The Gag is… Podcast
The GAG is" is a powerful podcast that takes you on a journey through the life of a remarkable black woman who defied the odds. Charli Shanta became a teen mom and a widow by 21. Now in her mid 30’s life has been unpredictable, she’s faced unimaginable adversity yet she's never given up. Join Charli as she shares her inspiring story, offering a message of resilience and hope even if it isn’t always perfect. Discover that even in the darkest times there are better days ahead. Laughter can always follow tears.
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The Gag is… Podcast
From Cringe to Courage: A Year in Review
Laughter and reflection take center stage as we celebrate 50 episodes of the Gag Is Pod while looking back at the wild ride of 2024. Join me as we discuss parenting expectations, customer service frustrations, and resilience during hurricane season, all wrapped up in humor and personal growth.
• Celebrating the 50th episode
• Reflecting on the highlights of 2024
• Navigating unreasonable kids' food expectations
• Discussing expectations in customer service
• Sharing personal stories about generosity and boundaries
• Overcoming hurricane damage and its emotional impact
• Highlighting personal growth through adversity
• Closing with a hopeful message for 2025
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TheGagIsPod@gmail.com
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the gag is pod. I am your girl, charlie Shantae. Thank you for joining me on the other. I'm not taking that blooper out, we just going to run it back. Welcome back to the gag is pod. I am your girl, charlie Shantae. Thank you for joining me on another episode.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, today is like a super duper, extraterrestrial special episode One. Not only is it the New Year's Eve episode, but it is also the 50th episode, yay. So let's go ahead and clap it up for that and hopefully you're not new here and you've been here and this is your 50th episode too. Let's clap it up for that. If not, you can always go back from day one and listen to those episodes. I will tell you, though, going back and listening to those episodes is going to be very, very cringe. When I go back and listen to those episodes, it is very, very cringe. Do you hear me? I'll be like so badly, I'll be wanting to take those episodes down, but I understand that those episodes are needed, because it shows where I started and then it shows where I am now. But before we go ahead and jump into it, go ahead and grab your snack, grab your drink so we can get into it.
Speaker 1:New Year's Eve is in a few days. Man, like how did we get here? Like 2025 is just in a few few days and I don't even know how we got here. Like I was talking to Marco Polo last night and I was like, hey, did this happen in 2024 or was that another year? And he's like, no mom, that happened this year. I'm just like, oh my God, it has been the longest year, been the longest year, the longest, fastest year ever. So much has happened this year. But it's kind of like that was this year. Like, yeah, like the titanics, the, the submarine thingy thing, like that was this year. I believe in like june, so just like six months ago, ojj died, a lot going on this year.
Speaker 1:But I felt that since it's the New Year's episode and you know, in the 50th episode, we got to have a little fun on this episode. We cannot end the year with a super serious topic. We got to have some fun up in this thing. So I got my little list right here. You know, I actually got my little stand today, you know. So I got my little list and I got to hold it in my hand for y'all. Today I got my list, so we're going to go through the list of some of the like things that happened this year that I personally know about.
Speaker 1:I collaborated with Nick and I was like girl. I was like what's some of the funny stuff that happened this year that I can put into an episode, to kind of recap? And she started talking and she's talking about all this stuff, and I was like girl. I'm like that happened this year. She's like, yes, that happened this year. Can we get into this fit though? What's it giving? If you ain't watching this and you listening, you have to go on over to YouTube and check it out, because your girl got it on today.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know, we bring it in a new year looking very festive. You know, I got my New Year's hat and stuff I can't put on my head because then I would have to widen the frame out and we're not finna do that. So y'all gonna enjoy this. You know this well put together. You know this chain is blingy blingy. You know mom iced out my neck for for my birthday a few weeks ago. So you know the the channel. Y'all gonna have to go check it out on YouTube, but let's go ahead and jump into it.
