Thanks to everyone who came out on such a beautiful evening. I know you could have been out playing in the sunshine and I’m touched so many of you came out to support our tellers. Before I get to the wrap-up, I want to let you know that there’s another great storytelling show you can go to in Burien this Friday. Many of our tellers go back and forth between these shows and it’s always good to see people perform (or tell a story yourself) in different venues in front of different audiences.
So if you’re free this Friday, head on down to 7Stories in Burien 🙂
7Stories
June 23 · 7:00 – 8:30
Theme: Crossroads – U-turns, stories of changing your mind
https://burienculturehub.org/7stories
Now on with the wrap-up…
Richard, one of our newer tellers, started us off with a story about searching for enlightenment in the jungles of India when a monkey suddenly appears and shows him the way. I checked all the holy books on my shelf, the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao de Ching, Betty Crocker’s New American Cookbook, and Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. None of them contained as much wisdom as that monkey on the tree above Richard. Special thanks to Richard for allowing me to put him on first. It’s the toughest spot of the night and he did a great job starting us off.
David, our second teller, shared a story from decades ago when he hitchhiked alone across the country from Buffalo to California. As he talked about how much he learned about fear and trust by getting into strangers’ cars, I wondered what I missed by never hitchhiking. My mom always told me I’d end up in a shallow grave if I ever got into a stranger’s car. This meant that every time one of my beat-up cars broke down, I ended up walking miles down deserted roads on my way to a gas station. No way was I going to end up dead on the side of the road with my mother yelling at me. We’ve had a lot of our older tellers talk about hitchhiking but this was the first time I ever wondered what I missed out on by keeping to myself. Thank you David for making me see something in a new way.
Angela was next and our only first-timer of the night. She had called me a couple weeks earlier to get some feedback on her story and I couldn’t wait until she shared it with the rest of you. It was about the time in her early 20s when she and her husband were evangelical Christians and went to Juraez to become missionaries. They hadn’t been there long when she discovered that the missionaries who were already there were running guns for the cartels. The first thought I had when she told me this over the phone was, “Where in the Bible does it mention gun smuggling?” Smith & Wesson 3:15? Was there a missing gospel I hadn’t heard of? So again I went to the holy book section of my bookcase and pored over the Bible looking for the parable of the underground arms merchant. Nothing. Couldn’t find anything. Apparently, Angela also didn’t find anything either and ended up getting a divorce. She also ended up questioning some of the beliefs she had grown up with. Not all of them but a few. To me, that was the bravest thing of all in her story. The only way we know if our beliefs hold water is if we constantly question them, especially our most cherished ones. Thank you Angela for that wonderful story and showing us that true courage often comes quietly in the night when no one is watching.
Ashley, who is quickly becoming one of our regular tellers, told the story of going with her brother to Yosemite to climb Half Dome. At each section in the early part of the trip, they had to choose whether to free climb or use ropes. I’m always worried when I hear someone talk about free climbing because my fear of heights extends to just hearing the possibility of falling off a cliff. Naturally, my heart was in full freakout mode when Ashley got to the part where her backpack gets caught on a branch and she’s stuck five stories up holding on for dear life with no ropes to save her. It’s not often we hear a story where someone is literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Luckily, she lived to tell the story and now I’m wondering what adventure she will share with us next. A few months ago she shared a story about crashing her hang glider. Will next month bring a story of sky-diving when her main chute fails? Probably. Does she have a story about being chased by a shark? Possibly. A story about rescuing hostages from a bank heist? I hope so!
Mary was next with a story that began at her 40th high school reunion with her childhood friend Sue grabbing her hand and whispering, “That day on the river when we were 15? That was the scariest day of my life.” What a great start to a story! We then learned about the time Mary was tubing down The River of No Return when she got caught in a whirlpool and dragged to the bottom. What scared her even more was trying to sneak into the house afterward covered with cuts and bruises without being seen because her parents had forbidden her to float down that river. I remember trying to sneak into my own house at 15 and thinking my very existence depended on my mom not catching me. I’m happy to say that the only sneaking I do now is into the kitchen and hoping the dog doesn’t hear me. Weirdly, the tension is almost as high.
Bruce then told the very recent story of being there when his mother died a few months ago and how she still lives inside him. It was a complex story of family dynamics and how some things change as we get older and some things stay the same. His mom reminded me a lot of my mom and it made me feel good to see someone talking about the family ghosts that he carries around. I still wake up some nights in the middle of a dream where I’m arguing with my mom. I’m sure my son has those dreams about me. I hope by the time I’m gone those dreams are few and far between for him.
Renata was up next with a story about all the things she did to get out of boot camp when she was a new recruit in the Israeli Defense Force. If you know her, Renata is an army of one and can wriggle her way into or out of almost anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up writing a book about her all her adventures before she came to America. The first chapter would have to be, “A short history of butt nettles in the Israeli armed forces.”
Next up was my son Taran with a story about de-escalating a situation at a protest between him and an angry man with a gun. Unfortunately, he was not able to de-escalate my heart rate as I listened because I had only heard about half of that story before. I remember shaking my head as everyone behind me laughed when we found out that what gave my kid the courage to walk up to that guy was his experience working in childcare. I can kinda see that if you can talk down a petulant 8-year-old who doesn’t want to take a nap that you’re halfway to hostage negotiator. But that doesn’t make the dad in me any less worried about future armed conflicts on the streets of Olympia. I may have to connect him with an old friend who worked for the ATF so they can have the “What we learned from Waco” conversation.
Last up was me. I don’t usually tell at my own show but we had a couple tellers cancel and I was so touched by Taran’s story that I wanted to share the stage with him that night. Watching him be so relaxed at the microphone and hearing the applause he got afterward was the best Father’s Day gift I could have gotten. I hope more of you take your kids or parents to FGS. I started taking my son to FGS shows ten years ago and it played a big part in saving our relationship. He got to see me talk about the mistakes I’ve made in life and I got to see him talk about the fears and worries he had growing up. It’s always good to see someone you love share parts of their life you never knew about. It doesn’t take the place of honest conversation but sometimes it can lead to starting those conversations.
Thanks again to everyone who showed up and also to everyone who put some money in Mr. Coffee. It was an incredibly generous night and will go a long way toward making sure we can keep paying for the room.
Our next show is July 20. The theme is, “Wake Up Call – Stories of getting your act together.” I’ll get the invite out as soon as I can.
Take care!
Paul
freshgroundstories at gmail dot com
Fresh Ground Stories 