(upbeat music)
Choo choo, all aboard the chaos train.
Choo choo, yeah.
That was so lame, I am so sorry.
I'm gonna need to get my energy up.
Yeah, yeah.
Is your coffee making the first
appearance in an M&M?
Enjoy the journey says the coffee mug.
Hey, you know, maybe we
all just take a moment
and do a nice big--
Straight inside, like
here we go, get inside.
Exactly.
When your phone is
going ding, ding, ding,
and you're like, hi.
That opens Pandora's
box a little bit for you.
I'm showing up at the wrong
location at the wrong time
because--
Change the calendar.
Changing the calendar.
I love that.
Yeah.
Are we gonna completely ignore the fact?
Are we gonna completely
ignore the fact that, huge.
Huge.
Meghan's gonna be free again.
No, the rules of the game will change.
Man, when it rains it
pours and this is where--
Adult and difficult conversations.
This device is probably
the most dangerous thing
you could have.
Latchkey kids, we did
stupid stuff, no doubt.
Oh yeah, it led to a broken phone.
Exactly what I was gonna say.
Oh yay.
Bad choices memorialized forever.
Kids aren't ready for what
that phone exposes them to.
Right.
We're on, I mean, we're locked in now.
You guys don't even know
what's behind the curtain.
Right.
The dumbest thing we could
do is like throw a firecracker
at some kid.
Eggs were awesome.
Eggs were so cool.
Right on the back and we'd
go to piano lessons that way.
It was like the most
innocent leave it to beavers
seeing I can make a picture in my head.
Learn the exact lesson that we learned
on their older child.
Gotcha.
And just like, are we failing?
Are we just completely failing?
Okay, whoa, another domino falls.
And another, and another.
I'm not asking for good news.
I'm not asking to win the lottery.
I'm not even asking for sunshine.
I don't want to say I have bad luck,
but I couldn't even buy a lottery ticket.
You're cute.
Stinking kidding me.
The door slammed, I mean, so many doors
are slamming right now.
Yeah, yeah.
We're living our lives right now.
Today's the only day we have.
Wanting to lose myself in the music
that I was listening to
or sing or, oh, I was--
Playing G.I. Joe,
playing with my transformers,
drawing, listening to music.
Let me remove myself from the chaos
and have a moment of peace.
Yeah.
15-year-old Megan.
Guards.
Well, feeling like the
bubbles was a little stressful.
Did you make sure they were perfect too?
Like, I would erase it if I went out.
I did, but the harder ones were the ones
that were the rectangles.
Yes.
Scan-trons.
They still have scan-trons.
And it was 20 years ago yesterday
that we officially met.
Yep, that's exciting.
It was super cool.
It was neat.
Where did 20 years go?
Yeah.
I'm still 25.
Like, what in the world happened?
Bobby, Bobby, what did you put on me?
What put that on me, Ricky?
Bobby.
All right.
Night of the tea.
We're really finishing
each other's sentences today.
Yes, yes, yes.
Oh my gosh, well.
You know, that's just life.
That's life aboard the
Chaos Express, isn't it?
It is, I know.
If anybody offers you
free candy, get in the van.
Okay.
Welcome to the Mr. and
Mrs. English podcast.
I'm Megan.
And I'm Sean.
We're here to talk about
the wild ride of raising kids,
growing careers, keeping life together
in the middle of all the chaos.
So buckle up,
because we're all in
this crazy journey together.
Your mic seems a little bit low, honey.
As you lean over to do your bops.
I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know what was up with that.
Usually it's a little
closer to your mouth.
Something was odd there, I don't know.
You know, maybe you
were doing a dance move.
Like you were doing truly
a doo wop with your bops.
Yeah, no, I think we
established, I don't do doo wops,
but yeah, my mic's a
little off this morning.
It's a little off-kilter this morning.
Well, that is, is your
coffee making the first appearance
in an M&M?
It is, we are.
I love it.
Enjoy the journey, says the coffee mug.
Hey, that is absolutely appropriate
for what it feels
like the journey has been
and needing that
reminder to enjoy the journey
that we've been on.
Yeah, yeah.
You know?
Yeah, it does feel like, you know,
maybe we all just take a
moment and do a nice big.
