Tracy Lynn Rodgers Your Tomorrow Starts Today

Tracy Lynn Rodgers is the proud mother of two sons, Derrick and Damon, and two amazing daughter-in-law’s, Karleeand McKall.  She has 3 adorable grandchildren, Jaxx, Knoxx and Blair. Tracy has been a registered nurse for 36 years and specializes as a Legal Nurse Consultant and Wound Specialist, where she now provides expert witness testimony in wound care, elder abuse and nursing home cases.  Tracy also has a thriving business as a successful pageant coach of the Queenteam.  She focuses on platform development, social media, brand development, and walking. Tracy has coached numerous local, state, and national title holders over the past 10 years. 

In June of 2011, Tracy was the reigning Ms. Nevada United States when she was involved in a horrific car accident where she broke both arms and legs, her neck, back, and pelvis, as well as sustaining numerous other injuries. 5 years and 32 surgeries later, in September 2016, she returned to walk the national pageant stage, where she was crowned Ms. America International 2017.  Tracy’s platform, “Your Tomorrow Starts Today,” is a message of hope, inspiration, and perseverance, and reflects the message that no adverse event or circumstance gets to define you.  She continues to travel throughout the country, as a Keynote Speaker, sharing her platform.

Tracy enjoys being actively engaged in the pageant community, being the best Nana, board games and puzzles, cooking, public speaking and travel.  Her biggest flex is having a very supporting and loving family, and stellar friends, who have been by her side in all her endeavors.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Lipstick and Legacy, a podcast where your story matters and your journey has purpose. Together we lift and inspire our communities one story at a time. Today I will be interviewing Tracy Lynn Rogers. And the theme of our podcast is Resilience, Reinvention, and Your Tomorrow Starts Today. Welcome, Tracy.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hi, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Tracy, for those of you who don't know you, you've lived this inspiring life. And for people meeting you for the first time, tell me a little bit about who you are today.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

I'm probably a very different person today than I was even 20 years ago. I like that we do get an opportunity to reinvent ourselves and to continue to keep to grow. Today, I am a grandmother of three. I have two grandsons, one granddaughter. I have two amazing sons who have wonderful wives. And when everybody says being a grandma is the best, they're not kidding. It's just fun to be the nana and get to spoil those grandkids. I've had an opportunity to work with you and numerous other people in that was something that I didn't grow up doing pageants. I grew up doing being a tomboy. And that uh was not even something that entered my mind. I kind of got into pageantry more um happenstance. I will say when I was younger, I was approached in my late teens to do a pageant system. And I was very uh academically driven in school and in nursing school. And I felt like my interpretation of people in pageantry were that they were pretty, but maybe not very smart. And um I've learned over the years that that mindset was incredibly wrong. Some of the most amazing women I've ever met have been my friends, clients, um, acquaintances that I've met, people that I've competed with on stage through pageantry, incredibly driven, hardworking, empathetic, smart, beautiful women. Um I started out uh judging pageants early on, and then didn't do my first pageant until I was 35. And that was when I learned how hard they really are. When people think that it's just you put on a gown and you walk down a stage, and that you know, in the missus divisions, we don't have to have a talent. It's talent enough trying to rent a house and have kids and help with homework and work your platform and then compete in a pageant. That's talent enough. That that's where med pageantry started.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I think that that mindset that it's it's kind of um being reinvented now that people understand and they're understanding that pageants are really about the whole woman and there's so much more to them. And I to even tell my daughter she's getting ready to compete again. And I I she's like, I don't know if I can do this. And I said, if you can do this, you can do anything. Anything. This is the hardest thing you will ever have to do is put yourself up there, be smart, be poised, be all of the things at one time. So if you can do this, you can do anything.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Well, and people don't realize a woman's worst nightmare is having somebody judge you, a bunch of strangers, five strangers, seven strangers, right? Those judges, the judges' panel on a scale of one to ten. How you walk, how you talk, how you look, if you take care of yourself physically, how articulate you are, uh, what you've done in your community. And they literally are scoring you on a scale of one to ten. The things that as women were like, yeah, don't score us. Don't tell me I'm a six, or don't tell me I'm a four, or seven point five. And these women are willing to put themselves on a stage with a bunch of strangers and allow them to score them and then take whatever feedback is given to them and go work harder to try to do better the next time. It's a lot harder than it seems. And the women who really um get vested into the pageant system, they understand what somebody with a title can do. There's a lot of things that you can do in your community and in your state. There's so much good that's done under the context of working with charities or philanthropy. So much that these title holders do that I think really does go unnoticed. And it really is a different caliber of woman. It's a different caliber of a young woman who can get on a stage and say, yes, I'm willing to have you score me in all of my weakest areas, and I'm willing to take that and see how it pans out for me, right? It's a it really is a hard thing. It's hard.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah. So I know that pageantry is part of your life, but it's only that. I know you're a nurse. Can you tell me a little bit about your education, how you got into nursing, and what that looks like now?

