E15: Jenn and Chris “Meat Pies and Vegetables"

In this episode of the Frequency of Love Podcast, Celeste and Dave sit down with couple Jenn and Chris to explore a love story that began in the hallways of high school and has grown into a decades-long partnership built on friendship, trust, and deep mutual support. From teenage attraction to traveling the world together in a van, raising a family, and navigating ambitious careers, their story is a powerful example of how ease, communication, and shared respect can sustain love over time.

Episode Summary

Jen and Chris first met in high school at ages sixteen and nineteen, initially crossing paths through mutual friends. What began as an instant attraction slowly evolved into a relationship that ebbed and flowed through their early adulthood while they pursued separate paths—Chris playing football in the United States and Jenn modeling in Japan and attending school in Canada. Over the years they stayed connected, always finding their way back to each other. Their bond deepened through travel, including months living out of a van in Australia and New Zealand, where they discovered how naturally they worked as partners in life. After nine years together, Chris proposed during an unexpectedly ordinary moment while doing laundry—a fitting reflection of the grounded, authentic nature of their relationship. Now married for nearly two decades with two children, Jenn and Chris credit their enduring love to honest communication, daily connection, and unwavering support for each other’s growth, ambitions, and dreams.

The Heart of This Episode

Shared experiences build lasting bonds.

Mutual support fuels personal growth.

Partnership is about balance.

Knowing your worth can be a lifelong lesson. 

About Jenn and Chris

Jen and Chris are a Canadian couple who have been together since their teenage years and married since 2005. Over the decades, they have built a life rooted in partnership, raising two children while supporting each other’s evolving careers and personal growth. Jen is a driven entrepreneur and practitioner dedicated to helping women through her work in wellness, education, and personal development. Chris, originally a custom home builder, now works as a financial broker and brings a grounded, solution-focused perspective to both his professional and family life. Together, they embody a relationship built on communication, respect, and the belief that love grows stronger when two people continually support each other’s dreams.

Follow Jenn and Chris

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennpike/

Get Celeste & Dave’s Book!

The Love List – https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1998721264

Connect with Celeste

Instagram: @celestepennington_
Website: celestepennington.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Welcome to the Frequency of Love podcast. We are Celeste and Dave, a couple who lived a love story written in the stars. We wrote a book about it, and now we're here to spotlight real love stories happening all around the world. In a time when the world focuses on what's going wrong, we're here to amplify what's going right. Honest, unfiltered conversations about how couples met and how they stay in love. And today we have the pleasure of talking with Jen and Chris, a Canadian couple. That I actually I'm kind of happy that I actually don't know any of the backstory. So this will be completely new for me. I just know that I believe you guys have got a very strong, long partnership. And I'm looking forward to getting to know you guys. So first, how did you two meet?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

We met in high school. So I was 16, you were 19.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

That was last year.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, you were back when we were in high school, they had OACs, right? So you had like grade 13. And um yeah, we met in we met in the hallways in high school. We had one of my best friends, her older brother and Chris were friends, and like literally just met one day. I didn't know who he was at going to that high school all the years. He didn't know who I was, and um, yeah, we met, and that was I think it's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

I mean, you're I we had our lockers in uh a friend of mine, and he was helping you with math, wasn't he? Yeah, he was helping Tutor Jen. I don't know why. I guess he doesn't came by and I remember she came by, but she locked eyes on me and she goes, That's it was over.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Oh yeah, that's how it happened. Tell the real story, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Um, I remember he won't he walked.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I was like, Who is that?

SPEAKER_00 1:55

He's like, That's Jen Pike. This is my his sister's friends, friends, and um I was just like, Wow, that's just beautiful. I and and that was the attraction right there. Physic, physically looks everything right now. I didn't didn't know anything about her, and I was like, I gotta meet this girl.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yeah. And then it became like we, you know, then it's like you you meet each other, you know each other. I had a boyfriend at that time, and he had just gotten out of dating his high school girlfriend. And um, we just started to see each other more at like parties and friends' houses and that. And then it was just very easy, right? Like drop into conversation right away. You know, you didn't, I didn't feel like I had to be somebody else to be around him, any of that kind of stuff. And we ended up then finding out our dads knew each other through the golf course. Um, you know, they were like golf buddies together and all of that. And we just started to spend more time together. And then I uh, well, you went, Chris played football in the states, so he went away to school. And I was on a modeling contract and I moved to Japan. And then I came back and went away to school in Sudbury. He had then come back and transferred from the states up to Ottawa, and we kind of were just doing this, always stay contacted through phone in the summers. We like reconnect and come back together. And so it was a it was a few years of kind of doing this in and out, and I didn't really know where things were gonna go, but he was telling everyone, like, I'm marrying her, and I was like, What?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

