#5 - The Rutter Girls ft. Zoe & Avery

In this episode, I sit down with my two younger sisters, Zoe & Avery, as we discuss our unique family dynamic - four siblings, each born 6 years apart, with 3 different combos of bio parents. 

I was raised in Cincinnati, OH, 8 hours away from my dad, step-mom, & 3 sisters. 

We were all raised differently, and have completely distinct outlooks on our childhood. We dive into Zoe's competitive cheer lore & the accident that changed her life, diving head first into hobbies (cough consumerism cough), parent dynamics...

A part of me broke & healed at the same time hearing my little sister say, "I wish you grew up with us."

We laugh, I cry, and our dad makes a guest appearance to tell one of our family-favorite stories. 

Take a peek into my family life, and add another piece to the Emmi puzzle.

Recorded Dec 2024

Thank you for listening!

Website: PotatoComedy.com

IG:  PotatoWithMakeup

TikTok: PotatoWithMakeup

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Stories I Wouldn't Tell My Nana. Before we get into the episode, The Rudder Girls, featuring my two younger sisters, Zoe and Avery. This is present-day Emmy talking to you on behalf of past Emmy. This episode needed a little bit of a preface. Okay. So I was so high when I recorded this episode. I was very much on drugs. I had taken an edible and I had smoked a joint. So if you're watching the video, which as of this current moment, this very second, I am having major technical difficulties. So I currently do not have a video to post on YouTube that will be ready. So you might not be seeing this. But if you watch the video at some point, I'm I mean, if you're if you're watching this on YouTube right now, obviously I've figured it out. I mean, my eyes, my face looks so fucked up. My eyes are so are just slivers. I mean, it yeah, it's just like blatantly obvious. Um, so that's why. And then if you're listening to it, I mean my interview skills are two out of ten, and I feel like that's generous. I feel like that's really generous. So just wanted you to keep that in mind um as we get into this episode, that um that that's what was happening. So, you know, and thankfully Zoe and Avery did most of the talking, thank God. Also, my dad pops in and makes a guest appearance and um tells a story that we all, I mean, we are hyping this story up. We are hyping this story up, and we're like, oh my god, this is the funniest story. This is so funny, it's so funny. In the story, I mean, we're laughing, you know, so much. And then as I was listening to a back, I was like, you know, it's a great story. I wouldn't say it's funny. I think it's funny to us because we've heard it so many times, and it's just like a legendary tale. But as I was listening to a back, I was like, you know, there's a really good chance that people are gonna listen to this and be like, hmm, good story, I guess. Like, not that funny. Um, so you know, just whatever, you'll experience it the way you do. Um, I just felt that that preface was important. So anyway, back to the pod. Welcome back to the Stories I Wouldn't Tell My Nana podcast. As you may know, I uh don't usually have guests, but today I have two very special guests. So you might not know this about me, but when I cross over into the Pennsylvania, across the Pennsylvania border, I change my name and start going by Emily Rudder. And so for this episode, I'm Emily Rudder. I'm Zoe Rudder. I'm Avery Rudder. And we're the Rudder sisters.

unknown 3:17

Three of four.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Three of four, minus one, minus one, who has kids and like is a life. Goes to bed early, goes to bed early. Yeah. Yeah. And um, yeah, I want it so I'm we're here for Christmas right now, and as we're recording this season of episodes, I thought it would be so fun for us to hop in on here and kind of talk about our family dynamic because it's really unique.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yeah, definitely. That's one word for it.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, so um, so we all share, so we all have the same dad, but we have different moms. So um my mom lives in Ohio with my stepdad and my brother, and then their mom is here, yeah. Married to my dad. Yes. And then our older sister, she they all share a mom.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

So that's already interesting. Yeah, that's already in and of itself.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Yeah. Already not crazy. Everyone has like different biological grandparents, but we are all but we all know each other and we all like spend time together. Um still Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

We're all exactly six years apart. Yeah, that's another thing. Okay, so that's on purpose. Not on purpose.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Yeah, so that was kind of the that was the kind of other crazy point, is we're all six years apart. Yeah. Yeah. So, and I didn't grow up with them. So I grew up eight hours away in Cincinnati, Ohio, and they're in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Yeah. So I would drive back, like I would eight times a year, we would drive.

SPEAKER_05 5:10

Meet at the same gas station.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Same gas station.

SPEAKER_05 5:13

Would spend absurd amount of m amount of money there. I'm sure they miss us.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Oh my god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:20

It was like a gas station restaurant, restaurant, restaurant, like gift shop with really cool figurines. We have a few of those. The figurines, the white snow tiger. Yeah, no, like seriously. I don't know where it is. But like the same gas station. Yeah. Same subway. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

And my parents would swap me. Yeah. So because they never went through the court system. So they just kind of like had their own arrangement. And um, and so four times a year I would visit, and so they would do, we were doing that drive eight times a year. And um, yeah, and then I I would stay for Christmas, I would stay for a week, Thanksgiving a week or a long weekend, spring break for a week, and then summer when I was growing up, I would come here for like two or three months. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

A little less when Avery was growing up.

SPEAKER_05 6:21

Yeah. Yeah. It was more so when I was younger. Yeah. I didn't realize that you came out that much.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah. Four times a year.

SPEAKER_05 6:28

Yeah, it was like it was just eight.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

So eight drive, eight times eight times we did that drive. I see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:35

That makes sense back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah. So so basically for like two eighteen years, I was doing eight, eight-hour road trips a year, guaranteed.

SPEAKER_05 6:50

Not all as often as you were like when you were older. Like in your, I feel like in your high school and like later high school years, it was less and less. Which was yeah, I mean, yeah. It's not a huge thing. You were just you had your own friends, you were doing your own thing. Like, yeah. But it was less and less, which was fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:11

But it was definitely more so because that's when Avery was like younger. Yeah. So I definitely had more of the picking up going to get Emily or Emily's coming today or whatever. I would always try to go on the trips. I wanted to go to this gas station so bad. So bad. Because what could I get my dad to buy me this time? You know what I mean? It was like, what absurd thing am I gonna bring home that my mom's gonna be like, what is that? That was always the goal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

That's so funny. He did buy me a white tiger. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

She was plugging it up for like years, probably. There was another one, too. There was another one. There's multiple. There was multiple.

SPEAKER_05 7:53

There was another. Oh, um the giraffe. Yeah. Zoo animals, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

I loved animals. I mean, these animals were really pretty. Yeah, they're not just like lame. No, they're like it's not like a stuffed animal like this big. Like it's like it's like it is like a sculpture of an atheist. No, it's nice. They're nice. I'm hype about I every time I see that tiger, I'm like, yeah, I love that tiger. I didn't hype about it.

SPEAKER_05 8:20

And it's just like, I love it, but that is the most random. No, like, but like not like we are though. We just like buy shit. We do just buy shit and just accumulate. But it's just like from a gas station. Yeah. Yeah. Why not? That's our dad. No. Yeah. Yeah. Like Emily was eyeing this thing up. I think he got it for you for like one of your Christmas. It was like a big gift.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

And it was in, oh my god, I remember it. So he put it.

SPEAKER_05 8:45

Everybody knew where it was from. We're all like, oh my god, we finally have it in our home. Like we've it was it was on the dish like dish like display case for forever because who was buying gas station animal statues, to be quite us. No one. We put that, we kept that gas station business.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

No one is.

SPEAKER_05 9:05

I fully believe that.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

No, so it's so funny.

SPEAKER_05 9:08

It's so funny. It was long awaited.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

And dad put it in this box that had like a porcelain deer lamp picture on the outside. It had like it was like the picture on the outside of this box was a porcelain like deer lamp. And I opened it and I had to pretend to be excited. He'd done that to me before. To look at this picture. Cause I just was like, oh, like I when I saw the picture, I was like, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. I was like, I was I was like, why would he think of me for this because of this porcelain deer lamp? And so you have to pretend to be excited. And then I was like, oh my god, here we go. And thank god I opened it. I think he was like, Yeah, open it though. And I opened it and it was the white tiger, and I was like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:55

They do that a lot. They were really excited for something, they'll like put it in something else. One time they put it in like a speaker box, and I was like, mmm. But it was like actually good. She did not mask it like that, anyways. She was like, what the hell is this?