SPEAKER_01 5:17

I knew growing up, that was the one thing when I was younger that I I knew I wanted to be a nurse. I I remember getting my first little nurses or doctor's kit when I was five. And I still have this memory of having my mom lay on the couch. I remember we were trying to take Christmas stuff down, and I want her to lay on the couch, and I was like using my stethoscope on her and stuff out of my little nurse bag. I grew up wanting to, it was like in my nature. I am very much a caregiver, caretaker. I love seeing people get better. That isn't my I think that's one reason why I enjoy coaching so much, not just pageantry, but like interview coaching, helping young people be able to get into postgraduate programs or for jobs or whatever that may be. But um, that being said, I got into nursing school when I was 18. And to this day, I don't know how they allowed. You know, when you're 18, you think you know everything. The farther I get away from the age of 18, the more I realize how much I didn't know. It's actually kind of scary. Um, what I did have was incredible nursing instructors. I had the best um preceptor in my bachelor's degree, and she worked in ICU and the ER, and she really paved the way for me to have, I think, more confidence in that early. I ran on the code team. Um, she was a flight nurse and was able to get me on uh flight for life with her. And those were things that early on I wanted to be a pediatric oncology nurse. When I got into nursing and I was 18, I realized that children with cancer, it was a very emotionally draining job. A 19-year-old, by the time I had my R and I was 19, I don't know that you're equipped emotionally to help parents at the age of 19 who have a child who's dying of cancer, right? Like I just think um there's it's one thing to do the the hands-on technical skill of taking care of that patient. It's another thing to meet the emotional needs of that parent or that family. Um, I also learned that children cry a lot. And that was something that you have no control over. So I my early on was in, I really did enjoy like running on the code team. Um, the thing is, is everything runs on an algorithm. As long as you know the algorithms, you it was very structured in how those codes and those things are run. You can't, you don't know what's going to come in through the ER, but as long as you know the algorithm, you're set. Um my my career kind of progressed to a home health and working a lot with patients with wounds, and that's where my love for wound care came in. And that's kind of where my um career as a nurse really went in that direction. I'm actually a wound care specialist and diabetic wound care specialist, and I'm also a board certified legal nurse consultant. So I do expert witness work in long-term care cases, um, falls, a lot of falls, lots of wound cases. Those are two of the highest litigated areas today in healthcare. Um, it's been an incredible journey for me to go through that. I think both highs and lows, and have worked every avenue within nursing that I ever wanted to. It's a great profession for me because there's so many. I could work labor and delivery, I could work in the nursery, I could work in ICU or hospice or home health. You know, there were just so many avenues for me to work within that um nursing degree. And I've I've loved pretty much all of it. I some of the jobs within that have been harder than others, but um definitely a great career path for me.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

