Gratitude. Thanks. My cup overflows.
In January of this year, after an Information Technology contract ended, I was faced with a decision: LORE or Tech? This fledgling storytelling business, exciting and scary, calling me into itself, away from the many years of experience that filled my resume.
It was time and although I was fearful, I was also excited. LORE became my full-time gig, my income, my passion, my life, in January of this year, making 2019 a year of truth. Will I make it? In March, I acquired a storefront and began to host events in downtown Dayton.
Today, I feel as if I never work and I am always working, the lines between who I am and what I do blurred into a constant state of being and doing, sharing stories, hearing stories: weeping and laughing. I feel truly blessed.
My little business has been the catalyst for the sharing of stories on stage and on video, in classrooms and business meeting rooms, in Dayton and beyond. I have helped to craft tragic stories: a gunshot wound, fleeing a revolution, loosing a love one, surviving a heart attack, the aftermath of suicide, and the impact of murder. I have also facilitated triumphant and funny stories about travel, babies being born, businesses getting started, how he met the love of his life, how she found meaning in her work, and how a mountaintop meeting can change your world view.
I have been touched, moved, inspired and changed. I have witnessed greatness as each storyteller overcomes fear to take two steps up onto the stage and share out loud with the world what they know to be true.
Which brings me to you - all of you who have supported this journey with me - whether as a volunteer or a sponsor or a storyteller or a story lover, each one of you who has shown up - I am grateful for you. Without listeners and storytellers, without truth and tears, without laughter and bravery, this storytelling thing just doesn’t work.
So, this year, Thanksgiving season 2019, I am thankful for all of you who keep showing up. To those of you who bravely shared your story, thank you for your voice. To those of you who believe that being a witness to the stories matters, those of you who showed up to support the storytellers on stage, thank you for your ears and tears and hearts and laughter. To those of you who volunteered at a LORE event, thank you for your time.
I am blessed to have been touched by you. I am better for your voice, your ears, your tears, your laughter and your time.
Thank you.
Yorumlar