SPEAKER_04 10:10

Yeah. I think that's how it went. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 10:14

Probably. I know. Oh my god. A lot of drives.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Yeah, a lot of drives. So so we one thing that now that we're older, we talk about is how differently we all grew up. Because we all had, and our our other sister too, we all had completely different like childhoods. We were essentially raised by like different parents. Um, because even if the same parents are raising you, they change. Yeah. Different yeah, for sure stages in life. And like their life too. Yeah. So we yeah, we kind of joke about that a bunch. Avery has how many pairs of Uggs?

SPEAKER_05 11:02

Oh my god, this thing again.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Like I don't know, like three or four.

SPEAKER_05 11:09

She's upset. Should have gone to Ug Australia when you were there.

unknown 11:12

I know.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

I'm so salty about the Ug calend. I am so salty about I'll I'm I'll get over it. But anyway, they'll have again later. No, I'm I know, I'll drop it. Um but yeah, we uh so we all just like grew up very differently, which is kind of interesting. So we were talking about that.

SPEAKER_04 11:35

No, yeah, it's different. Yeah, once we got that, and also I would like to say, I'm the last person in this house. Like there's no one else that like needs things to be paid for. Yeah, uh there's only me. Like everyone's gone, college, traveling, away. Like, I'm the only person left.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

She's got only children. I'm the only person left. And I bet they make more now than when we were growing up.

SPEAKER_05 12:02

For sure. Yo, yes. No, like actually, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah, with like less expenses.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

This house is uh more expensive than the other one. But dad, like money raises, yes, mom's got a new job so it can yeah, yeah, but they have less kids to pay for something.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

Yeah, like there's no like and like I feel like as you get older, like expenses change, but also get like less costly. So like you don't have to buy diapers all the time, or like you don't have to school uniforms, you know, like I don't know, like sports sports stuff, I'm in one sport.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

I don't need like a million things for it. I play club, but like that's expensive, but not right now.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah, but did you play club anything? No, no, we did cheer though.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Oh, that was so expensive.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Yeah, we did competitive cheerleaders.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

That was really expensive.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

The uniforms traveled really good competitive cheerleaders. Yeah, we went to Florida when you're really good.

SPEAKER_05 13:00

Yeah, like yeah, we would go places like Myrtle, Florida, Virginia. Yeah. The third the second the second team I was on and the third team I was on, we won almost first place. Or we won first place in almost every single competition that we went to.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:21

Like, yeah. We were good. We were pretty good, whatever. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

You guys were good.

SPEAKER_05 13:29

We were good. I was pretty little. I was like, you were human. She was like, Why did you guys stop dancing?

SPEAKER_04 13:39

I didn't like it anymore when she like had almost like a near death injury.

SPEAKER_05 13:43

I got an injury really bad. My coach didn't care, so he didn't do anything about it. And I got like two or three more and like whiplash until I finally went to the doctor. Cause like I was like blacking out, and he was like, Are you gonna just sit there or are you gonna like jump? And I was like, POV, my my brain is literally scrambling inside of my skull. I'm like, yeah, I'll get up. It's good. I can't remember a lot, but it's good. It's good, it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

It's so funny. I mean, it's not I will resent that man for the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

I will reset that man for the rest of my life. That is so nice. You couldn't even read a book. Like, mom would come read the. I like I really I couldn't look at a page with words on it without getting like a blistering migraine.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

That's so insane.

SPEAKER_05 14:32

I was I had to I went like a year and a half until I was symptom free. Oh my god. It was actually crazy. I went to specialist medication. It was crazy. It was actually horrible. One of the worst I that I fully believe that permanently changed the course of my life, right?

SPEAKER_04 14:48

And you were freshman. You were gonna be.

SPEAKER_05 14:49

I was a freshman. I just started high school and my GPA tanked. I was in all these level one classes and I couldn't keep up because I would leave school. The ultra or the you know the fluorescent lights were like I would either leave first period or like third period because like I can like sit there. Yeah, it was bad. But yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Do you feel like do you still feel side effects from that?

SPEAKER_05 15:21

Oh yeah, like if I don't I don't get many headaches at this point in my life, but if I do, they're d debilitating. I cannot do anything. I can't look at the light. I start losing my peripheral vision, like I can't function when I have a headache. So it's like, oh, someone's like, oh my head is hurting. I'm like, my head is literally like it feels like someone's like inserting a knife over and over into my head, like on like a beat too, like yeah, but I I feel like that's one of the long-lasting ones. Also, like memory for sure. I can't remember a lot, and like it really affected school because like my reading comprehension was already kind of tricky because like grade school teachers don't really pay attention on singular students rather than like the entire class. So like you can be swept under the rug in that sense. So, like, yeah, my reading comprehension was like kind of poopy after that. Because I would like read something, I'm like, okay, what did I just read?

SPEAKER_04 16:27

I was like dad though.

SPEAKER_05 16:28

Yeah. But also, I think I can chalk that up to ADHD, and I'm pretty sure I'm dyslexic. So that's also a thing. That probably is a thing. No, I I was diagnosed with like ADD or ADHD or one of those. Yeah. So that's there. But yeah, I was like, I had to go to like a speech therapist for a hot second.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Um yeah, it was really bad. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 16:52

And that was all around the time, like when that happened, I lost my childhood dog. Izzy. Like that was like all. Oh my god, yeah, you're like the wor like I mean the worst time of my life. Like, was was when I first started high school. So that's when everybody's like, oh, high school is like first few years weren't great, and the last two years were worse than the first two. So But it's okay. You live and you learn, a lot of fun stories. But yeah, that's that's why I that's why I stopped cheering. My doctor was like, Yeah, if you hit your head again, like you could die. And I was like, Okay, but when can I go back to practice? Like, I'm not understanding. Yeah, it was really bad actually. I was like third, like I was like 14. Yeah, you were young.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 17:44

Mind you, mind you, right before this all happened, like I fell from a full extension, like all the way to the top. The back of my head hit somebody's knee. Yeah, nobody caught me, they didn't catch me on the way down. Um and the one of the bases was a fill-in, and I had cheered with her before. Um but she was literally crying to the coach saying, I can't do this, I can't do this stunt. Like, I'm not I can't do this. He was like, I don't care. Put her up. Yeah, it was just then I fell, my vision went black for a few seconds. I got back up in the air and kept doing stuff, and then that's when like the kind of like steamroll effect, kind of like the snowball effect happened. I remembered like you like were like not okay for like a long time. Oh my god, so scary. Like every day after school, I would like just sleep because I was exhausted from just sitting there all day. I almost failed a bunch of classes, like my teachers were not very empathetic either. Yeah, yeah, it was bad. She's like, You're failing. I'm like, I can't read. I literally can't read. Like, I cannot read. Oh my god. That was really something. Yeah, I think that's a good thing. That was my or that was life altering for sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

So you probably should have stopped after that stunt.

SPEAKER_05 19:11

Yeah, but then I went to like one or two practices after that and would continue to jump, would continue to tumble, would continue to do stunts. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't feel good. My head hurts. Or oh, my vision went black after I did that.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

I'm like, obviously, you don't know. And this man did not care.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

No, I had no idea.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

You have no idea.

SPEAKER_05 19:34

I was just like, okay, something's off. Like, I don't normally feel like this. Oh my gosh. He just didn't care. Didn't care. Yeah. I was supposed to be in the center of the dance. I was like center flyer. Listen, I was really good. And I and I hate, like, I like to toot my own heart with this because like I feel like I could have really kept going with this. Like that was the that was like I'm not good at I'm not good at a lot of sports, but that was the one that I picked up immediately. And also, like, that was like low-key, like your everything. Like, you love going to the gym, like you love going to practice, like all your friends were there. Like, that was like your friends. That was like m the central point of in my life. Like, that was like like our whole life like revolved around cheer. Yeah, actually. Yeah, we traveled all the time. I mean, I gave up well before you did because I didn't like it, but it was terrible. She was that's not my type of sport. She was so little, she was like six to eight years old. Yeah, she was also good, but she just didn't she wasn't interested in it. It wasn't her cup of tea, which is fine. Yeah, but that was actually like crazy. Like, cause like I like our like social life was with those cheer people, and I think that when we stopped doing cheer, we kind of like almost like we don't really we don't hang out with those people at all anymore. I would if I still lived here. I didn't know. I know, but like those like the families, like we're not with them anymore. Yeah, other things. Because it was just like a central yeah, but make us not be with them anymore. Yeah, but like yeah, we were we lost the common interest that we were all like, and that's like and when you cheered, like you had two to three practices a week, and like that doesn't sound like a lot. But you were there for a long time, but you were there for a few hours, and then like going to practices were like the minimum. You gotta go to open gyms to like better your skills, you gotta go to like stunt classes and stuff like that if you want to get better. So like the practices were like the minimum, and then once competition season started You're away, actually. You're going away almost every weekend, and mind you, the seasons were like eleven months. Yeah. We got like a few weeks and then tryouts started again, and then preseason, and then you would work, work, work, work, work, work, work, build a routine, build a routine, build a routine, build a routine, and then practice it, practice it, practice it, and then you would start. They were crazy. We would have to report at like 6 a.m. And then we would go in at like 9. Sometimes we would perform two times in a day. Like it was crazy, it was so much fun. It was so it was like the highlight of my life. Like that was the funnest like time I've ever had playing a sport. And it was ripped away from me. Which sucked because I really again I really enjoyed that.

