Miles Between Us
Take a listen about two sisters taking on business, adventures, life and all the miles between together!
Miles Between Us
She’s allergic to limes but orders margaritas anyway
What if the most ordinary moments—snacks in a studio, a stubborn grill, a late-night photo book—are exactly where reinvention begins? We pull on that thread and watch it unravel into something bigger: how women carry decision fatigue until “just feed me” becomes a love language, how a beach day can reset a year, how a simple recording turns into a time capsule you’ll wish you’d started sooner.
We roam freely and honestly: grocery delivery as a sanity saver, TJ Maxx-induced overwhelm, the quiet hunt of thrifting and antiques, and a wedding ritual that spawned a small business and a hundred stories in vintage glass. Then we get real about marriage math, divorce dignity, and spending a year alone to remember who you are. One of us is deep into grandparent joy; the other is wrestling with the bittersweet milestones of a toddler who suddenly says “strawberries” instead of “straw babbas.” Sleep splits us—night reader versus vivid dreamer—and so do drinks: a citrus-forward vodka sea breeze versus a classic gin and tonic, with a medically-certified lime allergy adding comedy and chaos.
There’s grit beneath the laughter. Dental implants that cost a small fortune. A health crisis that demanded IVs four days a week and forced a total reset. The lesson is sharp but generous: take the trip now, print the photos, record your people at dinner, and don’t wait for permission to start over at 49—or at 29. We talk pets and loss (seven rescues, one legendary Husky), favorite beaches (Jacksonville’s wide-open magic, Alligator Point’s hush), and the kind of dating standards that only arrive when you’ve earned them: kindness, intellect, shared joy, and no interest in being impressed by things that don’t matter.
If you’re craving a conversation that’s warm, a little wild, and relentlessly honest about food, family, travel, memory, and the art of beginning again, you’re home. Press play, share it with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review to tell us what reinvention looks like for you.
Okay. Marco Fall.
SPEAKER_01:Just bullshit here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's funny how we can't break away for lunch, but yet we have found a way to run away and do this podcast. It's true. I just need to put snacks in here. We just need our little check marks for each episode. Drinks, check. Content, check. Good vibes, check-tick.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome back. Welcome. Miles between us. Here we are. What do you want to talk about today? Well, let's learn a little bit more about you, Melissa. What about you? Oh, okay. Well, let's learn a little more about each of us.
SPEAKER_00:What's your favorite color? Blue. What's your favorite food? I'm too indecisive for this game, I think. What food I could eat every single day?
SPEAKER_01:She is every woman.
SPEAKER_00:What kind of food do you want?
SPEAKER_01:I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Like, think about it. At home, whether it's just by yourself or you have a significant other or you have kids, you're usually the one planning. So you're doing the grocery shopping or at least like making the list. So by the time it's like you want to go somewhere, that's the last thing you want to do. Well, yeah, or quite honestly. Like surprise me, take me somewhere.
SPEAKER_01:We've got a lot of people that are boss ladies, right? And so when you're a boss all day making decisions, making things happen, somebody just feed me. I'm saying. Just feed me. I don't at this point I don't care.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like I don't need to make all the decisions. I believe in you. I will eat some Taco Bell. I am not that difficult.
SPEAKER_01:My favorite steak, I will say that. Steak and seafood.
SPEAKER_00:So I never, never ate steak and also didn't really like salmon, but yet Misty. Misty decided. So everybody else ate steak, and for Christmas one year, she's like, steak's for everybody, but Melissa doesn't like steak. So what am I gonna get her? A plank of salmon that feeds a family of 50. It was healthy. I didn't think somebody would get a salmon. And so I think I I think I did a couple bites to at least appease you and thank you for your your effort. It was my thought that counted.
SPEAKER_01:Now you like it. But now I like you eat steak when you come to my house.
SPEAKER_00:You're kind of a junk food baby too.
SPEAKER_01:Candy. I mean I yes, I do have a a sweet tooth for that. So your favorite candy. One that's always in rotation, I should say. You know what I really like now is the Snickers with almonds. So I didn't like the Snickers with the peanut. You always had a Hoganda's ice cream. Always, always. But it was either like Twix or Kit Kat or something in the fridge. Those are definitely yes, Kit Kat in the fridge.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, yeah. Those are a staple. Specifically green Valencia boiled peanuts. If you know, you know the soft ones that are called pops. You can eat the whole thing. They're so good. I'm not gonna expose myself too much, but I eat the shell. Like if it's soft enough, I eat the shell. But if it's not soft enough where you can swallow the shell, I'll like chew on it a little bit. My latest, I guess, fixation of things I'm making is the homemade oatmeal homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. Because I can't eat store-boughts. Yeah, I could eat moms.
