Once Upon a Wise

I’ve always been fascinated by people who say nothing interesting ever happens to them.

Really?

Because I can go to Publix for milk and come home with three unanswered questions, a new character, and an entire backstory for two people who were arguing near the deli.

Maybe it’s the writer in me.

I notice things.

Not necessarily important things, either. I notice the woman talking loudly on speakerphone while everyone around her pretends not to listen. The couple sitting across from each other at dinner who haven’t exchanged a word in twenty minutes. The person who walks into a room already irritated and seems determined to recruit everyone else into their bad mood.

And don’t even get me started on what people will tell a complete stranger.

I’ve heard stories that began with information I absolutely did not request and ended twenty minutes later with me knowing somebody’s divorce history, current financial situation, problematic sister-in-law, and what happened at Thanksgiving in 2019.

All I said was, “Good morning.”

But I love it.

People are fascinating.

We’re funny and complicated. We contradict ourselves. We say we’re fine when we’re clearly not. We fall in love with people we probably shouldn’t. We stay too long. Leave too soon. Say the wrong thing. Occasionally say exactly the right thing. And sometimes we make decisions so questionable that somewhere, a writer is quietly thinking:

Oh, I’m using that.

Not the person, of course.

But the moment?

Absolutely.

I’ve come to believe that’s part of being a storyteller. You don’t necessarily need an extraordinary life to find stories. You just have to pay attention to the very ordinary people living theirs.

There’s inspiration everywhere.

Especially near the Publix deli.