Story has been a central theme for me. I loved to read as a child and would get lost in a book. I remember my mom’s frustration when she would come running from three rooms away to answer the ringing telephone only to find me sitting on a chair beside it, oblivious to its ringing. I was somewhere else where telephone sounds didn’t reach.
I majored in English literature in college, immersing myself in stories from Beowulf to Frodo from Tess to Sadako. The beauty of the use of language may have defined literature for some, but I was always hooked on the story.
It was during my college years that I told stories of a small benevolent troll I had met under the log bridge on campus. My friends thought I was providing patter while they tuned their guitars between songs. I was just letting them know there was more to life than textbooks and tunes. There were stories!