StoryCorps

My friend Courtney and I did a really cool thing on Sunday - a StoryCorps interview! I heard that StoryCorps was in town and started thinking about how cool it would be to do an interview so I went online and signed up for one of the very few spots left. I am so very glad I did.

Courtney is one of the first people I met in Knoxville outside of work. We were both renting apartments in this older house that had been converted to apartments. Courtney has a great spirit and a contagious love of life and we became instant friends. We also came to bond over having a disability.

Courtney is one of those people with whom you are able to have really intense meaningful conversations and then the next minute fall out of your chair laughing at something. I love the time spent with her and my life is better because she has been in it. She has often said that we are old souls. That term definitely describes Courtney. She has a depth that most of us do not and a compassion for others that is unparalleled.

Since Courtney and I have been friends (since 2001!), we've both had to face our individual disability and limitations. She is one of the first people that I really felt I could talk to openly and honestly about my disability. I have a lot of people in my life that I can talk to about spina bifida, but there is something about knowing that the person you are talking to has been there. Maybe it's not spina bifida that she has experienced firsthand, but she knows what it is like to have your body fail you. And the fact that we share that feeling means that we can connect on a different level.

So, with the help of another friend, I came up with some questions to guide our StoryCorps interview. And it was really cool. Courtney has a great story and I'm glad some of it has been recorded.