Tanya met him at her Starbucks and he was reading the paper when we walked in this morning.
He recently retired, then un-retired. Lyle was in the military, serving two tours in Vietnam. After return to Washington he went to work in the Kirkland police department for 25 years. During his work as an investigator with KPD, he became interested in the work of the mortician who processed the people after homicide investigations. The way he was able to learn more about the process was to become an apprentice with the local mortician. He did this for a number of years while he was serving as a police officer. After serving Kirkland for 25 years he became the head of the Executive Security Team for Microsoft, traveling the world with Bill Gates and other MS Execs. He retired this last year.
After spending the summer in Chelan doing nothing, he decided he needed to be doing something. So he recently went back to an old line of work. He is the one who comes to your home, the hospital, the rest home or living facility to pick up your loved one once they pass and deliver them to the appropriate location.
Needless to say, it was a very interesting conversation. Mostly listening and asking a few questions along the way.
It really got my wheels turning though.
We all have a story. We all have lived. We all have encountered people along the way.
How many fascinating stories are sitting next to me right now? There are about six people in this Starbucks with me right now. What are the untold stories?
Drama, comedy and some tragedy to be sure.
I think I am going to start collecting stories. I want to ask normal people unusual questions and hear their story.
5 comments:
Hey Josh, great post...I have been reading your blog over the last year or so...it's great to hear how everything is going. Congrats on the birth of your daughter, the triathalon, the church, etc...We should chat sometime. Pete Lynch
PETE!! I was just looking for you yesterday! I am not even kidding. Facebook, Myspace and Google. The next step was asking around. Please email me at josh@lifeattheridge.org, I would love to connect.
Great story. A profile of that guy would make a great newspaper story. But since you're a pastor rather than a newspaper reporter, a blog post is the next best thing. Maybe you can work his story into a sermon :-)
I'll bet almost everyone does have at least one fascinating story about themselves, if you dig deep enough.
I am trying to think of few "breakthrough" questions that help get to the meat of the story. Maybe with your experience John you already have some of those up your sleeve. It reminds me of the Kleenex commercials, the sidewalk interviews. They would ask something like, "When have you laughed so hard you cried?" or "What is one experience that makes you cry every time you remember?" I love the idea of an guiding, open ended question that leaves enough room for exploration.
"Breakthrough" questions? Hmmm. Maybe something like these:
Do you have any passionate interests?
What do you do for fun?
Where do you like to go on vacation? (Everyone loves to talk about vacation)
I think most people can sense when someone is listening carefully to them and genuinely interested in what they have to say. That's probably the best way to get people to open up. I'm not great at breaking the ice, though, with strangers.
Post a Comment