At the time, when I tossed my fifty bucks into the passing hat, I had selected the lower reward bracket: I wanted to make sure I got a T-shirt, you see.
I didn't want to miss out on that!
And I did not.
In April of 2012, the T-shirt arrived, with the Bluebird coming into view from the back and rounding that righthanded turn!
Woohoo!
It also arrived with rewards from the lower levels. That gave me pause. What if I would have received the T-shirt anyway if I had marked the higher reward level? What if I could be listening to the stories on a cd while I was wearing my new garment?
Well, I would just wait and go to one of the shows and ask.
Only problem was I wasn't able to make my schedule coincide with theirs.
Well, that's okay, I'll see them some other time, right? But time traveled ever farther afield and I let the matter slip my mind.
Until recently.
As I said earlier this month, I've been going through my "Backer history" on kickstarter. When I came to the box for this project, I didn't know whether to check it as fulfilled or not. Maybe I should have chosen the higher reward level...but wasn't it too late to make a change? For almost all of the other projects, the higher reward level includes those rewards at the lower levels. So, maybe...
So I asked, explaining to her that I had really wanted to make sure I received the T-shirt, but now I was wishing I could also have the cd, and was that possible at this time? She had gladly responded that she would make sure my dropbox received them posthaste! Woohoo!
I transferred the five "Front Porch Stories" from the site to a compact disk (cd, y'all!), intending to listen in my car.
That never happened.
I haven't gone anywhere of late that would be far enough that I would be able to listen to all of the tales. So, I brought the disk back into the house and put it into a stack for later perusal.
That finally did happen! Thank God! And I realized, as I listened to the first story, that I was supposed to have this cd, that I was supposed to back this project.
You see, the very first story, titled simply "One In A Million" features the Special Olympics - a project dear to Mama. Since funds from her estate are being used for backing these projects, it's incredible that I stumbled upon one which she would have so loved. Coincidence? No, more likely her hand guided me, wanting me to hear this story in particular, told by Dawn Fraser about her twin brother, Dwight, born with Down Syndrome. The chance of twins being born with one having Down Symdrome is one in a million; this story is about her brother showing her the path of recovery from a sports injury. You should go to her website and listen to it; awesome and funny and definitely uplifting.
In fact, almost all of these tales from a front porch have those attributes.
Edgar Oliver, an odd-voiced man, regales us with his story of misplaced responsibility - and misplaced priorities - as a youth at a local military school for boys. His tale, "Major Oliver", is very funny as it follows an important bookbag. (You can purchase the "Unchained" cd on his personal site, too.)
George Dawes Green, the founder of The Moth, gives a plug to Unchained, as well as all those who make a living from traveling the back roads, sharing songs and tales with small town communities.
Neil Gaiman's tale of fathers and sons, "Hockey Dad", is full of unconditional love. I don't know if that particular story in on his website, but a lot of other "cool stuff" is. (By the way, Neil is an avid kickstarter supporter and is featured here.)
Bringing up the rear, so to speak, and commanding the last track on this cd, is Peter Aguero. "The Keeper", the perfect bookend for this collection, tells the story of the very moment when he knew the woman by his side was meant to be his wife. Trust me, this is no sappy tale of love. Aguero is the frontman of The BTK Band, which bills itself as "NYC's hardest-drinking improvised rock & roll storytelling band". 'Nuff said.
My many thanks to Samita Wolfe - many, many thanks.
May the Bluebird travel happily along!
