Dear Reader:

What a day May 29, 2013 was…a day that I honestly didn’t know would ever come to fruition! It was the day I told the 1002nd blog story to beat the famed Scheherazade and her 1001 stories in Arabian Nights!

It all started with a comment from a wonderful lady who used to substitute at our school when I was teaching at Alston Middle. I bumped into her waiting on a prescription at CVS one afternoon… soon after the blog had started in 2010.

She came running over to me and we greeted each other with a hug…it had been years since we had seen each other. She told me that she had heard about my blog and how I was posting a story each and every day.

“Imagine…writing something every day,” she said. “But then I told someone that you were always the teacher of a 1000 stories.” I remember thanking her and then my name was called for my prescription pick-up. She left and I almost forgot the conversation until later in the night when I couldn’t sleep…(was going through chemo at that time.)

Something she said was nagging at me….”the teacher of a 1000 stories.”  Then it hit me…Scheherazade and her 1001 stories in Arabian Nights. With my health condition still ambiguous at best…I felt like I needed some goal to concentrate on to keep my mind off the different medications, as well as, different treatments with their own unique side effects.

I decided to start the contest on my Aunt Eva’s birthday (as well as my two cousins birthdays) August 31, 2010 ( using the computer calculator to figure out the finish date) and end it with the 1002nd blog on May 29, 2013.

During this period…at the bottom of every blog….the number of blog/stories left to write were given until the triumphant day arrived! I had ‘skunked’ Scheherazade with my 1002 blog/stories.

My daughter, Mandy, made a banner for the occasion and added an Arabian cap (on an old photo of me) for my victory decor!

We also had Scheherazade cupcakes and gave everyone in attendance a “Blooming Buddy” seed of happiness….(here is where they came from Honey. Thanks again!)

I received an Ernest Lee (a.k.a.) Chicken Man painting from my Ya’s (unbelievable!)….the book of 1001 Arabian Nights  (title picture) from Jo and the adorable Colby.

So many friends and family and so many lovely mementos to remember this celebration of life!

The “contest” ended up being more than a competitive challenge between me and a fictitious character.

 Scheherazade and I shared one big similarity…she was telling stories to save her “head” and I was telling stories to keep my “head” above water too. And my heart and my soul!

For both of us storytelling was a “life line.”

………………….

I will continue to use my original story about myself as an autobiography (About Becky Dingle) for readers…though, at some point, in the near future, I need to do some updating there too.

However…the main thoughts behind the people in my life who have taught me how to use stories to carry me over the rough terrain of life are still the same… near and dear to my heart.

And as I plan for a storytelling session for next week…Kermit’s quote comes crashing into my memory: “When you’re green you grow…when you’re ripe…you rot.“

As long as I can still tell a story and help someone along the way…I can stay “green” and excited about this thing we call life.

So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for Your stories given freely to us to use as a road map for our return to You.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Love telling stories!