Speaker 1:So, like I said, this is the 50th episode and we just want it to be just funny, just chill, something that you can ride, work out to and just kind of, you know, just laugh and kind of have fun and just kind of, you know, just laugh and kind of have fun. This episode you know, I don't want to put you in their mind state Like, oh, it's New Year's and you know she trying to be serious today no, this is here for laughs and entertainment. I wish I had Nick here with me while I'm recording this, because the episode she would have been behind the scenes and the episode would have been that much more funnier. But I think I'm gonna start putting her on some episodes, like behind the scenes, so that I can have somebody interact with and talk with, and then I'm telling y'all it is gonna be that much funnier, but I'm gonna say this episode's still gonna be funny nonetheless. But if she was in the background and provide a little commentary, it would, um, it would be funny as well. So if I break into a laughing spell, no judgment. We listen, we don't judge. All right.
Speaker 1:So, going into 2025, I always say whatever happened in 2020, the year prior. Let bygones be bygones, but one of the things this year that was the number one thing that Nick said to happen this year was the child parent expectations. Now, if you don't know what I mean by that, you're gonna have to go back a couple episodes, because if you know my child New Face the boy is boy, is big, he's a swimmer, he consumes a lot of food and he has a few different food allergies, and so I prep his food for him. I prep his food for him for school and stuff like that, and then we eat at home. You know we're not plant-based Mediterranean or anything like that, no crazy type of diet, just the type of stuff that he requires.
Speaker 1:Now, me, I keep it simple. I can take chicken and make like five different meals and be good. I can do chicken rice. You know a veggie on the side. You know just something easy, something quick, something simple. Him, my boy, was like can I get some sushi rolls? Can you make me some sushi rolls? Can I get some pot rolls with some potatoes? But I don't like mashed potatoes, so can you just do like a baked potato? Mind you, this is food for him to take to school, not for at the house. Pot rolls with pot roast, you know with some veggies, you know carrots and you know different stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And then I work and he's like, yeah, I don't like it when you make crock pot chicken, because my quick fix is throw some clean, some chicken breast, season them up, throw them in the crock pot. That way it's easy for me because I feel like I can take the crock pot chicken and I can make endless amount of meals. I can make fried rice, I can make anything right. It's not good enough for him. He's like don't put my chicken in the crockpot. He's like you can either grill it or, you know, bake it in the oven. And I was like, well, what's the difference between baking it in the oven and putting it in the crockpot? It's like pretty much the same. He's like no, he's like it's good, but you know I like it in the oven. Or either when you pan sear it, you know you dice it up and you pan sear it. Who got that kind of time? Like, because you want your meat pan seared. And then you know you like some panko crumbs because you want it a little fried and you want a little crispy outside and stuff like that. You want your little cauliflower sauteed and stuff, you know, drizzled with soy sauce and just a little smite smidge of salt and pepper. Sir, you are going to school, you, not going to anybody's job, so why am I in here making you a Michelin meal to take to school? Like it shouldn't even be like that, like a Michelin meal to school.
Speaker 1:One day I was working from home that day and I was like he's like oh, you know, I don't have nothing to take to lunch. And I was like, yeah, my bad, I didn't order no groceries. So I said I'm going to bring you some lunch. And he was like all right, cool. So he texted he's like what you going to bring me? And I was like I don't know yet. So I'm like what can I do? I had some ground turkey. So I was like I'm going to make him some sliders. So I made him three sliders, wrapped them up in foil and took them up to the school. I'm checking in, I'm checking in. And I was like all right, so he come around the corner. He got this little girl with him. I'm like hey, how you doing. So I get home.
Speaker 1:He's like yeah, my friend want to know when you're going to cook and bring some more food to the school, because she liked the burgers, wait a minute. So I'm up here trying to feed you and you over here feeding the people. You over here feeding the young ladies. You over here feeding the people, you over here feeding the young ladies, that's so. Needless to say, that was the last time I cooked and brought it to the school for him fresh. You got to find something in here, because am I here making plates for you to sell at school? He's like, yeah, we should have this, or we should do pork chops with green beans and we can do some fries on the side. Are you eating lunch or are you selling plates? Because I'm confused, because if you up there selling plates, I need my cut, because you know what I'm saying. I'm picking up the front end and the back end. I need my cut if you at that school are selling plates, my good sir.
