Central-Cali-Vibes

***Central-Cali-Vibes:*** (#StorytellingSalemStory #999,993 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 in Fresno, California, a woman in a faded tank top with sunburnt shoulders walked out of a laundromat, holding a bag of wet clothes and a bottle of lemon-lime-soda, looked at my sign, exhaled through her teeth, and said:
⸻

“I used to sing.
Still do- but used to- too.
Not for crowds, not for money.
Just sang.
In the kitchen. In the car.
In the freezer aisle. Wherever I was that day.

My daughter hated it. Said it was ‘EMBARRASSING MOOMMM!’
She’s twenty-four now, got her own place, two kids, and guess what she does while folding the towels?
SHE SIIIIIIINGS! Badly & loudly too.
LIKE I USED TOOO!!!
She sent me a video of her and my grandbabies dancing in the living room; some goofy pop song, and I cheered so hard I had to pull over & finishing watching.

You spend your life wondering if anything you did stuck.
Turns out the small stuff’s what sinks in. The background noise. The stuff you didn’t think anyone was watching.
I didn’t raise her perfect. But I raised her proud.
And she sings— badly & loud.
So I must’ve done -something- right.”

⸻

And then she raised the bottle, took a swig, and said, “Clothes are still damp. Dryer ate my quarters. Guess we’re air-drying today.” Then headed down the block, laundry bag in one hand, dignity in the other.
🎶And iiiii?
I stayed on the curb beside the laundry carts and busted vending machines, my whiteboard still asking:
“What’s Yor Story?”
Waiting for the next person to walk on byyyy~🎶

(#StorytellingSalemStory #999,993)