Collective sigh for everybody.
Yeah.
Sometimes in our household,
one of us will sigh, right?
And then one of us, the
other person will say,
"Was that a good sigh or is that a,
like, you know, just a frustrated sigh,
like here we go again, sigh."
Exactly.
You know, so that was a good sigh for me
or just a unload.
Yes.
Try to unload, sigh.
Yeah, I think I'm, I
probably do more sighs
of just an unload type sigh, right?
It's to just get out
and like refocus myself,
recenter myself.
I don't know if it works,
but I tend to have that habit.
Yeah, yeah.
How good the habit is.
It's probably
annoying more than anything.
No, God, no.
I mean, you gotta let, you have,
everybody has to have a pressure valve.
Yes.
And I think as we
talk about a little bit,
what's it talk about
today, you know, going into this
and we're really late now
because life just got crazy.
Right.
As usual.
And, you know, we talked about last week,
how when it rains, it pours
and it's just continued to pour.
And it was funny because I
was texting with somebody
who watches the show and they're like,
"Oh yeah, it sounds like you've got
some soccer drama going on."
Yeah.
It's like, yeah, we do have
some soccer drama going on,
but that's one of like 10, you know?
And it is taking up time.
I mean, like during the
day, there's texts flying.
I mean, that is, anybody
involved in that kind of thing,
whether it's probably competitive cheer
or soccer or baseball,
I'm sure that
everybody's got this kind of stuff.
It's this time of year where, you know,
teams are being formed and fall apart
and people are trying
to go here or there.
Yep.
So that's always a
stressful time of year.
It is, it is.
And we're always just trying to stay
above the fray, right?
And try not to be emotional about it,
but because it's a big
part of our kids' life,
it's a big part of our life,
it does inherently
then create that stress.
And you're like, when
your phone is going,
"Ding, ding, ding," and you're like,
"I am trying to get some work done."
Yeah.
You know, it's like, I, you know,
that for me causes a ton of anxiety
and not knowing then, you know,
feeling like I need to focus here,
but yet I get that distraction and, yeah.
And then I don't know what's going on
because I didn't read the latest and
greatest text message.
And that opens Pandora's
box a little bit for you
because in our household,
you handle the calendar.
Yeah, yep.
You're kind of tasked for whatever reason
you've taken over that to
go through all the emails
from school, from sports teams,
from our daily doctors
and dentist appointments,
and you put them on
our respective calendars.
Right, right.
And our lives are
literally ran by the calendar.
And I know most people
out there are the same way,
but I mean, quite
literally, I'll get in a car,
pull up my calendar, which
automatically goes to Waze
and it takes me there.
Yeah.
And if the calendar is
wrong, the wrong location,
the wrong time, I'm
showing up at the wrong location
at the wrong time
because I live by my calendar
versus all the deans that
you're getting that potentially.
Could change the calendar.
Are changing the calendar.
And we have some coaches
that are better or worse
than others and they'll change literally
while we're on our way.
That happened just this week.
Just yesterday?
Yeah, no, two days, two nights ago,
I had to turn around,
then bring a kid home.
And then I was late because I was like,
well, I can't just
take this kid with me now.
So I wasn't late, but we
got there right on time,
which, what is the old adage of like,
if you're on time, you're late?
Yeah, right, right.
It's not better late than never.
No, no.
(both laughing)
I mean, that's an old adage too.
It is, but it's not that one.
It's not that one.
There's another one.
It's closer to the early
bird gets the worm adage.
Right, yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
But as our oldest always says,
what does he always say?
Are we gonna completely ignore the fact?
Oh, that is his phrase.
I love that.
Yeah.
We can completely ignore the fact.
Are we gonna completely ignore the fact
that you're driving again?
You have re-entered the driving pool.
I have, that is a massive update.
You have two drivers again, huge.
Huge, and for both of us.
Number one, you get some relief.
You had a night home this week
to get some things done around the house.
I did, I mowed the lawn.
Right.
I cleaned out the pool, I trimmed a tree.
Right, and you spent some time
with the two boys that were home.
I wish I could say that was
the case, but kind of, yeah.
Oh, it was the night of
the national championship.
Yeah, exactly.
That's right, so we did.
I sat down by like 8.15.
