Lola Augustine Brown- From England to Nova Scotia: A Writer's Journey

In this episode of A Chat with Heart, host Christina Martin engages in a heartfelt conversation with freelance writer and community advocate Lola Augustine Brown. They discuss Lola's journey from England to Truro, Nova Scotia, her impactful work addressing food insecurity in her community, and the creative process behind her writing. The conversation also touches on personal resilience through trauma, the adventures of travel writing, and the importance of making a difference in the world. With humor and honesty, Lola shares her experiences and insights, inspiring listeners to take action and embrace their own stories.

Lola's Website

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to A Chat with Heart
• 8:41 Meet Lola Augustine Brown: A Writer's Journey
• 16:50 Tackling Food Insecurity in Truro
• 24:18 The Creative Process and Writing Rituals
• 35:01 Travel Writing Adventures and Unique Experiences
• 50:49 Resilience Through Trauma and Personal Growth
• 1:03:38 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

Transcript

Christina (00:00.206)
Hey, you're listening to A Chat with Heart. I'm your host, Christina Martin. I'm a singer-songwriter, curious human. I live on a dirt road in rural Nova Scotia with my partner in crime, Dale, and our Calico cat, Olivia. This podcast is basically just me chatting with people I admire. I like to ask questions that feed my curiosity, and my guests have all taught me something. They either crack me up or they punch me right in the feel.

If you've got questions, comments, or a burning desire to join the conversation, please call my heartbeat hotline, day or night. It's 1902-669-4769. You can also email me at christinamartinmusicatgmail.com. And if you want to throw a little love my way and help keep this thing going, visit my Patreon page. That's how artists like me get paid. Thanks for showing up. Warning, heartfelt content ahead.

Just talk about

could shine, we could break a dark day If we just talk about it

Christina (01:23.054)
Hey friends, it's Christina here. Welcome back to A Chat with Heart. I'm very glad that you're here tuning in. Before I dive in, a quick little life update. I got some shows coming up I'm really looking forward to in Nova Scotia in September. So this weekend I'm actually heading up to King's Theatre to do a little

some just some silly promo videos. The King's Theatre in Annapolis Royal September, September 6th. It's a Saturday. And I got to tell you, I love playing these, these, these like beautiful old and revived like venues. It's just, it's a stunning, it's a stunning one for sure. And I've been trying to get, get back for a while and it's finally worked out. So

The night before September 5th, we're gonna be playing at the Marigold Cultural Center with... And then on the Sunday, I'll just jump ahead. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, shows in Nova Scotia. Sunday, we're doing a matinee, like post-brunch performance at the Carlton in Halifax. So it's a big weekend and I'm kind of not doing many shows up until then.

So I really hope we get a lot of people out and tell your friends and make it an adventure. Heck, do all three shows if you can. Well, you're going to get most of the same songs because we're actually playing with my trio. I say it's my trio. I I don't own the trio, but it'll be a trio of myself on guitar, electric and acoustic and my incredible

life and music collaborator Dale Murray on electric guitar and the wonderfully talented, musician of the year last year on Prince Edward Island, but now residing back in Amherst, Hannah Molonson, who performed on the live Storm album.

Christina (03:46.67)
in Alderney Landing with us. And we've just been really enjoying our time with Hannah. We've been rehearsing every week with her. And she's so glad we met. And so that's the kind of core of the performance. And then to top it all off, we've got an incredible string trio with string arrangements by, and she'll be performing as well, Karen Graves, who did all the string.

arrangements for Storm, the album and the live, the charts, the arrangements for the live performance, the live album as well. And so that's gonna be really special. You don't wanna miss it. I don't wanna miss it. I'll have to be there. And I'm just so excited to get back in the room with all of these musicians and play for you. And...

Dale and I have just got the master for a fun cover song that I'll be releasing soon. But I'm just going to say that. I'm not going to spoil it. then Dale is just finishing up. We've been working on this beautiful, beautiful version of a song called Golden Tears that I wrote after an invitation from United Way to write this song about...

an incredible woman and her life, her story. So Golden Tears with strings, Hannah Molanston plays on that as well. It's a very emotional track and I look forward to sharing it. And as many of you know, as you're with me on my Patreon as a free or paid member, that's where you'll get to the sneak listen.

to hear it first. And I'm excited about that. Okay. So I'm also getting ready to head out on a bit of a combo trip. I'll be doing some songwriting, dog sitting, and hopefully soaking up some quiet time and creative inspiration by a pool. And I also have to tell you, we went recently, Dale and myself and our friends Liz and Paul.

Christina (06:08.078)
from Fredericton. We all went to see, we drove to a very remote location in New Brunswick to see James Mullinger perform his comedy at Harvey Hall. It's in, I think it's Albert County. Don't quote me on that. It's near Alma in New Brunswick, along the Bay of Fundy. What an incredible space. Kind of like a very old hall, all wood inside.

Foundation could use some work, but like the hall itself is just incredible. And James, of course, hilarious, heartwarming as always. If you ever get the chance to see him perform, grab your friends and get tickets and go. Your life will be better for it. And I'm also big fan of James's book, Brite Happens. He has a new book coming. It's in the works.

I don't know how far along, but, Britt Happens is remarkable and, you know, he shares about his story and the evolution of his career, but also his, how he ended up in New Brunswick from, you know, from London. So check him out. James Mullinger. Love him. Now, today's episode is, is another special one.

I'm joined by my friend, freelance writer and community advocate, Lola Augustine Brown. Lola has lived a big, bold life from England to Truro, Nova Scotia. It's about an hour from where we live. And she's got the stories to prove it. She's written about everything from sex and spirituality to food insecurity and family life. And her work has been published all over the place. Places like Today's Parent, Canadian Geographic.

USA Today 10 Best, Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and more. We talk about her unexpected path to becoming a writer, her beautiful and deeply impactful work in the community, including a backpack program tackling food insecurity, and how travel has shaped her as a writer and as a human. There's also some really honest conversation about the creative process, writing rituals, friendship, and resilience.

Christina (08:31.35)
Now, just a gentle heads up, in this episode, we also speak candidly about our experiences, both of our experiences, with sexual abuse. So if that's something that you're not in a place to hear right now, please take care of yourself and maybe come back to this one day when the time feels right for you. All right, with that said, settle in, make yourself a cup of something comforting, and enjoy this heartfelt inspiring chat.

with the one and only Lola Augustine Brown.