She didn't know that, but I I did tell I did tell a friend of mine. Um, we were actually at a party one night, and I might have had a little too much to drink that night, but I remember telling her, I go, you know that girl Jen up there? I go, I'm gonna marry her one day, and it was kind of like whatever. And long story short, years later, we ended up running across these people and they're like, You told me you were gonna marry her. And this small world by how it works, but it's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

So we yeah, then it was, I think I was then at 19. So three years after meeting, I'm 19, you were 22 at that point. Then I was like, Okay, I'm actually like ready to like fully say this is a relationship. You know, we we dated for nine years before we got married, and um, we actually got engaged in Australia. We decided to to move there, and you know, we lived in hostels and out of a van, and we're like, if we can do this and not break up or fight, like we we could probably get married. We're good.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah. So, like, even when you guys were ebbing and flowing and kind of doing your own thing, you were staying in touch. Was that as boyfriend and girlfriend, or that was just friends? It was like friends with benefits. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah. It was, you know, I was um it was you would have just dove right in right away. I was the one because when I met him, I I had had a boyfriend. And it was just a very, I was just confused, right? As a team, like, what am I doing? Who do I want to be with? And then we were moving in different directions. We didn't really know where we were gonna end up. And I think also for me, there was this part of me where I was like, this is way too easy for it to be it. I, my previous relationship, there was always some kind of drama, there was always some kind of like something going on. And so the ease of this just felt more like friendship. It didn't feel like I was like, I don't know if this would be a relationship. And so it took me a couple of years of actually realizing, oh no, this is normal. That's not yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

I think that is normal though, when you're young to think it's supposed to be all dramatic and fair and like like we and you're watching too much TV, yeah, and movies and stuff to think it's supposed to be like that, and then you're like, oh no, the ease is actually that feels but still the maturity for you guys to make that decision at 19 and 22.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

Like, I was a bum. I was a bum living with like five other guys.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Like, I was not gonna like thinking of marriage or I mean I got to see Chris though, also being like she is a model off in Japan, like kind of a little easy to be like, I'm marrying that one for she wasn't hard on the eyes for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Like it was like I really hope she comes back. That's what it was. And again, I was a couple years older, so I it's not that I was thinking of getting married and stuff. It was just like I I I really liked her as a person we got along really easy, yeah. We laughed. We we talked about how you know you talked about how we were in Australia for months on end living out of a van. Like, like there's no room to go in a van, and we would spend every single day together, yeah, like months on end, and just laugh. I mean, if we had any arguments, it might have been about food, what we're eating that day, I'd be fine with eating a meat pie, and she wanted to eat some vegetables.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah, it was like meat pies were in the budget, and I just wanted like some fresh food, and I was like, I am gonna die if we don't actually need something real. But in you also, when Chris was away in the States and when he was up in Ottawa, like he was like you, Dave, he was living with five buddies. He was like living that life and doing that. And I think the thing was is that because we, you know, we we grew up together and had friends, there was no, I was never like jealous or worrying what's he doing over there. I knew him, I knew the guys, and and I was like, it is what it is. Like, if we're gonna end up together, we're gonna end up together. If he's gonna go be with other people, and same thing with me, I was away at college, I was living with seven girls. I was one of seven. It was just never that was never a thing between us of like jealousy or or feeling, you know, worried.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

I think that was a big part of it. Like I'm I'm not a jealous type of person, too, which was probably big for you, right? Like to oh, yeah, because my previous boyfriend was so so being able to do what you want, I would always just be like, all right, well, then I'll I'll see you later or I'll see you tomorrow. Or it was that ease that that you felt. And that probably put you at a lot of like where you thought it was oh, this is really easy. I get to go where I want, when I want. Yeah, I don't get to explain myself, which gave you probably a lot of comfort that this is really nice to be in this type of relationship.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and again, back to your point, very mature, still, even at that age, to even recognize and feel a lot of that.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

Yeah, to know you don't need drama at that age. Like, no, it's about comfort and friendship, and like that's the baseline. That's yeah, it's pretty mature.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

