The Sibling Connection

Music:  "Everything Is Working Out" by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist, licensed under Epidemic Sound.  Original work available at https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/tracks/d82030d0-11ae-4ed6-b8c0-54046531b869/.

In this episode, I sit down with my middle sister Lili to revisit the adventures, misadventures, and occasional chaos of growing up together.  We share stories from childhood, relive some of our sibling rivalry moments, confess the trouble we got into, and debate who was really responsible for most of it.

Along the way, we talk about how our relationship has evolved over the year-from arguing over the smallest things to building a genuine friendship as adults.  Expect  plenty of humor, a little sibling roasting, some surprising memories, and a few heartfelt moments as we reflect on the experiences that shaped us both.

Whether you have siblings of your own or just enjoy family stories, this episode is a fun reminder that some of life's best memories come from the people who know you best-and have the stories to prove it.   

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

This is Sergio Says It Straight. Straight talk. Real people. No filter. Say it straight or don't say it at all. What's up, everyone? Welcome to another episode. Thank you for all the listeners and supporters for tuning in once again. I have a very, very special guest today. My third sister. I've already interviewed my youngest, who was the registered nurse, and then my oldest sister, who was the LMFT. So now we have the pleasure of interviewing my other sister, the middle child. Lily. Welcome, Lily.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Thank you, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Today we're just going to go ahead and dive into kind of like growing up, our childhood, being like sibling rivals. I guess uh you could say that we weren't always the best with each other. Is that is that safe to say?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Safe to say, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Yeah. And uh we're gonna just kind of dive into that a little bit. Uh but first of all, uh it's World Cup right now season. Yeah. So, real quick here, my my sister has two sons that play club soccer. So I know that you are always on the road. You are the mom, the soccer mom. You're the soccer mom.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Just missing my soccer mom van. But yes, definitely soccer mom.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

That's one thing my sister would say, you know what? No, that's not gonna be me. I'm not gonna get the the minivan. Although you did have one for a little baby. I did have one.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

I transitioned. We were on a wait list for a while for another minivan that never came through. So we just kind of scratched that one off.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Do you regret not getting the minivan?

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Definitely. Oh, you do regret? No, regret not having one now.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

I would definitely get one.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Oh, you would?

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Okay. Because I I thought you had already gone over that stage where you're like, no, I don't want the minivan anymore. I want to move on from that. But I guess if you have that minivan in front of you, you say, look, we can give you a good deal. Here it is.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Definitely would take it. Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Okay. Yeah, and my I got two nephews. Shout out, well, I got three kids. My sister has three kids, but my two nephews that play soccer, I'm gonna give a little shout out to Milo and Matteo. So Matteo just recently won his tournament. Can you tell us a little bit about that tournament, real quick?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, he did the first tournament um with his new team. Um, they did a whole transition with um the age group, uh the age groups kind of changed, so then he had to switch over to a new team. So this was his first tournament, and they took the the trophy home.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Nice, and he's loving the new team?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

He's loving the new team. It was an adjustment, of course, like anything new that you do in life if you make a change. Yeah, but it was a great start.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

And you know what? It would be a fun episode to bring my nephews or nephew on to talk a little bit about soccer. I'm not I don't know much about soccer, but it would just be interesting to kind of get their take uh as a kid and and the sport. Yeah, I think that'd be kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

That'd be kind of cool. We're still learning uh, you know, about soccer ourselves as a parent.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Yeah, do you think they're up for it though?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I think they would.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Okay. Um, but but let me just say this though. When when we go to soccer games, my wife and I sometimes we'll we'll go check out the games. You seem like you know what you're talking about, though.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

I really don't, because if the kids are sitting next to me, if one of them is playing and the other one's sitting next to me, they'll be like, Mom, no. No, no, mom, they're not off sides, they're not supposed to be over there. You know, they're doing what they're supposed to do, mom. Yeah, so I kind of just shut my mouth.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

But there's a lot of yelling that happens on the sidelines for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

A lot of yelling, you know, the I mean the stress level. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Okay, and of course, once again, the World Cup is happening right now. Of course, we're Mexican-American, we're Mexican, so we're gonna go for Mexico, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yes, we did. That game was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Yeah, there was a game uh yesterday, uh Mexico 2-0. I think they played uh South Africa. South Africa. So I didn't get to catch the game. I was at work, but I heard it was a pretty good game from the from the get-go.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Pretty good game. It was they were in favor, so I mean they did end up winning. Everybody was happy.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Yeah, but uh let's realistically though, who do you think is gonna win the World Cup, though?

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Oh okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Of course you want to say Mexico, but let's go.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Of course we do, right? But I don't know. You see, I don't know about all the teams and their stats, so I'm not sure. I'm just gonna go for Mexico and see how far they go.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Because it always seems like it's Brazil, Argentina, of course. They're like the the heavy hitters. Um, Colombia. I don't even know if is Colombia in the World Cup this year.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

I don't know. See, that's how much I don't know. Like you can yeah, I can be watching if it sounds like I do know something, but I really don't. I like look at my kids and ask them questions. They know, they know where we're at and what we're doing. Or again, they'll correct me if I say something like mom, no.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah, I know like in the back in the Portugal, France, uh, Germany, those were teams that were kind of up there back in the days. I don't know. Like I said, I don't I don't keep up with soccer. I we've been to a couple MLS games. Uh shout out to the LA Galaxy.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah, um, but so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Other than that, though, I mean, I don't know much about soccer. We did get a chance to go to Miami last year.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yes, my son was so happy because his bucket list was to um see his favorite player, Messi, of course. And then we went to um Miami and we got to see him play. That was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

That was amazing. Yes, it was. That was a good time. It was humid as hell. I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Oh my god, we're melting, of course, here in the central coast. We're not used to that weather. So being over there was insane.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

It was so hot, we were just like drenched. One thing I do remember about that that summer trip last year was that we were kind of prepping the kids for like, you know, Miami, South Beach, you know, you see like the thongs and the the girls in the bikinis and the dental floss, basically, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

The dental floss, the you know, the the booties, the booties and everything else, you know, the boobies. I was just giving them, we gave them the little talk, like, hey, don't be surprised.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

But unfortunately, we didn't actually really see none of that.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

It was kind of disappointing actually.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

It really was. We kept looking and we're like, where are they at? We saw like one or two, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Yeah, but it wasn't even that bad, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Not bad at all. You probably see worse here in this area.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

And one thing that we do um as siblings now, before we get into it, like I said, just um kind of getting to know my sister a little bit more, the audience getting to know her. Uh, we've traveled a lot, we've vacationed a lot, we've been in a couple places, Hawaii, you know, Miami. Um, we do enjoy traveling together. Yes, we do. Um, I gotta say that when we do travel together, my wife, you, um, it's it's like so easy to me. I don't know, it seems like there's not much to think about. It's just kind of like we go with the flow and we just go have a good time.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah, because you can't travel with everybody. Like you can have family that you can do certain other events with, but to travel, no. And I have to say, we just really just um tag along. I mean, you and Milane have these timeshares that you're like, we're going somehow, you know. I don't know, I don't know if we invite ourselves or I invite ourselves, but we end up we end up tagging along and it's always a lot of fun, like you said, and and it just goes like we kind of know each other, the family, how the flow goes, and it just always works out.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yeah, because I mean, growing up, we didn't get to do vacations like that as kids, and we'll get into that here in a little bit. Um, but it now as adults, of course, we get to go have fun, we get to choose what what we want to do. Yes, so that's the thing about being adults, like we can do whatever we want now, of course, right? Yes, okay. Um, just a background here. Um, we grew up in a house of five. Well, really, no, a house of four uh siblings growing up. It was my oldest sister who we've already talked to. Uh myself, I was the second oldest, and then you were the middle child.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Like they, you know, a middle child. Um, I always say, like, you know, in your hands, I'm the middle finger, the middle child's of five.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Give them the middle finger.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Yes, every time. Because you know that middle, if you know the middle child is out there, like you know how it is when you're the middle child.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Yeah, big, big shout out to the middle children out there. All right. We we've I my sister feels you, so she knows what's up. Yes, and then of course, uh, we have a brother. Uh, he was the fourth, and then our little sister, the registered nurse, dealing with all that crap out there in Colorado as a nurse, but she loves it. Um, she was the uh the mistake.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

