Thanks to everyone who came out last Thursday and supported all the people who told stories. If you missed it, know that we had a great time. Was it hot upstairs at the Chabad? Yes! At least 2,000 degrees. Did I forget to bring a case of water for everyone because I knew it would be a hot one? You bet! Thankfully, we were able to open all the doors and windows and have a wonderful show. One of my bosses from work even showed up. She doesn’t think she’s my boss but she sorta is and I’m happy to support her Monday – Friday, 8-5. I was touched that she came out to support me on the third Thursday, 7-8:30.
Mike was our first teller of the night and even though he’s been telling with us for years we never knew what he did for a living. We found out that he’s an electrical engineer for Boeing. I was shocked. I thought he must drive an ice cream truck or something. You spend five minutes with Mike and you’re equal parts charmed, intrigued, and entertained. What have I been missing by not hanging out with engineers?? In addition to learning that Mike doesn’t hand out popsicles for a living, we learned what it means to be mentored and to have someone take you under their wing when you’re new and struggling on the job. Every single one of us could have used a mentor like the one Mike had at Boeing 40 years ago. As I’m writing this, I’m wondering how I could be more helpful to the people at my job who are just starting out.
Janet, our first first-timer of the evening started off by bringing us back to 1972 on a bus to Tel Aviv. Early in the story she casually mentioned, “Israel is forever at war but you don’t feel unsafe on a daily basis.” I was so struck by that that I wrote it down. I don’t know why I felt I needed to remember it but I know for some reason I do. The story itself was about belonging and perhaps learning to see that we can belong to people and places we don’t expect to. I just listened to her story again and it’s making me think about a lot of things I didn’t get the first time. I love stories like that. I hope Janet comes back to tells with us again.
Gretchen was next with a wonderful story about becoming an actor and pruning her rhododendrons. I know that sounds a little…disharmonious, but it worked. We all need a hard prune sometimes. Rhodies love it. They come back stronger and more beautiful after a hard prune. People do too, if they do it right. Gretchen is doing it right. Her life has been a series of hard prunes and she keeps getting stronger and more beautiful every spring.
Many of David’s stories lately have been centering around gratitude, especially for things you wouldn’t normally be grateful for. This month he told us about the time he came home to find his house had been burgled and how it ended up changing his life. It was one of those stories that I’m glad my son was there to hear. It’s something I should have been talking to him about all his life but probably haven’t, at least not enough. Thank you David for my own wake-up call..
Stephen, our second first-timer of the night, told a story that made me put down my pencil and forget to keep time. It was about the death of his mom and how it affected him at the time and years later. It wasn’t just a story of loss, it was a story of anger and having no place to put it. It was also a story of being too self-reliant. I know from experience that when you lose a parent, even if you have another parent still around, you feel like anything can be taken from you at any time so you better learn how to take care of yourself. This was a story I’ve had inside me for a long time. I’m glad Stephen told his that night. Maybe one day I’ll tell mine.
When Carmen began her story it was 101 degrees in Albuquerque and she was looking for a bus. By the time she’d maneuvered her way through and around all the characters you’d expect to meet in a bus station in Albuquerque in 101 degrees, she was a wise and confident woman. I love the turn her story took at the end. It made me smile and it made me sigh, two things I always hope to get at the end of a story.
Bruce told a story that really affected me. It was a story about something his dad said to him many years ago on a train platform in NYC. His dad’s been dead for decades but that moment has stayed with him all these years. Now that moment is with us. It was hard for me to speak when I walked up to the mic after Bruce was done. I kept thinking of all the things I wish I’d said to my dad and all the things I wish he’d said to me. Thank you, Bruce.
Todd told us about a trip to South America where everything and everyone seemed to be out to get him. Then, after a week of living in fear, he found himself on top of Machu Picchu where everything became clear. And when he came down off the mountain he noticed that the people didn’t seem to be out to get him anymore. And events didn’t seem to be conspiring against him anymore. And the only thing that really changed was him.
Ashley told us about going to college in Boston in the mid-80s when she kept being approached on the street by random people who asked if she’d ever heard of nam myoho renge kyo. Over and over again, wherever she went, people would come up and ask her if she’d heard of this thing called nam myoho renge kyo. By the end of the story, we learn that she didn’t need a Buddhist chant to feel good about herself. Which is to say that there are many ways to satori. Some get there by chanting and some get there from the ER.
Chris was next with a story that began by describing a series of dreams she had many years ago. Normally, I would tell someone to never share their dreams onstage. It’s about as interesting as sharing your dreams anywhere else. But Chris managed to be the first person ever to make it work in a story. She gets the gold medal for taking a chance and making it work. It turns out that when your subconscious wants to really get your attention it puts your mother in your dreams. Mine does too! Do our mothers all share space in our collective unconscious? Possibly. I know mine takes up a lot of space there even when I think I moved her out years ago.
Silvana, our final teller, spent 2 ½ hours driving down from Bellingham to tell an amazing story about Dick and Jane. I’m not old enough to have learned to read from the Dick and Jane books but a number of people in the audience were. I loved hearing them get jokes that went over my head. In the story, Silvana shared that she learned how to act like a human being from reading books. Her family wasn’t the best role model so she turned to books when she was growing up to learn about the world and how to fit into it. It reminded me a lot of my own childhood where sometimes the only safe place was in a book. Thank you Silvana for letting me know I’m not the only one who had to learn that.
I hope you can make it to our next show on August 17. The theme is “Close Calls – Stories of near misses.” I’ll get the invite out as soon as I can. Look for it in your inbox soon.
Our next free monthly workshop is Sunday, August 6 at 1:00 pm online. Click below for more info.
https://www.meetup.com/fresh-ground-stories-storytelling-workshop/events/294714421/
Write me directly at freshgroundstories at gmail dot com if you have any questions or you want help on story.
See you next month!
Paul
Fresh Ground Stories 