What-a-Butte

***What-a-Butte***
(#StorytellingSalemStory #999,999 out of 1mil:)

🎶So I’ve been travelling across the country—
town to town/city to city/State to State;
sitting down in random locations—
across this Nation— with a whiteboard in my haaand;
I’ve been asking pplllll:

“What’s Yor Story?”🎶

And when I was up in Butte, Montana, a young father in a flannel shirt pushing a stroller with a squeaky wheel looked and read what was upon my whiteboard; and then started to share:
⸻
“I used to think being a good dad meant always having the answers.
Turns out it’s mostly about showing up—tired, confused, pockets empty, but still there.
My daughter’s name is Mae. She’s three. Likes dinosaurs, hates shoes, and insists oatmeal tastes better when eaten with a serving spoon.
I work nights stocking shelves at the grocery store. Doesn’t pay great, but it’s consistent. I get home around six, just in time for cartoons and waffles. My wife heads off to her nursing shifts, and Mae and I take walks. Like this one.
We talk about everything. She asks the big questions- like: ‘Why is the sky shy when it rains?’, ‘Do ants have moms?’, & ‘Does your phone- dream?’
I never know what to say. So I just say what I can. And I think she forgives me for not knowing everything.
There was a day last month—brutal snow, the kind that bites your face—and I was late getting home. I ran through it, scared I’d missed her waking up.
But when I walked in, she was at the window, pressing her little hand to the glass. She saw me and yelled, ‘Daddy found the way back again!’
That stuck with me.
No matter how hard the night is, I just have to find the way back again. That’s the job. That’s the whole deal.
And when I’m old and she’s busy living some wild, beautiful life of her own—I hope I’m the voice in her head that says: ‘You’ve got this! I’m proud o’ you! Keep going yo!’”
⸻
And that’s when Mae dropped her dinosaur toy, and he bent down to pick it up, gently dusting it off like it was glass. He smiled, showed the Lokiceratops off to me like it was a trophy; then continued wheeling her & her stroller back on their day’s walk- away from me.

And I?
I stayed there on the park bench near the corner of Copper and Main, whiteboard beside me, still asking:
“What’s Yor Story?”
Waiting for the next person to walk my waaaaay.

*** #StorytellingSalem #Story #999,999 ***