Sacred Sitdowns
Sharing one’s personal story is sometimes hard, but it is holy. Sacred Sitdowns seeks to allow a safe space for faith-filled conversations with members and friends of Geist Christian Church. Hosts Kyle Brown and Danny Gulden hope that all those who hear will be enlightened and inspired. Listen with us. You’ll be glad you did.
Sacred Sitdowns
Taylor Burket
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Today we sit down with Taylor Burket. Taylor has grown up at Geist Christian Church and is currently a sophomore at Ball State (Chirp, Chirp). She beams joy and has not only participated in multiple mission trips, but last year, came back to lead our Middle School Youth on their mission trip to Nashville, TN. We hope you will enjoy her story and how life has not only shaped her calling to be a nurse but the role the church has played in her faith formation.
Let us tell you a story.
SPEAKER_01A story that will transform, enlighten, challenge, and change how we see the world. My name is Kyle Brown.
SPEAKER_02And I'm Danny Goulden. And we'd like to welcome you to Sacred Sit Downs.
SPEAKER_01A conversational podcast that explores how the Spirit of God moves within this world through the power of story.
SPEAKER_02In today's episode, we will sit down with a member or friend of Geist Christian Church as they share their dynamic, faith-filled story.
SPEAKER_01We hope you will be enlightened and inspired by the word shared today. This is Sacred Sit Downs.
SPEAKER_02Hey Danny, how are you doing today? I'm doing well, Kyle. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I tell you what, we have uh on today's podcast, I think to this point, our youngest uh guest. I believe that's the case. Yes. Today we have Taylor Burkett, one of my old youth here at Geist Christian Church. Uh I first met Taylor when we went on a mission trip with um a good friend of ours, Kelly Dick, who we were with a couple of weeks ago in Nashville uh to my old church at Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church. And uh it was your second mission trip and my first, and uh since then I've got to watch you grow into the person you are. Uh you are a graduate uh of LN. Uh you are a sophomore at Ball State, and you're doing nursing, right?
SPEAKER_00I am doing nursing, yes.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. It is so good to have you with us. Um, we always usually begin about your faith story.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Um, so tell us a little bit about your journey um to this point.
SPEAKER_00Um, well, I've been a part of Guy's Christian Church ever since I was literally born. I mean, I was born November 29th of 2002, and then out of the hospital, you know, and then Christmas Eve service. We've always been a part of going to the Christmas Eve service at 11 p.m. So we can like introduce, you know, Christmas Day as a family. And so when I was born, I went to that service.
SPEAKER_01Don't remember it, but I went to the Was that your first time at church? Was that the first time your parents brought you to church? I think so. I don't think I knew that. That is really cool.
SPEAKER_00That is not exactly sure, but I know it's like obviously around that time. But yeah, so then ever since then, I don't think we've ever missed an 11 o'clock service. So I've always been going to the church and I've been a part of the youth since can't even tell you how long I've been going to youth group all that time. You've been my youth pastor, met a lot of connections and had a lot of connections throughout Guise Christian Church. So Guys Christian has been a big part of my life. And then following into college, obviously not really being able to go to church since I'm in Muncie. I ended up going to I have a lot of friends thankfully who are religious and into Christianity. And so I was brought to a church in Muncie called Oaks, and I go when I can, I go with friends, and I also have girls in my sorority who um brought together a Bible study, and so I go on Tuesdays also when I can because nursing's hectic, but I go to Bible study too there. So that's sort of like my faith journey right now.
SPEAKER_02So you are already attending more church in college than I did.
SPEAKER_01That's good. I I am impressed. It's really good.
SPEAKER_00Thanks. Thanks, guys. I'm trying.
SPEAKER_01So, what's been the biggest transition going from high school to college for you?