That's wonderful. I love seeing all of your stuff about like I never thought wound care was like a whole thing. And I think that's funny. It's when I met my husband, he said he was a door person, a door guy. And I was like, You that's all you do is doors. And it's like, yeah, there's this whole world of doors at hotels and all this thing. So it's really interesting for me to find out that there's this huge world of whatever you do, and for you, that's wound care.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yes, yeah. I do a lot of education and teaching in that area. There's a nursing has turned any more, I think healthcare in general has turned into uh a lot of subspecialties. That's you know, it's not the world of going to say one general provider and they take care of everything is kind of gone. You go to a general provider and then they refer you to whatever subspecialty you need. And the same kind of follows suit with nursing.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

So thank you for sharing about that. In 2011, when you were the reigning Miss Nevada United States, your life changed dramatically with a horrible car accident. Can you take us back to that moment and tell us what happened?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

I um I still, it's weird to say, yeah, but I have a piece of my life that I don't have a memory of a little bit. Um sometimes it bothers me because I I'm pretty sure that's my control issues and not my OCD type A. It's what's got me where I'm at today, but um, I don't have a memory of the accident itself. In fact, my last memory was just getting on the freeway. And um I remember uh I was going up, I was the raining Ms. Nevada, United States. It was on a Thursday. I was due to um check in that Sunday for national. So I lived in Logendale at the time and was going to St. George, Utah to get my hair, nail, spray tan, all the final things. Like all of my clothing was lined out. I was completely, if they were to say you need to check in today, I was ready to go, right? Um, but I was headed up towards St. George and it was uh just shortly after I'd merged onto the freeway. There was a tour bus that made an illegal U-turn on they were in the slow lane, and uh they crossed the fast lane to make a turn in the dirt median that says um no U-turn, right? Anyway, um they crossed right in front of me and I ended up hitting. Um, I think by the grace of God, certainly, I it hit the back fan that's right behind the back tire of that bus. Um, if I'd probably hit anywhere else, it would have probably killed me. But it um I don't remember the accident. I I should be grateful that I don't because I'm sure that would have changed the trajectory of me being able to travel or driving a car or whatnot. You know, there were a lot of what-ifs after that people wondered if if um driving or riding in a vehicle was going to cause me PTSD or stress or something from that. I think because the last memory I had was literally just merging on the freeway. I don't remember for about a minute before. Um, and then my next memory is uh like coming to in the car. And there was kind of like that white powder. It was the airbag had gone off. And um I had white pants on. I could see my femur, my right femur coming through my pants, like the blood spot on my leg kind of was just like getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and the the femur was sticking out probably an inch and a half, two inches. It was such a surreal moment. Like I still can picture that. And I remember with my right hand like touching the top of that bone, it took me a second to realize it was my femur. Like I think I knew, but it was like stuff was going in slow motion. And this wrist, my left wrist was completely snapped back, it was just hanging backwards, like with the skin, and I was just kind of like holding this. The next thing that I heard was I heard somebody asking me if I was okay. They had broke the driver's side um door window with the back end of a fire extinguisher that was like on the bus. The car was on fire, the engine car was on fire. It's a wonder, honestly, that you know, it could have been so much worse. I think there were people who were put into place to be there. The gentleman that was right behind me used to do um bus uh, what do you say? When they um checked the safety regulatory safety of buses. So he knew uh inspections of them. He knew where the fire extinguishers were to be. So when this bus hit, he was the first one that he saw the the car engine was on fire. He was the one that went and got the fire extinguisher and had put it out. He said he thought he was pretty sure whoever's in the car was dead, and then he kind of could hear me moaning, I guess. And um, anyway, when he broke the window, it uh actually was the father of a little girl that I had just gone and seen um the day before and had taken some a princess package over. His daughter had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and um, she's still actually alive today, but she they had done the whole make a wish foundation thing and the family gone to Disneyland, like she was not doing well. I had not met him, but I had met his daughter and the mom. So it was him who actually had was the first one on scene who had found me. And um he, I just remember telling him that I thought I broke my arm and my leg. That I mean, this arm, this hand was like just hanging backwards, like the wrong way. Just on skin. I had broken uh 21 long bones, nothing, no fingers or toes or ribs were broken. I did have a collapsed lung, the right lung was complete collapse, traumatic brain injury, fracture in my skull. Like I was a mess. Um, I'm grateful to this day to have had um the flight team that took me, um, the trauma team, friends and family. I it opened a whole world of people that I didn't know, um, people that sent cards and letters and Facebook messages and mail, you know, when Snail Mail was still a thing, um, just really got me through probably one of the hardest times of my life. I um like there are not enough thanks in the world to thank the people who um literally stayed by me and encouraged me and helped me through that hard time.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