unknown 22:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:26

That was really good. I recall. I probably yeah, I would have kept doing it, most likely. Yeah. So but that was one of the things in our childhood that was different. That was different. Yeah. We did that together. Yeah. Super different. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Because that was very much a U2 thing.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Yeah, because that was like a joint thing. Like, if I was competing, like Avery was still doing it, she was competing that day too. Yeah. So like the entire company. Like Yeah. And those competitions they were so insane because there were so many people there. Like it was it was actually crazy. Hundred like thousands of people. And that was some of the those were the smaller ones. No, yeah. The summit at uh in Florida. You had to get a bid to go there. And we did so good. We got a bid, which means you have to be sponsored to go there.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:13

Yeah. Yeah. That was a highlight. We went to all the parks. ESBN, World Wide of Sports. So fun.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Yeah. So fun.

SPEAKER_05 23:24

Like Gabby But like, or no, what's her name? Bender. Angel Rice. Like, she went to our s she went to our gym. Um, Gabby Butler. Oh, Gabby Butler. She went to our gym too. Like, we know these people. They're famous for cheerleading and like tumbling and stuff. And they're great. Shout out. Shout out. I know you guys. I mean, you don't even. I know you guys. Um, yeah, they would like go to our gym. And I don't know, like uh one of the like top gun shows or whatever, like Gabby Butler was on there and they did a segment on Pennsylvania. It was so funny because they were like, what can we like talk about in Pennsylvania? She was reading this script about bird farms. It was the she was like, in Pennsylvania, we have a lot of bird farms. And I'm not knocking Gabby, like it was just funny that like the producers were like, What is Pennsylvania? What is Pennsylvania about? Hershey were Hershey Chocolate World. Maybe you could have done that. I don't know. Philly. No, but I just think it was so funny because she was talking about bird farms. I don't know this girl. I don't think she lived near a bird farm or had any connection to a bird farm, but they just talked about it because it was like in Pennsylvania. I thought it was really funny.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_05 24:32

They could have done a segment on Amish like baking. Or like woodworking. Oh my god. But I thought that was yeah, I thought that was funny. I was like, yeah, she was on a show. PA shout out.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Oh my god. I had so two thoughts as you guys were explaining that. One, I had never thought about that time in your lives like that before. Because I was never like around during I think that was also when I started coming a little less because I was getting I was older.

SPEAKER_05 25:04

I was around 14, you were you were in college.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

What I remember was I was yeah, I was in college.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

Christie Cox. I remember like you would only come for Christmas and occasionally Thanksgiving. Like like what I remember, like it was like she's gonna be there for Christmas, but like other Christmas was like holidays tea. If she came another time of year, it was kind of like a bonus. Yeah. Like I only really saw her for Christmas growing up.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

I would usually I would always come for Christmas. I've never missed a Christmas. And and then it would be typically one my it was always my goal was two times a year minimum. So at that point. So it was Christmas, and then it would usually be either a it would be a Thanksgiving, it would be an Easter, summer, like, or at random times.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Um and then if there if I made it up three times a year, that was like extra mega bonus, like usually like that out of my house, you know? Like that, like that would happen when um if I was on a road trip or if I was like coming through Pennsylvania usually, um, then I would stop. I did have my own room in the last house, but this is a new house, but was that like Harry Potter themed? Kinda, loosely. It was painted purple and gold. Purple and gold, and it had the tiger in it.

SPEAKER_05 26:29

The giraffe. The giraffe fam.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Um it was actually bed sheets. It was what it was safari themed. It was safari themed, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:40

Animal activist, jealous of ubs.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

With that giant TV.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

With the giant TV, okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:44

Interesting. With the giant TV in the corner.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Kind of, but it didn't really work.

SPEAKER_05 26:50

After Emily stopped visiting, it was stored. It really didn't work. And then it was storage. That room got crazy.

SPEAKER_04 26:55

That was a lot of things. That room got crazy.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

That room got crazy.

SPEAKER_04 26:58

I'm glad we don't Well, I'm not gonna say that. I'm sad we don't live there anymore, but it was too much.

SPEAKER_05 27:03

And also, me being the last one left, it got to the point where like every room would just be a catch-all if it wasn't used.

unknown 27:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

Like literally. It was a lot of house. It was so grateful for a great house. Four bedroom, five bedroom, four-bedroom, not including the finished basement that eventually turned into a living house. A bedroom. But because literally at one point there was like all of us in the house. Oh yeah. So at one point three, two and a half baths. Yeah. Like three floors and a finished basement that my dad that our dad finished himself. That was cool. Painted ballet slipper for my birthday, and he built me this like play thing. Like coolest thing. Like under the stairs, like you know how like a house will have like that line of the stairs, and it's kind of like a slant. Well, that that's not chill. That's not fly. That's not chill. So my dad, like, for my it was like my eighth birthday or something. He literally finished it the night before my birthday party. I remember this. I think he was up all night, like painting it and stuff. But it was like this like crawl through like playhouse thing. It was a total. I remember forcing them to sleep in there. I'm like, we're having a sleepover. Get your asses in there. Like, we're all sleeping in here. And it had like a little hallway. Like, I can't even explain that I had to paint you a picture. It like this house was magical. We had a putting green on the like the bottom deck. We had an upper deck, bottom deck. It was a really close. This house had lore.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

This house had lore. Great house. The movie posters.

SPEAKER_05 28:40

So many posters. My life-size Edward Cullen cutout that scared the shit out of me anytime I saw it in the shadows. Edward! We had full-size arcade games, Galapagos and pole position, like stand-up.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

I played those. Those were amazing. Those were so good. Until they stopped working. We legit played them.

SPEAKER_05 28:59

But they were so good. They were more expensive to fix than they were.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Downstairs had like a cute little mini fridge and microwave setup. So good for slumbies.

SPEAKER_05 29:08

It was a movie theater. I'm really sad. Thinking about it. I know. I'm depressed. I'm forgetting too well. My dad put like checkerboard like carpet. So it was like gray, black, gray, black. And then he laid out, I think he did like alternating like all the things. If you were like, if you had a bedroom in there, like I had a house bed. A big ass house bed. I had a locked bed at one point too. Like every few years, every few years, me and Avery would be like, I want a bedroom change. They built our pop would build us a new bed and paint paint our room again. And he'd be like, This is the last time. Three times later. No. This is the last time.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Wait, describe your bed again. I forgot about it. It looks like a barby.

SPEAKER_05 29:52

Okay, inspired by Pottery Barn, because we're not buying that, that's so much money. And cheaply made looks like a house. Literally, two windows and a doorway at the bottom. Stairway, within each stair was a drawer for storage. Top was bed area, but it also just like looked like a house. Like it was at a point. Um, the front part you could take off to change the bed or move it. So I would change bed be on the top, bed be on the bottom. Super cool. It took up my whole room, but I loved it.

SPEAKER_04 30:21

And my room was bright pink. I had a desk.

SPEAKER_05 30:24

So was the bed. The bed was bright pink.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Bed was pink, walls were pink.

SPEAKER_05 30:28

I had birds in my room at one point. Nellie for Toto and Happy Ginger shout out. We had a few paracets. I hope they're okay. We had a few parakeets. We had frogs, we had fish. I had a fish named Rip Grimes. What show was I watching?

SPEAKER_04 30:41

Walking Dead. Yep. My fish was Google, and I picked Google because my mom liked Google. She because she always was Googling things. Um, fish lived everywhere. Like that fish lived through everything.

