The interviewing process is something that I looked forward to completing. Proceeding with the creative non-fiction option, I chose to interview my mom, Brenda. I conducted many previous interviews, but this was my first time interviewing my mom. Moreover, it was my first time interviewing someone about an issue that held significant value and was full of emotion. I was somewhat apprehensive and hesitant about approaching my mom to go through with this, knowing her deep and secretive connection to her brother. Prior to conducting the interview, my mother was open about her brother’s disease, but she never revealed the process she had endured through the journey of his diagnosis. This, to me, was the most significant struggle of the interviewing process. I wasn’t sure if the questions I was going to ask would pain her or hurt her in some way. This is something I never intended to do; however, throughout the interview I sadly watched her eyes well up with tears, her head sink down with guilt, and her shoulders tense up with anxiety. I, unintentionally, dug up archaic tragedies, events, and feelings that had been hidden away in her dusty attic of childhood memories.
Although I felt awkwardly responsible for causing my mother to rehash all of these painful experiences, the end result was cathartic for her. I watched her transition from feeling sorrow to feeling relief. After each interview session with her, she would end by saying, “It’s nice to talk about this.” Hearing her say this was, undoubtedly, the most rewarding aspect of the interview. Often times, it’s hard for us, as human beings, to open up old wounds and expose them for others to see, but my mother was courageous enough to let go and allow me to witness her past. I am grateful for her willingness to trust the system and for giving me the opportunity to create a worthwhile non-fiction story from it. I treasure her vulnerability.
Reflecting back, I have a newfound appreciation for the interviewing process and I believe that there is something new to be discovered through each encounter.
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