My current co-worker told me this today (you might have had to be there, but I’ll try anyway). Basically, she had some news she needed to break to her mother. She was concerned about her mother’s reaction, so she asked a friend how she should cushion the news. Her friend told her to make it into a story. This is how it went:

“Hey Mom. I need to tell you something. Let me put it into a story. One time, I was walking in the rainforest, and everything was green and beautiful. The birds were singing, there were little squirrels jumping around and everything. Then a beautiful black bird landed on my shoulder. I thought, “Ok. That’s cool.” Then a white dove landed on my other shoulder–MOM! I’m dating a black guy.”