In my last blog post I issued a challenge to everyone to go out and talk to someone and exchange stories with them. I also said if I couldn’t post any of the stories that I was told, I would at least post about the experience I had doing this challenge. Unfortunately I’m not able to post any of the stories I was told because I was either not given permission or I feel posting the story online for all to see might not be the right thing to do at this moment, but maybe someday it will be. One of the more interesting stories I was told was about the unique birth of a friend of mine who just recently had a birthday. I was sitting down with their mother and asked about my friend’s birth and she told me the whole story with no hesitation on her part. I won’t post the details of the story because I forgot to for permission, but I can say that my friend’s birth is really unique and I have never known anyone else who was born this way. I’m actually considering looking up statistics of how many people have been born the way my friend was just to get a sense of how rare it is because I’ve never even heard of anyone being born the way my friend was, so it just adds to my curiosity!

My own birth was complicated. I was 8 days late being born, the joke being that I had a book I was finishing and needed more time to do so. The night my mother went into labor her father passed away. Then they discovered that my umbilical cord was wrapped around my left shoulder and I had to be brought into the world by cesarean section. My mother was in labor with me for 36 1/2 hours (a fact she reminds me of every year on my birthday), and it was so bad that at one point they asked her to decide what to do if it came down to them saving her life or mine, but thankfully it didn’t come to that! That is the main reason why I am my parent’s only child and while there have been times that I wished I had a younger sibling, I’m honestly glad I don’t because the risk of losing my mother wouldn’t have been worth it. So that is the short version of my birth story and I’m sure I might have missed a few details or maybe even got a few facts wrong, but I wanted to share it to help bring my experience full circle.

For me, this experience was an interesting one because it broadened my way of thinking and it made me see just how strangely wonderful our world can be. It also made me realize that some people have a more complex beginning than others and that even the most normal people might not have come into the world normally, but it doesn’t mean anything except that they have an interesting story to tell when they’re older! I hope one day I can share some of the stories I was told or share more of my own stories with all of you!

But I really hope all of you enjoyed this challenge as much as I did and I can’t wait to hear your experiences or any stories you might have picked up from this challenge! And just never, ever forget how important sharing stories with others are.