Last week, my husband and I traveled down to Boston, met some friends, and headed over to The Moth StorySLAM. The theme was Fathers, and happily, I got to tell my story about the Tricia Ball, a Christmas ornament Daddy made for me when I was very little and years later still brings great joy. Out of the 10 stories told that night, some were heart wrenching and some were hysterical, but most importantly, all of them were true.
That’s what makes The Moth so riveting, as well as other story collectives like The StoryCollider (where I was privileged to perform The Fertility Challenge). The storytellers remind us that our actions have consequences, good and bad (one being that someone may get on a stage and tell a story about you). They share life’s unbelievable events and the ordinary moments, while telling us that it is never too late and we are never too far gone to be healed or to start over. They remind us that people are resilient and life is bizarre, so you might as well laugh — you simply cannot make this stuff up.
To that end, here’s the story I told at the Moth StorySLAM in February (read the full report on the evening here), which won me a place at Boston’s first Moth Grand Slam, scheduled for January 2014. The theme of the night was “Love Hurts” and my story was about infidelity and depression, which means it’s very, very funny, because tragedy plus time quite often equals comedy. But more than that, it’s about redemption, and who doesn’t love a story about redemption? As Anne Lamott says, “Stories to tell or hear — either way, it’s medicine.” If you want to hear more stories, go to The Moth, sit back, and enjoy.
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