Story Telling

It's an art.

I'm always trying to get better at it, as I do tend to prattle on and I figure my audience might as well enjoy themselves. I try to figure out how to make people laugh, how to hook people in, and how not to get caught up in the details of things-- "So this one time my mom... well, he wasn't really my mom's friend, I think he was a coworker of my mom's? Or maybe the boyfriend of one of her coworkers? Anyway, somehow my mom knew him... wait, no, it was my Aunt's pastor! Okay, so this one time my Aunt's pastor..." because I value storytelling as a medium to express myself.
There are a lot of terrible stories out there. Not stories that are difficult to hear or stories of the baser nature of man, though those do exist, but stories that are uninteresting and poorly told.

 

God, Mary, NOBODY CARES.

I have a quiet voice. I always have and sometimes I think I always will. I can project (as my roommate who graciously endured me singing "Just Around the Riverbend" from Pocahontas this morning can tell you), but I don't always like how it makes me sound, especially in large settings. Sometimes I think having a quiet voice is an especially effective communication tool.

That said, I wish my voice had a really interesting quality. Like Eartha Kitt.

I also tend to live my life in a way that will lead me to have more interesting stories. Want to pretend to be pregnant to research crisis pregnancy centers and abortion misinformation? Do I! Should I be a narc as a covert underage buyer of alcohol working with the cops at 16? Absolutely. Would I help hang this sign up on a roof in Vermont, even though it's slick with snow and there are high winds and no handrails? Yes, please!

If I have to have an average voice, God, at least let me tell good stories. Just maybe not quite as good as this.