Sappy Stories I Can Only Tell Strangers

You know how there are stories you can tell your mother, and only your mother, but there are also stories you can only tell your closest friends, and then there are stories you tell no one about because... they're yours. But once in a while, there are stories you can only tell strangers, because, let's face it, there are times you just need to paint a picture of something beautiful to someone who has no idea who you are.

There are days when the stories you've told the people close to you no longer seem as colorful as you thought they would be. It's there, in the little movements: an eye roll with a knowing smile, the deep sigh as you begin your story, that thumbs-up sticker after you type the extremely long chat, the halfhearted "Okay, yeah," after you've told them a different story about the same person, and the agonizing feeling of being a broken record and an annoying friend.

So then these stories go away, or at least you make them go away, for a while. You brush them under a metaphorical rug and put a coffee table of practicality on top of that rug to better mask the bulge of stories hidden underneath. But like all things, the truth comes out, sort of.

Let's say you're on the train, the bus, the local public transport, whatever, or even sitting down alone at a restaurant or cafe at lunch break, and suddenly you see your "friend"from high school or college, maybe even elementary school, who knows, or maybe it's that one girl you kept smiling at in that old place you used to work at. The point is, they aren't your closest of friends, they aren't really friends enough to be called friends, but you know each other. You know each other well enough to tell half-truths and one-sided stories to each other. 

These are your familiar strangers, the ones who will ooh and aah at your stories, the ones you choose to tell, the ones you paint with such vibrant color. These are the people who will only take what you give them and ask no questions, they will not care enough to ask, nor will they care enough to remember. But will you care? Nope. Because all you really needed was SOMEONE, ANYONE, to talk to, to tell your hidden stories to. Someone you won't see everyday, someone who doesn't KNOW the entire story of your life, someone who will listen and laugh, and walk away after thinking of how adorable it all sounded but will forget it the next second.

I thank the Lord, or whatever being you believe in, for these familiar strangers, and maybe, you could be one of my familiar strangers, too.