“Stories, like people and butterflies and songbirds’ eggs and human hearts and dreams, are also fragile things, made up of nothing stronger or more lasting than twenty-six letters and a handful of punctuation marks. Or they are words on the air, composed of sounds and ideas-abstract, invisible, gone once they’ve been spoken-and what could be more frail than that? But some stories, small, simple ones about setting out on adventures or people doing wonders, tales of miracles and monsters, have outlasted all the people who told them, and some of them have outlasted the lands in which they were created.”
― Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things
Welcome to the brand new project we call “Story Donors.” A place where people can share their stories to anyone who cares to listen.
First off, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Adam Peterson and I live with my wife and dog in Little Rock, Arkansas. For the past few years, I’ve wanted to write a book about my father who passed away when I was 10-years-old. I felt a void throughout my life of not knowing who he was, not only as a father, but as a brother, friend, and son. My idea was to interview his friends and family members. This was to try and get past the surface level to who he truly was and not the perfect soul young people tend to become when they die.
At the time, I was living in South Korea. Sitting down and discussing my father with people was an impossible endeavor. I decided that sending a questionnaire to people would be the best way to start the conversation going about my father. After sending out about 15 questionnaires, only one returned their answers. I knew this was not the route to take.
I’ve been to more funerals in my 30 years than most people go in 50. A lot of people in my life have passed away that I wish I knew more about. I got the idea of starting “Story Donors” to capture the stories of my family and friends, so they could pass their memories on to others. Taking it a step further, I decided to capture anyone that wants to share their story.
We all have a story to tell. Some may be more exciting than others. But that doesn’t mean one means less than the other. I wanted to create a platform for people who find writing a memoir too daunting, keeping up with a daily journal too much of a commitment, or typing up a weekly blog too boring, a chance to preserve a snippet of their life through a simple conversation between two human beings.
