E10 Vanessa & Christine

Vanessa Christie & Christine Creeden! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Hi ladies. Welcome to the podcast. Hello. Hi. Thank you for agreeing to talk to me. I usually start by having you introduce yourselves. Vanessa, you want to start?

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Yeah. I'm Vanessa Christie. I, for my job, own a deli, Italian deli with my family, and I run it with my sister every day. And I love it. We're coming up on 10 years this year, which is a huge milestone for us. Obviously, married to Matt Christie. We have one daughter, Sophia. And yeah, we live in Holliston. We love it.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

It's great.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

That's us. Yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

What got you started with the deli business? Feel free to put a local plug in. I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Yeah. Yeah. Deepest Qualls, my lot, my maiden name at Nightcaps Corner. It's in Auburn Dale. Honestly, my dad and my sister dragged me into it. I was like very young, what, 22, 23? My sister and I both have restaurant, had restaurant experience. She managed a few restaurants. I was kind of like waitress, bopped around in my, you know, 18, 19, 20. I would work for six months, travel for six months, and would just like go to Central America with my best friends and then come back, work for three months, make enough money, leave again. And then my sister kind of just caught me when I came home, 21, 22, and was like, hey, we're starting in Delhi. Me and Dad, you want to join? And I was like, why not? I was kind of a nomad. And honestly, I never finished college. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And I kind of just jumped right in. And then the rest is history. 10 years later, I literally can't believe that. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. That's I love to cook. It's like a passion of mine. And my mom kind of always had us in the kitchen, or at least me in the kitchen. So it's a lot of work, labor of love for sure. But I get to work and see my family every day. Very flexible with my hours. And you know, I love it. It's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Some people would find that to be a nightmare, I think, to see their family every day.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

I know. Honestly, it brought us closer. Like, I feel like it could go either way. But my sister and I like we used to fight all the time, obviously, like high school and stuff like that. I mean, I stole our clothes. Like, it's fair. She hated me. I would steal her clothes and shove them in the back of my closet after I ruined them. So like it was fair to not like me. I was like a pest. And I lost my train of thought. What was I saying? Oh, my friend. Yeah. Honestly, we're like best friends, and it's great. We like equally dislike everybody else. So we like bond over that, right? We're like, we just like we're just like in our own little corner at the deli, and we're like, oh god damn it.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Like, yeah, and then you went into customer service and you equally dislike everybody.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Right? Customer service is so hard. It is hard. Dealing with the public every day is a lot, but we have like an amazing staff right now. We have amazing customers who come to us every single day, and the annoying people are, you know, few and far in between. So it's not that's good. I love it. What's your favorite dish to cook? At the deli. What's my favorite dish to cook? Honestly, I love catering. I love doing like big making like big meals. We make really good homemade arencini if we've had those. And those are really hard to make, but they're absolutely delicious. Here, I mean, I kind of do the basics. I like cooking Italian food, obviously, but like just like random dishes. I don't even know. Like nothing, I'm like more simple with my cooking for sure. I just kind of like throw it, but like that's what Matt says is I just like I just like throw things in. He's like, it just tastes good. He's like, what's the recipe? I was like, there is no recipe. Wow. I like look at a page of a recipe and then I just go from there. That's why I like cooking, though. I'm not a baker because it's like so specific. I cannot bake for the life of me. Because I'm not like a s I'm I'm like afraid to measure things. Like I don't do that. And baking is terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yeah, it's more of a science than an art sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Like my mom can do both, and she is amazing at both. And I just like I can't, I can't even make chocolate chip cookies. Like the the bacon breaks. Imagine. Like the recipe on the back of the like the chocolate chip bag, like folly to every time, and it just like like my sister-in-law, Angela, great baker. She makes the best brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies. And I just like will never be able to do that, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Keep trying it, you never know.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Maybe we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

But you, Christine, tell me about yourself.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

So I'm Christine. My husband is Eric. We have one daughter, and I am a hairstylist. I have been working for 16 years, which as I say that, actually, it's 17 technically. As I say that, that really just aged me real fast because it's been 17 years. There's no, there's absolutely no way it's been 17 years.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

The other day, I I said to somebody that I've been driving longer than I was not driving, like more of my. Wow. I wow. Isn't that bad?

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

It's bad. Anyway, sorry, I interrupted you. Go ahead. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Yeah, I work out of my home or I go to clients. I was in a salon for a while and then had to leave that situation and took some clients with me. And now all the clients I did take have become friends. So it's really just hanging out with my friends doing hair. I do make my own schedule. I used to do a lot of photo shoots for companies, but then life and like getting pregnant and having a baby, just the demand is 10-hour workdays, and they're usually six o'clock call times, sometimes seven, sometimes eight. You could work till six, or they hold you for overtime, and you could be there till like eight o'clock. And I that to me wasn't something I wanted to do to myself and to my baby and to whoever was watching her. Like imagine it's 545, and it's like, oh, Christine's gonna be here soon and pick up the baby, and then it's like I'm being held because we're trying to finish this product shoot, and they're keeping us here till eight. And the shoots are usually in Boston. Sometimes there's a place in Newton that they shoot at, but I've done all different companies, clothing companies, and stuff like that. So you can shoot anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

I've the furthest I ever went was, I guess it's local, but down in Narragansett. So that's like an hour and a half drive back to where I'd be picking up my daughter. And it's just like that's a long day. And to just get her up that early, get her in the car way ahead of time to bring her to whoever's watching her, and then to get there. It just did not make sense. I used to nanny for my sister twice a week, which helped keep my schedule with my clients, but also like give me some relief. Like, yes, I'm watching her kids, but you know, if I can go do a job where I'm yeah, hanging out in sweatpants and like making sure the kids are fed and taking a nap. And I at the time could take my dog, great. Like it was so much easier. But yeah, making my own schedules works at this point. I don't even consider myself part-time. I'm like quarter time. I it's very no, it's it's nice, but it's difficult because I'm like, I want to work more. Yeah. But the there's it's just too many moving parts. And right now, like, just I'm gonna enjoy until she's older and like full-time in school and then figure it out. But I can always go back to doing photo shoots. I still have, I'm still part of my agency, the one that puts us with work. And they're always like, whenever you're ready to come back. I'm like, yeah, I thought I was, maybe this winter, but we're going through a house renovation project. Oh, are you? And I have to be home for everything. So I was like, I'm glad I didn't email them and say, Okay, put me on. Yeah, yeah. But it's hard because sometimes those shoots would be on days where Eric's at work, and that's hard to navigate. Cause I'll be like, I literally he can't call out of work, right? But I couldn't hair and makeup. Who's gonna do the hair and makeup if I can't go?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Especially if it's like a wedding or some sort of big event or a photo shoot where all these people are depending on you, of course not. Yeah, yeah. That's I mean, you know, there's plenty of time. There's plenty of time to work more. True. That's what I always tell myself. Yeah, our kids are little.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

