Another crew of Galentine's celebrants share their stories.
Welcome to part two of the Galentine's Day Spectacular. This is the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with the dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. This is a big night, um, for the first time, I think. Mrs. Schweitz has agreed to be a guest on the Kindness Chronicles. But I brought a wingman. You brought a wingman, Karen Bammer. She is a loyal listener, Karen. Thank you very much, Karen. Or Crafty Karen. Also Crafty Karen. Oh, I know your work from the grad party. Yes, Crafty Karen. Where did you get that? Well, that was crafty, Karen. Yeah. How about those things? Nice work. Those are a fun idea. Work that's crafty. Karen But we're gonna get to crafty Karen in just a second. Mrs. Schwetz, we wanna start with you. And I know that you've been thinking long and hard about, you know, the story of kindness and I'm sure that you were trying to decide which story of kindness that you wanted to share about your husband. Um, but you know, I'm gonna ask you not to do that. Okay? I don't want you because it would go on and on. There's just so many. There's so many things. There's so many, and we just, we just. self serving to me a little bit. So I would just like for you, have you thought about anybody else that has been kind to you over the years that you'd like to share a story? I actually have. Yes. So I think when you have a parent pass away, yes, it's a really, really emotional time. And I feel like it really Are you going to keep it together? I'm going to keep it together. I'm good. I feel like you really, in a short period of time, you really get to know people's true qualities. Absolutely. I saw amazing things from my siblings, amazing things from my family, amazing things from my really close friends, but the things that were really impactful to me were those friends that are, are, are true dear friends, but I wouldn't have expected them to lean in, lean in to that moment. That's for Patrick Hawkins. He hates that. He doesn't like that, but I do like that. I do too. Cheryl Sandberg, right? Yep, that's Cheryl. So, um, my story is from a woman in the community. Her name is Tashante Kozlak, and she has got a really bright, big personality. That's an understatement. No, but it's just true and from, I mean, and there's all sorts of amazing Tashante things. Like I feel like I have a big personality and, but I spent a lot of time with my college friends. I spent a lot of time on the road for work. And so when you're in your community, you want to belong, but that's not where my priority was. But it was clearly Tashante's priority and she always made me feel so welcome. Um, whether it was homecoming, whether it was Uh, get together at her house. And when my dad passed, out of nowhere, she shows up with a crockpot of wild rice soup and homemade cookies and like all the things and it was just like came at the perfect time. I was headed down to see my mom. We're going to put our picture boards together and it just like, I think about it all the time and lots of people do lots of nice things, but that was truly unexpected and over the top. And amazing. I remember seeing the angels at the, uh, yeah, the angels showing up at the funeral. And I looked out and I'm like, it was kind of snowing out. I'm like, what are they? Oh my God. So nice. What's the, what happened? What do you mean? Just at the funeral, this group of friends that we have in Matam. Well, but let's just talk about how the angels actually came to be. This is pre COVID the angels really formed their bond like we know them all because we have daughters that were graduates of class of 23, but they all really bonded when we had our car stolen the first time. You can say that now the first time, the first time. Wow. And that's when, and we know each other through St. Jude's, and so we have like a fake faith formation thing. Yeah, they have faith formation. A little teeny bit sacrilegious. On Wednesdays. Oh, you have a fake faith formation? I'm like, It is faith formation, but I mean, it's not, it's not, it's not sanctioned. Yeah. It's unsanctioned. Yeah. I'll say to Becky, where are you going? Faith formation. Well, Riley's been down with faith formation for like four years. Well, I'm going over to Andrea's and it might be in a hot tub. It might be super fun. That's quite a faithfulness. Yeah. I'm guessing the Bible's not cracked, you know, during But we are faithful. I know, you're very fierce spiritual people. Yeah. Okay. Well, Mrs. Schweitz, it's always a delight to see you. Can I, can I just say Describe her outfit. They're, yeah, they're down in the studio with us and, um, um, Becky has a hat with a big bright red heart on it, a white hat with a red heart. And, uh Crocs that have, I don't know, red? Red crocs? Those aren't crocs. They're big uggs. I can't see. Okay. Big uggs. And a shirt with white, little white hearts and a uh, badgers, uh, apron on. Which crafty Karen made. Of course she did. What? Karen? Yeah, right. Let's get to Karen. We've got to talk about this. Karen, did you make that shirt? You did? Of course you did. She has a, what does it say? Loads of love. Loads of love. And it's a truck. Which is a perfect description of Karen. Can I just give Karen a shout out? I know this is not about the GNO group, but I'm having a little something something for my sister on Sunday. Usually I give Karen at least like a Couple days notice. Couple days notice. Yesterday, less than like 12 hours, I was like, Karen, I got a need and I know you're coming here tomorrow. She lives in Lakeville. Is there any way we could pull off a little something, something for my sister? And of course, she shows up with all the perfect things. So. And she always does. You're just lucky I had the night off. Absolutely. So I want to introduce Karen by her. Her husband is a retired police officer from the city of Minneapolis. We always call him. Ossifer, Liam. She has two of the most lovely children. They're literally two of my favorite guys. Anytime there's a, a GNO, I mean, I love all of them. I mean, they really are a good group, but there's something about those two Liam boys that just, they've got something there. And, uh, yeah, I think a lot of that, again, has to do with parenting. Well, the first one is the most impressive because he's in Nihon or Japan for you non Nihongo. Surfing your country as a member of the Marine Corps. Yeah. Ura. Is it Ura? Shout out to Michael. Yeah. Ura. Yep. Okay. Yeah, Michael, uh, and Michael, uh, has a bride out there and a little one, a little grandson. the bride's name is Yumi. Yumi. Of course I call her Yummy.'cause it's spelled seems weird. UMI Weird and I'm creepy. That is weird. Trust. It's very creepy. You call up. It's really creep. Yeah. Riker is the grandson and he really loves John. Let's be right. Well, he, the, the very few times we've spent together. We were drawn to each other. I think that he realized. He really did take to you. I think that he saw me kind of looking a little bit like Santa Claus without the beard. Sort of summer Santa Claus. Summer Santa. Summer Santa. It was in the summer. It was. It was very hot. I was