SPEAKER_00For me, I don't know. I mean, high school, I feel like it's such a small community that like you I had an idea of like a good amount of people who were there. And then you get to college and it's like I had not a lot of friends who I knew going to Ball State. So like it was a big adjustment having to like build new connections and find new people and especially like the schoolwork. It's just a lot harder because in high school I didn't really have to study much. I mean, I was in like those classes where things just came easy to me. But getting into college, it's more of like you actually have to study and you have to sit down and focus on stuff that you actually have to know for life rather than just, you know, the basics. So definitely like the studying adjustment. I'm still like trying to figure out how to study with nursing school because there's new changes every single day.
SPEAKER_02So how did you choose is nursing something you've always wanted to do? Or is this like when did you say, I I wanna I want to be a nurse?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. Nursing has always been like a big part, especially because ever since I've been young, I've been very involved with just helping people in any way that I can, and nursing is a big part of that. And especially as a like at a young age, my dad's mom, so my grandma Jane, she was in a nursing home when I was like maybe nine or ten. And so I was in that environment, and I loved seeing how like the people around them helped my grandma and stuff like that. So that was like maybe a little like spark. And then maybe when I was in like eighth grade, seven, eight years ago, my dad had like a major heart attack, and that was a big, big impact. And so seeing how like the nurses interacted with me at that young of an age really also I think made a bigger spark. And ever since then, I was just like nursing, that's it. Like I didn't really have a doubt in my mind that that's not what I wanted to do.
SPEAKER_01So it really is a calling for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's wonderful. So you you came back, Taylor. You were in the um the demographic, really, the church is desperate to find and keep, right? We always lament people drop out of church in college and all of that good stuff. Um, you know, we we if you end up back in this area, we want you to come back to Geist, we want you to be the chair of the board, we want you to be our boss. I mean, basically, right? Um, what has um what kept you looking for that community in college? And then you um you served as a middle school mission trip sponsor last year, so you came back and got to see the other side of it. So, what has been the thing that has kept you uh kept you coming back to a faith community, both at school and here at home?
SPEAKER_00Well, I feel like for a lot of people in college, it's hard to keep that connection just because you're going to a big change, like big changes throughout your life when you go into college. And I feel like, I mean, I will admit, like going into college, I sort of like drifted away from God a little bit just because you're in that position where you don't really know what's happening in your life, so you just really don't know how to feel it out. But I think I definitely wanted to get or like stay involved with the church and throughout the community and stuff because in the end, that always helps me feel a little less stressed out just turning to God in those positions and definitely showing people that you can turn to God whenever you need of some like somebody to talk to or lean on. I just thought it would be big to also bring out, you know, coming to the youth and involving them with that. And it was very, it was a very good experience going on that mission trip to, you know, show all of them, especially because one of them was one of my good friend's little sisters. And so like getting to see her at such a young age, grow up to who she is now at like on that middle school trip. It's just so cool to see. I love seeing all of the connections come together.
SPEAKER_02So um we talked about our first trip of going on on was to Lexington. Yeah. Um my daughter is uh 11. She is going on her first mission trip. Ava is going on her too, yeah. And the trip they are going on is to Lexington, Kentucky. They're gonna be doing very uh similar things. Uh and I always like asking, I have a theory, um, but I always like asking youth, what was your favorite mission trip? Um and because you've been you've you've been on a lot.
SPEAKER_00I have been on a lot. Um, that's a hard question because I feel like I don't know, they're all such good experiences and they're all different in their own way. I mean, the one that I remember most, I really enjoyed Lexington. I really did, but the one that I remember the most was probably Chicago, just because that was my first mission trip. And it was just a very like I wasn't really expecting what to come because of I mean, we got to help amazing people and go through that whole entire process, but it was just like not in a great part of Chicago, and I think that's really that was my first mission trip. So I mean, I didn't really know anything outside of like where I was from and stuff. So experiencing like the poverty and homelessness in Chicago and being able to understand that and help them at such a young age, I think that was a really good mission trip to start off with, and probably my favorite one just because it helped me develop as a person.