Yeah. You know, I do a trade that I can always pick up more. Like I have a very set how I have like I couldn't even tell you off the top of my head how many clients I have, but it's a it's an even pace where I'm not jamming myself to get people in. Sure, around the holidays, it gets a little hectic, but I'm not freaking out because I'm like, oh my gosh, I have like 40 clients in a week. Like that's not how I operate. It's like five a week, and maybe there's two in one day because it's easier. It's definitely easier in the in the winters when wedding season isn't happening. Because weekends down the cape for weddings is a long, long day. So I tell people, you know, from May to like mid- to end of October, don't ask for a Saturday. If you want a Sunday, maybe, because sometimes there's Sundays' weddings, but also Sunday is like the next day. I'm just so drained from standing and socializing. Which is so sad to say because, like, oh, you're just hanging out doing hair.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

But I'm like, that's not labor.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

But I'm like on, you know, and I'm traveling to Chatham, which from my house is two and a half hours away. And I'm doing that in the morning, working, and then coming right back. So it's in the same state, but it's two and a half hours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

So honestly, when I'm straightening my own hair, my arms are sore after. I can't imagine how you could do that. It's a long day, it's a lot of labor. Yeah, that's crazy. What's your favorite hairstyle to do?

SPEAKER_03 11:08

I have a lot of people who request like half up, half downs for weddings, which is nice because it keeps the hair off the face. And there's a lot of I like to wear my hair down, girls. So I've kind of figured out different ways to pin it so it feels still down, but more off the face and out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

That's great. So how did you do an Eric Wing?

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Oh well, so we no, it's not, it's not scandalous. No, he and I were kind of in the same-ish social circle in high school. And then after high school, he went to community college. I went to community college, and then I had decided like I want to try to do hair. Like I wanted to do it at first, but my parents really were like, Why don't you try community college, see what goes, what happens. So when I was in hair school, we had to do like a mock haircut on a guy. So everyone asked like their dads or uncles, brothers, friends. So I knew Eric was available because he was going to community college living at home. So I was like, Can you come down and be like my little male model? You don't actually cut, I'm not cutting your hair, it's just like I have to show the angles and all the things that you do for a haircut. And he's like, Yeah, sure. So he came down, we did the test, and as soon as like the test was done, we could leave school for the day. And so he's like, Let's go to lunch. And I was like, Yes, I wanted to thank you for coming. I was down in Cranston, Rhode Island. So I was like, Thank you for coming all the way down to Cranston. Let's we went to Subway.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

So romantic. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Listen, guys, we were 19. Wow. So turning 20, baby. So he came down. My whole idea was to like pay for lunch as like a thank you, but he paid for lunch. And so he'll consider that our first date. Few weeks go by, like we're chatting more because we saw each other. And I was working at a bar at the time, and I was like, Do you want to be a bartender and a waiter? Because we're looking for help. So he started working at the local restaurant bar that I was working at. And we hung out more because like wait staff hangs out after work and stuff like that. So yeah, we started working together and everyone's like, You've got all the regulars like, You got your date. I'm like, I'm too independent. Look at me. I look at me. I have free jobs and I don't have a time for man. So, but then eventually I caved. But like year later.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Wow. So you weren't actually trying to that wasn't you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

I don't even know if it was a fight. It was just it was it was nice to just hang out be friends, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Was he asking you out throughout this time or not really?

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Well, we did a lot of like solo hangs.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Like they were dated. At 19.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

But we just didn't call it that, it sounds like at 19 and 20, do you call it back then? Like dating is so different now. But like at 19 and 20, are you calling it dating when like you hang out after like your work restaurant shift with other people? And then like with other people, people trickle out, and then it's just you two left.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

I don't know. I guess not. I guess we frame it that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

There, I mean, there were some like solo hangouts, like we watch movies or something, but right it was never like oh, let's date right now.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

It was like And then was there like a hard day where you guys were like, Yes, now we are officially dating.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

I don't know. We say like the fall of 2010, I think it was, maybe. I know for his birthday that year, this is what kind of solidified it. I opened a Best Buy credit card to buy him a big flat screen TV because I forget if his broke. I know I don't know if it broke or the TV he had was like kind of really like old and like you should be watching. Everything was like becoming flat screen back then. So I was like, I'm gonna get him a flat screen TV. So it was like $750. I I didn't, as a waitress, which gas prices were $450 a gallon back then. Wow traveling to and from Cranston, Rhode Island six days a week, like it was a lot on my bank account. So I had to open it.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

How long have you guys been together for?

SPEAKER_03 15:28

Since 2010. So it was 16 years. So long. Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

What year did you get married?

SPEAKER_03 15:34

2020. January. January 2020. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

So you really dove into marriage right at the start of the pandemic.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

Just the two of you. Well, we bought our house together in 2017. So it was a full-on like living together for a while before being stuck together.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

During the pandemic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Cool. Wow. What about you, Vanessa? How did you and Matt need?

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Kind of similar story, but opposite. I was the one chasing Matt. He wouldn't, he wouldn't give it up. Um this was what, like 10 years ago now? Through Matt. Like, so Matt was in the army, and actually let me backtrack. I was working at a dive bar in Newton, and one of his buddies was the bartender. And like Christine, we used to go out after and it's the culture. He got it. Restaurant culture. It's two o'clock in the morning. What else are we gonna do? We would go back to his house who we got with a bunch of his native friends. We would call it the frat house. It was row street.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

And like where road is?

SPEAKER_02 16:47

No, roe street. It was the street. So we'd call it row street, but it was like a frat house. There's like five dudes, huge, like I don't even know. I want to say Victorian house, but like just big old house, like four levels. There was like a pool, they put like pool table in it. It was just like out of control. Like we would go back there at 2-3 in the morning, just get drunk, whatever. I met all the native guys. I actually met Craig, who's also on the fire department, Matt's younger brother before Matt. And Craig was cute. I was like, You're cute.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

I didn't even know. Did you tell them?

