Moth stories have the power to bring you into a world that is often not your own and leave you wishing that you could live in that world

Just a little bit longer since 1997 the moth has shared more than 50,000 stories with audiences around the world through shows,

workshops and on the moth podcast and the moth radio hour once the curtains have closed the rooms emptied and the voice is

Quieted it's the stories still ringing in our ears that whisper over and over we are all of us more alike than we are different

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Personal storytelling in their own lives. Thank you.

From P.R.X. This is the moth radio hour. I'm Sarah Austin-Geness from the moth and if you're new to this show, welcome.

At the moth we produce events where all kinds of people tell true personal stories for audiences all over the world

And we share a few of them here each week with you. We have four stories for you in this hour a father worries about the dangers of commuting to the Congo

A misfit becomes a pole-volter and comedian Hari Kahnabolu tells us about the first time he confronted a Heckler.

First up is Annie Corzin. Annie told the story at a moth night in Berkeley, California. Here she is, live at the moth.

So when my son Jonathan was little he asked why he didn't have any brothers or sisters and I said we didn't need any more kids because we got the one we wanted.

And it was true. Every time John O'Leff was school for camp for college I felt this heartbreaking sense of loss because your main instinct as a mother is to hold your child as close to you as possible.

The problem is that your main job as a mother is to prepare your kids to separate. It's the cruel catch 22 of parenthood.

Now we brought Jonathan up as a secular Jew. After the Holocaust my parents had turned away from the old beliefs. My immigrant mother used to say if there is a God I don't like him.

And young Kapoor, while the rest of our Bronx neighborhood was all dressed up and going to temple my mother and I would sneak downtown to see a Broadway musical.

Because and I say this with Jewish pride.

And young Kapoor is the easiest day of the year to get theater tickets. So we were outsiders. No Passover, satir, no poor party, no Hanukkah, no nothing.

And I brought my son up the same way. But when he turned 13 we thought he should have some kind of coming of age party. So we sent him for some lessons in Jewish culture and we invited a bunch of friends over for lunch and Jonathan read a paper called Jewish Values in the modern world.

And then I had this great idea. I got each guest to give Jonathan a list of their ten favorite books and their ten favorite movies so that he could grow up with his own personal liberal arts guide.

And you have to understand this is the way we do things in my crowd. When we get together for a party we get creative. We do funny skits and original songs and you know satirical speeches.

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