SPEAKER_02So you proved my point. Uh it got you out of your comfort zone. It was yes, and most youth I've asked, it's usually the first trip they went on because it's such a a shift. Uh indoor Chicago, which you all did, it's a fantastic program. But I remember doing that with youth at Maxwell Street and getting off um the the Metro or the L. And uh as a straight white male, I'm usually part of the majority wherever I am in in this world. I mean, that is that is true. Uh getting off the L, I was not that there um because it was a a different experience for me. I remember going to try it. It is a shift for youth because uh leaving Fishers and going to East Garfield Park, uh, they look very different. Um, and I think the stories that are shared and the and the experiences you have as a as a kid there um are definitely faith uh formation um in a way that I don't think you could get any any other place. It's a great program uh that does good work in the city of Chicago.
SPEAKER_00I agree 100%.
SPEAKER_01And you find that you uh yourself has changed as much or more than the people you work with those types of experiences.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Taylor, I want to ask you a question that um I think a lot of people uh my age, I'm a little bit older than Kyle, but I mean not much, but I mean enough. People our age and older. We were joking before we started recording about uh a little bit of talking about social media, being in college. And I so I think a question people have is how has you've kind of come up in the age of social media, right? You've grown up as social media has evolved. Um what role does that play? And I don't even I this is not a great question. So, but what role does that play in terms of um your life and faith? I mean, I assume it can be used for positive, it can be used for negative, and so how have you kind of approached that?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I mean, social media, it is a positive and a negative thing. I mean, there's always going to be positives and negatives out of it. I mean, a lot of my friends that I know throughout faith, they post positive things and stuff and like, you know, Bible verses and such on their stories to encourage others to like show their love to the Lord, which I really find inspiring actually, because it's like a daily thing that I see all my friends put like a lot of my friends posting that, and more friends that I get to know, I end up finding out that like they're into that faith and they like to do that. So that's really important to me. But a lot of people also, I mean, that's just not their thing in college. So you'll get a like some judgment just because people aren't the same as you and they don't think the same as you. And so it's sort of like a mix. I mean, I feel judged sometimes for posting just what I believe like that, but I mean, in the end, like it shouldn't really matter because it's just you and God, like you really should not matter about what other people think. So it's sort of like a mix.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you can use it to build up or to tear down. Yep. We see both. Absolutely both. Sometimes the hardest thing is reading, you post something, and the the meanest thing is in the comment. I mean, reading the comments of something is um I like that though. I like that. I mean, I think using it for positivity. I read something the other day about the number of images we see a day, and it's something like 50,000 images a day, uh, which if you think about it, is just an incredible amount between like social media and I think it like 50 years ago it was something like people saw 200 images a day. And so just the amount, so whatever's coming to you and in your face, and um, you can either use it to build up or to tear down. That's a great of an answer. Well, and it's a lot of story, right?
SPEAKER_02It it's it's it's it's it's a lack of connectionalism that we would want, right? We're not sitting and having a conversation, a meal together. It's kind of this at a distance. We're more connected than we have ever been, but we are more isolated and and um struggle uh with our connection to one another. And so I'm curious, how do you find connection in college uh with your friends? What do y'all do for fun that is beyond uh uh phones? It's just a chance to be and to share in life together.
SPEAKER_00Well, when it's warmer outside, of course, I really like to get a lot of my friends together in Muncy or like indie. I just like to go and be outside and just not even like to have your phone, just take a second and like breathe and like let the world around you sink in. Because I mean, life is really beautiful and phones are aren't like an amazing thing. And I mean, I'll admit, I'm on my phone a lot, and it sucks because for us, like at my age, that's sort of what we've known. So a lot of people really don't think about it, how old were you when you got your first phone? Oh, I don't know, like a let twelve, twelve maybe. That's good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's fair. I think I was 35, something like that. Anyway, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00But I mean, it I mean, yeah, social media is just like a big part, and like cell phones are a big part. So I really find it important to just like take a step back and see everything around you because I mean you only live once, so looking at your phone like head down all the time shouldn't be the way to live. It should just be embracing everything around you. So I really like to get my friends and go outside and stuff like that. And I also like to go to the gym, and I have a lot of friends who go to the gym with me. And so a lot of the time that's also a good time to just like set your phone down and help better yourself and better your friends. So I also like to do that with them.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's let's be honest, we like to pick on the younger generation for always being on their phone. I know a fair amount of folks who are older than me uh that spend quite uh um a lot of time on their phone, scrolling through Facebook or whatever.
