Holy Chaos

This week on Grace Period, Josh Nauman is back alongside Noel Thompson as we welcome special guest Isaiah Salvador for a conversation about Pentecost, closing chapters, graduations, and the chaos of this time of year.

As school years end and summer begins, life can feel exciting, emotional, exhausting, and nonstop all at once. Together, we talk about transitions, staying grounded during busy seasons, the emotions that come with change, and how Pentecost reminds us that God still meets people in the middle of uncertainty and movement.

An honest conversation about faith, growing up, change, and navigating the busy seasons of life.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Welcome, welcome to the Grace Period Podcast, where we gather for honest conversations about faith, everyday life, and the grace that carries us through it all. Think of this podcast like friends sitting down over a cup of coffee, sharing stories, laughing at ourselves, and leading into God's grace together. Amen. Expect honesty, humor, and a space to ask hard questions. No sermons, no sermons here, just a good old conversation. Grace period podcast. Make you room for grace in real life. This podcast is brought to you by Christ Lutheran Church here in Visalia, California. You can find us online at cstvisalia.org or on Facebook and Instagram. My name is Noel Thompson. Josh Naulman is back with us. Josh, how are you doing today? My back hurts. His back hurts. So we'll talk about that. And then we have our we have a guest today, Isaiah Salvador.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

How are you doing, Isaiah?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I'm doing well. My back does not hurt so much, but maybe we could recommend uh improvement specialist.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah, uh muscle activation practitioner.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Yeah, he's uh he's extremely busy right now. That's right. Yeah, is the baby born? I haven't gotten any updates. Yeah, I think where they went yesterday.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

It was this week. Uh Michael's uh uh son was so we're we're all praying for them right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yeah, all the best to them.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Yeah, I appreciate the back updates. We talked about that in our pre-production meeting. So my back is fine for everybody who cares or or is listening. Um there's some yoga in my future. Yoga.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

I kind of feel like you're just rubbing it in over there, Noel.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

You know what's he usually does. You know what's new is the you've seen the hot yoga uh on TikTok and Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

I have, yeah. Are you talking about did you listen to part of my take when they were talking about a little bit?

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah, that was hilarious. Yeah, but it's basically yoga and asana, and which sounds like horrible.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Well, that's just like double hockey sticks. That's just doing yoga during the summertime here.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Yeah, which when I do yoga, I have like the AC blasting, the fan on, and three things of water around me at all.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Every time I do yoga, it's hot yoga.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

I think we're all in agreement on that.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

As I'm stretching, I'm sweating. So I'm a little confused now. What's the difference between real yoga and uh hot yoga? So um, but yeah, so maybe some yoga for Josh. Um maybe a muscle relaxer, a muscle shortcut.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

I was actually thinking about taking the muscle relaxer when I have no responsibilities, people doing it responsibly. That's right, taking the muscle relaxer, going into my yoga routine and seeing how far I get before I'm just done.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

There you go. So yeah, yoga is interesting, but we were I love it.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

I got into it in Codivid and really, I really like doing it. Are you a yoga guy, Zoo?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Uh, yes, sparingly. So Sarah and I have found this uh this person on YouTube, no free ads. I won't I won't give them a shout out, but they do like monthly challenges, and so each day you show up, it's like a 15 to 30 minute right yoga practice, and we've done a few of them together. Um she's more dedicated to it than I am, but every once in a while I'll pop in.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I found a series on Amazon that I finally bought that was I I Googled yoga for fat people, and I found yoga for the inflexible. Oh and it's actually really good.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

I like it a lot more more of a like a appropriate way, more politically correct way.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Yeah, yeah. Because I am both of those.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

This past winter retreat, we got into yoga one night. We were just feeling it before the kids went to bed. I put on my iPad and Apple Fitness, and Apple Fitness has everything, and there's a yoga and a cool down, and the kids were into it. Yeah, most, yeah, most interesting sounds from the crowd a few times, but that's also part of the experience of like those are the inflexibles. You just heard it back like, oh man, you're not sure if it's like pain or comfort or or only above. I don't know. Pretty good that night, yeah. It was pretty good. So, all right, national days continuing this bit. It's always fascinating to see the national days, and I think I've mentioned this before on the podcast. I only choose like three or four. Um there's literally you go on this website, there's like 20 to choose from on every single day. So, really, this bit's never really gonna run out. But we are recording on May uh 21st. It's a Thursday, and today is Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day. And I think that's a typo. I I think it was eat more fruits than vegetables day. Either way, you could take this however way you want.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

So it's like anti-vegetable.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

I have to look back, big fruit, but big fruits coming in. They're the ones that I see. I love I I've gotten to love all these national day stuff, but I really want to find out who is actually registering these days.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

I'm wondering if it's like one of those I'm wondering if it's like a like a petition. Like, do you have to get a certain amount of signatures?

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Or I think it's more like you have to pay a certain amount of money to this website. You think it's money? Yeah, because I'm pretty sure we could register a day.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Yeah, you know what? Maybe that'll be nobody would care. Maybe that'll be the goal of the podcast is to get a day, yeah, Trace Podcast Day. So it's not a typo. Eat more fruits and vegetables day.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Is this because it's like the end of spring and we have lots of fruit and vegetables lying around and we don't want them to go to waste? Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

So here's my question to you two. What's what's your favorite fruit and favorite uh vegetable, Isaiah?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Oh, tough question here. Favorite vegetable? Uh hot take, as you would say.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Okay, we we're all about the hot takes here.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Broccoli.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

I don't think that's a hot take. Not a hot take. So many people hate it though. I don't now hold on though.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

I think hold on, I think it is popular to hate broccoli.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yeah, which I'm against.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

But hold on though, so good. Do you eat it cold and hot, or is it one way or the other?

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Uh there's two ways to prepare it for me.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

I'm a go-to steamed guy. Yep, steamed broccoli soon broccoli is so good. Yep. And I'm growing on like a baked brock. Okay. Just like a sheet pan baked, or even have you done like the smashed broccoli?

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Never heard of it.

unknown 6:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

I don't mind cold broccoli if it's mixed in with like a salad with other stuff.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

But like cold broccoli has to be small or covered in ranch.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Yeah, cold broccoli by itself is a little psychotic.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

I think anything covered in ranch is yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

So that's your vegetable is broccoli. Yeah. Okay. What's your fruit? Uh not big on fruits. Really?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

That was gonna be my question, too. Is are you more of a fruit or vegetable guy? But you're more of a vegetable guy at some point.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

For sure. Definitely more savory than sweet. Okay. Um all across the board. Uh fruits is tough. I uh green apple, I think I would go with. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 7:01

Oh my gosh, that's a hot take. Yeah, a good old granny Smith.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Wow, you like it? It has a good bite to it, it has something to it, it touches you back. Yeah, all right. How about you, Josh? Do you have a favorite vegetable? Um I think I was always like a carrot guy. Okay, but I've also grown into like the cousins of other care of carrots. Uh-huh. Like I've started cooking with parsnips and other things that resemble a carrot but aren't orange. You're making it a family affair. I mean, this is about cousins, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

This is about to be a one-man podcast because you go off on food. As soon as you said family of carrots, I immediately mentally walked out of this room.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

But uh, no, you got me thinking about uh broccoli, and uh I've done like uh I have leftover steamed broccoli. You smash it down, put a little parmesan on it, throw it in the air fryer. Oh, yeah. Okay, do you have a fruit? I'm a big melon guy, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Okay, yeah, lots of melons. I I'm gonna go with a cheap answer for vegetable, but I I love a good like potato. I mean, potato is so flexible. Is that really a vegetable?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Isn't that a starch?

SPEAKER_03 8:04

I don't it is what I call it is it's a vegetable.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Isn't pizza a vegetable now, or is that past?

SPEAKER_03 8:09

I'm a big carrot person. I'm about the family of carrots, but big I'm not a celery guy. I actually don't mind a lot of vegetables, but I I've still it's a texture thing for me on salary, uh, celery. Sorry, because it's like too stringy.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Yeah. Um, what about hold on, throw back shout out, Christ kids. What about ants on a log? No, not a chance. Um love it. What again? Celery.

SPEAKER_03 8:30

Uh fruit, fresh pineapple, delicious.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Have you seen have you seen the new thing that they're doing with pineapple? No. In in a in a jug, like sliced spears of pineapple, okay, in a um, like a jar or a jug or something like that, and you put it in a packet of Kool-Aid and you let it like sit for a week. Okay. Fresh pineapple is delicious.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

It is mango off the tree is delicious.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Do you get the itchy mouth when you eat pineapple?

