The Power of Stories to Help us Remember

Mar 19

This past weekend, my family gathered to celebrate the life of my father, Alberto Jose Jimenez—Grampy Dad, Al— on (what would have been) his 81st birthday. It’s been six years since he died, but he still fills the room when we come together. Each of us shared stories—some sweet, some laugh-out-loud funny, and some that carried the weight of his larger-than-life, sometimes domineering personality. We reminisced about his booming voice, his strong opinions, and his fierce and unending love for us all. The energy of our family has shifted in his absence—to a calmer matriarchy consisting of my mother and my three sisters and the bond we share has only deepened through the sharing of ongoing life experiences and processing our grief with these stories (and butterfly sightings). It was a reminder that grief isn’t just about loss; it’s also about connection, about keeping someone alive in the retelling of who they were and what they meant to us.

As I reflected on our time together, I was reminded of a book that my dear friend Jill gave me, Marc Yaconelli’s , Between the Listening and the Telling, How Stories Can Save Us. He speaks about the power of simply holding space for someone else’s story—without fixing, without matching, without needing to solve. Sitting with my family, I saw how true that is. It’s so easy to feel the urge to act when we hear someone’s pain or grief, but often, the greatest gift we can offer is our presence—our loving, undistracted, fully open presence. In sharing stories of my dad, we weren’t just remembering him; we were giving each other permission to feel, to process, to grieve, and to celebrate. And in that shared storytelling, we weren’t just honoring his life—we were strengthening the powerful love that continues to bind us together.