Yeah.
And yeah, we got to talk about,
watch a little basketball.
They never watch basketball.
They are not into
watching college basketball.
No, but they were that night.
Yeah, it was fun, so that was good.
Yeah, we have to have
more of those times.
Yeah, yeah, which you
haven't had any of those
for three months
because I haven't driven.
And it's just, anyway,
so it's good for you.
Yep, yep.
And it's good for me too.
I, it also feels nice to
have that independence back.
Yeah.
I think I said, even on this podcast,
I'm gonna go to CVS
and buy some toothpaste.
Right.
Or deodorant.
I don't remember what it was,
but ironically, on my
way home that night,
I actually did stop at the
CVS and bought some stuff.
Yeah, I've been joking with
the parents on the sideline.
Like, well, gosh,
Megan's gonna be free again.
I've had her captive.
Wherever she needed to go,
she had to go through me.
(laughing)
Really nice, like a total, total control.
Just kidding.
You're like, can I just
relinquish this control, please?
No, it's great to have you back on that.
But yeah, we needed that and it's just,
we often struggle right on this podcast
to figure out what we should talk about.
Cause we talked, we've
hinted once or twice that
we do want to keep this
somewhat high level and fun.
You know, we don't
want to get into politics
and you know, God knows
there's all kinds of stuff
we could talk about, you know.
The equity markets,
you know, are on skids
and it's like, I've got a lot of opinions
on whether that's good or bad.
I'm sure you do too.
I know your first call today at your job
was about tariffs and
implications of that.
But we have a lot to say
about that kind of stuff.
But it's just, I don't
know in today's world
that that's where we should focus.
And I don't know if
that's what our podcast is.
That's not what our podcast
is about, economic, you know.
Right, it's about, you know,
family and juggling it all.
And you know, I think a lot of times
those types of topics add more pressure
or more, you know, fuel to
the fire sometimes, right?
But for the most
part. Sure, I mean that's,
yes, family, I mean, that's our 401k.
Those are our equity purposes, our
investments, you know.
So, you know, I don't like the fact
that we're gonna be a generation
when it's all said and done,
that's gonna go through
three recessions potentially.
Or who knows how many by the time
we actually get to retirement age.
Right.
You know, every time we have a recession,
you know, potentially,
and don't get me wrong,
we've had some good runs.
Yeah.
And we've made some smart
buys and stuff like that,
but now I'm getting off track.
We are getting into economic stuff,
but that is part of the roller coaster
and the chaos of life.
Right, right.
That we talk about, but
man, when it rains, it pours.
And this is what I'm
talking about a little bit here.
It's just, there's been a
lot of different subjects
that we've been going through that have
really weighed on us.
Yep.
And we're not gonna get
into all of them obviously,
but the soccer's just, that's a,
that is the least important, lightest
subject of them all.
Yeah, yeah.
That's kind of safe
to talk about on here.
Yeah.
But another one that I
know you wanted to mention,
which has been prevalent this week.
Yeah, it's just teens in social media.
And, you know, I think
the pressures that face
our teens today are different than
the pressures that we had as teens.
And, you know, we're learning this.
You know, maybe we'll
have this down by the time
our youngest is a teenager, maybe.
I don't know the rules
of the game will change,
different kid, but it
has been a tough week
learning how to
navigate really some adult
and difficult
conversations with teenagers.
Yeah.
Or, you know, a teenager.
And how social media influences that.
And, yeah, it's been tough.
And I think a lot of people,
and I talked to a lot of moms,
and there's a lot of
different strategies.
And it's just, do we really
know what our kids are doing?
And we were joking, you know, like,
this device, and I happen
to have mine right here,
like this device is
probably the most dangerous thing
you could have.
I honestly, after this past week
and some of the conversations, it's like,
man, I feel really good
about you driving right now.
I feel way more worried about your phone
than I do about you operating a vehicle.
Yeah, and I mean, just to be specific,
I mean, that comment kind
of pointed to our oldest,
and we're not pointing
out any of our children
in this conversation.
No, no, no, we're not, yeah.
But you're just using that as an example.
I don't wanna point the
finger at any one of our children
on this, but. No.
I mean, every parent
knows that that's our age,
that this is just a different era
these kids are growing up in.
