Embrace The Great
Great conversation, great guest and great information.
Embrace The Great
Embracing Your Hometown's History
Shawn opens this week's episode on cloud nine after a string of parenting wins – helping his son purchase his first car, moving his daughter into her apartment, and registering his youngest for senior year. These milestones spark a rich conversation about the delicate balance between guiding young adults while respecting their independence.
The conversation shifts when Dominique poses a thought-provoking question about hometown pride. Drawing from recent research into Florence's history as a railroad hub, he challenges listeners to investigate their own city's story before criticizing it. Why do we often focus on what's broken rather than appreciating what's working? The hosts explore how understanding where you're from provides context for building where you're going. They highlight Florence's upcoming recreational facility upgrades and discuss how these investments will create ripple effects throughout the community.
In one of the episode's most compelling moments, Dominique asks: "If someone handed you a book containing your entire life story – past, present and future – would you read it?" This launches them into reflections about living a life memorable enough that you'd want to revisit your own chapters. Mixed with nostalgic stories about their teenage years and the football coach who shaped their understanding of manhood, they examine how our past experiences inform how we parent, mentor, and move through the world today.
The conversation wraps with a powerful reminder that each day offers a fresh start. When you put genuine effort into building the life you want, others naturally rally behind you. But as Sean notes, "How can you expect someone to put more effort into you than you're putting into yourself?"
Whether you're struggling with hometown pride, navigating parenting transitions, or simply trying to create a life worth remembering, this episode offers both the challenge and encouragement to embrace everything great that already exists in your world while working to build something even better.
Welcome to this week's episode of Embrace the Great, with your host, sean Ellaby, and my boy, dominique Maudreau. Yo yo, as we start off every day, man, what's on your mind, man?
Speaker 2:Again the heat Trying to stay cool. Man, that's about it, man. Just a whole lot of different things with school on the way back. Man, that's about it, man. But just a whole lot of different things with school on the way back, man. You know, just been kind of sitting around thinking about a few things, Just how life goes, that's all pretty much.
Speaker 1:And topic of how life goes, man, I want to talk about my weekend. Man, this has been a great week so far and I always talk about ebbs and flows. Man, there's stuff go down, you know I'm going to funerals and different things of that nature. But the good part, you know, making new relationships. And just over the weekend period, man, we got to give away 350 book bags in the North Florence community. So that's a big shout out there.
Speaker 1:Then I went and took my son to look at his first car, looked at it, start everything. He seemed satisfied with it, so start the paperwork on it and he actually picked it up today. So I feel good, like as a parent, to win. A son bought his own car with his own money. That's what I'm more happy about than anything else. On top of that, after leaving taking my son to look at the car, I had to go move my daughter into her first apartment.
Speaker 1:So again, as you got these young adults coming in and doing young adult things, man, getting an apartment and getting a car, man, look, that's what got me on cloud nine for this week.
Speaker 1:And last first day of school I say it like that I signed my son up for senior classes, I got one more to get up out the house, man, and the last first day of signing up, man, it felt good.
Speaker 1:You know doing it for a while, and you know being an active dad, I've been signing my kids up for school about every year, mainly because my wife is a teacher, so I'm not trying to take anything away from her, but my responsibility fell on signing them up, you know. So that's something I look forward to um, getting to know the teachers, getting to know different people in in the school, um, because I just think it's important to see fathers in in the schools, especially black fathers. So, um, that's one of the biggest things over the weekend, man, like I'm riding a high right now and again, I always know how stuff go. I always say ebbs and flows. Is you get your highs? You know, never let your highs get too high, let your let your lows get too low. So I try to stay even keel, but this one of them times look, I'm on cloud nine right now.
Speaker 2:That's what's up. Man, it's always good to see your own kids or kids you know, within the community taking the next step in life rather than be, you know, going to the next grade, going to college, buying a new house, whatever the case may be, so that that's pretty cool. My question is uh, with the key in the apartment, did they give you a key?
Speaker 1:no, I don't want one and I always laugh with you earned it. That's your apartment, that's your space. Look, I'm a guest, like you are in my house at this point. So you know I'm I'm gonna be extra, of course, because I'm dead, but I totally just make sure I got some way as a recliner or something when I come over. And the best part about it, man, she stayed by one of my closest friends, literally across the street. So if I want to stay over there, I can just go and hop across the street and have my adult time yeah, that's uh, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Uh, I guess the younger you are, you don't really I ain't giving my mama no key, but I bought my, bought my house, what? Five, six years ago, man, that was the first thing I did gave my parents a key to you know, just for them to have it, you know. But, um, you know, that's definitely like I said, watching your kids and kids, you know, kind of take the next step in life, um, no matter what, um, something that I've always been taught, you know. A lot of people say it came with my child turned 18, um, but I've been always taught, man, when you have kids, they your kids till you die, till they die, whatever comes first. So, no matter how old they are, whatever step they take, you always pride as a parent.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure. And you behind them, like, and I always tell mine look, y'all starting y'all young adult life, y'all gonna make decisions that I may not agree with, may not adhere to, but guess what? That's your life to live. You got your life to live, I got mine, but in the process my job is to make sure you get to adulthood and to offer guidance once you get to that level. And that's I'm gonna keep doing my job. So again, hopefully, continue blessings, continue prospering, again embracing this greatness coming from them. But another thing, man, just top of my head just talking. I had to think about it. Man, look, we lost Malcolm Jamal Warner man, and I think everybody wanted to quickly call him Theo. That's his name. You know what it is, everybody know him as Theo man. But it just made me reflect again. That's a great actor to the point where you know you're a great actor when people know you for a role and they call you that forever.