So, Chris, you've probably kind of already answered this. Maybe that was when you knew, but like, was there a moment because then you started dating and then you went traveling? But was at any of that point, was there a moment where you like looked at that other person? You're like, I like I guess Chris did say that he knew. Like for you, Jen, was there a moment when you knew this was your guy?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Um, I mean, I definitely knew before we went to Australia because I went to Australia with him again, because I just felt I felt very safe with him. I felt really safe. I felt, you know, I've always been a really ambitious person who has, you know, I'm like, I'm a visionary. I, you know, I start businesses. Like I registered the company I have now when I was 17. Like we were talking to each other and I registered this company. And so I also needed somebody where I could just freely create and do those things and not have to explain myself in that. And he was always just like, go for it, go for it. Like everything I did, he was always so there was that piece of me where I'm like, oh gosh, like imagine a whole life of being with someone like that where you can just like cheerlead each other on. And um, but I do remember when we were in Australia and you know, we had been a couple months in, and I think it's actually we had spent a few months in Australia, and then we flew into New Zealand, rented another van, and lived in a van in New Zealand for the better part of a month. And I just remember like every night lying there and thinking to myself, like, I could do this for the rest of my life. This is so it wasn't a single moment looking and knowing, it was like all these moments, and then really just letting myself be like, Yeah, I could actually do this with him for the rest of my life. Nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

It was definitely a bunch of moments that really led into us being together where we are when I decided to propose to her, and it was just like, yeah, this is this, and it and it wasn't like I was expecting this, I don't know, like like this this guy on one knee at a hockey rink type of thing on the jumbletron. Like it would, it would never have gone that way. Like it was supposed to actually, we were supposed to be at a at a yeah, yeah. We were supposed to actually be going for a hike. I don't know if I'm off topic here, but we were going for a hike and it was supposed to be a beautiful waterfall hike that we're finally gonna do in Australia, and that day it was a torrential, I mean a tsunami of rain. I was like, should we still go? And then we just canceled it altogether. But that would have been the moment if it was, but instead it was pretty pretty subdue.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

I think we were by the TV or we were doing laundry asked me to marry you. We were doing laundry, and he pulled the, you know, he was like, Oh, there's more clothes at the bottom of the bag. And I'm like, then pull the clothes out. And he was like, No, like can you pull it out? And I'm like, pull your freaking clothes out of the laundry bag. And I reached Champagne, and there was a ring box at the bottom of the laundry bag, and then that's when he proposed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Didn't quite go as planned, but it was gonna happen that day, one way or another.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Yeah, it's okay. Ours is a little similar where we'd picked it out together, and then I had a feeling that he was going to propose that night, but he just picked it up and slid it across the table.

SPEAKER_04 11:14

There you go, I was reordered.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

So it happened.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Very god. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yeah, as I yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

It was happening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

And you guys have kids too, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So I guess you got married and then Yeah, we got married in 2005, and then um six weeks later, we were pregnant with our first our daughter Emerson. She's gonna be 20 in a couple of months. Um that was like that was very intentional too. At that point, like I would we were 25 and 28 when we got married. We'd been together since 16 and 19. Like we both always wanted a family, and like you would have started trying to have kids even earlier.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Oh, yeah. Like I I had a I had an idea, like I wanted to have all my kids by the time we were 30. Like it was just one of these things, and that's not for everybody, but it was one of the things I didn't want to be overly aged as a parent. And yeah, I hit 30, we had two, and that was perfect.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah, yeah, we had our yeah, we had our daughter, and then two years later we had our son, and then we well, I talked about having a third, and you were like, I'm really tired. Like, can we get a dog? And so now our third baby is sleeping in a bed on the floor next to us, our dog.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah, yeah. Totally get it. We always said if we met younger, we probably would have had four. Like if we'd met younger, but when we met, he Dave had the same thing. He'd actually given up, didn't think he was gonna have a family because he had a thing too. He didn't want to be old dad. It's like, I just don't want to be old dad. And so he checked out. So when it happened so fast for us, we were okay with it. It was like instant family.

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Yeah, now I'm old dad, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

You're not it. Drives me nuts when he says that. Okay, what's one quality you loved at the very start in each other that you still adore today?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

It's easy for me.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

What's that?

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Jen is from day one driven, without doubt. Like she I think when when people hear Jen talk on online or know her from persons from calls and presentations and books and everything else she does, people think that Jen has just done this overnight, what she's done. And she's been working at this for 20 30 years now. Like it's it's a process that people have no idea how driven she is behind her mission to to do a lot of things. Like she's a woman of a lot of trades, but to help women, it would I would say was is her main main goal, but to it's all come full circle for her, and people think it's all happened overnight, and and she is so driven, and we've we've yined and yanged with our work our whole lives. Mine in construction, hers doing her businesses, and uh we've had the ability to compliment each other when I gotta work tonight or I gotta go in earlier, or she's gotta work late, and I gotta call this. Our lives have just like gelled from work and life perspectives, like so easily. But we've always given time for each other to when it's go time, it's time to go. And she's had a lot more go than I've had to based on building her career, but she's just driven. And I think it's I've always loved the part that she is a driven person, like that it's not gonna be always like on me to do everything for her, and that's worked out really well for us, and it still does today.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Yeah, yeah. And I would say with Chris, it was just that I mean, again, he is, and everybody who knows him will say the same thing. Like he has his the energy about him, he's very grounded, he's calm, he is very easy to be around, he's super likable, and he also he is a MacGyver, he's one of the most resourceful people I know, and definitely like being in a trade, you know, it's like everything is figure out, like there, there's always a way to figure something out. And, you know, that for me, I've always admired that about him. Like there's always a way that we can make something work and figure it out. And that I think is also what's been really great for us is like I'm highly motivated, he's highly resourced. And so it's like when you bring those those things together, you know, it it works out really well.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