sweating of course. Karen, you are a loyal listener and I just want to thank you because you provide feedback from time to time. It's very nice. I don't ever hear feedback, so I'm glad you get some. I get all kinds of love. I don't know what's wrong with your people. Maybe you're not promoting it to your people enough, but let's, but now Karen can be your people too. Karen, um, tell us a story of kindness that, uh, that you thought of. All right. Well, you're very welcome by the way. I do enjoy. All of your shows. So I was thinking and my story goes kind of way back, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I was thinking of a story about kindness. Um, and this one involves the younger Liam boy, Ryan Liam. Um, actually I was going to ask him about a detail of the story today and I forgot. So I'm just going to go with my memory. Yeah. Um, so. Um, probably 15 years ago when Ryan was like 7, Michael was like 10. We went to the Black Hills, family vacation in the summer. Station wagon? Rena's station wagon? No, we did not. We've never owned a station wagon. Mini vans, yes. Mini vans, of course. That's the new station wagon, John. Come on. Um, anyway, so one night we decided to go to Mount Rushmore in the evening. Because apparently they have a lighted, a light up show where they light up the mountain and they play patriotic music and it was kind of cool but we had never been to that so we decided we're going to go to this evening thing, ceremony at Mount Rushmore and of course you have to get there early because it fills up and whatever so we get there an hour or two early, it's still light out We find our spot in the amphitheater, whatever it's called. And of course, you know, we've got at least an hour to kill, maybe more. So the boys are running up and down the steps and all around the amphitheater. Oh, wait, I have to back up. Okay, so it was either like late July or early August that we did this trip. And both boys have July birthdays. So they had just celebrated their birthdays. Ryan had a, and this was the detail I don't remember for sure, but I think it was a teenage Mutant Nja Turtle Wallet. Sure. Right. That checks out Power Rangers. I can't remember. Okay, so he had all of his birthday money in his wallet special. Oh no. And he's a, you know, 7-year-old, so whatever. I don't even know how much he had. Let's say$40 ish in his wallet. It's a lot of money for a man. 7-year-old and it's all his brand new birthday money in 7-year-old dollars. That's, uh, you know, 35,000. Yeah, yeah, right. 40 bucks. Yeah. Which I don't carry in my wallet, but anyway, uh, so they're running around, you know, killing time. I don't remember at what point it was. I don't know if it was before the show started or when we were leaving, but of course he realizes his wallet's gone. Oh, no. All of his birthday money is in the wallet. So, um, he's broke. Tears? He was for sure in tears. Yes. And so we, uh, as we were leaving, uh, found like a park ranger and we asked him, you know, do you guys have a lost and found? What would happen if somebody found a little kid's teenage mutant ninja wallet? You know, you know, it's not like somebody like John. Well, maybe, but anyway, uh, so we found a park ranger and he's like, well, call this number on Monday. And this was probably Saturday. And I think we were gonna leave on Tuesday. Call this number and we'll tell you if somebody turned it in. So we call on Monday morning. Nope, sorry. It's not here. We checked the lost and found. It's not here. Sell more tears. That's a lot of money for a seven year old. So then we get up Tuesday morning. We're packing up, getting ready to drive home. And the phone rings. And they said, we found it, it was turned in, and we were literally just about ready to head back home to Minnesota, so we had to go the opposite direction, back to Mount Rushmore. Spent 50 bucks in gas. So somebody, some kind soul out there, found this little kid's wallet with, you know, whatever, however much money is, birthday money was, and actually turned it in. And all the money was there, his little, you know, his little, um He didn't have a driver's license, obviously, but he had a little picture in there, and it was mine and Chris's engagement picture. Oh no! It was like his driver's license photo. So everything was still there, and so that, I just, that, that has always obviously stuck with me for 15 plus years, and I just think it was so sweet that somebody turned in this little kid's trusted the process right like if I turn it in they might have called They might call them back. They are gonna get it like that's the whole thing I think that can go wrong and I think also because it's a little kids Well, everyone knows that kind of means something different. Let's get this back to this To you know, yeah I can't remember the last time I had 40 bucks in my wallet. Same. Never. No cash. You should stop carrying that Ninja Turtles wallet though, I was going to tell you. You know what, actually, that would be a good way to protect yourself. You know, if somebody finds it, oh won't they be surprised. And now Ryan is a, financial professional. with Wings, uh, Wings, uh, Wings Financial. Also a St. Thomas alum. Yes. Hello. And. He's about six foot five and knowing Ryan, that 40 bucks has turned into probably 35, 000 by now. Is that, is that a, you obviously remembered it and your husband probably, but was that an impactful thing for him too? Like, how does he, what did he, what was his reaction when he got back? Well, I have not talked to him about it in a long time, but back then, yes, for sure it was because, you know, it was his birthday money. Yeah. Now his birthday money is back. So yeah, for sure it was back then. But like I said, I, I meant to ask him, like, what was the, What was the wallet? Was it Mutant Ninja Turtles, or what was it? And I forgot, but I would like to What was his state of? And if it was like, as impactful to him as a child as it was to me as the mom. I think John already said that. He's a financial guy. I think it was. I want to say, we'll just jump to, that meant a lot, and that his future was in saving people money. He's a lovely guy. He's got a lovely girlfriend. I, uh, suggested at, uh, at Christmas that it's, let's just get going here. Let's start having babies and, um, Summer Santa's pushing it. Summer Santa. Yeah, that, uh, Yeah, Summer Santa, he's aggressive. I just, you know, when you see two attractive people like that, you feel like they have a, an obligation to the earth. They are 22 years old. Let's give them a few more years. Well, you know, I mean, just think of the number of children you could have. Oh, you're wrong. All right. Well, you've had enough of us. We've had enough of you. Could you send down a couple of other gals? Yeah. Thank you. Yes, we will. Thank you for, um, joining us. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, John, um, I, we made it upstairs for a quick break. Yes. And, uh, wow. Yeah, the, um, it's, it's, are you kidding me? She just spilled her drink on the board. Next to the board. Way to go. What I didn't know, John, is that it literally is a Valentine's exchange of cards and candy. They have boxes. So they all go home with a box from their friendship. Full of treats. Yep. It's remarkable. And the amount of food up there. You know, I went up there and I pounded a whole bunch of treats that, uh, that Terry Anderson made because she's kind of like the confectionary lady of the group. That stuff looked good. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, so, okay. Now, before we, while we wait for our next guest to come down, let me just say, dudes don't do something like this. We don't, we don't have like a, we wouldn't go so far as to wear outfits. Well, I might, you know, I'm kind of an outfit kind of a guy. Hey, I would do something like this, but Well, you had red pants once upon a time. I do, I still have them. Do you really? Oh yeah. How do they fit? They fit great. Do they? Yeah. Really? I've had a couple, yeah. Okay, you've had a couple what? I've had a couple different pair over the years. The first pair I got when I was like 22. I couldn't fit into those anymore. It'd be fun to see. No. No. That wouldn't be fun for anybody. Um. No, but it is really quite a spectacle. It is. I would suggest that, uh, I'm sure That one of the gals will be posting pictures on Facebook about, you know, this whole spread. This is quite an impressive It's a lovely group of people. They're absolutely devoted to each other. Whenever the chips are down, the way that they come together is just remarkable. Denise, who we're going to have on here shortly, her dad passed away recently, and I think every one of them was at the funeral. In fact, I think one of them flew back from Puerto Rico. to be at the funeral. And the funeral is spectacular. In fact, the pastor of that church, his name is, uh, Pepe Teresa at the Recovery Church in St. Paul. Yeah. We're gonna have him on. Okay. He's got quite a vibe. It's a, it is. It's a tight knit group of ladies. It's very nice. I understand they're gonna be traveling for Galentine's Day in the future. There's gonna be a trip. Yeah, I think that there's a trip to Greece planned this year. Of course. I mean, why wouldn't ya? Can you imagine this, uh, and they all think that they're like 28 years old. Wait, no, that's not a Galentine's Day trip, that's a, that's a girl's, GNO trip, that's a GNO, GNO sanctioned, GNO sanctioned, sort of like the Faith formation kind of thing. Faith formation, but a different group. But an unsanctioned version of that. The Galentine's Day is just one of the events. Do they have, my question is, do they have other events that they, Galentine's Day is like now the third annual thing. Oh my god. Are they gonna do more things like that, or do they already do things like that? They do things like that constantly. But is it that organized like, Oh, no, it's very organized. Okay. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Every year, uh, they go to Grandview. Okay. Every year they do one weekend at, uh, Jenny's big cabin that she's got up in, uh, like kind of near Birch, Birchwood, Wisconsin. The birthday celebrations, you know, when everybody turned 50, it was like we killed the fatted calf. It was just one fantastic thing. Here come a couple more. Here come a couple, oh, and look at the outfits. The outfits are absolutely spectacular. Pink fuzzy sweaters with hearts, white hearts on them. Very cute. Were we all at, uh, EverEve? Is that where we got those? Or Sam. Sam? Seriously? Wow. Oh, who knew? our next two fun folks, we've got, uh, Terry Anderson, who is the, uh, the treat maker of the crew. The confectionary? She's the one that's having the most, uh, she's beating up my diabetes. My blood sugars are off the charts right now. I can tell because I'm sweating like a bastard. And then Reaser, also known as Hosser, Chris Reese, Chris Hoss, call her what you want. Terry is, Chrissy's sister, and you're, you went to Gustavus, but you're still a good person. Right? Yes. And Chris is a Tommy, so she of course is a good person. And, uh, yeah, Terry's got a couple of kids, Chris has got a couple of kids, love them all. They're just a great group. But, we've asked you, you had an assignment, to come up with a story of kindness that you'd like to share with the world. And here's your opportunity. Terry, we're gonna start with you. By the way, you look lovely. Thanks. Yes. You gotta put that mic really close to your Close enough? You can pull it forward and sit back a little bit if you want. mobile. Yeah, I know. This is nice, right? Fun. Yes, really fun. This is where all the magic happens. Yes. Um, mine is pretty simple. Just, uh, kind of a new friend, um, came into my life and at Christmas there was this random box under the Christmas tree and she had sent a gift unknowing to me. And, uh, it. I love trees. Um, just like any artificial, like decorative tree and she didn't know that. Um, but it happened to be these wood carved trees and, um, it just had a very, very nice note of. How did it end up under the tree? Um, she had previously been dating my brother in law and so he brought it. Previously been dating your brother in law? Yeah, Scott's brother. Scott's brother, okay. So they're not dating anymore? No, they're just friends. So we're not going to talk about that part of the It's okay, they're still friends. Okay, that's, that's nice. Yes. And so, yeah, it was just, it was kind of ironic because she didn't know about the tree. I always say, do not let me purchase any more trees. Um, but I'm You have a tree situation? Maybe a tree problem? I'm grateful to have them. They're very neat. That's lovely. So, um, your hubby is Scott. Yep. We love Scott. But even more than Scott, we love those boys. We've got Bennett, who is, where's Bennett now? Where in the world is Bennett Anderson? Bennett is now back in Scottsdale. Of course he is. He spent some time in Southeast Asia. Yes. That's, he's got a hard knock life, that guy. Yep, he had to come back and get back to work. That's probably a good idea. And then Sweet Will. We like to call him Crossover Will. Yep, yep. Will's at the University of Minnesota. Yep, Will's at the U. How's that going? He likes it a lot. Yep, I think it's, I mean, definitely challenging for him, but he likes it. Do we hear from him from time to time? Yeah, we hear from him a, kind of a good amount. Okay. Not, I mean, Not too much? Sort of when Will wants to be heard. Has he come home at all during his college time away? He Yeah, he had been working Wednesdays back at his job in Maple Grove, um, but now he isn't. And so, he doesn't come home extra a lot. Because he uses a lot of towels when he comes home. Yes, that are left on the floor. Yeah, there we go. Ben was home for a day and a half, and I swear there are six towels hanging over the posts on his bed. Yeah, we made this observation at the last show, and the same thing with my kids when Come home or they're over the it's just towel city. I don't know why it irritates me, but it does yes So anyways enough about that You don't have towel issues to your children bathe So Chris Haas we're calling you Chris Haas tonight because you're married to Mike Haas another lovely guy Always fun to see. And, uh, tell us about your story of kindness. Well, my story of kindness is about my