SPEAKER_05 30:56

It lived through multiple jumps in the garbage disposal. And um that's how it gained its second name, Google Jumper. It was also white, so I named it Snowflake. I don't remember this. I don't remember this. But I had that fish for five years. Five-year-old fish. I don't know how long. These were betas. Beta, by the way. Um but we had multiple. I remember screaming in Pet Smart. You know what was funny? You know what was funny? Um we probably went in a petco to buy dog food. And we left with $400 worth of aquarium in gear. And everybody's like, Zoe, why do you buy the cricket machine? Why do you buy the sewing machine? Why do you buy I can't pick a hobby? I have so many things. This is how I grew up. Racketball, first ever racquet custom. My my dad got me a custom racquetball racket. Guess how many times I used it?

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Once.

SPEAKER_05 31:47

Once I used it one time. You know, it's probably in the bag downstairs. I'll have her, I'll have a custom racquetball racket. Remember. Do you have one? No. Yep, that's played it once. Oh, baby guns, dude. Oh, paintball. Paintball. We did it one time, got cus- we got so many guns, never did it again. I think dad only really got the custom ones because we never won again. We never won again. But he like bought us stuff. No, but like that's literally how it is here. Like, if we do one thing and we like it, like literally, I'm not even kidding. Like, oh my god. One time I was into jewelry making, me and my dad were making earrings, necklaces, bracelets. He was like, here, I got you this new platform kit. I was like, yeah. The rainbow loom, we had like we had like assorted, like, like tackle boxes, but turned into rainbow looms sorted. So many. Um so many. And like our dad would join in. Like our hobby, his hobby. Yep. Seriously, he'd be like, What what kind of rainbow loom are we making? Like, what kind of earring?

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Anything you can imagine, it was just like, okay, you did it one time.

SPEAKER_05 32:48

Like, I golfed once. I now have golf clubs. Same. I I didn't get a whole set of golf clubs, I just bought one.

SPEAKER_04 32:56

I remember when I was in second grade, I went skiing with my mom one time and we just bought skis after that.

SPEAKER_05 33:01

But we didn't. But we did ski. We went ski for a couple of years after we got a few days. I'm just 12 minutes away from a skiing hill. Um, but yeah, and and just like just something about like just like I think it's just a buying problem. I think it's like transferred over to me, obviously. Consumerism is um crazy, but I think dad like would have so many shoes around the house. Like he needed a shoe for every single different But I respect that. Yeah. This man loves a pop of color. Loves it. The stylish, most stylish man I know. Yes, no, seriously. No, actually, and like a lot of my friends, like good looking. No, like it's not like ew, what are you wearing? You're trying to be different. It's like your friends. I like it. Yeah. My friends why is why are we walking out of the house and he looks better than I do?

SPEAKER_04 33:48

My friends applaud that. They're like, your dad's really cool. I'm like, thanks, I know.

SPEAKER_05 33:53

Yeah. And he also will like if I like something, like we said, we'll also like indulge in it, but like also will just like he'll like it too. If I say a phrase, it's his phrase too. Like literally. Like true. Just I start watching a movie, we're into the franchise now. We have a movie.

SPEAKER_04 34:12

I one time I told him that Squid Games was a good show. I went to school and he was texting me updates all day about Squid Games. Like he binged it. Like, he's in it.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

I started watching the Resident Evil like movie series. We after like He made a custom Halloween costume for her. I it's he's gonna be like wooden like blades, like two of them. Like I had a holster. I was the coolest looking like eight-year-old ever. Yeah. Um, the inspo was Resident Evil Extinction, specifically the desert fit. You'll know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

And he is the clothes shopper. He is, yeah. Homecoming for cheer. Dresses. We put in our bows for cheaper. Oh, he didn't oh yeah. He did our hair.

SPEAKER_05 34:55

He did our hair. Not mom. Dad did our hair. Dad did the hair.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

Um, like homecoming dress shopping, promo shopping, dad. Dad has a guy, he knows a guy. For the tailor. Knows a guy for everything. Everything.

SPEAKER_05 35:09

Designer jeans.

SPEAKER_04 35:11

Everything. I just it's just mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_05 35:14

I want to be my dad when I grow up. It's really cool because like I hear these people struggle, and I'm just like, I just couldn't. My dad knows a guy. Like it literally happens. It literally happens. I'm so grateful for the amazing opportunities and horizons that we were. I love it. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_04 35:31

My friend just told me that she got rear-ended in her car, can't get into the shop until February.

SPEAKER_05 35:36

I crashed my car on Friday. I just got into the shop because he knows a guy. It was done in three hours. He knows a guy. And I'm grateful. Because she doesn't know a guy. Like dad knows a guy.

SPEAKER_04 35:48

Imagine. Sorry, Gabby. But yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:58

Starting in us gushing about our dad. Yeah. But he's pretty, he's really cool. Clays. Sorry. Sorry. Oh my god. No, this is fun.

SPEAKER_04 36:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:08

That was really sweet. No, but yeah. All of our hobbies are his ones. No, and like also, like all of my people know that I talk about him too much. I meet new people and I'm like, my dad. Like, literally, one time I said that to Drake's mom, and she's like, you talk about your daddy a lot. So did I when I was young.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

And I was like, glad you noticed that. Mom's like, why don't you talk about me? And I'm like, Yeah. You can't turn that on me.

SPEAKER_05 36:36

You can't blame me. You can't blame me.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:40

Yeah. I think when I leave my dad's like the first time is the most. For sure. No offense. It's okay. I mean, I was always gone. So damn. Not really. I mean, you just weren't. But I feel like our experiences with dad were like low-key different.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

So different. High key different.

SPEAKER_05 37:02

Like low-key different. Like you guys don't get it. Like that's my Ratter Day best friend. Like, we don't fight. Like, we are so chill. We spend every wicking moment of the day together.

SPEAKER_04 37:11

You don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Oh my god, dude, that's so cute. Like, we like literally.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

No, like you guys don't get it.

SPEAKER_05 37:18

Like, I made like on the hoodies where you can like do the stitching. And he was like, that is the coolest thing ever. Like, can you make one for me? And like we just like got to the store and buy it and do it.

SPEAKER_04 37:28

Like, like, I do anything, and he's like, Okay. I like it too. Like, it's just we're we're just Friday night. We do everything together. I'm like, you wanna go to Starbucks? He's like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:38

Let's go. I'm like, you wanna get breakfast? I'm like, can I stay home from school today? I'm feeling a little okay. I'll go. Okay, that was with me too. Alright.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Okay, well, he forgot to he forgot he forgot to put my uh clothing in the dryer the other day. And I started to cry, so he let me wait until my stuff was done in the dryer and then I could go to school.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Oh my gosh, he doesn't have to do anything.

SPEAKER_05 38:02

No, he wasn't he was supposed to put it in the dryer the night before.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

He was supposed to.

SPEAKER_04 38:08

I asked him, she was right next to him.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

No, I'm literally.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

But he's AGD, and so am I.

SPEAKER_04 38:15

He also stays up into the hours of the night.

SPEAKER_05 38:18

It's so fun.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

I come upstairs and he's like, hi.

SPEAKER_05 38:22

I'm like, oh my god. Oh, it's like so fun. We just stay away watching movies all the time. Yeah. No, but like he also just like picks up random random hobbies. Like this year he randomly picked up hunting. Now he has a full hunting outfit. He didn't shoot anything. He went on every single day for hours at a time. He didn't shoot anything.

SPEAKER_04 38:40

He didn't shoot a single thing. A single thing. He full outfit. But no, no prey.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

No prey.

SPEAKER_05 38:50

No prey. He was waiting for the eight-point, never came.

SPEAKER_04 38:56

He would leave. The deer would come 30 minutes later, but he would never, he never came.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

They never crossed paths. Oh my god, dude. That's hilarious. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

No, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Yeah. He's a cool guy. So sweet. Like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 39:10

No, he's like the coolest person. He's a cool guy.

SPEAKER_04 39:13

Very chill. A lot of people are like, oh, my parent would just scream at me for that. I'm like, he's so understanding though. He's so understanding though. Oh, though, though. He's there though.

SPEAKER_05 39:25

There's just been so many of us. He's tired.

SPEAKER_04 39:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 39:32

Yeah. Well. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Oh my god, that I like can't not tear up.

SPEAKER_05 39:39

I know. I see you like tearing up over there.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

I know. That was so sweet.

SPEAKER_05 39:43

Don't cry.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

I know. That was really nice. And also not how I grew up. I know.