SPEAKER_01:Moms were good. I love grilling. I will grill all the time. You know, it's just one, I like being outside. Okay, that's dope. So I like being outside. I feel like there's a little bit of a risk in lighting this grill, personally. Are you talking about dad's old grill?
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no. Because we should talk about dad's old grill that singed all of our eyebrows off.
SPEAKER_01:Everybody that has a grill knows the stupid little igniter goes out after the first like four times that you use it. Oh, it's not the battery, it just doesn't work. So you've got to light it with a damp lighter. So yeah, I like being outside and then you know, slow cooking that food on there. So that's the reason that I absolutely love grilling. Uh, I don't want to be in the kitchen cooking. I just don't. Yeah. There's a few things that I'll that I'll cook and then I enjoy. The crock pot's good, you know, occasionally. I haven't been to a grocery store in like five years.
SPEAKER_00:I used to think you were so damn bougie at first. She was she's kind of on the I will say, you're kind of on the cusp of things. I'm a little bit of a hater at first because I'm like, this girl is ridiculous. But yet, somehow I am on the train.
SPEAKER_01:You were on the train.
SPEAKER_00:So it's so smart though, because now I get it more on like a mom perspective, because if Eslie was sleeping in the car, or if, you know, he's just a little wild at the time. I'm not trying to like. If you're able to buy back your time, like if finances allow it in certain spans, well, it's worth it.
SPEAKER_01:I think I spend less. Honestly, I absolutely spot any of the crap I would normally buy walking around the store. You know, have you spent in Trader Joe's? I haven't.
SPEAKER_00:I'm converting people daily.
SPEAKER_01:I've never been in Trader Joe's. Daily.
SPEAKER_00:It's so good. I do not miss going to the store at all. I get overstimulated really easily. Yeah. I didn't realize this until honestly, TJ Maxx overwhelms me now because I feel like I get decision fatigue.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Where all of a sudden I can't just peruse. There's too that's why I don't do the thrift stores except for that one in Jacksonville. Because it's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:So I like thrifting. That's one of the things that I do like thrifting and antiques and just super cool stuff.
SPEAKER_00:So shall we tell them about your slight little endeavor you did there for a minute with your antique? Oh, yeah, no, it was super fun. I still have stuff. So I had an antique business. How many years did you do that? Like two, three?
SPEAKER_01:Three years. Yeah. I had an antique business and I mean I've got stuff from churches from the business. Because you do what were those? Um auctions. Auctions online.
SPEAKER_00:You got the flutes and stuff. Oh, yeah, I got like.
SPEAKER_01:One of the first flutes ever made in America, uh worth an incredible amount of money. And uh I gave it to my brother because he's a musician. So but I actually have some old like cigarette companies used to make six cigarettes for soldiers in war, and they came in these like cans, and I have things like that that have never been.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like you kind of got Zach slightly into antiquing there for a minute. So the fact that I was surrounded by two of my closest people into something that I was so not into. I'm like, who's punishing me?
SPEAKER_01:You tricked us into it too, though, because you had a different antique glass for every single seat at your wedding. We were all on a mission to find you antique glasses.
SPEAKER_00:That's all you needed, though. All you were looking for was glasses, but yet you formed a whole company.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's true. Listen, we are entrepreneurs, we like forming things and doing things, and you know, it's exciting. Yeah, you know, and quite honestly, stuff from the past is just cool, man.
SPEAKER_00:The stories that it can tell. And this just made me think of questions. So, how many times have you been married? Because we're thinking of weddings. Twice. So technically, I have beat you, but mine's are the same person.
SPEAKER_01:It's true. That is true, yes. Oh my gosh, I did not even think about that.
SPEAKER_00:I got all y'all beat in the family. Love him so much. No, he's so nice. Marry him thrice. Something like that. So, how old's your kid?
SPEAKER_01:My kid is 32 years old.
SPEAKER_00:You had dang good looking Gigi, is all I gotta say. I have a beautiful little granddaughter. She's so cute. She is so cute. She's got the like cutest little rasp, like a high-pitched rasp. And this girl is the biggest tattletale on my child, but she is still cute. She's uses protector. She does.
