Elicited Joy and Delight S5E5

After several months of less than enjoyable shenanigans, No. 1 Child is back in the co-host seat! We're chatting about passion projects and interests in folx lives, including some of our own. (Of course, she's sassy as usual.)

Info on some of what we discussed:

Antelope Canyon, AZ

*No longer on lottery system, but reserved tours only.

Grand Canyon, AZ

*I was on the south rim during my visit.

Joy - Limitless Louie Instagram @limitless_louie

Journaling! Some of my favorite accounts:

Paper Craze Instagram @paper_craze

Ria Journals Instagram @ria_journals

Jose Naranja 

Cognitive Surplus 

Dapper Notes

Reading joy: Authors' Group Chat Nobody Asked For (a series) Instagram @literaladventures

*I didn't get a chance to mention this IG account. Hilarious take on authors if they had group chats. Highly recommend for readers!

Squishies!

Existential Potatoes - Stitching Sunlight  Instagram @stitchingsunlight

*No sponsorships or support from any of the businesses/accounts, just really like them!

* * *

Transcript

0:01

You can't tell me what to do Is this how we're gonna start the show? Yep. Hey, y'all. Welcome back. It's Susan, your SOARI therapist, and obviously, as you've just heard, guess who's here with me today? Number one child. Say hello, Seneca. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Hi. Tell you what to do. I'm your mom. Do what I want. You don't know my life. It's been a hot couple of months since we've had a, a, a fresh episode, and that's only because you and I have had shenanigans going on in our personal lives and working lives, and it's just, if it ain't been one damn thing, it's been another. So, but here we are, and Something to celebrate. 5,000 downloads since I've started this podcast back in 2022. Congratulations, Mom. That's awesome. Thank you. I d- I didn't think I'd make it past, like, 10 and be like, "Okay, now what?" 'Cause you know me, if it doesn't keep me challenged, if it doesn't keep me interested, I'm looking for other things to do, but here we are. Other than things getting in the way for both of us with work and family and personal life obligations, responsibilities, I would have had a few more episodes under our belt, but it is what it is, and here we are. Yes. Yes. Now, since the last episode, you have gained another cat in your household. Yes, I have. Okay. And this was a stray that you found? Yes. So his mom is, kind of the neighborhood stray, but she tends to make our, underneath our house her homestead. So, she's our unofficial cat, and she had him last year around this time. Have you been able to capture her and get her spayed so she can't be having more kitties in the wild? That is what we are working on this summer. Um- Okay if we can safely do so, we are going to take her in and get her all fixed up and... Then she can roam the wild and keep her shenanigans non-baby-making. Yes. We haven't found- So there's not an overpopulation of kitties around there. We haven't found any new kittens this year, so, she's not been so successful in her shenanigans so far, but- Or unless she's had them someplace else. Yes. There have been new kittens, in the neighborhood in about two or three different spots, but I wouldn't be surprised, 'cause she does like to roam at night. Mm-hmm. She's a shenanigans girl. Mm-hmm. She's an independent woman. She's working that grind. So what is the cat's name? His name is Nico, but we've called him Butters. Because? One of two. His government name, Nico, we've, we've re- I'm sorry. Every time somebody talks about their government name, I think they're in the eyewitness protection program. We got a cat on the down low. He's wanted by a local gang, so we'll go by his government name, Nico. We're gonna call him Butters 'cause that's way more- Biggie Smalls. Oh, that cracks me up. Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt your story, but that was, that... I just, it hit me funny. I don't know what to tell you. All right, so, so, okay, so with this government name of, of Nico- I'll have to doctor up some pictures and send you his mugshot later. Please do. So why is he named Butters? Okay, so first his, his government name, Nico, he's very much, he's a talker. He will talk at you, he will talk with you, he will tell you stories for- an hour. If you've been gone too long, he will yell at you. And he's pretty much, our old Nico reincarnated. She was a chatty Cathy too. She would yell at you and tell you stories and all of that. And even if he feels the slightest bit lonely or if he can't find Demon, he will start caterwauling until either somebody pays attention to him, feeds him, or he finds his brother to fight. His nickname, Butters, is because- The first, the first couple nights that we had him in the house, he had found our butter sticks on our kitchen counters. And he doesn't