Debby Paley, Volunteer at The Cedars
True Stories
by Debby Paley, Volunteer at The Atrium Independent Retirement living at The Cedars
In our True Stories group, we take turns telling stories from our lives. It turns out that story-telling as a social activity is making a comeback. There’s even a story-telling hour on Public Radio called “The Moth,” where people stand up at a microphone and tell their true stories.
Two things got me interested in this. The first was the story-telling event that
happens three times a year at my daughter’s high school. Everyone (teenagers,
parents, friends, teachers, the principal) is invited to stand up and tell a
story. My other inspiration was my mother, Cabot Paley. She loved to listen to
stories and to tell stories herself. She could weave an interesting story out of just about any everyday occurrence.
We all have stories to tell, and in the True Stories group, we simply sit and
share them. It’s fun and a great way to get to know things you would never have
otherwise known about people you see every day.
There are a couple of differences between this and any other kind of get-together.
One is that we have a theme for each meeting. We think of the theme at the end
of the meeting, and then you think of something in your experience that the
theme touches on, for the next meeting. For example, two of the themes we’ve used are “Danger” and “the Kindness of Strangers”. Our stories have sometimes been funny,
sometimes sad, sometimes suspenseful, sometimes almost magical, and sometimes
just interesting in their simple truth.
The other difference is that the story telling is not usually a conversation. We
take turns and give the speaker the floor while he or she speaks. (Of course,
we’re very informal: we make exceptions to this rule, and we always talk in
between stories. it’s all part of the fun.)
Members at The Atrium can participate during the second Thursday of each month at 4:00pm in the Living Room.
P.S. It’s okay if you don’t want to speak. Good listeners are welcome!