SPEAKER_01:She's gonna keep them in line. She's got some sass for sure. She's still she can have anything she wants. I love being a GG. I I can't imagine being called a grandma, but I love Gigi. Gigi suits you. Yeah, I think that suits me. So we've had some, I mean, gosh, we've had some great adventures. We've taken her, probably sort of taking her to football games at six weeks old. Tell me what it's like for you to about to have a three-year-old.
SPEAKER_00:It makes me sad. Yeah. It's so bittersweet. I feel like as a parent, it's just like this big old paradox where you're pre-morning things that haven't happened yet, in a way. Like you just get sad that they're already getting older or pick them up for the last time, or they're gonna like I still remember so vividly we were in Trader Joe's. Apparently, I love talking about Trader Joe's. She likes Trader Joe's. But he used to always say straw babbas. Oh. And then all of a sudden we're in Trader Joe's, and he's like, Mama, strawberries. I said, they're not strawberries, they're straw babbas. So bittersweet because like you want them to become smarter and learn things, but you just like like I want to record them on here.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:And it'd be great to just like keep it as like a time capsule.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and again, that's you know, one of my favorite things is I have all the family's pictures. I mean, seriously, all these albums for years and years and years. It's great, this stuff's digital, and you know, we're all out there.
SPEAKER_00:But I'd like to get printing out, like honestly, if you just did a yearly one. Yeah. To force yourself to print.
SPEAKER_01:Well, every year I've print a book for you guys that kind of goes through our year in review. So, but yeah, I think still having some actual pictures to hold.
SPEAKER_00:It's just fun to sit around and the voice though. I mean, we still have some of our VHSs and we've got to Well, because at least for me, I don't have a great memory in just naturally, I have a fantastic working memory. Like literally at work. I remember some details. My life five years ago. I don't know. She blocks it all out. I do. That's why I take pictures and videos. Because if I took one picture, even if it's something random, like Misty's shoe right now, it'll like bring it back for me. It's so strange. So I want to take more pictures and videos of like I, on the other hand, have like almost a picture perfect memory.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I literally can remember all kinds of details. That's the problem.
SPEAKER_00:You're the oldest, so you robbed all that, and I got left with nothing. That's a problem.
SPEAKER_01:It's a blessing and a curse to be able to remember everything because there is some stuff from my past I'd like to forget.
SPEAKER_00:Heard that. But see, that's the exchange, is you you remember your real life memories so vividly, but you don't remember your dreams. I feel like I have a blessing and a curse of very, very vivid dreams. Yeah. And my husband, I don't think he wants to hear another like story about my dreams. I'll start them like, oh, my dream, and he he's just preparing himself for it because he's like, it's not real, because he doesn't really remember his dreams. But for people who remember their dreams so vividly, eventually it becomes so weirdly distorted where you're like, I saw that so clear in Picture Perfect. Is that a memory or is that a dream? So that's where it gets weird where you're like, Yeah, we're really different too with like our sleep habits.
SPEAKER_01:So I thank you, have incredible sleep. I go to bed early. Are you rubbing this in right now? No, no, I can't tell where we're going. I'm just saying that we're talking about differences between us. And uh I read every single night. I usually read for 10 or 15 minutes and then I'm out. And uh I'm an early riser, so I get up much earlier than you do. That's worked out very well for me. Yeah, it's it's been great. So there are some differences between us for sure.
SPEAKER_00:There's so many, but then there's like each other so well. Well, I think of the really big differences of us, I think we give each other grace that we're not that, if that makes sense. Like there are certain things where I'm like, I will literally never be that. But I'm not spiteful over it, or I'm like, ugh, why is she like that? I'm just like, that's her. I am usually not on time to things, and I feel like I'm not as bad as our brother.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, our brother you tell at least an hour before.
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, I I'm getting to the point where I should tell them a whole day before. Like, it's actually not even this day, it's the day prior. Love you, Ryan. So true. Oh, but I just thought of basic differences. Oh coffee, tea, vodka. I actually hate tequila.
SPEAKER_01:Taste of coffee.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know why you keep drinking it. I'm trying to get you on tea. I'm telling you, it's you drink sweet tea.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, not that often anymore. So I mean my go-to drink Gatorade and Pediolite. Those are my go-to drinks. I'm super exciting. Unless I'm drinking, and then yes, mine is vodka. It is always the exact same thing. It is a sea breeze, and that is Tito's, cranberry, grapefruit, and extra limes. And it is so refreshing. I think it's good. It's good for your body. It's got the cranberry, so you're like helping your kidneys out. And it's good for you. Yeah, it's good for you. Absolutely. Um there's a total benefit to it.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. That sounds great.
