Elizabeth had one of those weird, overloaded months where the past just kept knocking. The astrology girlies gave her fair warning. Old coworkers popped back up out of nowhere. Then an obituary for the woman who mentored her early in her career (who was also kind of brutal about her dating life back then — honestly, fair). Then another obituary, this one for her childhood best friend’s dad, which meant reconnecting with someone she hadn’t really connected with in over 30 years.
And because the universe has a sense of humor, the memorial service landed on the exact same day as her class reunion. She called her sister looking for permission to skip both. Her sister gave her a whole thing about examining old narratives instead. Rude, but not wrong.
She went to both. One was a 10 out of 10 — genuinely really lovely. The other, not so much. This week: which was which, and what she actually learned about the stories we carry that were never fully ours to begin with.
