Stories for Grown-Ups

My story today has a happy ending. A lot of my storytelling podcast posts don't have a happy ending. I think that is part of the problem with stories — outside of certain genres (romance novels, fairy tales), most stories don't have a happy ending. In Waking up with Strangers, however, the listener can be assured a happy ending — it may just be the rest of the story that they have a problem with. Do you like happy endings to stories? That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today has an unusual title, but stay with me. This storytelling podcast explores that cast of background characters that seem to follow people in their daily lives. You see the same faces everywhere — on your morning commute, in line at the supermarket or even just walking along the street. In Woman with Eggs on Bus, we find that the background characters can lead some of the most interesting lives. It occurs to Harriet that if she should die, she should probably leave her parents a note about the small plastic gnomes in the bottom drawer of her kitchen. The drawer wasn’t always devoted to gnomes – at one point it contained pots and pans. But then there was that Black Friday six years ago where she was trolling an online auction site and found a gross of them for sale. Maybe this story will inspire you to reach out to those near strangers and say hello. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today deals with memories. We all know that the older we get, the more our memories fail us: First kisses, the ways we spent our summer vacations and even being ticklish fade away with time. But what if your memories aren't accurate to begin with? In today's storytelling podcast episode Memories of Being Ticklish on a Hot Summer's Day, a woman and her twin daughters have different ways of accessing the past and the present; each of them believes that their memories are the truth. As an adult, are you afraid of being ticklish? That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is dedicated to the people who sit in a cube all day. Inter-office politics are hard to avoid, and for most office workers they are just a part of working life. In The Nine Types of People You Meet in Every Office, Ginger explains that it doesn't matter what type of job she does or the company that she works for (however odd it may be) — wherever she goes, she will always find the same personalities: There’s the gossip, the historian, the bully, the scavenger, the untethered balloon, the worry-wart, the newbie, the mentor and the crazy one. Learn how to navigate each of those people, and you’ll be fine. What types of office people have you met in your office? That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is a bit more literary than usual. In Othello, jealousy drives the main characters to acts of deceit, betrayal and violence. At the most extreme end of the spectrum, Iago is a man no one wants to become. In The End of Jealousy, Hannah regards Iago and the other characters as a pipe dream. She teaches the words of Othello over and over again, but can't relate to the emotion behind them - jealousy is an emotion that only exists on paper. Tomorrow her students will face the death of Desdemona and, eventually, of Othello, too. Hannah will do her best to answer their questions about motives, but she will end the day with the same bittersweet sense of triumph and failure as she does every year. In two days’ time, her students will be happy to return to reading Walden, or at least as happy as her students are to be reading anything, and Hannah will return her beloved copy of Othello to her nightstand shelf at home. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is a bit darker than my usual tales, but it all comes down to choice. Drinking in the Daylight details a world where women can choose to be mothers or have careers, but not both. Faced with that option, three generations of women explore that major decision in their lives. It's hard enough for a woman to make the choice between career and family — never mind making it while you are still a teenager. A woman didn’t drink when her children were home. The mothers who reached for their wine when they still had toddlers underfoot were shunned at social gatherings. When all the children reached the ripe old age of five and were safely at school for the day, that was when the liquor cabinet locks were broken open. Listen to the story and tell me what you would choose in the comments. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is an oldie, but a goodie. Technical Witch Craft first appeared in print in 2000, but I cleaned it up and expanded it a bit here as a fun story for Halloween. Writers and witches have the same problem: We are never done tinkering with our words —whether it is a spell or a short piece of fiction. Anyway, the story tells the lives of witches who do very normal things, like eat lunch in restaurants. (Hey, a witch has gotta eat, right?) But, they do let their supernatural sides shine as well. It was a dark night when we gathered that first time and giggled our way through mispronouncing the Latin words and trying to keep our ritual books open to the correct page. I had thought of that moment all week – of having true sisters. What is your favorite thing to dress up as for Halloween? Let me know in the comments. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today involves a pretty bad break-up. Most people can't help but bring their work home with them, and the narrator in The Book Critic Dumps His Girlfriend is no different. As he parts ways with his girlfriend, the book critic can't help but give her some advice on how to be a better character and a better writer overall. She had hooked him with her backstory: She was adopted as a teenager with the ambition to travel the world to write a novel about discovering hope in poverty-stricken villages. She balanced work and a full social calendar with her volunteering at the local animal shelter on weekends. But after investing months in their relationship, he was faced with her shame – that her character was destined to be static. It takes some close listening to find out what went wrong in their relationship, but the book critic eventually gets around to making his point. Tell me about your worst break-up in the comments. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is about morals...sort of. In Just, which is a morality tale for the 21st century, the listener gets to choose the fate of the main couple. But be forewarned before you listen: Just is full of betrayal — for everyone involved. (Also, there is a bit of office talk.) Each of them will toil away in an office, where they feel productive and small at the same time, where they trade office gossip and find structure to the unwieldy hours of the day. The type of jobs they do does not matter. They are just jobs. Listen to the story and leave your choice in the comments? Did you get the "right" answer? That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is about secret admirers. A secret admirer can crop up when we least expect it — even in a marriage. In today's story, Daniel learns that there are really three people in his marriage: Daniel, his wife Courtney and her Essentials Book. In His Wife's Secret Admirer, Daniel ponders the secret to his marriage's success in a world where so many relationships fall apart. I should buy her flowers, Daniel thinks. But this is a problem. Will he remember that he wants to buy her flowers by the time he gets out of the shower and to his phone? He starts to repeat it to himself: Buy wife flowers. Buy wife flowers. Buy wife flowers. Have you ever had a secret crush? If so, tell your story in the comments. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is about growing up and moving on. Women often forget who they are and begin measuring life by the events of their children. In Afternoons in the Park, a young mother realizes her own childhood is sitting in a box at the bottom of her closet and her closest friend was lost to her a long time ago. But then there was the wedding, the job changes, the big move and the smaller moves in between. And then pregnancy, childbirth and rediscovering holidays. Losing myself a bit in the process, or maybe just becoming someone new who I didn’t recognize yet. Excuses, all of them. Some a bit more valid than others. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is about last words. People's last words are the ones that stay with us — no matter if that person is a celebrity, a close friend or a parent. It's really hard for parents to let their children grow up and grow away from them. Parents never know which of their words will have staying power in their children's lives. In Her Mother's Last Words, we see how a mother's words influence her daughter's daily life. I’m afraid, my little Rebecca, that you’ll find 13 to be a bittersweet age. It’s the one in which little girls feel all the horrible things they can do and are upset over all the exciting – yet equally horrible things they can’t do yet. We all want our final words to be memorable, but we always leave them to the last minute. If you had to plan out your final words now, what would you say? Leave your last words in the comments. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is about the longstanding battle that goes on in so many homes. Every day, men and woman battled for home territory with their personal knickknacks. In The Weight of Our Objects, Christina thinks of the house as "hers," except for the contents of Edgar's rooms — those are definitely "his." She gave him his room and kept out of it, decorating the rest of their home in mottled greens and soft blues. She kept out of his den, respecting his privacy – never entering to clean or nag about chores or pry. Never asking him about why he locked the door. Do you have a room of your own in your house? Tell me about it in the comments. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. subscribe to us on iTunes

My story today is about memory. Although I can't really tell you how to remember everything, I can offer this challenge instead: Would you really want to? What would it be like to really remember every moment of your life? Everyday Lives takes a look at a woman's unique and precise relationship with the passage of time. Amanda liked Julia’s open manner enough to explain her “little time idiosyncrasy” as she referred to it. Rather than being put off, Julia had asked several questions (as only a psychology major would) and it wasn’t until 27 days later that Julia started testing Amanda’s ability for fun — asking her about what clothing was worn on a specific day, what the weather had been like or what food they had eaten. That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. What's your first memory? Tell me in the comments. subscribe to us on iTunes

The title of my story for you today doesn't tell the whole picture. Boring features a woman who doesn't know how to make friends, so she goes about the process in a more unconventional manner. It was in the third shop that I saw her — the woman in the red trench coat. I had been examining a particularly ugly handcrafted incense burner. It was in the shape of a swan (I think)... That’s my story. Tell me one of yours. What do you do to fight boredom? subscribe to us on iTunes