Speaker 1:So we've come to a happy medium about what kind of food he going to take, expectations and different stuff like that. But you know, in this new year, you know he's like I said, he's a swimmer and so his dietary needs are a little bit more. So he will continue. See, I sound soft because I'm talking about he going to continue to get these type of meals. He's going to continue to get these type of meals because he, he burns that many calories.
Speaker 1:My boy put down a 30 piece grilled nugget from Chick-fil-A. Ok, it was still hunger, because swimming takes so much. So he will still get those meals during the day because he, you know, I kind of let him have free range in the morning, but for his breakfast, I mean for his lunch and for his dinner, I try to keep him with something healthy. Um, that way he'll have energy and strength for swim and what have you? Um, so, yeah, so, but I just be wanting him to know that you know this ain't the expectation. You know I do it, you know, out of kindness of my heart. But you know I could wake up tomorrow and be like it's just going to be sandwiches and chips for the rest of the year, not that he would mind. But you know, I just, I just I want my baby to have a variety. You know, and I may, I have leftovers and I take them to work too. So you know, and I have leftovers and I take them to work too. So you know I don't eat as much as him. Let's set that out there. But you know I keep it healthy.
Speaker 1:Every time I record I have to give y'all a yawn. I don't even be tired, it's just a yawn. I don't even have nothing to drink. Where is my drink at? I don't even have my water. So we're gonna have to get through the dry mouth and all all right.
Speaker 1:So customer service I feel like my biggest pet peeve this year has been customer service. Like, all right, granted, wherever you work, you don't feel like you're making enough money. I don't think nobody feel like they make enough money wherever they work. Let's just be honest. But if you in a customer service role, I feel like you should have a little bit more patience. Like you got to kind of actually like people, right, I'm tired of going to these places and getting bad customer service and then especially like a sit down restaurant, and then you think that you didn't gave me this piss poor service and you think that I'm still supposed to like, tip you and tip you generously for the piss poor job that you did. And that's not key.
Speaker 1:Somebody said something to me one time. They said how are servers ever supposed to learn that that's not how you treat a customer If, even if they provide you bad service, you're still going to give them 20 percent or more? What incentive do they have to do better if we're still rewarding them for bad customer service? I was like man, that makes sense. So there have been times where the service has been bad and it's not from the cause of the kitchen, cause I know some of y'all gonna be like well, if it was the food, it was the kitchen, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 1:No, if you are a server, I need you to be attentive to my needs. You know what I'm saying. Like not every 30 seconds. Come on here. You need something, you need something, but be attentive to my needs. I shouldn't have to have one of your coworkers go find you because I ain't seen you in that long, okay, cause then you more than likely not finna get no tip. If I got to, if it's been 30, 40 minutes and I ain't seen you, you haven't walked by my table or anything and I had to find somebody. Send somebody to come find you. I had to ask to speak to the manager. That's not cool.
Speaker 1:Granted, you're working a job, you know because you're in school, or you just trying to make ends meet, whatever. I'm nice to everyone, I don't judge. I don't judge because when I was in grad school I used to work at Dave and Buster's just for some extra money. I was working two jobs and I was going to grad school because I was just trying to have that extra money, pay for school and whatever, whatever. So I don't judge people for working any type of customer service job or job where they rely on tips or anything like that. All I'm asking is that when you have these type of jobs, just be polite, that's it.
