Ep3. Community

A heartfelt conversation about connection, community, and the life stories that shape who we are. Hear personal experiences, meaningful reflections, and the moments that remind us how much we have in common. Everything from food sources, War, growing up in poverty, finding ways to cope, understand, grow and learn. How to love your neighbor.

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Hello and welcome to the Dialogue Hour. My name is Melissa, your host. Well, everyone, I have to tell you, I am a little bit excited. Um I am on my computer, my laptop right now, and I'm just kind of like looking over everything. And I'm looking at the dialogue hour podcast. I have my website. I have um my locations like where you can publicly listen to me. So I'm on Spotify, I'm on uh Apple. Hold on, let me go here because I'm like I'm also kind of learning myself here right now. I'm like, oh my god, this is like so amazing uh right now. I'm I'm just kind of baffled and a loss for words a little bit because I never expected this so soon and in the earliest stages of the podcast, but I'm looking at you know web browsers and it kind of tells you like how many people have downloaded your episodes, and hopefully the people who are downloading them are getting something positive from it and learning something good and using it for the good use in life and not for other purposes. But um, it was telling me that there's been 13 downloads, and I'm like, oh my gosh, and that's amazing, that's really cool. So I'm like, well, who's listening? You know, that's I want to know like what's happening in in the world, and it's just really cool to see, and thank you guys so much uh for downloading and helping me grow. Uh again, this is such early stages. I don't ex I've never expected that oh my gosh, this is gonna take off, it's gonna be amazing, but I really hope it does. I really hope that the people who are listening are gonna get something from this, are gonna learn something, whether it's about my life or your life or someone else's life. And um, you know, I'm talking to one of my best friends right now, and we're discussing and like I want to have her on the podcast later. So stay tuned, look, um, stay uh involved, stay stay in the uh circle of this uh growth pattern, life universal. Um, I'm not really sure what's happening, but uh why I'm here and the purpose of being here and and this podcast and how I want community and faith and growth and connection. So um, you know, please stay stay tuned. And I I was talking to her, and and there's a lot of people that I really want to have on this podcast. So you're not just gonna be hearing from me, you're gonna be hearing from so many people that are in my life, whether you know it's gonna be my mother or my father or my brother or my sister or my cousin or my aunt or um you know my best friend and their life, and there's just so many connections that I have of the people that I've met along the way, and the people who I really want you to to get to know, and are crazy shenanigans over the well, I mean just to put it out there, I'm gonna I could let you know uh you know, over the 40 years of my life, where it started, where it all began, wh how I got here, and this place, and where I'm at, and gosh, this is just it's mind-blowing to me, guys. This is so mind-blowing. Being able to listen to yourself on a on a podcast stream it that sounds like a radio station, it's a dream come true. It's it's insane, it's wild to me. I I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that anybody can do this if this is something that you really want to do, and I encourage you to do it. Go out there, get started, make it happen. Don't wait. Why are you waiting? Who are you waiting for? You know what if you want to do it, you should do it. If you want to put yourself out there, put yourself out there. Don't let other people talk you out of it or or tear you down or make you feel like you're not good enough or you don't have the ability to do it. Of course you do. Now, granted, I I will say that excuse me, if you're in a another country where it may be more challenging or more difficult, that I can understand. And especially countries that are going through war right now, um, my heart goes out to you, my love goes out to you, I I pray for you. Whether you're a Christian or a not a Christian or you believe in God or you don't believe in God, it really doesn't matter if you believe in the universe or Buddha, Hindu, uh, if you're Muslim, it it doesn't matter to me. I think what matters at the end of the day is that we're all humans and that we're all people and we're all trying to navigate our way through life. We're all trying to figure out how we can get out of our current circumstances and make our lives better. And I I really feel for all the people that are hurting. And I say that to those who may not be in a situation or financially or in a maybe their home life is not a very good situation, or you know, the the amount of food on their table that's in their mouths, or the shelter that they may have. There's so many things going on right now in the world, and I really I don't want to focus on the negative, but you do have to draw attention to it. We do have to bring this out into the world and into the light because I think some some of us just either are not aware or they're just simply wanting to hide it or throw it in a closet and pretend like it doesn't exist. And at the end of the day, it does exist. People are desperately needing help all over the world, desperately needing, you know, someone's compassion and kindness, and and that's what we've lost. We've lost the kindness, we've lost compassion, we've lost the ability to help each other, to see each other, to find ways to connect to one another. And if you listen to my recent podcast, you'll you've you've heard me talk about that. And you're gonna hear me talk about that a lot. Because that's where that's where I'm going, that's where we're