SPEAKER_05 39:52

And I'm gonna start crying now. Oh my god. I wish you grew up with us. I know. That would have been crazy. Crazy house. I wonder what other hobbies we would have gotten into. Like, seriously. I'm feeling like you would have been a crochet girl. I'm feeling like a girl. Horseback riding? Horseback riding. You would have been like, let's get some sewing needles. I would not want a crochet.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

Come on.

SPEAKER_05 40:14

I feel like it would have been really like it would have been like a week, like a day thing, but I feel like just for a day. We would have had a whole kit and a whole station. It would have been like a walk into Michael's to look, and we're leaving with knitting things. Yeah. Like that's probably what it would have been.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 40:31

Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I don't want to make you cry. I want to make you cry.

SPEAKER_03 40:36

It was so no, that's so nice. It's like really cute.

unknown 40:42

Oh my god, how can I not cry?

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Trigger warning emotional starting now.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

I know. I'm like such a sad as I've gotten older.

SPEAKER_04 40:52

That's okay.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

It's okay. I'm like, oh my god, this is like so sweet. That was like the most like beautiful description of like how you guys grew up. That's so cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

Now it's like sad moment. Oh my gosh, guys.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

This is like happy.

SPEAKER_04 41:12

This is one singular tier.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

You know. She never cries.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

Guys, recently I've been so emotional.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Oh my god. Yeah. Because um I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

I I guess I've never like I've always like kind of seen him in a different context because I didn't like grow up with him full time. So it was like I've been like hearing all of the because mine is kind of like this parade of complications. Um to hear like all of the good stuff and just like highlight it. It was like, oh my god, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 41:58

Like I'm super lucky.

SPEAKER_05 42:00

No, he is like yeah, cool as you're gonna.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

I always grew up like away from him, so it was like and I grew up in a super different house. Um like my mom. So yeah, basically just my mom and stepdad. Like my stepdad is super different from me. Super different, like physics major, like really smart, like IT. And to sp to spoil the ending, we get along really well now.

SPEAKER_05 42:48

Like I have to preface this.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

To preface, we get we actually get along really well now. Um but growing up, like we just I wasn't his kid, but he like really stepped up and stepped in and like really did take care of me. Um but he but we're so different. Like he is like simple life, camping, boy scout, logical things, and I was like fun, social. That is not you having collecting friends, like wanna have parties, wanna go to parties, like and that is not how he grew up. So we and he I would say like his default emotion is anger. So he when he was upset, he would just like it was like a lot of yelling, like at me, at my mom. I would like I just heard them fighting all the time, like it was just pretty frequent to for them to have like a huge blowout fight or like talk about getting divorced. That was never gonna happen. Um another spoiler spoiler alert um and you know, just and things over me. I remember I had come back from summer with you guys, and I remember my mom picked me up and we were at the the um no, we were driving back. We were driving back on this long ass fucking drive, and she's stuck in the car, and I'm in the car with my mother, and she looked at me and she was like, Yeah, so Adam and I have been fighting a lot less since you left.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

That is just something in mother's new time. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Dude, it was so fucked.

unknown 44:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

You're like, oh, okay, yeah. Good to see you as well.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

I was like, oh, okay, cool. Like she's like, you're the problem.

SPEAKER_05 44:45

She's like, you didn't get it the first time I said it. And I was just like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

So and I, you know, had a lot of like I always, I mean, dad was my favorite parent growing up for sure. So she like kind of resented that, or just but but she would just like point it out and be like, oh, of course, like you like your dad, or you oh you you like your dad better or whatever. And I would just like, yeah, but you don't have to like say it. Like I just was like, yeah, but like chill. Thanks, Captain Obvious. It was just like a weird thing to like bring up like a kind of competitive in like a weaponized way. Yeah. Um, so her and I had like a complicated relationship growing up. She there are so many things about her that I'm really grateful for, and that she did do a really good job, and I do genuinely believe that she did the best with like what she could, like what she was capable of. Um, we definitely have our issues. Um, but we're like in a better space now. I think, you know, she has done a lot to like really, I don't know, kind of like talk about or like apologize or own up to certain things that she had done.

SPEAKER_05 46:05

Really?

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:07

Okay, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

So um or the yeah, things that she has said, we still have like a lot more conversations to have for sure. Like we but I'm like, I do see that she has like really been trying and like really making it different. And so I was just like, yeah, I mean, I if I operate under the assumption that she's doing her best, then like you know, that's let's start there and let's just slowly kind of like open back up. Right. Very still very I'm still very guarded, but you know, slowly opening back up. So anyway, growing up so there was so you know, my mom like put me in all of the activities and they were super involved parents, they were very strict with me. I I mean I like was responsible for cleaning the house, like really like scrubbing the bathrooms. I am really good at cleaning bathrooms. Um I spent a third of my childhood in them.

SPEAKER_05 47:15

Just I feel like whenever you would I feel like you just unlock I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I feel like you like unlocked a memory of when you would like come, you'd be like, let's like clean something. You're like, let's clean the bathroom. And I thought that's so fun. But I was so young, I was like all I wanted to do was spend time with my older sister because I thought she was like the coolest girl in the world. So I was like, oh my god. And like when you would come to visit, I feel like she was never a hugger, and I took personal offense to that. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

I just never hugged. I know which is so opposite of what me now.

SPEAKER_05 47:47

No, I know, which is funny. Which is funny. Now you're like hugging. I was like, oh my god, anything to get close to Emily because she is so cool, and I will scrub a toilet if it means that I get to hang out in the same room with her. Like, but I was like, sorry, that like unlocked a core memory of you. She'd like come and she'd be like, let's clean something.

unknown 48:03

I'm like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

I totally like forgot that I did that.

SPEAKER_05 48:06

Yeah. That's you just like when you said cleaning bathrooms, I was like, I remember cleaning like the upstairs bathroom because that's the one that we'd have to share, obviously, for the time that you would be there.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Oh, you're so right. I would like she would clean it for herself for the week. Deep clean it.

SPEAKER_05 48:19

Yeah, I'm clean as home. That's how I am now, which is funny. I'm like, oh, I'm not touching that until I wipe it down first, at least. Yeah, but that yeah, that unlocked a memory for me. I had to share.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

That's such a good memory. I'm glad you did. That's really fun. Yeah, there because I started to oh, this is why I really liked cleaning bathrooms. This is gonna be like way deeper than it needs to be. So, but I do know it does have a reason. So I because I had to do chores all around the house. I had to sweep Swiffer, I had to pick up dog poop, I had to do cat litter, I had to like clean the kitchen. Um, yeah, some at some point I was on the floor with a tooth toothbrush, like scrubbing the floor to like get dirt out. Damn, like the grout and um yeah, it was crazy. And so cleaning the bathrooms was the only chore that I could do where I'm out of sight from my family because I didn't like this is gonna sound so weird, but I didn't like cleaning when they were home. Like, I like doing it by myself so I could put on music and I could like have fun with it, but then when they were home, it felt like they were just like hovering or just being like, Hey, can you like do that better or something? Oh my god, I just would be like very different, super different. So when I was in the bathroom, I would put my like iPod in with my headphones, and I would I mean, I was on Ellen so many times with myself, like I would just would be interviewing on the Ellen show just like to myself. I would be choreography, I would be choreographing dances, I would be like, I would be doing karaoke, I would be having tough conversations with myself if I needed to. Oh my god. So the bath cleaning the bathroom was like, and I would spend so long doing it, but I would do a really good job so my parents didn't care. Yeah, because it would be like shiny, like it was like be nice, and so they were like, I guess it takes three hours to clean a bathroom. I don't know. They would be like, I guess that's how long it takes.

SPEAKER_05 50:27

Clean girl time.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

That's you know, yeah, and it was yeah, so it would be my fun little space to like, you know, just like be silly and do it my way and be productive, but like be having fun too. It was like my own like reflection, me time, yeah, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_05 50:45

Self-care. That's like very easy things to do though. You know what I'm saying? Like we're talking on a podcast right now, like you know.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

I've done this a hundred times in a bathroom to myself. So yeah, no, yeah. More than a wow.

