A strange idea popped into my head this morning. This is the first of what I expect will be a few installments.

"So, there I was…"

This phrase puts me in mind of my grandfather, a man who could tell a story with amazing skill. More than "Once upon a time," or (certainly) "In the beginning," these words make my ears perk up and my lips part in a smile.

Stories are important to me. The tales people share can be more important than the experiences we share together, more revealing than the actions I witness. Because telling a good story gives you the opportunity to share what’s most essential to you, what you like best and least about yourself, what you wish was different about the world or about your own heart. A good story also allows you to tell people how want to see the world, or how you want to see them. A good story is about entertainment, but it’s also about hope, and love, and optimism. Most of all, perhaps, it’s about truth even when it’s not about fact.

The thing about my grandfather is that he made you care about people that you’d never met, and maybe wouldn’t even like if you DID happen to meet them. In his stories, he had a way of showing the best in people, the parts of them that made him happy to know them. And, it must be said, the stories were told in a way that made him look good, too. That’s one of the rights of being the storyteller, though. It’s not as though we’re making documentaries here.

Don’t like it? Tell your own story, then. We’ll listen. It’s your turn, and the floor is yours. Take your place in the circle, take a deep breath, and start.

"So, there I was…"

In a bar.
At home plate.
Talking to my kid’s vice principal.
At my daughter’s wedding.
Laying half-naked on a sidewalk.
In a job interview.
Running late for work.
On the best date of my life.
Crying my eyes out.
Drunk beyond belief.
In a sales meeting.
Watching my buddy totally strike out with the pretty girl at that party.

…telling a story.