headed, that's where people should be surrounding themselves with other people that want to help each other benefit from being around one another, not creating uh problems for each other, not creating uh a way to make someone fall or not be able to get ahead. You know, I you you want to be in competition with your neighbor? Why why are we not helping each other like thrive together? You know, so much of the government and and people people's governments around the world have you know try to squash each other and squash put people down and and put them in a uh shit for all I know, excuse my language, I don't want to get in trouble for that saying that, but like they've made it uh mm it's just sad. It's just really sad, and I could probably get in trouble for even talking about this, and who knows like where this is going. I've been so afraid to share for so long because I've worried about what will happen to me if I tell my story, what will happen to me if I actually get out there and try to help humanity? What's gonna happen to me? You know, that has been a fear of mine because I think governments do like to squash that kind of behavior, that kind of mindset, that talk of wanting to get out of your circumstances and also help other people while doing it and not shaming each other for the situation that you might be in. And I mean the stories that I have are just will baffle so many of you, I'm sure. You and I know that all of you have stories. We all have a story. Let's start talking about it, man. Let's start helping each other out of wherever we are, come together and grow and find ways to listen to each other's stories. I mean, our grandmothers and our grandparents and their grandparents, they talked about their stories, they shared their stories. I I don't even know, you know, my grandmother died. I was at such a young age when my grandmother died, so there's so many stories I didn't get to hear. And I wish I got to listen to someone who had gone through some things, right? They had gone through the Great Depression, they had lived through that, they had lived through hunger and not having food on their table, and with they they'd gone without clothes, without shoes, they walked miles to get to school, they walked miles to go to work, they they put in so much time and effort to get out of wherever they were so that their kids would not have to go through it. I do remember my grandmother telling me some stories, but mainly just watching her as a kid. I got to watch her, I got to watch her bake, I got to watch her cook, I got to watch her. Well, there was quite a few things. One of the fondest memories I had was we would do yard sales as a kid, and I would help my grandmother every summer. I got to go to my grandmother's house, usually a week, maybe two weeks. I can't remember, I don't think it was the whole summer. I'd have to ask my mom, but you know, we'd go to my grandmother's. Me, I would go. I I don't think my brother ever really stayed, but I got to go and I would help her learn I I learned how to yard sale at like the age of seven, eight years old. You know, I'd help my grandmother set up this yard sale in her basement, and I would put stickers and tags on everything and how much it cost and you know what people would be willing to pay for, and it would be clothes, it would be um, it would be utensils, things that you might need in your kitchen, it would be shoes, it would be jewelry, fake jewelry mostly. It was like clip-on earrings and um, but little things like that. And we would go down to the street around other in the area, and we would also yard sell together. We would find things that maybe we wanted to bring back to our yard sale and resell. The the gift of that, honestly, is so precious and so invaluable. Like it's something that you can't ever i it's it's it's invaluable. It's so invaluable. Those moments that I had with her, what she taught me from those lessons that I learned in that moment of time, just in the simple act of yard selling and being a businesswoman that that has she had gone through so many things in her life, the amount of kids that she had to take care of, the husband that she had to take care of, the the house that she had, the yard, the garden, the we used to hang up um our laundry out on the clothespin hangers, you know, things like that. Which I think is so simple, but at the same time it it's it's I don't okay, here in America at least, I don't know how many people get to experience that anymore. Is that something that still happens? I'm I'm pretty sure like if you live in the country life, you probably still are hanging your clothes out on the on the clothespin line. But for the rest of us, the majority of people now have laundry um units. They have a washer, they have a dryer, they don't probably use a washboard. I know I used a washboard when I was a kid growing up. It's so funny I laugh at that, but it's simple things like that that I feel like kind of shaped me and molded me into the person that I am, the the hard worker that I am, the person that sees the value in little things like that. And I don't know about you or where you are in your life or your journey, and maybe you are the person that's hanging clothes out on a clothes pen line. And I would imagine if you're in another country, you probably are doing that. I have visited a few places and I do know that people still do that, and there's something to be said in that because the value of hanging your clothes on on a clothes pen line, maybe some people see it as being poor. Uh I did grow up poor. I did grow up in a poverty situation in a poverty household, but to me it's also there's a value of allowing your clothes to breathe. It it's actually probably more a wealthier view to think of putting your clothes out and allowing them to air dry out into the breeze of and um is actually probably more valuable than putting them in a dryer that shrinks half your clothes, and most of our clothes aren't even made of quality