I was just gonna say that. I'm like, it sounds like the perfect balance of fit, like with your drive and with him, like, okay, I got you. And I'll and I'll help figure it out as we go, whatever you need. Yeah, and it should be mentioned, Jen. Like, I I mean, I'm sure you don't need anybody to tell you, but you should be able to I think bask in what you've done.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Right? Because I do, I do understand, like, even right now we're promoting our book, and people are like, Oh, it just looks like you guys are so great now, and they don't care. And I'm like, so I have to go through all the shit and tell you that it was sucked for a while and that it was hard for a while. And it's like a lot of people just see the glory and then they so they skirt over it.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

And it's like, no, your dedication to the craft and how you've done it is very admirable. And um a lot of people would have given up, right? So yeah, it should be able to tell it.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Where it's like, and you guys probably feel the same in this, where you know giving up actually never really felt like an option, changing direction and pivoting. But when you're doing something where I'm like, I was literally born to do this, like this is in my cells, this is in my it's not like I opened up a you know a college selection book and like that, I'm gonna do that thing. Like it was already chosen for me. So it was just a matter of me like accepting the the fate of what was chosen for me and like stepping into it. And I've just known from such a young age, again, like to go and register your company at 17, like are you 17? What? But I just even younger than that, I can remember my my dad saying to me, like, Jen, I think you should go register a business. And I was like, but I don't really he's like, I can see it. You're doing something, you're making money. He's like, let's just put the structure in place. And I'm so grateful for that because who knew 30 years later. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Anyways, bravo. I know it's not about that, but I I do want to acknowledge it's important. And I I don't think enough times, even as humans, that we allow ourselves to sit in the accomplishment, right? Because really, what's the point of it all? Yeah, if it's not to actually let it really be celebrated for what we've done.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah. And it is the celebrating piece, it gets easier. It's always been hard though, because again, for me, it's like I would do it even if I wasn't making a living. And and my kind of MO in the back was always like, I do it, and then I'm like, okay, and let's move on to the next, and let's move on to the next. And so I've definitely I feel like I've gotten a lot better.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

It's always like what's next. Yeah, literally. Like we'll get home from a holiday, and it's like, I got a class tomorrow at 6 a.m. I'm like, we just got home at 2 a.m. She's like, I'm like, why would you schedule? She goes, I don't know. I just and it happens three time.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

It's gotten better last time when I just got home. I had a date.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

It might be the first time, yes, but it's you know, and then she's burnt out, and then she's like, I need I know I need two days. I'm like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

No, I I get it. We both have to remind ourselves a lot to okay, we just accomplished the thing we said we wanted to do, stop because we we do the same thing. We go into the next, we go into the next, and then we're and then we realize, and then you sit and you're like, holy crap, we've done a lot, right? So I totally can relate and understand. What keeps you both in love after all this time?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Communication.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Easily, yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, I would 100% it's communication. We we are again, I work upstairs, she works downstairs now. So we see a lot of each other. Good or bad. Like it's we we're around each other a lot, and it's no different than going back from when we met. But the idea is that there's no real secrets between us that I know of. Um we we we talk about when there's a problem to each other, uh when I'm I'm doubting something maybe in work, and then you know, one of us can reverberate from each other, just like, no, you can do this, you've done this before, or remember this time, whatever. Like we just we constantly encourage each other to do stuff that is maybe outside of our comfort zone, but you're actually ready for this moment.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Yeah, and we walk every single day together. So we eat probably, I'd say we have like two of our meals every single day together. Um, I mean, that's been one of the greatest things too, is that early on in our relationship, Chris was working construction, he was gone 12, 15 hour days. I was, you know, personal training, fitness instructing, nutritionist, I was doing all of that. We were lots of years in the kids' life when they were little and I owned a studio. We were kind of doing the passing ship thing and blink of an eye, a decade goes by. And then when we moved from Ontario to Kelowna out to BC in 2020, well, 2021, we got here. Chris decided to not maintain his custom building construction company. And he's a financial broker now, and we both work from home. And it created a whole new way of us living together. And so we have a ton of time together. We chat at our meals, we walk once, if not twice a day. And like, I honestly would say, like, that's been our couple's therapy is having meals together, going on our walks together. And sometimes on those walks, like we're actually silent. We don't always have to say anything, but it it is a bit easier when you're talking maybe about big things in life to be side by side looking forward instead of always looking at each other. And um, that's been like, I don't think we've ever gotten back from a walk without having figured something out.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Yeah, if it's not figured out, we've we've asked a question about the underlying issue.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Somehow. And maybe we haven't the question's been asked, like, what do you think about this? And you're like, I don't know. Meanwhile, you're still walking for the next 20 minutes thinking about this question. And then maybe we sit down at dinner or lunch and be like, you know what? That conversation we were talking about, here's what I thought about.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Yeah. I mean, we're very similar completely, right?