SPEAKER_02 17:19

Yeah. Do you still call your brother MLQ? He's still cute. Yeah. Not in that way, but I also adore Craig's girlfriend, so whatever. And then there was a room empty, and I was like, you know, who's who's the fifth, fourth, or fifth guy? And and my friend John was like, Oh, that's my buddy Matt. Like he just got back from the army's coming. And I was like, nice. Okay. So I met Matt through John just by partying at the frat house. And obviously, Matt being overseas for, you know, a little over a year, he probably wanted nothing to do with a girlfriend. He was like, absolutely not. But I was like within a month. I mean, I was telling, I was so young. What was like 22, 23, just starting the deli, finally, like back in Newton, like stuck there a little bit. And I was kind of telling all my best friends, like, oh, like, I want to date this guy. Like, I don't know how much. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Like, and it's funny because I was just the type of person growing up, like I never had boyfriends. I never had serious boyfriends. I just like could care less about guys. Like, and then my sister always jokes with me, like, my first serious boyfriend ended up being my husband and you know, father of my child.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

When you know, you know, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:36

I like, yeah, I chased after Matt. I mean, we hooked up for probably like three, four, five months. And then I finally, finally got him to like date me, like more serious, like, you know. Did you buy him a flat screen TV from Best Buy? No. Honestly, that house was just like, we like all joked about it now. Like a bunch of us who were dating them are a lot of us are married, like Marco and Christina. They're one of them. Coleman and Emily, these are like all Matt's like best native friends, and we all kind of started at Row Street together, partying and dating. And then we all somehow ended up married. Yeah, one of them. So I don't know. Something was in the air at Rose Street. It was disgusting. I literally wouldn't even, I didn't even want to go to the bathroom there. Like, you know what I mean? Like, just like a bunch of dudes didn't clean. I would like bring flip-flops to like go to the bathroom. Like, it's like college, it was absolutely disgusting. Like, my parents lived like a mile down the road, and I would literally just like not go. I would just be like, Okay, I'm gonna I'll just go home. Wow, this is so gross. But yeah, it was it was fun. They had like a music room. We partied there a lot, and our Matt was actually this was like his EMT days. Okay. And you know, he was working long hours, late nights, and I would show up two or three in the morning drunk from coming back from the cherry tree, being like, Matt. At the end, he'd be like, get away from me. And it's funny because we were so opposite. Matt was just this like clean-cut, hardworking guy, fresh out of the army. And I was just like, I lived in Colorado for a while. I was traveling a lot. I was kind of this more like free spirit, hippie, trying to be a you know, hippie girl, and we were just polar opposites. And I don't know. I guess he was into that because we were trying to but we could have not been more opposite, which is so funny. Do you still feel like you guys are the same? Kind of fills up. I've definitely changed a lot more, but yeah, I mean, he's definitely the more he's the planner, and he's the good financial one. He's the, you know, this is what we gotta do to like stay on track. And I'm kind of like, no, let's go to Italy, let's do this. We don't need to do that.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

I mean, Christine knows, like, she Yeah, because I'm always taking care of your chickens, and you guys like, we're going to Aruba for a week.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

She didn't just take care of our chickens for a whole week.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

We're going to London.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Yeah. Like, I'm very much like YOLO. Like, let's just go and and do stuff. Like that's great. I mean, it's a good way to live, right? Yeah. I'm glad I have someone like Matt to balance us out though, because I probably would have no money.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

If you didn't do this though, would Matt tr travel as like because you're always going somewhere. Would Matt put in that, like, oh, I want to go somewhere, like London. Like you guys just went to London. Would he have gone to London?

SPEAKER_02 21:49

I don't know. I mean, he's still pretty adventurous. Like he got like our honeymoon. We did we did like a seven day hike in the Alps. Wow. And that like we did like a whole month in Europe. And that was like the start of it. And he told me that idea. And I was like, what? I was like, that is literally the last thing I want to do on my honeymoon. Like, are you? Oh, was it amazing? Oh my God. He's like already talking about doing another one in like a year or two in the Dolomites. And it was one of the best like week of my life. It was so much fun. I mean, strenuous. You're hiking, you know, six, seven, eight hours a day, but like the most beautiful places I've ever seen. And it was so much fun. But like he was the one who like planned that, you know, and thought of that and like researched it and like got me to do it. And I was like grateful for that.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

And that's coming from you. You said you used to travel a lot. Yeah. After you kind of settled down at the restaurant. Yeah. You've seen a lot of stuff. I have seen a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

I don't know if I was like thinking like honeymoon, like I'm a beach girl, like through and through. So I'm like, I'm gonna go sit and chill on a beach in Italy, and like that's it.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

But I'm glad he got us to do something like adventurous as well. Because he like he's he can be pretty adventurous in that in that type of way, which is fun. And like then was the time, you know. Yeah. My sister was actually like two weeks ago, literally was like in Aruba, was like giving a shit. She was like, Oh, I mean, they took a month off for their honeymoon because obviously we were in the business together. And I was like, she's still hurt by that. She's still hurt. I mean, a month is a long time, but I was like, see ya. See ya. What do I want to be? Yeah, what do you want me to do? You're like, all my other vacations are with you. And what when do you ever really get to do that? Now I can't just like leave. That's a good thing about though about the deli. Like, we just went to Aruba, which was amazing. We go every year with my family. And then now my sister's going to Barbados on Thursday for like six days. So she's like back-to-back Caribbean trips. But like, I would never be like, no, you can't go. Of course not. And she would do the same for me. You're not sowing her PTO. No, and that's like the most amazing thing about it is like we do it together. So we like have each other's back. So, like, if she wanted to go and do something for three weeks somewhere, I'm like, go and do it. Enjoy. I got you.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Like I'm here, you know. Now, how did you guys get and become friends? Your wedding. No way.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Yes, stop right now. Yes. Yes. Which was honestly the coolest part of the world. It was the funnest wedding I've ever been to.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

It was very large.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

It was very large, but also like I remember from the procession from the church to where the remote. Oh, to the reception with the drums and the entrance. Yeah. Like that was awesome. Yeah. I remember showing up and like, I don't know if it was like your family, your friends, but like everyone was dressed like so nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

