One thing I’ve been trying to do lately is take more chances. Both my parents were old when they had me and they grew up during the Depression so a strong sense of fear and dread was instilled in me at an early age. My father told me a man could drown in a teaspoon of water and my mother made me learn how to tap dance in case they both died and I was forced to sing and dance on the corner to earn my keep in the orphanage. Every week I learned a new way to die or go broke.

Naturally, risk-taking was frowned on. Unfortunately, neither of my parents died when I was eight and I never got to hang out with the cool kids at the orphanage so all of those terrifying what-ifs just sunk down inside me, waiting to bubble up to the surface when I became an adult.

Years later, when my son was turning 10, I was went to a toy store in downtown Olympia to get him a telescope for his birthday. It was a big store and I didn’t know where anything was so I went straight to the counter to ask if they had telescopes, something he’d been wanting for months. When the woman behind the counter turned around I was speechless. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

“Can I help you?” she said.

I said, “Uh, my son…uh, is…he’s turning….uh.”

Not only can I not remember how old my kid is I can’t even remember what I came in for. So I grabbed the first thing I saw just to give myself something to do. It was an ant farm. There was a big display of ant farms on the counter and I bought one because I couldn’t think of anything else to do.

A few days later I went back determined to buy a telescope and to try to start up a conversation with The Most Beautiful Woman In The World. But the same thing happened. She said, “Hi, did your son like the ant farm?” I stammered out, “Yeah, he loved it. Absolutely loved it.”

This was a total lie. Taran had no idea what to do with an ant farm. In fact, it didn’t even come with ants. We had to order them through the mail so basically I bought him a pile of sand for his birthday. And a promise to get him a telescope the next week “when they were in.”

I finally managed to say, “What he really wanted was a telescope. Do you have any of those?”

The Most Beautiful Woman In The World said they didn’t sell telescopes so I bought another ant farm. Or actually, another pile of antless sand pressed between two sheets of plastic. Because I couldn’t just say, “Hey, you sound like an interesting person would you like to get a cup of coffee sometime?” I ended up pretending to be part of this insane family that spent every evening staring at empty ant farms.

The next week I went back determined to have a non-ant related conversation with this woman. You know what happened? I bought two ant farms! I told her it was for two of Taran’s friends who also loved ants. Now I was pretending to live in a neighborhood filled with kids who can’t wait to get their hands on mail-order bugs.

Finally, months later, we met again outside the toy store and became friends. We never dated but she was one of the smartest, funniest people I ever knew and I was happy I got to be in her circle of friends for two years until she moved to Boston to get her masters degree in writing.

It’s been 14 years since I bought all those ant farms and I’m slowly getting better at taking risks. Last fall I asked a woman out for tea and she accepted. We ended up dating for three months and it was very sweet. Even though we’re just friends now I feel like I did something really big in just asking her out. Maybe the world isn’t as dangerous as I think it is. My mother would be upset that I don’t remember how to tap dance but I’ve picked up some other skills since then so I think I can still earn my keep at the orphanage.

If you’ve read all the way to this point then you deserve to finally be told the theme for next month’s show which is: Leap of Faith – Stories of Taking Chances. Tell us a story about how a time when you jumped in with both feet and hoped for the best.

Remember to practice out loud on friends or pets and keep it under 8 minutes.

The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later.

Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, March 26, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

Paul

On the big list I carry around in my head called, “Things I’m Not Proud Of” near the top is the conviction that I will never overcome whatever horrible thing is going on at the moment.

When people were talking about layoffs at work in 2008 I started looking for campgrounds to park in because I assumed I would end up living in my car again. When a seven-year relationship ended in 2010 I told no one for months because I thought people would say that I was lucky she even wanted me in the first place. When I had to tell my family that I was going to have a child I assumed my father would tell me how ashamed he was that I had been so irresponsible. Imagine my surprise when none of those things happened. I was never laid off and last year I actually got a promotion. Since I broke up I have had more success writing and telling stories than any other time in my life. Every time someone comes up to me after Fresh Ground Stories and says they had a wonderful time I feel appreciated. I’ve also had some romantic encounters that make me feel like I don’t have to be anyone’s second choice. And my dad? He never once told me he was ashamed of me. He supported me through years of single parenting and we ended up being closer than I ever thought we could be.