SPEAKER_04 21:47

Like, and she just told me to put on my big boy pants if I have an issue.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

But like, I think sometimes when you have that, I realize what a gift it is. Because not all couples. Do have that type of friendship. And I think that a lot can happen like quickly in your life to get where you're wanting to go when you have a daily, as you said, it's like a therapist, right? Like it's like a daily, like, this is where I'm feeling, and someone's able to mirror you back and be like, okay, well, I know you so well, so this is probably what's going on. And I'm just, I feel so blessed to have that kind of partnership, yeah, as well. And like to communicate all the time. I think our kids are honestly like, oh, well, you guys shut.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Oh, yeah. It's actually so interesting, like the age that our kids are at now. And um, you know, they'll they have verbalized to us more than once. Like, they're like, I know you think it's normal how our family is. This is not normal. So many of their friends' parents are separated, or um, you know, it's not it, it's not an awesome dynamic. And, you know, and then for us, like it's probably boring growing up in our house. Like, we don't fight our if we bicker about things like piles of clothes left, the kids are like, Can you guys stop arguing? And we're like, This is not arguing. This is like, I don't, you know, so it's definitely been reflected back to us. And I think one of the things too is that in my line of work, you know, working with women for 30 years is that I hear and see what happens physically, mentally, and emotionally in my clients' bodies when they don't communicate, when they don't speak up, when they don't, you know, feel seen or heard, when they have a relationship that's rooted in passive aggressive tendencies. And so I I see that and I'm like, I don't want that because I can see what you know what can happen moving forward. And so, yeah, when you've been together that long, he'll go passive aggressive, I'll go silent and walk away. And so it's like if the other person's doing that, you know, it's like I'll say to him, What are you not saying that you actually need to say? Um, and he'll just know if I go super quiet and I'm kind of like out of the energy of the house, he'll be like, What is going on?

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Yeah, yeah, definitely relate. Yeah. 100%. But again, it's even in that non-verbal communication, right? It's communication. And yeah, I feel very blessed. What is a positive quality that you do see in your partner that you wish that they could see in themselves that maybe they don't? You see it in them.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

I see a whole lot more, like Chris is an incredible coach and mentor for people. He's a real he's very patient, unless like a small nail won't go in a small screw hole or something like that, and then he'll like lose his shit and throw it across the room. But in the big things of life, in the ways that matter, he is very patient. Yeah, he's very patient. He's a really, he's a really good coach and a good teacher. And so, you know, he has an opportunity within his business right now to actually like build and lead a team. And because he's never really done this before, it feels foreign. So he holds himself back. And I am like lovingly trying to nudge without forcing him before he's ready, but I see this quality in him where I'm like, Chris, people respond so well to how you teach what you teach. You there's something there. So I would say, like, that is a really, a really and you know, he used to coach Sam's teams when he was younger, and so many of the kids would say to their parents, and the parents would come to us and say, Coach Chris is our favorite. Because he wouldn't like lose his mind on them. He'd get down to their level and just communicate in a certain way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Nice. Yeah. What's the question about that?

SPEAKER_02 26:02

And you and you take the day and let that land, okay, Chris? Let it land. It was what's a quality in Jen that you see that you wish that she could see maybe in herself.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