SPEAKER_01You get that screen time report at the end of the week on iPhones or whatever.
SPEAKER_00I turned on my screen time to like knock it off when I like hit like a certain amount of time on like Snapchat or Instagram, and it's like only 15 minutes, but every single day I have to like turn it off or say, Remind me in 15 minutes, which is probably not a good thing to do that, but you know, it's like the snooze alarm on the snooze.
SPEAKER_01Yep snooze. Well, it's good to hold ourselves accountable and our family's trying to do that a little bit, which is good. So you seem to love ball state, seem to be thriving there.
SPEAKER_00So I you oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01As people they play the University of Georgia in football next year in Athens.
SPEAKER_00Do we?
SPEAKER_01Did you know that? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, I only know that we play IU in like 2026 for basketball or something, or maybe it's football.
SPEAKER_01But Georgia game, you never know. You never know. Anyway, so um um so what advice for people who are listening, parents, kids who are listening to this who are trying to pick a college now, because I feel like um that that gets tougher and tougher. It starts earlier and earlier. What advice would you have for someone who is trying to figure out where they should go to college and and spend four, four and a half or um in Kyle's case, six years? Like we're we're uh I'm just gonna four, thank you. Four. Oh, I know. I did five actually. So super senior. Yes, thank you. I was a red shirt senior. Redshirt senior. Well done. Thank you. Um, so what advice would you have?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. Maybe just go with your gut wherever you feel most at home because I like ball state was not my top choice. Like I didn't really think about ball state. I was really dead set on the University of Cincinnati, but I toured there, it was really beautiful. I loved it. And then I was like on the edge of going on a ball state tour. My dad was like, just do it because he's an alum. So he was like, just go. And I was like, okay. And so we went. And I like not even like 10 minutes in, I remember telling him, I was like, I actually I actually really like it. And so we walked around and everything, and I loved it. Like by the end of the tour, I was like, this is really where I want to go.
SPEAKER_01And so your dad knew if you went to campus, you wouldn't.
SPEAKER_00I know. But I mean, and they have a good nursing program too. So it's just like wherever you feel most at home because you're not gonna know, like some people do, like they know where they want to go, and like they don't really have to tour or anything, but don't like overthink it, just tour and at least get an idea of what the campus is actually like before you actually commit. Because again, I mean if I wouldn't have toured, I probably wouldn't have even like thought twice about it. But I love Ball State, I love it. You just gotta get in like that environment because you're gonna go to college, or like at least if you are going to go to college, you want to be somewhere that you want to enjoy and you want to like. So make sure you like the place that you're picking before actually like going with it.
SPEAKER_01I think place is important. Like you can't even, I think a virtual tour too doesn't replace. I think you have to physically be there and say, Right, do I see myself here? Is this where I'm supposed to be? Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, Taylor, I was one of the things that we have done on our mission trips is uh you all would write um thoughts, stories um of your experience of that day. And so I I was uh looking back over some of your writings.
SPEAKER_00You have those stuff.
SPEAKER_02Oh, well, they're all on the interwebs.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I remember that thing is there.
SPEAKER_02Uh on our uh Is this on the youth mission trip blog? Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_00I had to get I would go all out on those.