It's way more dangerous,
they have way more exposure
to things that can ruin
their lives much quicker.
Yes, yes. Right?
Latchkey kids, you know, we
did stupid stuff, no doubt.
Oh, yeah, yeah. You know?
But the stupid stuff, I
feel like that we did.
It led to a broken bone.
Exactly what I was gonna say.
Oh, yay!
Exactly, we're gonna
break a bone, you know,
like, because we're just
being dumb, hanging off a car.
It was stupid stuff, you know?
But I'd never, and those
are part of the conversations
we had this week of
one mistake in this world
of a digital era that this
digital age that we live in,
something goes out, it lives forever.
Yeah. And not that I ever did anything,
I think that I can
point to when I was younger
that I'm like, gosh, I'm glad there
wasn't pictures of that.
Right. But that being said,
you know, I mean, like, we all are just,
especially when you're growing up,
you're never gonna make all good choices.
No. Right?
So, you know, you
definitely don't want, you know,
choices memorialized, bad choices
memorialized forever.
Right.
And then you start peeling
back that onion even more,
and you talk about that,
what they have access to,
and who has access to them?
Yes.
Is frightening, and I don't,
and this is where we've
learned as parents this week
that we've hit on this
lightly throughout the years,
but it was full bore
in our face this week.
Right. That we probably took that
too lightly, and we
needed to hit that more head-on
of just how dangerous those things are,
and how kids aren't
ready for what that phone
exposes them to. Right, right.
And I should also say, like,
this is really the first time we have
really seen it head-on,
and there's right now nothing,
nothing that is
horrible or super damaging,
but it's just, hey, we need
to really get ahold of this
before it could lead
to that in the future
if we don't set
stricter guardrails today.
Right. Like, this moment.
Well, I think because we're adults and
we're the way we are,
it's like, you know, a
millimeter in the wrong direction
is like full bore stop, you know, pull
the emergency break up.
It's not like we went off course here,
and it's like, oh my God,
we're gonna be, you know,
this is gonna be a
lifetime to prepare this.
Nothing like that.
Nothing like that, right, right.
But it is like, okay, we're young,
and that's partially why,
because our kids are young enough
that we need to make
sure that law is laid
and that understanding is laid,
and that we are taking the right
precautions as parents,
that maybe we were a little too lax on,
maybe there was too much trust,
or maybe there's just naivety.
We're really finishing
each other's sentences today.
Sandcastles, yes.
(laughs)
Well, we're on, I mean,
we're locked in now, you know,
we've had a lot of locked in
conversations this week, so.
Right, right.
And it's, yeah, so I think it was.
I think it was naivety
probably on our part,
probably on our kids' parts too, right?
And that's where it was like,
I know there was a ton
of naivety on their part,
and it was like, oh, this could be so
dangerous, you know?
It's so interesting,
because we have generations
that lift, different
generations that we know
that listen to this
podcast, and, you know,
when they see us going through our
parenting, you know,
and this is one that I would be curious
of how they parallel
this with their experience,
because I know everybody
at our parents' generation
that's thinking back on,
oh, they're in this phase
of their life, and oh,
yeah, we told you so,
because we always say that, right?
You always hear your parents say that.
You just wait till you're a parent.
And we're in that, but I
didn't have a mobile phone
that could see the
darkest parts of the world
by just typing something into Google.
Right.
Is innocent, or
uninsently as it may have been.
Right.
Right, I mean, we've talked a lot,
we've had a lot of uncomfortable
conversations this week,
and I remember having
some of those uncomfortable
conversations when I was a child, but
never to this extent.
Right.
You know, what's out there, so.
Yeah.
I'd be curious what they
parallel that to, you know,
because I'm sure they can
smile too, but I mean, like,
I don't know, what was the
worst thing we could be exposed
to back then?
I mean, it was really hard to be exposed
to some of these type things, you know?
I mean, like, we were
never exposed to a predator
unless they pulled up in a van.
Which we jokingly always say, like,
if anybody ever hears me
when our kids get out of our car
at soccer games, I'm like, if anybody
offers you free candy,
get in the van.
Right, right.
As a joke, you know?
A joke, and they know that.