SPEAKER_01:What's your go-to drink?
SPEAKER_00:That's a problem in me. I'm too indecisive, but I feel like the ones I always fall back on are a gin and tonic are a gin and tonic. Honestly, half a lime is like perfect.
SPEAKER_01:That's funny. We both really like limes. Love it. I love that powder lime stuff that I found. That's not bad, actually. And it's just powdered crystallized. Melissa's actually allergic to limes. Yeah, she is.
SPEAKER_00:I just looked at it, popped up on my Facebook memories, that trip. That trip.
SPEAKER_01:We went to Mexico and Melissa became allergic to limes with the sun.
SPEAKER_00:We didn't know this at the time. I came back and I was at TCC and it's fluorescent lighting, and I'm looking at my hands, and there's thousands of what looks like freckles on both hands. Like, I'm hiding them underneath. I just came back from Mexico. We don't know what this is. But then it evolved. So I ended up going to the dermatologist and they come in with a textbook and they're super excited. They were so excited. So excited. They're like, you're in the textbook. And I'm like, what? This is not good. I mean, it's good. You're diagnosing me, but that's not good. Crazy about it though is it's evolved. It was really, really dark freckles, and then now it's turned into like blisters and cracking of the skin.
SPEAKER_01:But she still won't stop squeezing her limes. Her husband and I both constantly offer, and she's just impatient as hell sometimes with this lime.
SPEAKER_00:Sometimes I'm ready for my drink, and I'm just sitting there, just like a child, being like, hello, can anybody please squeeze my lime for me? Because it's very prevalent in the summer, which is crazy because it's like a chemical burn of the citrus, and it's not lemons. Right. It's not orange, it's just limes. It's a combination with the UV rays. So I thought I could beat it this one time. And I was inside mom's house, the sun was setting. I'm cutting it next to the window, squeezing it in my corona. A week later, I'm like, you are joking me. It still got me. I swear if it's a full moon, I'd probably get it too. But I don't know. So yeah, I'd say my go-to drinks would be a really good fresh margarita. No simple syrup kind of thing, like all fresh ingredients, particularly the Huckleberry Marg. That's delicious. And like a corona or a sour beer.
SPEAKER_01:I'm pretty sure in high school it was vodka and orange juice.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think that's a screwdriver or something.
SPEAKER_01:That was that was my high school drink.
SPEAKER_00:We don't condone drinking houseweed. We're just, you know. Keeping it real. We're keeping it real. This was a long time ago. Statue of limitations. It's true.
SPEAKER_01:Allegedly. Weird mouth story. I don't know how we got on this. Both had a like$10,000 tooth implant.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, at the same time. Same time. Very different situation we had because I mean, I'd never even heard of them before.
SPEAKER_01:I'd not, I literally had never heard of somebody having an implant. I certainly didn't know the damn things were$10,000. No.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, if you've never heard of Care Credit, look it up. It's great for vet bills, dental, doctor, whatever it its spread is now. But that is the only reason why I was able to do that. Yeah. That was nuts. But yours went well, everything was fine.
SPEAKER_01:That's true.
SPEAKER_00:But I went through a little bit longer of a scenario because they were going to take the cap off and I start wincing. And this lady makes eye contact with me, and she's like, I'll be right back. I'm like, that is not good. Like makes eye contact and kind of gives you that look. It's not good. It's not good. I was like, you're joking. That was really hard recovery. Like, I don't like taking heavy pain meds. It was just like excruciate. I don't know if y'all have ever had mouth pain, but it's top notch. Listen, I don't like a dentist.
SPEAKER_01:I get nitrous to get my teeth cleaned. Yeah, you do? I do. I get nitrous to get my teeth cleaned. I believe we listen and we don't judge. Comfort dentistry is a thing. I don't want somebody in my mouth. Yeah. So I'm not sure. I mean, it is uncomfortable while you're doing it.
SPEAKER_00:You're like, where am I? What is that noise? So fun. Yeah. Construction site in my mouth. Yes. No, but that was a bummer because you got to go through it easy breezy. And then I had to have it redone entirely from the beginning. So I had no tooth for almost three years. And it cost you 10 gray. And thankfully, though, they didn't charge me double. But yeah, so that was fun. Have you ever broken a bone? Pinky toe. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:That's it. I've never broken a bone.