SPEAKER_02I had to look I had to do a little deep dive. Uh there's some really good pictures over the years. Uh this line I love because I think it embodies who you are.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, and it is a very true statement of your authentic self. I look forward to spreading kindness. That is that is one of the taglines that you left uh in one of your uh posts about, I believe that trip was when we went to uh Detroit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It was a Detroit mission trip. Um and it was like day one and you were reflecting on your trip. Uh I love that because it it it embodies you. How do you spread kindness today? How do you keep doing it? I don't I just like how do you like what ways do you uh do you continue to live that out? Because you did it on the mission trip.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, what ways do you live that out uh with your friends at the gym when you all go out? How how do you share um because I think that is part of your faith is is kindness and and caring well for other people. It's why you've chosen to to to go to the profession in which you have chosen of being a nurse. So just some practical ways that you do that.
SPEAKER_01I know it's a weird, odd question, but I And while she thinks about this, I want to say this is a note to current youth that you never know the ways in which you might inspire your leaders because clearly that stuck with you this long, where you're like, I need to go back and look at this because I knew Taylor wrote something meaningful. Oh, it's and so I I I mean one of the joys of doing ministry with teenager students and is is I think you all inspire us actually, probably more than we inspire you.
SPEAKER_02Well, you do say the darndest things and and and and prophetic and and profound things and the darndest and prophetic all at the same time.
SPEAKER_01It's a it's a unique, yes.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. Um, I really I've been trying to do a lot more lately is complimenting somebody every single day because I find when I get compliments that like brightens my daytime 10. And so I feel like even if it's like the smallest compliment, like I have a friend that I met through nursing, but I like hadn't really known her before that. And I saw her at the gym and I was like, hey, like I really like your like shirt or something. You're working hard, like keep it up. And like two weeks later, like I hadn't met her yet in nursing, and she came up to me and she was like, Hey, you're Taylor, right? And I was like, Yeah, and she was like, You complimented me like a couple weeks ago in the gym, and like I just wanted to come up and like actually introduce myself. And I was like, Oh, okay, but like it stuck with them for two weeks that I just like comp like commented on how they were working hard and I could see it. And like I've done that a lot more times since then. So I'm just curious to like to see how I've impacted people like that. But I feel like again, if somebody were to do that to me, I would also remember it for like time to come because that's just something important that I find I just like to compliment people, even if like you know, it's a small compliment, but and even like especially you don't know the position that people are in. So try not to like keep a negative mindset. That's why I always try and spread kindness because I mean again, you don't know what people are experiencing or how people like people are gonna take what you say. So just take everything and you know, be kind. It's pretty simple.
SPEAKER_01You never know what people are carrying too when you meet them, right? You never know. That's powerful. Well, I think that that goes over to um what do you what do you want to do with nursing? Like, where do you see that taking you?
SPEAKER_00I I mean, like I said, my dad had that heart attack, and I really think I mean I'm unsure of where I want to end up, but a lot more like recently at least, I've really been shooting for like the cardiovascular area just because I really find that stuff interesting, just like all like all for it. Because I maybe like a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, I went to Huntington with my dad, that's where he's from, and he had a friend Indiana, Huntington, okay. And he had a friend who was like running this program in Huntington because her son had died of like cardiac arrest when he was only like 19 or 20. So he was super young and he had no idea, like he was a healthy kid, but it was just like a blood clot, and it was like that. And so I went and did this heart skin in Huntington because that's where they were holding it at. And I got to let's like see my EKG and stuff like that that they did, and I just thought it was so cool. Like I got to see like the ventricles of my heart and all that, and I loved it. And I think that like is just something that I would really be interested in like the rest of my life. But again, there's also like a ton of stuff because I get into the hospitals these coming weeks for nursing school. So there could be more things that pop up that maybe interest me a little bit more, but as of right now, it's like cardiovascular area.
SPEAKER_01I asked because um nursing, Kyle, I if you experience this on hospital visits, I would say nine times out of ten people I visit in the hospital, either the patient or family has a comment about the nurses. And and usually it's positive. And and when it's positive, it is the nurses make such a difference in someone's stay in the hospital because that's a nerve wracking time. And I'm just always blown away at the impact the nurses have, not just the medical impact, but the um the emotional impact, the mental impact, and I would say even the spiritual impact they have on people that are in their care. It makes a huge difference.