Speaker 2:That's the way I look at it, I don't even know. I can't remember his name. Malcolm Jamal Warner, no, no, no, urkel Jaleel White, he's always going to be Steve Urkel. Jimmy Walker will always be JJ. I look at it, that must mean they did a good job of whatever role they had going on Big time Just with him in general and just coming up watching TV.
Speaker 1:In the early 90s he was in there by the house. Yeah, he was in there by the household. Now one of the few places you can see a black male, a young black male, actually going through issues that black males go through Right.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't, and something that's crazy, Something I learned about how Bill Cosby approached that show. He didn't want it to depict the ghetto life of black families because that's all over the place. I mean, that show showed that black people are black families excuse me, do come from two-parent household, Black families. Their mom and dad does have a good job and has a good education and all that, and still go through family issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's one of the things I take from it, man, because it's like, you know, being a parent and watching a fully functioning household. That wasn't the first ones I saw, you know, coming from, you know, single parent home type thing. I saw mom and daddy in the house is doing all kinds of stuff, but they corrected them in different ways and there wasn't always pulling out the strap and beating them. It was okay. They found different ways to correct them.
Speaker 2:Future life with the episode uh with the uh monopoly money, the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life and um and when. When Theo, theo, uh, it was something he he said he wanted to be a regular person and be a cosmic title. What it? Well, cliff huxton will tell them what it is to be a regular person. Yeah, with that, that line he had. Um, when he gave him the money and then he took, he said the government come from the regular people first, so so that was like you said, a different way of teaching kids.
Speaker 1:Oh, big time man. But just wanted to shout out and embrace the great Theo Huxtable man Known. His name is Malcolm Jamal Warner and the only reason I keep saying that because I remember the interview he saw. He used to get upset. People call him Theo all the time. He's like my name is Malcolm, you know. So you want to give him his respect and show him. Look, I'm respecting the greatness that he put on TV for us to watch, especially me as a young man watching him grow up and again dealing with some of the issues that he dealt with, dealing with how to live with sisters and everything else to come with it. So again, shout out to Malcolm Jamal.
Speaker 2:Warner, man, but that goes back to you know, a few things. I was thinking about, you know, since the last time we met, just like you said, taking it back, those type of shows in the background and just having on my mind, you know, you see the Facebook posts or whatever the case may be, where people talk about the downfalls of where they're from and they wish they could move here, and the minded people in their city and, to be honest, man, that type of stuff it gets under my skin because I've always been a person, just, I guess, a prideful person, like, no matter where I'm from, no matter what I got going on, I'm going to take pride in it. So I posed the question on my social media, just as far as, like you know, the city of Florence, and for anybody, wherever you live or wherever you're from, I should say, kind of, what is your city known for? Like, if you had to tell somebody about your city that was moving there, what would you recommend? Or, you know, rather it be, you know the people are nice, nice places to eat, like the nightlife, whatever the case may be. Nice places to eat like the nightlife, whatever the case may be, yeah, so, um, you know, I did a poll and a lot of people from that did respond from the city that I'm from, florence, south carolina.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, they they said that they would tell people, tell others about the people that are in florence, and that was something that's big to me. Um, you know, when I did live in another city for about 10 years, that was something that I always just talked about the people, and they're going to be bad people everywhere, but I think it's just who you surround yourself with. You're going to have backstabbers. You're going to have. Whatever the case may be, you're going to have your murderers. You're going to have all that.
Speaker 1:I think it boils down to what you pay attention to, right, exactly. You know we get and again we got social media and people pay attention to the negative but a lot of the positive stuff, don't get it. Don't get as much views, don't get as much shares, don't get as much anything. But there you go and people who put in the work really truly don't care. Yep, you know it's one of those.
Speaker 2:And it got me just thinking about the history of where I'm from, man. So, you know, looking at some different things, you know me and you are real advocates of our youth and the things that we can do or get our own kids involved with or get ourselves involved with and around the city. So, you know, I just challenge a lot of people from my city or whatever city you from, man, just do your history on your city or where you're from so that you know, hey, this is why something is like this and it'll help you. Ok, what can, what approach to take to change it? Yeah, and it was something while just kind of looking through some things. Man, like I said, a big advocate of the youth, the city of florence.