ingredients anymore, anyway, and that's a problem. So we've we've gotten away from it, we've got to get back to it. That's my personal view, personal opinion. I don't know how you feel about it. Maybe you uh probably love and enjoy the convenience of your washer and dryer, and I'm sure you do. The contaminants that we have in our home, in our washers, in our dryers, the type of laundry detergent we use, the type of laundry people use these uh lent um they'll put them in their dryer, they have uh like smell on them. Uh see I can't even say it because I haven't used them in such a long time, but they're bad for your they're bad for your dryer, they're bad for your, you know, the air, the environment. And it's it's fascinating to me. I'm I've been on a journey for quite some time, at least for the past 20 years of detoxifying my home, detoxifying my life, and and you see it all over the internet now, but and and I'm gonna talk so much about this because this has been my life for the past 20 years, and trying to get rid of so much toxic waste in our lives, whether that be the clothes that you're wearing, the laundry that you detergent that you use, the um food that you eat that you put on your table. I mean, coming from a child who grew up in the country, what a gift, what a gift, what a life to grow up in the country versus growing up in the city. I mean, and I'm not knocking anyone who lives in the city, or that's the life that you have currently, or maybe that's your environment that you know you don't really have a choice, and and that's fine, and that's okay. You've got to find the beauty in wherever you are and whatever situation that you're in. And for me, I grew up in the country, and it was such a gift. What a blessing to grow up where we used to garden. I mean, I planted vegetables as a kid. I remember taking what they call a hoe, which by the way is not what you some of you people might think is. I'm not talking in derogatory terms. I am simply talking about something that plows the land that you feed your family with. And we used the tiller. I got to use a tiller. I mean, uh, things that probably now would maybe some people might consider child abuse or child labor, but really it was just growing up on a farm where you learned how to help your family, and part of that was growing going out in the garden and you tilled the grass, you tilled that yard until it was all dirt and it everything was plowed up, and you made sure that you sowed that line of uh for the seeds, and we had everything from potatoes, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, we onions. We grew a lot of different vegetables, and I just feel so blessed for that time that I had in my childhood that I feel so many of us don't get to experience it anymore. Maybe you don't want to, maybe you don't care about that, maybe it's not important to you, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. I will tell you this: I'm trying to get back there. I am trying to get back to that life where we grow our own food. So many of us have to depend on the government. We have to depend on the food at the grocery store and the grocery market. And what do you see now? We have these outbreaks all the time happening with our food sources, outbreaks with eggs, outbreaks with salmonella, outbreaks of uh parasites. Right now it's huge. Parasites uh that are on our lettuce, on our vegetables, on our fruits. Well, do you know how I love fruits and vegetables and the the things that are good for your body? I'm a healthy eater. I have been trying to be a healthy eater for the past 20 years because the environment I grew up in was not necessarily healthy eating, although we had the fruits and the vegetables. But country living in the life that I grew up meant like fried potatoes and fried fried chicken and everything was fried, and then you know, you had your green bean casserole that was full of all kinds of flour and just things that weren't healthy for you, so you know, uh chicken and dumplings is uh how you would say. I couldn't wait to eat my chicken and dumplings. I love them chicken and dumplings, man. That was some good stuff back in the day. But I don't feel like I mean I can make a healthy chicken and dumpling now, but I don't use milk. So, or if I were to use milk, I wouldn't use cow's milk, I would use either goat's milk or I'm gonna use coconut milk. And to some of you that's probably gross, and you think that's nasty and disgusting. But let me tell you, the longer you go without the unhealthy foods, the more you love and crave the healthy food. So, chicken and dumplings, back when I was growing up, you used um, you know, mom would make m biscuits, and that it's the biscuit dough that you use to make the chicken and dumplings, and you'd make the chicken soup stew first, and then you would add in the dumplings, which would be the the dough, the bread dough, and and and make your pot that way. And you would add flour to thicken it up, and you would add milk to thicken it up, and eventually it became this this soup that you would eat, a country soup that all of us loved and enjoyed. But I when I think about it now, I'm like, that's I'm not gonna eat that now. First of all, it's gonna make me sick, I'm probably not gonna feel good, you know, my stomach's gonna hurt because of all of the crap that's in our food these days. But if I were to make it from scratch and I would do, you know, a gluten-free version, because I don't think that gluten is very good for us, and and the type of gluten that we have in America versus other some countries, like I I definitely think you could probably go to Europe and find better flour that hasn't been contaminated like we have here in the US. And uh unfortunately I hate to you know talk about it in those terms, but it's true. Um our food source, food system here in the US is just not what it used to be. It's not my grandmother's cooking, it's not the food my grandmother grew up on, it's not the food that even when I