I'm glad you guys had fun and a good friend. Yeah. Well, because I had met Matt at a on a ski trip. And I ended up talking to Vanessa on the phone and be like, he's okay. He had fallen asleep in his truck, and nobody was like, where's Matt? And I was like, where's that one guy, Matt? We would all be dead without Christine on the phone. So I she is. I was like, I found him. Great. But I was when I I hadn't met you, but like when I was talking to you, I was like, I don't, I don't even know who this person is. But I'm just like, because he was on the phone with you. Yeah. And I remember you, I remember hearing you on the phone, like Matt, Matt, and I was like, I I got him.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

He'll call you when he wakes up.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

It's like 12 hours from now. So you had talked but never met in person.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Yeah. And then we met at your I think it was that March, because your wedding was in April. Uh huh. I think the the ski trip was in March.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

It's such a great moment. Like a month later. Seriously. I don't even remember when my wedding was.

SPEAKER_03 25:55

It was like a month later that your wedding was. I kind of clinged on.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

I kind of clinged on to Christine. I don't know why. We just well, because I felt comfortable. Yeah. And you know, like aura firewives thing, like a little intimidating, being like one of the newbies. And I mean, even though everybody is so nice. Everyone's very welcoming. But yeah, you're like, but it's like a little overwhelming, right? Especially for the girls whose husbands have been on forever, you know, and they already know each other. And yeah, we kind of clicked. And like Matt and Eric are obviously really close. They work with Ian. And so we're all kind of intertwined.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Which is pretty great. So tell me what each of you, what your experience has been, being a firewife, what the good part, bad part, whatever you want to share.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Should we start with the good or the bad? Which list is shorter?

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Good. I think like community is a big one. Like meeting them and like they live 10 minutes down the road. Like I consider them my good friends now. Okay, one good thing.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

One good. You're like the end.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Honestly, like Matt's really passionate about what he does. He's been in he was an EMT and like now paramedic firefighter. Obviously, like I think he said last night we were talking about it almost 20 years now. Because he worked in like a private ambulance. And he genuinely is a great person. And I think it takes a great person to do a job like that. So seeing him, uh you know, obviously, you have your days. I think like everyone who doesn't like their job, everybody does that. But I think he genuinely enjoys being there, and like he's met so many of his close friends there. So I think that's awesome to see.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Yeah. I think the schedule is this can be controversial, but the schedule is good, especially for like me in the winter, because he is doing the two days where it's summertime, he does the power washing and he's sometimes working six days a week. Yeah. Yeah. To say the least. Yeah. Wow. Thanks, Ian. Yeah. Just kidding. Right? I wonder if he's gonna listen to this one. He's gonna be like, they're gonna talk about me, aren't they?

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Definitely, Christine.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

Yeah. Um, but when he when Eric was an EM basic EMT, he was doing 16-hour shifts working up in Malden or Newton, and the schedule was, you know, 7 to 11. And it's I didn't see him a lot because he was working. And then he started going to medic school, which is an accelerated program. So then he was still doing his shifts on the ambulance for the private ambulance company and doing school and working at the restaurant. So I only ever really saw him for a whole year outside of work one day a week. And when we were working together, like a shift at the restaurant together, like that's when I saw him. But that was so chaotic. And a lot of I'm I feel like a lot of people would be like, This is too hard. I never see you. But now that he has two days of work now, it's like I do see him in the winter. And then sometimes he's just hanging around too much. And I'm like, Is it is it April yet? Is are things melted enough that you can go wash? Yeah. But yeah, I think this the schedule of the 24 is good. It gives me some time to myself. I can watch my trash TV, he calls it, and no one can bother me.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Well, it's nice because they also get their schedule for like a whole year. Not even a whole year, I think technically the rest of their career, right? Yeah, so it's nice because you can look ahead of time and be like, oh, we can go away for that weekend. Right. You know, as long as over time is off the table. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Which is it ever?

SPEAKER_02 30:09

No. No. Yeah. We all three of us know about that leg. I'm coming off. This is a tough time for me. I'm coming off last week. Matt just did two back-to-back 48s. So I'm like revved up a little bit, but let it out, sister. This is the place. Yeah. No, I think the schedule is like has its perks and it's also can be hectic when you throw in kids' life.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

You know, I think kids really throws everything off. Every person I've talked to, I think it was all dandy until there were kids.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Like, you know, you live your own life. If it's just you and him, then you have your own schedules. You don't have to worry about, you know, we have a dog, and it's you worry about the dog. Other than that, it's kind of a no-brainer. You're not really like thinking about. Yeah. And then you bring in kids and you're like, oh shit. Yeah.

unknown 31:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Now it's real. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:06

Now I would like a little relief from another adult. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Right. It's still worth it. But it's it can definitely make it a lot harder than you anticipate.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Yeah. What's some of the other than having children, which we did intentionally, we did intentionally. We made the choice of choice. What are some of the hard parts?

SPEAKER_02 31:28

I think maybe like some of the calls, I think. Sometimes I get a little bit of a taste of it and sometimes I don't. I don't think he I think he definitely shields stuff like that from me. But I can tell when, you know, bad shift or I mean it's not happening all the time, right? But you have those calls where he's kind of a little beat up about it. Between that and the lack of sleep, I think, are the two. Matt is not a morning person and he does not thrive on lack of sleep at all. So he he literally said to me the other day, like, people know at the station to just not talk to him in the morning. Oh wow. He's just like so like I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_03 32:14

They send out an email to the whole station. Like, don't talk more.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

And he's been like that, I guess, since he was like young. Like I talked to his siblings about it, his mom, like, he is not a morning person. Which, like, I don't, I don't think anyone loves to wake up in the morning, but like I'm very much someone who will like wake up and just be like, all right, it is what it is, you know, like I'm fine. But the lack of sleep, like last week when he's working those like what almost hundred hours, it's you know, he comes home that next day and he's junk. But it's like he also has to be a dad because I'm going to work and he, you know, he's my child, our childcare for the day. So I think the lack of sleep is a huge one on those bad nights. Only laughing Dr. Guan.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