Speaker 1:If you're having a bad day, don't bring that bad day to work, because that could be the difference between whether you get a $25 tip or whether you get a $3 tip. So your attitude is your pockets is determined upon your attitude, like how you do when you have customers and stuff like that. I make sure I try to engage with them and have a conversation, you know, because sometimes people just need somebody to talk to them and engage with them and I try to do that. But if I try, if I'm doing that and I'm being nice to you and then you still acting crappy toward me, yeah, your tip's going to suffer because I didn't ask to bring, I didn't ask to inherit your your bad day problems. I didn't. I didn't ask to inherit that you know. So you, you, you, finna, treat me with some respect. Whether you like it or not, whether you have a bad day Hell, we all have bad days but I don't take my bad days out on nobody. So all I'm asking in 2025 is if you work in customer service, can you please have some patience, can you please be nice, please, and thank you, solemn, asking, not asking for a lot.
Speaker 1:So this next one is a, is a is an issue, but it's also a. You can't make this up, and Nick reminded me of this one because I had completely I'll be trying to use my brain space. You know I can't go and buy like extra space and stuff like that, so I'll be trying to save my little brain memory space for like important stuff, and so I had completely forgot all about this situation, right? So I'm a very nice, very caring person, especially when it comes to kids, and this child was coming. This child was coming to my house, you know, to play with my son and stuff, and, um, the child was telling me that they weren't in school and you know that different things were going on at home and you know I'm always a giver, and you know, especially to other single black moms, you know I try to be a problem solver and help with solutions.
Speaker 1:So one day the child was came over and was like, you know, my mom, you know, is looking for us to ride to Walmart because we just have some stuff going on. And I was like, ok, well, you know, I was like where do you live? And she, the child, was like I live around the corner. I was like, ok, so I went to the child's house and, you know, I met the mom and the mom was like you know, these are my kids, whatever, whatever, whatever. So I see a child. Now I didn't know this was a child, I thought this was her boyfriend and I was like, dang, like she got a whole man here and what's going on with this? Today? She got a whole man here and, uh, he ain't doing nothing. And she's like, you know, my lights is cut off and whoop-de-whoop-de-whoop-de-whoop.
Speaker 1:And I was like, you know, in my mind I'm like I'm willing to help because, no kids, because your kids ain't in school and your lights cut off and times get hard, like I ain't always had it. You know I'm saying growing up we was a little poor. So in my mind I had a figure. I was like, if she say her light bill is x less than x amount of dollars, I'm gonna chip in. I'm gonna be like let's go up here to to the bill pay place, put something on your light bill. So I was like, okay, and I was she's like I don't know when I'm gonna get my lights turned back on, whatever, whatever. So I'm like, well, how much is your light bill? She's like oh, it's $1,800. $1,800? Is you powering up the neighborhood? She's like, yeah, I ain't paid my lights since I moved in. What?
Speaker 1:So now I got to dig deeper because I got to understand what's going on, because I might have to call social services on you, because you got five kids over here in this house and you ain't got no electricity, which means you can't store and hold food and different stuff like that. So she told me the story about how she ended up there. She don't have no car and whatever, whatever. And I was like, well, why the kids don't go to school? And she's like, oh, because I don't have no car. I said, well, you know, the bus come right here. I was like my child rides the bus, the bus stop is just right here, and she's like, oh, ok. Okay. She's like, well, you know, I just homeschooled. And I'm thinking myself well, how do you homeschool your kids? And you ain't got no electricity. But okay, I digress.
Speaker 1:I don't even know how long these people's electricity have been out, but I was intrigued by this story. So I'm like, okay, cool, okay, me and this um microphone gonna have a, we're gonna have a fight. Okay, because I don't know why it keep falling down. This is you know what, this is too much. All right, we're gonna try that, right there. Yeah, I don't, I don't take out bloopers. Y'all know I don't take out bloopers, so whatever. But anyway, I'm intrigued because I'm like I need to know what's going on, I need to understand this. You know like, how did we get here?