So during that time, was there a moment that you questioned whether you would ever return to your life that you had had before?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Oh, for sure. Um, my so the hardest part was like it's it really is a wonder that I wasn't paralyzed. My neck was fractured and nine, uh had nine fractures in my neck, the my lower back had four, my my left side of the body took the biggest brunt. Um, everything on my left side of my body was broken or um, you know, like the um dashboard almost cut off my left leg. And um with the amount of injuries to the to my legs and my pelvis, um, the doctors had told my family, like uh she's probably not gonna walk again, could be a year. What they told me is I was non-weight bearing. They didn't do all the surgeries like in one night. They kind of they they couldn't do that, like uh pain management-wise, you couldn't go in and have everything done that was broken. So they kind of piecemealed me, like I'd have a surgery, and then they give me three or four days, then I'd have another set of surgeries, you know. But um, yeah, any hopes of even like stepping back on a pageant stage where I think they were just kind of gone. And I do have to say it was kind of um it the first time I didn't even cry when I went in the hospital when the accident first happened. I think what really brought tears was the realness of how my life was going to be so incredibly different. The night um the national director had asked if my sisters wanted to go in for the pageant, and they had done um kind of a little tribute thing for me. And I was not only touched by it, but a little bit heartbroken because as you know, getting prepared for a pageant, it's a lot of work. I really had worked hard for that, and everything in my life was just taken away. I was a single mom. I had two boys at the time, they were a freshman and senior in high school, and um the thoughts of like how I was going to parent them and um could I maintain my home or would I be able to go home? You know, it there were a lot of question marks. Um, we just really had to break a lot of that down into one day at a time. And that's really what it came down to is like I don't have any control over what may be happening three months or six months from now, but um, this is what I know I need to do today. Like we just have to get through today. And then it was like get through tomorrow and get through the next day. And pretty soon the little teeny amounts of progress that you would see day to day started to make themselves evident, you know, like month after month, and seeing progress with being able to, like three months later, being able to stand and then to take small steps and um and again still in and out for surgeries. Uh, the the pre-op team at the um at a lot of my surgeries were done at UMC because that's where I was taken. So you were assigned doctors there. So when I would go back in to have like follow-up surgeries, they'd be, oh Tracy, nice to see you. Uh they're not asking what my name or date of birth is, like they already know because I've been there so much. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

So my son had a horrible injury. He was playing with a firework and he blew his entire hand off.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

