Collective Stories

I love when
A family knows all its stories.
Listen to a mother 
Telling her friend 
About her son's teeth,
And you'll hear the son's sibling 
Filling in the details.
Unprompted.
As if it were their own
Recollection.
The symptoms of illness while 
They carried him 
In their womb.
As if the suffering were shared.
After all,
It is.
Isn't it?
A part of their
Collective stories.