Speaker 2:A bill just passed, bill 20, bill 2025, make sure I get this right bill 2025-24. It authorizes, uh, hospitality bonds to be invested into recreational facilities in our city and of course, that helps. Now, it doesn't say pretty much when these projects will start, but at the Pearlmore gym, where all of our games are held volleyball, pickleball, basketball they're actually going to expand on that, build another arena into that. Um, all of the the football fields at freedom florence, they're going to make all those turf and then put better lighting out there, then they're going to upgrade the tennis courts, um, so, in a nutshell, that helps our sports. Uh, tourism, oh big, big time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, rather it be, you know, hosting these football tournament, pop Warner tournaments, basketball, aau tournaments, whatever the case may be. So that's something, like you always say, embrace the great. That's something we should embrace about our city, man. You know, those things are big. We got the soccer complex.
Speaker 1:We got families coming in from all over the east coast, yeah, and spending money where we live, yeah, where we live and so, and on top of that, learning some of that right now, how do we be strategic and making sure we get out the businesses that we know the money there, you go, get them, get them, the get them, the customers get drive. We can drive certain things and I don't think we realize we have the power to. And when I hear certain stuff coming to our city, okay, how can we get behind that? What's the way that we can do this? What's the way we can do that? But the tourism part, man, we're spending the gym going to be. How much money does that bring to the city?
Speaker 1:And I think the city is very intelligent by making that change because they understand hospitality goes right in line with recreation, because there's people coming in with these tournaments guess what? And they're going to highlight downtown Florence, which I think they should, and they have been doing a good job of it. Two lights up Because it's been expanding. You know that's where the hotel. They got two hotels downtown with a third coming. So, yeah, yeah, different things are being built. It's just a matter of the people sitting on the sideline watching to be building and complaining about it, or people who getting in front of it and finding the opportunity that that is coming, and how can you find your opportunity on those bigger opportunities?
Speaker 2:that's correct, man, and that's like I said. That that was one thing. That is one thing. I should say that I challenge a lot of people um to to kind of take place, um, just research, man. How can you get behind making your city better as opposed to going on social media posting negative about where you're from? That never made sense to me. I get it. Every place has their opportunities. Yes, some of us.
Speaker 2:It's necessary for you to move out of your hometown for a lot of people. Don't get me wrong. Like I said, I lived away from it for 10 years but at the same time, we got to do better in pouring into where we're from, knowing the history of it, and I did a deep dive in just the history of of Florence and it made a whole lot of sense. So you and I from the same place whoever's listening that is from Florence. Florence started as basically a railroad hub right there in North Florence and Florence became popular within that railroad community because you could get off the train or whatever it was that was being shipped. You can go across I shouldn't say the bridge, because there wasn't a bridge there back then you can go across to what is now the downtown area and have you a drink, meet you, a nice lady whatever, the case may be.
Speaker 2:so it all connects to the same thing we're doing now in the city. It just got expanded. So a lot of those things, man, is what. That's what we're known for, and I think we should try our best to expand that instead of, you know, just taking it down. Like I said, I lived in another city for 10 years and when I mentioned I was from Florence. That was one of the things that the older people always talked about.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:I used to go down to Florence downtown so I mean there is a lot of great in wherever you're from, whether it's Florence, darlington, whether you live in the big cities of Atlanta, whatever the case may be. I just challenge everybody to kind of out with the negative. Don't surround yourself with it, don't pay attention to it and get behind whatever is going on in your city, even if it's something you don't agree with, kind of put your hand in it and try to make that change.
Speaker 1:Whatever change is necessary A lot of times they give you the information behind it, what drives decisions right. So you know, that's what we talked about earlier the local government, getting in contact with your local government, seeing what's going on. And two, telling them some of the things you want to see, because, regardless of how we feel they work for us, they work for us and I think sometimes we get that so backwards. And again, the way the times are now in the national government level, you can see why because he's you know people. The current president wants people to work for him instead of him working for the people.
Speaker 1:And I think just involving yourself with the local government, your city council people, your county council people, your local mayor, I think that does wonders for understanding what's going on in the city, being able to voice your concerns and also voice solutions, because sometimes my problem and I hear the negative but my question is always what's the solution, what can be done for it, what steps can we make if? If there's nothing we can do, then there's nothing we can do. Don't need to sit here and complain about it. But if there's something we can do, okay, let's sit down, come up with a strategy and see what we can get done.
Speaker 1:And again, every journey start with one step, you know. So it don't matter how far I feel like we got to go, we can start with that one. Oh man, we didn't travel this far, we got this much done, we got this, these things accomplished. And you know, I'm just a living testament to that man. Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, but when stuff gets done, you look back like man, we got a lot of things done in a short period of time. When you're not focusing on the outside noise, you're just focusing on what needs to be done, who he know, you, whatever, the case may be.