It was at UMC as well, and that's our local hospital. And the teams there were actually incredible. And they just knew him. He was in day after day, and they'd repair a little bit and then rest and then repair for months and months. And I remember a lot of those things that you're explaining, just him not knowing if he'd ever have function again. And that was one hand, but that wasn't his entire body, and it's still today. I mean, it's several years, and um, you know, he's he's learned to to function, but obviously with some disability.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Right. It's it's not there's a lot of people that have said to me, um, oh, it seems like your life is back, like you're normal. And um, I guess to the lay person, not knowing, like my family knows, my my kids know, those closest to me, I still have a pretty good limb on my left side. I um I can tell you, I don't have any magical powers. I like the $1.6 million woman, took a lot to rebuild me and put me back together, have a lot of metal in and out. But um I I can the only magical power I have is I could tell you when it's going to rain tomorrow because my body will ache. My left knee and my left hip will throb and throb and throw the whole lot. I'm like, oh, it's gonna, we're gonna get rain. That's the only magical power I have. But if you do, you just have to learn to um, you know, I I think the word I use a lot anymore is pivot. You you will either succumb to and let something define you in the most negative way, or you have the opportunity to say, this doesn't define me. And that's what my platform, it was five years after my accident that a very, very good friend of mine. I shared the stage with her at my very first pageant I ever did. She reached out to me. It was five years after my accident. She said, um, I think you should go back and take what was taken away from you. You need to go back and recompete. You'll just never forgive yourself. I in the Ms. Division, it's 26 and older. So you're competing against women who potentially have never had kids, who've never, you know. And at this point, I was 45 and I was like, so I have to compete against a 26 year old. You know, it's it's hard. It is hard. But um, I knew she was right. I'm just not one of those people I didn't want to look back 15 years later and say, I wish I would have gone back and done it. So for good or for bad, I'm going back. The other suggestion she made is that because I had Worked a lot with the American Cancer Society, with my nursing, that had always been my platform. And she was the one who suggested to me that I actually change my platform to match my story because I'd been doing a lot of public speaking and um, you know, about my accident, where I'd been, how I got to where I was at. And uh, so I was kind of hesitant to do that because I was so like stuck on in the past, I'd had so much vested into um the American Cancer Society that I did not want to adjust. And I didn't think that my story had would have a big enough impact. And she really pushed for this. She said, You have an incredible story. And people love a heroine in their own life story, right? We always love that when somebody comes from something horrific and they overcome that. I would love to tell you that, like, I overcame it and there are no, there's no bad part of it, but there's still, you know, like probably with your son. You still just have to get along and put a smile on your face and get up every morning, brush yourself off. So we created a platform for me to take that was more about my story. And my platform is called Your Tomorrow Starts Today. When she and I talked a lot about what I wanted my message to the world to be, it was that I wanted people to remember that you're not defined by a number, you're not defined by somebody else's opinion of you, you're not adverse events and circumstances do not define who you are. That you should not wait to start living your life for tomorrow or next week or when something gets better, because chances are it may never get to the point or the better that we think that it's going to be. That is why we created that like your tomorrow starts today. Start living your life today. Live your best life today. That it's that message of hope and inspiration and perseverance that adverse events and circumstances don't define you. And it was such a game changer for me to take that message. I've I've traveled um many, many states in the U.S. I ended up winning a national title in 2016 and traveled all over the country. I had the time of my life. I I really put myself out there, made myself available to everywhere that I was traveling for work. I looked for opportunities to go speak as Ms. America International and met some of the most incredible people. I got to hear other people's stories and what they had been through. And one of the things that you really do realize is no matter how bad your life seems, um, I don't want to say like misery loves company, but you do realize that there are people that have uh there's always somebody that's got worse than you. There really is. And um it it kind of does really make you appreciate that this is all that I have, right? I don't think we get out of this life unscathed. I think everybody in this life will have trials and challenges, and it's really a matter of how you look at them. And um I really came to rely on um God that every day he would make me strong enough to get through these hard times because there were days that I'll tell you, there were some setback days. There really, really were. But um I felt like he doesn't always take away your challenge. Those challenges, you know, they say if if there were no rain in our lives, our lives would be like the Great Sahara Desert, right? And every life a little rain must fall, but it's with that rain that the greenery and the beauty comes. So we have to kind of expect that. And instead of asking that hardships be removed, I would pray just make me strong enough to be able to get through it. And um, that's something that's just really stayed with me uh all these years. And that would be my hope. Like if I could share that with anyone, it's a all of us are probably going to experience some amount of hardship. It doesn't define who you are. What really defines we are the person that gets to define who we are and what we do with our life.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