And that is the theme for our next show: The Best Bad Thing – Stories of Bad Things That Turned Out Good. Tell us a story about how things turned around after you were convinced they wouldn’t.

Remember to practice out loud on friends or pets and keep it under 8 minutes. The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later. Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, February 26, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

Paul
freshgroundstories@gmail.com.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the show last week. Yes, all 150+ of you. It was our biggest turnout ever. If you were there you’ll know we learned some important things that night:

1. Never go to Costco with Renata. She nearly derailed the entire Mideast peace process over by the VitaMix demo.

2. If you ever overdose on St. John’s Wart you should go to the emergency room and consult the janitor.

3. Gay square dancing is way more complicated than straight square dancing.

4. The phrase “Caramel Latte” is a great euphemism for almost anything.

Before I say any more I want to thank all the tellers who got onstage: Bill, Renata, Connie, Laura, Marcella, Erin, Ginger, Tracey, Taran, Kauni, Stacy, Vanda, Chris S, Tom, Chris M, Elliot, Norm and David. I’m grateful to all of you.

I’m also grateful for the people in the audience who were able to stay past 8:30 and support the folks who practiced their story all month and weren’t able to get up before our usual ending time.

I did let the show go longer than usual, almost an hour longer. I’m going to keep it to our regular 90 minutes in the future so no one has to decide whether to stay for one more story or go home and pay the babysitter. An hour and a half feels like the perfect length so we’ll stick to that as much as we can. I know it was crowded and I’m not sure what to do about that but the energy was great and it was a perfect start to the new year.

I do have an audio recording of everyone’s story. If you want a copy of yours email me and I’ll get it out to you. I only give out recordings to the person who told the story because most stories are pretty personal and the tellers don’t want the on the internet. Sometimes I’ll post a story on our Facebook page if I have permission.

If you have a story you’d like to tell that’s longer than eight minutes or simply isn’t a good fit for FGS there are two other great places to tell stories:

A Guide to Visitors

http://www.drunkentelegraph.com/

Contact them to see how to get on their shows. They are good people. Lots of folks from FGS end up telling at both those shows. The Seattle Storytellers Guild page has lots of other links and resources for either listening to live stories or telling them:

http://3882b0.pancakeapps.com/ssg/home.html

Ok, that’s all for now. Give me a few days to get the official invite out for our next show on February 26. The theme is The Best Bad Thing – Stories of Bad Things That Turned Out Good.

Let me know if you have any questions. See you on the 26th 🙂

Paul

freshgroundstories@gmail.com

There are few things that make me feel better about life than getting a second chance. I always assume that I have one chance at anything and if I mess it up it I’m done for good. But every now and then I’m reminded that the world is full of second chances and that sometimes my number comes up and I get another shot.

The first time I remember someone giving me a second chance was back in ‘94 or ‘95. I had said something rude or sarcastic to my friend Sarah and I knew I had to go back and apologize. I waited a day and then another day and then another day after that. I desperately wanted to apologize because she was a good friend and I knew I owed it to her but I kept putting it off because I was convinced she was going to end the friendship the next time she saw me. As bad as I felt for saying whatever it was I said I felt even worse about being told to my face that I wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.

Finally, I slunk back to her house and apologized. She said, “That’s ok. I figured you were just having a bad day.” What?! How could this be?? She had me dead to rights and let me off scot free.

Sarah, I am sure, does not remember this. And even though I had certainly been given second chances before in life this was the first time I remember feeling that I probably didn’t deserve one and got it anyway.

And that is the theme for our next show: Starting Over – Stories of Second Chances. Tell us a story about getting a second chance or simply starting over and what it’s meant to you ever since.

Remember to practice out loud on friends or pets and keep it under 8 minutes.

The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later.

Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, January 22, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

Paul

freshgroundstories@gmail.com.