SPEAKER_04 50:59

That's like crazy though.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

Yeah. So yeah, so they and they like, you know, they were very strict, and they like if I ever got if my grades were updated, and in grade school, if my grades ever fell below an A, I was grounded. So like grounded, like can't cancel my f cancel plans if I have any plans, no sleepovers, like no after school, like I could do sports, but um, and yeah, so it was like even if there was just a quiz that I didn't do well on, but it brought my overall average down, I would be like grounded. I would I would usually be allowed to have I would be allowed to have A's and B's, but if there were too many Bs, my mom would be like, What are we doing? What are you doing? Um but C grounded, D dead. Dead. Like so grounded. F was like F was like What the fuck? I mean, do you wanted to be farm work? Like just F was farmwork, F was we're taking you out of school, and you're gonna be a farmer because like you're obviously dumb. Um is this just crazy to me, yeah. Wow. So um, and then I went to but yeah, so anyway, so growing up with them was very different, and then I would get this little glimpse of kind of this like life for like a week, and then I would be like, Okay, cool, let me go fucking be the source of all my parents' problems. Oh my god. So I heard so I also kind of like had this like fascination. I am like really fascinated by how people talk to each other when they fight. That's like a really interesting thing for me because I just even though hearing it I went would go into like freeze, like I just was so like I don't like fight, I don't like fighting, I don't like confrontation, I won't avoid it if I need it, but I don't like it. But I think that's I think a part of it is like I would listen to them fight and I would be like frozen, but I also was so curious to like learn about the adult world and like what adults talk about, what are their problems, what do they fight about, yeah, and then how they talk to each other as I would be around as I got older and was around more kind of couple conflict, just like on a smaller scale, I'd be like, Oh, they don't solve problems the same way my parents. Like, oh, they're like a lot nicer.

SPEAKER_05 53:32

Do you think there's like this is kind of like a psychology question, I guess. Do you think that there's a correlation between like personality types and like how they go about in arguments? Like, because like I'm sure there's what like defensive, aggressive, passive, yeah, for sure. Insert other vocabulary where it's here, like styles of fighting. Like, do you think like certain personality types are more like you've noticed a pattern or two? I don't know. You know what I mean? I think you think the more outgoing people are more defense, like you know, is there like a That's a really good question.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 54:09

Because people could be outgoing when it comes to confrontation, they're very like you know. I'm just like curious if you notice any patterns because I'm sure that's interesting because you've observed, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 54:19

That's a really good question. And I think I don't know if it's as much personality types as it is I think there's some other factors that weigh more heavily. I think it's what you saw growing up impacts than how you communicate.

SPEAKER_05 54:40

Male, female, gender.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

Yeah, there are other things.

SPEAKER_05 54:44

I think so, because like you can have an outgoing woman and an outgoing like male figure fighting.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Yeah, men can have different stone wall more. Men can be more than a different thing. Yeah, which that's what I mean. Like um women can be more life passive and less direct. Um yeah. So but I think it also is how much like how good of a communicator you are and how much work you've kind of done to like get curious about how you interact with other people. I think it's more about like your kind of development and like less of I think that can be anybody's personality, but I think a part of a part of arguing well is I think people that have like a curiosity to do better, like they want to do better, um, and in their communication, and they're like they they make that a priority, right? And they're like, like I think that's more of the commonality is like personal growth.

SPEAKER_05 55:43

Okay. You know, see that makes sense. So I can understand that because you're like actually like you're tired. Sorry, I'm just really tired. I'm just like you're in it, you're in it. I'm like, it's seven o'clock right now for me. Seven p.m. Yeah. It's freaking like 11 almost. But anyway, it's winter break. I know it's but no, I think that makes sense, and just kind of like because if you are like working on yourself in that way, like you're actually like paying attention to what you're saying and how it can be perceived by others. I've noticed that like sometimes I can be snappy and I'm not gonna come on here and say I'm the nicest person ever I'm not. No means when I'm on the clock, yeah. I'm really nice. But I'm just like, you know, whether it be hunger, whether it be whatever, I feel like you know, I've been more like okay, if I say this, this is what I mean. How are people gonna see it? Right, you know, because like you can say things out of you know what I think about that in the moment. But I feel like when people come at me, I do have the ammunition to come back like ten times harder. No, yeah, but I have to like say, mm-hmm. I do stop myself a lot. Let's level it up a little bit. Like, let's get let's stop like let's move from down here to up here. So I feel like that's kind of yeah, well, it's almost how I relate to that in the way of like being perceptive of like what you're saying and how it can be perceived by others. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Because I can say something and have it mean something completely different than how somebody's taking it. Yeah, yeah. We're a sarcastic bunch, yeah, and it can be and we're really good at it. So it can be like that. That's how it is here. Like, people like it's like love if someone is bullying you just a little bit. And sometimes they say things to people and they like don't take it well, and I'm like, ooh. And I'm like, okay, I didn't mean it like that at all. But like that.

SPEAKER_04 57:44

And also like all the siblings and like the age difference, like there was like phases where we hated each other.

SPEAKER_05 57:50

Thick skin sisters have. Yeah, and also like I know like with mom and dad, it was kind of like if I like you could tell, like the signs you could tell when they were mad, like mom would slam the door like of the cabinets a little bit harder.

SPEAKER_04 58:05

Dad would just go quiet. Mom would also just go quiet. But it was kind of like okay, like, are we gonna apologize?

SPEAKER_05 58:14

But it's also like hard-headed, like stubborn. Yeah. Like, it's like Do you believe in astrology? Yeah, do you think it has some correlation to like personalities and how we black? Commonality. I do there's a lot of like you're a this and this is like something that goes along with that, and it's like, okay, like how come that's like with everybody is that?

SPEAKER_04 58:35

You're a Pisces, I'm a Saj. You're also a Saj. Dad's a frickin' Taurus, mom's a Aries. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 58:47

I don't know. Alex is a Leo, and that is like.

unknown 58:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 58:51

Yeah. I'm just I don't know why I said that, but I was like, we were talking a lot, like personality. Do you know you probably know more about it than I do? I kind of know a little.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

I I don't know about it.

SPEAKER_04 58:59

I know about my sign, like I know about my sign.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

I just don't know anything about it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 59:04

Um, you are a Sagittarius, you like to travel, you're open-minded, you're you're per you're very outgoing. Um yeah, I think Sagittarius are very like social butterflies and very like yeah, like let's do that, like spontaneous, like go with the flow, kind of down for anything.

SPEAKER_04 59:22

Like just fun people. Fun peeps.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Yeah. Do you are there any other correlations that you know about in the family that like make sense?

SPEAKER_05 59:32

Um I'm literally looking this up. I'm looking up Aries. Well, I I'm a Pisces and I feel like Pisces are like big daydreamers, and that's like so true. Like you're living in your head for sure. Yeah. Um, and also like very sensitive and emotional, but also non-confrontational in a way. But also I have that like invite to me too. I don't want to say that and be like cringy, but like I have to like restrain myself before I say things to people sometimes. Because I'll be really mean.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:05

Yeah, you do have like a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:07

Sometimes I have to walk away from people because I'm like, oh, like at work too. I'm like a fire.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:11

Scorpion, like just a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:13

I know, it's like sting, and I'm like, I gotta restrain that a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

That was shitty. You're like, I'm sorry, I got a concaution 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:20

I know, like I'm brain damage. I didn't even know I said that. What did I say? What? What you're crazy. I didn't never said anything like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:28

No, I feel like they low-key like are like correlations, like Aries, like you're kind of aggressive. Mom's a little aggressive.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:39

I like mom, but she's like a fierce, loyal person. But not aggressive in like a mean way, but like aggressive with everything that she does. Like if she loves you, she's gonna be aggressive with it. If she's sad, she's aggressive with it. She's a very passionate person. Yes, and I and she's very motivated in it. She's so good. Oh my god. I love her for that. Remember when dad made beer pong tables in cornhole tables?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

Anyway, so great. No, it's so fun to have a competitive adult. So fun to be so competitive.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:11

All like that. Like, even though if even if some of us are not innately competitive, we have she brings it, she brings it out. She's gonna call it out of you. She's like, I'm gonna make you care about this game, this card game. Bro, no yeah. And you're gonna be pissed at the end because I'm gonna beat you. And that's like, okay, I have to win now. Like yeah, she's very like passionate with the things that she does. And she's also very motivated. I think that comes from having to grow up really, really, really, really fast. Yeah. As she had a kid very young. But she's just a she's like a motivated person. Like, she's always doing something. Like, there's something dirty, she's gonna clean it. Like, she's like, oh, there's dog hair on the floor, she vacuums the whole floor. I'm like, okay. No, yes, very, very strong. And I think that goes along with like Aries. Like, if you really look at the sign, like those are a lot of the things that go along with that. Absolutely. And yeah, she's very like so like fiercely loyal, like I said before. I'm like, sure, we'll be doing we'll be like driving around somewhere, and I'm like, oh, I really need I really wanna I wish I could or like oh I want to see this, or like she was like, alright, let's get movie tickets, let's see it tomorrow. Yes. Or like, oh, you know, oh I wish this store had this movie. We'll go drive to three stores and call two others to see if I have to her favorite thing. We'll just call it done. She's a doer. I wish I was more of a doer.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:41