So your platform, Your Tomorrow Starts Today. I like that you said that it shifted with your story, but I think it really also still encompasses your work with the Cancer Foundation, because it's the same thing, like live today. We we are not guaranteed tomorrow, no matter who circumstance. And I also really it resonates with me when you say that we're not defined by age, we're not defined by our circumstance. Because, you know, I think when we're going into a pageant and we're 50 or 55 or 45, whatever it is, and we're competing against 20-year-olds, it's like, how am I going to compete with that? And it's like, well, you don't have to compete with that. We have all this experience and this perspective that a 26-year-old might not have. They might have the hope and the energy, but we have the perspective. And I really think that you've inspired me personally to hit 50, re-step out on that stage and find my voice again. And I feel like I'm 20 again. It's incredible what a little bit of encouragement and a little bit of optimism and a push can can do for others. And so I really appreciate your story and your passion and your encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

I really do.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Um let's see, when you hear your story and come up and it comes afterward, what um what do you say to people about your perspective, about how it's changed you? What has changed for you because of this experience that you've had?

SPEAKER_01 27:56

I think probably especially over the last five or seven years. I think I was very hard on myself. Um, as women, I think we we are hard on ourselves. We we can be hard on each other. I wish that women would truly get to the place where we let like I really do feel for these young mothers who are raising kids, it just feels stressful. Life feels kind of stressful. And I feel like a part of that stress is stress that we put on ourselves, stress that we feel from social media. Why social media is wonderful and has a lot of perks. There's also a lot of um comparison, and people are tend to be pretty judgmental and critical on there, you know. There, there's certainly good that comes from it, but there's there can also be um some negativity. I think the biggest thing that probably the biggest change that has come is allowing myself to not hold myself at such a high standard. Like I would forgive other people more easily before I would forgive myself. I would be easier on other people than I would be on myself. Like I don't think I was very kind to the to my soul, to the younger Tracy inside of me. Like I always expected more, I demanded more, I would push myself, and I'm like, why was I doing that to myself? Why was I worse my worst critic? I would get done uh at a speaking engagement. I would have numerous people come up and thank me and share their stories. And afterwards I would self-critique. I always feel like we should, there should be some amount of critique if you want to get better, but not to the point that it becomes a detriment. Probably over the last few years, especially, I've gotten where I'm like, you know what, girl, you're you're just doing the best you can. You get up today, put one foot in front of the other. It's nice. I'm not perfect at it. I'm still learning how to be better to myself. Um, and uh I think that I'm learning how to have better boundaries as well with people that I allow my life. I was very much like allowing anyone and everyone to have a piece of me, if you will, uh a part of my life. And I learned that maybe it's just older I've gotten. I don't know. Maybe um I just don't have the energy I used to have. But it was okay for me to have boundaries with certain people and certain things. Those are things that I've learned as I've gotten older. I really do appreciate this younger generation, I think is better with having boundaries than I was. I don't know that we were raised to have boundaries. I think we were raised to be people pleasers. And while that can be a good thing, it can also mean that you will deplete yourself in trying to give to everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

So I have a couple more questions. One is what would you tell somebody who is 45 plus that really wants to do something in their life, a pageant or start a foundation or something? What advice would you give them when they're comparing themselves with this younger generation?