Speaker 1:So she tells me her story and I'm like, oh dang, I'm like you know, that's bad. You know, sorry to hear that some resources dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And she's like I just started a new job and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And this story was wild y'all. She was like you know, I got five kids and you know, four of their daddy is dead. And I was like, damn, this is crazy. And I was like, well, do you get like benefits with it? And she's like, nah, I don't get benefits for it Cause, you know, I don't got no, no electricity, I don't got no internet, so I ain't been able to apply and you know, that's one of the things I might have to hold this microphone. That's one of the things that you know, I've been trying to work on and I'm like it's a lot going on here. Um, so I was like, all right, cool. So I'm like, what can I do? Okay, to help you out. And she's like, well, you could take me to Walmart and, um, cause I can get some batteries, I get some flashlights. Because I can get some batteries, I get some flashlights, I can get some lanterns. And I was like, okay, cool.
Speaker 1:So literally, walmart is like five minutes from our house. So I get there and I needed to pick up a couple items myself. So I pick up my items, I go to the self-checkout, I check out, so I notice that she has this basket full of stuff and is standing over to the side, and so I go and I said what you waiting on? And she's like oh, I just need this stuff to you know, to pay for this stuff. And I said, ok, so you think you should get in line.
Speaker 1:So pretty much she thought that because I was helping her and I bought her the Walmart, she thought I was finna pay for all they stuff. I said no, ma'am. I said you ain't got no cash. She's like. She's like you ain't got no debit card. She's like all I got is cash out. So I said okay, we got up to the register, they rung the stuff up and she said well, can I and y'all know Walmart don't have to have to pay she's like well, can I just cash out you the money? You pay for it and I cash out. I said sure, I said cash out me the money right now and once I see it go in my account, I go to my cash out card, I'll pay it.
Speaker 1:So we stood there looking at each other because it was probably about $170 worth of flashlights and lanterns and stuff like that, batteries and stuff like that. She sent that money and as soon as she sent that money I blocked her on cash out Cause I'm like why don't you have a bank account. So you saying that any of the money and stuff that you get, like it go to cash out, like you don't have no real bank account, like this is crazy. So I dropped her back off and I was just like, look, if you need to come over to look to use the internet or something tomorrow, just come on by so that you can, you know, kind of get yourself together. So next day she sent a kid over here with a backpack full of electronics y'all so not that she was trying to come around there and utilize the, the internet and, um, the stuff like that to you know, apply for a job or anything like that.
Speaker 1:She done sent over this child with the biggest power bank that I done ever seen to charge up their iPads, their laptops, their phones and all of this. And I'm just like that stuff is not of the priority. And I'm just like that stuff is not of the priority because if you at home and you got this computer, would you use the wi-fi to watch movies and stuff like that, like everybody got a phone and an ipad. And so then she was like I'm on section 8 and so, from what I know, because I called, because I had friends. I called and they were like that's not correct. They was like that sounds like a fishy situation.
Speaker 1:Long story short, I had to stop them from coming over here because you're not just going to come over here and, um, use up my utilities and stuff and you not trying to use my utilities to help better yourself. So you know like, I let her son come play with my son one day and the kid was like, oh, y'all have a nice house and you know snacks and stuff like that and just start coming over every day for snacks. And I was like no, I was like we're going to nip this in the bud because you, your mom, over there, getting food stamps and all kinds of stuff, we finna nip this in the bud. So I thought situation was resolved. So I get a text hey, can you, can I pay you to take my daughter to dance? Okay, so we have another expense that we can't afford right now and the dance is like 40 minutes away to the place, like 40 minutes away. And I was like, well, how, how, your baby been getting a preschool and dance way over there. And she's like, oh, we uber every day. Okay, so you have uber money, okay, uber is not cheap.
Speaker 1:So at this point I'm just like okay, I'm like, here's the resources. If you need help, you know, just ask me. So I I don't know what came to that. I've seen her a few times and I see she have a vehicle now. But when I was walking my dog the other day I seen the trash can out there and the trash can was overflowing and everything and it looked like they had moved out. I don't know.