SPEAKER_02And so often right now. on the on the hu you know, following I mean we're still in a pandemic.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02But, you know, the medical industry has just been inundated and it's it's it's a grueling, it's it's difficult. Um you know, much like in our profession of ministry, people are leaving the profession of ministry. It was a difficult time. Uh the medical profession is is the same way. And so we need good uh nurses to come in and to care well for people. Um and so I I think it's so great that that is what you were choosing to do.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_02As you go forward. It makes us proud.
SPEAKER_01Oh thanks guys so if you so if you could ask um if you could ask God one question, what would that question be?
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I mean that's a heavy question. I did I know I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00You're fine. Um maybe just like where do you see my life going? Like where do you see me ending up just like maybe seeing like what he's most proud of like out of my entire life like the most important thing that he can see me doing. I don't know. Just like those little general questions but I don't know. That's a tough one.
SPEAKER_02So I'll ask you what are you the most proud of in your life at this point right now?
SPEAKER_01Man you guys throw in so many questions questions here.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I mean I just feel like how I've taken everything that I've been given and where I've gone with it. Because I mean not everybody is not everybody gets those opportunities that like you get. And I feel like I took advantage of all of the things that I got in my life and took it up to where I am now and I only want to progress from here. So that's great.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. That is great. That is great. I do want to say for people who aren't your dad is okay now.
SPEAKER_00Yes yes yes yes yes I meant to mention that yeah he only has half of his heart that works but he's functioning and he's actually been really really healthy since seven years now for seven years now so yeah he's my rock.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. And you guys have uh a very unique relationship. Yeah I mean you have a very close relationship I'm guessing uh because I only know you all really I I came to serve at Geist around the time of that yeah heart attack because I remember uh you were in the musical Cats. Yeah yeah here at Geist we did a musical we did not it was it was it was at uh junior high and and she was uh in the musical cats and and in all fairness it is not my favorite musical it was uh it was you did agree with that old I love cats I'd see it again and again and again yeah that is that it would not be a true statement for me uh but but Taylor was in it uh Kelly and I went along with other family members and friends because your dad was unable to attend uh he was still in the hospital right um and I'm guessing some of that closeness came from that very um difficult time but I mean talk a little bit about that because you guys it's just a as one who has a daughter yeah I just I really like the ways in which you play off each other and play well with one another.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um well my dad's always been like the bigger person who's always like been there for me. I don't have a close connection with my mom so my dad's been like the closer one that I've been with. And so when he had that heart attack I was home I like had softball that night and I have a loft bed so I have like a desk underneath and I was like in eighth grade so I was so lazy and I didn't want to like put the sheets on my bed because my dad had washed the sheets and like they were be honest they were they were in a corner somewhere crumpled up right after your dad washed them that's yeah I just didn't want to put them on. I was like no because like if I put them on the edges then they like they wouldn't stay and they just like come and I'd be like a little burrito. So I was like I don't want to do that.