son, Matthew, our oldest son, um, who has Down syndrome, and I think another time we talked about Matthew on the show, and Matthew's 24, and he recently finished a great program. Called Beyond Limits at Bethany Global University, great organization where he lived on campus and Um, had a college experience, but coming back home then, it was time for him, like every other college graduate, to get a job. Next step. Well, that's one kind of the baby stuff. Okay, yeah. That's a whole nother story. Well, he looks like a pirate. He looks like a swashbuckler. Yeah. He's got a better mustache and beard than any adult male that I know. You call him that, we say he kind of looks like a homeless man. So, big. Big. Big. Um, incentive, if somebody could get him to go cut his hair, uh, you know, We'll work on that. That would be great. I could, you know, I could pester him, but we don't do that on the Kindness Chronicles. Jack's girlfriend, Erica, I should, uh, maybe reach out to her and offer her an incentive because when he met Erica, he wanted her. To be his girl. Her to be, yeah. His girlfriend Matthew has a twinkle for the cute girls. There's no question. He's got a, he's got, he's got a good eye. He's got a good, got a very good eye. A good eye. Yeah. So anyways, back to Matthew. Comes back home time to get a job and, you know, that's a little more challenging, um, to find, you know, what can Matthew do and where could he work? And we started thinking about what he, he worked on campus. And, you know, he had done, like, he was on, like, a cleaning crew, so, like, okay, like, maybe restaurants, cleaning, but he also loves to golf. And he has a friend from high school whose parents own a golf course in Lakeville. Oh, of course. And so I was like, let's reach out to them and just see if there would be any opportunity. You know, Matthew's got cleaning experience. He's worked in a restaurant, you know, loves golf, any opportunity for him to, you know, do some job out at legends. And they were gracious to have him come in and have an interview and they hired him. And had a great conversation, um, you know, with the owner and I said, Hey, I've run a small business. I know if this doesn't work out, you just let me know. And he said, this is good business. So, I thought that was just a really good phrase for, you know, somebody who saw the value that this is good business to have our customers. have, you know, a connection was, yeah, and Matthew is, he's just a lovely gregarious guy. And I ran into him at the legends during a golf tournament. And isn't Kevin's buddy lucky like the pro there? Or he was the pro. There, he was the pro there somewhere else. Yeah. He's not there now, but yeah. That, what's, what's the, who's the family that owns legends? Um, Enebex, Jake, Becky. And very cool. Mm hmm. Yeah. Is he still working there? He is still working there. So even through, so he was working two days a week in the summer and then, um, he's just been working one day a week this winter cause their restaurant is open and, and I had reached out to them actually just last week. And, you know, just kind of saying, just kind of checking in, you know, uh, somebody who he worked with had left Legends and I kind of had two, two contacts and they said, Nope, everything's going great. What's he do? Um, like he's been just kind of working in the restaurant. He'll be like, you know, cleaning off tables, uh, yep. And wiping, you know, they just have him vacuum, wash windows, clean tables, wipe the menus down. You know, so in the summer, in the warmer months, he gets to be around golf and then he works with the golf course, the general manager, um, when they have golf events out there, when they have tournaments. So sometimes he'll be out with the group of the young people who are out there helping carry bags. Um, he's helped, uh, put signage out on the course when they're. You know, have sponsors. Yeah, so I don't, I don't exactly know what he does because he doesn't always come home and tell us what he, what he does, but he loves it and he loves the people and they're all super nice to him and yeah, well, that's awesome. Yeah, he's, uh, you know, he's one of those guys that, that just, he's got a way about him that he's just got a charm. about him. Like when you see him, he always is giving you hugs and stuff. Right. He of course likes to give the girls hugs. I do have one quick story, um, about Matthew. Um, Chrissy and Kevin were telling us about taking him to a football game. Oh yeah. And Matthew, um, apparently disappeared during the football game. And Kevin and Chrissy were kind of freaking out, it's like, oh my god, what, what happened to Matthew? And of course, he was surrounded by like all of the prettiest girls in the high school. Yeah, Kevin called me and I guess apparently it was like, you call her, you call her, you call her, so Kevin calls. I'm like, no, no, he's probably sitting in the stands. With a bunch of girls. Right. And that's, you know, they, sure enough, turn around, he's, you know, right in the middle of a group of cute girls. But what you just love, I mean, to me, there's another example, you know, everybody, I just love when people, yeah, feel like they matter. It's just wonderful. Yeah, yeah, no, and we were very, You know, we were not friends with this couple, um, you know, but reach out to them through, you know, Matthew, Matthew knew their son and they were very gracious. That's great. Gave him an opportunity and, you know, so, and it's good business. I agree with that. And yeah, I just love, I love that. That was a really good line. Like, no, this is good business. So you hope that other people who have businesses will think that way? Absolutely. That way. And consider hiring somebody. You know, who may be different than their typical hire. Very cool. Good people. Okay, can you send down the next two ladies? Thank you for joining us. Thank you. You look lovely, both of you. It's very, it's quite a look you got going there. So yeah, you have to have pink or red. We're gonna come up and eat. We started. John, listen to this. Oh, the Pop Rocks. Can you hear it? So yes, um, we mentioned this in the last episode, but they have spicy margaritas. I can hear it. Sounds like your face is on fire. Yeah, I haven't had Pop Rocks in a long time. I would say this is like the sweetest, sugariest margarita I've ever had. More sweet than spicy? Yeah, more sweet than strong. I think that the idea of the Pop Rocks only sort of amplifies the sweetness of the, uh Well I think it, I think it exemplifies how clever this group is. Uh oh, here we go. Come on in. Come on down. We've got Denise Fried Dorgan in the house. Pull up a chair, of course she's got a pink shirt on. And here comes Missy with her warm fuzzies. Welcome. This is, uh, yeah, welcome to the, uh, to the, to the dungeon. Oh. Uh oh, we got three. And here comes Linda. Come on down, Linda. We're gonna, we're gonna have a whole separate, uh, episode for Linda. You're gonna. All right, now we have Missy Larson Yomans and Denise Freed Dorgan. And, uh, again, two of our dearest St. Thomas pals from many, many years ago. How old are you girls? No, we're not going to do that. We're