Today I met with a friend for coffee at the local bakery. An elderly gentleman named Ron asked if he and his friend could share our 4 top table with us and we welcomed them. He wondered if he could share a resent story with us, He wanted to tell us a tragedy to triumph story with us. He said his wife had recently passed, and that when they got married they had used a local artist/jeweler to make their rings-rose gold and rubies for hers and regular gold and rubies for his. After she passed he'd lost his ring, he'd lost so much weight that it had slipped off somewhere. He revisited all of his previous steps of that day he lost his ring and could not find it. He and his wife shared two Rottweilers and one day, as he was preparing for guests to visit he found a pile of poop behind the guest bed. He was really suprised as this was the very first time either of the dogs ever pooped inside. He has Parkinsons and his hands shook slightly as he told this story. He said that he he was not able to get to the leakage that had run under the bed, so he had disconnected the mop top from the mop handle and gently reached under to wipe up what had migrated under the bed. When he pulled out the mophead, his ring was inmeshed in the strands. You see, one thing lead to another. His tradegy of losing the ring, then his faithful dog pooping in the guest room leading him right to the ring. He laughed. We all fell in love with the story teller.
Storytelling is a gift we all have in us. As children we tell stories, we make up invisable friends and name turtles. We create havens we call forts out of palm fronds, coconuts and flotsam. We overstate things at times. We florish on stories that seem dull. We express some stories so vividly that we captivate others in the web. Stories are everything in our life. Tragic as well as awesome. Depressing as well as inspiring. But we have to listen. We have to take the time to pay attention. In stories we find compassion, connection, understand and shared grief. Not only in small bites, but in big beautiful tales of life.
Books tell stories. We learn to read and read to learn. We read to escape. We read to understand. Books are the stories of life and evolution. They teach us math, sociology, science and so much more. And all of them come from stories. The story of Madame Currie, Albert Einstein, Steven Job, even Elon Musk. He was influenced greatly by stories of the inventer Nikolai Tesla. They all have a story of life, of what makes them tick, what made they step outside the box and be exceptional. And maybe they were influenced by stories as children. Something that made they curious. Something that tweeked their thoughts and created new ideas that they shared with others. And became amazing people and inventers.
So, next time someone wants to share a story, sit down with a cup of coffee/tea and listen and be influenced. Be present. Be respectful. Create a new story!
