Thanks to everyone who took a break from their Christmas shopping and holiday errands to hang out with us at the Swedish Club and hear stories about secrets.
Benny started us off with a hysterical story about coming out to his parents, but subtly trying to instruct his family beforehand in how to receive surprising news with grace and patience. I can’t do the story justice here, but I hope he tells it at The Moth one day and we get to hear it on the radio.
Jackie, our first first-timer of the night, was next with a great story of waking up naked in a living room in the middle of an Anna Karenina book club meeting. My secret dream! How does waking up naked in the middle of a book club keep not happening to me?
Dave, our favorite Canadian, was next with a story of learning how to fly a Learjet with flash cards. Yes, I know Canada has 41.5 million people, and it may sound strange that Dave is our favorite out of all those. But if you’d heard the last couple of stories he’s told with us, he would probably be your favorite too.
Craig was our second first-time teller and told a story about breaking one of those fancy nutcrackers in Joanne Fabrics when he was four years old. He never told his mom what he did, and that secret has stayed inside him all these years later. It’s funny how sometimes the smallest things stay with us for decades. If I were Craig’s dad, I would have absolved him immediately since I’ve always felt those nutcrackers were the Chucky dolls of Christmas. If you wanted to terrify me as a kid, all you’d have to do is line up some nutcrackers a shelf in my bedroom and let me spend the next eight hours being chased around my dreamscape by them.
Lisa, our next first-timer, told a beautiful story about her first Christmas without her mom. It was a story about grief and what to do with it. Do we allow others to support us, or do we stick to ourselves as a way of not burdening others? I loved the way Lisa took us on the journey of how she came to decide who to spend Christmas dinner with. It let us know that there’s no right or wrong way to grieve, and the only way through is to put one foot in front of the other, trusting in where that takes you.
Bob was next with a story about a road trip through a blizzard in South Dakota in a cargo van with a weak heater and three on the tree. If you don’t know “three on the tree” means, then Bob and I are older than you by at least a couple of decades. Three on the tree means the gear shift is on the steering column and notoriously hard to operate. There are no numbers or letters on the stick, so you never really know what gear you’re in until you’re going up a hill and realize you are definitely in the wrong gear. Luckily, Bob ended up making it to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD where his parents picked him up. Maybe next month we’ll hear a story about that famous corn palace 🙂
Todd was up next with a story that begins with bar hopping in Ballard and ends with a discovery that we are only as sick as our secrets. And a secret shared is a secret halved. The trick to sharing secrets is finding the right people to share them with. Thank you, Todd, for trusting us with your secrets.
Kate was next with a story about shoplifting from the nickel box at her local thrift store when he was a kid. She felt so guilty afterward that she went back later and snuck the item back into the nickel box. Way to go Kate for doing the right thing! I am still feeling guilty over stealing a pair of 3-inch scissors from a kid in fourth grade in Fairbanks, AK. I still have those scissors. Should I Google him and mail them back? Thanks to Kate, I now have a holiday problem to ponder.
Ashley closed our show with a great story of how to wrestle an alligator in high heals. I’m not going to tell you how it’s done because I want all of you who missed the show to regret not getting this important information. I sure hope you don’t fall into a bayou in your ball gown one day.
Thanks again to everyone who shared a story and everyone who supported them. Next month’s theme is Pressure – Stories of getting talked into things. I’ve already heard from two people who are getting their stories ready for that one. I can’t wait to see who else besides me has a history of getting talked into stuff.
Have a great rest of the holidays. Our next free online workshop is Sunday, January 4 at 1pm.
I’m always available by phone if you need help on a story and can’t make it to the workshop.
I hope to see a bunch of you on January 15th 🙂
Paul
Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com
Fresh Ground Stories 