There are some stories that you do not really know until you’ve heard it directly from the people that have lived it.
Growing up, I knew my parents story of immigration from bits and pieces of overheard conversation, stories gathered second hand told by other relatives, and gaps filled in from similar stories that I have heard. My parents left Jamaica to escape political violence and a failing economy to find a place with a better future for their children.
In June 2016, on my way to a storytelling open mic with the theme “Fathers,” I stopped at my parents house for lunch. The Moth is a non-profit that promotes “true stories told live,” but I could not think of a story to tell that evening. I had a sudden epiphany that I should talk to my father to get a story idea.
I sat with my a parents in the family room with the TV off (something strange for them), and I began to ask a few questions. The seed for this story began as they opened up and told me the story for the first time in their own words. On one level, I had known the story, but I did not understand the emotional truth of the story until after that conversation.
I can still see my father thoughtfully searching for the words to answer my questions and my mom sitting on the other side of the living room interjecting her own words with a humorous smile.
I still did not have a story ready to tell for that June 2016 event. However, the seed for this story had already started to grow. Several months later, the open mic theme was “Money.” With the realization that money was a theme in this story, I crafted the initial version. I put my name in the basket for The Moth StorySlam, but I was not one of the lucky ones chosen that night.
Fortunately, I have made my own luck. As a producer of events, I have found many other venues and audiences to tell this story. As a living entity, this story continues to grow–expanding, changing, flowering, and often getting pruned.
Listen to the current version.
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