SPEAKER_00:So mine was dumb. So when I did gymnastics, you have the uneven bars, and the bars have a cable. And there's almost like a metal eye hole looking thing.
SPEAKER_01:You caught your toe.
SPEAKER_00:And I just I guess I wasn't looking, and I just walked full force and the pinky toe just damned it. Oh, that sounds so painful. I'm glad you haven't broken anything. That's good. No, I haven't.
SPEAKER_01:Favorite vacation spot. I mean, we can just say anytime we're fucking going somewhere and it's great.
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, I love a vacation. It doesn't, it could be two hours away and I love it. It could be a staycation and I love it. But some of the best ones have been the California one was really fun, particularly like Carmel. Yeah. That spot was awesome. Gorgeous area. Even like Dustin 30A, Alligator Point, just like anything low-key right there on the beach. Colorado's really fun. Honestly, I could go through all of my trips I've ever been on and like I love something about it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I'm a beach girl, like I absolutely love the beach. Uh, alligator Point is my favorite. I'm really, really, really falling in love with Jacksonville Beach.
SPEAKER_00:I do too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. But if there was one place that I was gonna move away from our family or away from, it would probably be Jacksonville Beach.
SPEAKER_00:I like how it's such a big beach that there's hundreds of people all up on there, but it doesn't ever feel crowded. It doesn't ever feel like you don't belong there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, everybody's healthy, man. They're up in the morning surfing.
SPEAKER_00:You could stay within like a one mile radius and you're good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a vibe. And so I do really, really enjoy that. I loved Montana. That was an incredible place to visit. I want to go there one day.
SPEAKER_00:I want to go to Maine when it's not negative 30 degrees. I built character on that trip.
SPEAKER_01:That's what we call it when something sucks and we made it through. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Let's see how many pets have you had at one given time?
SPEAKER_01:Most ever at one time was seven dogs.
SPEAKER_00:Insanity.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, all rescues.
SPEAKER_00:Which is great.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm a dog person. Like I've had cats, cool. I did have a really cool cat that would get in the bathtub with you. That was Velcro. But dogs have always kind of been my go-to, and they've all lived long, healthy, wonderful lives. This is the first time I just lost my dog. I know. RIP just I know. Diamond just passed away and she really was a girl's best friend. So this is the first time in my life that I've not had a dog. Which is crazy. Yeah, and I'm kind of in a holding pattern. I want to traverse it. No, I want to travel a little bit. Nobody could ever replace Diamond. So yeah, we'll see. We'll see. I'm sure there's another dog in my future, but I just don't know. I'd be shocked if there wasn't.
SPEAKER_00:I know. That's what's hard. Like when I had my husky Coda, that was my sole dog. That was a dog I always wanted. I had a beanie baby named Balto. I was getting a Husky one day. That was a wild story because I was going through a long-term relationship breakup. It was like a four-year-old emotional. I was all over the place. It was a hot mess. I'm like going another sister. No, but that's the problem. I'm going into college. I've just gotten off of this big breakup, and we're in Colorado, and I'm on petfinder.com in my other sister's office, and I come across Coda's picture living at dad at the time. So dad is game. Dad's an animal person, he's about it. So I show him this picture. Mind you, it was a lot of money. It was a thousand dollars. Although some of that was the travel expense. So technically, he wasn't that much. Yeah. So I decided I want this dog. He doesn't even bat an eye. He's like, yeah, sure. Like, okay, great. So I'm literally buying this dog. I'm online. Never seen it. Nope. Don't know these people. There's literally two pictures of this dog. Yeah. And it's in like Missouri or somewhere. Wiring people money. No, can't even get there yet, right? So I'm not wiring them money. Christy drives me to the Wells Spargo in Colorado to take out cash to pay her to then put it on her card. So this is a very like detailed step-by-step process that nobody said, Hey Melissa, like, maybe pump the brakes, think about it for a minute. Yeah, so I uh I wired the lady the money. Weeks go by. I hear nothing. I remember I'm talking with Bailey, one of my best friends, and we're sitting there at a Chick-fil-A, and I'm like, I think I got scammed a thousand bucks. Next couple days, I finally get an email, and then I get like tracking information, and so he was flown to the Tallahassee airport, and me and Bailey went to go pick him up. That dog was absolutely amazing. But then it's crazy because I almost lost him because he came sick.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And then he came with Parvo.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so he beat Parvo, which is really, really rare for a dog to do. And then he lived to 11, which was super unexpected that he got sick because he was totally fine, and then he stopped talking. He's like a major talker, if you know Huskies. Summing that up to say when he passed, I'm like, I'm never getting another Husky. Like, how will there ever be another Coda kind of thing? And so I did not get another dog, I got a cat. So you never know if you'll end up getting like another Great Dane, or you'll get you'll go far left and get another weird animal.