Christina (09:08.014)
Woo!

okay, cool. Here we go. my goodness. Okay, Lola. Lola? Yes. You know this about yourself. You're a freelance writer and editor. You're a mom of three. You originally hail from England, but now you call Truro, which is the hub of Nova Scotia, your home. you've written for Travel and Leisure, Canadian Geographic, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, There Are the Dogs. That's perfect. Sorry. No, we're going to keep that.

It's part of real life. Anyway, to name a few places that you've written for. But you've also made a real impact in your community. More on that in a bit. Okay, so let's go back to the beginning. What first sparked your love for writing? Like, what did little Lola always dream of doing? Did you always have your eye on the horizon or was this like, is this like...

No, no, fell into this. Though my grandma did say I was writing magazines when I was seven and a year her house when she'd have me over. But I actually thought I was going to be a social worker and I was doing a degree in social policy thinking I was going to manage group homes or something like that. And then I was in the university bookstore and there was a book on a table and it was called Magazine Writing, The Hobby That Pays. I was like, that sounds interesting.

I picked it up and I read this book from cover to cover. And it even had a list of like good magazines for first time writers to approach in the back of it. And I think you know about like, you used to get magazines on the tube in London, like these free magazines that they would give out. Yeah, there was one called Girl About Town. And that was one of the suggested markets. And I wrote a story on spec for them. And it was just about being part of a live studio audience for TV shows and how fun that was.

Lola (10:59.854)
And I wrote the story, sent it to them, didn't really think anything about it. And then a couple of months later, I was moving out of an apartment and the phone was ringing and I picked up the phone and it was the magazine offering me a hundred pounds for the story and asking if I wanted to have a column with them. That was it. That's how it started.

like a full like was a hundred pounds back

It was good. This was like 30 years ago, right? So yeah, it was great. Yeah, it was great. And then that was how I got started. And then I was like, okay, maybe I can do this. And I just started doing more freelancing. And then by the time I finished my degree, I wasn't going to be a social worker anymore. I was going to be a writer. And then I did a year sabbatical at university, writing the student magazine. And it just went from there.

That's interesting. Now, I know a little bit more about that background. Because in your life, like, I'm not saying you've done social work, but you kind of approach a lot of the things you incorporate into your life with that background of caring and conscientiousness. Like, you've had foster children in your home. You've fought for them on behalf of them when they can't.

And then we are going to talk a little bit later about your impact in the community in Churro. like, didn't, yeah, that's pretty, that's pretty bad ass. But it's influenced, it still had that influence in you. Do know what mean? Like I went to university, studied psychology, German culture and civilization and minored in business without knowing I was going to be a touring singer songwriter predominantly in Germany and you know, an entrepreneur and all those things like no idea, but

Christina (12:41.505)
Hey, came in handy.

Well, everything feeds into it, right? You don't know at the time how certain things are going to affect you or what they're going to do. And then you just roll with it. think if you have that entrepreneurial mindset or you want to be doing stuff yourself and you're trying to nurture your creativity, everything feeds into it, even the most obscure things.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so you traded the comfort of UK castles and cozy neighborhood pubs and cobblestones for our coastlines and our, I don't know, our cozy little communities. Can you talk a little bit more about what brought you to Truro, Nova Scotia and why, yeah, why'd you stay?

Okay, so never ever thought I would be happy in a small community like Truro. So Truro is like what, like 12,000 people or something? Like, fairly big for the show. I think maybe it's been more. Maybe more since COVID where everybody moved in. I think, you know, it's not that many people, but

We're gonna people writing in. We're gonna get people like, it's actually 78,000.

Lola (13:47.822)
Maybe it's more than that, but it was like before COVID it was lower, that's for sure. it's, okay. my God. I'm so sorry.

No, that's fine. We like, we like, are friends.

Neighbors having a party and all their children, all their adult children come back and of course they're just parking just outside. Anyway, okay, dogs are done I think. Okay, so when I finished university with my first husband, I decided we were going to go and get married in Las Vegas by 57 Chevy and drive across America and then go back to London. Went to Las Vegas, did a lot of stuff we shouldn't do, spent a year there. whoa, whoa.

Perfect.

Christina (14:24.63)
Like... Sorry, I'm sorry to interject, but a little stuff you shouldn't have done.

I mean, I was 21 living in Las Vegas. I don't know if there's a better time in your life that you could live in Las Vegas. We went to lot of clubs. We saw a lot of bands. We had a lot of fun and we fell in with like this crowd of people who work for Cirque du Soleil. So we had a really fun time and we got into the arts community. We ended up staying there for a year. I chickened out of marrying him. But then during that time we'd come to Canada for a weekend and went to Vancouver and it just pissed with rain for the three days we were there. But I was like...

Wow, why have I never even really heard about Canada? Canada seems great. Like I just had no concept. Like I knew it was a country, but I'd never thought about going there. Anyway, so in that time, liked Canada and thought, you know what, can't really get a green card. That was the plan I wanted to stay in Las Vegas. I loved it in Las Vegas. Couldn't get a green card. And then it turned out that if we applied for Canada, the

immigration consultant was like, yeah, $1,500. You can both get in. We can get you and your husband into Canada, know, if you marry him. so anyway, did all this stuff. And then during that time did go live in Australia for two years and did that work in tourism visa that you can do in the Commonwealth. And then came back, lived in Vancouver, got divorced, had a whole thing have, and then I moved to Nova Scotia on my own with my baby, who is now 18, but was like,

I think 14, 15 months old at the time and started this life on the East coast as a single parent, which is the best thing I could have done because obviously everyone's super friendly here. And then ended up reconnecting with my boyfriend from university, Ian, who's moved out here. We wanted to buy a farm, moved to the country and we had 12 acres, tried to farm it. We're shit farmers and we then moved into Truett, which is in the nearest town and it all worked out.

Christina (16:17.942)
Wow.

And I really like it here. Like I never imagined I'd be happy living in a small town, but I am. It's a great place to live. have everything you need except good restaurants.

Does it feel kind of big city after the homesteading? trying to...

It did a bit, but there isn't much in Truro. Truro was still our central place, but Truro's got a lot better since we moved out this way, You would attest to that. In the last 10 years, it's really grown an awful lot. We have two Starbucks, which is kind of crazy.

It is wild. And you've played a part in that. I do want to talk a little bit about Heart and you started a backpack program that's helping tackle food insecurities in your town. So can you share with my little heartbeat listeners how that began and the impact that you've seen it have like on your community with these kids and their families?