Speaker 2:So what? You ain't doing nothing if ain't nobody hating on you, but yeah, that that was sort of the thing that I uh, you know, I once I what they call it going down the rabbit hole. Once I get something on my mind, man, I I go deep into it, even down to the city where I'm from. Man was named after somebody's daughter and you know, just going on and on about that man, that's just something I challenge everybody to do Find out something about where you're from. Rather, even if it's one of the least populated cities in this world, man, find out why. Find out where it's from populated cities in this world. Man, find out. Why find out where it's from.
Speaker 2:Because, like I said, this city that I'm from, florence it started off as just a few pieces of land I think it was just under 600 acres, just given by the government at the time to say, hey, make something happen. And now look where it is over 40 000 or however many people live here. But it started off as that, but it grew. A guy came and just started some business, some insurance business. Then another guy came behind him and next thing, you know, we got a city that's flourishing.
Speaker 1:I think that can happen about anywhere, man, and I'm looking at some of the cities that are around the area that can also be improved upon if people just have a a purpose and be intentional with what they're trying to do. Um, and lake city is another one. I think they have so much opportunity there. Marion county is another one that has so much opportunity and we, you know, can take some of those big city ideas and bring them to the small town maybe not on the same scale, um, but you mentioned living away. I think living away for a while also helps. It helped me come back with a different mindset of okay, these are the things that can be done. I've seen this done, so I want to see if I can get them done in my city, cause I think I moved away for nine years.
Speaker 1:I came back after nine years and kind of put my head down and kind of jumped in, especially youth sports. Man, we talk about tourism and everything else, but the youth sports is something that's huge within our city, just within our state. But I think it's such a valuable tool because it teaches so much, it gives kids a chance to get outside of the city and just personally, I always told my kids, if y'all decide to go to college, y'all got to go at least an hour away. I want y'all to get out, you know, get away from the mindset so you can see what good bad ugly and then come back and embrace it.
Speaker 1:If you choose to come back, if you choose not to, hey, you got a solid foundation from your hometown where I feel like like you can go successful anywhere. And most of the people who I know, who leave Florence, leave and do well. They don't leave and, just, you know, still continue to struggle because they can always come back, but they tend to do well with a lot of the principles, a lot of the things that we've learned here and again I shout out to Wilson High School that's always going to be my one, but the knowledge, skills and character that it takes to go places and when you take it, other places, man, look like you say, people hear you from Florence, oh, man, you from Florence, and they, oh, I know this person, this person so you talk about. What's the greatest asset in Florence to me is always going to be the people.
Speaker 2:Yeah now and I was going to ask you that, but I'm I'm pretty sure I knew your answer because I just I could. We could be being biased because it's where we from, but it's just, you know the people you surround yourself with and you know those genuine people. Now, like you say you move away and you might like, yeah, I can't, I can't enjoy myself here because I don't have a few people around me that you know and that could, just that could be pretty much anywhere you're from yeah, and you see I got the opposite end man.
Speaker 1:I feel like sometimes I can't enjoy myself like I want to in Florence because I know so many people and you know, I guess it's the judgment that comes with certain stuff. You know, sometimes you want to be yourself. I want to kick back, have a drink, laugh and joke, maybe cuss a little bit and not have to worry about oh, I'm going to do that, no, but check it, check it. I have way more fun outside. But when I'm here you know, with the different titles I didn't picked up and you know coach, mentor, you know business person, all this other stuff People say their perception is reality.
Speaker 1:That would be my quote for the day. But perception is reality. How they see you is how they perceive you, and then I necessarily mean it's true to you. You know that's their perception. So I tend to have way more fun when I go out of town than I do in the city of Florence, not saying I don't have fun in Florence, but it's just more enjoyable because I can kick back and be myself and not have those expectations of others and also understanding that I represent so many different organizations. I don't want to be frowned upon with them. You know, when you got a job, you can't do certain stuff with certain jobs. You know different and it's all self-inflicted and I say self-inflicted on purpose. It's not a bad thing, it's just one of those things I called upon myself so I made it where it's harder for me to truly enjoy myself and cut back and kick, cut up like I truly want to.
Speaker 2:But it's all good. But, yeah, I see, I see it, I see what you're saying, but I look at it as too Okay, you got these titles. You know I might have a title as this person, but people will look at him and say, hey, he do this, but he still, you know, he like to go back and have a drink, just like me. You know what I mean. So I actually had that experience about a month ago.