Speaker 1:But long story short, I don't mind helping people, but you got to want to help yourself and in the same instance that you're helping yourself, don't try to use people. Okay, don't try to use people, because people are really nice, they're caring and they'll help you get to where you need to be. But if you're dishonest and you try to use people, that's not cool. You know, say, because that's how you know somebody else. I could like I could encounter somebody else later down the road, like in a couple of days or whatever that really needed to help. But here I am wasting my resources because you want to allocate your money other places and play with people's time and think that you're just entitled and people are supposed to do for you. You know. So you could have been blocking somebody else's blessing without even knowing it.
Speaker 1:Um, I had another situation where a young lady did the same thing. My pet peeve is I hate to see people begging with their kids. I hate to see people out on the corners with their kids. Got the kids holding signs like don't do that. There's way more resources out there than you think. And I'm always like because I'm a temporary solution, you need a long-term solution met a chick outside neiman marcus with her baby.
Speaker 1:Had the baby out here, y'all it had to be about 100 degrees. I take them inside, get some food. Because she was like her baby, hungry baby, probably y'all, probably about three. And I was like you can get him, whatever he won't. I'm thinking we're going to Chick-fil-a. We went to a Chinese food place. Why is a baby eating Chinese food? Oh, so now I realize that this is for you. And then she's like but I'm a nurse, though, and then, once I let her know that I was in the medical field, y'all she shooed me away. She's like oh, thank you for the food. We good Cause, cause you wanted some food. Now, if you wanted some food, that's okay.
Speaker 1:And like, y'all, hit me with the oh, I ain't got nowhere to live, I ain't got nowhere to stay, but y'all got these, these purses and these shoes and all this kind of stuff, but y'all ain't even having in 2025, I need everybody to get their priorities together. The most basic is priorities. Stop letting social media dictate what it is your life is supposed to look like. Cause y'all out here trying to be social media stars and y'all can't even be a star, like in your own right and in your own sense, because you trying to be lavish, because you way over here at the upscale mall begging. Like how did you get here? Like how did you get over here to to even do this? And you knew what you was doing. Because you came to the more upscale mall where you know there's going to be people there, um, and you sit outside and even market, so you know the type of crowd that's going to fall through there. Like you know what you, you know what you're doing.
Speaker 1:Like 2025, stop begging. Like, get out there and get and get it for yourself. Stop stop begging and then get mad when somebody don't do it for you. Stop begging, go out there and get it for yourself. Everybody can. It might take you a little mad when somebody don't do it for you. Stop begging, go out there and get it for yourself. It might take you a little longer if you don't feel like you have enough resources, but get it on your own. I guarantee you you'll feel much better about yourself getting something on your own than you is begging or getting it from somebody else. Unless somebody is, um, unless somebody is just voluntarily willing to give it to you. This audio, finna be real crazy on this episode. I know I'm gonna have to do a lot of adjustments because this um, this might keep falling and I'm not sure. I ain't sure why. So let's see here.
Speaker 1:One of the better parts of this year was when I went on a family cruise, right, so unfortunately, my mom was having some health issues so she couldn't go, so my bestie hey, bestie went on the cruise with me. Now, when I tell you, a time was had, a time was had, like like it was the pick me up that I needed, and I think God was like you know what? Like sis, you've been having a rough year. You know, let me go ahead and let you unwind. Let me help you unwind a little bit and, you know, let you go on this little cruise because you know you've been through it. You know, let you go on this little cruise because you know you've been through it. You've been through it and you know I need you to relax because you got another storm coming, both literally and figuratively. Figuratively, you're going to need all your strength, since and I didn't know that two months after having the time of my life, I was going to be having the worst time of my life. Man, like that cruise, like the day we was getting off y'all, we would see somebody was getting arrested. I don't know what they did, but they were getting arrested and we was, we were trying to be nosy and we probably almost got arrested. But that's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1:Um, just two months later, the state of florida got hit by hurricane helene and then hurricane milton. Back to Hurricane Helene. We were unscathed and I was like, okay, cool, we good to go. And then Hurricane Milton came and it was projected to make landfall in Tampa Bay, in the Tampa Bay area. And just a little background about hurricanes. So hurricanes spin counterclockwise right and when you hear them say that, oh, there's a hundred and whatever mile an hour winds, that's not the entire thing, that's just 50 to 60 miles from the center of the storm, where the eye is. So, with that, projected to make landfall in Tampa Bay. I was going to be, tampa was going to be in the eye of the hurricane At the last minute.
