miscarriage, financial worries, infidelity... the list goes on and on. So many times along the way I wished there was someone who really understood and knew what I was going through at the time. I say really understood because unless you have been in that person's shoes, you have no way of truly understanding what they are dealing with.

That fact has caused me to bottle up my emotions lots of times, a fact that is foreign to my husband and his side of the family. They can and will air their dirty laundry to anybody, anywhere. I know it drives other people crazy, too, but that's just how I am.

Why do I want to tell someone about the hard time I'm having only to have them look at me like I had grown a third eye? "What? What did she say? Quick, look away...pretend you didn't hear and maybe it'll go away..."

Or to have them try and rationalize the situation, giving a logical explanation for everything when they don't have a clue. "Well of course you feel that way. You probably aren't eating enough spinach. Studies have shown that people who eat spinach are practically perfect in every way (actually that's Mary Poppins)."

Or worse yet, they feign a polite smile, tell you they are so sorry and then they avoid you like the plague. "Oh, is that Mary over there? Last time I saw her she was babbling on about some sob story. I don't want to hear that again."

So yes, Oprah, everyone does have a story. It may not seem significant or you may not understand, but it's their story and it's important to them. And if we could learn to be a little more compassionate, maybe more people would be willing to share their story, therefore helping others who are dealing with the same thing.