I think because I guess we're we're kind of entrepreneurs our whole lives, and she's been building her business and she's got such a great following of people, and she's catered a lot to middle class people and and generally like her programs fit all this stuff, and she's trying to, you know, scale your business. And I I guess that's the the part for everybody when they're building this business. How do you scale and a business from that standpoint? And again, I know people don't see that, but that's what we're always trying to do in terms of a business. But you've also worked with lots of very good mentors of you and colleagues that are you know making astronomical amounts of money. And I don't think Jen realizes what she's actually worth out there in the world. Because I've I know well, I don't really know them, but I've kind of seen them online, all this sort of stuff, and I'm like if they can do that doing make that much money doing this, like you are worth like what you're teaching and giving to again, mainly women, and what is so far from what your your your worth is, what you're charging, I guess. And I know there's there's there's a dynamic to make that worth a process in your programs and all that sort of stuff, but like man, I I just to know your worth and what you are worth out there in terms of the the mark and what people pay for is you don't know until you put it out and you haven't like really on that nowhere near that level. Yeah, but and she's so committed, she's so committed to to her tribe that she's built that the the fear of going up to a different level is like I don't want to lose that tribe. And how do you how do you kind of have these two levels or two scales within your business? Yeah, I mean knowing your worth is is a big one, I think.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Yeah, yeah, I and I know and I know what you're trying to say, Chris. I know what you're trying to say. Yeah. And I think wink wink, it's it's probably time gen. Yeah. Like just if you've got the client, the dream client, like you're doing them a disservice if they don't get to work with you, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Oh, you know, I say this all the time. This has been the conversation for like two months in like masterminds I've been at and and all of that. And um, you know, because I I am the practitioner to a lot of there, these are celebrity women. And so many women around me are like, why are you not charging X? Why are you not? And for me, the thing has always been I've grown my entire company organically. I've never paid for ads, anything like that. And I'm so grateful to the women who have helped me be able to grow to this point. And there's like this part of me that I feel like, well, if I then like elevate to this, I'm gonna leave some of them behind. And it's like intellectually, I know that's not true. If I was coaching someone else through this, but there is like there's just another, there's like one last little piece from a nervous system perspective where it has to feel safe enough to like embody that. So I'm working on it. I'm working on it. That's really mature of you. At one point so fucking mature, and I'm just gonna be like, forget the mature, I'm just gonna make the decision and go.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

I did that a long time ago. My maturity was gone at least 25 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

There we go. I'll try I'll try and fast track it. Hopefully, it won't take me 25 to get there.

SPEAKER_04 29:39

In here, 11. You can do it too. Love it.

unknown 29:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

Okay, what is the best tip you guys would have for keeping love strong and connected over the years?

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Keep talking to each other. Like I think that is the biggest thing is keep talking to each other, even when life is busy, even when you're running between the arenas and the dance dome, soccer dome, and swim, wherever it is, just keep talking to each other. I think that is the number one thing. If you're not laughing, I think it's time to reevaluate some things. Like if there's no joy and fun, even in the small mundane things, yeah. That's what I would say is keep talking to each other and have fun.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Yeah, I think the communication is is key 100%. But the part of that communication comes back to maybe going these walks, having dates, whatever you still need the date when you're 20 years into a marriage, marriage, and so on, to keep it going. But in these conversations, are having the conversations about what your goals are because your goals could be different from mine. I mean, we're quite aligned that way where we want to go. And there's parts where we're totally different, 100%. I would rather hike in the woods, she'd rather go to a nice sunny spot on the beach. Yeah. But I'll go to either, I'll do, I'll go there as well, right? Yeah, not because it's my first choice, but to spend time with her and do stuff that she likes as well. But yeah, having the goals and where do you want to go in life? Like again, yeah. Kids are still at home, and and I've seen it from people that are where their kids are gone. Do you still have stuff in common when your kids leave home?

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Yeah. And it's it is that thing where sometimes it's like you there is a level of healthy compromise, right? Like Chris is saying, you know, I I would love to go on a hike, but I have about a three-hour max. He wants to go for a 12 and like pack a day pack and maybe go where there's bears. And I'm like, I don't want that hike. So we'll compromise, and it's like, well, what one will you go on? And he doesn't want to come to yoga, but he'll come to yoga with me because I want to go and do that. You know, we'll do things that it he's a far better skier. I'm not that great, but we're gonna go skiing tomorrow because it will be fun, and it will probably be funny because some I will do something that's not appropriate. Um, and so it's like, you know, just doing those things. Like we picked up pickleball last summer. We don't really know the rules. I am not good at it at all, but it's so much fun. And so it's also that thing of just like we don't want, we don't want to live a life on the couch watching Netflix together. That for us does not feel like living. And so, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

I think we've seen that. We've seen it with you know, our parents and older, and they're sitting watching T like, what do you want to do? Yeah, what's there to do? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Well, and you know what you're saying, Chris, like having if you if we know what the goals are, then at least we both know what we're communicating about and what we're working towards, which is then growth, and we're growing as individuals, we're growing as a couple, and we've got a destination of what the plan is.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

And I talk to people that in my work, yeah. Like when I talk about money with them and in retirement, like, what's the plan? There's no destination, like, there's there's nowhere, what are we saving for?

