The book The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell is our podcast sponsor.
Kristin, desperate for a way.
To slow down and connect, put an ordinary picnic table in the front yard, painted at turquoise, and began inviting friends and neighbors to join.
Her.
Life changed in her community, and it can change in yours too. Alongside personal and heartwarming stories, you'll read about some stress free ideas for kickstarting your own turquoise table, simple recipes to take outside and share with others, stories from people using turquoise tables in their neighborhoods. You'll find The Turquoise Table on sale everywhere books are sold.
Hi, Delilah, it's Kristin Shell.
Hi Kristin, how are you.
I'm excited to be talking to you. Thank you so much.
You're welcome so much. I'm excited be talking to you and to share the concept and the hope of the Turquoise Table with all of my listeners.
Wow, thank you.
You know it's funny.
As I heard about your book and then delved into it a little bit, I thought, oh my gosh, this is what I tried to do on the radio every night, in a very tangible, real anyone can do this get to know your neighbor's sort of way.
You've taken such.
A beautiful thing and made it so simple for everyone to reach out in love.
Well, absolutely, I think we might be kindreds in that way, and I certainly have learned a lot from you.
So tell me about your personal turquoise table and what led you to decide to do that and put it out in the yard.
So it's been almost four years since I put an ordinary picnic table in my front yard, painted it turculi, in the hopes of getting to know my neighbors and building community, you know, kind of right where we live. But that story, which is always way more interesting, is really kind of the fascinating part of it, the and the journey of it. And so when I was in middle school and I was I ended up going to
I was beat up in my middle school years. And we all know seventh and eighth grade is not a ton of fun anyway, and so when you get beat up, it's just it's not a good thing. And so my parents took me out of the school that I was in and sent me to just a neighborhood you know,
parochial school, just a Christian school in our neighborhood. But that particular school had a different set of rules for chapel services and for taking communion, and so since I wasn't the same denomination, I wasn't allowed to have communion. And so, you know, looking back now, you know it was I was not invited to that table, and it hurt. It was awful, you know, being in that awkward you know, kind of preteen and teenage early years. It wasn't it
wasn't a lot of fun. And so ever since then, there's been this just this like desire to belong and to be included, not only for myself, but then to notice people who maybe don't belong or won't have a seat of the table and welcome them. And so the
story ends up, you know, really really good. I made my way back to church and to God, and you know, as my relationship and space we're growing in my walk with the Lord was growing, I took that table idea and one it took place where all people could be welcome, but I didn't know how.
To do it. So what inspired you?
I mean, I get the backstory, but what made you think one day I'm just going to put a picnic table in my front yard and see who'll come and sit down with me.
Well that's pretty much what I did. It was almost like a dare you know. And it was I was having a party with a friend and we needed a really inexpensive table or two for this for this party, and so I ordered an ordinary, you know, picnic table, and you know, you can visualize the exact one. It's the most you know, normal picnic table out there. And
so I had it delivered and they're heavy. Picnic tables are heavy, wooden ones are and so the delivery guys left it in our front yard kind of right near the edge of the street. And then they came to get me to ask where do you want this picnic table? And when I saw it, oh my goodness, Alilah, it was like this aha moment. It was this moment of you know, maybe it belongs right there. I am going to leave it right there. And I know that sounds crazy, but I did. You would, of course put it in
the backyard for the party. But that next week we painted at turquoise because it's my favorite color, and we put it right back out in the front yard. And so the idea and the concept, you know, it was just a hypothesis at the time, was Okay, what if what if we take our backyard activities are you know, things were doing normally, you know, eating dinner, doing homework, having you know, lemonade stance. What if we were to do all of these things at this table and invite others to join us?
And what did what did your neighbors think when you first went and knocked on the door and said, hey, we're having hot dogs out in the front yard instead of hiding away in the backyard, want to come and join us?