SPEAKER_03 8:56

A little bit, yep. Um, honey crisp apple, which is the opposite of the green apple guy over there. Um love strawberry. I mean, strawberries from a strawberry stand here in Visalia. It's hard to go wrong. Yeah, it really is. Um, they're all right.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

But oh speaking of vegetables, many of these stands do have a good selection of vegetables. They do.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

I've had some got some really good onions and garlic and green beans from them, too.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Yep, yeah. Um, today is also International Tea Day. Uh, I love tea, big fan of green tea, big fan of chai tea, uh, matcha. I know it's become a little bit more hipster, but I'll I'll say it.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

You do like the matcha spoon and everything.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

Sometimes I've done that. I have we have a tea cabinet in our house, and I kid you not, there's probably 30 different teas in there. My son Mark loves tea. Funny story about Mark. We went to the dentist and his teeth were stained, and the dentist was like, You gotta stop drinking soda. And Mark is like, he talks back a little bit. Mark goes, Mark goes, I don't drink soda, and the dentist kind of like doesn't believe him.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Dentist is a hard person to try and lie to.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

Dentist is like, no, you know, and so finally we go back there, you know, for the checkup, and he's like, Hey, his teeth, you know, are a little stained, and you know, from probably from soda, and we go, No, it's not from soda, and so Mark's face is really smug, he's like, Yeah, which doesn't help, right? Doesn't help, but then finally the dentist's like, Well, what does he drink?

SPEAKER_02 10:19

And we're like, Oh, he drinks a lot of like dark tea, and so the tea was like Mark's got English person tea.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Seriously, he does. No, he drinks tea a lot, and so finally the dentist was like, Oh, you drink tea? We're like, Yes, like I know he's eight, sophisticated, but and does he do it with his pinky oak?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Oh, he does it all.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Like, seriously, he loves his tea.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Loves his tea. I just found my favorite tea again. For I hadn't found it in years, and all of a sudden I found good earth, original, spiced and uh sprouts. It's hard to find.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Mine is the white pomegranate that Trader Joe's used to make. No, Trader Joe's, if you're listening, they're never gonna come here. I got a problem with you because you discontinued that white pomegranate tea, and I've had issues with you since since that day.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

I'm I'm along with Josh. I thought you were gonna bring up that they're not here and hate to bring it up.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

I'm you know what? I'm fine. I'm actually happy they're not here. You want to know why? Because the Thompson family would be bankrupt. So it's Trader Joe's, you take your time of coming to Vicelia. My bank account appreciates it.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

That's what that's what Rachel and I would do when you guys were at Hobbs Grove. We'd go to Trader Joe's.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yeah. You said you have like a whole cabinet of tea in your house. So we don't have a cabinet, but we do have a couple of like organizer things. I'm lost when those come out. Really? The winter time, those drop down from the cabinets, and I don't know where to start. I love tea. Copy all day.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

I like I like it, I appreciate it, but it's also like a production.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Okay, but here's the thing after so you let your tea seep, do you leave the tea bag in the mug? No, or do you take it out? I take it out.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

There's a proper way to take it out. Yeah, there's a science to it, actually. I didn't know that until I have a certain amount of time. I didn't know that until I actually went to a tea place that looked very much like a winery, and I actually got taught, and I've quickly realized I was doing a lot of things wrong. And then when I started doing stuff like a couple of things right, I hate to say this, but you'd notice the difference. Like you just notice how long, like you notice it. So, anywho, big fan of some green tea with a little bit of honey, a little bit of lemon in there. Uh, I tried to type something up for this, but I'm really bad at being creative. But it's talk like Yoda Day. So Josh is a big Star Wars fan. I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna do it either.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Uh I I will also refrain. I mean, without doing like trying to do the Frank Oz voice, it's basically talk backwards day. I got a hot take. I think Yoda might be the most overrated Star Wars character out there.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

I mean, he's one of the most powerful. I don't care. Overrated. That's right. That's right. I think the Yoda train is it's it's a lot of people on that Yoda train. That's all. What makes him overrated? The amount of people that love him.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

You're just an anti-popularity thing. Kinda. Are you gonna see the new movie tomorrow? Yeah, just talk plainly. Just talk plainly, you know. I almost I almost bought tickets too. I'm still thinking about it. No, I was listening to a review on the way over here.

unknown 13:14

I don't know if I want to.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

We're taking the family. We're not we're not going tomorrow, but we're taking the family, and I got to go to Lone now because movie theaters are insane. Talk like Yoda Day. Shout out to the Yoda people, May 22nd. By a musical instrument day. So I think I know the answer for Josh. Isaiah, did you play a musical instrument in junior high?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

I did. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

I'm gonna guess. Hold on. Josh, we have to guess first. What's your guess? Something from the woodwind section. Woodwind. I'm gonna say trumpet or trombone. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Uh what is what did you play?

SPEAKER_00 13:45

I started on the saxophone. Oh, particularly the alto, which Michael Siloff is a big alto saxophone guy. So does that mean I went and I was listening back, and saxphones aren't really getting the not doing a day on this pod. So saxophone.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Okay, how many years did you play the Alto Sax?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Oof, probably about six years. I played Alto, but I also in that time frame I dabbled with drums a little percussion, and I did move over to tuba. Oh, yeah. I I played berry sax as well in middle school.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Is saxophone a woodwind because you're blowing through a reed? I would say that'd be my yeah. Because when I think of wood, I understand that it's part of that, but when I think of it, I think of like obos and clarinets and yeah, I think which they have piccolos and everything.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

The one that's the weird, but what about yeah, the flute piccolo? They don't have those, it's not that your mom played.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Your mom is a very good flute player. My mom and my sister both she, yeah, she brought that flute. Yes, Carol brought that flute to Thailand, and it was quite the scene. Partied it up flute style. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Josh, credit to her for my play an instrument.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

No, yeah, I thought that I that was the answer I had in my mind, but I I wanted to looking back, and I've kind of like gotten on my mom about this. Okay, in I don't know about where you guys went though, I don't know about here or in Minnesota, but in middle school, you had to choose a path. Okay, you either went the band path, in which case all of your electives from then on going forward until you graduate high school was banned in one way or another, right? Or you chose the elective path where every semester, every year, you did something different for that period. And I chose, or I was chosen for me, the elective path, and so I did like the computer classes and the art classes and that kind of stuff. All of my friends were all in band. Wow, so I hung out in the band room after school and that kind of stuff. So they were like gridlocked in band and couldn't do the other elective, yeah, because there wasn't enough time in the day. Like in seventh and eighth grade, you're doing like orchestra or jazz or something else over here. That took up those two periods, whereas I was doing like computer science or pottery or art or something like that, or wood shop.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

I guess to be fair, around here, a lot of times to do jazz band, it was a pre-first, so you could do another elective.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Yeah. Do you ever get a reason why from your mom that she decided no the path? No, okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

No, I think there was a period where she kind of had a thing for the band teacher, but I don't know if that influenced it one way or the other.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Talk about left field. That was uh I think that could be a podcast.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

We gotta get we gotta get Nancy out here. No, we really don't. We gotta get Josh's mom on the spot. I feel like that would make that we would go viral real quick. Um, I started playing baritone, dabbled in some tuba, but I love baritone more than percussion. That's a saxophone, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:41

I know. I have to say when I learned tuba, I learned from one of my best friends to this day, and he taught me sitting in the back of the band room and showing me this note is this finger sequence, and that's how I learned to play the tuba.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Okay, so hold on. Tuba is not the thing you wear, right? That's a sousaphone. That is a sousaphone. So that is not common knowledge.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

So sousaphone is a marching tuba. This makes it easier for you to march in.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Tuba is like the one that's to be fair. The coolest marching tuba is a Contra.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah, no, tuba's the big one, the big boy. You sit and it's right, it's like on the stand in front of you, but you're not inside of it.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

No, no, so yeah. One of my I think my greatest feats in life was that I learned sitting in the back, like this is this no, like so elementary. And then a month after that, we went to sweepstakes and we got a five, which is like the best score you could get. There you go. And I was sitting in the back, like, I have no idea what I'm doing, but apparently it sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

All right, I did have one of my friends teach me like uh chords on the xylophone. Okay, that was interesting. I could uh kind of learn to read a little music.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

So if you could have gone back, what instrument would you have chosen? It probably would have been percussion in one way or another.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Yeah, I really liked xylophone. I tried to learn piano and then my piano teacher moved to Seattle. Um, I might pick it up again. Uh there you go. Think about pushing Logan in that direction.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Yeah, uh, it's also national road trip day tomorrow, which love a good road trip. Um, yeah, that's how I moved out here. Did a little road trip from Minnesota to California, visited uh Yos Yellowstone on the way. That's probably my longest road trip, I think I've ever done is Minnesota to California. We did like Montana, Wyoming, Oregon. What what's the longest road trip? Like, give me a your starting location and your ending location. What's your longest road trip, Isaiah?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Uh, when my sister moved from Pittsburgh, she called me and asked if I would drive with her from Pittsburgh to San Jose, and it was fun. It was the greatest. She called me and said 80 all the way across. She said, No, we we we dabbled. We went to the biggest.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

You get you have to make a trip out of it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Yeah, and she said, Oh, I will pay for everything along the way. Um, you just have to drive. And I was like, All right, nice.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

So we had a couple of her plants, they had a rental car that we just hopped in and drove. We stopped.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

You and your sister and some some house plants, yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

And whatever last little bits were in their basement apartment from Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

How long was that?