Speaker 1:The hurricane takes a, hooks to right, close to my house, which I stay off, the bay hooks to the right, and so we're getting all of those winds, 100 mile an hour winds, with like 80, 90 mile an hour wind gusts. So I was like, wow, okay, so like storm just getting cranky. And um, you see what happened the storm was just getting cranky and you know the power goes out and I was like, oh, and then it comes right back on. I was like, okay, we're going to be good, it's just a quick flash. And so then, about an hour later, the power ends up going out altogether and I was like, all right, cool. So I'm trying to make sure everybody's straight. So at this point I'm like we just got to lay down and ride the storm out.
Speaker 1:Go to the front Now, mind you, there are shutters up. So go to the front because, like the tree, there's a palm tree right there and it's just banging and hitting on the shutter and I'm like wow. And then I look because I hear something dripping. And I look in the window and there is water dripping down from the window. And then I look on the floor and the floor is covered in water and I'm just like, oh my god. So I immediately went into fight or flight and I was like boys, go get towels, like I'm taking the curtains off the curtain rod, putting them down, try to soak up the water.
Speaker 1:And so then I see the water, like out in the hallway area, by the front door, water is literally coming down the top of the door, is bubbling from underneath the door, because there's a like it's a corner where the front door is, and so this is happening because where my house is so remember, a storm goes counterclockwise. So the front either, so my house faces north to south. So if your house faces like that, the front side, if you're so, the front faces the north, and then, like the people across street, theirs faces the south, like the back of their house faces north, so they're getting all of that rain or whatever, whatever. So all of that's coming toward me. There's nothing behind my house, there's not a house next to me. So when that storm is just whipping. It's just whipping. My house is just taking the brunt of it. And it was just crazy because there's nothing I could do to stop the water from coming down from the top of the door. So at the bottom of the door there's all these towels and different stuff.
Speaker 1:And then at one point I was just like you know, I had to mop, I'm trying to get it up and I was like you know what? I'm not even going to be able to mop up all this because it's just too much. And I was like it's just going to have to wait until in the morning. So we come upstairs and we about to relax or whatever, just listen to the rain and the wind and stuff like that, and LJ comes out his room. He said mom, and I was like what's up? He said my roof is leaking. And I go in his room and there's just water coming through, coming down through the roof, and I'm like, oh my God, I'm like my like literally watching my house fall, like get destroyed, like in real time, and I'm just like man and I remember going in my closet and laying on the floor and crying because I'm like there's nothing I can do about it. I'm completely helpless at this point. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm completely helpless at this point. There's nothing I can do about it. I just got to ride it out.
Speaker 1:So the next morning, when it's all over and we're able to go outside, I go outside. My fence is gone, send, the pool is blowed everywhere. It's blowed in the front yard. My tree is down. When my trees is down, it was just, it was all bad. And I just like lost the furniture that's in that front room and man, it was just all bad, just all bad.