The surprise.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

I was a surprise, but she was a surprise.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Surprise, and I loved having her as a little sister. Um, yeah, like I said, it's five, so she was born when my mom was already in her 40s, so it was it was kind of crazy. So the only ones at home was it was my little obviously my little sister, my little brother, and myself. So she pretty much grew up thinking it was the three of us, really.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Yeah, you know, and I think I mentioned it before. My daughter, my oldest daughter and my little sister, they were a couple years apart. Oh well, four years apart. Is that what it was? Four years apart. And I remember like, you know, taking them to McDonald's or wherever, little kitty places, you know, where they would hang out. And uh a lot of people, like you said, they thought that she was your daughter.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yes, and then I would take her everywhere. Really, she was my little doll. I would dress her up, I would take her to the mall, take her shopping everywhere. I mean, so much fun, even camping. Um, I would take her sometimes with my cousin, and yeah, even her, my cousin's daughter thought she was my daughter.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Yeah. All right. So um, let's go ahead and get into it, yeah. Yes. All right. Okay, so the first thing I have to ask is uh who do you think was mom's favorite between you can say between you and I. Because it's this is about you and me. Yeah, it's true. Who who do you think between you and I?

SPEAKER_00 9:25

You know what was funny. I I don't I don't think it was me. I think I would agree. Yeah, I think it was you. It I I my mom, for some reason, it was always one of the things I always get annoyed was because he would get to do some things. Okay, so we're like three years apart, right? So let's get that you know information out there. He's like three years apart. But I always would say, well, he can do it because he's a guy, right? He's a man, like he couldn't do it, and I can't because I'm a girl. So that would piss me off. So um I thought he got away with more things because he was the guy, and and I'm the girl, so that would piss me off. But yes, I think you were more of a favorite than me. I was a middle child again. That comes back to me. Like you, I think we're just kind of somewhat fan for ourselves in a way.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Kind of like I mean, I don't want to sound like bad, kind of like the bastard child a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I mean, that's I mean sometimes I guess I throw that way, but it was kind of like sometimes you felt like you were forgotten, but because they also knew you couldn't handle your own, I guess. Right. So it was kind of weird in a way being a good one.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

And you could and you could handle your own even as a as a as a kid. I I know, I know that. Um who do you think got away with more between me and you? Again, you. Right, you just said it, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:41

You because yeah. Um you were the older, you were older, obviously, three years, and because you're a guy.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Okay, what about what about who was the more dramatic? I mean, I gotta say you, sis.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

I mean, I think that goes back to me being a Gemini, you know, that twin. Yeah. Sometimes uh I mean, yeah. I mean I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

I'm dramatic too, of course. My wife will tell you. My wife will tell you, my sister will tell you, she'll vouch.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

I think we can both be dramatic. But yeah, I think it's either uh a hit and miss. So you I think from both of us you can there's a little bit of that. Like, yeah, when you know you know when we're mad, I guess, annoyed. I think you I think we both have that in us. Like, yeah, um, so yeah, I mean that's uh it can be either or I guess depending on what the situation may be.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Can I mention being hangry?

SPEAKER_00 11:32

I I I I mean as a kid. Oh, I mean, yes, I uh and I still now right but uh that's still a thing. I don't think that goes away, though.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

And the reason I would say that you were more dramatic was just because you typically got what you wanted because of the way you acted, like tantrums or whatever, but you got what you wanted. I I think my that's that's my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

And I think I was never really afraid to ask what I wanted. Maybe I would have been nervous about asking my parents something, but I would still do it. And if they would say no, I kind of would rebuttal. So kind of like exactly, you know, I got in trouble for a lot of that, like talking back, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Yeah, okay. What about who cried more? Cried more? Who cried more, yeah. I mean, we were kids, all kids cried, right? All kids cried.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

We all cried, I guess. I don't know about the crying.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

I don't I don't know either. I I gotta say that I think as we cried evenly, maybe like even, I mean, uh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

If and if you think of all the siblings, there's there's a crier, but we have one specific, yeah. Specifically, so I don't think it was one of us. I think that's why it's kind of hard to to say that one.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Then I would have to agree with you on that. Yeah. Who who do you think started the most fights between you and I? Like I know that growing up, yes, we had our moments where we were like, yes, we're getting along and everything's fine and dandy. But then there was those moments where we're like, damn, I want to grab her hair or whatever the case is. Who do you think started the fights more? Me or you?

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Probably me. Yes. Probably me. Yes. Again, I would just get really mad. Um, I think you knew how to press my buttons.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

I did.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

You knew what to do, you knew what to say, and uh, it just pissed me off.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

We have a lot of moments like that. We do, we do. Um, who was more likely to get grounded between you and I?

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Were we did we get grounded a lot actually? You know, it's not that we got grounded, I don't think. I don't know about that, but I think it was more um maybe more chores, maybe, or not even that. I think it was more like you guys can't go there or can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Right, but it wasn't like I I don't remember like ever really being grounded to where like, oh, you're in your room and you don't come out for two weeks or something like that. Like, no, I wasn't like that.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

I don't think we ever did that. I mean, we would get my parents mad, but it was kind of it was over. Like we got our lecture, you know, we got told whatever, and then that was it. I think it was.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

It's kind of like you went back to your routine, yeah. Yeah, I would say so too, because yeah, I can't recall ever being like, oh, I'm talking to my friends, so yeah, I'm grounded for two weeks or something like that. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Yeah, no, I don't remember that either. Yeah, I can go somewhere, yeah, but not that.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Right, right. But it wasn't like we, you know, we were still at home playing video games or whatever, no, playing in the yard or whatever the case is. Yeah, yeah. We weren't confined or anything like that. Um, who was the biggest niche? I think we would both tell it each other.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

We would both tell each other again because it's kind of like why he couldn't get away with it. I mean, he did it too. So like I I think that was my thing. Like, if I would get in trouble or something, I would say, Well, he did it. True. Why am I getting in trouble?

