3-Minute Memories (or the Art of the Anecdote)

I recently went to the Presbyterian Association of Musician's annual Summer Sing.  It was a little longer than a long weekend and consisted of hours of choir rehearsals, the occasional worship service and some swimming in the beautiful Lake Tahoe.

On Friday night, we were invited to the dining hall in Living Waters for hot fudge sundaes and entertainment.  Said entertainment was in the form of our conductors and a few of our fellow singers telling humorous or uplifting anecdotes in three minutes or less.

I'll relate my three favorites and then tell you what I learned about non-fiction from them.

1)  Michelle is a college choir director who toured Germany with her singers.  She has rules for her choir--you can never be without your passport, credit card and itinerary.  This was proved to be a good thing when two of her basses arrived late at a rendezvous and found the bus had left them behind.  Undaunted, they hailed a cab and paid $150 to travel from Berlin to another city.  They knew that they should be at a particular church, but when they reached that destination, the choir was nowhere to be found.  At the moment that they reached the curb, the bus came driving by and the choir and basses collectively got the driver to stop the bus,  They got on the bus just in time to drive...back to Berlin.

2)  Mom was in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and said that one of the greatest frustrations was having no pockets in the choir dresses.  The men could shove phones and wallets into tuxedo pockets at any point.  Well, the women discovered that knee-high nylons could work as utility belts and put anything from their Chapstick to their Blackberry into their nylons.  Karen, Mom's best friend in the choir, was in the middle of a concert one night when her phone started ringing.  The good news was that she had it on vibrate.  It was also soothing to have it buzz against her leg.  For the rest of the tour, people would sign up to call her every fifteen minutes and she would switch it to the other leg during intermission.

3)  Howard's favorite movie is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, starring a dancer named Jane Powell.  He took ballroom dance because of that and one night, he went dancing with college friends.  An older woman asked him for a waltz and he discovered it was Jane Powell, in town for a concert with her co-star from his favorite movie.

I enjoyed all of these recollections and found them to be told in an effective manner.  All of them gave us a key look at a characteristic of the "protagonist."  With Michelle, it was her protectiveness of her students.  With Mom, it was her resourcefulness.  With Howard, it was his respect for classics.

They also put things on familiar footing.  All of us have missed a travel connection, felt uncomfortable in public or found ourselves with a pleasant surprise.

Finally, they did not require much context.  Almost any audience could enjoy the tale without needing to know extensive backstory.

Had I volunteered to participate, I would have told this story:

In 2002, I was a missionary in California, working with immigrants.  My father sent me four dolls to distribute to needy children for Christmas.  The next day, we found out hat the head of household for a family we knew well had just died and all funds for Christmas had to go to medical and funeral expenses.  My missionary companion and I decided immediately to take over for Santa Claus and raided stores for food, candy and presents for the grandmother, daughter and granddaughter.  It wasn't until my companion told me to look for some kind of Barbie that I remembered the four dolls.  Luisa was one of the four to benefit from my father's gift that year.

This tells you about my family's traditions of generosity, shared a common experience of trying to improve a bad situation and only required the audience to know that I was working with the less-fortunate at times.