And that's exactly what we did for the very first day. Though before I had the courage because this is a little you know, this is this could be kind of crazy, right, I mean, a turquoise technic table in the front yard. So before and then hindsight, I probably should have asked, you know, permission and not forgiveness. But I didn't go around the very first day and say, hey, guys, I'm
putting a table in the front yard. I actually put the table in the front yard and went outside and sat there, and that day I met a neighbor and a woman who I had never even seen at the
grocery store, the post office. I've never even seen her drive by, and she was walking in the neighborhood and she stopped and we started a conversation immediately, and you know, thirty minutes later we're sitting at the table having a great conversation and Susan, you know, who I never would have met, are most likely would never have met, and I now you know, we're friends. And so that's how
it started at my table. It was very spontaneous and really quite frankly in all honesty, not very well thought through. You know, I just but it was real.
You don't you don't think through real when something happens that's real, you don't think it's through. You know, it's not a planned thing. It's not a purposeful thing. It's like when somebody takes a great snapshot of their kid playing in the sprinkler.
It's real.
Then you see somebody who's posed and hired lighting and a featigeographer.
That's not real, right, right, So this was trust me, it's real, and it still was very real at the table. So that was my you know, just first encounter. But you know what it was to it was such encouragement that you know that that here you did within five minutes of meeting somewhere that it was time to maybe take the next step and do it again. And so I did this the very next day, and the kids
and I went out and had dinner. I mean, I don't even remember what it was, but I guarantee it was on paper plates, and it was whatever we were going to be eating any anyway. And so we tried dinner, and you know, he waved at people messing and miraculous, are out of the ordinary happened that night? Except we got come stable and so we enjoyed being out there. And then I invited a couple of neighbors to time
have coffee. Then you know, it simple and very spontaneous. Hey, tomorrow morning, you want to come sit at the turf place table. And that's when you know they were like, what is this? What are you doing? What's the idea behind it? And I just shared my heart. There wasn't a plan. There wasn't I just said, Hey, what if what if we were used to use This is a really you know, simple gathering place for all of us to come to the table, and there's no rules, there's
there's no plan. Let's just try it out.
And now it's become a thing. It's become like a movement across the country.
It's that crazy. It's a thing, Delilah.
It's a thing.
It's a thing, and it doesn't even have to be a turquoise thing.
It doesn't even have to be a turquoise thing. In fact, you know, really the rally cry now is to live as front yard people. And you know, whether that's at a turquoise table or out on that tiers or a front porch swing or whatever works in your neighborhood and your community. It's just about, you know, living more accessibly and in community with one another.
I think that's so funny because that's a buzzword. That's such a phrase. Now you hear it pastors from the pulp, but you hear it from graduation podiums, you hear it in you know those online videos you can go watch where you get all pumped up. Everybody talks about community. And yet I live in a community. I live like in a village. I've got family and friends that live on my property and kids, and I take in other kids, and we have foster kids and stray kids. And people say to me, that's so weird.
Why do you do that?
Because I believe God created us to live in community. Well yeah, but that that's weird that you have people sleeping on your floor they don't have a place to live, right, So I believe in community.
Well that's just weird.
Right.
Well, you know, and I live in Austin, where you know, our city motto is, you know, keep Austen weird. So maybe I had an edge up by putting a you know, turquoise technic table in my front yard. But you know, it's not, of course weird.
It's not weird.
It's what our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents do. It's what people in developing nations how they live. It's what God intended is for is to be a part of a family, a village, a community of hearts connecting.
It's not weird. It's no good. It's it's wonderful, I know.
So what's weird is that we were not doing it intuitively. I mean, if we want to talk about weird, you know when my husband and I laugh, now that you know that, I get to talk about trying to create community, which is I mean, it's the oldest thing. I mean, it's the oldest thing. Ever, it's there's nothing new about it. We just need a reminder because there's so many distractions and we're pulled in so many different ways via social media. Are just schedule rules or just this this crazy you know,
you know, frazzled lifestyle. That the table has just come to serve as a talisman and a reminder that there's more, you know that we meet, You know that there are such you know, beauty and richness when you slow down, you know, and unplug and just enjoy really the simplicity of.
Of you know, connecting hard to heart. Yeah, of loving people in a very real way. Yes, I appreciate you. I appreciate your your story. I appreciate that you're helping people across the country to come out to the front yard, come out to the front porch and love with all their heart. You keep doing that in your book and your travels and you're speaking Christen, I'll keep doing it on the radio.
Thank you, Thank you so much, Thank.
You, God bless you.
Thanks by Delilah
Hotewn and Ers Mad with you, Lilan