Part One

When I was little, my church had a secret Santa for all the kids. This boy named Josh drew my name out of the offering plate and gave me a rag doll. It sounds simple, just a lone little rag doll. I named her Molly and for years she was my favorite. In fact, I still have her. She’s in a box in my closet waiting for me to pass her on to my future daughter. She’s been through a lot. There’s a coffee ring on her face, just big enough to encapsulate one safety eye and drawn-on nose. Someone gave me a gift and it turned out to be more than just a gift, it was a friend.

Fast forward and I’m the vice-president of my high school’s key club chapter. It’s one of the few things I miss about high school. Spending my time doing something that mattered, volunteering, instead of sitting around wishing something cool would happen was so rewarding. Knowing that whatever I was doing that day was going to help at least one person (or animal). Someone somewhere was benefitting from my actions. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.

Last year at Christmas, my family pulled a name off of the Angel Tree at our local post office. It didn’t seem like much in theory. You pull a card off tree shop for them and then return it all to the post office so it can be delivered. Normally, everyone takes the children’s names. My mom and I had just been talking about how we all tend to forget the elderly, who need just as much help as children. So the name we chose was that of a 91 year old man. We gave him a Christmas and the best part was that no one knew who was behind it.

My entire life, I’ve always loved helping and volunteering. Even in college now, my majors are geared towards helping whoever I can. That’s what I want to do, and this is where I need your help.

I found the “word” sonder on Pinterest. While it’s not a real word, it describes a feeling that at some point or another we have all come across. Sonder is the realization that everyone around you, every passerby and stranger, is living a life just as vividly and (extra)ordinary as yours. I’ve always thought that everyone should get the chance to tell their story, if they so desire. So that is what we’ll do.

As I travel or just generally wander around, I want to actually talk to people. I want to know about the shop keepers and the drummers at the drum circle, the single father at the park and the maintenance man at the mall.

Here’s why I need you. I need to start somewhere, and there is no way I can meet everyone in the world. There’s over 7 billion of us and I only come across an exemplary small percentage of people. So send me your stories. If you so desire, you can send me a picture of yourself (or of something that represents you) along with your story. It doesn’t have to be your life story. It could be a story about the time you fell off the monkey bars or the day you met your favorite band. It could even be a story you’ve written.

Just let me know.

With the permission of the person sending me the story/picture, they will all be posted on our tumblr where we can share our stories far and wide.

This is part one. 

To submit your story send an email with your preferred name, picture, and story to the email address located in the 'contact section'. Eventually, there will be a 'submit' button on our tumblr page.