Because that's, it probably does happen,
and I don't want to make a lie to that.
But for us, it's kind of our
joke and our family of like,
don't make stupid choices.
That's exactly right, and it's like,
you just, there's so
many more opportunities
for that kind of thing.
Yes, it does happen, and
we don't want to make a lie.
But it can happen more on, you know,
that social media
presence, that digital platform.
It's like--
Yeah, yeah.
And it is terrifying as a parent.
And what, you know, as you were talking,
you were saying,
like, it'll be, you know,
I'd love to hear what
some of the older generation
that are listening to this and how,
what they liken this to, you know,
as they were raising their kids.
There could be, you
know, if we think back
on all the dangers that we had, like,
we were naive at the time, so like,
our parents were probably like, yeah,
but there were so many more dangers,
maybe not compared to today,
but like, there were a lot of dangers
that you weren't aware of, you know,
that I was protecting you from.
You know, it's a good point.
It's a good point, because
I said the exact same thing
to our children this week, it's like,
you guys don't even know
what's behind the curtain.
Right. Yet.
Slowly but surely, we
draw those curtains,
and you'll draw those
curtains on your own
as you even get older. Right.
Right, but we draw those
curtains that age appropriately.
Yeah. And I think we were maybe
drawing those curtains
too slowly, in some cases,
and not fast enough in other cases,
but I mean, at 48 years old,
I think back to, in the 80s, you know,
what I was exposed to, and what I could
have been exposed to,
maybe, and now that I
look back and think of things
that other kids were doing, I mean,
just say no to drugs,
I mean, drugs were like
the worst thing you could
have got into back then.
Oh my gosh, yeah. We didn't have
school shootings, we
didn't have, you know,
we had none of some of these crazy things
that they have today, you
know, I mean, literally,
the dumbest thing we
could have do is like,
throw a firecracker at some kid.
Or, you know, put a rope on our bike
behind a car or something like that.
I mean, that's been, who knows?
I didn't do that. I didn't do that.
Although I did ride on like the,
like spokes of my
brother's bike, like the wheels.
On the pegs. On the pegs, yeah,
that's what it was. Yeah.
I did ride on those. Yeah.
We'd go to-- Pegs were awesome.
Pegs were so cool.
We'd ride on the back and we'd go to
Pianalescent's that way.
Yeah, that's hilarious.
It was like the most
innocent leave it to beaver scene
I can picture in my head ever.
I know, yeah.
Ding, ding, ding.
Tell me it had a banana seed on it.
Yeah, you know, banana
seeds don't go with pegs, but.
No, no, no, no, it was
like, my older brother
had like a BMX type
bike and he had pegs on it.
And, you know, as I'm telling this story,
I'm actually more
surprised that my older brother
played piano than
anything, like back on--
I had no idea he did.
For like a year or two.
Yeah. Yeah.
But anyway, I
digress, that was, you know.
That was rebel at the time.
So that's been one of them, you know,
calling up other parents and, you know,
because these kids just have so much.
In here, they have so much.
And here, it does take a village.
And that's part of why we
started this podcast, right?
Like, there's people in this together.
And I think, you know, we're so blessed
to have people in our
village that I can call
and be like, hey,
this is what I found out.
You should probably
check your kid's phone
and blah, blah, blah,
this is what happened.
We're also figuring out
what other parents do.
Yeah. That we weren't doing.
Right. To safeguard some
of these situations. Yeah.
Maybe just because that's
where our naivety came in.
I don't wanna say trust, but I think.
Well, what's
interesting is that, you know,
the people I've talked
to have older children
and almost everyone that I've talked to
learn the exact lesson that we learned
on their older child.
Gotcha.
Well, it's good, that's good.
So, you know, they're just
a couple years ahead of us.
Or a year ahead of us in all of it.
Because it's been 10
or 11 straight days now
of just pouring rain in our lives.
It has.
And it's like,
there's been multiple times
we looked at each other this week
and just like, are we failing?
Are we just completely failing?
You know, in the important things.
In the important things.
You know?
And so, yeah, we've talked
about what do we do better
and there's, we've talked about that.
That's not just family.
Like I said, there's like 10 things
that are happening right now.
I was like, okay,
whoa, another domino falls.
And another, and another. And another.