do the polite cat licking. He legitimately chomps on butter like it's his job. And the other half of calling him Butters is from South Park, because we will say, "God damn it, Butters," how- Eric would yell at Butters. Yeah. So yeah, that's his, that's, that- Didn't he like... You sent me a picture. He, like, chewed through the package to get to the butter. He, yeah, he did. I mean, and this isn't, like, little kitty nibbles around- No the edges or the flap or anything. Exactly, yeah. I mean, it was like a great white had come along and chomp, chomp, chomp, so. Trash panda mentality when it comes to butter. He'll, he'll even go as far as when we bring in, I like to eat croissants in the morning for my breakfast. If he smells butter, he will eat through the packaging to get to whatever has butter in it. So I've had to start putting my croissants either in the fridge or store in the convection oven while it's unplugged, because I can't, can't keep anything with butter around him. You know, I'm not really a kitty person. I mean, don't hate them or anything, but I'm, I'm just not attuned to cats. I'm more attuned to dogs. But that cat has pretty much won my heart, and I've never even met it. So you know, any cat that's that down with butter, I think I could hang. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's a sweet cat. He loves forehead kisses, and he likes to, you know, rub up against you. But he's kind of like you: love me, but love me from afar. And just make sure there's butter around, okay? Yeah. Carbs, butter, don't touch me. Girl's gotta eat. Go fuck yourself. Girl's gotta eat. I will yell at you- Pretty much if I, if I need anything, Mother. Seneca. Seneca. Seneca. Can you get this thing? Oh my God, Mom, I just sat down. It's okay, you can get it. Giving you encouragement to get up and get me something. "It's okay, honey, you can go get that for me." Mom. I know I can, I don't want to. The one- My favorite time, my favorite time is I had just gotten out of the shower, and you were reading in bed. It w- it was when we were at the house. Yeah. And you had somehow, I don't know what you were doing, either you kind of fell asleep or you were maneuvering or whatever, and you dropped your book literally- Oh, yeah next to the bed on the ground, and then you- Okay, but to make sure people know, this was a 12-drawer pedestal bed that had been converted from a water bed. So it was several feet off the ground. You make it sound like you had to hike up a mountain to get into bed. I had to fucking launch myself into it. 5'11", Mom. Jesus. I'm 5'9", but thank you for the extra height. That makes me feel even more scary for people. And listen, Solomon, our Afghan hound, would sit there and kind of bicycle in the air as I was trying to leap into it, so I mean, it was a tall bed. Solomon was not a tiny dog. He was. And I would, and I would have to belly flop on the bed to get up in it. I'd, I had to get like a running start and then belly flop. And then half the time it was only, I could only launch half of myself on it, so here I am struggling for my life with my feet kicking out from the back of me, trying to crawl up onto bed, like some cat that has failed to, launch itself across a couple feet to get onto a next bookshelf. And see, this is why I'd say, "Seneca. Sen- Seneca," "Come get Mommy's book." Because if I tried to lean over the edge of that bed to grab the book, I'd, I'd do a gainer on my head, and that w- that would be no bueno. That's a, that's a trauma that you don't wanna have to explain to the ER people. So you got this concussion how? Falling out of bed to get a book. Don't judge me. You don't know my life. And the funnier thing is, is that you did it again like a half hour and I was in bed. And I hear this, "Doc, Seneca." Your bed was closer to the ground. It was easier for you. Growing up with me was a fucking delight. Mom's pack mule. Yes, it was amazing. But, you know, talking about Butters and his love of butter, and my love of butter and carbs in general, but that's kind of what I want to talk about today, is that I'm gonna be talking to people about their passions for the next, well, probably for the next six months or so I'm gonna be talking to people. I'm, I'm putting out invitations now about what it is... And I'm not talking like hyperfixation in a, in a way that would be on any kind of autism diagnosis or ADHD, but the things that really make us happy, things that we're willing to do stuff for, like eat through packaging for butter. Now, I'm a human, so I can, I can pull the packaging off. I'm okay with that. For me, it's always been about books and reading. That's, that's the first one. And then writing with inks and pens and journals and stickers and all the things I didn't get to do as a kid. I mean, that's all coming out, and I'm almost 60 now, so it's