SPEAKER_01 31:17

I um I think whatever it is that sets your soul on fire, you better do it. We get one life to live. We do. And if you don't do that, I think you'll just beat yourself up about it. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you whatever it is that you feel passionate about, just do it. Just do it. Somehow, people sometimes find excuses to not do things, whether it's money or time or whatever. But if it's something that you genuinely feel very passionate about, it it can't ever hurt you. The more that we learn, the more that we grow, the better of a person you become. You learn more about yourself. We only learn about ourselves when we challenge ourselves. Uh for pageants specifically, I think the women that I have an opportunity to work with, they learn things about themselves at any age, but especially the older they get, they learn that they can do hard things. They learn that they learn more about interview, right? How to speak better, how to deliver a message in 30 seconds or less. I think they develop a sense of confidence in a way that they may not have had. I find that women who are married with children, you generally, I would say after the age of about 37, it's kind of a weird thing. We love this is no disrespect to being a mother and having kids, but somewhere in all of that, we kind of lose ourselves because our whole identity becomes about our children, which is great. Like that time in our life, we made the choice to have kids. We best uh invest our time and talents into those children. And it's kind of weird because then when I interview with um in the missus division, a lot of these women I'll say, What are your goals? What's a short-term goal you have? What is a long-term goal? The what do you want to do with your life? Things that the judges would ask. And a lot of them are like, I don't even know anymore. My short-term goal is getting my 13-year-old through the seventh grade, you know. Um, a lot of our goals become about our kids or somebody else. They're not our goals specific to us. And I love seeing women who redefine themselves again. And I really think that's what life is about, is a constant um growth and redefining yourself. I don't think it should ever end. When you find a piece that you really like, there's always something even better on the horizon, right? Like I think when we pageants or whatever dream that it is that you have, starting a new business or um, you know, a new charity or working with something, you can't ever go wrong with trying something new. The one thing nobody can take away from you are those life experiences. They can't ever take that away. And you will learn from them whether it's good or bad. Unfortunately, we usually learn more through the hard, bad experiences than we do through the kids. Always. That that is the refiner's fire. But it is also what makes us better, stronger. We have to allow ourselves that, you know, opportunity to grow. And I think the more that you trust in trying new hard things, the more that you will try more new hard things, right? Like you start to learn, like, oh, that may not have gone the way I wanted, but I really did enjoy that opportunity. Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

I remember being a little girl and asking my grandmother, who had gone back to college at 50 years old to get her bachelor's degree in education. And then she taught elementary school here in Las Vegas for 20 plus years. And I remember asking her, why'd you go back to school? You were so old. Now I'm 50, it doesn't feel that old. She said, Well, because when I'm 54, I can have a degree or not have a degree. So I might as well have one. Right. It just stuck with me. And I that's a really beautiful sentiment. My mother opened a store, a costume shop here in Las Vegas when I was two years old. She was in her mid-40s, and that was a legacy that she left here in Las Vegas as well. So cheers to those women doing things in their and their later, their midlife. Let's call it midlife.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Well, and I think, like speaking of age, I remember when being a little girl and my grandma was in her 50s, 60s. I think they seemed older then. It was like an older 50. They, I think they embraced turning gray and all these things. And these 50-year-old women now that are grandmas were like, hey, we're rocking a whole new half model.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

50 is the new 25.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

They, yes, yeah. And um I mean, there's so much to love about that, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Beautiful. All right. My last question, and a question I ask all my guests is what legacy do you want to leave?

SPEAKER_01 36:21

I this it was one of those things that I think I really um focused on the most after my accident. And and um my legacy really will always live on through my kids. I'm so proud to see it now. And one of the things that my mom and dad taught us when we were younger, in fact, uh, one of my sisters made us all plaques for Christmas, but it was just a few simple words and it said, you can do hard things. And uh like when I had my accident, one of my sisters had brought that plaque and hung it in the room. And my I would actually did most of my rehab at my sister's home. She was did home health, her husband was a physical therapist. But that was something that I've heard both my children speak to as they are grown young adults with families that they could do hard things and that they could get through their schooling. And hopefully, that, you know, my legacy to them has already been shown. That I know that my kids can do hard things and that their children are being raised that same way, that that legacy really does come through my family line, something that my parents taught me, that I will teach my kids, that if you truly believe that in your mind, that it doesn't remove the hardship, but it does make you know somewhere in your deepest core that no matter what gets put in front of you, that you can do it. You can do that. Now, like I said earlier, I know for me that comes through um by the grace of God that He gets us through that. And that is a legacy that would be forever passed on, hopefully through generations, um, through my kids and their kids that they know too that they can do hard things.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

That's a beautiful legacy. I love that. You have been a mentor to me and an inspiration throughout many years over decades. And I really appreciate you taking your time. I know how busy you are, and I know the listeners will be truly blessed and inspired by your interview. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Thank you. I appreciate your time as well. It's so nice to come full circle with somebody like you. Just friendships that started through pageantry. Honestly, that's where we met years ago. So it is. Well, thank you. You bet. Thank you.