And yeah, I think I
told you at some point
in the past 10 days, I was like,
can we just get a day
that doesn't have bad news?
Like I just want to get to neutral.
I'm not asking for good news.
I'm not asking to win the lottery.
I'm not even asking for sunshine.
I simply want a neutral day.
Not bad.
You know, it's funny that
you just made me think of that.
Not asking to win the lottery.
So every now and again, you
know, I mean, like, what is it?
12 times a year, I'll
buy like a mega millions.
For sure.
Oh, a ticket.
And, you know, one of the
things I've been working on
for months now is a business opportunity
that fell through this last week.
And, you know, that's been disappointing.
It's not the end of the
world, things will move on.
But, you know, I spent a lot
of time and effort on this.
You know, economically, things have
shifted because of it.
And so I went at 7-11 yesterday.
I was filling up the car
and I went in to buy a lottery ticket.
And it's not even a high one.
It's only like 44
million or something like that.
Because usually we'll wait
till it's like a billion.
It's like, why not us?
Why not? It's been, you know.
Yeah, why not?
We'll make everybody's
life better if we win this.
But get this, I went in to buy $6.
Because that's what I always do.
I think that's three quick picks.
It's $6, 12 times a year.
Anyway, 72 bucks.
But it's the girl couldn't figure out how
to print the ticket.
So I couldn't even buy a
stinking lottery ticket
because I don't want
to say I had bad luck.
But you've known me long enough.
But I couldn't even buy a lottery ticket.
You're kidding me.
Yeah.
I literally laughed as
I walked out the door
just being like, are
you stinking kidding me?
We don't even have a chance to have,
like that's just crazy.
How does--
The door slam, I mean, so many doors
are slamming right now.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, certainly winning the lottery
is also not in our future.
Not that I thought it was.
And I'm okay with that.
No, but every now and then it's like,
I mean, I'm sure
everybody thinks this way, right?
Everybody buys them.
Most people will buy
them every now and again.
And it's just that moment of, what if?
Here's what I would do, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
Just like, oh, that
would change everything.
And we don't need the money to be happy
and all that kind of stuff.
Because God knows money
doesn't buy happiness.
No, it does not.
Not that we have enough to confirm that.
It buys fun toys and stuff like that.
But anyways, I thought that was funny.
It's true.
It could change the
things that really matter.
No amount of money would have stopped
some of the heartache that
we've had over the last week.
So it's just like, yeah.
But that is hilarious and a little ironic
that you couldn't even
buy a lottery ticket.
Yeah, I mean, doors just
slam and shut everywhere.
Oh my gosh.
Well, you know, that's just life.
That's life aboard the
Chaos Express, as we put it.
In the description of this podcast.
It is.
Anyways, other people are there.
Everybody has these seasons.
We're in the midst of one
of these seasons for us.
We'll see some change.
Buckling down and just refocusing.
Refocusing on family too.
One of the things we talked about.
Yeah, we're just like, we
gotta put our phones down.
We gotta be better at
putting our own phones down.
So doubling down on that family time.
It was as we were talking about
what we can do different.
One of the things was
clearly our children
are begging for family
time because for dinners,
they're asking for, can we
just have a family dinner?
And instead of movie
nights, they're like,
can we do a game night?
So our kids are clearly
clamoring for more togetherness.
Yeah.
So it's like, that's our focus.
That's what we're giving them.
Yeah, and I will say, I
don't think it's because
of our family dynamics that
I'm sitting in a different room
staring at my phone,
you're working in your office.
Until five, that kinda happens.
Cause you're working, I'm
working, they're at school.
Hopefully they're doing school work.
We picked them up.
But it truly is every night of the week.
And we have family
members that try to FaceTime us
and just catch in, catch up with us.
And so many times I'm like,
sorry, I'm on the road to it.
But I mean, quite
literally, we will go stretches
of 20 days straight
where we have something
every single night.
We have practice every
single night, but Friday night.
For a while we had
soccer games on Friday nights
from the high schools.
So we are, my point to this isn't that,
oh, we're so busy,
but my point to this is
when we're doing that, and
this goes back a little bit
to the first conversation we had here,
we've had to split up now to conquer.