Speaker 2:To you know, one of the kids that I coach, his dad, saw me out and I was just at a restaurant, you know, sitting down enjoying the music. I was having a cigar and a drink and his dad walked in. He was like Coach. I was like, hey, what's up man. He was like I was like, hey, what's up man. He was like coach, I didn't know you coming here like man. He took care of me the rest of the day, just because you know. And he said he said coach, I got a new respect for you man, just you. You a man just like me. You got to come blow off some stinging sometime too. So I, I get both. I get both sides of it, man. And, like you said, some people move, some people move, move away Cause you know, we know somebody that move away and end up on first 48. But um some people.
Speaker 2:Some people move away and do flourish and that's and, like I said, some people need that man. So, um, you know, I, I, I like again, I challenge everybody. You know, embrace where you from, embrace the history of it. Um, if you want to change some of the history, you know, learn it first and and then that'll help you guide through what you need to go through to change it, because you can't, you, you got to know where you come from to get where you're going a lot of times, so, big time, I'm big on that man. So that's kind of what I've been doing and thinking about and reading about over the last week.
Speaker 2:So, it's kind of helped me in a lot of ways, learning about different things, where I'm from and where it could go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know you, the history guy. I look at history and in my mind, let's go create our own history. History, then that. And in my mind, let's go create our own history. And that's why we sit here trying to do different things and, okay, what can be done? What hasn't been done or what has been done somewhere else that was successful? How can we bring that here? So, um, I'm with you on learning where you from and, again, I'm big on learning the people, because, no matter where you go, the people will make whatever like.
Speaker 1:If you go to another city, it's still the people you get to know the jobs. Most of the time, when you work at a job, it's the people that make you like the job, not the seller saying everything else. So it's like I'm always big on investing in people. Man, in time, cause the one commodity we can't get back. We can spend money, we can do everything. We can't get our time back. So, and how? I say this? The way you want to. Everybody got to live their life the way they want, but if you invest in your time and being negative and not providing a solution, man, you're wasting it, you're adding to the problem.
Speaker 2:You're wasting your time, you're adding to it. I feel so. Pretty much that's what's been going on. Man outside the heat, it's probably 100 and something right now out there baking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, south Carolina heat man at the bacon. South Carolina heat man. Look, I get a chance to go up to Detroit this weekend. What up, though, and I'm going to have a good time up there. But I'm like, look, I had to tell them I got to come during the summertime because, as much as I hate the South Carolina summers, I cannot stand cold weather, so I'd rather be here in the summer than somewhere else where it's negative. Whatever degrees outside, snow filled up here I can. You can have all that, man, but you know everything ain't for everybody yeah, I have.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, I'm just ready to get gearing to get back to school ready. Man, just just trying to. You know, bear the load, get ready. That's pretty much all that's going on my way, man Just trying to stay cool. Man, it's something going on in the universe, bro.
Speaker 1:First day of school coming around and it's like I'm thankful. I'm thankful we weren't on a schedule where we got to go to school at the end of July, because even going in late August it was hot. But coming in there, you know, heat's in the brain, anger out in people.
Speaker 2:I bro. Heat's in the brain Anger out in people. I read something that said the earth is spinning faster or something. I don't know how true that is, but I listen to scientists before I listen to news reporters, so it's got to be some truth into it if science is saying I wonder if that got some kind of effect.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it was hot we had that 70 degree Christmas that year I thought, yeah, something going on. But now, man, the weather one thing, but winding down, getting ready for the school year coming up and just everything else that come with it, man. And I think school affects everybody. Because one thing I don't like when school starts back Traffic, traffic. I promise you took it out my mouth because it's like it's different Summertime. I can get to work in 15 minutes, no traffic. School time come I got to make a different route because school buses and everything else. But again, I'm happy. I hope these kids have a great start to their school year. Man, and again, this is my last go around as a parent of a student, a high school student, but still want to see everybody, especially the senior class and the ones coming up, kind of get focused and start making their plans. Man, like, help them. If you're an adult in the area, know some seniors, man, talk to them.
Speaker 1:I think one of the biggest things, one of the biggest things we don't do as parents, is genuinely talk to our kids, and most of the time we talking to them is fussing about something they didn't do or something to that effect, but just sit down and have a conversation and say, hey, what's on your mind, what's going on, what are you thinking about, what are you, what makes you nervous, what makes you, what makes you happy? At this point, because I'm starting to do a lot more of that with my children and it took for me for them to get older and for them to realize, like that is not all me. Like you know, I'm a person first, and people get to know me and people get to know me, they see it. But as a parent, you know you got to play a role sometimes and I'm not saying playing a role, but as a disciplinarian people remember the bad times and not necessarily the good times. Like we can have 101 good times, but if I got on you twice, you upset and that's going to carry a long time. And I tell my kids I can't control that, I can't control how you feel. I never would try to control how you feel. But my job as a parent is to plant the seed so you can understand and know why.