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Again, looking back, you think though, like, of course, three-year difference is a big difference. Now that we have kids, and it's like not only because you're a guy, but yeah, now if you think about it as a parent, you're like, okay, that's a big difference.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

That's a big yeah, that's big. That's big. Okay, uh, let's kind of switch it up a little bit here. Um, what was your earliest, earliest memory of me? And then I'll tell you my earliest memory of you as a kid, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Um earliest memory. I don't I guess I just remember like talking about pictures, but not I don't know. I don't have like a memory that I'm like, yeah, oh yeah, but I mean and this might be the one that you're gonna say, but like I know there's a picture of you coming when I was uh I was born. I was about to I had a feeling you were that you came in with your suit and tie to come and meet me. Yes of course I don't remember that, but I see I remember You see the pictures, you see pictures, yeah. And I always hear the story about you coming um to the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

I don't I don't know why, but I I guess I wanted to make an impression. Like, okay, here's a brand new newborn baby. Like, what the hell? She's not gonna care what I'm wearing. Yeah, but no, I had I put my uh my blue my blue blazer. I had uh a Winnie the Pooh tie. It was a clip on one. I do remember that very, very clearly. And then uh I think I just put like a polo shirt on underneath.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

I yeah, I think it was like a um maybe flannel even or something, right? Like, yeah, the picture's still out there somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

In my mind, I was like, damn, dude, you you're you're you're fly today.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

He I don't know what he thought that I was gonna be like, yeah, like my little sister's gonna know what I was wearing that day, but I still do. Hey, it actually did cut cause an impression because that picture's still out there and we still talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Yeah, like I was gonna go to work at the office that day, you know, yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I had a big uh I had a big uh big conference that day or something. I I had to close on a big deal that day.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Like he came from work or something, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Something like that. Um okay, so like as siblings, you're obviously um we we do a lot of things that we're not supposed to do, right? And we get in trouble. Um do you think that we there was times where we kind of we were allies? Like we plotted, we plotted uh on we're gonna do this together, and then so we had each other's back.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

I think that was more when we would probably ditch school, maybe. Yes, yes, we would high school days. High school days, we would ditch, and then then we would kind of be like, okay, we knew what time the school was gonna call with the saying your kid was absent. Right. So like we would kind of you know look at each other like if you were closer to the phone, like get the phone. Yes, like answer the phone, listen to the message, and be like, oh, you know, it was whatever. We make an excuse of who it was and we just hang up.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

But I think that was probably the most of the little ally situations that we would have the most yeah, because I know that when we were in high school, I mean, yes, I was older than you, but I I was already driving. So we would go places, we would like, you know, today we're gonna ditch, we're gonna go to the beach, or we're gonna go wherever.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Or I would just see them. Yes, like we would ditch separately, and we would see, I think one time we saw you at the beach, huh? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

I was with my friends and you were with your friends at the beach.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Oh, and my and that's when I think we saw my cousin Noemi. Noemi, I love you. Um, we saw her there one time too. I think that was the same day we ditched. Like, we literally saw all we were all there at the beach. Yes, but we separately, like she was with her friends.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Everybody had their sets of friends that day, whatever, and everybody kind of just planned it on their own. And it was like, dude, we all think alike.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

We all think alike. I mean, it was a nice day.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

It was.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

I mean, we ditched, but I mean, we still handled at school.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

We took care of business at school, we had good grades. Okay. Um, do you think we were friends immediately, or we or we were rivals immediately as siblings?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Um, I would say friends. I mean, I don't I don't think we had like we never went, I think, days or anything with like, oh, I hate them or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

I think we never did.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

I think we were cool.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

We were cool until we were not cool. Yes. Until something happened. Until there was more. And then the button would or the switch would turn off.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Again, when he would push my buttons, yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

And then it was on. It was on. Can I tell him a particular situation? So one time we was like, and I remember it was a Sunday afternoon, like, you know, we had just came back from wherever we came from on a Sunday, unwinding, getting ready for Monday, right? And then my mom, for some reason, was like, she was, I don't know if she was upset because the house was kind of like in disarray. So she put us to do some chores on a Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening or whatever it was. And for some reason we got into like a little bickering. I don't even remember why.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

I don't remember why either.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

And uh I for some reason just thought it was a great idea because I was vacuuming to put the vacuum on her head, and then of course it sucked in her her long hair.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Oh, yeah, he he tried that, he did that.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

And then what happened after that was was not good. She basically jumped on my back and bit me.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I sure did. I mean, I I didn't have any tools or weapons like he did, which was the vacuum.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

I had a vacuum.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

I mean, I just had whatever my mouth, I guess, and that's the first thing I did. I jumped on him and I bitch.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

It was very, very effective, though.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

I mean, he had a big old mark for a while with my mouthprint right there, my teeth marks.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Yes. Uh, and I remember just like, whole, I'm gonna kill her. Holy shit, I'm gonna kill her.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

And uh he started it because he put the vacuum up. That's you know, that's starting a war.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

And of course, my mom came and she whooped our butts. Well, me really, I think, because I'm the one that put the vacuum on her head. Yeah, I got I got the worst of that one. I I I I believe. Um did we have a thing growing up? Like when we were younger, like when we were at the house all together, when we were kind of just all well, of course, it wasn't just me and you, but our other uh brother and sister. What was our thing? Like, what do you think that what what do we do? I I I think that we we were trying to always invent things. Like we would always create game shows, or we would do like skits, or we would do like uh something in the backyard where we do like an obstacle course or something.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah, I I actually remember we did all that for sure, but I remember one time it was so much fun. We um created like I think there were some pallets in the if you remember in the backyard. My dad had some pallets in the yeah, and I don't know how we came up with this. We had had some tires all of a sudden we put some tires on there, and then we remember we put the rope with the with the bicycle, yes, and we were just on that thing for hours, yes, back when kids actually played outside, and when we played with our neighbor kids, so it was kind of like we just took it out. Um, but it was fun because obviously we created this thing, it was all like janky, like falling apart, but we played for hours. We thought it was the coolest thing. So much fun, and the neighbors got in too and played with us too. It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

We ended up having like like derbies down the down the road, you know, like races and whatever, and teens. And I just remember having a great old time. And then, of course, once the lights came on, it was time to go in.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

It was oh, like yeah, like you knew it was time to come in. Like everybody, again, it was our street and the the neighborhood kids, and we had a lot of fun. Um, I also remember that we my dad had bought us all like we had some type of instrument.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Oh, yeah. We had a drum set, we had uh we had a piano, a keyboard or whatever, organ, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

And so we would start like our a group. Remember?

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Yeah, we had groups. Yeah. In our mind, we were like, Yeah, we're gonna be famous one day. Like Selena. Yeah, something something like that.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Selena Ludinos or something. I don't know. My you know, obviously, we didn't have a parents or a musical or anything, but no, no, we didn't get that. We just had a Fun with it. Like, but we, you know, who would be the one singing?

SPEAKER_02 22:03

I think just all of us.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

I think so. And then we would have the you know the background dancer would dance. I mean, we would also do it with our cousins, but this was also things that it was just us.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

It was us. We hate we we even had like a backdrop. We would get like a uh a whatever a sheet, uh a bed sheet, and like we would put words or whatever of whatever group that we thought we were.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Los Lelos.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

Los Lelos. I think that was one of the names of one of the in English, aka like the lames. I don't know why that's the name that we came up with. That's crazy that we came up with that name, though.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

You know, but that's that's what the kids lack this nowadays because they don't have that imagination for sure.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Um, so if if our childhood was like a TV show, what would it be? Or what what would what would it be equivalent to? I already have my I think it'd be like Double Dare. The show we used to watch, Double Dare. Remember all the little obstacle courses of challenges? Yeah, I think that was us.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

I mean, I would even I was thinking even just some of those like travel episodes or something because we would just do some dumb shit out there sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

We did, we did a lot of stupid stuff.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Um, do you remember um like going back to rivalries? Okay, let's go back to like me and you, of course, we're three years apart. Um, I think we were the closest. Well, my sister, my oldest sister we went to school with together.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

We're all three years apart, except my little sister.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah, so I got to I got to go to high school with my oldest and then with with you.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

So I got I was a freshman and you were a junior. I was a junior. You were junior.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

I was a junior in high school, and so we were two years apart. So when I graduated high school, you were a sophomore.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Yeah. Um, so going back to like kind of talking about the the sibling rivalry. Uh I think I already mentioned like our our fight with the vacuum. Do you do you recall anything that you were like, damn, that was dumb? Why were we fighting? Or was that the one you think?

