"I still tell your stories," Ann Christiano told me as we chatted before she delivers a keynote address at a recent gathering in Memphis.
Ann is the Communications Professor at the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications.
I have no idea which stories she was referring to we haven't seen one another in years. Back in the day we would be in Washington D.C. working Capitol Hill with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Several days later on LinkedIn Phillippa Moss sent me a private message. It's been years since I've seen her too. Back then she was with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and we did a lot of work together. It was a great relationship. She gave me money and I spent it! Does it get any better?
Anyway, she wrote that she speaks of me often in her work in Hall County government. She tells my stories.
Stories last when people don't.
More than anything else, people remember stories.
I recall the first time I tried to write a story. It was in college and I was doing a paper for history class and tried to describe a battle so I used a lot of adjectives. I got an "A".
In Seminary I learned to preach and good preaching is storytelling. (There's a lot of bad preaching out there because too many Preachers have forgotten how to tell stories!).
Then I started writing the stories down and they became books.
I hit the road and told stories in churches, Rotary Clubs, on radio and television shows, at Congress and Chambers of Commerce.
These days I write my stories and post them on Facebook, Blogspot, Twitter and LinkedIn. They go all over the world and people from around the globe write me privately or post publicly.
The world has changed. It's at your fingertips now. Communication happens whenever you want and with whoever you want. You don't have to travel or try to make appointments. We text rather than call, stream video instead of paint pictures and post photographs instead of using words.
Still ... it's the stories that people remember.
These days I work with a great group of friends to use all of the above to help tell their stories. Check it out at www.letustellit.com
It is fun and gratifying work to see others gain customers, increase sales or simply get their point across.
It's funny to me that Goddess has her own fan base and when we're out people will ask, "Is that Goddess? Oh My God, it's Goddess. Take a picture!"
Winston, the little gay dog, is extremely popular every time I write about him.
My next door neighbor ... The Cat Lady ... screeching "HERE KITTY, KITTY, KITTY!" in her bathrobe and blue towel on her head is somehow beloved and people wait on me to tell what she's doing now.
Sarah and I take the girls out for pizza and people walk up to say, "So this is the family!" They know all about them.
Jeremy and Marie, Kristen, Chelsea and Sam all have to live with the question, "That's your Dad?"
If I don't have the stories posted on Facebook or Blogspot by 9ish, my computer and phone start buzzing while people ask, "What in the hell are you doing this morning? Dammit I'm having coffee and want my story! What's happened now? Has Goddess bitten the Cat Lady? Did Winston, the little gay dog, pee on the bed again? How does Sarah put up with you?"
So it's all about the story.
The other thing is it's good for me to tell all of these stories. They are meant to be shared and confession really is good for the soul. What begins as me processing and reflecting over the things that happen somehow end up being enjoyed or helping others. As you give so shall you receive.
So ... that's my story ... and I'm sticking to it.