Speaker 1:Um, as y'all were younger, it was, you know, more discipline, more punishment. But now, as y'all get older, hey, you know you got to deal with consequences of the choices you make. So as you make those choices, and as a parent I have to learn. They have to make those choices and go make fail, go make mistakes, go do different things, so that I can teach them and they learn. Because a lot of time we preach and tell them what to do, tell them how we want it done, tell them everything in front of them, but until you have to be in that seat, that's they go through it. They, I'm gonna say they don't listen, because I think they listen. I think they don't always act on the things that we say experience.
Speaker 2:Experience over I mean anybody. I I shouldn't say anybody Myself I say are you going to you start a new job? They give you a handbook. As opposed to you start a new job, they throw you in the fire. Which way you going to learn quicker? I'm going to learn? I'm going to get thrown in the fire. Some people are like that. They can take time, read the manual, whatever the case may be, but hey, show me, let me fuck up and then let me go from there. That's the way I see it, that's the way you know, and that go with life, man, you know so.
Speaker 1:And see, I ain't going to say you put me in the fire, I'm going to go, but I like to do a little bit of research. So if I look at the book, okay, you give me the handbook and the person's going to throw me in the fire because you know most jobs, they're going to train you. I'm going to look at the handbook a little bit and I might ask a question to see if this person knows what they're talking about. And a lot of times, you know, I look for the next opportunity and I think sometimes I would keep an eyes open for opportunities that jobs may come along, because the older I get now, if I get a place of employment, it got to be something I enjoy. It can't be nothing. I'm dreading to go to work because it's like, like I said, life too short time is your most impressive option and we spend more time at work than anywhere else.
Speaker 2:That goes in and I guess we might get on this next show Question I have If somebody gave you a book on your life, would you read it from from from the day you were born to the time you're supposed to expire? If somebody gave you a book today on your life, would you read it?
Speaker 1:yeah, mine would be interesting. No, would you read it though? Would you read it? Would I read you? I wouldn't. I wouldn't have to.
Speaker 2:I lived it. No, no, no, no. This goes from the start of your life to the day you die.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I probably read from about zero to five or six, so you wouldn't read the whole thing.
Speaker 2:No, because I lived it. I wouldn't pick it up. I wouldn't pick it up. I lived it. So I ain't got to read it. I lived it. I wouldn't pick it up because sometimes you, you know, you say, give you a book on your life, but we got videos and all that. I'm sure you go back and look at old videos just to get a laugh or just to show somebody, that sort of thing. But somebody asked me that a few days ago, man, somebody gave you a book on your life, would you read it? And I said no, I wouldn't even pick it up. They said why? I said because basically it's my life, I know what I've been through, I lived it, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:But then they said of a celebrity, let's say Michael Jordan, would you pick up Michael Jordan's book and read it? And I said yeah. He said why? I said because you know, it's like, well, as much as I've heard you talk about Michael Jordan, I'm sure you know his life, you know he grew up here, did that, so you would read that. Yeah, you're right, you're right.
Speaker 2:So basically means that Michael Jordan's life is more interesting than yours. I said I mean yeah, if you think about it. I said I mean, yeah, if you think about it, but it was just more in the perspective of, you know, do things in your life that would make you want to say, damn, I got to see that again. Yeah, you know what I mean. Oh, I got to, you know. So I found that real interesting. You know, we can have a job and we go to work, do our job, but why not go to work and do something that's memorable in your job that even you say man, I got to see that again. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Oh, I got to do that again.
Speaker 1:I get that perspective so.
Speaker 2:So that that's just something that that kind of stuck with me. Man, even within in my job, I try to make everyday fun but make something memorable about it. To where, man, I got to go back and top that. You know what I'm saying, and you're gonna fail a lot of days. You're gonna fail, but make it to where, at the end of at the end of the day, if somebody at some point hands you a book of your life that you want to snatch it up and read it, just so you can, you know, like you said, reflect on the things that you've done.
Speaker 2:So that that's something that that's being something that I want to share with everybody. Man, just you know we are here, we are all out here living life. Man, we all got struggles, all that type of thing, and no matter what we're going through of course somebody is going through worse but at the end of the day, man, you can control your own happiness. You can control how you feel. Nobody can of the day. Man, you can control your own happiness. You can control how you feel. Nobody can ever tell you how to feel. So, whatever you're doing in your life, whatever it is, whether you think it's important or not, make it great, make it great, do it, do it. Do it to the point where, as someday, you won't look back on it and say, hey, your granddaddy was a bad man.
Speaker 1:So you say that I'm learning that about my granddaddy, not beyond the grave, but, like you say, would I read my own book? No, because I lived it, but what I want others to read it? Yes, I think it can take some stuff away because it's like I think sometimes you don't realize the adversity you go through until you get through it and can look back and it's a memory. You know we always laugh and joke, talk about moments and memories because that's all we got. You know you make them and do everything else.