SPEAKER_00 23:49

I I think that was the worst one. I think that was the worst one.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

That was the worst one, but is there like a dumb one where like, dude, that was stupid. That was dumb.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Um I can't think of another one, a big one like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

No, me neither.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

No. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Yeah. Uh, is there a habit of mine that drove you absolutely crazy or insane?

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Let's hear, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Uh one I think until this day, I don't like baseball.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Oh, I love baseball.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Well, but because of you, I think I don't like it. He probably was one of those that when we were watching um base, when they my brothers were watching baseball, um, you guys would always be so annoying. You they he had a little bat.

unknown 24:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Remember, you had a little bat.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

I had a bat.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

And then you would be swinging the thing the whole time. He was stressed. He would, if if someone would miss something, he would be so mad.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

I lose my mind.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

He'd lose his mind. He would run outside, break shit. Like it was so annoying. Like, I hated being in the living room when they were watching the games because it was so annoying.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Yeah, and we've talked about that throughout the years. How uh, you know, just me being so into something like that, and then just getting my emotions getting caught in the emotions, I think, is one of the things that I I grew up. That's how I grew up, I think. Emotions. I just wore my sleeve and I didn't care.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Yeah, but that was very annoying. It was also the same with basketball. Any basically any sport, any sport, but you were into basketball and um baseball, baseball. And so I think that's maybe that's why I didn't get into it. Yeah. I would see the stress, and I'd be like, why do you even want to watch this thing? Like you guys are so stressed out.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

I know. I don't know why. It's now that I think about it, like I still watch sports. Obviously, my wife can tell you that sometimes I do get I don't get to that point anymore, but uh, but I still get a little stressed out watching my Dodgers, watching my Lakers. Uh, I do get like that every now and then.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

I mean, I can now I I feel a little bit about that, but mostly because when I watched it.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Because you're watching your kids, because you're watching your kids club soccer, of course. Yeah, of course you want them to win.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Of course I do.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Yeah. Um, for me, I I don't know. I I think it was just the fact that you didn't like certain things that I liked or that you were, oh, that's stupid, or whatever. That's what annoyed me because you would make it known.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Vocal about it.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

You were very vocal about things, and if you didn't something didn't appear right for you to you, or like, oh, you didn't like it, I don't like that color, I don't like the way that looks, and like you you would straight up just tell me, like, oh, that looks dumb.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

I I I mean, unfortunately, I think I still kind of like that.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

So that's but I mean, if you want to know the truth, ask me.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

That's true. And I and I do go to you, it's like, I need I need your advice. Tell me. What do you think about this? You'll tell me straight up.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yeah. Um let's see here. Um what is the most trouble that we ever got in? You think? Um, when obviously when we we would do things. I can think of one thing um that we did, but it actually didn't just involve me and you. Uh, and it was mostly me. Uh, but it involved look a lookout, like hey, look out if no one's coming at a certain store.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Oh, I remember that one. Yes, I definitely remember. And I think we were with our other cousin, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:03

We were with a cousin of ours.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

We were with our other cousin. Um yeah, I remember going to the store, and then these guys wanted a water balloon fight. Is that the one story?

SPEAKER_02 27:12

We wanted to do water balloon fight, but we didn't we didn't have money to buy balloons, and my mom wouldn't buy us the balloons.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yes, of course, because you know, yes, parents buy me some balloons, they think that's dumb. Like, why would they buy you balloons?

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Um, and it was like in a 7-Eleven, wasn't it? Like something like that, too.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Probably.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Yeah, it was like that too. So, I mean, I was the lookout for them to grab some balloons.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Yeah, she was the lookout, and she was like, obviously, I didn't do a good job, obviously. Or it was too obvious. Yeah, it was too much. We made it too obvious.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

So they came to me and asked me to go call. It goes, can you please call your parents over? Yes, and it was my mom, right? Which my mom and then I was like, okay, so obviously there's all translation too. So I'm like, Mom, um, they're calling you. And then she's like, what for? And I was like, I don't, I don't know what they did. They did something.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

Yeah, they did something.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

And then so, yeah, then my mom went up to the it was a store. I don't know if it was a store manager or the worker, I don't know who it was. Could have been a manager, probably or something like that. But it literally they it I mean they got a they got away easy, I think, because it was most it was kind of like um because my mom was there and she kind of said I'll take care of it. And technically they didn't you guys didn't walk out of the store.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

No, we didn't.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

No, they still had the balloons in their pockets or Charlie. Caught them in the act.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

We were I was putting it in my underwear.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Oh, see, so they were caught in the act, and I was the one that was supposed to go tell mom like how stupid it was. Oh no, they got lectured for sure. And again, did what was your punishment? Well, going back to you know what?

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Thinking about it, I think my mom just gave us a lecture on the way back to the house. We obviously didn't get the balloons because you know that wasn't gonna happen. But I remember my mom like lecturing us in the car all the way home, and then when we got home, I I just remember like she made lunch for us and we were playing in the backyard.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

That is crazy now. If you think about it, as a parent, now we we were giving our kids a bigger punishment.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Yeah, I mean, I think because we weren't out there like you know, burning a building or you know, smashing windows or something like that, that would be a completely different level.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

And I um yeah, and I think nothing came about it, like that you guys were kind of let go, like, okay, don't do this again, kind of deal. So it wasn't that big of a, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yeah, and then I'm not and I'm not condoning shoplifting by any means. That was very stupid uh uh as a young Sergio. That was very dumb. But um, for those of you out there listening, do not do that, go out, don't go out there doing that, please. Um I and I learned my lesson though. After that, that that didn't happen again. Um, if I didn't have money for for it, that was it. We weren't we weren't gonna get it. Yeah, you know, and sometimes my parents, and I just do I do remember though, my parents, you know, they hardworking parents, you know, um we were home a lot, home alone a lot because of course both parents worked. And agriculture, yeah. They were both in the in the fields, uh, you know, with crops, whatever, picking, picking crops, you know, whatever, whatever it is for that season. Yeah. Um, and we were we were home a lot. And I remember like just being uh an autopilot. You go ahead and and take the trash out. I'm gonna do the vacuuming. My oldest sister would probably start dinner, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Like take the chicken out, or start the beans, or whatever the case may be. We had to do all that for sure. We all had our duties, they would leave four or five in the morning and had to walk to by ourselves to school and come home by ourselves as well.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Yeah, so I think being alone a lot of the time as kids, I don't know. I think sometimes you kind of start to think like, well, our parents aren't here. Maybe we should go do that or get away with it and and stuff like that. So I don't know. I think things are a little bit different now. Uh our kids, for the most part, are not really home alone a lot. Yeah, no, and uh it's just a different way of living nowadays. We had to do we had to be self-sustained, self-reliable when we were kids. I mean, we had to make our own lunch coming home from school. We kind of had to do our yeah, I mean, we were doing like adult things. Yes, we were kids, yeah, you know, so I kind of you know took a left turn there, but it just kind of reminded me of like, you know, with the shoplifting and stuff like that. Like, um, you know, being at that age, trying to get away with things, uh, but at the same time, we were doing so much. We were doing so much, like these kids couldn't handle it nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Oh, definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

We had to handle our own and we were able to. Yeah, we knew how to do it.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

Who do you think was the mastermind behind all the things that all the shenanigans we got into, all the trouble we got into?

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Like for me and you?

