Audio Story Six

http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/barbara-cooper-and-her-mother-jody/

          For my second weekly story, I chose to listen to an interview headed ‘It’s a premature aging disorder…” on StoryCorps. The recording consists of a mother, Jody, talking to her daughter, Barbara, about what it’s like to live with Progeria. Progeria is a genetic disorder that consists of a rapid aging process, and results in a short life expectancy. However, as Barbara points out, she doesn’t fit into all of the categories – for instance, she’s tall, has hair, and doesn’t have heart complications – and considers herself to be lucky. At this point (it is never said how old Barbara is), she has gone mostly blind, and says that she remembers her reflections from a long time ago, and will, therefore, be forever young. Her mother conveys a story of not wanting to let Barbara rollerskate outside as child, but then realizing that she has to let her daughter experience the world for herself – she says it opened her eyes. You can hear a sniffle, as they agree that they’ve been through a wild ride.

          I’d heard of Progeria before, and that’s probably why I was curious to hear this interview. It flows really nicely, and has a natural and conversational feel to it. There’s back and forth banter between the mother and daughter, and it ultimately leads to a good story-telling experience. I was surprised, at the end, that the mother approached the subject that, if Barbara died first, how would she want to be remembered? While they probably spoke in equal parts, this made it clear that mother was the interviewer, and that she was willing to ask the questions necessary to get a good answer. After telling an anecdote of her daughter as a child, you can hear Jody get emotional, and sniffle a little bit, but she then gets cut off. It makes you wonder if there was more emotion after that (if so, why wasn’t it included?), or if that was all there was (then why include it?). The story ends on an uplifting note, with Barbara saying how her mother has always been there for her, followed by shared ‘I-love-you’ ‘s .