Lola (17:13.518)
Sure. So I have kids in, I have a lot of kids. like my youngest is still in elementary school until June and me and his dad, we were volunteering at this school breakfast program, which all the schools in Nova Scotia get some kind of breakfast program, I think. And kids were coming in on Monday and telling us they hadn't eaten all weekend. And they didn't mean they hadn't eaten a lot. They meant there was just no food at home. And a lot of, you know, we have terrible child poverty rates in Nova Scotia.

mean, everywhere in Canada, right, but like, it's really bad here. I think it's like one in five children goes to bed hungry here. And so, you know, for no fault of the child's own, and often it's not the fault of the parents, a lot of these parents are trying the best they can with really limited resources. And I'm struggling financially right now with the cost of food as a parent. And we're not, you know, at that level, both have incomes and stuff.

So anyway, and then there was a little girl came in and told my husband that it had been her birthday over the weekend. And they'd said, did you have a cake? And she was six and she told him she'd never had a birthday cake. And it was just, you know, these, we were getting these stories all the time. And so we decided to try and spearhead this thing at the school where on a, on a Friday night, the kids who identified by the schools plus worker who deals with families in crisis as having

being the most food insecure would take a backpack home on a Friday filled with enough food and snacks for the weekend. And initially we started doing 20 backpacks and now we're up to 36 a week. And so since the program started a year and a bit ago, I'd say we've done over thousand backpacks to kids. it's been, the impact is that those kids know somebody cares about them. It's not just about giving them food. They know someone cares. And it's been.

and I've had a lot of community support and it's been really good. So yeah.

Christina (19:08.28)
Yeah, that's incredible. like, what would be some tips that you would share if you could share with listeners who, you know, maybe they see something or experience something similar in their community. It may not be, you know, the same specific situation, but they want to make a difference. They just don't know how. Yeah, that's right.

I think you just got to do it. Just do it because we've never had a lot of support. Yeah, we didn't have a lot of support. like, was surprised. It's surprising how many people don't support feeding children because of, you know, I had feedback that because the majority of the children in this program that I created are indigenous, I have had feedback that these kids get enough.

And which is ridiculous. A hungry kid is a hungry kid. It shouldn't matter who the child is or where they're from. And so I didn't get the support I expected. I expected people to be more gung-ho about like helping us get this going, but it wasn't really, there wasn't enough support. I expected people to step up and people didn't want to. So in the end, basically just did this with myself and a friend and my husband and just a few other people helping here and there, but we just got it going. And it's been way more work than.

I anticipated at the start, but, and the program will end when my kid finishes school and somebody else hopefully is going to step in. it's just, you just have to do it. And I think if you have the intention to do something good and you have a basic plan, you can usually pull it off. think if you just have the, but someone has to just take charge and do these things because otherwise they're not going to happen. there is enough support in the community in other ways. Like I may not have got the support where I thought I was going to find it, but

Like people reached out like the Rotary Association and Truro have given me so much support and they even made us the feature kind of charity community organization and basically bankrolled most of the program for the year. And then Nova Scotia Power reached out, they had a grant and we just scrambled it together. even the airport, the airport had a food security thing last year, they gave us a couple of grand. it was, you just have to do it. You just have to do it because

Lola (21:23.458)
There's so many people who feel like they could do something. You just have to get on it and do it.

Yeah, sounds like so looking for even looking for support resources in in places you maybe wouldn't have thought of like you could start with the big chains, but maybe it's not the big chains. Maybe it's, you know, local businesses and yeah, that's been mentioned, you know.

Exactly. And we have done that. yes, I just feel like so many people will sit there and be like, this is terrible. But they don't actually do anything to make it less terrible. They just want to complain about it. Or, you know, I've been involved in things in the past, like when we had the Syrian refugees come into Canada, I was involved in a group there was always the lone atheist and there were three churches and we got together and we helped four families come to Canada. And it's interesting because, like those families have

all done well, like not all are thriving to this degree, but one of the mountains of restaurant intro and like they've really run with it. But when we were doing this, and we were trying to raise the money to bring people in, you get all these people like, saying stuff like, well, what about the veterans? What about the homeless here? And these people don't do shit for anyone. It's like the people helpers help, right? Like if you care, you care about not just this one group of people. And it just takes the people to stand up and do it, I think.

There's so many people that just want to diss everything and sit on their asses and complain about all this shit. Or they might put a fuck Trudeau sticker on the back of their truck. Cause obviously they really want to fuck Trudeau. Who knows? It's the hair. It's the hair. knows? But you know, so many people want to complain about shit, but they don't want to fix anything. the government isn't stepping up. There's somebody has to do this stuff. yeah, but I'm exhausted. I'm ready for the program to finish.

Christina (22:55.63)
BBMU

Christina (23:12.974)
Well, that's interesting that, you know, I think sometimes there is probably also a fear of starting something, fear of commitment, you know, which it sounds like what I love about what you that you said, like, there is actually an expiration in terms of your involvement, you're already willing to get it started and go. And like with a lot of volunteer organizations, I've heard of people coming in and then they're like, after two years, I'm out, you know, like somebody else can step in.

And that's also great. Like it doesn't have to be something you take on for the rest of your life But it can be yeah, it can be like a part of your life where you've made We just contributed your time to something and then

I think volunteer burnout is real too, right? Like it's hard because I think in any volunteer organization, there's never enough people, you know, and there's never enough people who take the weight. It always falls on more people, certain people's shoulders. So I think having time off before I start anything else would be a good idea.

Yeah, let's get back to, we want you to be rested and recharged and we want you to write more personally for yourself. And then also you write, obviously, you're writing for yourself, making money, but also you write for other people. And so I want to, I kind of put together this like segment of like fun and gritty travel writing questions for Lola. So...

Bye, guys.

Christina (24:41.708)
I know you're probably expecting them to be shocking and like titillating, they're probably not. They're probably like, you know, super tame and normal. yeah, no, really. this is very clean podcast. Actually, haven't, no, we, you know, there were some curse words so far, right? You might've, we can swear we can say whatever we want on this podcast.

I that coming from you.

Christina (25:10.362)
And I think that's what people appreciate if anyone's listening. What is, I want to know what the weirdest assignment you've ever taken as a travel. You write, you don't strictly write about food and travel, but that is something you.

Mostly, I'd say mostly these days. But yes, I write about anything anyone who pays me. you know, being a freelance writer is like, you know, I'm just anything for anyone I've written about like, I read god 2000 words on chicken wing trends, like, all right, anything.

yum.