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Like, oh, I don't remember how long. It was it was pretty quick.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Like a solid 3,000 miles.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah, we went we went to Notre Dame, we went through South Bend. I remember that being very cool. Okay, saw Touchdown Jesus. Um I'm not even a Notre Dame fan, and that was cool. I'm just a sports fan.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Oh, that's just Rudy.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah, uh basically we did go through Minnesota. Uh, I don't think JP was living there at the time, but his girlfriend was, and so we stopped and stayed there, and then yeah, we went through like that Yellowstone area, went through Montana, all that, and went some went on some hikes and just really beautiful part of the world.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

Nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Yeah, how about you, Josh? Give us the starting and ending location of your longest road trip.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Um, my longest in distance was from Ventura to Skagway, Alaska.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

That's a long one.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Yeah. Um, did you push through or it was well? I was 13, so I wasn't driving. Yeah, I slept most of the way. But it was uh it took us 10 days to drive there and about five to drive back because you know we did all the stops along the way going up, right? And then on the way back, we're just trying to get home.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

Yeah, that's usually how road trips go.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah, all the fun stuff on the way, and then you end it.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

All right, let's go home.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

We're not stopping. The foot is down, the head is down, and you're getting home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Um, longest in time was to from Ventura to Kansas and back. That was like we did like a three-week trip that time. Okay, hit all the things, like not much to see, but hit all the things on the way there and back. We did like a big loop through like the southwest into Kansas. It takes like four weeks to drive through Texas and up into Kansas, and there's nothing there. Um, and then like the loop over through South Dakota and back down to the Rockies.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

It's also National Solitaire Day, which shout out to the solitaire players. I've never really been a solitaire player. Have you guys been to solitaire people?

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Yeah, I've I've dabbled, yeah, like more on the computer than in hand. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

It's a different beast trying to do it in person because there's obviously an order and you gotta know like the equation.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

A lot easier to cheat when you're doing it in person.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

That's true. Um, and then I don't know why I put this, but National Vanilla Pudding Day, which shout out to anytime you get your wisdom teeth out or tonsils, shout out to the pudding. That was your go to. That was my go to. Vanilla pudding. It's pretty good. I don't know. Chocolate, but and then May twenty third, I got a couple hot takes here. Uh May twenty third, National Taffy Day. Yep. I I'm not a taffy guy.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

I love good taffy. I don't know. I won't ever go out of my way to get taffy, but if taffy's in front of me, I'll eat it.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Taffy is a low-key, really good road trip snack.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

There's a place in Moro Bay, like a taffy shop, and the the amount of flavors they have, it's overwhelming. Yeah. And they allow each person two free like samples. And I tried the peanut butter and jelly one. I almost immediately threw up. Really?

SPEAKER_02 22:31

That sounds so good.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

I know, which is why I got it, because I'm a big PBJ fan, but it was like it was just the same. It was not the same.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

I don't know what happened, but I was like, Dwar's down in Bakersfield also meets Taffy, and they have a peanut butter one that's really good.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Now, this is where Dwarz is the exception. They're pistachio.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

I've gotten a little snobby with my taffy. I'm not going to like I'm not going to like the boardwalk candy shop and getting them out of there because who knows where like yeah, Dwarz is really good.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

And I know Marty Laurie is a listener. Shout out to Marty. She is she got me on Dwarz, but their peanut butter, they have a peanut butter, they have a pistachio, and they have a peppermint. Oh, so good. But the pistachio is actually really good.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Isaiah's got a face right now. You can't get past this. You said it's a great road trip snack. Yeah. But it would have been great for your trip to Alaska because it takes forever to get through.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

I know. I probably ate a lot of it on that trip. Yeah, taffy. It also kind of stops you up so you don't have to make as many bathroom stops. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Yeah, you eat a couple taffy and you you immediately feel it in your body afterwards in the next 24 hours. It's like gum that you don't have to throw away. I I've never thought about that, I'll be honest. It was a really long silence from both of you. Well, I was just like, I was trying to modestly still process. Yeah, I was trying to like just like biologically understand what you're trying to say that made sense. Taffy's just one of those things I'd never seek out. It just has to like be in front of me. Yeah, I can't remember the last time I actually bought taffy just for myself. So I don't know. I'm not a big taffy guy. And then lucky penny day. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Okay, here's my question. You see a penny on the ground, tails up. Do you pick it up or do you flip it over?

SPEAKER_03 24:13

Why would you flip it over?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Because you're supposed to flip it over so it's heads up for the next person.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

This is I'm so glad Isaiah brought this up because, first of all, my real answer to that question is I just leave it because I don't care. Because I know that there are so many people out there that are superstitious on one finding coins, and two uh finding them either heads up or tails up, and I could not remember which one was good. Heads up is supposed to be more lucky, I think.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Or like lucky. I always thought that, yeah. You see it, it's tails up, you flip it over, and then somebody finds it heads up.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Well, I can honestly tell you, I've never done that before.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

Ever. You've heard the mantra, right? No, see a penny, pick it up all the day, you'll have good luck.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

No, I've never heard that.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

That's a thing.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

You see, I have a uh like five-gallon water jug at home that I put coins okay and potentially one dollar bills in. And my goal is to fill that thing all the way. So I see a penny, and it doesn't matter what sides up, I'm picking that thing.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

Yeah, I that's what I was gonna say. I if it's coins, I pick it up, whatever. But I I I I forget the the saying if the whole heads up or if it was tails up. I don't believe in that, but um, I don't know. If I see a penny, I'm not bending over unless it's silver. I mean, honestly, I mean with these guys, there's there's a reason, yeah. That's part of a reason too. But I just kind of let it be for other people to kind of grab. I don't know. So um, but yeah, shout out to the people who believe in lucky pennies, and then you know what? Shout out to the turtles. I'm a big turtle guy. Uh, May 23rd is World Turtle Day. So shout out to them. About once or twice a year. We get turtles in my backyard that I'm pretty sure from Mooney Grove Park or from somewhere, I don't know where they appear, or the the community north of me because they have a bunch of ponds too. Oh, but about once a year, twice a year, we'll get some turtles show up in my backyard.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Random speed bumps going in.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

And I just stand there and I'm like, what is happening? Like, something is going on. So uh World Turtle Day. Uh, May 24th, I believe what is that Sunday, May 24th. Um, speaking of vegetables, I don't know where you two land on this. National Asparagus Day. I like my asparagus cooked and wrapped with bacon. That's about the only way. Where are you two stand on asparagus?

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Josh.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

I I've I'm coming around. I used to be anti-asparagus, yeah, and I've recently, not recently, last five, ten years, gotten into like grilling asparagus. Really good. Yeah, bacon or not, like grilled, grilled asparagus. I don't know what it brings out. I'm I'm luckily not one of those people with the gene to either produce or smell the smell. Okay, so yeah, get away from it that way, but nice. I'm I'm all about it.

SPEAKER_03 27:00

You big fan of asparagus? Big fan.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Okay, and it wasn't what you said your favorite vegetable was.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

It's not, but still a big fan. Okay, it's it's up there in the top five. Uh, but I don't know what she does, but Sarah does something amazing and gives me asparagus that's prepared, and I put it on the grill, and it's great.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

So nice. Uh, we have brothers, National Brothers Day on May 24th. So, shout out to our brothers. Um, I'm the oldest, Isaiah is the youngest. Josh, where are you and is lined up? Your brother's older, right? Much older, yeah. So, shout out to the brothers out there, May 24th. And then we'll talk about this here in a second, but uh May 24th is Pentecost, and that's a big day in the church. And again, that's part of our conversation here in a second. So it is Pentecost Sunday on May 24th, and then I had to look this up. I put this on here because I don't even know if I can even pronounce it.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

You ready? You you go ahead, you say national, yeah, which is strange.