That noise is a paid actor. His name's Lenny. His name's Lenny, and he's super cute. Yeah. I actually pictured him as he was walking by. I thought he was gonna let one rip as he walked by the mic and that would have been. Well, he burped earlier. Excuse me, that's great. It's all right. This is real life, right? Welcome to reality. Yeah, I mean, I I think you're right, the lack of sleep is the hard part for for most of us, but for them, they come home and you think that they used to be able to just rest. Yeah. And it's like, nope, now you're responsible for another person. You know, you can't just take a quick nap.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

We actually, I don't know if I don't know if you went, but there was a psychiatrist who came six months ago. Yeah, that yeah, they I think all shifts did it. Yeah, they had like we no, I went. Oh, you went. It was for first responders. So, like Kelsey Hampton was telling me about it. Yeah, what did you think? Honestly, it was Matt's idea to go, which for me was the first time he's really like invited me into that world, I guess. Not like the fire world, but like kind of the behind the scenes world of like what they're you know, he wanted me to see what they go through every day. And she talked about how sleep is, you know, I mean, we all know sleep is important, and these guys literally run off no sleep, and it's like the stress, it's it was very interesting, and I'm glad I went because it kind of opens your eyes, you know, on those days where I kind of want to like jab him and give him shit for something or whatever. I kind of take a step back and I'm like, okay, you know, you're not out with the boys having fun, right? You're at work, you're doing a job, like you're trying to make money and provide for your family. So that's one thing that like I've tried to work on over the years. I used to be kind of a brat about it when we were like younger and he first got on, and I was like, overtime, like come on. But it's like we didn't even have kids, like he should be taking overtime, right? And like now I'm like way more relaxed about it. I'm like, do what you gotta do, you know, because I know it's where they make their money, and only they got paid like legitimate salaries. I mean legitimate, but it's not enough for a listener. It's not right, and a lot of people deal with that, I feel like who are underpaid, but do you feel better? Lenny's burping. Did you feel better?

SPEAKER_01 35:39

I had a feeling it was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

I knew it was gonna happen.

unknown 35:41

That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 35:43

But it it really opened my eyes to see, like, you know, the stress and the lack of sleep and and what they go through is just like beats their body up and their mind and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

So do you think they they paid her to come and make us feel bad for them? Because Kelsey said the same thing. She's like, you know, make me second guess myself.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Yeah, maybe. She was honestly really informative. And it's funny because a lot of the national grid guys come to my deli. Uh-huh. And there was two national grid guys there with their wives who come to my my spot. And I was like, hey, I was like, what are you guys doing here? And I was like, oh, wait, well, first responders, like they work overnights, true, they work overtime, just like you know, Eversource guys, like linemen, like all those guys. Like, it's the same thing. Like, I know, you know, one of the Eversource guys who comes to me, he has four kids, and his wife's a stay-at-home mom, and he works 80 hours a week every week. Like, that's how they make their money, right? So it's kind of the same situation. I was just surprised to see the national group guys there because I was like, wait a second.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

I wouldn't have thought of that.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

Yeah. But I I get it because they're, you know, anyone for overnight doctors, nurses, whatever, like that's and they're on call when electricity goes down and it's messing with your sleep schedule, it's messing with your, you know, everything.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

There's so much research out there about shift working and stuff like that. So I I hear you. I mean, it's yeah, definitely something to consider, but also it can be hard for us on the other end. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

It's all about, you know, kind of trying to navigate it together, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Yeah. What about you, Christine? What do you think?

SPEAKER_03 37:29

I don't know. I want, even though I just said the good was the schedule, it's also can be hard on the other side of the coin because the days he gets off shift and he's not going power washing. I line up my day with work. And you can't predict when there's someone like coming in late and he gets out late. So then I gotta shift my whole day or cancel someone. Or if he had a bad night and it's like gonna be a little rough for him to take over parenting, I'll try to pivot and come up with options like I'll take her to my mom's for a couple hours, and in between clients, I'll pick her up and bring her home, like go sleep, or like just do whatever you want to do to decompress. I think that's been kind of challenging because you just never know. And then there's been a lot of being held, yeah, happening, and he hasn't had to be held, thankfully, but he will volunteer to put in for overtime so that other people don't get held, which is noble of him. But then I'm like, hi, I have a whole day scheduled tomorrow. Thank you so much for talking to me first. It doesn't happen often that he's not, you know, telling me, hey, this is can I take this? Yeah, like checking in to see if it's possible for you to handle that. Yeah, yeah. He knows he can't in the summer on a Saturday. And he's gotta make sure he can get home on time so that I can leave to go drive to the Cape. If it becomes too much or if I have to be there early, then I'll take her with me to stay at my parents' place down in Wareham. But then he has a whole day to himself because I'll be like, Oh, I'll pick her up after I'm done with the wedding. Or if you want to drive down and pick her up and hang out at the beach for a couple hours and then go home, that's an option too. But he's like, Why don't you bring her home? I'm like, mm-hmm. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Great, yeah. So I heard through the grapevine that they're looking for a husband rebuttal. A what? A rebuttal, as in they come up against us and talk to us about all these things we're talking about. Oh my god. But nothing we're saying is a secret, you know? I know, but they want their side of the story to be heard. So if anyone wants to volunteer to rebut with me, then what are they gonna say about us?

SPEAKER_03 39:56

Huh. No. I don't think any of them would.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

I don't know. Robbie is adamant that he's gonna. I'm like, if you think you can go up against me, he's like, but we're not going up against you, we're just telling our side the story. I'm like, say what you will. We're not saying anything bad. No, we're not saying anything bad. I know, I'm only joking. It's only like real life, you know, stuff. Well, that's the point, right? Yeah, it can sound so glamorous, and then when you're in it, you're like, Well, shit, this is hard. Yeah, yeah, you know, and it's great. And I'm like, the pride has never wavered, not for a second. Yeah, but it can be hard. And so I just, you know, I've this was this was all his idea, by the way. He talks a big game, he wants a rebuttal. He he told me to do this. I honestly kind of said no at first, yeah. And then he's like, You should, like, you guys deserve to be heard. And so that's the point. It's just nice, yeah, yeah. Just to, you know, talk and kind of tell our side of the story.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

You can't suggest something so that we can be heard to then just turn around and say, you know what, we're gonna get them.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

We're gonna tell our side just to prove. I don't I don't think he wanted the rebuttal. He was just joking that he would come up against me. Yeah, I think some of the guys are listening or they listen to the first episode, and I'm like, oh, guess we better sign up.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