just, yeah, I'm doing all the things now before I drop dead. I don't have that much more time left on Earth. I'm not sure when it's gonna happen, but at 59 plus, I am now pushing the boundaries of how long my genetics is gonna hold out, so I'm doing all the things now. But there's also, we were just talking before we started about gardening. This year there's a lot of construction around my place, and it's dirty and it's filthy and it's noisy, I don't want to put up a, a shade, over the garden to keep the sun from frying everything like I have to do every year because that's gonna collect dirt and debris and everything else. But I can't not have a garden. So that's what I'm gonna be doing later today. What is it for you? Because people change through the years, right? And I wasn't always interested in knitting, but since my mid-30s, it's always been there now, and wool, and spinning, and knowing about fabric, and, and fiber in general. What do you think has changed for you and what really makes you happy? Those who, who know me since I was very little, I've always been interested in fashion and anything that sparkles. I love jewelry. But I think because of changing my location, I've actually discovered that I really love hiking, and I love exploring, being out in the wilderness and nature, and just how beautiful it is. Whether it's in the woods or in the desert or even when I look back on my memories of being in Iowa, I've come to appreciate what's around me. I think the last six years, and COVID did have a hand to play in it, and also, my divorce, is being outside and just going out and hiking and being active What does that have to do with your divorce? I don't understand. because since my ex-husband and I had ended things, I decided to move out to Salt Lake. Mm-hmm. That was kind of the catalyst. with it being one of the hotspots, John and I pretty much just went down south to the national parks, and went out to the desert and went up into the Wasatch Mountains to pretty much just get away from people, but to kind of just explore what's around. So- Oh, I get it now. In having the divorce completed and your ex deciding to stay where they needed to stay and you decided you wanted to go out west, 'cause you hadn't lived out there before. Right. This gave you the opportunity, first of all, to try something different, meet some different people, including John. Yeah. And then because of his interest in freehand rock climbing and scaling up mountains and camping and all that other stuff, you decided you'd give it a try. Yep. I'm trying to think. What was the one canyon that you sent pictures back where it was, there, it's, it's full dark and you can see the Milky Way and the stars and everything? Do you remember which, which campsite that was by the river? That was approximately around the Morning Glory Arch, and I wanna say it's around the Gooseneck area in Moab. And it's a spot where we had, went up to, after dark because it's off of Colorado, and it's a really good spot to go catfishing at night. And that's, yeah, that's a beautiful area. Moab is to me is, it's just amazing. I think the only place, if I were physically healthy enough to do so, I would go, I would put my, my chances in to be part of the lottery drawing for the Antelope Canyon in Arizona And for those persons who don't know, they have gone to a lottery system for years now for the park pass to get into Antelope Canyon to reduce the wear and tear on the environment from so many people doing eco-tourism. So you put your name in, and if, if you get drawn, then you pay your money for the park pass, and you can only go on the day that it says you're allowed to go. I mean, they've really restricted it to keep the environment as healthy as possible and still allow people to visit. Gorgeous, gorgeous country through there. But if I could, if I could be healthy enough to camp, I probably would put my ban on the camping thing just for that one time. I would definitely want to go there, and I would, I would brave the scorpions and snakes and tarantulas to see that canyon, 'cause it, it is a stunning sight just from the pictures and documentaries I've seen it in. So I can understand why you guys like Moab, because it's got some beautiful areas in there. It kind of reminds me of, we were gonna go to the, the Painted Desert, down around the Tucson area, but the national park was closed, but it does remind me a lot of that area, because, it's that red sandstone. because of the area, you have your green clay, you have your purple clay, you have this beautiful, gorgeous, rich red, and it's deeper than a brick red. It's, because of the iron that's in it. But there's just so many layers and so many colors throughout that area. It's breathtaking And, looking at some of the pictures while you were talking, it says now that you can actually go there. Yep. it's