The mobile app

Okay everyone, this is a test. I am trying out the mobile app. When I'm posting by phone, I'm also often using the voice to text function. This means that I am in a hurry, or that I am wanting to get something captured in the moment. Using voice to text is ideal for a storyteller! But, I do get a little tired of having to vocalize all of my punctuation.

The other issue, is that I often will then post without reading what has been changed into text for me. This can result in some confusing or sometimes hilarious mistakes.
It's been a cold/warm/cold week here in Minnesota. I'm never sure Which coat to put on my son in the morning. I think I may have messed up today sending him to school in a fleece. But we shall see.

I want to share with you a little story telling secret. Here it is. Listen closely my friends, as I'm afraid that if the secret gets out, I might end up being obsolete! Drumroll please!

It's okay to be a terrible storyteller!

You don't have to do funny voices, big expressions, or special dramatic positives. In fact, if you're telling a story for really young children, it's best to leave those out. Today my friend Will, who is an accomplished Storyteller himself, said to me that his father used to just "make stuff up." And Will remembers those stories. He loved his mother's stories – she used all kinds of funny voices and expression dramatic details – but, he remembers his father stories, too. And, what's more, he remembers loving them.

Do you hold back from telling your children stories because you're afraid that they won't be Good enough? Are you afraid that you'll forget some important details? Listen closely, my friends: It doesn't matter. What does matter, is that you want to be true to the story you wanted to tell. But you mustn't ever let your own fear of not being an actor hold you back from sharing this marvelous gift With your children.

And it doesn't have to just be with children. You can share stories with adults, with friends, with the people you meet on the street, with colleagues at work. Everyone needs to hear stories. Telling stories can be like breathing. this is how we connect. Sometimes our stories don't even need words, like when we tell the story of how much we love, because the truth is a powerful story.

A friend sometime says, "All stories are true, all times are now. " I have repeated this many times to children and to adults. All stories are true – I don't mean that the story of Little red riding Hood actually happened, with the girl and the Wolf and the grandmother and the flowers and the bottle of wine and bread in the basket. But isn't it true that we meet wolves on our paths? Isn't it true that sometimes we think that we have found our own grandmother, but inside of those garments that show, it is not my grandmother, but some other force?

My point is this: tell stories. Tell them now telling tomorrow in the next day till next week tell them next year. Tell them. And as you tell them, you will find Yourself able to tell even more.

Warning about voice to text: when I just recorded that last sentence, it said you will find your apron to Telmore as of Tobler was a place. So use it with caution.