SPEAKER_02 31:45

For me and you. You mean yeah, uh, I I I was the mastermind, but it didn't always work out, as you know. Um, and of course you were the accomplice.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Yes, I was always the accomplice um with you, or like when we were with cousins, like depending on what side of the family we were in, either I was the only girl hanging out with the cousin.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

That is true.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

So it was kind of I was always a lookout, or I was always the one to come and or not but be a part of it sometime. I'd be like, you guys are very dumb for this shit. I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

And that's why you grew up. I mean, you were tough though. I mean, yeah, you had to, because you were, I mean, how many cousin boy cousins did were you around? I mean, on my dad's side, obviously it was all cut all guys.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Oh, my dad cousins literally, and then because my obviously my older sister was sometimes wasn't wouldn't come.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

No, she had her own thing going, she had her own thing going.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

She was older, so she was with her friend or something, but she was me and maybe always like six, like including you, like six cousins, maybe both guy cousins and myself.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

Yeah. And then but on my mom's side, it was a little different. You had no and me.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Yes, and my mom's side, it was yeah, we had we had more females. My cousin and me my age, so love that.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Your road dog.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Um, do you think there's a story out there that if our parents heard today, they'd be like, What? What do you mean you guys did that? The thing that comes to mind is like we would throw ditch parties, and I don't think we ever got caught.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

I don't think we ever got caught.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

No, we didn't, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:10

No, we didn't. Um And that's that's crazy that we didn't, to tell you the truth. And I I think we all did it separately as well, though. I don't know if we did we do it together.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

I mean, we did I I remember a few that we did together, but there was some that I was just like me, you know, yeah and my friends and people that were my age. But there was something where your friends would come over and we would all be involved in in the little ditch party, or or if my parents went out of town. My parents would travel a lot back in the days, they would go to Tijuana.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Yeah, but they see that wasn't me there that stayed home.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

That was me, huh? Because you would go to Tijuana. I would go with Tijuana, yes, and so it was like that.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

So obviously, we would stay home, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

And we would throw some parties.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Yeah, I wasn't involved in those.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Yeah, I mean, we would do it up DJ and everything, and it was a mess afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Yeah, and I mean that we did have some with my parents there, too. Remember?

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Yeah, and those were, of course, we asked permission and we were allowed. Those weren't as of course not as crazy because yes, there was supervision there, so nobody was that crazy. But um, but yeah, I think that's one of the things that comes to mind is like, yeah, ditch parties, um, that we things that we did that my parents just didn't know about. Um I mean, they did have a liquor cabinet, my dad.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Yes, they did.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Every now and then I think I would get in the cabin and do and drink some rumpope.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

For those of you that know what rumpope is, it's kind of like um a very thick uh drink. It's kind of like creamy.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Oh, it's uh eggnog, right? Is it the same thing or is it different?

SPEAKER_02 34:37

It's the same texture.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

I don't, it's not the same flavor, but it's the same texture. Obviously, it's liquor.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah, and um usually that's the first, like I remember that's the first drink I I got ronpope. That was my for like that was given to me by my parents or my mom.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

You know, it was like it tasted good, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

Rompope and kalua.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Kalua, yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Usually those were like the two, you know, um ones that your family would be like, you can have a little bit of it.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Yes. Just a sip, though. Just a sip.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Just a sip, just a little bit, just a taster.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

Yeah. So of course with my parents, but I mean, not like I was we were drinking like that. Like we weren't like over here, like smashing drinks and like just pouring guzzling. No, no, no. It was like, oh, I'm just gonna taste a little taste, yeah, you know, and then like because my dad, I mean, he kind of knew what his bottles were, like the measurements were and stuff like that. So you really you really couldn't drink a whole lot, just a little sip here and there. Yeah, but that was it. That's that was about the craziest things, ditch parties, and then like just taking a little sip of the alcohol. Um, I don't know what else. Like, did we ever have to cover anything up, like a scratch on a car or something, or a dent or something? I think I could think of stuff with my older sister, but with us, no, did we do any cover-ups besides that?

SPEAKER_00 35:44

No, I don't I think we were and when I think because again, I was three years younger than you. So when it came to that stage that you were kind of doing the more party mode, it was more the older sister than me. I think that's why.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Yeah, yeah, and like I said, you you had your own little crowd, but you guys were crazy. Your little crowd was crazy too.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

We were a little crazy crowd, I guess, in a sense, but still like it was funny because I was still like would be responsible. Like, I remember when it was time for me to go out that I could, like, I would still call my mom and tell her, even though I wasn't again in trouble, yeah. I still would be like, Oh no, yeah, we're gonna go and eat at Denny's afterwards. And she'd be like, It's already two in the morning, Lily. And I'm like, Well, but I'm just letting you know this is what's gonna happen. Yeah, so even if I did something that I shouldn't be doing, like I would call her and kind of let her know.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Yeah, for me it was a lot different, obviously. Uh, I could get away with not even coming home.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Yeah, I would.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

I mean, there was times like I would go be gone like the whole weekend, come back on a Sunday, and I wouldn't get told anything. Yeah, and see my parents wouldn't tell me a damn thing.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

I would get checked on all the time. So, and again, but I would check in too. That was just kind of the way I was with my mom.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

So it just again, she would get mad at me, and I was still getting in trouble getting home. Yeah. But I'm like, you knew.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

You know, but the thing about at the time when we were teenagers, I was already driving. I got my license at 16. So as soon as I hit my 16th birthday, literally, I think a day or two later, I was at the DMV taking my test, got my license. So, you know, you got to take advantage of me having a license.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Uh, but I took advantage of myself having a license, so I was always gone. You think you're independent, you think you're an adult at that age, but you're not. Think about it, 16 years old.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

But you really didn't, it's not like you had to take us anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Like no, no, no. No, not that, but I'm saying like the freedom we had at that age. Yeah. 16, driving, and not only just driving to like my friend's house, a lot of my friends lived in Arroyo Grande, Oceano. Um, and but I remember taking trips to like Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Salinas, San Jose, uh, Santa Cruz at the age of 16. Think about your six are my six. I can't even think about my 16-year-old like driving at that age, far, that distance. I know. And then overnight and stuff like that. That's crazy. Like, what were our parents thinking? It was this is normal.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

I think it was normal and like um easier, like it's a help because, in a sense, like, you know, again, they would wake up and go to work at four or five in the morning, yeah, get home late. So it's kind of if you're taking yourself where you need to go, yeah. That was some sort of help.

SPEAKER_02 38:25

Yeah, it was. And uh, I mean, just I that time just kind of thinking about that time of that age, 16, 15, 17 years old, whatever. Man, those were some good times.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Those were some times.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

I think they were good times.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

I had a good time as well.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Yeah. All right. Um let's talk about maybe things that we were might have been a little wrong about. Uh what's something you you think you misunderstood about growing up with me? Specifically with me. And same thing for me. Something that you misunderstood. Now that you think about it, you're like, you know what? I I I didn't really understand that at the time about me.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Okay, you go first, and then let's see.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

I think for me, and we've already talked a little bit about this, was you guys lived the the girls, obviously, lived under a different set of rules. And I didn't understand it.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

I think, yeah, you know, it's funny, I was kind of thinking the same way.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

Yeah. And it kind of goes back to like the inequality. Yeah. Um, and me thinking, like, well, what a what a what a horrible way of thinking. But at the time, I mean, that's what was kind of ingrained in in especially like a lot of the Mexican families. And even I don't know, maybe today, like, well, women are supposed to be like this, and men are supposed to be like that. So leave them alone, and and you're supposed to be in the kitchen, you're supposed to be preparing dinner, and the boys are supposed to be outside doing yard work, and you're supposed to be cutting the grass and doing all this and that. Um, so that's kind of one thing that I think about. Like, you know what? You you guys had it bad, and um I now looking back, like, you know what, I should have been more understanding with you instead of like making fun of you guys or like putting in your face or whatever, like, oh look at me, I can go out, you can't, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