SPEAKER_01To be fair putting fitted sheets on a bed so hard. Whoever invented that is it's awful it is a lofted bed.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah yes so I was like I don't want to do that and my dad was like well your mom's not going to be home like just stay in my bed and I'll just get it in the morning. And so I don't know again eighth grade I was sleeping in his bed and it was like 6 a.m maybe and so I woke up to my dog like clawing on the master bedroom or bathroom door and I had no idea what was going on. And so my dad had opened the door and he was like laying on the ground and obviously for me being at that age I was like what is happening and all he could tell me was call 911 and I was like okay and so that happened and the ambulance came all my neighbors were like checking in making sure everything was okay but I ended up going to the hospital with him and again just having that like experience you just don't know what can happen in such a small amount of time. So I feel like especially after that incident and finding out he was okay and like going through all of that really did change my relationship with him for the better because he went back after like all of that had happened. He was in the hospital for like two weeks after all that had happened he went back for a checkup because everything was like actually going better. And the nurse who had treated him was like how are you functioning the way that you are and he was like huh and she was like with the condition that you were in like we were scared that we were going to have to tell your daughter that you did not make it. And I think that is just a crazy thought to think because the fact that he was so bad that nurses were thinking that just shows how grateful and how lucky I am and how God can play in those ways. And so God just knew that it was not his time and that I really needed him for you know the rest of my life. So that was a really really important thing and especially God played a great part in that because that was just a miracle to happen. So it's just a very strong connection and ever since then I mean my dad's been my rock we I'm very very close with him. I played softball in like high school and throughout my life he was literally like the team dad he would bring cookies all the time dress in a hot dog costume. It's just a very I love it it's true and there's pictures of all of this I love it's just a really good connection that I'm really lucky to have and I think also going to ball state I didn't go for him but I mean having that connection too is just really really neat.
SPEAKER_01So I'm very lucky with having you probably learn not to take that relationship for granted right I think sometimes the people in our life who are most important to us we take for granted it's easy to do that. And so it sounds like you learned you can't really take any of that for granted because you just never know.
SPEAKER_00Especially because I'm an only child too so like he's I don't have any siblings like he's the one so it's very very important to not take things for granted. Yeah I agree.
SPEAKER_02So two things I know you you you all love going to get Mexican together. Right? You eat Mexican food like it is um and and I know that like recently you were traveling you were over in Europe I was and the first place you all went when you when when you hit the ground was to eat Mexican right to be fair it's hard to get good Mexican food in Europe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah they do not have like Mexican food at all really I mean my friend who because me and my friend went to go visit a foreign exchange student that was at my school my high school like two years ago so we went to go visit her in the Netherlands and like they literally don't have anything. She was like we wanted to make quesadillas one night for dinner and our friend was like yeah quesadillas and we were like yeah you don't know what quesadillas are like tortillas and melted cheese and she was so confused and I was like so my dad's Dutch he grew up in the Netherlands and he I think he's maybe eaten Mexican food twice in his life.
SPEAKER_01That's unfortunate Mexican because he never he didn't grow up eating it.
SPEAKER_00So but yeah that's been my dad like me and my dad's spot for quite a few years. I mean whenever we're bored it's like five minutes from my house so it's like hey want to get Mexican whenever I'm home.
SPEAKER_01What's your go-to order?
SPEAKER_00It's it's funny because they know our order too like I get a grilled chicken quesadilla with extra girl onions and my dad gets a half chicken half steak quesadilla with extra girl onions.
SPEAKER_01Ooh that sounds good both we all big chips eaters like some people go in and eat like just baskets of chips okay yeah it's probably bad for you but we do. Well you know it's it's terms of it's not bad I don't think I mean it's moderation.
SPEAKER_02Moderation yeah salsa's got tomatoes in it it's very healthy yeah so the other thing that you all do that I love is uh season of giving that we do here at Guy's Christian Church where we um partner with about a right now about 120 families and we deliver food uh and gifts and Easter baskets uh Thanksgiving Christmas and Easter and I know one of the things that you do every every time is you come home from college I do and join your father in delivering of that. Why why? I mean w what about that is I mean I just think I I think that's so special. I I really do. I think that's um something to be commended and lifted up because I'm not sure every college kid would do that even though I know you're just at Muncie but you make the effort to do that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I don't know I just love like I said spreading like spreading kindness because it's such a small action again and you don't know what people are going through. So just getting to do that small little deed for someone who needs it it's just so special and then my dad finds it super important so therefore like I've like grown into doing that and I've found it very important for myself too and I mean it just helps you grow it helps you see like what you can do as a person to impact somebody else's life and I remember sort of remember my dad remembers better than I do but a big thing for him like why he's like so so passionate and he loves like seeing me how I go through with it is because it was like my was maybe like five or six and I had we delivered somewhere in a not very good area of like Indianapolis and so not many people were like wanting to pick that area. So my dad was like you know what we'll do it like it's gonna need to get delivered like we'll just go because they had a five year old daughter so we were I was around five so it just worked out and so we went and the first thing my dad saw were like gunshots in the door and so you we walked in and there were just mattresses on the floor not much furniture at all just stuff like that. And I had an ear infection I was getting medication and the five year old also had an ear infection but she just had cotton like cotton you know balls in her like stuffed in her ears to like try and help it. And so it's just like even though I was five like I did not see anything wrong because she was also like um African American and I didn't see any problem with that at all and I just like started playing with her right when we got there because our we ended up having like different gifts than we needed or something like that. So we my dad and my mom went and my dad had to like go back to the church to get something else or like the right gifts. So we I was just there playing with this little girl for like 30 minutes and I didn't see a problem at all. And I found it so much fun and I think my dad just loved that like he just saw like the impact that I was making on that little girl's life too and it was just super important.
