So my X is a spinner of stories; a master of the semantics and what I call “tricky words.”
In fact, he is doing this shit to me right now. Our custody agreement states if someone ends up with 3 weekends in a row, they switch the last weekend with the other party. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, which of course, against the mediator’s advice, he insisted it starts the Friday when school is out, I end up with 3 weekends in a row. I offered to switch the first of the 3, since I will take the full holiday he had a tantrum about.
Of course, with the calendar the way it is, I have the 5th weekend in Oct., so we couldn’t switch for the weekend before. I suggested other dates.
He comes back with his interpretation of “switch” — saying custody of the kids switches parents and he does not need to “compensate” me with swapping weekends. Huh??? Ummm, if it was a reverse situation he would be having a tantrum if I tried to pull this shit on him. He said “switch” and “swap” or “trade” are all different and he doesn’t need to give up a weekend. However he will just keep the one I offered up. WTF?
Again, this petty crap has to go to attorneys.
I digress. The point of this all was I was telling LOML today how ironic things are. I had been the receiver of spun words and stories for so long I’ve become a master at it myself. Joking of course.
But, the stories I “spin” are stories are about people. Given a sketch of their lives, I create their persona; I tell their story to an audience, in writing. In a way it’s spinning it — but in a positive light. I want the reader to be interested in the person and want to read more. Or, as one of the directors said to me last winter, when I wrote an extensive nomination for our CEO — “If I didn’t know her, I would want to meet her.”
I wrote another nomination for our CEO last week, which was a story about her leadership skills in the community. Today I wrote the story of a domestic violence victim, who is homeless, living in her car with her two kids. She said “I’d rather be living in my car than living where I was.” This is the story of bravery and love for her children. It’s one that I just needed to pull the pieces together and draw in the reader. It could mean a better life for her and her kids. It’s the way I spin it.
X spins the words for his own sick pleasure, to make himself feel smarter and better than everyone else. I want to think I spin the words to highlight the story — to compel the reader to take action.
And I tell the story. I don’t like to think that I’m spinning a story. But I’m telling it in a way to engage the reader.
We all have stories to tell. And the stories I weave, are perhaps, so I don’t need to delve into mind?
swimmingthroughdays 