I think that was kind of like selfish or like just immature uh on me looking back, like and I think it goes both ways too, because I also and some of the things again, going back to that was one of my things, like, okay, because he's a guy who can do it. Yeah, um, so I guess it would be the same for me, but at the same time, it wasn't like it was your doing, right? Right. So it wasn't again, yeah, like you mentioned, mom. Like for us girls, we had to, you know, inside clean the bathroom, sweep, um, the kitchen, yeah, and you guys had the yard work outside or whatever, or help my dad do some mechanic work, which is probably the worst.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

That's a whole nother episode with you know, if if you're uh grew up in a Mexican household, you know when you help your dad do some kind of chore around the house, mechanic work, you're the guy holding the light. And if you move it the incorrect way or whatever, or you're gonna hear it.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Or if you get the wrong tool, get the wrong tool you I mean, they expect you to know all the tools at whatever age.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

At the age of eight, like, dad, I don't even know what a wrench is or what a yeah, give me the number four or whatever the hell. Dad, I don't know. You never I didn't go to mechanic school, you did.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

So we would randomly if they would do it wrong, something outside, yeah, they would have to come inside and help.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Remember that my dad would basically tell us, like, okay, if you're gonna be acting like if you're gonna be acting like a girl, then go inside. Go help go inside and go do chores with the women.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

Yes, and that would happen randomly.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

But just think about it, just think about that mentality. I mean, it would you talk to your kids like that nowadays and say, oh, because you're a girl, you gotta be inside doing no, no, you're not, you know, different times, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

Different times, and again, it wasn't like um we were told that it was kind of like I mean, that was what it meant, but it was kind of like go inside, go inside, help your hop inside the house.

SPEAKER_02 42:05

I'll go go wash dishes or something. Yeah, like that was demeaning at the time. That was at the time it was very demeaning, and you know, no fault to to our parents because that's the way they grew up, too. Yes, they didn't know any better either.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

They didn't know better, that's the way they grew up, so it was kind of as parents we keep learning, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

And now talking to our parents now, you know, however many years later, my mom. I know my mom really does.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

My mom does that, yeah. She does like I can't believe I let that happen. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

And even having conversations with my dad just recently, like he he expresses the same thing like, you know what? Yes, we were wrong in doing that. I shouldn't have done that. Uh, you know, it's in the past.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Yeah, we grew up together in a in a sense, like does the parents and the child the children, like we grew up, we grew up together and we learned together.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Yes, exactly. Um this is kind of like one of those questions that it can kind of go from any any age between you and I, like us growing up together, you and I. Uh, is there a time when you started seeing me differently or I started seeing you differently? Um, like for me, it was like once we left our separate ways, I went to college and then I joined the Marine Corps, and then I would see you periodically, you know. Um I started seeing you kind of like, oh, look, she's doing her own thing now, she's going to college, you know, she's trying to do a good for herself, trying to get a career going. So I started feeling very proud of you at that point. Of course, then you graduated high school, I mean college. Um, you started having kids. Uh, but for me, it's like when you became a mom. When you became a mom, that's when I started seeing you like, oh my gosh, this is a whole different person. Like, this is this is a woman. Like, not that you weren't a woman before, but it was just one of those things where like I was just like, oh, my uncle now. You start feeling a little bit differently.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

And it was a cool feeling. So that's for me, like when you became a mom.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Yeah. To me, I think is when you came out of the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

Cause I I was, I mean, I have to say, I was so surprised when you said you were gonna join the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

I know, never thought about it.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

We were like, what? And then when you came out, then I you know, it was just a whole different, like, wow, he did that.

SPEAKER_02 44:23

Yeah. And then uh, so prior to me joining the Marine Corps, I once again Mike and my sister said I never would have thought that I would have ever joined the military. Uh prior to that, I was in high school, I was all into mecha, I was all into like, you know, uh civil rights and this and that and fight the power and all whatever, all that stuff, right? Um, and then uh I wanted to get into something like that. And then I joined the Marines. Everybody was surprised.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

I think we were all surprised, like, what?

SPEAKER_02 44:53

Yeah. Um but yeah, I I think that also you actually spent uh some time with me and my wife living in in San Diego area. You came out and lived with us when my when you you were in community. I think you were in community college at the end.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

Yeah, I think I just had just turned 18 and I left. It was a one weekend. I don't even, I think that was the hot how quick the decision was, like that I was gonna go over.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

My wife and I had yeah, we had had our first child, our oldest, uh niece, and uh I don't know what it was. We didn't your mom helped us for a little my my my mother-in-law helped us for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

And then um we kind of like didn't know what to do with babysitting and daycare, whatever. So I don't know. I think I reached out to you and said, Hey, do you would you mind taking care of my daughter while we work? And then, you know, you go to school in the evenings. I think that's what you did, right? That's what I did.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

Yeah, I would take care of we I had a little routine with Denise, um, our little routine down, and then um when you guys would come home, I would leave and I would go to school.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Yeah, and I think that was one of the for me, it was like I really enjoyed that time in our lives. Uh, number one, me and my wife were newly parents, you know, we were our kid, our first kid, we we didn't even we didn't know what the hell we were doing. Um, but then having you there, it was kind of like a I don't know, kind of like a safety blanket. It kind of just felt good to have a family member there. And I think we got closer. For me, I mean me personally, I think we got closer there during that time. Uh I remember uh of course you going on a weekends partying it up in Tijuana.

SPEAKER_00 46:26

Tijuana.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Uh but just knowing that, oh yeah, my sister's here, she's gonna come back, she lives here. It was a good feeling. I think I would take you lunch. Um, and I don't know where you were working or whatever, but I was working at a hotel. In a hotel, I would take you lunch and stuff like that. And then there was uh there was some just some good times there. Uh I remember where you had a little Corolla and you were just bumping.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

The white corolla.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

The white corolla with the booming sound system.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

For those of you that remember those days when uh everybody had the booming sound systems, that was the thing. Everybody would go cruising. Is that still a thing? Cruising?

SPEAKER_00 47:01

I think I mean obviously here there's a big old cruise night, but it's not like you see that it on a daily. I don't think so. That was huge up when it's but before you had to make sure you had that system in your car, the deck that you can, you know, eject so you can take it the face with you.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

Yes. Uh good times though. But yeah, I just want to throw that out there. I did enjoy that time when you actually were living in San Diego. Uh there's a lot of good memories there. There was a lot of good memories there. And my and my I know my daughter doesn't remember, but there's a lot of cool pictures of you and her. Uh, I mean, she was months old.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Months.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

Yeah. Uh what do you think is the biggest from uh then and now? What do you think is the biggest difference between us then when we were kids, you know, teenagers, young adults to now? What do you think is the big difference? In what sense, like in just us in general, like and then us in general and like being siblings.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

I mean, I feel like it's there's just different type of respect.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

Um, different type of respect, and like I'd be proud of you know the family you have and um your career, just everything. I think just as we grow older, we appreciate things more.