Not for a long time. Like when I was starting out, I used to write for lot of trade magazines that were really, really boring. you know, it was money. Money is money. I had a long time. I wrote a lot of porn. I wrote the letters for a lot of porn magazines for a long years, for a decade of doing that stuff.

What do you mean you wrote the letters for poor me? I want to know more about this. They're not real. like you. so I don't feel so bad when people don't call my heartbeat hotline. like they're planted. Those letters.

Lola (26:17.646)
Yeah. I mean, it's funny. Okay, so I was at Atlantic News the other day, you know, our only magazine store in Nova Scotia. Yeah. And I saw they still have all the girly mags with the like, covers on it, like the bags, they're in those bags with the open covers. And I'm amazed some of these magazines still go, like what with the internet and the availability of porn, but I guess it's still there. But yeah, it's been a long time since I've written that stuff, but I used to write so much stuff for that, like for magazines like Leg Show and Just 18.

and all these different magazines.

Can you give me like an example of like what a letter might contain?

Yeah, I'll be like, I mean, one of my favorite ones I ever wrote was about Mormons coming to the door. And this girl decided to let the Mormons in and she just like rocked their world.

Like,

Christina (27:08.686)
Oh my gosh, that is awesome. I love this. I want you to do more of this. I do have a dream personally of, because when I was a kid, always, for a... I want to write porn. No, when I was in grade six, I started writing a little romance series and just reading it to the kids on the playground. then the teacher caught wind and then she was like, well, why don't you read it to the class? And then she shut me down because it was a little too racy.

That's terrible.

Christina (27:38.606)
And I'm not honestly though, the way the teacher made me feel about it. Like she took me out into the hallway and was like, imagine if I told your parents what you, speaking of which she was Mormon, but anyway, that aside. So I don't know if I could, but I thought I think it would be so fun to do like, actually I'd want to do a comedy romance series, like super over the.

A friend of mine and I, were going to like, gosh, 15 years ago, maybe 10 years ago, maybe 15, we were going to do like a, an app. was always like a choose your own adventure, but like porn stories for women.

Guys, why have you not pursued this?

I think something happened, like we started doing it, we're doing the research and then it just fell apart, but it was a good idea I think.

I think it's still a great idea. wonder if it's since because you know, I don't know if you agree with this or not, there's something like it's interesting to think of ideas as floating around in the whatever the sky or the air. And if you don't catch it, like it comes through you and you're but if you don't actually do anything with it, somebody else will kind of.

Christina (28:49.43)
so, okay, so that's really fascinating. I love that. And I want you to go back to that, that kind of writing if you can, or bring me in. But is that the weirdest, would that be the weirdest assignment that you've ever taken? And one where you thought like, how, like, how is this my life? This is.

for

Lola (29:10.126)
Okay, so when I was young, when I just started out writing, so when I was living in Las Vegas, so like 21, 22, I kind of specialized in doing weird stories like, isn't America crazy stories? Because this is back when like, there wasn't, the internet wasn't what it was. And there'd be magazines in the UK like bizarre, which would be magazines about all these bizarre stuff that happens all over the world. And you can still do stuff that not everyone knew about. And so I remember going to write about Jello wrestling in New Orleans.

And that was super fun, but I do all kinds of crazy shit. Anything that was weird and wonderful. One of the craziest things that was so good and I went back and did it again. There's a race through Nevada called the Silver State Classic and it still happens where they close off, I think it's 91 miles of highway. Like it's a long time since I've been there, so maybe it's not that long, but they close off the highway and you can just race as as you want. Like they have speed categories, but you take your car and then

I went and did this and it was amazing. It was so fun because it started, I'm to say in Ely, Nevada, and then ended it somewhere like up Reno way, Ely and something else anyway. But where the town ended, there were all these cat houses. And so the after parties were in the hall houses. Anyway, there was so many layers of interesting stuff because at the time as well, the first time I went,

John Schneider who played Bo Duke in Duke's Hazard. Obviously Luke Duke. Anyway, he was one of them. He used to race in this race in a General Lee Dodge Charger replica of Duke's Hazard car. Yeah, it was just crazy. That's wild. Yeah, it was wild. I used to do wild stuff and it was so fun. I did this story for a UK magazine about this porn director who basically

Okay. Yep.

Lola (31:07.896)
He went to like Rochester Institute of Technology and did film and studied with, he went to Sundance and studied at Robert, with Robert Redford or something. And then he suddenly took this detour in his life and became a porn director and won all these porn awards and spent time at his house in LA. Like did all this crazy shit. It was so fun.

Wow, so you don't do crazy shit anymore?

I have children now. I mean some crazy shit, no as crazy.

I mean, yeah, I might know some of your crazy shenanigans, but you know, we can all have secrets. Okay, so was there a destination that was not what the tourism board promised it would be, for better or for worse?

Yes, I've had a few of those. so, okay, so if somebody sends me, if somebody, if I agreed to take a trip, like it has to be worth my while going and everything else. And, occasionally you get sold something like it's going to be this and then you get there and it's just not at all. And so if something is really terrible, I'm not going to write about, this was terrible. I just won't write about it. And they've wasted their money bringing me to this place. But there was one, went on this trip to Lake Havasu in Arizona. Okay.

Lola (32:19.854)
And so Famous Four, you know, how someone in Arizona bought London Bridge and brought it to America. know this story? That happened? Okay. So somebody bought London Bridge and they thought they were getting Tower Bridge. You know, the bridge in London with the towers that looks like a castle. They thought they were buying that, but they bought this like really shit bridge. Well, it's not shit. I'm sure it was great, but it was just a regular bridge and it just had a few like stone lions on it or whatever. Yeah. And that was in Lake Havasu in Arizona.

No

Christina (32:42.478)
Is it in London?

Christina (32:48.55)
Wait, wait, Did they have to replace the bridge? that why they were like, sell it. Let's sell it. And is this was the allure to this bridge? Like the London bridges song, like London bridges.

I feel like.

Lola (33:01.422)
Yeah, maybe. Yeah, okay. I just looked it up. So was built in the 1830s and it came to Lake Havasu in 1968.

could also find out how many people are in an intruro while you're at it.

Okay, fine.

Christina (33:26.19)
Don't ask me anything about Port Howe or I live or Cumberland County.

I was right, 12,954. So they brought this London bridge to Lake Havasu. And I got asked if I wanted to go and do this trip to this part of Arizona and go to Lake Havasu and to Yuma and do all this cool shit. And so was like, well, it sounds great. think 310 to Yuma just come out a couple of years before, a really good film and stuff. we go to Lake Havasu and all the activities they had planned for us were lake activities, like jet skiing and stuff.