not going to go there. But, um, I want to start with, uh, Melissa. Melissa is married to our friend Brian Yeomans, who is the official Insurance agent of the kindness Chronicles. I met him last summer He was a sponsor when we had sponsors and then we just didn't ever want to bill the sponsors So there were no sponsor. So he's still officially that guy. Hell. Yes forever. He's the guy And, you know, a hell of a good guy. So, uh, Melissa, tell us your story of kindness that you'd like to share with us. Okay. And then we're going to talk about your kids because I love your kids. I love your kids. I love all of those kids. They're great kids. Oh my god, I know. We got good ones right here. Oh, that is true. Um, Oh. Oh, hey, whoa. So, my kindness, actually it's funny that I'm down here with Denise. Put the mic up to your mouth. Just pull a little, you can pull closer. There you go. I'll just sit up a little. There you go. Work on your posture. It is fun that I'm here with Denise because, um, it happened the night of your daughter's wedding. My story. Um, so And may I say One of the loveliest weddings I've ever been to. Hands down. Seriously. Thank you. Gorgeous. That was, uh, yeah. Yeah. Happy I didn't have to pay for that. That's a whole other story. It stressed me out. And, and, what, did we go as far as South Dakota? Is that still in the Minnesota limits? Just a little past Excelsior on Southland. I think that we passed 200 wedding venues to get to this place. But it was worth it. It was. Watertown Mayor. Mayor. I have a friend that lives out there. See, it's not that far, right? Yeah, it's out where that little bump that bumps out of the state of Minnesota out west. You gotta pack a lunch when you're going out that way. Well, we did. Yeah. Anyways. Back to you, I'm sorry Melissa. No, that's okay. Um, so anyhow, I didn't tell Denise this because she was doing all this wedding planning and everything. Looking lovely. And, um, but I had a really sick dog, which was really sad. Because she's our life. We have a golden retriever, Mia. And, uh, she was super sick, kidney disease, like it went really fast and she wasn't old enough to have this. So it was, so it was wrong having a hard time. And my neighbor knew Tara, who you've met. Um, she's amazing. She could do a kindness just on Tara. Um, but anyhow, she like every day was checking on Mia and, um, for like, it went on for like 20 days before the wedding. And she called me and she said, I know you have your friend's daughter's wedding. She goes, I'm coming over and I'm staying with Mia. And she laid with her on the floor the entire night of the wedding so we could just go and relax. And I'm like, not even like asked. She's just a really good human. And uh, so like unprovoked kindness is really hard to find. Oh my God. Yeah. She's just one of those people that constantly. Um, it's just made of good, there's just goodness in her. There's, I, I like, I like what you said because it reminds me of, Becky told a story and I think it has to do with certain people just know the timing of when to do the right thing and that sounds like she. She, it was unexpected and she just said, I'm going to do this and it was exactly what you needed to hear. And she literally like laid on the floor with my dog the whole night. She said, I cried with your dog. And she just said, you know, and we lost her a couple of days after that, I think. And so like I was really having anxiety over, Oh my gosh, we can't leave all night, you know? And so then. I didn't even say that to Tara, and she's like, I'm coming over. I'm like, oh my god, you're the best friend ever. So, people like that in their lives. They are. I just want to multiply them, right? And, and, Nick and Anna, your two lovely children, two, uh, absolute cherubs, um, both now college graduates. Yeah. Both gainfully employed at, both at 3M? Is that accurate? One's at 3M and one is at Sylventum, the 3M health care spin off. So, what was that word you said? Soum. Oh, soum. There's a nice made up soul. The momentum. Oh, oh. Made up word. You know, they get so clever with those words, isn't it? They have a lot of money to come up with that name. I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah. It's like Jardiance. You ever seen those Jardiance commercials? Yeah. Panera is a made up word too. What does it stand for? Oh, it's just a made up word. Well, pan is, is is bred. Bred for in some language, bread for the era and the earth. I dunno. Yeah. Panera. That's clever. We're going to do that at another episode of the show. Yeah, it's a different topic, I guess. Yes, we've enjoyed growing up with the Yeomans children and my daughter, who is now a student at the University of Wisconsin, where Anna went, played a role in Riley's Got a Job, where Anna worked at the Vintage. Riley called us and said, these are my favorite people I've ever gotten to know. She says that the vibe of the people that work at The Vintage, and you know, when you send your kid off to college, your number one objective is, God, I hope they find their people. And she's got a group of friends that she met going through the sorority process, and they all kind of dropped out of the sorority process because it just didn't feel right with them. And she's been in a couple clubs, but she just loves going to work, and it's You know, she's getting paid. Oh, no kidding. That's really cool. What's she doing out there? Does she still live out there? Yeah, she moved back because she's remote. She can work anywhere. Oh. And she's just living her lease back out in Madison until, she's going to walk in graduation in the spring. Yeah, and I got a big, great big box in my storage place. It's your TV box, we got to get that back to you. Alright. And, and, and Nick, uh, biggest smile in, uh, in the crew, he's got a big Bunch of choppers that, uh, there's clearly some, uh, expensive dental work that went into those teeth. Actually, they were pretty straight, but yeah. Yeah, he's got a, God, he's got a smile. Okay, on to you, Denise. Yes. Married to our friend, Scott. And, uh, two, also two lovely children, Mason, who's in Boston, do I understand? And Mason also went to Madison, and now he's a big shot up in Boston, which is very cool. And then of course your daughter, the bride, couldn't be a more lovely girl, and she's married to a doctor, what's his name? Scott Perkins. Dr. Scott Perkins, the uh, the gentle, the gentle dentist. Yep. Yes, indeed. Gentle on the eyes. He's a very, he's a very handsome guy. Maddie hit the jackpot with that one. And the funny story, I'm just going to throw this one out there. They grew up like blocks from each other. A block. A block from each other. And they didn't know each other. That's wild. Yeah. She came back from college and met at a bar. No way. And then when they went on their first date she comes home and she's like, Mom, he grew up a block away. That's so she, he literally married the girl next door. Oh, geez. And he's a dentist for God's sake. And he's a super handsome dentist. He's got this great beard that I envy. Like you can't believe, but Maddie, I mean, let's face it going on to doctor. Yeah. Dr. Perkins hit the jackpot