With the holidays quickly approaching, now is the perfect time for me to remember that I don’t have to correct my family members while they’re telling a story. The wise people who taught me this party trick also shared a phrase with me that really helped in those early days of my tongue biting. We’ve chatted about this before, Friends. The phrase is, “How important is it?”

TeamC, there was a time when I thought the details were important. Very important. If G-Man said “300,” and it was really 500, “Now, that’s a big difference! I have to help the man out!” But the thing is, it’s really not. The difference between three hundred and five hundred may be important when we’re talking about a medication dose for a baby, but it is almost…dare I say never, important when someone else is speaking. This isn’t pharmacology—it’s a story! A tale, if you will. My only job is to let the storyteller tell it however they’d like to tell it. 

Now, if the punchline is that our friend started getting chased by a bull in Spain because he had on a red shirt and my spouse begins the story with, “David had on a blue shirt that day,” I might offer up the word “red” as a helpful reminder because the shirt color actually matters later in the story. But the fact remains, Team—whether I chime in or I don’t—the mistake will be discovered eventually and G Man will most definitely tell the story better the next time.

I’d rather be a person who helps someone tell a story than a person who corrects someone telling a story. I’m not being “helpful” when I play editor or historian—I’m being annoying. Again, it’s a friggin’ story, not an official statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I can sit back and enjoy the tale as it’s told and hope that my family offers me the same courtesy when I butcher the heck out of my retelling of the past. 

Team, please don’t forget to share this post with the editors and historians in your life! And I’d like to do a quick shout-out to all the Veterans that are listening today—Happy Veterans Day and thank you so much for your service. Next week we’ll be chatting about both Thanksgiving and thankstaking.  Be sure to tune in, until then TeamConfessioner, have a wonderful week!