I began volunteering as a storyteller in my oldest son’s kindergarten classroom and continued this tradition for each of my children. Twenty years later, my youngest son was in first grade. Because I told stories in his classroom, I was invited to come listen to a storyteller that had been hired for an assembly. At this time in my life I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a professional storyteller. When I entered the multi-purpose room on that day, I saw sixty children waiting to hear stories. But the storyteller wasn’t there. An announcement on the loudspeaker instructed us to go back to the classroom. (I later learned that the storyteller had the wrong date on her calendar.)
At 10:00 we went back down to the multipurpose room. Now there were ninety children waiting for the storyteller who wasn’t there. (She had gotten off the freeway in a town ten miles away.) I offered to tell stories. It was a magical moment for me. I reached into my memory for the words of a story to share. I felt as if I was casting out a silver thread and drawing the children into the shining web of story.
After that group of children had gone back to their classrooms, the principal asked if I would be willing to stay and tell stories to the next group if the storyteller didn’t arrive. I was happy to do that. “But ,” I asked, “what if she comes while I am telling stories?”
The principal glared at the missing storyteller. “She can just wait until you get through!”
The storyteller arrived while I was approaching the end of my first story. She graciously waited for me to finish before she began telling her story. And she was wonderful. This was probably her worst day ever. But it was a turning point for me, a way to take my storytelling to the next level.
The children were already calling me the Story Lady. So, when I began to market myself as a professional storyteller, I chose to use Rose the Storylady as my professional name. And the next year the principal hired me to tell stories. Since that time, I have told stories in schools, daycare centers, nursing homes, storytelling festivals, weddings, and other special events. During the past year, I have used the Zoom platform to share stories. My Zoom storytelling schedule is available on my website: RosetheStorylady.net
My name is Rose the Storylady and I always have a story to tell.
How wonderful that you were able to step in! Stories play such an important role, especially for teaching young kids like that. It’s cool that you took this one lucky happenstance and made so much of it!
-Amren from Operation Awesome