SPEAKER_01:If you know me, you know that I have had an obsession with wanting a monkey, and everybody has again, they get mean, they get no, listen, I think it's about how you raise them. I mean, there are monkeys that are trained to be service, seriously, service animals. They'll do your dishes.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, we've watched the videos.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there's a whole monkey university. There is a monkey university. Melissa brought me a monkey back from Costa Rica. That's as close as I could get for you. It's true. It's it's a little monkey and it's you get to look at it every day. Every single day. It's on my refrigerator and it's right next to my coffee. He's cute. He is very cute.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe that's you manifesting your monkey when I'm gonna.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just saying, people would come just to see the monkey.
SPEAKER_00:I would think so. Yeah, they you know, we have sit on my shoulders and do the estimates. I could teach it to write estimates better than AI.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know what some of our listeners, some of their wildest animals are or their favorite pet. I think that would be really neat. So you guys share that with us. Like do our own little pet contest and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, show us your pet. Like, I could watch all the videos, the compilations they do of cats being weird, dogs being weird. Like they're just so funny. They make life better. They do, honestly. Absolutely. What do you want to know about people on a first date?
SPEAKER_01:Uh that they're not a serial killer.
SPEAKER_00:Um I can vouch that for you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, like, yeah, my my whole ideas of first dates have changed now. I mean, so, so glad I don't have to date. Yeah, it's a very different world. It's I'm I'm not gonna do one of the apps. I like just the apps weren't big when I was dating. No, I like just the people that have similar interests and are. So essentially like friends of friends. Yeah, friends of friends. Some little meat cutes. Yeah, something along those lines. When you're my age, everybody's got scars, right? We've all got scars and battles, and so all of that stuff, and just trying to impress people with listen, we're grown. I'm a grown woman. I have my own company, my own money. Like, I've got my own boat. You know what I mean? So you're not gonna buy me or impress me with that type of stuff. I'm gonna need you to like be a gentleman. I'm gonna need you to honestly, I'm gonna need you to bring intellect to the game. Yeah. Like, I I need a conversation. Yeah. I mean, I need to be intrigued and interested in that person and similar interests, you know, somebody that wants to go to the football game, wants to go to the beach, wants to go on the boat.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's inspiring, I'll say this, as your little sister, to be in a relationship for 15 years that was not doing you a service, you're not living your best life. No, it did not make me better. No. So to go from that to then seeing you flourishing these last few years is cool to see that, like, I don't know, I think it's all burned in all of us that like middle age and you can't start again, and you have to find the love of your life in your 20s. So it's really a lot of pressure. And just don't even know who you really are. Um, you change so much.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, uh, who I was at at 21 is certainly not who I am at 48 and a half. Let's pray not. Like, I hope we all evolve. So, yeah, I'm gonna be 49 this year. And uh, I'm excited about it. Like, I really am. I feel great.
SPEAKER_00:I probably feel better everywhere. This year, though, like interviews with women. Your 20s is like the fun, experimenting, whatever. Then your 30s, you're like really leaning into what you're into at the time, starting a family, whatever that may be. But what I hear about your 40s is you finally just don't give a fuck about what people think anymore.
SPEAKER_01:It is absolutely true.
SPEAKER_00:And you just get to be like your true authentic self.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and that feels just really good. I mean, it's very much just this is who I am, this is what makes me happy. I'm always looking to learn and grow. So I'm I'm big into certain things. Therapy, I think therapy is super important, and so I have massages and but I really don't give a damn what anybody thinks anymore, you know? That takes a lot. Yeah, well, honestly, I spent after my divorce, I was absolutely determined to not date anybody, talk to anybody, do anything for a solid year. That was an incredible year.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you have to figure out who you are outside of that person. Cause even let's just say you're not in a great relationship doing things with this person in mind, whether you're doing or not doing things. So to finally be, I am absolutely doing everything I want to or don't want to solely because of me is like Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I literally could come home when I wanted to, leave when I wanted to, eat when I want to. I mean, shit, there's a lot of nights. I eat popcorn for dinner.