SPEAKER_01 32:52

It's all arbitrary. And this has been the thing with you with your work, is it's like you you really see the the blind spots with a lot of people in their relationships, where it's like, if you've never had the conversation around certain things, like how long you want to work for and where do you want to retire and how much you need to live and all of that, and you're just like trucking along in life and you don't actually know what you're moving towards, or someone asks you the question, he answers one thing, and I'm like, I that's not that's not my idea, that's not my vision, and I'm over here. You now have to try to figure out like, is there a way that you can become more aligned and come back together? And it'll show you where you've not been talking about things, and also sometimes it illuminates, like, you know, we we have incredible friends in our life where their marriage has dissolved, not because there was anything contentious and there was anything bad that happened, but they just all of a sudden realized that as life was moving forward, they were growing further apart from one another and they weren't growing with or into each other. And that's just been something that we you know, we we've just we've always made it's effort, it doesn't just happen. We don't just like wake up and this is the thing. Like we we have made effort over our 30 years together to do that with each other.

SPEAKER_02 34:15

Yeah, I wonder if even with that too, like, because we also want to, but I wonder if the effort is also what makes you want to, like it almost works together. I wonder because I have the same thing, like I want to talk to him. I want, I I want to make the effort.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Yeah, yeah. I think for couples too, it's like as women, we are definitely more of the talkers and the communicators. I would say nine out of ten times if you ask couples, like it's the women that are like, What are you thinking? And let's talk about this. And they're the initiator. And for most men, they are a little bit more reserved, they're a little bit more quiet, they're not gonna be the initiator and like tell me about your feelings, right? And like tell me what you're thinking right now. And so I think it's like there were times when I would like just say, What are you thinking? And the answer was the same, nothing. I'm like, literally impossible. How are you not thinking about anything?

SPEAKER_00 35:08

I do disagree. Sometimes guys are literally we're thinking about nothing.

SPEAKER_04 35:11

There's nothing going on in there.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Like, I mean, nothing. You just have that moment, but no, no, I've had the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

I'm like, I do not believe you. Yeah, like really, yeah, really, yeah. We got void space in there, like that.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Must be feeling we do, we really do have that space, and it's a real nice place to be for a guy at times.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 35:31

Like we live, our house is small, so I get up at like 5, 5:30, 6, whatever, and I have like an hour before anyone else wakes up. And so that's gonna, what are you thinking about? I was thinking about nothing, but now you're here.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

So yeah, it's it's real, it is real.

SPEAKER_04 35:47

That's the whole point.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

Now that you're up, I gotta think about is the coffee pot full? Is the water? Yeah, there's things I gotta think about now.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

Yeah, being for dinner.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Yeah, yeah, you're right. I know. Do you guys have any advice or for people looking to bring in their soulmate or looking to find a partner?

SPEAKER_01 36:06

I would say, like, we didn't come together because we were intentionally looking for one another. I I think that like focus on putting the energy as the individual into yourself, like grow who you are, be who you want to be, like do the work of you. And I think that that is actually what like magnetizes other people towards you. And even when we talk about our lives, it's like that was the thing is we we knew like from the beginning, there was like a connection that was there, but we kept focusing on like I had my dreams and goals that were over here, and Chris had his dreams and goals over there. And as individuals, we continued to do those things, but we kept coming. We also made ourselves open and available to continue to come back and find each other. And so I think that, you know, sometimes we can get tunnel vision and we're trying to build and create a life, and then we don't realize we are putting up walls and we we don't let other people in. And so focus on who you are and the life you want to create for yourself, but also like energetically be open to it, be receptive to it, name what it is that you are looking for. Like I went from being in a relationship that was super controlling, emotionally like not healthy, to recognizing being with somebody who made it feel easy, made it feel safe, made it feel calm. And I had to get curious with that. I had to literally be like, is this normal? Like it when's the shoe gonna drop? You know, and like spend the time in it. So I think it's get very clear on what it is you want because when you get that, for me, I knew I wanted to be with like a grounded, strong man who was like confident and had solid self-esteem in himself, somebody who could hold the energy for me to do the things, you know, have fun, active, health, like all of that. So know what it is that you want, but don't start to sacrifice yourself for the things you're trying to create, thinking that that is what's gonna bring somebody else in. That'd be mine. I don't know. What would you say?

SPEAKER_00 38:12

I think I can compliment that really too. Is for me to be time, give yourself time. Again, ours happened over a long period of time. And I think we're we're we're just as close, if not closer now than we were a long time ago.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

But if don't put a timeline on your relationship, don't like, I'm 25, I should be getting married, and I should be doing this, that, that, like the window is closing.