not, it's not closed any longer, so you can go. But oh my gosh, the pictures on here are just, wow, those are pretty stunning. Yeah. I think we're gonna try to go back down, on maybe a, another three-day weekend, maybe this year or possibly next spring. But we're still trying to kind of plan, what we're gonna do in the fall. Mm-hmm. Well, that's, that's an amazing area that I guess I would consider that too if I, if I didn't have my mobility issues. Um, but I mean, those are, those are some beautiful areas. I, I can only imagine if you got there, it'd be like when I visited the Grand Canyon with Auntie Christina and, went out to, I don't remember which rim it is. It's the one in Arizona. But, Nothing prepares you for when you show up in person to see the Grand Canyon. I don't care how many films you've seen, I don't care how many pictures you've looked at, uh, things about it that you've read, seen it in IMAX theaters, all of which I've done. None of it prepared me for the immensity of this nature. I was transfixed for I don't know how many hours we were up there, but i- I just could not take my eyes off of it because of how astounding it was. And because of mobility issues, and at that time I had a, an injury that I was walking with a cane, so I couldn't even do the footpaths because the footpaths don't really have rails on the rim that we were on. So it's like genetic pool cleansing if you're not careful. Good luck. So I couldn't, I couldn't even do the foot tr- foot trails, but just being able to stay up in the areas where you could take pictures safely and look at all the different views and that was just astounding. To be alive and, and be part of a, a- of a world that has that in it was, was amazing to me, so I can only imagine what it would look like in the Painted Desert or Antelope Canyon. And that's how I pretty much fell in love with hiking and being out in nature was where Moab is located, we kind of joke around and say that's prodi- pretty much like the start of the Grand Canyon. when, when we went up... When did we go to Moab last? It was, I think it was last year. And we went up Shafer Trail. It was during Jeep Safari weekend. And as you're scaling this 1,000-plus foot mesa, you feel like you're in the Grand Canyon. And as scary as it is, 'cause you and I both don't like heights, It's just astounding to be able to be alive and to have this kind of experience that, you don't know if you'll ever have again. And to see just how vast this area is and it's such a big playground that it, there's so much to do. It's just one of my favorite things. I've really fallen in love with it. We are lucky enough to have the opportunities. Part of it is because of what we were born with, which was white privilege. We are given access to things that a lot of people still have a lot of difficulty getting access to, and I don't take that lightly. Neither do I. And I'm glad to see that in spite of what's going on in the administration, hopefully, that those park services and the people that work the park services are still trying to reach persons in communities that may not have opportunities to visit, and be limited in their opportunities to visit. So I'm so grateful they're still working really hard behind the scenes trying to make that happen for them. And I know how lucky I am. Yeah, I worked really hard working two and three jobs to save up enough money to go out and visit the Grand Canyon. But my gosh, how lucky was I? And you're right, we both, we are both phobic about heights. There's no reason we should be. There's nothing that either one of us have ever gone through in our lives that should make being up on tall things a scary thing. It's just for us, in our emotional, or I should say our nervous system, our brains are like, "Yeah, this is not a place humans are supposed to be. Get down, get down, get down, get down." We're like, But when it's so stunning of a vista in front of you, and so immense, and I can't, and I cannot underutilize that word. I wish there was a word that really even meant more than immense. And it overrides your desire to get inside some place that's more secure, and you're willing to stand by a railing that is, protecting you from, you know, toppling over thousands of feet to the bottom of the canyon, and you're willing to stand there so you could see this and be part of it as much as you can. That is what's amazing to me. So I understand what you mean by about being scared but not able to resist. Yeah. I think that's about passion anyway. Yeah. When we find things that... You know, sometimes it's scary, but we want to do the thing because in it is such... I can't speak for anybody else other than myself, is there's that sense of fulfillment of, wow, this is, this is a lucky time for me to be alive. I'm a very fortunate human being. I'm so glad I didn't miss this