Hey Stephen,

I’m a fan, plain and simple.  My husband introduced me to the Tobolowsky files a few months ago.  I have this routine where I’d walk our 7 year-old to his school and then get about a 2 mile walk in every day.  I’ve been doing this for over 2 years now.  I love my walks.  It’s the one time of day that I have all to myself.  Once I return home, I’ve got a wonderful 3 1/2 year old to contend with, and as I’m sure you know, my day doesn’t stop with his energy and activities!  So I love my walks.  I had been listening to music for a long time, but was getting a bit bored with my routine.  Enter your files.  I have enjoyed them so thoroughly!   I find myself intermittently laughing and crying with each story.  I always learn something and I am always entertained.  But it’s the fact that I laugh aloud that stands out to me.  

My husband is also a character actor.  (Although he hasn’t enjoyed the amazing success you’ve experienced.)  And he readily shares that one of the reasons he married me is because I don’t laugh at many things.  So I was a challenge to him.  Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself a relatively happy, bright-eyed person.  But my humor, according to Mike, is a challenge to understand.  So when I began listening to your files and found myself  laughing aloud, and experiencing such a range of emotion within each story, I knew that I was on to something very special.  Your stories on the Entertainment Industry are just so great!  They’ve offered me the opportunity to open my heart to actors in a broader way.  Having been an actor before becoming a Casting Director, as well as being married to Mike, I felt I came to Casting with a unique compassion.  I also have been on a Spiritual quest of sorts for many years, completing a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Psychology from a place called USM.  (Don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it, but it’s an amazing program that teaches skills on how to live a life in alignment with— well, I’ll just call it goodness.  Some people call it God, or Spirit.)  In any case, learning and practicing compassion is part of my daily intentions.  And hearing some of your tales of the whole process have just opened me to a new level of being mindful of how I am with talent.  So thank you for that.  

And the stories beyond the industry are just so much fun.  You have an amazing gift of taking your listeners on a journey through your life experience in a way that’s compelling and interesting and funny!   I’m relatively a new-comer to the Tobolowsky files.  I can’t wait to hear a new one each morning that I head out on my walk.  I have so many to listen to before I’m caught up, but I’m not wanting to rush through them.  I want to make them last. 

I share all of this with you because having you in my walks has created a wonderful bond between us, one I’m sure you share with all of your listeners.  And I’m just so grateful.  You are, without a doubt, the best storyteller I have ever had the honor and privilege of listening to.  Your gift is so evident and I thank you for your willingness to share it with others.  

I hope that some day we will have the opportunity to work together.  I’m a small, freelance Casting Director who deals with talent way below your level.  But I know that life is funny and there are always twists and turns.  And maybe some day, I’ll have the privilege of thanking you in person for making my walks so much fun!