SPEAKER_03 27:57

You'd think this would be like world, but no national escargo, escargot day, which I thought I I had an idea what that was, and then I looked it up and it wasn't that it's snails, it's snails, yeah. What do you think it was? I don't know. Clams? I it was something shells. I mean it's the same family, yeah. I knew cousin, I knew it was a shell thing. I I knew it was a shell thing, and so it's it's basically clams, not clams, snails stuffed with other stuff in it. The mollusk, yeah. So I don't I'm not a escargot guy, lots of garlic and butter, so you can't taste it.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Yeah, I mean you put enough garlic and butter on anything, and it's good.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

Yeah, I mean, so he's anti-garlic. I am anti-garlic. Well, so yeah, shout out to uh those are our national days here on the Grace Period Podcast. I'm not sure. Uh kind of some interesting ones here. Um, the tea day, talk like Yoda, musical instrument, um, the taffy, lucky penny. So it's always something. It is crazy to uh it's crazy to see just the the randomness and the variety of all these national days. And like I said, there's like 10 or 15, sometimes even 20 of these every day. So I kind of pick um some that are more relatable to us. A lot of these days actually are very much like National Freedom Day in this country or independence day. So I don't know. Maybe maybe the theme here is every day is worthy to be celebrated in some sort of way. I don't know. But yeah, our conversation today is not really necessarily one theme or one topic. Um, Josh and I were kind of talking about the pod here uh a day or two ago about what we wanted to talk about. And honestly, I just the first thing that came to my mind was just more about this might be selfish, but more about what's going on in my life. I this is just a crazy time, crazy time of year. And I know it's not just a crazy time of year for me, but for so many people. End of May is obviously kind of the end of spring, end of the school year, um, summer is coming up, and so it's kind of like just a big transition um for everybody in a sense of spring and summer, because I feel like summer is just a different beast, both socially, both work-wise, and and everything else. And so I kind of want to just talk about uh what's going on here, not only at the church, but also what kind of what's going on in our community and so on and so forth. And so this Sunday here at Christ Lutheran Church, it is Pentecost Sunday. Now, a lot of people might not know what that is, or maybe you know a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

I'm one of those maybe.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Yeah, yeah. So Pentecost, I'll I'll just kind of give a little context on Pentecost. Pentecost is usually about 50 days after Passover, so Pentecost means 50. So 50 days after Passover, Jesus comes into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. That's Palm Sunday, and then obviously we know the story of Jesus being crucified. And so Pentecost is 50 days after Passover. It's a huge festival for the Jewish people, still to this day. And it's another reason for Jews all around the world to go back to Jerusalem and party it up, if that makes sense. So Passover, they go to Jerusalem, they party it up, and then 50 days later, they go back to Jerusalem, they party it up, and this is the festival where they bring their first harvests. So anything, you know, if they harvest wheat or harvest fruit or anything, it's it's a it's a festival where they bring in their first fruit. It's like a first fruit festival, 50 days after Passover. And so, once again, in the Bible, you have all these people back in Jerusalem. I mean, people from all around the world back in Jerusalem, and that's where the Pentecost story comes up. You have the disciples in a house, and then the Holy Spirit comes, and it's the Holy Spirit that the prophet Joel said in the Old Testament. John the Baptist mentioned it, and then Jesus also said, Hey, after me, there's gonna be something coming, and the spirit's gonna be your counselor, he's gonna be your advocate, he's gonna be your helper. And sure enough, uh, 50 days after Passover, the Holy Spirit comes, and it comes like a wind, flows through the house, and then suddenly all the disciples are speaking all these different languages. And what's cool about that is you have all these different people from all around the world, and they're hearing their own language from people who don't know how to speak their language. Is that part of the Tower of Babel story? Not really, no, okay, but I mean, it's you have these disciples who who only speak one language, they're from Gal, they're from Galilee, they're Galileans, and the people are hearing their own language from the disciples, and they have two reactions. They're either just bewildered and and kind of distraught, or they think they're drunk. And then Peter goes, We're not drunk, that's for later. He actually kind of says that. He goes, It's it's not the wrong, it's not the right time to drink. We're gonna drink later. And then this is like the the start of the church. I mean, really, this is Pentecost Sunday is the church's birthday, if you think about that. It's where the church is started, the Holy Spirit kind of comes alive, it fills the believers, and basically the disciples kind of they don't really scatter, but this is where the the everyone from all over the world kind of gets to be filled up with the Holy Spirit. So it's a big deal. And again, obviously, you're not gonna see a Pentecost Sunday be celebrated in every church, but here in the Lutheran church, we we find it a big deal because we do believe in the the power of the church and the the church's birthday and the Holy Spirit being a big deal, which is interesting because I feel like we as Lutherans we don't really talk about the Holy Spirit a lot. I was talking about Pentecost literally last night, Josh and Isaiah to our confirmation kids. I go, it's a big Sunday, but on a normal Sunday, we don't really say the words Holy Spirit a lot. That's sometimes a little bit more saved for the more Pentecostal churches and and stuff like that. But we truly do believe in uh you know the power of the church. It's like my question to both of you is you two have traveled and experienced things. Um, how how have you experienced the church outside of 3830 West Hillary Avenue? And and I'll kind of answer this, so maybe this will help you guys answer this too. But you know, we go to Thailand, for example, and we go to that church, and that church is in a different language. And even though sometimes, well, not sometimes, most of the time, I have no idea what they're saying, I still feel connected to the church, and I feel like that's Pentecost because that's the Holy Spirit saying, Hey, it's one church, it's one body. And even though you might not understand what they're saying or what they're doing, you kind of feel connected. So I'm curious, have you ever have have have any of you stepped foot into a church outside of this one or a ministry or a group of people, and you're like, and you still feel connected to God, even though you're not here on this campus? Um yeah, any any thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 34:51

I mean, very similarly, I've I've been to uh services in other languages, yeah, and I very much got that sense where I don't speak exactly the same language they do, but I understand the um I don't want to say ceremony, but I understand the connection, the significance of it, and the significance, yeah. And and I may not be able to talk with the person next to me and ask them about their day and their family and their lives, but we're still connected in that way. We're we can still look to each other and and we know that we care for one another and we have each other there. And um in a different light, I did go to church with a coworker of mine, and it was a different denomination, and it was different than a church service here, but also not different in that same way. And it was really fun because we got to connect after and discuss those differences and compare. And but the bottom line was that in that moment we were still there, the Holy Spirit was there, and right, and we were connected in that way.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Yeah. How about you, Josh? I mean, I've had some of the same experiences that you talked about in Thailand. Um and other than that, I've been to a handful of other churches doing during chaperone trips around California and and Portland and that kind of stuff. And I've never never felt disconnected at all. Like you said, it's always been um very uh very comforting. Kind of we kind of all know why we're there and we're there for a good reason. Um, I've also felt the opposite though, going to churches where you know on the outside it felt it looked very like open and welcoming and everything. And and you get in there and you're like, yeah, it's not really not really what I was expecting, and kind of left feeling like uh wasn't supposed to come back. Yeah, right. It's interesting, but and uh and I'm I'm thinking about it while you guys are talking, and going to a church where my language is not the primary one spoken, I think it would it's easier for me to interpret the feelings in a in in a positive way rather than relying on understanding the words. Yeah. Um if I if I can understand the words, then they're more open to interpretation. Yeah. And whereas if if I'm just going off of the vibes and the feeling and you know having a general understanding of what their what their goal is for that sermon or for that moment, then I think it's a little easier to come away with it with a positive attitude, yeah, and a positive having a positive experience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

One of my favorite things to do when I teach this like lesson in confirmation, and again, I did it last night, so it's really, very fresh in my memory. I love asking the students, like, hey, tell me about your Holy Spirit moments. And it's just like silence, cricket, crickets, and I that's the first thing I ask them. It's because I think it's hard to identify something one you don't see, right? Like, you don't necessarily, it's not in your face, but then I do the lesson and I talk about it, and then at the end at the end, I'm like, okay, now tell me about your Holy Spirit moments, and then they have a whole thing of like Yeah, they got to learn learn what the definition is before they can apply it to the channel.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

And I think that's kind of like I feel like we need to do that a little bit more in the church, and I hope that we can do that more in general, but I feel like because I think we're we're constantly obviously when we when we hear the words, right, that Paul says in Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God, that's the Holy Spirit constantly surrounding us and inside of us, and all that that's saying, Hey, like you are God's children and or a child of God, you are being surrounded by his presence. And and any and I I was telling these examples again last night, and I'll I'll ask you to, but you know, anytime you kind of feel that tap on your shoulder, like, hey, go say hi to that person. Hey, like, you know, if you see someone and you have sympathy or empathy or compassion and you just want to say a quick prayer, that's the Holy Spirit. Or hey, you for some reason you want to open the door for someone and smile and go out of your way to be a little bit more, maybe nicer than you are before, not saying you're not nice, that's the Holy Spirit. You know, those moments where you feel convicted and you probably should say sorry, that's that Holy Spirit tap on your shoulder, right? Or maybe you know you kind of did something, you hurt someone's feelings, and even though it wasn't intentional, you still want to bring it up. That's the Holy Spirit. Um, you know, going out going out of your way for any other reason for kindness or or anything else, and you just kind of feel like that urge, that urge of of of that, that's the Holy Spirit. Where you have those brief moments of bravery or or courage or or whatever. Anytime you just feel like something's urging you to do something, whether it's a love action or maybe it's an urging to not do something. Like, yeah, I shouldn't judge. Maybe I shouldn't say it in that tone.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Instead of a tap on the shoulder, it's it's a pullback.