Speaker 1:So we start like a couple days go go by, we still don't have no power, and I'm trying to clean out new faces room. I'm like, hey, because you know the water that came in for a ceiling. So I'm like you know, and it is all on his bed and stuff. So I'm like hey, I'm like this is your, your room is a loss, but like I'm so sorry. I told him to get the stuff from under the bed and he goes and sits on the floor and the floor is just drenched, and so there's about this much of a whole of like a lining, because I have a two-story house and the wind and rain were so hard, they got in between those gaps, between those joints and wet his whole floor. But then I'm looking at his furniture and you can see where cause he has the wood furniture, like some of it's, like the compressed wood, like the stuff from Ikea the water, the floor is so saturated that the furniture has started absorbing the water. So he lost his breathing machine, he lost a lot of books, he lost a lot of stuff, he lost his entire room and I just, I just felt so bad for him because I'm like man, you know, like this is crazy, like this is crazy work and um, it's just it's, it's, it's, it's just crazy.
Speaker 1:But you know, insurance took a long time and there's so many people that need help around here that it's hard to get contractors and stuff like that. You know, especially if you're not paying the big bucks and stuff like that, they don't want to work with people who have like really small jobs and stuff like that. And then, on top of that, they're price gouging too. You know, they say they not, but you can tell because, like if it cost me $2,000 to get just one, just one section of fence, like two months ago, but now it's $3,500,. You know, I see what you're doing there, you know it, it was just, it was just all bad. And you know they're like we're not going to be able to come out and fix your roof until you know January. And I'm just been praying like Lord, I hope it don't rain, you know. You know to make things worse. And then I got a call a couple of days ago and they were like we're going to be able to come do your roof tomorrow and I was like okay, like cool, and God, god know what he doing, cause they came and fixed the roof and now it's supposed to rain for the next three days. And I'm just like man, like this is this is so good, this is all good, it's just it's, it's just been, it's just been a lot. Since that day, we, we just been trying to build and you know, take it one day, take it one step at a time.
Speaker 1:2024 has definitely been a year that I learned. I feel like it's been one of the worst not the worst, but one of the worst years that I've had in a long time, but it's also been one of the best years as well. I've had the opportunity to learn myself and I found out that I'm stronger than what I give myself credit for and I'm super proud of that. And I see the growth in myself and I just want to continue to see. I just want to continue to see the growth in myself and as a creative, as a individual, as a mom, as a friend, I just want to continue to be that, continue to put this, to put my time and energy into positivity and things for the betterment of myself, others and those around me. 2025, I'm excited. I'm excited. I think I gained a lot of tools this year. I gained a lot of support this year and I'm just so ready to just move forward and just go into 2025 and leave all of the not so good in 2024. But take the lessons learned from those things and take them into 2025.
Speaker 1:Last but not least, I got your last song, lyric of the week for 2024. I got your last song, lyric of the week for 2024. And I picked this song because it has been the mantra. It has been the mantra of my life for this year and it's an old song I've seen it's been out for a while, but it's new to me. But it pretty much it has been the mantra of my life and I feel like it's going to be the soundtrack and the theme for 2025. So my song lyric, my last song lyric of the week for 2024 is Lil Wayne let it all work out, because at the end of the day, it's all going to work out. You just got to hold on, you got to stay at fast, got to pray. Everything is going to be good.
Speaker 1:If you have not already, please make sure that you are downloading this episode and make sure you're hitting that notification. It's probably a plus sign, depending on the app that you're using to listen to this. That way, anytime a new episode is released, you are one of the first ones to get that Episodes release on Fridays at 5 am. So when you're on your way to work, when you're on your way home from work, or if you're going to the gym or whatever it is you're doing, you'll have that first thing Friday morning for something to get your day started. Also, make sure you follow us on Instagram, at thegagispod, and it is the same handle on YouTube as well. You are more than welcome to follow my personal page at smartfit underscore ogee.
Speaker 1:I want to say thank you all for rocking with me. This is episode number 50. I can't wait to give you guys 50 more and then some more episodes. If you haven't already, tell a friend, share it with a friend, do whatever your part. It's free, 99 to share and things like that. I wish you all a safe, happy and healthy New Year's. And yeah, thank you for tuning into the Gaggis pod. I am your girl, charli Chante. Happy New Year's, guys. Bye.