She's a doer, I'm not a doer.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:42

I mean, I wish I was more motivated than I am. Like, she's like, I'm if if this is on my two to-do list today. Very motivated, and her job fits it perfectly. She's a nurse. She has to get up, freaking butt crack dawn every day. Uh, has to deal with those people. Bedside manner top tier. Shout out, mom. Bedside manor top tier. Always taking great care of us. Yeah. Oh, yeah, when we're sick, it's you're you're healthy with her. You're healthy. You're healthy with her.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:08

But no, I feel like signs definitely do have a big No, I literally like I'm not like a oh my, what's my horoscope of the day? But I pay attention.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:15

But like back to that, like I feel like it fits a lot of like people's personality. I don't know a lot about Tauruses.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:20

I don't, I don't hold this.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:22

But our dad's a Taurus, so I'm sure son of a Well, I think they're confident and very clever and very. He's a great talker. That's always what I've said. Oh yeah. He's a great talker. The storytelling.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:36

The storytelling. I get my storytelling from him.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:39

Let's have him tell you about the time you met Jennifer Love Hewitt. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:43

I tell that story. I tell that story on his behalf. I can quote the story. I we know this story. Quote it. Like on tell your Jennifer your version of Jennifer Love Hewitt's story.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:53

We were on a boat. Let's and it's so like I have him tell it. I think we should get him up here and have him tell it. Okay, like I the last time I heard this story was like forever ago, but it was like he told it like the same way every time. But like the same way that me and Abra would be like, oh my god, he's telling the story again. Like it was the best ever. The fight began with like I know what you're talking about. Like, oh my god, he's talking about the time he met Jennifer Lev Hewitt. Jennifer Lev Hewitt, if you're watching this, I'm a huge fan. Ghost was for period who killed that shit. Anyways, he met you. And he was trying to get a picture of you, and I think you were with like your boyfriend at the time. I don't know who he was. This is the funny shit. I don't know. You were the you were the star of the show, Jennifer. Anyway, so I think it was like he was trying to get a picture with her, and she was like in a rush to go somewhere, but she was still being very nice, but she's like, I gotta go. And like cameras took like what four to ten business days to actually take a picture. No, I'm just kidding. But no, it took a few seconds to like shut her guests, and he like dropped the camera too quick or whatever, and he just had a picture of her toad ring. So funny, so hilarious. You gotta tell I gotta pee, because I gotta hear this whole story. Those have gluten in them.

unknown 1:05:12

I don't care.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:14

I'm gluten for you. I'm gonna bring him up. While you know, like do you remember, like he would tell it and we'd be like, oh my god, he's coming out. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:26

You'll get to see the man behind it all.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:28

The man, the myth, the legend, Matthew Better. Anyways, um, no, I was like, I was just saying, like, when's the last time you think he told this story? Like, forever ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:37

No, I'm sure I bet. Oh, let's take a bet. Let's take bets. Okay. I'm gonna bet he said it within the last three weeks.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:46

I'm gonna go five years. You know five years? Uh no. Within the past year. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:52

I'm think I feel like he's gonna be like, I'm at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:55

No, locked in, locked in. Five years. Locked in.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:58

Three weeks, one year.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:00

What's how much money? No, no money, but we're so bored. My present. Dad.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:09

When was the last time you told this story? What do you think what do you think you did within the past year?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:28

Yeah. Oh my god, here we go. Yeah, here.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:37

I mean not live, live. Recorded, recorded.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:48

So I'm here to talk about my Jennifer Love Hewitt experience.

unknown 1:06:54

Sorry.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:55

Is that what I'm doing?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:56

Yes. Yes. Okay, alright. We were talking about how much we used to talk about this on me. We we used to tail it verbatim, anyway.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:04

