We all have our stories

From the time that I was laid off from AMD back in 2008 up until as recently as today, I've been repeating some of my life stories over and over. I don't mind discussing my life and what's brought me up to this point, but just looking back at the last two years, I've lost track of how many times I've talked about it. Most all my closest friends in the states know my history, and I usually kept the same circles of friends and only met new people on occasion. Being in Taiwan, that's a bit different as I knew virtually no one when I got here, so I've had to make a whole new set of friends. It's a easy thing to do, because the expat circles here run so small, that you're likely to have a mutual friend or two with someone you just met, and then from there it becomes a snowball effect for the amount of people you meet. I'm quick to make friends with most people, but don't have too many close friends here, as I believe that's something that takes time.

Over the last few months, I've gotten to the point where I've developed a few close friendships, and we've started sharing more than just the superficial "where are you from, what brought you here, what do you do?" type questions. And that's when you start to delve deeper into the memory banks and recall the good times, and the bad of what's happened in your life. I had an hour long conversation on the phone (of which I rarely make phone calls) discussing some very personal/intense moments that happened in the past, and it just made me sick to my stomach some of the things I heard. If there was a way you could hug someone through the phone, that would have been an appropriate time to do it.

I believe that talking about something is a way to heal and move forward, as it helped me when my mom passed away. I was in 5th grade when she passed, and another classmate's father had passed away only one day before my mother. We were in separate classes, but our respective teachers told both of us that if we ever wanted/needed to talk to the other about anything to the other, all we had to do was ask, and they would allow us to interrupt class to pull the other one out so we could talk outside. Reflecting back, this helped me immensely with moving forward and healing. We ended up going to the same church, junior high, high school and even to UT, but as the years went by, we developed our own circles of friends and drifted in friendship. But her and I will always have a bond, and every year around the time that our parents passed away, my thoughts drift to not just of my mother and my family, but to her and her family. I reached out to her on facebook marking the 20th anniversary this past December, and she replied back saying that I had too had crossed her mind, and noting the bond that we shared. It's a bond that no child should have to share, yet I am happy that there was someone that was able to sympathize and relate with me.

We all have our stories. They're a glimpse into our past that helps paint a picture of what made us who we are today. It's part of the reason I'm here in Taiwan, to learn more about my past, my family and what they endured to get here. From that, we learn and use those stories to help shape our future and know what to do or avoid in the future.