Dec 15, 2022
Today’s guest, Arava, reminded me of something that I think all
of us know instinctually. Each person’s life is really made up of a
collection of stories. When we think about any person whom we know
and love and want to describe that person to someone else, we start
telling stories about them. We don’t just say, ‘my son was kind or
my son was funny.’ We tell a story that shows their caring nature
or demonstrates their humor.
When Arava’s 29-year-old son, Garett, suddenly died of an aneurysm,
she turned to stories right away in her healing. Her sister, who is
a rabbi, officiated at Garett’s memorial service and asked all
those in attendance to share stories with the family. We cannot
truly make new memories after our child dies, but if others tell us
new stories, we can almost get a new memory. Stories started coming
to Arava as the family sat shiva in the first days after Garett’s
death. Now, one and a half years later, the stories come less
often, but they still come. As each one comes, Arava takes time to
write it down and is now compiling a book of stories to be shared
with family and friends. The family also started a foundation in
Garett's memory to keep his story alive (ghfg.org).
Arava really made me think about the power of storytelling. I guess
that is truly why I do the podcast each week. I want to give
parents a chance to tell stories. I want everyone to get to know
that parent’s child a little bit. I want them to be appreciated and
even a little loved by someone who might live on the other side of
the world. These stories that we share with each other bring us
closer together and even closer to our children. As Arava says this
week, “Stories bring me such comfort. I feel like I have him back
for a minute.” I want us all to feel like we have them back, even
if it’s just for a minute.