I've told a few times, that's for sure. And these and the and and uh yes, those around me right now have heard it probably almost every time. So about 17 years ago, I'm in California for training, and four of us went out to dinner. Long beach, and in sight of the restaurant where we were eating was the Queen Mary. Queen Mary, big boat, old boat, not used to really sail around anymore. It's used to entertain. There's a restaurant on it. You can buy a room, you can stay there, have fun, whatnot. Anyway, we are taking pictures, as one might do in a town they haven't been to lately, or ever. And there is a girl named Rosie from Florida. It was Rosie from Florida, Jeff from California, Chris from Alabama, and myself from Pennsylvania. We're sitting around, she's taking pictures, and I'm like, you know, I had to rent a car. So I said, We could just drive there after dinner and get a close-up and you get a much better picture. She's like, eh, good point. And then randomly she's like, So when do you think we're gonna see famous people? I'm like, what do you mean? She's like, well, I'm I'm in Florida, I'm in California, when am I gonna start seeing famous people? I'm like, I don't know. Maybe we'll run into someone famous, maybe we won't, but let's finish dinner and we'll head to the Queen Mary. So we go to the Queen Mary and pull into the parking lot, and the environment is kind of strange. There's trailers all over the place, there's people walking around in like some seriously old garb, right? Old clothes, period time piece, like not quite sure what's going on. So they're all kind of nervous about it, and I'm like, just act as if. Just follow me, we'll be fine. We walk in, there's some roped off areas. I'm like, just ignore the roped-off areas, we're just gonna walk onto the boat. Just walk onto the boat. So we walk onto the boat, we pass people again in all these like super old 1800s type of clothing on. And we're walking around what seems to be a completely vacant boat. No one's on this boat, no one's around. We're just helping ourselves. We're opening doors, we're going in, we're walking around the restaurant, we're back in the kitchen, just giving ourselves a self-guided tour of the Queen Mary because this place is shut down, apparently, except for all these people in like 1800s clothes. So we start walking down this one long hallway, and we get to the end, it's roped off, and there's all these racks of clothing and light standards and all this, and I'm like, wait a minute, there's like they're filming something here, something's going on. And I'm like, Rosie, you may just very well meet someone famous today. So, sure as shit, we go up the step. Now, we run into a guy who's got all this like heavy equipment hanging off his waist, and I'm like, Are you a key grip? And he's like, as a matter of fact, I am a key grip. And I'm like, what's going on? He goes, Oh, we're filming the Ghost Whisper. Jennifer Love Hewitt's here. He's like, absolutely he's here, and everybody else is in the cast of Jennifer Love Hewitt. I believe there's a number of recognizable names, of which I don't know. I just know Jennifer Love Hewitt is the main person for uh the Ghost Whisperer. I said, What do you what are our chances of getting up there and meeting her? He goes, Well, last I was up there, the security guard was on his cell phone not paying attention to anything. So there's a probably good chance you could just walk right on the set. So I go, All right, gang, let's go. And they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we can't just walk on. And I'm like, we can do whatever we want until someone tells us we can. So we hop over the rope, we walk up the steps, we go onto the back of the boat, and sure enough, it is a set. There are directors' chairs, there's lights, there's actors milling around all over the place. They're in the middle of not filming anything, so everyone's kind of just hanging around, talking, that sort of thing. And as we're walking up, the that key grip guy catches us out of the corner of his eyes. He goes, Hey, there's that security guard. As the security guard walks right by us and down the steps, right where we came from, and off kind of out of the out of the picture. I'm like, We're golden, we're good. Let's start mingling, let's let's find some people. And someone from the other side of the boat clearly recognizes that we don't belong. I mean, we're dressed like this. So, uh, definitely not in 1800s gear. So he comes over and he's like, Um, excuse me, what are you guys doing here? And I'm just kind of like giving the motion to my people, like, just follow my lead. I'm like, we're extras. And he's like, Oh, okay. And he lets us alone. And I'm kind of like, this is so easy. We might actually get on the scene. So then the guy kind of circles back around and he's like, I'm sorry, you guys don't belong here. You need to get off the boat. So I'm like, yeah, but I can't go back that way. There's like all kinds of ropes and stuff. It's like a roped-off area. We shouldn't be going that way. He goes, Okay, we'll just walk across the set, walk down the hallway, like make your first right. There's a set of steps, help yourself off the boat. I'm like, okay, we'll do that. So we go walking down this hallway, skip the first right, just keep going, make another right and another right, and we end up back right where we started, except on the other side of the boat. And the guy beelines it over to us, he's like, What are you doing? I go, I I didn't see the right. So he's like, go back down and go. So we go back down and we find where he's talking about to make the right, and we instead of leave, we're kind of hanging out, and walking down the hallway towards us is Jennifer Love Hewitt. And she just kind of in a scurried fashion runs, kind of goes by us hand in hand with a boy down the steps and boom. And the people following her, I'm like, hey, hey, what's going on? What's Jennifer? Oh, she's just uh they're in between scenes, she's gonna go get changed and come back up. And I was like, How long? She's like, not too, not too long, should be like 10-15 minutes. So Rosie's like, oh my gosh, I'm actually gonna get a picture taken with Jennifer Love Hewitt. And I'm like, Yes, you are, and I'm gonna make sure it happens. So I said, give me your camera, acting like I'm some professional photographer. I'm like, give me your camera. I know how these things work. We gotta practice. Now, mind you, this is you know, the I don't know, maybe maybe a 14-megapixel camera or something back in the day, super high tech for them, 17 years ago. So um we are practicing taking pictures with her camera so that when the time comes, we are 100% ready for this. We we dig we do a practice run, we're good to go. Camera shuts off. Camera shuts off, she comes back up, we turn the camera back on, I'm like, Rosie, we're good. I said, Jennifer, can we get a real quick picture? And she's like, I gotta go back to set. I'm like, oh, by the way, there's a stalker family that showed up. So there's the four of us, and then a mom and a dad, and kind of a youngish kid are hanging out, and they're like, You know who's on this boat, you know who's on this boat is Jennifer Love Hewitt. We we'd like follow her around and we'd try to get her pick. Like, I'm like, these people are nuts. We're just like, I'm just trying to get Rosie a picture with Jennifer Love Hewitt, and we're out. So Jennifer comes up, and she's like, I'm I'm in a real big hurry. I give her the the biggest like eye roll, like it's a picture, like one picture. She's like, okay, fine. And she kind of sees Rosie's face like completely dejected, but she's like, Okay, cool, I'll I'll take one picture. So I'm like, all right, Rosie, we're in. So I kind of like push Rosie over. She's kind of like arm in arm with Jennifer Love Hewitt, and I snap the picture, or so I thought I snapped the picture. I snap the picture, and I I start to take the camera down, and Jennifer Love Hewitt exits the scene, and the flash then goes off. And I'm like, oh shit. I and the guys who were with me, Chris and Jeff, were both like, oh, I think, I think the flash like was waiting for more light, and that didn't take. I'm like, no, I think we're good. I think we're good. I'm like, Rosie, check, check out the shot we got. And she checks her camera roll. There's one picture on there from that moment, and it is Jennifer Love Hewitt's Pinky Toe. And that's it. Just the floor of the boat, and enough where you see Jennifer Loves Hewitt's pinky toe popping out of her flip-flop. And Rosie is just like all the color just left her her her face, her soul has hit the floor, she's toast. Meanwhile, remember the family, the Stalker family. The kid goes, I got it. And I look back, and this guy's got a much better digital camera than our little camera, and he shows us the picture. It's you could tell they were looking at me, meaning Rosie and Jennifer Love Hewitt, because his picture was them looking not at his camera. And it was the perfect shot. Rosie, Jennifer Love Hewitt, golden. And I immediately I go, dude, you gotta bail me out. I gotta give, I'm gonna give you my email address. Will you please send me that picture? Um, and I'm thinking, there's no chance in hell we're ever gonna get this picture again. Sure as shit, he sends us the picture. So Rosie ends up getting her picture of Jennifer Love Hewitt. We meet briefly, I mean, we just a quick exchange, and she was in and out. Um, but that's my story on how I crossed paths with Jennifer Love Hewitt, fully talk shit about taking a great picture, which ended up being a pinky toe, but this Stalker family's kid got the perfect shot, emailed it to us, and Rosie, Chris, and Jeff and I still work together to this day, 17 years old. Actually, no, I lie. Jeff retired last year, but Chris Rosie and I still work together. She's still in Florida, Chris is still in Alabama, and I am still in Pennsylvania, and that's my story about how I attempted to take a picture of Jennifer Love Hewitt.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:06

Thank you for the retell.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:09

I think that was the best ever feeling storytelling.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:16

No, like it's been so long since I've heard that story.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:18

Wait, can you shut the door?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:20

No, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:22

Thank you. That's so funny.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:26

I love that story so much. That's such I forgot how much there was to it. There is a lot of detail in that story. How did that my dad bullshit his way onto a movie set or a TV show set? No, like that's how he is though. He just lies. He's the guy. He's the guy that he knows.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:43

No, but like he like like I don't know. I'll just say so. Do you guys remember when he printed he like made passes that he could get on sidelines of football games?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:54

I'm serious. College football games for shout-out bowling green. Oh yeah. Matt Maddie J. Maddie J! Maddie J. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:09

But do you guys remember that? Yes. I think it worked. It worked every time.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:13

Oh good.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:14

It worked every time sideline passes. I got inspiration and I made a parking pass in college. No. Hilarious. No. Parking pass. So I didn't have to pay for as much parking. Um, I know. Sick. Um, that was a great story. That was a great story. Oh my yeah, my um I love that story so much.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:40

I love Jennifer Like that's a great story.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:43

My I remember in my second bullet point when after you guys had talked about cheer, and I was like, oh, that made me think of two things. My second one was that I was like, damn, they like their whole life was like cheer for many years, and I was like, they're very involved parents. It's like they deserve it. You know? They deserve to relax right now. They're like having like the time of their lives right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:08

They're so fun. Like, I mean, I'm since I am the only one left, like I I drive now.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:12

Um, I have friends and people that I like to go see a lot.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:17

So they are if I'm out, usually they're out as well, and usually they're out sometimes later than I. And I have to beg them to come home. But they are out a lot, but they have friends. Like they're fun. Like they they're just fun now.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:30

They're such fun parents.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:33

Yeah. They deserve this like fun little because they both had kids when they were 18 and then 20 or 21, something like that. Young. And we're single parents, essentially. Yeah.

unknown 1:21:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:54

So they finally got to like have fun.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:56

Because the funny thing is they're hanging out with young adults. Those are their friends, our neighbors. Okay. Not in a weird way. Not young adults. Okay. Not young adults, not that much. They're adults. They're like late 30s, early 40s, but like young adults. They're so fun adults.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:18

I know they are super fun. Well, I feel like, I mean, I feel like we can talk for hours and hours about all this, but I think this is a really good like part one. We can I think this would be a it would be fun to do a reunion. I'm sure people are gonna have questions. I bet. I bet. But do you get questions about our family?

SPEAKER_05 1:22:40

Oh, for sure. Some people have people ask, I'm like, oh, people think I'm an only child.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:45

I have to explain. I'm like, no. They're like how many? I'm like, three. They're all girls.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:50

Once I get to the punchline about how we're all six years apart, then it really is. People are really shocked. But yes, like a reading would be great. Questions are great. And our nephew, our oldest sister's firstborn, is six years younger than Avery.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:04

So it continued.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:06

Which is weird.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:09

That that was super funny. Um, yeah, I mean, we have a million more stories to share, questions to answer. But I think that was a really good. That was like a fantastic intro to our family, I think. Yeah. So we hope you like it. Um, this was so fun, and have a great night from the Rider Girls. This has been another episode of Stories I Wouldn't Tell My Nana. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate it. And coming up, okay, so if you didn't already listen, we have Lad's Night. That's about one of my favorite one night stands. We have shrooms in Aruba. Um, that is about my literal on foot journey to do shrooms for the first time in Aruba. Oh my gosh, what else is coming up? We have Fat Ass White Girl coming up about um two separate incidents about seven or eight years apart when two different friends of mine called me fat in front of other people and how I dealt with it, how I handled it, and um how no one else in the fucking room said a goddamn thing. Anyway, I'm clearly over it. Um let's see what else we have. Heartbroken in Geelong coming up. Um there's that's gonna be a two parter because it wasn't just one man. It wasn't just two men, it was three men. Three men in Geelong that great disappointments, and I'm gonna talk about it. Um we have so many episodes coming up, so keep tuning in. Thank you so much for being here, and I'll see you next time.