This was a big week.
Events included:
-My grandpa got remarried.
-Dad, Uncle Jon, and I broke in an decorated Grandpa's and Lavern's car.
-My dad flew in
-My dad flew back home
-Participated in a two-day storytelling conference
-Had a therapy dog Gig with sugar that took 5 hours of my day
-Had at least 2 classes everyday
-Had an evening event for wellness week at work every night and Sat. during the day
-A date
-RA buddy movie night
People I met at the Storytelling Conference:
-Relationships facilitated by a chocolate muffin -
Andy Offut Irwin - who has a silly putty voice, connects with all ages, is easy to tease, and would be stealing my copyrighted line if he ever mentions a muffin in his stories in the future.
Kevin Kling - who has a soft spot for dogs, has a basset hound whose learning abilities "start slow and taper off from there," and gave me a new name for food-stealing Garcelle: Counter Terrorist.
Jerry Ingham - who has decided that I am his new sweetheart... if only the younger guys flirted with me like the old ones...
Donna Ingham - who is the biggest liar in Texas.
Granny Sue - who has an 18 year old daughter in Nashville working with a record company on her first album.
-Carol - who climbed Everest, and the highest peaks in all seven continents - yes even Antarctica
-Pauline - who wouldn't be my friend because she said she had onion breath. I replied that that was exactly the kind of friend I particularly needed because I could always know where to find her... after that comment, she agreed to be my friend.
-Sandra - who works in a hospital laboratory and has good stories about accidents involving peeing in a cup)
-Biki - who is a stone carver and understands the language of stones
-Regi Carpenter - one of the bravest people I know, and sweet. She has a little kid/innocent-like giggle.
-Clive - who has a Taylor guitar and tells great cowboy poetry and stories
- Margie - (pronounced M-arg-ee with a soft g not jee) who travels all over the world and takes portraits of gummy bears in front of historical landmarks and artistic landscapes.
- Marina - who went back to school after the kids were grown and worked REALLY HARD and graduated.
- Penelope - who wrote and submitted a story into a contest and won an award - it was a very very brave story.
Storytelling conferences are incredible. You will inevitably have an intimate conversation with a stranger, come to love them simply for being human and allowing you to see that, and then leave them and maybe never see them again. And it is beautiful. Every moment with people is a gift- raw, full of laughter and tears, real (even if the tale is not entirely), and temporary. My time at the conference began to feel like a beam of light, only there for the moment and could not be held for long, but can be remembered through, of course, a story. Each person listed above shared part of their story with me, and now they are part of mine, and I am part of theirs. We created a web in that conference and somehow we all became entwined into a family even with those I never got to meet.
Miracles:
-A lunch in the Skyroom with my Dad
-A clear, blue sky wedding
-An unlocked back door
-A chocolate muffin combining with early-morning lack of inhibition, an old man, and a quick wit
-Sitting next to Regi at the opening keynote speaker Friday morning
-My grandma's car working as i needed it to go all over the place this week
-Flexible and understanding teachers
-My very compassionate storytelling coaches from my storytelling class
-A well-timed willow tree gift from Stacy
-Reassurance from a professor who let me know that I was okay when I wasn't so sure
-Good health through a highly stressful week on my body
-A full week of being with RA and HA buddies every day...
-That feeling that I have a spot at the table, that I am wanted, that I have a voice, that I have something to offer, that I am one of them, and we are an us
-An almost full moon at almost that day
-A kind and giving roommate
-Fun creative residents
-A story by Kevin about compassionate landscapes, the magic-pill, and fairy tales, to help me sleep better someday soon and to heal and offer hope.
-Parents who let me talk... and get really excited about the simplest of things
-The fact that Counter-Terrorists exist. Cookies, kitchens, and cooks beware!
-Stories, people who tell them, people who listen, and a place and time to honor them all at once.
Deep breath. I needed this week. I needed this week, God knew, because this Friday is that day. That one day that still haunts me.
