The Story Catcher

Some stories you hold too close to your heart. You believe that they are dear or precious, and you don't know what to do about those white knuckles gripping them.

The best thing, you suspect, is to let go. To release them with open hands and trust they find their way to those who need them.

I have one such story.  I am giving it to you now.

Here is how it begins:

Some stories are too difficult to carry around. Some taste like ash in your mouth, others feel like they might rend you in two. That’s why we have a Story Catcher in our village.

The Story Catcher takes your stories as you tell them truly—things that make your bones tremble and your muscles shiver, things you might only be able to whisper in the dark. She receives them as happily as a person making a ripe purchase at market.

She gathers all of them from the old ones to those wee ones just learning to give thoughts shape with their lips, and she holds them in her memory, tends them with her heart.

Then, when we’re ready, the Story Catcher gives us back our tales, on a day when we need to be reminded that we once were brave or that we once were rescued. That we might be so again. 

--from The Story Catcher, by Jen Lee

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