They're gonna look for ours and be like, these two are gonna drop all the tea.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

Yeah, and that's sadly there's no tea. And I was like, I don't know. We say what we need to say to them. It's not about that. Yeah, it's not about shit-talking you, it's just, you know, life's hard, and I feel like marrying a firefighter, it's hard because I feel like sometimes like I don't really have like friends or family. I mean, I have like you and like a few other people who are in the same position, but like Matt's close friends or my close friends and our families, like they don't you don't get it, right? So they they're like, oh, well, you're oh you know, why don't you want four kids? It's like because I don't want to be alone three or four nights a week with four kids by myself. Like it's just like constantly having to remind people, like they're like, oh, you can't make it to this thing, and it's like, no, like he's on, oh, just take work off. And it's like, no, like he can't just take a whole 24 shift off. Like people just they just like don't get it all the time, and I think that's also very hard because it's like we're not doing it to be, I don't know, difficult. Difficult. It's just like this is our schedules are chaotic. My schedule is chaotic. I don't work a nine to five, you know, like I'm also chaotic, so it's just I think the friends and family thing is hard too. Like his friends definitely give him shit sometimes, and especially about like overtime or like if we have like simple little plans and he gets offered overtime, like he'll say yes to the overtime. Of course, and I totally get it, like, and I'm fine with that unless it's something that's like more important or something we both really want to do. We're like not gonna like cause a nuisance if we cancel, right? But their friend his friends will give him shit, and it's like, no, like don't make him feel bad. Like, that's where he's making his money, like right. We need to especially now, like, we need to make money, right? Things are so expensive and so how would people feel if the firefighters didn't go to work? Yeah, like I so I feel bad for him in that sense, but he's I think you know, that was a few years ago. I think now he just like doesn't even care. It's in you in one ear out the other. He knows like he knows what he wants to do, what he has to do, and that's you know, is what it is. So and then we were talking about it before you got here how things happen when they're not here, right? Okay, so I'm like a very strong, independent woman, so is Christine, probably even more so than I am. I like Matt, so this big snowstorm read we just had, right? Matt was on shift and then picked up a shift for someone because they wanted to plow. Very nice of him. I'm thinking I'm gonna be home alone. I'm like texting Christine, freaking out, like, maybe we can hang out.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Like, why don't you come over until the snow hits bad and then go alone?

SPEAKER_02 44:16

And then whatever. Me and Sophia obviously hunkered down for the two days that we couldn't leave our house. I'm very proud of myself. We have a wood stove in the basement. I carried wood in. I took care of my chickens. I kept the fire going. I snowblowed. I shoveled, took care of my baby. I'm like, I've got it. Right. So there, I'm like very self-sufficient here, but there are just sometimes things that happened when they're on shift, and I feel like it is always the worst stuff. And I have like a few stories. Like this past summer, we have chickens. We had a rooster, and he was this this past summer? This past spring, right? He got mites, which is like chicken lice. Disgusting. Tiny little insects just attacking their body. Yeah. Very sad. We didn't catch it. Usually it happens in like more humid states. I didn't really know. Christine's a much better chicken tender.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

Do you also have chickens than I am?

SPEAKER_02 45:21

But I didn't know that was something that you really needed to look for that wasn't on my like list of like checking. And one day he was just laying down. And our rooster was a mean little boy. He was a mean boy. He would literally attack anyone that came near him. You would have to kick him down. He was cuckoo, right?

SPEAKER_03 45:40

Like if you open the door to let them out to free range. You had to run.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

Yeah. Like, and honestly, like good for him because he's he protected them and and fought off quite a few animals. But so he was laying down, he didn't attack me, and I was like, whoa, something's going on. So, you know, I went down, picked him up, and all of a sudden I have all these little bugs crawling on me. I'm like, what the hell? And I have my now sister-in-law's bridal shower to go to. And so I went to that. Obviously, I'm freaking out. I left early, went to tractor supply, got home, gave him like baths to try and get these bugs off of him to save him. Matt's obviously on shift. And I also have Sophia here. So who came over to help me with Sophia? Why can't I remember?

SPEAKER_03 46:29

Wasn't me. Someone died. You FaceTime me because you're like, what do I do?

SPEAKER_02 46:32

So he was dying essentially. He was getting like eaten alive by these bugs. And Matt's, you know, on the phone, just been like, it's fine. Just snap his neck. And I was like, What? Like this is your job. So I'm like, can you call Ryan Mooney? Ryan Mooney lives up the street, has a farm, or even his girlfriend Tyla, who would probably also do it. I was like, anybody, Eric, Ian? I'm like, anybody, anybody but me could come here and put this poor thing out of his misery. Because I'm like running around with a chicken with my head cut off, no pun intended. But I'm like, this is the only time, this is the type of stuff that happens when he's on shift and he's like, you know, just just do this. And I'm like, no, like I'm not gonna have that's your job. What a ridiculous comment. Honestly, no. And then this past week we had an ice dam and our roof, I woke up and my head was wet in the middle of the night, and it was my roof, our ceilings leaking in my head. I'm like, Matt, like, I'm wet. And I finally, after like two minutes of like coming out of my like middle of the night frog, I look up and I was like, shit, I'm like, the ceiling's leaking. He's like, oh, god damn it. So he like moved the bed forward, whatever. He gets up at like 6 a.m. going on shift, gets up on the roof, trying to get everything on, and he comes in. Matt's a last-minute Sally in the morning. So he's like probably had to leave like 10 minutes ago. And he's looking at me and he's like, You're gonna have to get up on the roof today and fix that. And I literally looked at him and I was like, I will do no such thing. I was like, that seems like an Eric job. I'm like, I'm calling Eric. Poor Eric and Christine. I'm like, I call Eric and I'm like, he's my he's too close, the poor thing.

