The Story Lady

Performance at Gasworks Park Seattle WA

The Story Lady

As children in the commune, for a multitude of reasons, some good some bad, we lacked access to the media of the outside world. No TV, Radio or comic books. The books we did have, I now know went through a screening process, and only the ones deemed “Godly” made it into our hands. Mind you I am not saying this is all bad, Lord knows how tuned in kids are today to their i Pods  iPhones TV’s and lap tops meanwhile their brains are rotting inside their little heads, and ours right along with them I’m afraid. But I digress…

We were very lucky little children to be blessed with a Story Lady beyond compare. This woman dedicated her every waking hour to the children, feeding them, clothing them, giving them the extra love they needed. She had a gift of knowing which children needed her most at any given time. I was one of the fortunate’s to get a great deal of her time, she was like the ever present auntie making sure I didn't fall through the cracks at bustling mealtimes, and gave me the extra attention and love I craved. I was a very shy confused child due to complicated custody battles and a lot of moving around. She was a stable loving parental figure to me that always seemed to show up at the right times and make my childhood magic. I think any child who received her attention thought they were the center of her world, I certainly did.

But these gifts were beside her very shining gift of storytelling. When it was time for one of her magical tales, we would all gather around her in a Semi circle, looking on in rapt attention waiting to find out what would happen next. I will tell you what happened next, a cast of rich characters, each with their own voice, the heroes and heroines were pulled from her audience, we were the stars of her tales! We would wind our way through adventure after adventure and they always concluded with a very important moral lesson. If you were incredibly misbehaved, this would come out in her story and everyone would have a good laugh at your expense, so that you might not behave badly again in the future. This was done with such grace and humor as to not actually humiliate the child, just to make him or her think about their behavior.

Story time in the back of the bus

On our biggest occasions there would be an entire theater production put on. There was a fabulous homemade portable stage in the form of a castle, and beautiful puppets all handmade by commune members. These productions were put on by the Story Lady, a few of her talented cohorts from the community and a handful of brave children. She even convinced me the world’s biggest wall flower, to perform in a play at the mall once. (I had one line)These occasions were usually a big deal and they went all out, pie in the face of an audience member, laughter, pranks, musical numbers, and as always a moral lesson.

I am happy to say, I have been lucky enough to include her in my own children’s lives, and when she does appear, my boy's eyes light up just as I am sure mine did when I was young. I am quite sure she has secretly told them stories of their mother and her childhood infractions just to see them giggle at the fact I may have miss behaved.

Puppet Show!

She passed on a fabulous tradition of oral storytelling, and a love of theater and performance arts, to many of us children, and continues to do so today.  I believe we were very lucky to have such a person in our midst spreading her joy and magic, just as if she could still see through a Child's eyes.