was a kid, we grew up on. The food source has changed so much just in the past 20 years. Where the where the source comes from, the additives that go into the food, and then uh to the shelf life, to prov prolong it on the shelf. Um these large corporations and companies, now listen, they may want to come after me because you know they don't like they don't like anyone talking bad about them. But the truth is for those of us that really want to live a healthier life and a healthier lifestyle, we have to be cautious. I read every single label. I have to. Unfortunately, I'm I'm really sorry, and you know, I don't want to make anyone feel bad for their food choice. That's not what I'm here to do. So if you're eating this kind of food, that's fine, and and that's okay. I'm not I'm not here to condemn you or make you feel guilty for that, or it may be the only food source that you have, and that is fine. That's not why I'm here. Um, you know, these are my choices. My choice is I prefer to go out and I want to I read the labels because I don't want to be putting things into my body that I feel is going to be bad for me, create inflammation, create uh chronic illnesses. Okay, we live in a world that has chronic illnesses here in the United States. The epidemic is astronomically the highest it's ever been, and there's reasons for that. And I'm not gonna point out corporations or what they're doing or or anything like that. I'm gonna simply just say read the ingredients before you buy it, okay? That's what I have to do. Is it time consuming? It should we have to? No, we shouldn't. We shouldn't have we should know that we're whatever product is being handed to us is something that's gonna be good for us. Unfortunately, we don't know, and we have to read the label, and that's part of it. And if you're a due diligence person that really wants to be cautious about what they're eating and consuming, that's the way to go. If not, then don't worry about it. Doesn't it's not gonna it's not gonna affect you, it's not your problem. Maybe it's fine for you, and that's okay. But I do read every label, and something that you'll hear a lot on this podcast and me talking about as far as like health goes and community and food and diet and exercise and all these things, again, not to condemn, not to condone, only to educate, uh, improve. How can we help each other? How can we uh make this uh a way for us to connect with the community? So go to your local farmers market, go to your local farmer, find someone in your area who has chickens and want and has their own eggs, pay them for their chickens, pay them for their eggs, you know. Legally, there's you know, ways you you know you got to be careful about it and and you want to handle it in the right way, and and the government and overreach and all of that. But let me tell you something. If you live in an area where there is farmland and you're able to get access to some to eggs that are not sourced from these larger farms, and I'm not again I may get pushback on this, but we need to be connecting more locally, locally in our area, locally in our community, finding healthier food sources that we don't have to be worried or concerned where that food is coming from, whether or not it's contaminated, whether or not there's environmental factors that would cause harm to us by eating that source, food source. Um that's where I feel like we should all be going and where we should be headed to in our lives. And if you don't have access to it, then you know, as part of the as part of being on this podcast, something that I want to do as far as community goes and connection is that we are able to reach out to each other and find ways and find resources to help those who can't help themselves or are not able to find a local farm. Well, man, I just uh yeah, okay, I came up with an idea. I can't talk about it because it's in my head. So, but anyway, we've got to find ways to to connect locally and get people the food that they need that that they want to have in their lives, and that's why I'm here, guys. Um, you know, let's connect, let's connect each other, let's connect more, reach around the world to find ways to to help each other grow, to be in a better situation financially, um, to be in a better situation emotionally, mentally, physically, you know, community, whether that's in outdoor activities, whether that's your farmers and the food sources, going if you're in Italy, I imagine you're probably you know sitting on your porch somewhere, talking to your neighbor, drinking a glass of wine and and laughing it up. I mean, if you're here in America, maybe you're at the local coffee shop. If you live in a city, um, that's might be the best option. Um, if you live in, you know, a royal area, you know, going down your neighbor that lives 10 miles from you because and and knocking on their door, but hey, be careful, be safe, guys. Do not, you know, do anything that would cause harm to you or others. Um that we gotta be safe. We gotta we gotta create a safe community. That's what we're here. Let's find ways to connect each other safely and effectively that doesn't cause harm, that brings people together. Uh that's what I'm doing. That's why I'm here. That's why this podcast exists. So um thank you for listening. Thank you for being a part of this um uh community and like, uh post, respond, communicate, find uh comment. You know, if there's something out there that you want to talk about, discuss, or you feel like is a story that you want to share, let's do it. That's why I'm here. Let's make it happen, guys. Let's um let's find ways to connect, okay? Uh, bless you, blessings to you all of you, community-wise, um, love to everyone, and um thank you. Thank you all for listening. Have a wonderful morning, day, night, evening, lunch, whatever time you're listening. Thank you so much for being a part of this and enjoy the journey. Let's enjoy the journey together and uh grow together. Thank you so much. Be blessed.