SPEAKER_03 39:44

Exactly. Those are Holy Spirit moments. It's all these youth are like, oh, yeah, like I I'm not alone. Like God is God is with me, right? Like those moments of where you randomly have self-control where you usually you don't. That's like holy. I I kind of view it as like those those bumpers in the highway, you know, on both sides of the lane. So like the kind of the Holy Spirit kind of helps us to stay in the lane a little bit. Now you can still drive over them, right? There's free will and all of that, but those bumpers in the highway tell you, hey, reminder, stay in the lane. And I think that's what the Holy Spirit does, it advocates for us, it helps us, it comforts us. And so it kind of stays us in the lane of trying our still trying our hardest to um, you know, stay true to who we are and stay true to. And so I guess when was the last time you got you had a Holy Spirit tap, a push, or or as I think Isaiah beautifully said, uh withheld? Is there a time where the lat you know you two have kind of had that that moment of like, hey, um, go do this, or hey, you maybe shouldn't have said that and and said sorry, or hey, pray for that person, or hey, or hey, maybe sometimes it's give a dollar when normally you don't, right? Or or whatever. Um, I feel like I I get those kind of not routinely, it doesn't happen a lot. Um, but I feel like there's always moments where I get that tap of like, hey, go check on this person or whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

Yeah, I mean, I think I think around here, like you said, sometimes it's as simple as, hey, I'm gonna hold this door open or I'm gonna tell this person good morning. Um it's just those moments where it's it's connecting with people. And maybe somebody that you on another day might not have said good morning to. Maybe you pre-judge them. You looked at them and you thought, oh, they might they might not want to talk to me at all. And then you say good morning and you just opened up their day.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

Yeah, you know. I was also telling the youth too, like even during worship service, we we take communion every week. But maybe one particular week you take communion and you feel peace. That's the Holy Spirit, or maybe you feel conviction during communion, or maybe it's a worship song that you've heard thousands of times. Maybe there's one line that sticks to you, and you're like, ooh, and for whatever reason, like that line sticks to you because maybe you needed to hear about it that particular day. That's the Holy Spirit, you know what I mean? Like, so I think the Holy Spirit breaks repetitiveness sometimes. I think because obviously you can't get to contain the Holy Spirit, but that's that's God still doing this and doing that. Josh, I mean, is there a particular thing or time or moment, maybe going back to the worship thing, or is where a song that you sang a million times, or communion, or whatever, where you're like, ooh, ooh, it's something different today.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

I really like when how Isaiah put it about not only like the the push but the pullback.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

Because I feel like that is um, and maybe this is a little bit of a cop-out, but that's a little more easy to recognize when it happens. There uh it's so easy to be negative and cynical and and look for just the the the bad things that are going on around us because they're everywhere, yeah. Um and extremely the easy these days to comment about it and propagate that negativity. Um but feeling like uh feeling the hand on my on on my collar being like hold back, or you know, and and not like not to a point where I'm holding it in in a negative way or anything like that. But like, do you really need to do that? Yeah, do you really need to say that? Is it really necessary to do that right now?

SPEAKER_00 43:26

How's how's that gonna bring positivity?

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Yeah, exactly. Are are we are we affecting change in a way that's positive, or are we just speaking into the ether again to be heard?

SPEAKER_03 43:38

Because when you do that, I mean I've done it too. It it's more than just a pullback, you sit there and you kind of like minister like that's where the Holy Spirit like ministers to you. Yeah, it causes you to evaluate the whole situation and how you got in it and what what you're gonna do to get out of it because you have this uh you like you dissect it in your brain and you debrief it, and then you like walk through it, and then at the end of that tunnel, you're like. Oh, like, and then you learn something about yourself too, a little bit, right? Like you just kind of learn, like, oh, and like that's yeah, exactly. That's the Holy Spirit. So, yeah, so we'll just yeah, real quick. I want to talk about Pentecost uh today. Uh, we're actually doing something that I don't know, in my time here, we really haven't done. And shout out to Pastor Sean. We this Sunday at church, we're gonna have like 10 different languages be spoken in the service. Nice, and so we've kind of taken like parts of the service, and you know, we have people speaking in German, Lahu, Portuguese, um, all these different languages broken up, and so the peace of the Lord will be spoken in a different language. Some of the so, anywho, I'm really excited to because again, the disciples speak in all these different languages, and so um, this Sunday we're gonna have different languages incorporated into our service. So uh be looking forward to that, and then as I Isaiah said, little good old Lutheran boy over there, wear red. It is the color of the day, wear red. So um, I don't think I own any red. I I own like a light pink, and I always wear that, so but yeah, I really gotta think about that.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

And then uh I'm wearing khaki right now, that's about close to red as I can.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Yeah, that's pretty far off of red.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

That's not close at all.

SPEAKER_03 45:14

It's not blue or gray, so and then the Sunday is interesting, it's just that time of year because the way calendar is, but the Sunday is Pentecost, and then Monday's Memorial Day, and so obviously we're gonna um I wrote the prayers for the Sunday, so I do have a petition of of praying for all the the families and service members who have died in action uh for our for our wonderful country. And so just wanted to shout that out here on the podcast that Monday's Memorial Day, and then usually Memorial Day is kind of the the I know it's it's a very important holiday for a very important reason, but it's also a holiday that's kind of a uh a reminder that the school year is about to finish. It's the unofficial start of summer, right? And summer is uh summer is about to begin, and so we have a lot of graduates already um from college and and high school, and it's a big chapter for for people. So I'm I'm kind of curious because I actually have my first high school graduation party on Sunday. Um, what was that transition like for two of you? I uh high school is a big transition, I think you you you you've been going to school for what uh 13 years of your life, technically, you start at age five, maybe before that. If you go to preschool, but you basically be going to school for you know 13-15 years, and then suddenly you kind of have the opportunity to not go to college, or at least you just have a little bit more freedom. How is uh Isaiah graduating high school? You went to L Diamante. How was it for you just kind of like that transition of post-high school? Did you did you take it well? Was it a good transition? Um looking back?

SPEAKER_00 46:52

I don't think that I understand the largeness of the moment. I think I think I underestimated what it was. Okay, also just I think I was from outside was pushed so much to like what's next, I didn't get a chance to sit and revel in the moment and and truly enjoy what that meant. And so I I think looking back, that's something that to anyone that's graduating this year or in the coming years, just take a moment to enjoy it, look around, see where you're at, and and really dwell on that. Um but gosh, I mean it was still really fun. I'll say that. I remember we did a connected graduation party with my best friend Jacob. And yeah, um, yeah, yeah, that that was awesome, you know. Like I did get to enjoy that moment with him. Like, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the moment. I I just think I didn't really understand what was next.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

So looking back, do you think you kind of missed out on some opportunities, maybe, or didn't take advantage of them, maybe?

SPEAKER_00 47:59

Yes and no. Yeah, um, but again, I've I've had a lot of time to think about this, right? Especially in the last couple of years, and I wouldn't change anything. Yep. Um, I just think uh maybe I didn't fully understand the gravity of the situation, if you will. But uh no, looking back, I mean it's just it's such a big moment, and it is such a culmination of, like you said, 13 years of your life potentially, where you've been going to school, you've been studying, and just looking out what are your options after that? What makes you happy? How can you bring happiness to others? You know, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_03 48:35

So which is incredibly unfair that like the the world has this pressure on 17, 18-year-old kids that they have to know exactly what they're doing. Oh, it's even earlier now. Yeah, it's it absolutely is even earlier now. But that I think that's the the biggest tragedy, I think, of our society.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

There's there's a lot of them, but I mean, I don't think I figured it out until it was mid-20s.