with that one. She's just a stunning girl, but the wedding was phenomenal. Thank you. And, uh, I just also want to mention that, uh, we recently, you lost your dad, and the funeral that we went to was one of the most inspiring funerals I've ever been to. In fact, I got the phone number of the pastor, Pastor Pepe, and we're going to have him on the Kindness Chronicles one of these, uh, one of these days. Just the vibe of that place is very cool. It was amazing. It was. It was really amazing. Yeah. Very fun. He was, he was a recovering alcoholic for 36 years. And found this church that he went to with a couple of my brothers. And it just, he found a lot of people there as people got up and spoke about him and what they, you know. Did you know how they affected their his how he affected their lives and it was amazing Yeah, people kept going up there telling these nice stories and I was sitting next to Lynn. I'm like I didn't prepare anything Are we all gonna go up there? No, but it was really it was very cool. Thank you. And you talk about kindness There was kindness just oozing all over the place Oh for sure and the band and then the people doing the Congo line at the end Oh, yeah, it was insane Like fly away, fly away was this song that they and so my brother who my oldest brother who's 70 Um basically did the conga line who is a he is a guy. Yeah Well, and now we know where denise It's in the family with those dance moves. Oh, yes. They like to use their arms. Yes, those Freeds. They do like to use their arms. And that's something my dad always did. He always, like, loved to get a song and he'd do a little dance. Well, he was dancing at your daughter's wedding, which was what? four months ago, five months ago. I know. I'm so happy that he was able to make it to my daughter's wedding before he passed. Okay. Well, enough about her and the precious doctor. Um, do you have a story for us? I do have a story for you. And I have a story about when my mom passed away, um, which was six years ago. Um, she passed away on St. Nicholas's, um, and she was, um, Which is December 6th. Okay. Or, you know, you go to bed the night of the 5th, you put your shoes out, and St. Nicholas brings stuff on the 6th. She died December 6th, six years ago. And so a year later, um, we always have our, I work for Delta Vacations, and we have our holiday party in Atlanta. Where our corporate office is and so I went down there and it was December 5th or yeah It was December. It was December 6 the day of the party and I came home and Whatever went to bed and a couple days later. I found a little angel on the spruces that you put out In front of your house for Christmas, right? There was an angel hanging On the spruce tree. And I was like, Huh. Wonder who dropped that off. I immediately texted, Chrissy. Of course. Um, that's what I was thinking. Chrissy and another neighbor, my friend Kristi Nazby in the neighborhood, I was like, Did you guys do this? And they're like, No, but what a great idea. And so for a long time I didn't know who did it. So when I went back to work, I found out it was one of my coworkers. Oh my gosh. A year later, she remembered the year my mom, the day my mom died. Yes. Wow. And she delivered that angel on that tree. No, she wins, right? I mean, it was like, oh my gosh. And she does that. She kind of goes and plays St. Nicholas to all of her family and buy something different and does that that night. But this night it was kind of interesting. So the night we all got off an airplane from Atlanta, um, and we're driving home and she lives in prior Lake and she came to Edina, put that out in our front of her house. And my daughter actually that night had had a bunch of people over to celebrate. Like, just have friends over or whatever. She's like, I was so afraid to walk up to your house because we have a glass door. And she's like, I swore somebody was going to see me. Yeah, who's this, uh Yeah, and so, and And I just never, I never, I never thought of her. And then, so, this was like a couple months after and I was like, what a thoughtful, kind thing to do. Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Oh my gosh. I love that story. I know. It was like Okay, well, so there's a lesson to be learned from that maneuver. Right? Holy cow. Okay. Just, I mean, just amazing person. That's super cool. You're reminding me, so when my mom passed, her friend is Donna Reback and they own Reback's nursery. It's like a. Christmas tree. It's only open at Christmas. And she makes my mom a wreath for the cemetery every single year. Oh wow. And she puts bells on it. And because she wants, because when my mom's, she goes, because your mom floats and she always jingles when she walks. Oh my god. She goes, I want everyone to hear, so she puts a bell on it every year. I love that. I know, and I'm like, those are like, Good things, right? Like, I love your story. And both your mom and dad, yours died very, very young. But, I mean, kind of amazing, right? I love that story that you just told. I will say this. that of all the people that we've had on, we've had to adjust the volume the least for Denise. Denise has the most strong voice of anybody. That is a compliment. Thank you. Absolutely. You project very nicely we are grateful that we won't have to play around with the volumes on yours. It's a great story, Tim. So it is. It's a wonderful story. And it makes you think about, okay, Things you can do for other people that aren't really unexpected. Well, just like I finally read the book, my husband talked about the richest man in town. Wonderful book about a Walmart cashier. Who's 70 years old in South Dakota and how much time he takes with each customer. And how after every customer he shakes their hand and says thank you for shopping at Walmart, have a great day. And looks them in the eyes. And his line would be long. Yeah, people wait to. People wait. Yeah. It's an 88 page book. You're not getting that at Walmart nowadays. Yeah, you're not getting your right here. I don't think you're getting, yeah, not, yeah, so it's a great story and I read it after my husband talked about it cause my dad was very much like that. Love to talk to everybody and love to get their life story. And that's awesome. So very cool. Well, thank you ladies. You both Thank you. Describe, we didn't talk about what they're wearing. They're wearing, yeah. Oh, so there's a, a pretty pink, uh, sweater. Lot of sweat. It's a sweater. Knife. Sweater. Sweater. It's sweater's. A father sweater. Yeah. It's very fuzzy sweater. And, uh, and, and Melissa had, so Denise has a pink sweater and Melissa has a warm fuzzies Yeah. Sweater, which is a very what, like hugs and hearts. And what are you doing with your hands there? I dunno. Just hugging. Huggy! No, it's very huggy. It's very huggy. Just warm. It's a huggy okay, could you send, I think, um, Patty and Linda are still The tail end? I think they're the tail end. Okay. Thank you. very much. Happy Galentine's Day. Yeah, Happy Galentine's Day. Very nice, guys. It's honey. Oh, is there honey on it? And then there's Pop Rocks stuck to the honey. I love the new studio. Oh, thank you. The studio is, uh I like the studio in the