Where do our stories go when we die?

Written by

Shawn

in

I’m not trying to be fatalistic when I ask that question, but it’s something that popped into my head recently. I spent hours upon hours talking to nurses and nursing assistants in the hospital, telling them stories about different aspects of my life: seizures, times I’ve been in the hospital, all of my years in school, being on Beauty and the Geek… who knows what else? And now that I’m out of the hospital, those same people might hear similar stories, but only similar stories. Mine? Never again.

When I’m finally gone (hopefully not anytime soon), if they don’t remember any of my extended monologues, said monologues are gone with me. Admittedly, some of the listeners might disagree, but I like to think I was sharing some really good stories with them. So what are my options?

  1. Hope they remember the stories and share them with others.
  2. Hope that my brain survives when me, myself, and I all die.
  3. Share the stories with more people now that I’m out of the hospital.
  4. Let the stories die with me.

1 and 2 seem unlikely at best, but I can still choose between 3 and 4. The third option has a nice ring to it, especially since I rewrote it multiple times (my first few attempts didn’t ring nearly as nicely). So even though I created this blog so I could talk about my journey toward brain surgery, hoping that maybe it could provide some insight and/or comfort to someone else who is or who knows someone taking a similar journey, I may end up being self-indulgent and write about some other topics in the future. While people reading this blog might not be a captive audience like the nurses and nursing assistants in the hospital, this may be the only way for me to share any stories before they all die with me. Unless someone reading this blog finds a way to preserve a person’s brain after they die, in which case… I don’t know how well my brain might be able to share stories without the rest of me (especially since I don’t think it has fingers for typing on a keyboard), so this may still be my best option. You all have both my apologies and appreciation in advance.

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