Speaker 1:But it's like I remember a conversation me and you had a while ago, and I know you may not remember it because I was always one-to-one, wanting to make sure everything great, everything, great, everything great. You're like man. Why are you worrying about all that? It'll take care of itself, take care of itself. And when I thought about it, like you know what I at that point I stopped stressing on body, everything. Like I get to a point where if I can't do anything else about it's out of my control. Yeah, it'll take care of itself. And what I'm learning sometimes it end up better than what I would.
Speaker 2:That'll make the best memory sometime, man. Yes, that's I don't know where. Where that just kind of was is how I've lived, and I'm not saying that's always going to turn out good either. But at the same time, man, you're stressing over this, stressing over that. I just feel like a lot of times things just align to where it end up better than you even thought it would.
Speaker 1:Things happen how they're supposed to. Once I learn that and embrace that, I don't you know, it's things I want to do and I can sit here and talk and pray on it and wait on it to come up and it's like, okay, um, one of the biggest thing, you can't pray and worry. So once I put it to prayer I don't worry no more. What's going to happen with this? I don't worry the feelings and emotion of your spouse, so they can be feeling a certain way, and it's like. You know you may not agree, but it's like you got to be that sounding board. Okay, this is where we at and some things they may pay your attention you never pay any attention to. So it's like a whole different realm. Man, because again I go back to being a father, a family of five and a father's role in that man.
Speaker 1:We bear everybody's problems. We are. We bear everybody's problem. Everybody got a problem, they coming to you and you know, naturally, as men, we are problem solvers and it'll get to the point where man, y'all bringing more problems than I got. I ain't, I can't pass my problems to y'all, y'all passing them up and I, you know, but that's the role I took, but I don't mean the load don't get heavy. You know, I'm saying just because I care, don't mean it don't get heavy.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and we all, and we all go through it, man, and it's, you know, like we talked about in the first show, sometimes you need an outlet and those type of things, man. But again, man, I challenge, I challenge everybody, uh, until next week, you know, do something to make you want to pick your own book up.
Speaker 1:Make it happen. So, talking about the book man, let me ask this If you like a book of your life, what do you think would be the greatest chapter so far?
Speaker 2:Ooh, the greatest chapter, we being honest.
Speaker 1:We can be honest. I ain't going to hold no punches, nah, because it's in different ways. Like I said, I can think about different, you know everybody got chapters From the chapter.
Speaker 2:It has to be a chapter from me being 17 to about 23 years old. I'm trying to tell you I knew you were going to go to that range. Yeah, 17 to 23, 24 years old.
Speaker 1:And we can talk about that a little bit. Look, that's the time I can talk about, but 17 to 23,. Man, we live like rock stars, and I can say it like that from a local high school level With $30.
Speaker 2:A local high school level.
Speaker 1:We didn't have to have a whole lot of money. We had a grand time on some of everything. Everything was like like I say you say you part of, like a rock star I use that term lightly, but man, we everywhere we did a lot of things. We, we, we sold our royal oats and I'm probably on on it somewhere overseas somewhere for all the stealing I did man shout out to Carnival Cruises for the pictures. I'm going to go ahead and admit to it. No, I think we passed the statute of limitation.
Speaker 2:But I say that, man, because that shaped me into what I'm able to become now, I think as a dad and as a person, and, like you know, we both got high school graduates. Now that's something you know. You can pass on down and say hey, man, this is going to happen, look out for this, do this and then figure it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I talk to my kids about phases all the time and I had to break it down more so, with my daughter first and I'm doing it with my son currently and just talking about the phases of life son currently and just talking about the phases of life, I might look from zero to 10 10.
Speaker 1:You, your friends, are the people in your neighborhood who you went to school with and you get up in middle school. You know that expand a little bit. You get to high school. You got a group you hang out with and so you get to college. It's going to be a different group not saying that you're going to lose anybody along the way, but it's a different group. Then, when you get your your first adult job, you got a new set of people who you hang out and deal with. So just trying to talk through and navigate that and that transition because one of the things I've been just talking about in G-Lab is the transition from high school to college what are the expectations? There's no more somebody waking you up and taking you to go to school.
Speaker 2:But you know the thing, and shout out to both of our parents, man, and everybody who's had parents within that same generation, 40 and up, their parents Shout out to them but at the same time, they really did give us a blueprint, because it wasn't where they came from, like they necessarily didn't go off to college, you know, all they knew was having a good 9 to 5 or whatever the case may be. So, at the same time, not saying that, we went through that by ourself, but we almost didn't know what to expect. We knew we were going to be on our own. We had nobody wake us up, that sort of thing, but we didn't necessarily know. Okay, you got to make the $300 go for two weeks. You know what I mean and how to do that. Longer than that, you know, and they probably did it, but it was just, you know, we would, we, we learned how to survive and and I think that's what what I'm I'm actually looking back on it is is, you know, that was one of the greatest times of my life, man, rather than been partying, rather, rather than meeting new friends, rather than learning different things. I mean, I look back on it a lot.