basement. Are you not happy with it? No, I love it. It's nice. Yeah, it's nice. It works out good. Yeah. Okay. We got two more. We need two more. Patty and Linda. How about Denise's voice? Is she loud or what? Just, yeah, a really good, nice rich voice too actually. Oh my god, yeah. Her laugh is, is something. But yeah, she's uh, the wedding. Oh my god. Where was it? I was gonna ask, but Is that some farm place out in there? Oh, okay, it's like in Watertown. Watertown Mayor. It was spectacular, and the food, they, I think they had, uh, D'Amico's, uh, catered it, it was, it was next level. Well, dentists, you know. Yeah, well, gotta do it up. Indeed. All right, so the next two. So Patty is a bundle of laughs and Linda is Troy Paulson's wife. She's a handful. Yeah, I talked to her. She's very sarcastic and just like, she's the one that sort of brings it all. Um, these ladies were all at the grad party, right? They were all, most of them were at the grad party. So the funny thing about Linda, I was sitting with Linda at that funeral and I'm, none of this is going to be on the podcast. And these people, you know, keep in mind that these people are recovering alcoholics and they're, they're flying around. And I looked at Lynn and I said, are they drunk? She's like, that's inappropriate. Two of the absolutely gems of the group, Patty Jonas Ampey And Linda Stenberg Paulson. We like to say the, uh, the maiden names just so, you know, we connect with those people that knew you back then, back when. That is just what I want. That's, oh, you want to connect with all those high school boys that fancied you? Um, Patty always brings the fun and Linda kind of brings it back to reality. I think that is, I, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Linda at Denise's dad's funeral. And when the people got up and started dancing at the end, they were doing the flying around the, The church, I said, which one of the idiots, and I was pointing to all the gals in front of us, will be the first one to join the, uh, the crew. And of course, as you pointed right to Becky and Chrissy, which I couldn't agree more. Right. But they, they, they didn't do it. I was shocked. They didn't do it. I was shocked as well. They were restrained. Yes. Absolutely. Everyone was on their best behavior. Since, um, we're gonna finish with you, Linda. Oh, great. Cause it's sort of the grand finale. Oh, super. But we're gonna start now with Patty Ampey. Patty. Lovely Patty, pretty Patty, is what we like to call her. Patty has three absolutely adorable children. One of them is in the process of becoming some sort of an eye doctor. Yes, this is correct. She's like the head of some eye doctor, um, society or something at her, the college that she goes to. No, she's very impressive. She, she does, yeah, she's doing well. She's doing well. Yeah. She goes to Chicago, um, School of Optometry. Optometry. Mm hmm. And, um, And then we have Anna, who's a junior at St. Thomas. And then Jack, who's a senior at Maple Grove, and he will be going to St. Thomas. Is that accurate? That is correct. So, the whole crew, three for three, went to St. Thomas. Yeah. Boy. God, that's fantastic. Patty, have you had any chance to think about a story of kindness that you'd like to share with us? Yes, I have. Um, One of a good friend of mine who, um, it's not in this group. Nope, that was against the rules. Um, sadly came upon, um, an illness that she had to work through. And, um, it was breast cancer, a good friend. And, um, throughout her process, it was a six month process. She had to go through a lot of different things. And Um, her whole tribe around her, um, we put together a different, you know, different weekly thing of what we can do and what we can do to make her feel better and how we can help her. Um, she had to go through a lot of treatments and we would, um, you know, all of her friends would take a different day to come and do something with her, you know, whether it play cards or, um, you know, any, any type of thing and through her own whole entire process, I think. Every single day that she was going through it, which obviously was really difficult, somebody was there doing something for her to try to, you know, get her mind off of it, or make her feel better, or, you know, whatever we could do to, to help her, you know, go through that process, so it wasn't like she was suffering it on her own, but we all were there, and it just made it. I mean, after the fact and everything is good now and she is cancer free, um, but yeah, but we, she, you know, time and time again talks about how if it wasn't for all of the different people in her life that came to her and helped her with everything, um, that would have been a much difficult, a lot more difficult for her to go through. And that's what, you know, this group, I mean, we can. Linda and I can make fun of this group, but, you know, when the chips are down, you guys really rally. I mean, and it's pretty remarkable. So, is this a group of people from, like, your community? Um, she was a mother of one of Isabel's friends from, like, grade school. Dr. Izzy, we like to call her. Dr. Izzy. Yeah, so, so I've known her for, since the kids were like, like, four or five year, four or five years old, so. And, and Patty's husband, John, is sincerely one of the greatest guys you could ever know. Just always chipper, always cheery, couldn't love the guy anymore. He and I, had a, a reputation for either leaving parties, or one time we actually got thrown out of Chris's wedding because we were drawing too much attention to ourselves. And it was actually John that was drawing too much attention to himself. And then I went in to try and be at a peace negotiator with, um, Chris's dad and he said, you're out of here too. So I kind of feel like I was judged by the company that I kept that night, but John was doing the YMCA on top of one of the speakers and that was, it was not appreciated. He may have had a couple cocktails that night. He may have had a few, but he's just trying to get the party going. He knows how to get the party going. Now, speaking of getting the party going, Linda Paulson. Oh my goodness, this is so much fun to have you down here. She's got a lot. Is it really? It is. Wow. Outstanding. It is. So Linda's husband, Troy, who is legendary here in Matamedi. Yeah. And we always have to mention Matamedi. Yep. Troy, you knew. Yep. I know Troy. I knew Troy in Matamedi. I think we might have played football. He's, I think maybe a grade ahead or two grades ahead, but my brother Dan knows him and. He was what class? He graduated in 88. 