So I'm going here, you're going there,
and then you're catching
up, or we're catching up
at one place, cause we
dropped someone else off here.
But the family splits,
so someone's staying home
with the dog while two
kids are out at their things,
or one person's out.
Cause we always still try
to hit all of our sports
activities, no matter what.
If two of us can be
there, we're both there.
We're both there.
Always, it's never, I'm tired, not going,
it's never that for us.
But because of that, we're
split up a lot as a family.
Very rarely do we have
three hours at night together
on any night.
So, I mean, even Monday night
that you were talking about,
you were at practice,
you were at track practice.
That's where you were at.
Even though one practice
was canceled that night,
that's why I had two boys at home.
So, you know, I do want
to say it is a little bit
because of that, it's
not because we're ignoring,
but it's just, we have to
be able to double down now
on two points.
One is finding that time and enjoying it.
I guess it is just this one point.
Cause I say this a lot when
I get too caught up in stuff.
I'm like, we're
living our lives right now.
Today's the only day we have.
And we cannot miss those small moments
of just enjoying our
family, enjoying each other.
So many times.
And I am the worst at it.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
I'm looking at what's ready to do that,
you know, what's going
on the rest of this week,
what's happening next month.
And I'm just not living in that moment
and enjoying our kids.
And our kids are
crying out for that more.
Even though we're
together, sometimes we're not.
And that's where I need to be,
I just constantly need
to be reminded of that.
That live in this moment, enjoy this.
Yeah.
And for me, it's even, you
know, when we are split up,
I do really focus on then
that is my time with that kid.
Like whether we're in
the car and, you know,
where I was home with
them while you were taking,
you know, during the last three months
when I was home a lot more than you were,
usually there was a kid with me or two
while you were out
running with the other one.
And so it was like, okay,
this is my time to focus
on this child and talk to this kid
about what is going on in their life.
You know, cause
sometimes it's not all about
just the five of us.
It can just be creating
those moments with just us
and one or two of the kids.
I think they like that too.
You're right, they do.
And you're better at that than I am.
I just, there's no excuse there.
I get to honey do lists
that I'm just so far behind on
that I've talked about.
I know other people know that feeling.
Oh yeah, it's constant.
It just goes back to, I
don't know how to relax.
And part of that is just
sitting down, you know,
with a kid enjoying
that moment and hearing.
I've talked about it before on this thing
where it's like, even that five minutes,
just tell me your story for five minutes.
That's all they want.
Yeah.
And then they're up.
And I'm also
struggling a little bit with,
because we talked about it this week too.
It's like, when I was
a kid at their ages,
I was always in my room.
Oh, I was.
Playing G.I. Joe,
playing with my transformers,
drawing, listening to music.
Listening to music?
Had nothing to do with, you know,
not wanting to be with a family.
Right, right.
It had everything to do
with me wanting to lose myself
in the music that I
was listening to or sing
or whatever it was.
And I think that's,
I think it's an
important part of development,
is to have that time away.
It is, they have a break.
Yeah, to have a break.
And so it's like, let's
not take it personally
that they want to be in
their rooms right now.
Yeah, I don't think it was,
it wasn't until I was older
that it was really kind of
a way of me trying to cope
with the family situation
at home, you know?
And then isolate a
little bit more in that.
So, and our kids aren't at that age
and we have a different
household than I grew up in.
And for you is probably,
that's why it was nice to hear from you
because your household
was probably more like ours.
Yes, yeah.
I grew up in a very happy home life.
And so when I went to my
room to listen to music,
now it was chaotic and
maybe that's also part of it.
I mean, I'm one of five siblings
and we were all very involved.
I mean, so our house
was chaos all the time.
So maybe part of
going to my room was just,
let me remove myself from the chaos
and have a moment of peace.
Which is probably a lot of sometimes
what our kids want to do too.
Like, it's pretty chaotic.
So anyway, I think
that's probably part of it
but it was also just a
time when I could think
and do my own, whatever
was going on in my own head,
I could lose myself in my
own thoughts a little bit.
Maybe that's weird.
Sorry if it is.
No, God no.
Insights into, you
know, 15 year old Megan.
Like, just.
No, those are all times in our lives
that we all know we're
searching to find ourselves
in magical times also, I mean.
