Missed connections

At the January Carapace, Christian made a comment toward the end of his story that maybe there is an urban legend at his old school about a kid choking on a marble and dying. I was taking notes on his story and it took me a moment to look up and notice that he was looking directly at me because he had been intentionally making a connection to my story in which I had mentioned urban legends.

I want to first recognize that in trying to be very observant I may not always be very present. As I take notes I don’t look at the storyteller the entire time. I know I don’t applaud as long as most people do because I’m using my hands for writing aslo.

Also, I almost missed a connection. Not only did it take me a moment to realize that Christian specifically said that to connect with my story, I also didn’t see him looking at me right away. I could have missed that personal connection of “right now, I’m talking to YOU.”

Listening just to listen and looking at the storyteller make it easier for those connections to happen.