Anyway, we get to Lake Havasu and the lake was a bit chop, it was a bit windy and they were like, there was just nothing to do. They were like, I'm sorry, we have to cancel all the things. There's nothing to do. You should just go to the next place. I'm like, that's so weird. Like you, you're a tourism department and you can't find things for people to do that aren't on the lake. This is just, and I got sunstroke the first day cause it's Arizona and it was really crazy. Yeah. It was just kind of, that was kind of crap and it was just not, but also.

I went to Cabo and I was asked to write a farm to table dining experience story about going to Cabo. And when we got there, they'd done a bait and switch. So you get your itinerary before you go and you know what things you're going to see. And when I got there, they had changed the itinerary and basically had us eating a different hotel restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's like, who does that? Who goes on vacation? like, let me check out all the hotel restaurants in Cabo. It was crap. like sometimes, sometimes it's not what you think it's going to be.

But usually I'm very much a believer that you can find the fun anywhere. that's a parent. Right. But also you just like, I can find things to do in most places. So I will try and make the best out of any situation.

Christina (34:58.209)
in your writing.

Christina (35:06.488)
Well, one of my favorite stories, I guess, but they're all awesome, that you wrote was for the Toronto Star about your trip to Ecuador as an atheist.

I love that. I love that trip.

And how you fell in love with the magic of, is it keto? So like traveling to a place like Ecuador, does, so are there trips like that where you're like fundamentally like my life has changed? It affects how you decide to travel and the gigs you pick in the future.

Yep.

Lola (35:35.424)
Yeah

Lola (35:39.918)
Yes, for sure. I'm always looking for, I want to tell the untold story, which sounds cheesy because these days there are a few, like everything's everywhere, right? But I think a lot of people will go into these places and looking for exactly the same things. they just, I'm the kind of person, like if I go on a trip, I'm my alarm at five to go and find some worries in this amazing place. Like when I went to Northern Ireland, we went to Giants Causeway at like 4 p.m.

It was rammed, you couldn't even see the stones. There were so many people. But as we were leaving, I'd said to the National Trust guy at the site, said, so what's the earliest you can come down here? Can I come down for sunrise? And he was like, yeah, totally. It'll be pitch black. But if you have a flashlight, just walk across the roof of the visitor center, because it was all like a grass sod roof thing. And you can get down there. And so I set my alarm, and I went down there for sunrise.

There was one person there taking photos, but I watched the sunrise over Giants Causeway and it was just so incredible. stones were glowing. It was totally Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy album cover. It was just so awesome. And I just want to find those unique things anywhere I go and make it a magical story. Ecuador was amazing because it was my first time in South America. went there. It was really to cover the food scene.

But I just fell in love with how spiritual everything is. You go in every shop and there's a little burner of incense. The thing that made Ecuador really special for me was, first off, I got altitude sickness so badly that they were going to send me home. The minute I got off the plane, I was so sick. I was in a hotel room. missed the first day. Well, I went to breakfast and I was just feeling rough. The man who was serving, funnily enough, had spent time in London, in the place that I went to university, and we were chatting.

He was like, you don't look great. Can I suggest some Coca tea? And so I had two cups of cocaine tea, which was my first time having cocaine tea, did nothing. He bought me a coffee and I just started vomiting. It was so bad. I spent the whole day, first day in this hotel room, couldn't even move. And then the, got to the point where they called an ambulance and they, there was a doctor and a nurse came in. I don't speak Spanish.

Lola (38:01.55)
And the head of keto tourism was in the room, the hotel manager was in the room and I'm laying face down on the bed. lift up my skirt, my ass on display to the world and they jab something into each ass cheek and they give me tons of meds and whatever. They cured my altitude sickness, but that was my first day in Ecuador. Cause they were like, we can send you home. And I'm like, it took so long to get here. don't want to go. It was so bad. then, okay. So, but then that day we did this walking tour.

I was feeling up to it and we went into this market, this public market and I noticed there was like all these booths along the side and I asked our guide what that was and they were like, they were the, you know, they were the like healers, the healers and they all had little booths. They were really skinny. was like, like a six foot wide storefront with the candles and ingredients and stuff. And then there was like a list of the services they provided. And the guy, the guide said,

And I said, what do they do that? Well, he said, you see that little boy, he gets nightmares. So they're healing him to try and get the nightmares out. He said, but for $7, they'll cleanse your soul and get you ready for love. And I was like, what? $7? That sounds okay. And at time I was single and I was like, yeah, it's true. Why not? And then I went and got healed by this woman. So basically behind a shower curtain at the back of her little booth, she

I'll give it a shot.

Lola (39:23.95)
didn't speak English, I didn't speak Spanish. She told me to undress, she suggested undressing. So I undressed and then I put my underwear back on. So was like, she can't have an everything, right? anyway, there's like a picture of velvet Jesus on the wall. And she comes in with these like, bunches of herbs, it smelled amazing and starts beating me with them. I'm saying prayers all over me and then gets me to turn around and beats me again. She sprays me with I don't know what holy water sanitizer. I don't know what it was. And anyway, but like I had this healing done.

And it was amazing. And I walked out there and I actually felt so much better like it cured the allergy sickness. But so that became the focus of my story was this all this spiritualism that's just there on the surface. know, and I went to a couple of churches and people were crying while they were praying. It was like very, very moving for somebody who doesn't have that belief. Yeah, anyway, sorry, long answer.

Apologies, no apologies. Okay, so like you're on these...

shit, I should finish that story. The whole thing that made the story for me is when we went to a lunch afterwards, and we were telling the guides, everyone had a guide and like a translator. And I told the guide what happened. And goes, did they use a guinea pig? I was like, what do you mean? Did they use a guinea pig? And he goes, well, so what they do is they'll hold the guinea pig and the guinea pig will take all the bad energy from your body. And it goes into the guinea pig. And then I said,

yeah, okay, okay.

Lola (40:46.936)
They don't eat afterwards, do they? They don't eat bad energy guinea pigs. And he wouldn't tell me. Anyway, that was the whole thing. was just that kept the story off the that use bad energy guinea pigs.

Who would eat, like, would you in that scenario eat your own guinea pig? Or would the...

I know. had an opportunity to eat guinea pig and didn't, I didn't want to eat guinea pig. Actually, I think I had a guinea pig spring roll at some fancy restaurant.

The next

Christina (41:14.336)
I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you did. mean, really, it's like half the things we eat are cute too, if you really think about it.

