30.2 F
Naperville
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Real Life – Story time

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One solitary winter evening, I turned on the radio.

A Prairie Home Companion seeped into the kitchen, a comfortable, friendly voice, distracting and warm. Alone, I could listen as I pleased.

Country music, sometimes upbeat, more often wistful, followed me around the house as I did a few chores. It matched my mood, mirrored the weather, and was a salve to soothe a tiresome seasonal virus and my consequent sense of depletion.

The dryer drum clicked rhythmically, just audible up the stairs. I poured a Ginger Ale, fetching myself a straw, and settled into an armchair, dog by my side.

As I stretched out in comfortable warmth, the music came to a close. A quick burst of breaking news, just enough to keep listeners current, then bliss! Story time was next. I could not believe my luck.

I have downloaded podcasts of The Moth Radio Hour to fill the time while I walk or drive, but the luxury of sitting still and doing nothing else but savoring the tales feels richer. The guests this night relate snapshots from their lives, describing periods of isolation, tribulation, transition and understanding. These were not light cocktail anecdotes meant solely to entertain, but sagas with heft that absorbed, transported, and renewed.

I switched off the station, sank into the quiet and pondered what I have heard.

We are so accustomed to overstimulation, the simple pleasure of listening may seem too spare—yet tonight, without impatience or demand for more, it was enough. Into the airwaves, out to people unknown, these voices penetrated clearly, conveyed succinctly.

No illustrations needed, my mind shaded in the pictures their words so finely drew. “Misfits” was the theme, and though the stories bore no relationship to each other in content, the tones of these voices stitched the patches into something whole.

To speak without interruption; to be heard; and to be accepted: Storytellers, dipping into their pasts, shared the common yearnings of us all. (c)

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Patti Koltes
Patti Koltes
Real Life © by Patti Koltes. Contact her at pkoltes@gmail.com.

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