Speaker 2:I had a conversation this morning, man, with one of our good friends, about something that happened to us when we were in high school and it led to us talking about. We taught our kids something that came from that, which is crazy. We one of, uh, one of our good friends, mr Cedric Kennedy we talked you know he's going to talk we talked, man, and we were at, we were in football practice, watching film, and he sort of made a comment that a 17 year old shouldn't have made, shouldn't make to an adult. It wasn't totally disrespectful, but our head coach came out and it was thundering and lightning outside that day. He made him put on his full pads from shoulder pads, helmet, pants, cleats, everything and made him do up-downs in the rain for that, while it was lightning, raining outside. And you know that was just something that he said.
Speaker 2:You know it was a lesson he taught his daughters. You know just about. You know being respectful and doing the right things at all times, because you never know who's around. And that was something that you know I've taught my son. Like you know, you get out of line, man. You got to suffer those consequences, no matter the circumstance. You know what I'm saying. So it was something that both of us we talked about that this morning on how, just that simple thing. We looked back and laughed on it because, dang bro, you got to go outside and we in there trying to watch a film while you hear the whistle blowing, him doing up-downs out of breath, but at the same time, 20-some-odd years later, we teaching our kids lessons off of that.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, you hit on something and I want to give him his flowers. Man, coach Darrell Page. I've talked to him several times beyond football and I'll say this I was a basketball player in school. I didn't particularly want to play football, but coach Pace come talk to me every day about playing and again, I wasn't on it. But as far as the relationship I built with coach Pace man, I would not trade it.
Speaker 1:But to that man who's a football coach man, he's the first man I think I've seen display every emotion that a man can display. Yeah, I've seen this man cry. I've seen him happy. I've seen him cussing. I've seen him sad. I've seen him upset, seen him pray. Yeah, I've seen all of that. That wasn't the first minute I've seen do all of it.
Speaker 1:And on top of that, he was a father to most of that football team. And I look at the people who played up under him and learn from him. And I look at the fathers. They are, within the community, people who were written off as bad or this or that, but they learned to discipline, they learned certain stuff and it was what they needed. So that's why I was like man, look, any type of male mentors are needed. Man, don't be afraid to talk to these kids, don't be afraid to show emotion in front of the kids, because you never know what they pick up.
Speaker 1:And again this is 20, some odd years later, probably 25 plus years later, that we talking about the same principles he instilled then, but it infected a whole community from what? About 99 to about what? 2010 or something like that. And that's just at Wilson not saying the rest of his coaching career, because anybody else who's been around him, people who hadn't played for him but been around him in the coaching arena, they come give compliments, but again just shout out to Coach Page, man, and just being the person that he is, and again inspiring so many fathers that it's crazy. And I see him think about the people who play football with us and I look at the daddies they are and I'm like man, look, if we ain't win a game, that alone is like the biggest win to me.
Speaker 2:For sure, for sure. You know a lot of great things this week, man. I'm hoping to expand on a lot of things next week. Like I said, man, do things great to pick up your own book and want to read it out loud, man. So definitely looking forward to the kids starting back school, pretty much coming up. Do what you got to do to stay cool, man Drink, hydrate, whatever, bro, it's hot. So just with that, man, what you got to end the week, end the week, man, it's hot.
Speaker 1:So just with that, man, what you got to end the week, end the week, man. I'm sitting here thinking, man, look, first week of school, new beginnings. And when I say new beginnings, man, think about the new beginnings you have, because I think I heard a quote one time before every day is a new day to start over. So if you didn't like yesterday, you got a new day to start over and make it a better day than it was yesterday, man. So I'll say that to everybody, man, if you didn't like the day you had yesterday, tomorrow is a new day, today is a new day. Anytime you decide to make that change, it's all up to the person, the individual person, because once you make that change, man, and you try to do for yourself, man, you'll realize how many people are behind you.
Speaker 1:But a lot of people complain that nobody behind them, mainly because they're not doing anything, you're not putting forth the efforts. How can you want somebody else to put more of an effort into you than you are doing yourself? And I'm saying that because I said that to my son recently, just to make sure that he understands. You know, you try, people will try for you, and there's evidence by people I'm seeing. You know what I'm saying. But when you don't try, you put forth a half ass effort or not trying at all, and people are going to kind of treat you like that. They don't want to waste their time with you. So and put forth the effort on the life you want to live. Yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 2:Good stuff, man Excited about next week.
Speaker 1:You know, a lot of things I'm sure come up between that. Oh, big time, man, there's a lot more stuff we want to get into. Man, I know we're going to hit stuff from a father's point of view and just a male point of view on a lot of things, but again, we're going to embrace the greatness going on in our area, in our city and in our country. We're going to find out the country part, though we're going to get there. We ain't quite there yet, but we're going to hopefully work to get there. But until next time, man, y'all be safe. All right, shout out to the world and love on your people, love on your people.