SPEAKER_01So sometimes it's so impactful you're talking about Chicago but when you see need in your own backyard yeah when you you pass by areas every day and you don't really think about it but then you experience and see people um who just just need some help who just have been built dealt a bad hand and um that's so that's so cool that you had that experience. That's wonderful. We um all right Taylor for our last question um we ask because you're on spring break right you're headed back to ball state uh soon or was spring break last week or was it last week did you make a special trip in for this podcast?
SPEAKER_00I did you did oh my goodness well spring break was last week for me and so this week was I was back at school but I had clinical today and then I don't have class tomorrow so I was like I'll just get off clinical study for a little bit and then go to the podcast because I mean again like I said this community is very important to me so I was like I definitely want to come back and do it.
SPEAKER_01Like I'm not gonna tell Kyle Brown no so I I came and you'rexican food with a damn is that is that on the docket I won't be surprised if we don't I'll see it on Facebook. That's right. So tell us um maybe a a TV show a book a podcast you've read you like reading uh like watching just something you want to share with people and this does not have to be highbrow because we don't really watch highbrow television that much and so if it's a TV series just something you enjoy that you want to um share with everybody.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness the I don't know because I don't really read much I read textbooks.
SPEAKER_02Well you're read to be fair you're reading for school and when you read for school you have very little time to read anything I mean the last thing I want my nurse to say is in college I watched a lot of television and I didn't read any of my textbooks I learned to do this from Gray's Anatomy.
SPEAKER_00Well fun fact you're asking something that I like I do like those types of shows so I like that and I like the Chicago Fire Chicago Med. Like I've been interested in those for so long that those just like I love all of that because it's like sort I mean obviously it's not like what I'm going to actually experience but I just love all that like it brings brings some happiness but you're also going to class too to learn those things.
SPEAKER_01You're not just watching it on TV okay good good just because I don't want you to say so I saw this in Chicago from Chicago med you know did you have you watched New Amsterdam do you like New Amsterdam I've heard of it but I've not watched it's really good it's like a hospital in New York it's my favorite current medical show listen I go back to ER you've never seen ER you don't even know the show ER do you I do not oh my gosh I just dated myself George Clooney was in it.
SPEAKER_02George Clooney if you remember Goose was in it. Goose Maverick Anthony Edwards yeah he was in it it was it was a good show it's it's I bet I bet it was a good show.
SPEAKER_01Okay well anyhow we just came to a screeching I don't know we were looking at each other we're like okay so those are shows good medical shows um we like those um all right Taylor anything else you want to share I don't think so I mean just keep in mind spread kindness it's not that hard to do a good deed every day so just try and shoot for kindness every day. I love it. As we say that we'll preach thank you for joining us thank you very much for having me.
SPEAKER_02You're welcome this has been another episode of Sacred Sit Downs. We hope you will join us next time as we explore the power of story. We can be found on all major platforms so be sure to subscribe. As always thanks for listening. Until next time this is Sacred Sit Downs