SPEAKER_00:But I forgot about this. You're living your 20s in a way because you a kid at 16. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So you didn't have that early college days.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you got no kid at home. Yeah, I've got no roommates. No roommates, the dog passed away. Like, I am literally alone. You have adult money, so you can like actually do things. You're not like on ramen noodles. Yeah, it's there's a lot of freedom to it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I would say all the ladies out there and the guys too, like, you live your life, man. Just do what you want to do. Go for it. But yeah, there's just freedom and finally being able to say, you know what, I don't have to impress anybody. I'm gonna wear what I want to wear. You know, there's just something about, and I I just encourage people to do it earlier. I mean, shit, why do you gotta wait till your 40s to do that?
SPEAKER_00:Like, figure out Well, and like that's what this podcast honestly makes me think of is I kinda struggle with imposter syndrome where I'm like, I don't feel like I belong in the room or why, why should I get this whatever? So, like this podcast, I'm like, why not do it? Like, honestly, if five people listen to it, great, we love all of you. But then if it does even amazing, great. But like give yourself the opportunity and the grace to go for it because I think so many of us, especially myself, I'm an overthinker. And then I'll just think the shit out of something and then just not do it.
SPEAKER_01:It's gonna like, I know we say unscripted and real life, but she is gonna edit this sound like for 20 hours.
SPEAKER_00:And not like over-edit in a sense of like, oh, I'm taking out all the good stuff, but like I just I just am more of a perfectionist than I thought I was. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I think that you realize, I mean, for me, what I realized is that you can do everything right, still be with the wrong person, you know, still think things still just be shitty.
SPEAKER_00:They just don't work. I know people have religious situations, so I get that. But if you have the opportunity to live with your partner before marrying them, that's the trial run you need because they say the first year of marriage is the hardest. It's whole. Because you're living together and you're figuring out each other's likes, dislikes. Are they messy? I'm the messy one. Yeah, like, you know, that's the hard part.
SPEAKER_01:That's very true. Again, I just think that this life is meant to be lived. There is great freedom in being able to just be you and make those decisions. And yeah, I'm embracing it right now. I think it suits you.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks. I think you shine brighter. I think you there's a clear like if someone saw you four years ago and they saw you right now, it's very big difference. And I think it's just being authentic, truly.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I think there's a lot of probably listeners that have been through that where you're you're faking it or you're, you know, you're trying to put on a smile when you know things are just not good. When you leave that stress behind and you let go of of negativity, stress really can kill you. I mean, it was I think it literally made me sick.
SPEAKER_00:You almost died, I feel like. That was weird. This girl got down to like 89 pounds, nobody knew it was wrong, and then I'm no doctor, but I'm gonna say it was your body shutting down pre-grieving dad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was and that was wild shit. I honestly I I woke up one day and I couldn't eat or drink, and that lasted for a year. I had to have IVEs four days a week for a year. Your nurse was awesome, so that was cool. Oh, yeah, so I got IVs at work. Like, don't listen, no employee is gonna come to me and be like, I have a headache, and I'm gonna be like, that sucks, because I have an I think provision. And I'm still at work, like suck it up. We really thought I was gonna die. I mean, I had gone and spent a lot of tomato and nobody knew, you know, they just knew everything was paralyzed and you know it was a virus and all of that type of stuff. But I even through that, I think I tried to maintain a positive attitude. I mean, you have to.
SPEAKER_00:Like if you start caving into all the fear and stuff, it tanks you, like when you lose your spirit, like yeah. So you just gotta stay. But I think that's helped you now to where you're just like, my dad died, I could have died, I'm living my damn life, amen.
SPEAKER_01:Right? And so, and that's again part of this podcast. Like, don't have to go through that people.
SPEAKER_00:That girl rented like five beach houses within three month span when she was better for an entire like summer.
SPEAKER_01:That was your little surviving life crisis. Yeah, it was it was incredible. Yeah, it's important to live your life. Like, take the vacation now. Yeah, I don't want to wait until I'm like 90 and can barely walk.
SPEAKER_00:I'm saying, I'm thinking if I retire, I don't even know, 65 or something like that. Am I gonna have a knee replacement by then? Am I gonna be like struggling to walk up some stairs? I already get out of breath now. So I might as well go while I'm more like young bodied and able.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, do it. Literally, like whatever it is you want to do. You know, it's your why. What is your why? Like, why do I get up in the morning? So I do it because of my family. I love my family. You are genuinely my best friend. I really want to take the adventures. So that's part of again the miles between us. It's these markers in life that we're just I call them almost like checkpoints too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Because when you get to certain points, you have an opportunity to look back and be like, maybe I didn't do that. Maybe I don't want to do that again. Maybe I want to do that better. Correct. Like whatever. So you have moments where you're just able to check in with yourself and be like, am I on the same path I want to be on? And if not, take the exit and start again. Amen. Do something different. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, that I've watched so many people change careers, change so many things.
