Thanks to everyone for coming out and being part of such a great night at the Swedish Club. We had lots of new faces in the crowd and three first-timer tellers at the mic. Last Thursday was our 15th year, and each one of you made it special for me. Thank you all so much.

For the last three months, we’ve had so many people come to the shows that we’ve finally outgrown the Queen Anne Chabad. The rabbi at the Chabad was incredibly generous in letting us use their upstairs room to tell stories after Covid. But if you were at our February and March shows, you know we were packed in tight and running out of things for people to sit on. For the last two years, I’ve been driving up from Olympia with 16 chairs in the back seat and trunk of my car to add to the chairs at the Chabad. Then in February, I had to ask my girlfriend to cram 20 chairs in her car and meet me up there. Unsustainable! 

Luckily, the Seattle Swedish Club has just offered us their upstairs room as our new venue. If you’ve never been there, you’re in for a treat. The room is full of windows and has an amazing view of Lake Union. There’s an attached bar where happy hour starts at 6:00 on Thursdays, so you can have a drink and relax before and after the show. If you had trouble navigating the 18 steps to the upper room at the  Chabad, struggle no more! We have an elevator 🙂 I have friends who struggled with those stairs, and I’m so happy they can come back to the show now.

Best of all, though, is something I never thought we’d have. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Have you filled out your end-of-life paperwork in case you have a heart attack when you hear what I’m about to say?

We have free parking! Yes, free parking in Seattle. What is this, 1940? No, it’s 2025, and the Swedish Club has three parking lots with 109 total spots! Amazing, right? 

Now that I’m thinking of it. The parking is only the second-best part of our new home. The folks running the club are the best part. They’re letting everyone come to the show without being a member of the club. All they ask is that I keep asking for donations at the end of each show, but instead of handing the money over to them to pay for the room, I turn the donations into annual memberships and give them away to anyone who wants one. 

That’s right. If you come to the show, you could walk away with a free annual membership. Do you know what members get to do? They get to go to the annual ABBA night on the 25th! They also get to go dancing on Friday nights with live music and dinner. They get to take classes and come to the monthly pancake breakfast. They also get to just hang out in a nice, clean place with a beautiful view and read a book or work on their next story. 

If you can’t wait for a chance to get a free membership at the show, you can be a mensch and join on your own. FGS will always be free to attend, but if you’re looking for a nice place to hang out (with free parking), the Swedish Club is a great place to do that. Plus, you might run into me there, scribbling away at one of these thank-you emails.

Here’s the membership page if you’d like to join (you don’t even have to be Swedish). Scroll down to the bottom for the $50 social membership

https://www.swedishclubnw.org/become-a-member

Here’s the club’s main page so you’ll know where it is and what that lake view looks like:

https://www.swedishclubnw.org/

If you’ve ever tried to find an affordable place to hold an event in Seattle, you know what a great gift the club is giving us. I told them I’d buy as many memberships as I could each month and give them away to anyone who wants one. I also told them I’d help them promote the occasional Viking story night, so stay tuned for that. 

Now that the big announcement is out of the way, I want to thank everyone who got up and told a story that night.

Bob started us off with the story of his first car. I’m happy to report that it died soon after he bought it, and 50 years later, he got a story out of it. You’ll never get a story out of a car that starts every morning. Treasure the junkers that only start 50% of the time. And think of all the nice people you’ve met asking for a jump start in the Safeway parking lot.

Micah, a first-timer, was next with the story of how he started a human composting company and what it turned into. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard a story about death, but it is the first story we’ve heard about what happens after death. Micah’s story was full of heart and even some laughs. I can’t wait to die now and be turned into compost.

Tracey was next with a story about being in a relationship with someone who was clearly wrong for her. Relationships, like cars, are always more storyworthy when they aren’t working. Thank you, Tracey, for showing us the importance of finding someone who isn’t afraid to pee in the woods. 

Samantha, our next first-timer, shared the story of how she’s spent most of her life fainting just about everywhere she went. But then, when her father needed her most, she found a way to keep standing. It was a sweet and funny story, and made me hope she comes back and tells more with us.

Paul B was up next with a story of how running down Mailbox Peak with his dog Izzy made him realize how much of being a human is wrapped up in running through the forest with a dog. Two days later, Paul and Izzy were walking up Mailbox Peak again when he met a woman who was at the show and heard his story. She was so inspired by it, she decided to head up the mountain herself. Stories are magic, folks. 

BTW – Paul’s story on Out There podcast just won first place in the Top of the Rockies excellence in journalism awards. You know what that means? It means you hear award-winning stories at FGS 🙂

http://www.outtherepodcast.com/episodes/joshuatreedepression

Brian stepped up next with a story about how his younger brother Eric was the baseball star of the family when they were growing up. Not long ago, Brian tried to relive his glory days and started playing senior baseball (which sounds like an orthopedic surgeon’s dream). When his brother came out for a visit, Brian asked him to join his team for a bit. Did Eric still have it? Did Brian finally show up his brother on the ball field? 

Next up was a wonderful surprise. It was Eric, Brian’s brother! He was in town for a few days and came out to see what his big brother had been up to with this storytelling business. It turns out that storytelling runs in the family because Eric told a great story of his own and maybe started a new family rivalry.

Gretchen was next with a story about walking into her first lesbian dance bar in 1984. I love listening to stories that haven’t been told in almost half a century. A young woman teased me the other day about being born in the 1900s. I have to admit, it does feel like a few hundred years ago. So it was nice to hear a story from the 80s that was still important to someone. Gretchen’s story was so timeless that my son asked if he could share the recording with a friend of his who was going through the same thing. Stories are magic, folks.

Cliff told a story next about his 7-year-old son jumping off the high dive and then challenging him to do it. You know you can’t be scared to do something that your kid just did. But how do you do a thing when you’re genuinely scared to do it? This was a beautiful story of a tiny moment from over 20 years ago that Cliff and his son still remember. I love stories of those tiny moments. Stories don’t have to come from big life-changing events. They can come from pausing for a few seconds on a diving board, waiting to step off.

Saloni was our final teller with a story she told at a Moth Grand Slam last year. It was a story of trying to help a young woman get through school and into a better place in her life. Of course, if you’ve ever tried to help a teenager do anything, you know you’re probably going to spend the next two years biting your tongue and waiting for the rare moments when it’s safe to offer advice. The story was equal parts funny and touching and absolutely worthy of the Moth Grand Slam. Except we got to hear it for free and up close. Thank you, Saloni, for the perfect ending to the show that night.

That’s all I got for now. Our next show is May 15. The theme is “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” If your name was still in Mr. Coffee at the end of the show last Thursday, you have a guaranteed spot on any future show. I can’t always get everyone on stage who wants to tell, so if I bumped you last Thursday, let me know when you show up at any future show, and I’ll make sure you get on.

See you at the Swedish Club in May!

Write me directly if you have any questions. Meetup doesn’t always send me replies.

Paul

freshgroundstories at gmail dot com