" How many times have I heard that, and how many times have my little anecdotes been pushed back and eventually suppressed? "Does this story have a point?" That question has been posed to me many times in my life when I tell my mom or a friend a story that happened in my life and they do not see how my story affects them so they fail to see the purpose of the story. Sometimes though, my tales are only told in order to help myself, to allow myself to work out things in my head or to see where things went wrong which is how I am able to know exactly how Norman feels when he is driving around and around the lake just thinking of the story he might tell his friends and family.
When Norman's friends and family were not there he was unable to work things out correctly. Sometimes the people I need to talk to are just unreachable and the best thing I know to do is to try talking to myself but pretending that they are there by trying to imagine what they would say to me which is exactly what Norman did. Trying to talk it out is something that is very difficult for many people because they don't know the words to use, but once they words start coming and the emotions start to flow then they are able to see, oh so clearly, the solution to their problems. I know that it sounds crazy but when I am having a rough day, all I want to do is tell someone, not so that I can have sympathy or advice but just so I can have someone there to listen and let me clear my thoughts. Even though Norman's friends are too busy to listen to his story he pretends like they are there because it is like therapy to him.
When my parents were getting a divorce I did not want to talk about it at first, I mean why would I? Why would I want to talk about the hurt and pain that it not only caused me, but caused my brother and parents as well? It was painful to me as a child because it made me wonder if everything was my fault or did I just happen to be the straw that broke the camel's back.