From The Department Of Best Lines And Descriptions

I was thinking about this whole Kerry Talk Story! thing that I do and recalled this quotation from Nora Ephron's Heartburn:

Vera said: "Why do you feel you have to turn everything into a story?"
So I told her why:
Because if I tell the story, I control the version.
Because if I tell the story, I can make you laugh, and I would rather have you laugh at me than feel sorry for me.
Because if I tell the story, it doesn't hurt as much.
Because if I tell the story, I can get on with it. (176-177)

I think I first picked up this book when I was 11 or 12--totally did not get much of it, but I did take that passage to heart. I turn everything into a story. I think sometimes it seems as if I don't take things seriously or feel deeply, but I do. Telling stories is a defense mechanism. There's not much I can control in life, but by telling stories I control others by amusing them and perhaps keeping them from taking too close a look at me.