Family stories get a little bigger every time they’re told. That’s not lying. It’s how love edits.

A story that gets retold drifts, almost always toward whatever made it worth telling. The fish gets bigger because the point was the joy and not the measurement. That kind of growth is a sign a family likes its own history enough to keep polishing it.

Listen to a familiar family story this week and notice which part has grown. Then ask who told it first, which is usually the better question anyway.