SPEAKER_00:And like, I envy that about people because in my brain, again, I think it's the overthinker part of it where I'm like, how? Like it's so crazy. And people just they just do it. They just wake up and they start a new thing.
SPEAKER_01:You had people that were an office worker and now they're a virtual yoga teacher. I mean, people went for their dreams. And so because they're like, why not?
SPEAKER_00:The world's nuts. What are we doing? Let's might as well go.
SPEAKER_01:So I think we need to remember that. I don't think we need a pandemic to teach us that. I want to instill that in my granddaughter and in your son. Like, do it, go for it. Let's just have fun, you know? Stop taking so seriously. Shit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. What do they say that the the money will come back, but like the the time won't. So correct.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you don't get it back. You were a gymnast. That was pretty cool. I can still do a handstand. She does a handstand every time we're on vacation. Yep. I have pictures of her at our shop when it was being built.
SPEAKER_00:Yep, on the red steel. Yep, on the red steel. I have also done a handstand on a roof with my friend Caitlin, possibly intoxicated down at the beach. Really cool picture. Really dumb idea. Yeah, those are the moments where you're like, ooh, early 20s. That's that's a wild adventure.
SPEAKER_01:To see you kind of blossom into this amazing CEO and very confident and an amazing mom and a great wife. Y'all, she is bluffing me up right now. I'm blushing. I mean managing being a mom and a wife and a CEO, that's tough.
SPEAKER_00:That was the most wild year of my entire life.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's it just really, really nuts.
SPEAKER_00:Nobody you can read all the books, your friends can tell you all the stories, but until you go through motherhood yourself, it is wild. I wouldn't trade it. He's the coolest kid in the entire world, but you learn a lot about yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, and and you're gonna continue to. I mean, it's gonna continue to be able to do it.
SPEAKER_00:It just like rips rips you apart and forces you to become new versions of yourself because you have to.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and maybe that's what life does to each of us, right? Like uh we've got a lot of friends and family. I mean, everybody's gone through some dark times, some hard times, you know, and it's okay to reinvent yourself.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's inspiring. Again, it's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that people can just build anew, but you can. Yeah. Oh, another fun fact that my own father did not know this about me until I was like 25 is that I'm left-handed.
SPEAKER_01:I did know that you're the only one. I think so. Yeah, you're the only one of us that's left-handed. She got blue eyes, I got brown eyes. My eyes change colors. Depending on what you're wearing and stuff. Yeah, they absolutely change colors. There's a lot of times that they're a hazel, a little bit of a green. But yours are always they're just blue.
SPEAKER_00:No, they're beautiful. Just blue. Yeah. They're like the ocean on a cloudy day, is what I'd like to say.
SPEAKER_01:It's true. It's true. It's so true. That's what I'd love about this. Is it really you guys have heard me I'm gonna have said true probably a hundred times during this, but yeah. But damn, it's nice to finally have some truth. Truth about what? Everything. I mean, it's about your hair down your back. No, about everything. I feel like people will just be making shut up.
SPEAKER_00:We've already talked about this. I know. See, I think I'm super stoked on this on a personal level because we're gonna have our own little time capsule about like what was going on during 2025 or our relationship, our family, our business. Like, this is gonna be really cool to have. So, again, if we have an audience and we grow together, cool. I love that. But on a selfish note, I'm glad I get to have this stuff like in the archive that I can go back and see. I mean, think about it. When I came across that audio of dad recently, I really don't have much audio of him, even just like mundane talking, you don't realize how much you'll miss of that. That main thing I can say is before you ever lose somebody, anybody you care about, just put your phone up and record y'all like eating dinner together or playing in the living room or just ask the questions. Yeah, I did do that. That was the best thing I could have done. I did an interview of our dad.
SPEAKER_01:We have a tradition that 14 of us at least spend the night together Christmas Eve and wake up Christmas morning. So we can all have a little to drink and do our interviews Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, true. This is just another pit stop along the way of all our conversations and things to happen on our little comfy couch. Yeah, thanks for joining us. Signing off, Sullivan Sisters. Out. Make sure to tune in next time on The Miles Between Us. You can check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and obviously here on the podcast. Thanks, guys.