SPEAKER_03 48:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

I'm still figuring it out. Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:01

You have to make these decisions that have huge financial impact on on you and your family and and whatever. It's just it's just crazy before you're even thinking about it. Yeah, absolutely. Josh, what about you? Uh graduating high school. Obviously, I'm not trying to age us here, but high school for us. I am the oldest one in the high school for us, you know, back in our generation, a little bit, a little bit different, but still it's a big transition. How did you handle the the high school graduation? Did you have senioritis or you know, how did you kind of finish off your high school career?

SPEAKER_02 49:32

I mean, the the last last quarter of my high school was like, I don't think anything substantial happened. It was um I was already 18, I was already working part-time. Um going to my community college was not an option. It was just what was gonna happen. Yeah, when I mean not an option, I'm not that saying I couldn't go. I it was I was going to go there. There was no option to not go. That was just what we were told we had to do. Yeah. Um, and it so honestly, it was it wasn't that different. Like that that I can I definitely remember um going through the pomp and circumstance of graduating, doing like a grad night thing, which was that night. Um, and then it was summer, and you know, most of my friends had graduated the year before me. Um, the couple of friends I had that were in my class, um, I think we hung out once that first week after graduation. I remember going to a friend's house and eating chips and salsa randomly in his backyard, and that was the last time I saw that guy. Yeah, like forever. That was 25 years ago now, right? And um that it's I don't know that that summer was weird. I was on my own for the first time ever that summer. Um, and then that fall I went to Ventura College and started that whole process, changed my major a dozen times, and eight years later I got a bachelor's degree. I was on the eight-year plan, folks. Um, but yeah, so like I don't know, it wasn't I I already kind of felt like an adult that last year. Like my my last year of high school was kind of weird to begin with. Um, I turned 18 the third week of high school, third week of my senior year. So I was already kind of doing my own thing. And it so yeah, I don't I don't think I appreciated it for what it was. I I do remember having kind of the euphoric sense when I graduated college. And and we'll get into that transition, but that that one was much more of like uh, oh my gosh, what just happened? Right, what am I gonna do now? Type of thing. Like there was no more school in front of me.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

I think for me, I'm on the opposite, almost at almost like opposite side of you two. I had a very emotional my graduating class was 165. It's tiny. We all went from kindergarten through senior year. So literally having this this moment come up, knowing that I'm gonna exactly what you said, knowing that we're all gonna go our separate way, separate ways, and just not ever see people again. Like I remember senior year being a very emotional time because it you just knew that truth was coming. You just knew that, especially as senior year kind of got closer, and people were you know going to this college, this college, this college. You just suddenly the all the people you went to school with for all those 13 years, everyone knew every mean no one dated each other by senior year because we were basically siblings by then, you know what I mean? Like we were all just kind of like so close. So I remember like being like I was it was almost like traumatic. I'm I'm I'm not trying to be like I I say that word very lightly, but it was very like a hard time because you go from just like being surrounded by all these people your entire life, and then but knowing that truth, knowing that truth of like, yeah, you you're never gonna see these people again. And sure enough, 22 years later, I can count on one hand probably the people I've seen since this high school.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

For me, I don't I mean, I'm not sure about you, but for me, this was pre-social media. Exactly. Facebook wasn't a no, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:11

Facebook didn't go until uh probably three or four years after um I graduated high school.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

Yeah, I was I was in Humboldt when Facebook started. I had MySpace before that, but even that hadn't started really until after I was out of high school. And so we if if I didn't have your phone number, yep, I was not in contact with I distinctly remember going through my yearbook, yeah, the year after I graduated, looking for phone numbers and stuff. And thinking, like, do I really want to text him or call him? And this was like before texting was really big. So I was like, Do I really want to call him? Like, I haven't talked to this guy in like nine months.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Texting costs some money back then, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Yeah, then I gotta I gotta wait until it's like nine o'clock at night to get free nights and weekends.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

This sounds so bad to like the average high schooler now because they they can't compute, but I had a notebook of all like my friend's phone numbers. I had a boys' page. No, I really did. I had a boys' page and a girl's page, and they're they look at me like that's very weird.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Well, I didn't have the brain that thing occasionally I didn't have the brain power to memorize all these people's phone numbers, so sorry, you know. I still I remember three phone numbers from that day, and it was my house, my grandma's house, and my best friend Travis's house.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

Oh yeah, uh I I still lived in that era where you did have to memorize phone numbers. Yeah, I've I've got those those handful of ones that to this day.

SPEAKER_03 54:28

This sounds really bad, but like I can still tell you Angela Gustafson's phone number, my first girlfriend in sixth grade. Shout out to Angela, yeah. Shout out to Angela, but like it's muscle memory, right? Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I guess this is a very heavy question. In your life so far, what has been kind of one of the bigger slash harder transitions that you've had to go through? Um I I know kind of two of you well enough that we've kind of all have, you know, is it is it moving here? Is it changing careers? Is it marriage? Is it you know having family members leave? Is it transplants? Is it having kids? Is it starting new jobs? But I I guess that's kind of what I want to talk about too today. It's just gosh, I don't know if life prepared me in high school about transitioning, you know, like I I really don't think so. I'm not placing blame on the school system or other people, but I realized that growing up looking back, I was not prepared for all the transitions of life. Um, and so um that and how much furniture costs. I feel like that's I feel like I feel like those are two things I'm trying to tell the youth is like, hey, your life's gonna have a lot of transitions, both by choice and not by choice, and save a lot of money for a couch, and don't destroy that couch.

SPEAKER_00 55:48

I've been I feel like I've been doing a lot of growing up recently, and the moment that I was able to purchase a couch, I was like, this is it. Yeah, I no longer have lawn furniture in my living room, right?

SPEAKER_03 55:59

I've got a couch, and and I know that us three have been through a lot, but I'm I'm just kind of curious. Give give me one where maybe it was uh in your life, but also two, just kind of how did it affect you physically, emotionally, spiritually too, right? I mean, Grace Period Podcast. How did how did you experience God's grace? Um, Isaiah, what what comes up to mind for you?

SPEAKER_00 56:18

The first one, and it's a really, really big one, um, was when I decided to leave a four-year college. Yeah. And I mean, sitting here now, I'm getting emotional thinking about it, but I remember having to talk with my parents and explain that to them.

SPEAKER_04 56:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

And like, shout out to the loving parents that I have because they accepted that. But they pushed me too. They said, Okay, but what's your plan?

SPEAKER_03 56:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 56:50

And that was a big transition, you know. Like, I went from going to a school for going to a four-year where I had changed my major a few times and didn't know what I wanted to do. And then having to tell my parents, like, this isn't for me, and I don't know what is for me, but I need to find it. And they said, Okay, but what's your plan in finding that? And so that was, I think, the biggest thing was that knowing I had their support um really pushed me forward. And from there, like, that's a whole other podcast of where that led me. But um, that was a big transition and it was really scary. Yeah, and I think the most important thing there was having a support behind me.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

Yeah, that community that is there for you is great, but also just having someone say, Hey, I love you, and hey, it's okay. Yeah, like we need we need to say that more to people. Like, it's okay, like I got your back, I love you, but also support in a motivational way, too.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

Yeah, it was it was scary, yeah. So to like you said, to have that support of like, okay, yeah, all right, like, oh, okay, I guess it is okay. Cool, let's let's go. Right. What's next?

SPEAKER_03 58:01

Um, that conversation with your parents, like, was it harder to do like you know, we I'm not gonna say who you're more afraid of, mom or dad, but like, but in a sense though, like, right? I mean, our our parents react differently to things, right? Like my daughter comes to me for certain things instead of Rachel, and vice versa. But uh um talking to your your parents and family, was what was the hardest part? Was it changing past? Was it you saying I don't know, or was it the vulnerability, or was it kind of a mixture of all all those things?

SPEAKER_00 58:34

I I think the hardest thing was that I know my parents had to do a lot to support me in school, yeah. And so I think that was the scariest where I felt like I was letting them down. Yeah, I I think that was the hardest part of it was that sense of like they're gonna be ashamed of me.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

Yeah, I think you've more than proven that that's wrong. Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 58:56

How's it gonna get there?

SPEAKER_02 58:58

Like, how long are we gonna let them sit in here like this?