88. So same age. Yeah, that's my grade. Yes. He knew a lot of people that I knew, and I didn't go to Monomedai, but Well, you graduated in 88, but you were supposed to graduate in 86. No, no, no. Okay. No. It was 86, or, uh But, yeah, so, Troy, enough about Troy, but he was a legendary, he was a quarterback, oh, good for you. And he was a freshman on the varsity baseball team. Yeah, he was an athlete. Yeah, he was an athlete. Good dude. And he led the, uh, the, uh, the Big Dawgs, our, uh, co ed football team to, uh, several city championships. In fact, you know, these are some of the Big Dawgs right here. Very nice. City champs. That's what it was. That was a ci There were 88 teams and we won twice. I don't know if that's true, but I'm going with it. We were legendary. We were legendary. And then, Linda has two of the most lovely girls. Macy, who's at ASU. Correct. And then Felicity, who's at Indiana. She's a Hoosier. She's a Hoosier. Yeah, and she's, they couldn't be more adorable. Um, my son Ben, he probably doesn't listen to this, has a twinkle for both of them. So, I can say that. Are they athletes? Just curious. Uh, Felicity, I mean, it was a soccer player. Felicity was a soccer player, but yeah. Nothing that we could discuss here like Troy. Okay, okay. No, no, that didn't, uh. Troy was legendary, for God's sake, the golden boy. Right. So I know that you've been looking forward to this, to coming down. I, I really have. You have. I love speaking about kindness. About kindness. Specifically. You're wearing a shirt that she has a sweater. A microphone. Yeah. I'm trying to emit love, emit you. You're emitting. Yes. And Patty's got a big red heart. White heart on a red, sort of a pinkish red. Um. Background. It's quite lovely. Thank you. Thank you. So, Linda, I know that there are many stories of kindness that you'd like to share with us, but let's, let's just narrow it down to one. Just one. Well, as I said when I came in, when you're not a very nice person. Oh, that's not true. It's hard to. That couldn't be further from the truth. Oh, I think we all know the truth. Um, well, to your point, there are so many, um, but one that your wife wanted me to focus in on was the lovely women that took care of my mom when she was going through her Lewy body dementia, living at home, uh, they made it. for her to stay at home in her own comfortable house. They cooked for her, they danced with her, they sang with her, they prayed with her, and she was really reluctant, um, in the beginning, and, uh, in the end, she could not do it. Stopped telling them how much she loved them and that they Were her best friends and she couldn't thank them enough for what good care they gave her And how old was your mom when she passed? My mom was 95 when she passed. Holy cow! Mm hmm. Yeah, they were with us for two years from 93 to 95. We had 24 7 live in care with them Oh, wow, and they were amazing. They have an angels. Yep. They were living angels. They really were in fact isn't that how Becky connected with the The people that took care of her dad as he was going through his hospice, uh, his hospice time. So, absolutely lovely. I will, I have to mention something about your mom's funeral. So, is that Russian Orthodox Church? Yeah, Eastern Orthodox. Eastern Orthodox, um, Church. Um, the wedding that you and Troy had was, uh, was different. It was a cultural experience. There was a lot of crowns being held over people's heads. Chris, it's a big job. And there was incense and things and Ah, but the shoulder Lots of incense. Lots of incense. The shoulder workout was remarkable. But the funeral was lovely. It was a beautiful funeral. And your mother Looked fantastic. And I know that there's a little story about Oh, come on. Why she, seriously, it's I think that this is a public service announcement. So you want me to go into what we did to make her look so good? Yes! Yes! You want me to go into that little detail? That's a good secret. I think people need to know this. Because your mom was always a very attractive mom. And she was very vain. Very vain. Very vain. With her lipstick. Yep. She wanted everyone, she'd always be like, Well you're gonna put lipstick on before we go, right? But tell us the trick that you did that made her face look like not a deceased person. Well it wasn't me. We can call this It's a huge act of kindness. It was! Yeah, sounds like it. So my sister Chris, uh, is very familiar with this for some reason, um, and she said, we were there when she passed away and we're holding her hands and she said, Mom will want to look good. I need to take her handkerchief and And put it around her face. Right, so it wouldn't droop. So it wouldn't droop, yes. So she tied, took my mom's babushka, and tied it around with a cute little bow on top, and Elsie ended up looking fabulous. Her cheeks were nice and I'm serious, as crazy as this sounds You know, upon death, you experience rigor mortis. Muscles all just fall. And what happened was, I mean, she looked like, she looked 20 years younger than 95. Yes, and she looked very peaceful. It was very, it was, it was a beautiful funeral. But, uh, yeah, this is, wow, this is a big twist in this, in this chronicle. It's a good trick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And your mom would have been really happy, right? She would have been, yeah. She would have been all in on that. Didn't all the friends, all of the GNO friends, didn't they all wear your mom's shade of lipstick or something that day, too? They all made sure, I don't know. No, she didn't have a shade. They just made sure they wore lipstick. Even if you weren't a lipstick wearer, people wore lipstick, yeah. Now, John, to pull in a Seinfeld reference, I just was curious, when you went to the church, did they think you had Kvorka, were you with a Kvorka? I had the Kvorka. Or you or Kevin, maybe one of you, maybe both of you. One of us had the Kvorka, yes. We were, there was a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church, a woman. She couldn't stop talking to you. That couldn't stop being attracted to us because we had the Kvorka. There's your Seinfeld episode. KT'd be so proud of you. I know he would be, that's why I want to include him in that. And then lastly. The food at your mother's funeral was absolutely second to none. The amount of food that I piled on my plate, and I'll never forget, KG was unable to make it to the funeral because I think he was, He had to leave. He had to leave. He came and then had to leave before lunch, yeah. So I sent him a picture of this plate of food and he is like, Are you kidding me? Let me guess, is it usually canado or something, or what was the, what's the food? so there were pierogi. Pierogi, that's what I was thinking. Yeah, pierogi, um, we all say it different, but, uh, my mom made those and sold them for the church as a fundraiser. So she was active in that. So there was that and Polish sausage and all these. Different things. So yeah. And she wanted fried chicken, so I think it was fried chicken. Oh yeah, I got a breast. It was really, it was a great day. So there was some ethnic food, there was some of her favorites. It was a whole mishmash. Kevin really wouldn't, he would have enjoyed this. Oh, I know, I know. Well, KG, you missed out on this one. I'm sure you'll listen. Of course you will. And, uh, again, I'm grateful that you guys were willing to come down and Eh, were we really willing? Willing! Not willing! You know, we twisted your arm. We took your keys away and said you weren't going back to Edina. Oh, good for you. But, uh, thank you and with that off we go. Another Galentine's Day success. Success. What time are you guys gonna be out of here? About nine o'clock or so? John's got the cane. Goodbye. Thank you. And off we go.