SPEAKER_01 48:19

I'm regretting being neighbors.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

No, they were there first. Yeah, but I'm like, you want me to throw a ladder? I've never been on a roof before with ice and snow. I'm like, with shoveling. I'm like, what? And I'm like, what are you supposed to do with your daughter during this time? Well, yeah, this was the whole thing with the snowstorm. I was like, when am I gonna snow blow? So I did it at like honestly, my neighbor next door is he's a sweetheart, Tyler. He's my age, they have two kids. So he finished my driveway and then used it for his driveway. I was like, this is a good deal. I was like, let's keep this relationship going. Yeah. If you don't see mass truck, I need you to come live here. He knows they're awesome. They're from New York and New Hampshire. They know I'm alone a lot, and I have their numbers, and it's just nice to be able to like, I know where I can go. I got two people, one on each side. Because it's that's one thing that scares me, is I people know what he does, and they know when his truck is not here for a day or two, they know I'm alone, and that's I'm a scaredy cat. Ask Christine.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

I'm always we have an alarm system. I'm not judging.

SPEAKER_02 49:32

I know. I mean, we have nice cameras, which is good. So did you see me come every day, twice a day?

SPEAKER_03 49:40

Matt was watching in the negative.

SPEAKER_02 49:41

So Matt still hasn't downloaded the cameras on my phone, so I can't see anything, but he can. He saw it. I waved the Christine. It was like negative 19, and I'm like going to we don't have an automatic coop door, which is okay. This is another thing. But I'm like a very chaotic person sometimes. Like, I don't like think before I do things. And I bought an automatic chicken door like two days before I went on a trip, being like, this is gonna work, and it was too small. I was like, Oh no, Christine. So you have to lift them out and in every night. I mean, I told her they would be fine for the eggs.

SPEAKER_03 50:16

The eggs, keep the eggs. I'm like, yeah, of course I'm keeping the eggs.

SPEAKER_02 50:19

Yeah, this is my payment. I'll make her some homemade pasta a few days a week. Oh, that's nice. That's a good I did make her some nice sourdough. Was it good? Yes, yes, the sourdough is a lot easier than you would think. People anything bread.

SPEAKER_03 50:35

I think fakash is actually even easier than sourdough.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah. People kind of make it like so much more complicated than it is. And I kind of just watched these videos that like dumbed it down. And this one girl I saw was like, she made a good point. She was like, even if it doesn't come out good, it still tastes delicious. So she's like, it's fine. Right, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

It's not that big of a deal.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

It's not that big of a deal. Right. So I just kind of started doing it, and although Matt's on this like health journey right now, he won't eat bread. So then you started making sourdough. And Sophia housing sourdough every morning.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Like, whatever. So if you were to meet somebody right now who told you, hey, I'm dating a firefighter, I think I want to marry him or her, what would you tell them? What advice would you give?

SPEAKER_03 51:24

How would how are you? Sure. No. Just have the capacity for flexibility, I think is like the biggest thing that you need. Other than that, an openness to like some of their tough calls, like their the traumatic calls that they have to go to. Like let them do what they need to do to kind of come down from the adrenaline rush, what they saw that they can't get out of their heads. Like, let them let them have space to do that and just be flexible with schedules. Otherwise, it's a pretty I think it takes kind of a more relaxed person.

SPEAKER_01 52:03

Yeah. I'm not sure if anyone has ever called me a relaxed person. You're not? You seem pretty relaxed. I don't know. I compare myself to Robbie, and I'm he's just like almost non-existent in the best way. I don't think you need to be relaxed. You need to be, I guess flexible is a good word. Flexible might be a better word, but sometimes I think some of them are a little too relaxed. Like I think I I don't know. I obviously have only married one firefighter, but sometimes I feel like I I should be like shaking him, like, hey, are you okay? Do you want to talk? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

They don't Matt doesn't really bring it home. Okay. Like it takes something that like really is bad, or like something that happens that like really pissed him off to come home and be like, okay. Only call related or just call just I mean workplace stuff, you know, whatever. You know, stuff happens, drama happens obviously everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 53:04

Right.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

There's no shortage of drama in the private department. So I mean yeah, it takes it's he'll tell me some stuff. I'll sometimes like pride out of him just to you know, take interest in his job.

SPEAKER_03 53:21

Because I'm like air tells me all about all his calls. Really? All of them, yeah. I don't I don't mind, those things don't bother me. And I'm glad he does open up like that. Otherwise, he used to be less communicative like back in the day. Well, it's nice that he does talk to you. I was like, you need to like talk to not even about like fire stuff, it's just like like communication between us. Like I was like, I'm calling you, can you answer the phone? Yeah, can you text me back right away? But yeah, now he's he he tells me like calls like oh we went here, oh it was like this, you know. What do you think changed?

SPEAKER_01 53:59

Why is he?

SPEAKER_03 54:00

I I don't know if it's just he got used to being having like that line of communication open more, or if he just he you can only talk to someone at work about the calls you go to, like it could go round and round, but maybe talking to a non-work person makes it feel different, like it kind of digests it different. So yeah, he'll tell me like the good ones and like the not great ones and then like really bad ones. I'm like, oh man. All I can say is like, oh man.

SPEAKER_02 54:32

Well, yeah, it's like you're never really gonna kind of like I kid you never gonna understand what they do. Matt was telling me, like, we're we I mean, we were talking about the podcast, and then somehow we just kind of dove into like what's going on with him at work and this and that, and some calls, and I don't know. It was so funny. He was like talking about how they were like working on a woman, they were on their way into Boston, and he was like doing all this stuff, and I was like, wait, I'm like thinking to like Grey's Anatomy or like my like medical shows, and I'm like, I can't picture Matt in the back with an ambulant ambulance, like you know, intubating someone or like being like a medical professional. And I was like, wait a second, I'm like, you literally save people's lives, and I like it kind of like hit me for a second. I like forgot. I was like, you yeah, you do so.

SPEAKER_01 55:24

Do you wish you would tell you more?

SPEAKER_02 55:26

Yeah, and honestly, I think he, I don't think it's not that he doesn't want to, I think he would if I like, you know, I think it's also on me to take more, I don't know, not I wouldn't say interest and but kind of discussions and yeah, interesting. I always ask him how his day is, and I always text him during a shift, how's your shift, this and that, you know, see how it's going, see how my next day is gonna be, right? I was told. Get a vibe.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

I was told we are not allowed to ask housework.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 55:56

Why careful because I because I guess that's bad luck.

SPEAKER_02 55:59

Oh, you know what's bad luck in the past.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

I said that on the way there once housework, yeah. I got in a lot of trouble.