SPEAKER_01 48:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

And you know, just looking at your life and appreciating that, like proud that you've come so far.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

Yeah, I think uh taking things more serious now. Obviously, when you're young, you don't think about consequences as much. Now, as an adult, you start to think about and question things a little bit more. Oh, for sure. Obviously, especially having kids, you want the best for your kids. You're always thinking about, well, how's that gonna affect them? How's that gonna affect us, you know, financially, whatever? Uh yeah. It it you gotta you gotta think of a bunch of things. So I think it's just more you're just you know, you're just more knowledgeable.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Yeah, and then you start thinking of, of course, your parents of the decisions they made, and then you're like, okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

Yeah. Is there anything that you can think of from us growing up to now that hasn't changed as kids to now, um, that hasn't changed, you think?

SPEAKER_00 49:03

Our personalities, I think.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Um, you know, we're still the same people. Um, but what sense in what sense are you talking about?

SPEAKER_02 49:13

I think just like uh, you know, when we were kids, we were very adventurous, we were like very uh creative um in that sense. And now do you think we're the same?

SPEAKER_00 49:24

I I think you are, yeah. I think you're very creative so I think that the that kind of went away for me. I felt like I was a little bit more creative before, but now like, and that's I think a whole different story being in my mid-40s of not being creative enough anymore, just my mind's just not there.

SPEAKER_02 49:41

Yeah, and you know what?

SPEAKER_00 49:42

That's a whole different story, that whole different podcast somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

And when you said that, like still being creative, I I think I remember like we would have put we would put on our own little talk shows and our own little shows, right? Oh, we had a movie. We we we used to make movies.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Oh my gosh, we had a movie, and my kids actually know the line still because um we always tell them this story. There was there was one time that we made a movie and the line was, excuse me, sir, what time is it? Remember that?

SPEAKER_02 50:09

It's time for you to die.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

It's time for you to die. And I mean, we took out the catch up and everything for the blood.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

The special effects was catch-up.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

Catch up. I mean, we yes, and the kids, if you ask them, they they know the line because I talk about that like little movie thing that we did. It was so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

Yeah, I do remember that. Uh we used to have a camcorder that my dad would, he bought my dad bought a camcorder. The huge ones back in the days. When camcorders were in their prime, like when it's like gosh, you have a camcorder? Like that was big time.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

Like it was always on my dad's shoulder, all the time, everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 50:43

Yeah, and uh there's stories of my dad making me carry that camcorder at Disneyland, at Universal Studios. And if you think about camcorders back in the early 90s, uh late 80s, those things were not, they were not light, they were heavy. It was like a a big pelican case. If you know what a pelican case is, like those military cases where they have the foam in the end, so they're very well protected. Imagine lugging one of those around at Disneyland.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Oh, yeah, because you know, our parents didn't want to pay for the lockers. So, like you not only were you carrying the camera, you were carrying the fried chicken, the loaf of bread, and whatever else, the drink, like all in your backpack because you know we couldn't spend money on a locker. I mean, we were lucky enough that we went to whatever, Magic Mountain. I don't think we ever did Disneyland though.

SPEAKER_02 51:33

No, we did we did we did Disneyland, but you we were way younger though.

SPEAKER_00 51:37

Oh, you see, I don't remember Disneyland. I remember um Universe Studios and um Magic Mountain.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

Yeah, I we did go to Disneyland. We were I I want to say I was like maybe seven or eight years old. I see, I wouldn't remember. So you would have you must have been like five, five or six at the time. Yeah, and then uh but I do remember that you're right. My mom made the fried chicken in the morning. For some reason, she would make it fried chicken with a loaf of bread. Wonder bread bread, yes. White wonder bread for some reason.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

Which I mean it would have hit. It did hit, it would have hit, even though we wanted the food there, but I mean we were still happy with that.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Well, I would be happy with fried chicken right now with a loaf uh with a wonder bread at Disneyland or anywhere you go, you wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 52:16

Uh but it was interesting because you know, and I think to this day, a lot of Mexican families will go to uh theme park, wherever, and they're gonna take their tapatillo, their bread to make a torta, or whatever the case is. Yeah, because I don't know, number one, they want to save money. And number two, it's better to just eat that food anyway.

SPEAKER_00 52:37

It tastes so much better nowadays. Like you go to any restaurant, you pay a ridiculous amount of money, and it's mid, like the kids say.

SPEAKER_02 52:44

It sucks.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Yes, definitely sucks.

SPEAKER_02 52:46

And growing up, like we didn't really get to go out a lot to eat. I mean, I don't recall us going out on weekends to eat.

SPEAKER_00 52:52

I mean, if it was a Sunday, maybe, like, and they would take us to Shaky's, which is no longer there in England.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

Shake's not oh, they had the potato wedges and potato wedges. They had uh fried chicken and the pizza.

SPEAKER_00 53:03

They would also take us to that pizza place that was in the mall.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

Oh, yeah, King's Table.

SPEAKER_00 53:08

No, but it was also a pizza spot, if you remember, by the move where the movies are now. No, King's Table was a buffet. That buffet, but we that they would go to King's Table, um Shaky's, and that pizza spot that was in the mall before.

SPEAKER_02 53:19

What was it?

SPEAKER_00 53:20

I don't remember the name. I don't know. It wasn't a round table, I think it was a rocky.

SPEAKER_02 53:23

I think it was a round table.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

And that pizza was good.

SPEAKER_00 53:26

And literally, I think those were like the three spots that we would go to, and then randomly my dad would bring us a 99 say Whopper on a Saturday when he would go pay the bills. Because you know, before you didn't you had to go.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

We wouldn't get the fries or the drink, it would just be the whopper. My mom would make fries, probably, and then my dad would give us uh those generic 25 cent soda cans of coke of generic colors. Yeah, and I remember, but I mean still good times.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

I oh man, we were so happy when my dad came home. I mean, to this day, there's a nice memory that I remember he would bring us home those whoppers and randomly he would bring us home fries to share.

SPEAKER_02 54:06

Yeah, and I do remember my dad though, he would make the effort not every day, but he would bring us candy a lot. Licorice, licorice whipsorice for some reason he would go to the store and get a couple of licorice rips because they would sell them individually.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

Yeah, that's weird, huh? That's weird because like not everything has to be packaged, but yeah, I think we did get it.

SPEAKER_02 54:23

They would sell them individually, and my dad would bring like two licorice whips for each of us or something like that. And then I remember lemon heads.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

Oh, yeah. For those of you out there that are you know in their 40s, if you remember lemon heads, they had they had the store member in Guadalupe, the one that was with explosion, like it they never rebuilt it, but that was a store that had the individual candies, like they would have like little the watermelon ones, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:46

They would just have like the little apples full of different candies, and we just kind of grab. Yeah, and I remember buying the the little fake cigarettes, the ones that you would puff like in like the there were gum, right? And the little you would puff the little smoke would come out for like two seconds.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

I remember using those as props when we made our little movies, movies, and then you would chew them and the flavor would be go away, like in the first the second chew that you did on the like the little I mean, yeah. But those are funny, which I think they still sell randomly. I see them here and there.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

Yes, of course, yeah. They do, you said they sell them still randomly.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

But you know what? It's one of those um stores that you go that they sell like old school candy? Yes, that's where I've seen them. Okay, only those, they don't sell them on your regular 7-Eleven or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 55:28

Of course, those are retro now, so yes, the retro candy. Yeah, um kind of um real quick, is there anything that you can think of right now that obviously we kind of talked a little bit about our parents. Is there anything right now that you would you would apologize for? Something that we did growing up uh besides like you know, sneaking out or whatever, is there anything that you would apologize for?

