Kansas City - we made it!

Troupe members stagger down the hall to our rooms on arrival at the hotel in Kansas City. All any of us could think of was good food and a good night of rest. Fortunately we got both, as Monday night we were off. The hotel, in the middle of downtown Kansas City, was still relatively quiet when we got there, with a few storytellers coming in for early meetings.

The next morning, Delanna, David, Libby and I took off for the VA. After some minor confusion we were told to go up to the 9th floor where every door was locked. There, we waited for the music therapist who secured a room for us, and then we waited there until a group of men came in. Tense, with downcast eyes and clinched fists, it was obvious they were not happy to be there, but then stories have a way of changing all that.

I started off with My Cousin Phil (with his permission, of course,) - a parady on the old bear chases man theme, in which he accidentally sets off a bear down on the St. Marks River in North Florida, and runs for safety. While the heart of the story is  quite serious - my beloved cousin was in Viet Nam and came home to a different world, it is funny, and that warmed them up. Each story seemed to touch them in a different way and we rejoiced as barriers dropped and they began to actively listen.

Our friend the therapist was shocked, as she had told us early on not to expect much from those men. "Their attention span may last 45-minutes," she told us, "and then they'll want to leave." But that's not what happened - they relaxed into the stories and when the time was up and Libby had not told, asked her to tell. They sat for well over an hour without a single complaint, and when they left, it was with smiles, jokes and handshakes. You can't beat storytelling for mood-changing miracles!

Before we left, the therapist told us she had another group meeting in a different location on Thursday...would we care to tell for that one, too? Yes!