it’s 5.06am, and as i pull on my thick mountaineering socks, which i have worn on every mountain i have ever climbed, they make my heart feel as warm as my feet they are designed to.
the reason they have this effect is emotional connection.
they connect my brain with memories, good memories, great memories in fact, i can see the knife edge ridges i have walked, with the wind blowing ferociously, making snow and spindrift hit my face like hundreds of tiny pins, i can see the summits, and the memories of my adventures come flooding back, and i smile.
once you connect emotionally with someone or something, that is a magic moment.
you are here today reading this blog because you are emotionally connected, either to me and my random storytelling, or bigmoose, and the adventure that we are all on with the fantastic work we are extremely proud to do every day.
and as the chunky, smart wool, calf length, bridgedales warmed my most distant extremities, i start to remember last night, and what an emotionally charged night it was, and how i had gone to bed almost numbed by the events that had taken place in 4-5 frederick st.
now, with one hour of sleep that could be counted by each of the fingers of one hand, i awoke, less numb, more amazed and proud.
pre covid, chloe had an idea to create an event called ‘life stories’ that we could hold at bigmoose coffee shop in the evening, where we get three people to talk about their lives.
not celebrities, but people we knew had some pretty cool stories to tell, and would make people laugh, make them cry, and hopefully inspire them in some way, connecting emotionally, and providing them with a wonderful evenings entertainment.
last night we had martin, aka ‘tin’ a friend of ours, who spoke about his mixed race parents, his childhood struggles growing up in port talbot, being surrounded by toxic masculinity, his battle with mental health, and how with the help of therapy he has come through some very dark times, emerging from his chrysalis, like a beautiful butterfly, now curating his own mental health podcast, and becoming a male model, working internationally.
his story was all i had expected, but told in a fashion that was engaging, brave, and extremely confident, and i have never seen anyone speak in public for the first time, and be so good at it, and i hope he continues his journey by doing more talks, i think he is destined to inspire.
our second speaker of the night was blog regular hannah phillips, ably assisted by her smiley six month old daughter zia.
zia got the biggest laugh of the night as at one point martin swore, and apologised, checking there were no children in the audience, only for zia to make the most beautifully timed baby noise, which had everyone in hysterics, comedy is all about timing, and zia is starting young.
now zia’s mum needs no introduction here, but the audience in the coffee shop warmed immediately to her raw, honest, funny, style of storytelling, and she carried them along the journey of her eventful life, and the image she painted of her first ever run at night around her home town of merthyr tydfil, wearing her husbands black ski mask, so she wouldn’t be recognised, which resulted in her inevitably being stopped by the police, had everyone laughing out loud with her.
the pathos of her story was weaved into her new slidedeck, and on a personal note i am loving watching this woman grow in so many ways, realising that she possesses a super power, and she can inspire an audience in so many ways.
she spoke about her battle with booze, and how she is now 496 days dry, and this is where the power is, and the resulting situation that happened in the half time break, was the cause of my post event numbness.
now confidentiality restricts me from telling the whole story, but hannah’s admission that alcohol had played it's machiavellian role in her spiral into despair, triggered one of the audience to be reduced to tears, and admitting that they too had an alcohol problem and needed help.
so, there and then we made a referral to one of our therapists, who like the rockstar he is called the person within 20 minutes.
20 minutes.
if you have ever raised money for bigmoose, this is what we are doing with it, we are buying the best people.
people that love people.
people that want to help people, quickly and when they need it, people who respond on a thursday night, because they know giving hope quickly is so important.
so on behalf of that person last night, thank you, you have enabled their story to have a chance to be written with a different ending.
as the last speakers of the night took their place at the front of our coffee shop, i thought about moose, and how his passing has inspired me so much, and i felt extremely proud of what we as a community, you included, have built, and i wondered where this adventure is going to take us, hopefully it will be growth, expansion, and allowing us to provide more help and hope for more people.
our final life stories were told by our great mates craig and aimee, who i have spoken of many times here, and their tales of joy and pain were examples of storytelling that we have embraced since sitting around the campfire in ancient times, craig recovering from a broken neck, aimee beating cancer, and powerful highs and lows of their travels around the world, as well as weaving in their connection to bigmoose, and as craig spoke of how we’ve helped his family and friends, he wasn’t the only one in the audience to get emotionally choked up.
i was going to mention the fundraising amounts that they talked of, and where our total just giving number is, but you know what, today is not about money, it’s about the love that everybody involved in this community shows, and as i got home late last night, emotionally exhausted, chloe sent me another testimonial from one of our referrals, and the number of people who we have saved from taking their own lives this year moved from 11 to 12, and that is the most powerful number, and as i write this i have tears in my eyes, and am struggling to write, but for good reasons, we are making a difference, and long may it continue, and as long as i have breath, i vow to continue this story, there are so many more chapters to write, and please link arms with us, we need you, and as always if you need us please make contact, there is always hope.
namaste,
jeff