SPEAKER_00 59:00

But that's part of it, though, is yeah, I had that support, and I my I don't know, my parents taught me hard work. Sure, yeah, this church taught me hard work, and so that was one of those things where I was really scared and felt ashamed of like I'm giving up on this, but they didn't give up on me, yeah. And that was what pushed me through and got me to where I am, you know. Um, but I I do think that that was I don't think it was one more than the other.

SPEAKER_03 59:27

Yeah, and that's where again, like our society kind of blinds us a little bit, right? You felt that pressure, you had to go to a four-year school, you had to have everything figured out. Shame on you for saying, you know, like I don't have it figured out, or you know what I mean? But it it is though. I I feel like that's just the culmination of the toxicity of our world, it it makes us feel that way, and then it almost double edged sword, it blinds us from the people around us trying to help us. Does that make sense? Like it's almost like the world tells us, don't you dare go to your parents and tell them you don't have it all figured out. When really that's like that's a crazy thing to say, yeah, or think.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

I do remember specifically, like my dad kind of pulled me aside and he said, Like, it's okay, yeah. I want you to be happy, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:15

Well, and and again, we'll talk about this in the upcoming podcast vocation series. Um, that was probably the best decision you ever made. Totally.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:22

I mean, if I could speak for you, there were a couple steps in between, and again, we'll get to this in a in a later, yeah, later episode. But I mean, it it did, it it pushed me. I grew from that, like I said earlier. I I wouldn't change anything. There's so many things that I look back on that maybe weren't the greatest decision, or maybe it wasn't the right decision in the moment, but life lessons through all of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:44

So well, thank you. That's really what you, Josh. Um, I want to say moving away the first time. Yeah, that was a big one. Moving away, going away to college.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:57

Um, so you went to Ventura to Humboldt. Is that the move you're talking about?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

Yeah, exactly. So I I spent four years in my community college trying to figure out what I wanted to do and changed my major three or four times and learned that the major I thought I actually started in an industry that I thought I really liked doing and realized I didn't, so it was time to get out. And um so that was that was the first time being away from home, first time living on my own, um, first time being having any sense of independence that I could feel at the time. Um, but the most impactful was first time becoming a father. That was that was the most. And then and then like most of you know, like having that taken away from me.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:44

And then and and transitioning back into not being a father real fast. And um I mean, I've heard it all the time, like you're never not once once you have a child, even if if if they're not around, you're still a father, that kind of thing. And I've definitely felt that way, but also not, you know, it's different, yeah, much different. But um that was probably when I had when I was at my lowest, and also felt the most supported by by my family and God and my church and my friends, and like that galvanized many relationships into something that were never gonna change.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:26

So that was the biggest one for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

That's hard too, because you went from one extreme to obviously like the other. So when you transition, you almost like not like daydream, but you kind of try to plan thousand steps, thousand steps ahead.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:40

Well, and and fatherhood for most of us, I mean, I there are there are the exceptions that you don't know you're gonna be a father until it actually happens, but you it there's a lot of planning involved. There's there's you know, typically nine months or so of planning involved in that happening, and for us, it was years before that of trying, also. And so it was all this anticipation, and the day finally comes, and it's not what you expected. Yeah, and it's uh it's it's a whirlwind after that, and three weeks later, finally you're able to take a breath, and it's for the wrong reasons.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:14

So yeah. And the thing about transitions too is that they can last for not forever, but a transition can last a year, two years, it can last a day. Like that that's a I think that's the the thing about transitions too, that there's some of some of it you can control, but obviously a lot you can't. But some transitions could be your whole life sometimes, it could be a grief, it could be a change or or something like that. But that's the hard part of transitions, is that it can be really, really quick or or or not. And the fact that sometimes we don't have the choice or control over it kind of makes it uh you know, tough. I don't know. Tough stuff very what's the word that's 10 times above tough, but um, yeah, it is there a transition for both of you where maybe this is a repetitive question, but I'm just kind of curious. I think sometimes transitions you kind of know the light at the end of the tunnel, but what is what is one transition where you literally just took? I mean, I think Isaiah, this probably your answer before is now, but where you literally you know decided to take a left and you had no idea where it was going, but you knew you needed to take a left. Have you guys ever made a transition where it was vase most of it was to the unknown? Because I think for me, my answer is both the first question is this question was moving out here. Yeah, I go from you know, I didn't know anybody, I only knew like three people here, and and so I didn't know anybody socially, uh professionally, like, and so I knew it was the right decision marrying my wife, right? But other than that, like I didn't know the next 10 steps, but I knew the first step, and so um that that was the hardest. One of the harder transitions was that was because I knew the first, but I didn't know the next nine. Um, has there been a situation for you where you knew you had to take that first one, even though you didn't know the next nine? It's a good analogy, by the way. Might state might take sounds like a t-shirt, might yeah, might use that for a sermon here later. Um, Isaiah, that's probably a little bit for you, right? That four-year transition. I think so.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:19

Yeah, that was kind of the hardest where like I knew that a change needed to happen.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:25

Because not to give it away, when you moved, when you decided was it Fresno State? I'm sorry. When you decided to leave Fresno State, and breaking news, you're a firefighter now. But when you left Fresno State, did you knew you wanted to be a firefighter?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:39

I I didn't in that moment.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:41

Okay, no, yeah. You just knew that right then and there, that four year school was was not it for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:47

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:48

So that was scary. So you knew the first step, but not the the next nine.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:52

Exactly. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:53

How about you, Josh? Has there ever been a time where you had to take one and then you didn't know the next nine?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:58

Yeah, I had I had to get out of Ventura. For me, it was I need to get as far away from home as I could. And the best way to facilitate that was to go to college. And I found the college that I could afford that was the farthest away from home as possible. And that was Humboldt. And I mean, a lot of people go to the Humboldt for a lot of different reasons. Actually, only a few different reasons. But you said. No, 121.5 units that I transferred to Humble. And spoiler, they don't allow you to do that. They allow you to transfer like 62 and a half. So I transferred those 62 and a half. I came in as a junior. I spent four more years there figuring out what I wanted to do. And um the but that was I, you know, I spent the first three semesters there kind of finding myself.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:17

And like I said, I was on my own. I was four years out of high school. So I was already, I was 22 when I moved up there. So very much on my own, no limits on what I could do or not do. And um yeah, I took three semesters before I actually nailed down what I thought I wanted to do. And another spoiler, I'm not doing what I went to school to do right now, but I definitely learned a lot of skills that helped me along the way. But it was taking that step, having enough maturity at 21, 22 to realize that if I wanted to continue to have a relationship with my mom, I needed to get out of there, I needed to get away from her. Yeah, as you know, that doesn't sound great, but that's what we we needed distance in order to thrive. Like she was she she had been just her and I since I was four. Nobody else in the house. Yeah, and that was a long time, and so our relationship has grown since then exponentially. Um, within a year of me moving out, it was much more positive. The first year was a little rough, but it was much more positive after that. And um, I'm glad I did it. I mean, I met my wife up there, um, I met some great friends, I learned a lot. I got I built a relationship with my brother, who I had no idea but lived within 100 miles of Humboldt State. And so he was like, Well, you're close to me now, so I guess we have to talk. And that turned into a great relationship. Um, and uh it, you know, I don't know, it was it was, but it was really scary. Like that first move up there, I was like, What am I doing? This is totally different. I've never been on my own. I've you know, never not had somebody banging on the door. I mean, I had roommates up there, but I've never not had somebody like telling me to wake it, it's time to wake up, time to go to school, that kind of thing. And it was very different.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:08

You know, it's one thing to deal with transitions yourself, but then it's another when you have to deal with other people who are transitioning. And I think sometimes some people might handle the transitions themselves good, but they don't know how to handle other people during transition. So I know that I know you two well enough, or Isaiah, like you're you know, at one point, you know, 10 years, 10, 12 years ago, your whole family kind of was here, but now your mom is back in Minnesota. Um, your brother is in Minnesota, great state of Minnesota. It's funny because your mom's from Wisconsin, but she knows. Oh, I'm Wisconsin. Um but you know, you're your your um your your sister, and so that's a huge transition for you. Like you kind of stayed here, but other people are in you know, transition. And then even for for you, Josh, like you know, Nancy and and her careers kind of have had different transition. How how do you two handle when the people close to you are in transition? Is that been hard? Is that easy? Is that something that comes naturally, or is it a a stressful time? I'll I'll be honest, I think I handle my transitions a lot better than other people because I kind of get paranoid for them, if that makes sense. I get like if if if they seem calm, I'm like, you shouldn't be calm. Why are you not more stressed out about this? I don't know. Maybe I don't know. I probably don't handle anything well, but uh I I get like I get so stressed for other people, like I spend so much energy when they're in transition because I'm not in control, right? And a part of me is like, you guys, I don't think you're taking this seriously enough. But um, Isaiah, how have you kind of handled the exodus of your well, even your dad? Like your dad kind of like is I don't know, I don't know what mountain he's on, but he's up there somewhere. But but you know, but how how have you handled that transition for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:58