Yeah, for sure. If you eat animals, you eat animals, right? That's all how you season it.

Yeah.

It's all in the seasoning. Amazing. you're out there having these experiences, sometimes nauseous and incapacitated. Tell me a little bit about your writing ritual. what point are you writing while you're people watching scribbling?

Yeah, so basically I always have a little notebook. I think I one here. Okay, so I always have these little Moleskine notebooks. you'll see like my destinations. Yeah, just like a little notebook and like I'll have like Calgary, Niagara, Copenhagen, Saskatoon is this notebook. And I just keep my notes and I might glue in some menus or things. And I take a lot of notes and try to evoke like the feelings and the smells and the kind of details that you're just not going to always remember afterwards.

Christina (41:57.548)
like four by six.

Lola (42:17.806)
And I take a lot of pictures and not just pictures to use, which I do sell my photographs as well, because there's so few budgets anywhere that they basically want you to provide photos to. But I take a lot of photos as a reminder of what I'm doing and why sort of. So yeah, so I'm constantly taking notes because there has been times when I've gone back and rewritten a story or an editor has asked me to write about a place and it was three years ago or two years ago. And so I have to go back and check my notes. You just couldn't remember everything.

Yeah, totally. So what kind of things are you... You travel a lot, and for work and pleasure. What kind of things are like your... I must travel with this. Like I have, you know, I got my lip, my special lip gloss, I mean, as an example, or like... sorry. No, that's totally okay. I'm trying to think now of what kind of things I travel with that are like...

So I have a kit, right? I have a kit of stuff. I have a bag, like always like a go bag for travel. And I have little things that I always have with me. I always take a pair of swimming goggles because I love to swim wherever I am. There's a hotel pool or a lake or anything. Like I always have swimming goggles in my bag. I used to take a snorkel as well. But I haven't been, I haven't like, I did a lot of Caribbean travel before COVID, before COVID. And now I haven't done so much of that stuff.

Yeah, so I use, I take swimming goggles. I have a bag of things like little tide sachets for washing stuff in hotel sinks, because I'm really clumsy. And you know, if I haven't already spilled coffee myself on the plane to get somewhere, you can guarantee something else is going on my clothes. And I do try to pack light. And then I have a little drug kit, like a little kit I got off pocket pharmacy. So I'm

I'm well prepared because I don't want to be spending tons of money on stuff I don't need to spend money on. I have this neat little clip thing that clips onto the back of the seat tray so you can put your iPhone on and watch movies. I just have little accessories. I'll send you the link. It's good. I saw some with it and I bought one. Yeah, so I have little things I always take. But yeah, always a swimsuit. You never know when you're going to find a pool or a hot tub or a lake.

Christina (44:36.032)
Do you do the thing where like I always pop to Advil before I get on the plane, if I'm on a long flight I'll take two before I, which helps with my the pressure in my like inflammation around my ears and

No, I don't have that in my ears though. You're supposed to take a paracetamol or a little aspirin before you go on a plane for blood thinners, right? Because I think you know I had a stroke after a flight in my eye like 10 years ago.

what

stuff with you sometimes, I honestly forget. I'm like, what now?

I had like blurry vision. got to London and I'd flown the red eye and my vision was blurry and then it didn't get better. And I went to see my optician when I got home to Canada and she was like, you had basically a stroke in your eyeball and it's just like the blood vessel bursts in your eye and it didn't happen at the front. So you can see it was kind of the back. then when I, they couldn't find any reason why this had happened and they, were dehydration and the pressure.

Lola (45:43.64)
So you should take aspirin before you get on a plane, but I never remember. I also bought some of the compression socks as well.

yeah, I have some of those. don't wear them, but I... No!

I bought a pair but I probably bought them for the first flight I bought them for.

What did they do again? Like they're just gonna compress.

Stop your having deep bone thrombosis. Yeah, like so you don't have a blood clot that travels up your legs to your heart. We should wear them, right? It sounds like we don't want that.

Christina (46:03.095)
Okay.

Christina (46:11.498)
Yeah, no, I don't want that. It sounds bad. yeah. Okay, I'm gonna wear my... a trip coming up, so I'll... You have them. They're actually quite comfy, to be honest.

Yeah, you should.

Lola (46:25.136)
Yeah, right. Like I think people wear them because they give them relief.

I don't know either. Like you mean older people? Like I know people who have like

I think like our age old enough.

I mean like, or like people who have like severe varicose veins. that a thing? Yeah. Anyway, I'm not a specialist in any of this, so moving on.

I think that's because we don't have jobs where we have to stand up for hours and hours. Maybe if we'd worked in retail for the last 25 years, we'd be wearing those socks every day.

Christina (46:55.15)
You know what, I tried to work in retail, I never got hired. Really? don't know. Almost every job that I've tried to get, I've never gotten. the good jobs I've loved have been like, a friend's like, you should go apply for this. And I'd be like, Or like, felt like they were handed to me like a gift from God.

What's the worst job you ever did?

I would say the door-to-door sales job I did for two weeks where I was selling lube packs. Two specifically, felt like two fucking years. And I would go door-to-door and by myself often asking people if they would buy lube jobs for 20, for $19.99. And I, it was, it taught me a lot. Like it helped me kind of get over any... Yeah, that, but also like how to kind of just...

weeks.

Lola (47:48.952)
No, you never want to see it ever again.

Christina (47:53.838)
you know, it was a low. I felt like it was a low part in my like a desperate. Yeah, just like I need money. And I was like, I just really hope I'm never in this position again, where I need money that bad, you know, and so that was not a fun one. What about you?

So I used to like when I was, I'm gonna say I was like 16 and I was living on my own and desperate for money. And I would work in pubs and do stuff which you shouldn't have been able to do at 16 but in the UK as you know, nobody really cared. Maybe they do now. But I had this job like doing catering for this, like the stadium where I lived, the stadium, like the concert venue. And it would only ever be like people like.

late career people, like people who come to Nova Scotia to play concerts. So it would be like Kiss or I don't know, like some of the rock stuff we'd see like Extreme and sort of that. Anyway, so this guy would bring me in occasionally to help with catering. And one day he had me making guacamole. I had never seen an avocado. I didn't know what an avocado was. So I had to be taught to, cause this was a long time ago and I was basically spent hours

cutting and mashing avocados. And I didn't know what the hell was going on. Anyway, I also didn't realize who was playing, who had requested all this in their catering. And so I spent the day basically all morning making guacamole. And then before I finished the shift, the guy, the artist came to thank the kitchen and he shook my hand and said, thank you so much for your contribution. And I didn't know who it was. And now I don't resent it because

It was a hard job and I think my hands hurt, but it was John Denver. Whoa. Yeah. So, and then he died, I think a few months later. Yeah. But that was a shitty job. Like just doing any catering job where you're doing stuff on mass, but you're the bottom of the pile and you're the person who peels the potatoes or does that thing.