because now I have this experience in my memory bank for as long as I have my memory of the one time I did the thing that was scary, and look at what, look at what it got me. It was amazing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I tell John all the time that, I wanna do this while I still have my body, like while I'm still able to do this. Mm-hmm. And still be able to remember it, 'cause, you know, I may be almost 40 but, I'm not super fit. I know this. I'll admit it. I'm a middle-aged fat chick. But, damn it, I wanna go boop that mountain, or I wanna go boop that rock on the top of that pike or peak. And damn it, I'm gonna go fucking do it. I, I want- You do it to the best of your ability. Yeah. You do it, you do it to the best of your ability in any way that you can that's safe for you and doesn't hurt the environment, of course. Right. But, even, even with my mobility issues and my medical issues, it's, it's still something that even if there's a way that I could figure out how to do the thing where I go out to the Grand Canyon again and walk it or at least ride I would do it if I, if I could figure out how to do it in a way that it wouldn't exacerbate what I go through. But yeah, I totally get it. You want, you wanna do the living, you wanna do the thing, right? it's not just about nature, too. It's about those times we bring it inward in our own heads about, I wanna do art," or, "I wanna put on a podcast and talk," or, "I want to do a YouTube video series and show people these things," or, "I wanna teach." I mean, it's, it's that other part of yourself where you're like, I, I want to put this out there so that I can find my community of people who think and feel along the same lines. Not exactly, but along the same lines that I do about this thing that I'm so intrigued by. I was just thinking when you were talking about you doing what you can and the things that you like to do and that, and I came across an Instagram account, Limitless Louie, and I'll put information in the podcast episode too. He talks about all kinds of things, and one of them recently, or at least one that popped up on my feed when I was just tinking around in it, was the British version of the Roadshow, which is the original before the Americans did their version. And he shows this little clip of this man that's brought in this little animatronic music box, and he pops it open, and it's this beautifully decorated nightingale-type bird that's singing, m- all mechanical, and it s- it sings a little song for very briefly, maybe less than 30 seconds, and then it closes again. And you hear everybody in the background of this clip go, "Oh." I mean, they're, they're, like, charmed by it, and they think it's lovely, and it just, it just brings this sense of joy, right? This delight. And that's... And then he asked the question, "Why does everybody like this?" I mean, granted, there's gonna be people who don't, but for the majority of the people there, they were all like, "Oh." And it's intriguing, yes, but it's that delight, and he called it the joy, too, of this thing is over 200 years old. It is, it's an antique that's worth thousands of pounds, in American dollars, right? you see just the delight in everybody's face, and he's like, "All this history has happened since this was created. It's still here, and for the most part, it's still working pretty well. And it's still doing the same thing it was meant to do, which was just elicit delight." And I think that's part of what passion is as well, is eliciting that sense of joy, that sense of delight. Not necessarily happiness, 'cause that's what I talk to people and my clients and everybody about, is that happiness is fleeting, but you can have these little sparks of joy and delight that amplify your ability to be part of your life. And that's what he was talking about in showing that clip in his post. First of all, I'm glad that he showed it, 'cause I didn't even know that existed in the world. Now I do, and I think that's very charming. Do you have anything like that, that it just, if you see it or if you come across it, you go, "Oh"? Yeah. I know this is materialistic, but I love jewelry. Mm-hmm. I, for whatever reason, like sapphires and diamonds and beautifully handcrafted pieces, they just ignite, this tremendous, spark within me, and I can't really explain why. It just gives me a sense of joy. Do you have anything in particular that will always catch your eye and you kinda go, "I didn't know that existed in the world and I'm so glad it did, and now I know about it"? I'm not sure. What about you? Um, I love jewelry that's art. Yeah. One of a kind pieces and things that are created by persons that have an idea and translate it into this piece of jewelry. That's what I like to wear. Well, that and I love to wear big hoops, but that's another thing altogether. But