SPEAKER_00 55:53

I think I don't think I did anything like huge that was, you know, um probably just the talking back to my parents.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

I mean, I did a lot of that. I got a lot, I mean I got in trouble a lot for talking back. I think that I I that got me more in trouble than anything.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

That was probably the biggest thing, huh?

SPEAKER_00 56:10

Biggest thing opening my mouth when I shouldn't have been opening my mouth and saying things I shouldn't be saying.

SPEAKER_02 56:15

Yeah, I think for me it's more like um probably destroying things than hiding things, and then my dad would breaking things, and then mom and dad my dad would find out later, like what happened to this thing or the my the or the you know the what is it? I'm I'm thinking camcorder here, but I'm thinking VCR. Oh, the VCRs. Who broke the VCR? Back in the days, of course, you know, we're in our 40s. For those of you that know what a VCR is, it's basically like an old tape that I don't even know what a tape is. I don't know, the kids don't know. They have no idea. Uh it's basically uh an a bigger tape cassette that you could record movies on, and then you would play them on this player, uh, and it was all what is that thing called? Um what's that material that they're made out of?

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Like the str it's not the yeah, uh same as a cassette, you have to wind it up.

SPEAKER_02 57:05

Yeah, yeah, but what is that? It's like a film, like a film. Film, like a film, real thin material. And then and if it came out of the of the cassette, you had to like roll it back in with a pencil or something.

SPEAKER_00 57:15

And then sometimes though you had to, it was just it would destroy it because I would remember it would spit it out. Yes. And then so sometimes you would have to cut and tape it. Yes. So then you're watching a video, and then like all of a sudden, like it's missing a little part because you had to cut and tape it.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

It kind of cuts forward. Yeah, you kind of had to know what what happened there.

SPEAKER_00 57:30

Same thing with the cassette that you were listening to music, like you had to cut it because it would eat it up.

SPEAKER_02 57:35

Exactly. So I think like growing up, like I think we we just we destroyed a lot of things, not intentionally. But we were still getting in trouble because it's yeah, because we were, you know, we're trying to be creative or do whatever. Yeah, and I do remember breaking my dad's camcorder because I mean we did use it a lot.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

We did, because we have a lot of movies that we did with the lot of home videos.

SPEAKER_02 57:54

Yeah, now everything, of course, is uh uploaded on your phone in the iCloud. Uh but back then there was camcorders, there was no such thing as your iPhone, camcorders, uh, and then of course you had to lug all the equipment around everywhere you went.

SPEAKER_00 58:07

And so, of course, so that's why the tape would mess up because you had to rewind forward, rhyme forward for like anything to kind of set it up where you wanted to.

SPEAKER_02 58:14

Yes. And now all you gotta do is press a little button or or pick a little spot and it's there.

SPEAKER_00 58:19

So just ask chat to fix it for you.

SPEAKER_02 58:21

We did, we did have to, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So um anything else you remember about our childhood that you would you would like to discuss? Something that I didn't think about or didn't bring up.

SPEAKER_00 58:32

I mean, I I'm thinking more of like a good memory. Like um our family was big on Saturdays. We would watch Sabado Gigante.

SPEAKER_02 58:39

Sabado Gigante with the trumpet.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

Yes, and then my dad, like there was a pot. Like, we knew we were so excited when we saw this pot come out.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

Oh yeah, popcorn time.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

We knew it was popcorn time, and it was just the pot for the popcorn. So it was the old school popcorn. He would put the the kernels in the jiffy pop.

SPEAKER_02 58:54

It was called Jiffy Pop.

SPEAKER_00 58:55

He would put the um the butter with the you know the kernels and the salt, and we would just all be in the living room watching Saabado Gigante eating the popcorn. I think that was a great memory that I always remember.

SPEAKER_02 59:09

And I I don't think I I don't know, this is just my guess. I don't think a lot of families do that kind of stuff anymore. I mean, you there are families that do, but I'm saying it in general, I don't think it's done as much as families gathering around the TV, you know, watching a show or whatever. I don't think that's very common.

SPEAKER_00 59:25

No, and yeah, so that's why I think it's a special and a good memory because we would laugh at the show. If everybody remembers Sal Gigante, they had like skits, the guy with the trumpet. What was his name again?

SPEAKER_02 59:36

El Chacal.

SPEAKER_00 59:36

El Chacal.

SPEAKER_02 59:37

For those of you that used to watch uh Sal Gigante.

SPEAKER_00 59:40

We would all be fuera, because if you know they didn't sing good or whatever. Yeah. Fuera. So we would all start chanting fuera.

SPEAKER_02 59:46

We we would get into it for sure.

SPEAKER_00 59:48

Yeah, that was our family thing. That's what we would do.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

And then of course we would use that energy and make our own little shows, and then we would spend a lot of time re-watching our own home videos that we made. A lot of times we were just in front of the TV, uh, you know, thinking of new ideas, like, well, we did this, now let's do this video. Yeah, we were we were very creative, actually.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

I mean, I guess when the family books, some of them we could have came became directors.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:11

We should have. I don't know why we didn't think about going that route. I mean, I'm I'm very excited about this thing that I'm doing now with this podcast. Uh, this is always something that I've been talking about for two years now. I know I've been talking to you about it for like two years now. And of course, we're gonna get on, we're we're gonna get you on again and have some other discussions. We're gonna bring some other friends on. We'll have some more maybe cousin talk. Yeah, we have a lot of siblings talking about. More sibling talk, uh, maybe some spouse talk, some married, you know, conversations there. Um, and I think that's gonna be exciting. I think that's gonna be fun. But uh, this is something that I've been working on for a while. I just basically want to bring people on here just to talk about everyday stuff, talk about life, talk about experiences, talk about growing up, whatever the case is. And you know, and sometimes the conversations can be a might be a little bit more serious, you know. Like today, I I really enjoyed just kind of going back in time and talking about how we grew up and the and the things that we did. Um, I think this is more of a of a kind of light, a light show, humorous, you know, uh episode. And then of course we'll have some that once again that are gonna be like they're gonna make you think like, oh damn, that's kind of dark or that's a little too serious.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:24

Yeah, we have a little bit of a lot of things. It'll happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

Yeah, it'll happen. So I I just want to say that um anything before we leave. Um, I just I've enjoyed it. I'm just saying, uh, do you have anything before we leave?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:35

No, it's been fun. Like I said, I just wanted to that last memory, and I mean, and for more memories to come, like you said, hopefully we have some more vacation times and more stories to to talk about.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:45

Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:45

Later on in the future.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:46

Yeah, and you'll be on again for sure. Um, and then uh real quick, I just wanted to take this moment to give uh a special shout out uh to one of my dearest friends out there, Jose Lopez. If you're listening, I just want to tell you that uh it was good seeing you this past weekend. Uh my buddy has been going through a lot the last two years. Uh keep fighting the fight. Uh we love you and hope to see you soon, buddy. All right, just wanted to give you that shout out uh that you are doing great and keep it up. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

I have a lot of good memories with him as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:19

Yeah. So once again, Jose Lopez, if you're listening, uh shout out to you. All right. Well, thanks again for listening uh to this podcast podcast episode. Uh I had a good time talking to my middle sis, and uh we'll we'll see you next time, hopefully soon on one of the next episodes.

unknown 1:02:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:37

Sounds good, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:38

I'll be here next time.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

Okay, and uh thank you, listeners out there once again. Um appreciate you guys tuning in. If you're enjoying the podcast and want to help support future episodes, you can check out the link in the show notes. Your support helps keep the podcast going, and it's greatly appreciated. Also, please leave a review and share with friends. That's Sergio Says It Straight, where the truth comes out. Whether we planned it or not, catch you next time.