Uh it's been a change, and I I do remember when my mom was considering the move, she sat down with me and talked with me about it. And I I was thrilled. Not not that my mom was leaving, but I was I was happy that my mom felt the courage to do that. Yeah, right. And so like I wanted to support her in that because she's done that for me for so many things, you know. Um, and I think that that was kind of a um culmination of the environment I was brought up in where like I was able to recognize, like, oh, this is really tough and scary for you. Yeah, but I'm gonna support you in it, however, whatever that looks like, you know, and it's actually funny. It was this is a very intimate conversation, and so sorry, mom, for the putting this out there, but she was worried that I wasn't gonna be able to handle it well. Or she was most concerned about like what does this mean for you, right? And it luckily it it happened at this time where I told her I was like, if you had done this, if you wanted to do this move 10 years ago, oh boy, it would be totally different than where it is right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:02

But yeah, but you were settled into the career that you loved, and obviously you were exactly like stable financially and and professionally too.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:10

So so yeah, as far as like the being able to handle and support that, it was much easier because I was kind of out of that transition. And but I think if I was in a transition period myself, it would have been much more different.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:22

Um that's a that's how another curveball is when you're in transition and they're in transition and they're both different. Ooh boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:31

That's a fun little you know, fun wrinkle experiment to to play with. Yeah. How about you, Josh? How how do you handle when people close to you are in a transition that it's gonna affect you, but it's not your transition, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:45

Yeah, I I find myself kind of excited when it happens. Um, where I was the one that didn't know what I wanted to do when I went to college and kind of skated by I chose a major that I already had experience in. So I was like, this is gonna be easy, no big deal. Um and left without a you know, I graduated with my bachelor's, but did not have a career on deck ready to go. And everybody that got my had my degree kind of went into seasonal work, and you know, I was I was already older than the rest of them doing that because they had four years on me already, and so I was, you know, kind of already broken in a lot of ways. And where uh but say all that to say that I married a woman who was the exact opposite, and that she by the time she got to Humboldt, which was not her first school, but by the time she got there, she had a career path and she has stuck to it. She went there as an education major, got her degree, stayed another year to get her credential, got that, um, transitioned to becoming a teacher uh here locally. So um I helped her with that part, like helped is I helped logistically with that part. I didn't um I may or may not have helped edit some of her final papers when she was in college. Hey, that's all right. Yep, still do that occasionally. Um, but uh you know, she's she's been on the same path, so the transitions have been all within that same career, um, which is is been helpful and uh but also kind of exciting to watch. Like I'm watching somebody that is on a more traditional career path, yeah, like from the very beginning, education-wise, up going through the ranks, and every time she gets to a point where she's kind of reached the top, and so to speak, she you know continues her education in a way that's gonna help her grow, and she's manifesting what she wants to do, and it's providing opportunities in front of her, and so it's it's inspirational in a lot of ways. Um, I also realized early on that it's not for me, like I can't follow that same sort of path. I'm kind of like I'm this like winding river that keeps changing every season how it flows, it never flows in the same spot two years in a row, and she's like this raging ocean that is crashing over the waves constantly. And um, it's it's you know, it's it's consistency and it's great. And I love helping her transition from one style of doing what she loves to another and helping her recognize when those things are happening. Um, I've gotten, I think, really fluid in my transitions because I've changed careers multiple times since I've lived in the Central Valley. Um and I'm still like I'm not looking, but I'm never not looking.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:45

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:45

Kind of thing. Um I like what I do most of the time, and I'm not looking to transition, but I'm also open all the time for opportunities. So it's kind of it's it's different, it's really different. So that that kind of leaves me open to be able to help her transition and and help my six-year-old, who's gonna be seven in three weeks, crazy, do that as well and navigate all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:09

You you brought up a good point too, is like the power of attitude, right? Like the power of having a good attitude is is everything, especially in when you enter in a new transition. Like my son Mark just started swimming, you know, and it's like, hey, if you go into it into this thinking it's gonna be horrible, it's probably gonna be horrible. Yeah, you know, you know, like give it that power to do that. Yeah, like and so I think sometimes having at least a good attitude and transitions you can't control will more likely obviously treat you better, right? Or you'll have a better, not better attitude, but just you having that mindset of of being more open-minded, I think is is it's huge. Because I think if we enter a transition closed-minded, oh boy, do we kind of set ourselves up sometimes for not disappointment, but rage raging ocean. I think that imagery is in my mind. So so yeah, I mean, I think that's just we could talk about transitions of life, I think. Every podcast, I mean, this is kind of one of those things. Um, last little kind of closing question, kind of keep it light, but it is summer, and summer is always kind of a busy time for just so many reasons and vacations and and um just everything else. Um, obviously, you have you know schools out, so I feel like just the the community is a little bit more alive because people are a little bit more active, both in teachers and and students, like no matter what occupation you have, I think summer is just always kind of busier because of because of that and and and and the weather. And so uh to you two, real quick, just to kind of keep it light. What are your guys' summer plans and any summer goals for you two um kicking in here? Um Isaiah, do you have any summer plans? Anything exciting going on this summer?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:45

I do have some really awesome summer plans, and I may or may not be counting down the days, but uh going to Minnesota actually.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:52

Oh, what do you know? When are you going back to the Promised Land?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:56

The Promised Land, uh uh middle of June, sometime in there. Okay, nice fun, fun time. I get to meet my nephew for the first time. Yeah, I am counting the days down.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:07

Absolutely, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:09

We're taking to him, or we're taking him, pardon me, we're taking him to his first baseball game. We're gonna go to a twins game.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:14

All right, wow, and he was born what two, three months ago?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:18

Uh back in February.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:19

Okay, it's not too far off. Yell that one. Wow. I was scared you're gonna say like two years ago. No, no, I knew not two years, but time, man. Just floats. Okay, how long are you and Sarah both going?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:30

Yeah, Sarah's coming out with me. We're gonna be there about a week. Nice. My dad's going out too.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:34

So okay, a little family reunion up there. It's gonna be hard to leave.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:38

It really is. I may or may not miss my flight. I hope my boss isn't listening to this.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:44

How about you, Josh? Anything going on this uh the summer?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:47

Um, this summer is like another big transition. Nancy's transitioning to a new school, um, a similar position, kind of new. Um Logan's transitioning into second grade. I cannot believe that's happening. That's crazy. So we got to figure out how that's gonna work. Um we're a big summer school family because you know, we both work, we don't have any family nearby, so he has to be in school, otherwise, one of us has to be home. Um, so that it's it's an easy transition for him because he basically goes from one classroom to a different one. But um, that'll be a big thing. We have some skills we want to work on this summer with him. Um, and like I said, I think we're gonna we got I think we have swimming lessons on the horizon. Um, maybe some uh we're thinking he's he's told us multiple times already, but we're finally listening to the fact that he's not a sports guy. He's not a team sports guy. Maybe swim. So I mean swimming might be a thing, but we're also thinking he's very he loves music and everything, so we're kind of we're gonna we're gonna try and push him into like piano, something simple like that, something another language you can learn, see if that's his flavor of being different. Well, maybe on the 22nd you can buy a musical instrument. Well, we already have a piano, so yeah, there we go. Pull that one out of the out of the closet. Thanks for making me spend more money.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:10

Hey, that's what we do here at the Greer Spear Pocket.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:13

Yeah, so that's it. I mean, I'm I'm looking forward to um the summer servant trip, San Diego. Looking forward to that. That's kind of a that's a vacation for me, and then we're gonna spend some time down in Temecular area, actually. Okay, with family.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:26

So I realized about two months ago that this is my I mean, I don't want to speak in absolutes, but um Luca doesn't have summer school this summer, but she's required to take summer school for the next two summers. So that this is kind of like my last summer with Luca for a while, and so we're we're going we're going big, doing a couple of things. And yeah, it's it's exciting, it's definitely exciting. Well, all right, thank you so much for tuning in today. We hope this conversation gave you something new to think about, whether it's an idea, a story, or just a fresh perspective on everyday life. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss future episodes and share this podcast with friends or family who might enjoy it too. We love hearing from our listeners, so connect with us online and let us know what topics you'd like for us to explore. Until next time, keep asking questions, stay curious, and enjoy the little moments that make life meaningful. Hope you all have a wonderful day. Goodbye here from the Grace Period podcast.