SPEAKER_03 38:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

I think if you if you force it, it's gonna be really hard, and you're just gonna settle for you know something. It's not to say it won't work, but you're really gonna work hard to make it work. And and it can work, I think, for people. But I think if you give yourself the the grace and the period of time to find the person that you're looking for, and obviously you have to be open to to dating and seeing other people, and and it's funny because I think when people try and set you up with friends, they might see more about you and these other connections as well than you even think.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

So like you're really calming, another person's trying to introduce you, and people are like, I don't want to go on a blind date.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

And I think, hey, maybe your friends really know you better than you even think you know yourself.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Yeah. I think that the time piece that you said, like I don't it's interesting because we've been together for so long, and definitely like the last, you know, five, six years of the world, it put us in more of what feels like kind of like an incubation period for our marriage and our relationship. Because, you know, much like you guys, like we are together all the time. We like, we've always been good friends in our marriage, but we became like real good friends for a while where we were like BFFs. We didn't have anyone else. We had no family out here, no one. It was just us. And I feel like in the last five years is really where I'm like, I am married to my soulmate. I don't think early in our relationship, I would have said soulmate, I would have been like, I feel like I've like found my partner. And when you're when you have a family and you're building companies and your kids are little and you are just you're in freaking survival, like you're just going through it. I don't feel like if we looked at, you know, those years of our life, those were like soulmate years. I just felt like, I am so happy to have you as my partner. So I feel like there's times in a marriage where it is like you have a really strong partnership. And then now we feel like we that partnership is solidified, it's not going anywhere. And now it's like getting into a whole new level of our marriage, where now it feels like soul, soul mate, soul level. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

I think it's easy.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Well, I would say that you guys have a lot of wisdom. Like, cause to also meet when you're still learning who you are as a teenager, right? It means that you also had to probably be quite a few different versions of yourselves. And then probably in a way, you're re-falling in love with each other through all those versions as well. Because we know we're different people as teenagers and in our 20s and in our 30s. And so I hope if you're setting up any of your friends that they're listening, because I have a feeling you might know what you're talking about when you see certain things.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Yeah, that's funny.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Yeah, we've we've definitely we've definitely changed as we've grown, like as we've got aged.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

But but again, our our qualities are there, like our base quality of being kind to each other, being nice, sharing. We have the same dynamics we wanted to teach our kids from day one, and we're both driven entrepreneurs. And I think that that's been a big part. I guess I think being driven is such a hard part for couples.

SPEAKER_03 41:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

When you know, I want to do this in my career, I want to go here. Something has to give, usually somewhere there. Yeah, and we've we've been able to to manage that kind of seamlessly, actually.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Yeah, kudos. Well, this has been fun. I've really I don't know, I feel like I've gotten to know you guys now, and that's been that's always such a treat.

SPEAKER_03 42:21

Well, thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

This is uh this is our first duo podcast being together and um and in the same in the same office space. So yeah, it's been it's been fun. And I appreciate the questions too, because I can guarantee you parts of this conversation are gonna come with us on our walk tonight. And um, you know, and and and just like reflect on it a little deeper. It's no different than like you were saying, Celeste or Chris said to me, you know, you you work so hard and you don't take the time sometimes to recognize the work that you've done. I think the exact same thing can be said inside of a marriage is that you take for granted all the versions of yourself you've had to be and and everything you've done together as a family and a couple, and it's it is it is work, right? It's as beautiful as it is, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

It yeah, it's working, yeah, yeah. And as our kids have even reflected, like it's not normal.

SPEAKER_01 43:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

And so I think too, kind of as we've hit, kind of even on just your career and stuff, but let alone also as you're as you're kind of saying, as a marriage, and that's kind of why we decided to do this. This was completely happened organically, but it was kind of like we're always focusing on the people that are splitting up and the people that are unhappy. And I'm like, no, there's a lot of really happy people in really happy marriages, they're just in their homes, living their happy lives, and maybe it's okay to kind of share some of that so that people can be reminded of what is possible.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

Yeah, I think that's a really beautiful, you know, way to bring it to a close, and that also for some people. Who have gone through a separation or a divorce that that that is where they liberate themselves to meet personally, right? Like we all know those people where you know to to force yourself to stay married just for the sanctity of marriage versus like recognizing when it's done and then being able to actually move into a relationship where you're like, oh my God, like this is how good it could be. Yeah, yes, and it can be easy, yes.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

And half the people we've been chatted with so far actually are second chance. Love that. They've both been in relationships and then they found their second chance. And so I love the ones like we've interviewed some people that they've been married 66 years, even. And so it's like I really wanted the spectrum of all the different ways that we can find these people that just meet us and see us, and um that that love is possible for everybody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

So I really loved your love story. Thank you.