SPEAKER_02 56:05

I got in trouble once because I was visiting the station. This was years ago. I don't know if Matt would even remember, but they were like getting ready for dinner, or I don't know what they were doing, but I was like, okay, I hope you guys have an easy night. And Matt literally looked at me and was like, get out of the forbidden sentence. He was like, get out. And I was like, I was like, oh my god. That's like when you're working at a hospital and it's oh good, yeah. He's like, just don't talk about it. And I was like, okay, superstition runs deep. I was like, big time. Yeah, yeah, my bad.

SPEAKER_03 56:44

Have a good day, enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 56:45

See you later.

SPEAKER_02 56:46

That's really tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 56:48

Yeah, oops. Well, any last pearls, any last stories you want to share?

SPEAKER_00 56:53

Funny stuff, sad stuff, happy stuff. Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

I don't know. I'm glad you're doing this. I think this is and I listened to your last episode about you know hanging out with the with the ladies.

SPEAKER_01 57:10

I think that's a good idea. I think so too. I have not, I am classically not somebody who no, I'm a planner for sure. I don't I've had trouble always keeping in touch with people after I'm out of a situation. Like college friends, I have one. High school friends, I have a couple, and that's it. And I've been to a lot of school and a lot of places, a lot of jobs, and it just once I like stop seeing them, it's on me, I know. But so I keep every time I talk to somebody, I'm like, I'm gonna plan something. I'm gonna host or we're gonna find a place, and then like a day later, I'm like, I just forget. It's not even that I don't want to. I'm just like, yeah, I'll get to it. No, life's just busy and everybody has jobs and kids, and yeah, but how fun would it be? Like, I think Matt recently planned a bowling night.

SPEAKER_03 58:02

Yeah, he's the bowling night heard round the world.

SPEAKER_02 58:06

Round the world. Why? What happened? Well, they just loved it. Yeah, so exciting. Well, okay. So that's the thing about the bowling parties. Matt's like all amped about the bowling, and he comes and he's like, Oh, like shift party, we're gonna do bowling. And I was like expecting the insignificant others to be invited. I was like, Oh my god, I love bowling. I can't wait. This is awesome. He was like, No, you're not coming. And I was like, What do you mean? I was like, I was like, I'm never invited. Well, it sounds like we need to be able to do it. He sounds too much to do with like 40 people, whatever it is. And I was like, honestly, that makes sense because there's like 20 of you, so yeah, that's legit. And I would love to go bowling. It's so much fun. He just brought Sophia bowling, honestly, and she loved it. So, you know.

SPEAKER_03 58:51

I mean, if you want a sub, I'm in a bowling league. She's in bowling. Yeah, actually. I play Thursday. So, like, if we need a sub, I can so what do you do? You're in the league, he's at the firehouse. Do you just not go? Oh, unfortunately. I feel bad. My mom watches my sister's kids all day on Thursdays, and then to ask her to come to my house at 6:30 so I can leave by 6:45 to then bowl until 9, 9.15. It's I I don't want to do that to her. So I'm okay bowing out. We have an alternate who will come in if we need someone to play. It's not my only night out, so I'm not like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 59:27

She also plays hockey. I don't get to do hockey. You know what?

SPEAKER_03 59:30

I think you knew that. Yeah, you told me that once. So like it is like one social thing I get to do, and it's right in our town. It's two minutes up the street, so like it's great. What's it called? Melissa's amusement. Ryan's amusement. Yeah, it's it's great. But I just I feel bad and I don't want to pay my babysitter for the three-ish hours, because like, well, I pay less to bowl than I would paying her. Yeah, it's pricey. But yeah, I just feel bad. And my my team's fine with it, they don't care. It stinks when it's like two weeks in a row because like one week is something on me, like I scheduled a client or like I'm sick or something, and then the next week he's on shift. I'm like, ugh, okay. Guess I'm not bowling two weeks in a row. But it sounds like a lot of fun though. It is fun, it is fun. People get really into it, or like my team, we're there to have fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:25

I love that. Yeah, that's so much better.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:27

We do beat ourselves up when we don't bowl well.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

And everyone's like, it's like golf. Like, you're not consistent. Like one week you bowl really well, and then the next week bowls. It's like you never bowl before.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:37

It gets hard.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:39

Yeah, it is. It's frustrating too. Yeah. Because you're like, I threw exactly the same way and it didn't knock anything down. I threw it again and it went in the gutter. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

And I don't know what I did differently. Right. Nothing happened, right? The same breathed differently. Yeah, something not a good bowler. I'm not good at many activities. So for me, I like that attitude of like, we're gonna have fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:01

So yeah, it's you at the end of the year, you get a certain amount of money for whatever place you're in. There's 22 teams, so it's like 80 people bowling at once. Yeah. So like we're obviously not in it for the money because we're never in that top 10 where it feels good to get a chunk of money back. But yeah, it's fun. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:21

It's nice to have those kind of activities. This now has become my my night out extracurricular, my hobby. Honestly, I'm loving this part, but the social media piece is not not for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:33

Not your forte. So bad at social media for my business. I can shut it all down.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:38

Like I wouldn't, I would go forever without social media and I'd be fine. But now I have to like actually put an effort in. Yeah, and I have to like ask AI to make me all these photos. I don't know how to make photos. Like, who knows how to make photos? Come on, flip art. No, exactly. Do you use Canva? So, my okay, see, you're using these words, you sound like you know things. Um I've tried to just from the business, I tried to teach myself a little bit, but my colleague uses it and she like makes these really funny signs and stuff, but I have never done it myself. But now we call chat GPT Hank at my house. Yeah, so I'm working on it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:17

My mom was just using Hank today because I'm about to lease a new car, so she's like literally getting all this information from AI and it's just like, this is what you need to say. And I'm like, okay, thank you. Honestly, that was smart, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

Like, isn't it annoying how smart Hank is at the end of the day? It's crazy, right? Yeah, but yeah. Well, this has been lovely. Yeah, thanks for talking to me. This is gonna be great.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

I can't wait to listen.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:43

I know it's gonna be a good episode. I can't wait to see what Eric and Matt have to say. I know. Should we listen like together?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:51

A listen party? Yeah, maybe we do a bull listen party. I can't imagine. All right, awesome. Well, I'll get everything together, I'll send it over to you guys, and hopefully we can hang out outside with us. Cool, yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed being here as much as I did. If you have any questions for me or if you'd like to be interviewed, please reach out at the firewivespodcast at gmail.com. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Tune in next week for the next episode of Firewives.