Introduction

Introductions are weird and awkward, but necessary, so here goes: My name is Kristi, and I am a storyteller. Wait. That’s not complete. I am a storyteller, but I’m also a story listener. A story reader. A story bearer. A story collector. I’m also a wanderlust. What that means is that wherever I go, another state, country, the grocery store, or the gas station, people tell me their stories. Maybe it’s something in the eyes. I used to think it was my face, which is overly expressive and revealing, but since we’ve spent the better part of a year now with most of our faces covered, it isn’t that. I used to think it was my energy or my presence, but after a year of Zoom meetings and FaceTime calls, I know it isn’t that.

I’ve decided that what we want most as humans is to be heard and remembered, even in the most random of places and with people we never expect to see again. Life is fleeting. The days are long and the weeks are short. So when the guy filling up his gas can at the Shell station a couple of weeks ago told me he was grateful it was just raining and we weren’t covered in snow we couldn’t deal with, without power or water, he was telling me about his worldview, his ability to be grateful even though he felt like complaining. We shared 90 seconds, but here we are 15 days later, and I remember him. I’m writing about him. Because on that day, he impacted my worldview; he offered me the ability to be grateful when I felt grumpy, irritated at having to get gas in the rain. In a minute and a half, he changed my day. He couldn’t see the smile on my face and he’ll never know that after he got back in his car and told me to “Be Blessed,” that I would take it as an order, and that I would be.

That’s my intention for this blog, this space. We’re going to talk stories. I’ll likely dredge some up from the mists of time, in corners of my memory where people continue to exist, people most of the time without names, only faces or glimpses of things that mattered to them. Some of them might be funny, some sad, and possibly some infuriating, but when people say I’ve never met a stranger, they’re right. Stories connect us. They remind us that we are not that different. So, as we journey down this path, I hope you see yourself or someone you love or someone you wish you did.

Welcome. I’m glad you’re here.