Christina (49:47.991)
Wow.

Christina (49:58.796)
Yeah, that's a lot. I've done serving and I did ushering at the Metro Centre in Halifax where you're basically like, you got people working there for 40 years and they're so passionate about ushering and they're like getting on your back about everything and where you need to stand and how you need to stand and what you need to wear and where you need to be. And you're just like, my God, this is, I do not get paid enough to fucking care as much as you do about this.

Yeah, but

Yeah, bar jobs, caring jobs, anything like that. then like, you know, the, gosh, the sexual assault you suffer as a young woman working in those kinds of jobs too. It's just insane.

I gotta say, I was lucky enough not to have that experience with the lube job, oddly enough. Or my usher position. But yeah, but there's certainly other careers where I've definitely experienced that. And of course, in my personal life. don't know any woman who has, to be honest, I don't think I know one woman who hasn't experienced sexual...

Yeah, remember during Me Too hearing a couple of women saying that had never happened to them. I'm like, how the fuck? How do you go through your whole life? Because I think from as soon as I started looking like a woman and even maybe before that, was... People were being gross.

Christina (51:26.274)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. And it's weird to think this is not, this is going to sound weird, but I don't care because it's my podcast, so could say whatever I want. But you know, I met someone as a young, I was a young girl when I experienced my first sexual assault, which was my father. And to think of what my, who I would be now, what my life would be like had I never experienced

Like any of that and any of my own, you know, any of my trauma and then like worked on it and dealt with it and blah, Dealing with always probably. Like it's in a some way, in some ways it's sort of like, well, I mean, like I really like who I am now. I really like what it's given me in some ways. So it's sort of like weird to think of your, shitty things happening in your life, but it's helped me to think of shitty things in my life and how they have.

you know.

Yeah, mean, the thing is, the resilience that you have, and you know, we've discussed this before, and I was raped twice before I was 18. it's just an assorted many times and it's just...

Lola (52:45.196)
I'd rather those things hadn't happened. And I can see how some people might have been taken down forever by that stuff. But you did get through it and you were resourceful enough to recognize you need the help to get through it. But it's just a shitty, shitty situation that no young woman should ever have to deal with, but is incredibly common.

Yeah, it is. is. definitely, like I had spider senses develop pretty darn quickly after, you being a child and having, I guess, lived that. Even though you kind of forget about it because you're living with your family and you have to kind of like just like survive and you don't want to be miserable and you love this person, blah, blah. Those spider senses have helped me throughout my life and in the music business and in my, just in all kinds of scenarios where

Bad shit could have happened, but I was kind of naive in some ways, but I think I was lot less naive than I maybe give myself credit for and just made sure I looked after myself and never stayed in situations where I felt there was an ounce of danger or I didn't trust somebody.

Also, know, we both launched and went out into the world fairly young. Like you.

You were younger. How old were you? I was like, you know, I graduated high school and then went to university at the kind of normal, typical 17 year old, 17 year old, 18 maybe. Yeah, I guess we were.

Lola (54:18.766)
Yeah, 17, 18, yeah. Also, I left home, I was kicked out of home before my 16th birthday. I think it was like a couple of months before my 16th birthday. And then I was living on my own from then. And so that's why a lot of shitty things happened to me. There was no parental supervision from just before my 16th. And then I, you know, like I...

I moved to London on my own and I tried to, you know, I took some time and then I did go to university. I got into university and it was not easy, but I definitely have this ability to cut and run and move from situations maybe more than some people can. And maybe some people get stuck a lot longer in things they shouldn't be in. I mean, not that I'm perfect and I've definitely had relationships I should never have stayed in.

But I think that you develop this self-preservation thing when you have to do things young, maybe.

You got to adapt, you got to move, you're surviving, you're... You know, you're also in your lowest moments, like, did you find in your low moments as you kind of become a little fearless? Because you're kind of like...

What the fuck is there else to lose? absolutely. Absolutely. you know, it's interesting because my brother said to me a couple years ago when some nice stuff happened financially, and my brother said to me, I'm so happy for you. You've had such a hard life. I was like, oh, me? Like, feel like it's not, I don't know that it's been a hard life. It's been an interesting life, right? Like, but I wouldn't have.

Christina (55:38.764)
Yeah.

Christina (55:57.518)
Yeah.

Lola (56:05.592)
that wouldn't have been the word I would choose a hard life.

Well, probably because you've always found a way to make things work, you know, but from him, he's watching you, you you get kicked out and have, you know.

marriages, single parenthood, all these things.

Exit and loss events. They can liberate you, for sure, but there's a stress there. And maybe you learned, which I did too, I don't like stress. I actually spend a lot of time trying to not have drama in my life. I don't think I have any drama, to be honest. It's pretty boring, but in a good way, I think.

when something devastating happens. It's like my whole life I've sort of been preparing to like for it hypervigilantly in some ways. I actually deal with things really well like if for some reason.

Lola (57:06.83)
I feel like I do too. I've definitely had the complaint from, you know, it's my husband will say like, you know, you're not able to let anyone take care of you. You're not able, you cannot let people, you won't ask for help, you don't do that. But like, I think that's just the way I've always been because that's what I had to do. I just had to take care of myself, right? So it does maybe make me harder to be with.

I think you're great. mean, I'm not in a way.

with you.

a hobby if we weren't both like married or like and we were less the

You don't want to have sex with me because I'm not like super into women in that way.

Lola (57:47.322)
So if both our husbands die and then I get rid of my children, we could just cohabit and have one of those like lavender marriage situations.

I might have now you know how like You get it you're have I don't I've not lived with you, but are you like I'm I like to things tidy Are you gonna be a man?

Yeah, I know if I didn't have children, I wouldn't be a man.

I mean, guess I could do that. I could be, I guess we could have an agreement. you're like, you're this, be the cleaner and I'm responsible for this other stuff you don't want to do. Like, start keeping the fire going and taking the garbage out and we can make an agreement. Yeah, this cohabitation thing, God forbid my husband does die because I don't ever want him to. But I would consider not remarrying for sure, but...

You just be the cleaner.

Christina (58:36.738)
cohabitating with people.