I mean, most of the time for necklaces and earrings and bracelets, I want what I guess people call statement pieces. I want it to be art that I'm wearing, much like my tattoos, right? There's a lot of things that make me go, "Oh, that is so cool." I mean, There was somebody that, I can't remember where, I wanna say it was in the Mediterranean area. They had found a piece of shield, and it was a dog. It was a little dog looking over the edge of the shield. It had no purpose to it whatsoever, but somebody decided they needed to see a little dog peeking over the edge of a shield. That's cute. And I thought, "Oh, that is so charming. That is such a delight." You know, it's a shield to protect your ass from somebody smashing the hell out of your brains with an ax, but you got a little puppy on your shield. That is, that is lovely. That means a human decorated this. This means a human put their, their oomph behind it. Great. Along those same lines, nowadays, and it's not archeological at all, but there is, a woman that is doing handmade little beanies, and they're in the shape of different things. And, her studio's called Stitching Sunlight, and I'll, I'll put a link in the podcast description. But I don't know how I came across her. I'm sure it was an algorithm of some kind up on TikTok last year, I've just been watching it. I thought it was just really charming and cute, the things she was making, and then she made the existential potatoes. Oh, yeah. And I thought, "Oh my God, I need one of these potatoes." And it is just so cute, and it's just a piece of stretchy tan fabric with some plastic button eyes and a stitched little mouth that's, you know, contemplating its existence. But the fact that it's just so charming, and it gives me such joy to be able to hold onto him when I'm doing teleconferences and things like that. And just, you know, just, yeah, he's just trying to figure out his existence too, and I love it. But in the meantime, she also has frogs, so I got Bluebell, who is a non-gendered frog. That's Bluebell. And Bluebell has an issue with one of their eyes. I'm not sure what's going on with that. We'll have to figure that out later. And then we got Lenny Crabbits, my little crab that I was able to score off her website, which is just adorable. And yes, I named him Lenny Crabbits. And then I got Frogger, the frog prince, who came with his own little crown, which is adorable. And they just, they're just little things that make it fun. They make it fun to be me and around my life. And that's what I'm talking about, you know, finding those things in your life that make it fun for you to have these moments in your life that it's not always the same old damn thing, right? So that's what I'm gonna be doing is I'm gonna be talking to people, hopefully, if they take up my invitation to do so, about their passions and that, and it's gonna range for a whole, whole list of things. So we'll see who says yes and who I can, I can get in the meantime to talk to me, so. But we're running down on time. That went fast Show. Mm-hmm. So you've got, you've got Butters to go corral, I'm sure. He's probably hunting for more carbs and butter. Thank you for being here yet again, kiddo. Thanks, Mom. Are you gonna go out rock climbing anytime soon? We're currently dog sitting this weekend through next weekend, in three weeks we're going to Yellowstone, I'm gonna go boop as many things as I can out there. A lot of- Cool pictures will be taken, and- Mm-hmm a lot of rocks will be collected and who knows? I might bring a bear home. No, don't bring a bear home. But it's just so cute. Well, they, they, you need a permit, and number two, they get kind of grouchy when they're hungry. I mean, worse than me. So you may wanna rethink the whole bring a bear home as a souvenir. And also, the park may get a little cranky about you removing their wildlife. Well, one, I do what I want, and two- Right I've dealt with you for most of my life, so I think I know what to feed a bear It's not that type of bear, so You know, if I just put on some Donna Summer, it will be okay. Put on the Fairytale High album, Once Upon a Time. That gets them every time. Every time. That's the best disc- that is the best disco album. Ever. I, I, I'm gonna say, I think for having grown up in that era, and I mean, I was a kid kid in the mid-'70s, but I loved that. I fell in love with Donna Summer and Once Upon a Time. It had all the lyrics. It had pictures of her. It was a light blue, and Donna was in full '70s dress and heels. It was fabulous. And the music- Amazing it was great. It's still great. Still great. In fact, I think once we get done here, I'm gonna go pop that on and listen to it again. Hope you do. Yeah. Thanks for being here as always, kiddo. Thanks, Mom. All right. Catch you on the flip side. Peace. Okay, bye. Bye. Love you. Love you.