I don't think I want to, I don't think, I think if this marriage ended, I don't know that I need another marriage or another big cohabitation with somebody.

But would it be nice to have like, yeah, just someone you really got along with and could share dinners with, like a duplex kind of situation or like... Yeah, yeah, I think that's...

Yeah, basically a commune. Like a commune but just your friends and like you're all aging together and I like the idea of that.

I do too and I would be keen to like be on the activities committee.

Lola (59:11.132)
my God, he's so funny. Everyone have a five!

Yeah, yeah, totes. What do you You're the one who's getting people at five to see the fucking sunrise.

I go on my own. Nobody wants to this shit with me. It's always me on my own. I'll be like the lone gringo on a trip. I would do it. Don't go out of the hotel on your own. I'm I'm fine.

I just want to be out there. Now that I'm getting into this trusted house and pet sitters thing as a way of traveling, this is new for me. I would love to find a place that we both want go together to pet sit a cat or something so we can have an adventure together. I would get up at five to do that, I think.

Yeah.

Lola (59:55.436)
Yeah, right. It's like, I have friends who would do that. But generally, I'm on these trips on my own or with a group of people I don't know, which is weird sometimes. yeah, people generally don't. It's so funny, though, because I'll do these things, right? And I'll be up, I'll be the one who gets this unique thing about a place because I'll do research for a girl and I want to find for me, I want to find as many stories as possible about somebody like if I'm taking a week out of my life.

Selling one story on a place doesn't usually make it worthwhile, especially because they don't pay that much, right? Like travel stories and newspapers, maybe you'll get $500 for a story, but for a week of my life, that's not like enough. So I do a lot of research beforehand and that's why I'm so gung-ho and I fit as much in. But not everyone gives a shit like that. They just want to do their one story. You know, they're on staff somewhere. They don't need to work so hard. I just want to see everything.

You want to see everything, then you're also, correct me if I'm wrong, collecting more, you're kind of doing more research in the event that you could pitch another story and sell that. That's brilliant.

Exactly, exactly.

Well, yeah, there's been places I've gone to where I've sold five stories or even more. I went to Curaçao. I've been to Curaçao twice. I really love Curaçao. And the second time I went, I had kind of these ideas about what I wanted to do. And I came back and I sold so many stories because I had had different angles I was pursuing there. So, yeah.

Christina (01:01:15.254)
I love it. love it. Are there writing cliches that you're like, you actually use, you know, to your benefit in your writing, or that drive you bonkers? like, would you use like cliches like a hidden gem steeped in history or like off the beaten path?

my god, and it's so hard not to use that stuff, right? It's so hard because that is what everybody knows it. Yeah. It's so hard not to do that. But I remember reading the thing, like some edit, like, so occasionally you'll get like editors, they'll give you a sheet of the things they do and don't want to see in a story or like their like code for the magazine. And I remember seeing one as like, I never want to see the word virgin again. Verdant is over. What? Verdant like green. Verdant.

version

Virgent.

No, Verdant. Hang on. V-E-R-D-E-N-T. Verdant. Yeah.

Christina (01:02:06.466)
Virgin.

Christina (01:02:12.085)
Well, I've never heard that word and I would like to see I just learned it so that

with grass or other rich vegetation. There was a period where everybody was just like using this word for everything, the verdant hills. Really?

there.

Christina (01:02:25.358)
I've never heard that word before. This is fucking hilarious. keep going. Plethora.

Do you want to one of my favorite words? Cool. no, I like that one too. Petrichor. Petrichor. It's the smell of the earth after the rain.

No idea.

Christina (01:02:39.758)
So do you use that?

No, I remember like when I was starting out, I try and get these long words into stories. They always got edited out because you're just being pretentious. Petri-pill is a good word though.

I could use that and then like I guess I No, I couldn't use it in a song. I don't think

But you couldn't rhyme it.

Petrichor, what a bore. No, but it's not. A bore, lore, folklore. You and I are going to write a song sometime. I'm all about taking my friends and even if they haven't, they're not songwriters per se. I do think everybody can write a song.

Lola (01:03:15.182)
It'd be hilarious though. It'd be hilarious if you had my songbook from when I was 13. Yes, it probably would. Like, know what, I used to write songs and it'd be...

Anybody's 13 year old's song book is probably, but I would, do you have it? that still? I had a journal when I was like that age and it had in the back, had all these, if I were to have, when I were to have my own horse, I would have horse names, like three, four pages of horse names. we would read, Dale and I would laugh and read them from time to time when we were bored. I, I,

No.

Christina (01:03:49.038)
lost that journal because I brought it on tour that read at my shows or something and I can't find it. had like a Easter rabbit on the front and like a little lock. Anyway, yeah, you and I are going to write a song together and we could try to use all those words that you love.

that's a bummer.

Christina (01:04:10.222)
We're like, we're gonna, I'm gonna wrap it up. Cause like, I know you need to get back to healing your hernia and your foot, which is what you're doing. We don't need to get into it. It's just that you're not, you're... But you are, and this is going to be a cliche. I don't care. Cause I have people on here that are inspiring. You're a hidden gem. You're an inspiration. You're off the beaten path and you have...

It's not even getting to this.

Lola (01:04:23.054)
It feels hazard right now. Yeah.

Lola (01:04:30.819)
Jeff.

Christina (01:04:39.02)
Breathtaking views, but seriously though, you've got grit and grace and also you've shown that you can make a positive difference in the world by doing something in your community that is seemingly obvious and simple, but nobody else is fucking doing. And it's the power of a backpack. And I thank you wholeheartedly for being my friend. I think it's so cool how you kind of feel like you.

you kind of crashed into my life. was so random.

You were playing, and Dale were playing an outdoor concert during COVID and you and I just started talking and then you were like texting me, do you want to meet for breakfast? like then we didn't get back in time and you were gone and then we just started hanging out and now I love you.

Made it work. I love you too, and I hope that you don't have to have another surgery soon. You're okay. She's okay, everybody.

Christina (01:05:43.662)
I say goodbye to you

Christina (01:05:50.528)
I don't wanna say goodbye to you

Christina (01:05:59.214)
Welcome to the Heartbeat Hotline, 1902-669-4769. I'm the host of a Chat with Heart podcast, Christina Martin, and I'm so excited you called. Leave me your question, a suggestion for the podcast, or a comment about this episode. Please be aware your message may be used on the podcast and social media. Tell me your name, where you're calling from, and it's also fine if you want to remain anonymous. Thanks for listening.

Have a great fucking day.

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