Yeah.
That's why I just
ultimately don't want our kids
to be robbed of their
innocence of enjoying childhood.
Yeah.
You know, as you get into adolescence,
the weight of the world,
you start feeling it a little bit more,
a little bit more, a little bit more.
And you need to develop coping mechanisms
to handle that well too.
That's another thing
that came up this week,
is just all the
pressures that they're under.
And I will say that they
probably do have more pressures
than we did growing up.
We dealt with a lot, we did
a lot, don't get me wrong.
But I don't know that we ever had,
at least I'm speaking for myself,
the pressures that they have.
I mean, like, they're
scared out of their minds
to take star tests,
you know, state tests.
Yeah.
I couldn't have cared less about those.
Right.
Yeah, they're very like,
for me it was like a free day.
I didn't have to learn anything.
I just had to fill out bubble charts.
Well, filling out the
bubbles was a little stressful
because you didn't want to
get outside of the lines.
You know, I mean, that
was a little stressful
making sure those bubbles were perfect.
Did you make sure they were perfect too?
Like, I would erase it if I went out.
I did, but the harder ones
were the ones that were the rectangles.
Yes.
Those drove me crazy because
you had to be very precise.
You had to be very precise.
I liked the bubble.
I was, I'm much better at circles.
Scantrons, they still have scantrons?
I don't know, we'll have to ask.
We need to do a whole episode of like,
do they still have this?
Maybe that's another one of our segments.
You can just start writing down segments.
I'm peeved.
I'm peeved and.
Scant, or not scantrons.
The fact that you pulled out scantron
is pretty incredible.
Yeah, I do still have this
because we're starting to show that.
Oh yeah.
Age.
In more ways than one for me, for sure.
Gosh, it's like, yeah, the gray.
Oh, wow.
We didn't vent too much
this week, which is good.
One of the other things that is cool,
and I know we're getting it at time here,
but given all the things going on,
I happened to look at my phone yesterday
and realize the date.
Oh yeah.
And it was 20 years ago yesterday
that we officially met.
Yep, that's exciting.
Which is super cool.
That's neat.
Like.
20 years, two decades.
Two decades.
Does it seem like it's been that long?
So yes and no.
Yeah.
Like, because I can't
imagine my life without you.
So it's like, you've just
kind of, you're part of me.
Yeah.
And so, like, of course,
that's been there all the time.
Yeah.
In some ways, right?
So in that case, it feels like it's long,
but then you're like, oh my
God, where did 20 years go?
Yeah.
I'm still 25.
Like, what in the world happened?
Right, right.
Mir tells me I'm not 25.
You gotta stop saying that.
You still look great.
You still look very young.
Well, thank you.
But I've seen pictures
of me at 25 and I have,
I do look a little different.
(laughs)
That's okay.
We all do love, that's what happens.
It's what happens, it's a part of it.
But I have you to grow old with, so.
That's right, that's right.
No, that's fun, 20 years, so.
20 years.
And one of the things
that we talked about
over all of this, you're like,
how do we get through all this?
And I was like, we
get through it together.
That's, you know, and it's like 20 years
we've been getting
through all of it together,
so it's pretty cool.
We watched "The
Notebook" just there tonight.
I love that movie.
Yeah.
What do you want?
Anyway.
They got through it
together, I guess was my point.
Yes, they did.
That's how we're
gonna go, too, in the end.
Yeah.
It's gonna fade off.
Yeah, although I really
don't want Alzheimer's, but.
Oh yeah, don't put that on me, Bobby.
Don't you put that on me.
Don't put that on me, Ricky Bobby.
Anyway, well, I know
we're getting on time,
but we have a really
exciting week coming up.
So we'll have plenty to
talk about in the next episode.
We have a big tournament.
We have a very busy weekend coming up
with a whole bunch of soccer stuff.
So this is kind of our first foray
into an international soccer tournament
and all of that, which
takes up over a full week.
Yeah, you have to qualify for.
Do you have to qualify for?
They play during school hours.
They actually get an excuse from school.
Big opening ceremony.
Going to a professional game this week.
And you're right, we have a
lot going on this weekend.
I'm gonna need to get my energy up.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're gonna have to go a bit early
for the next three nights in
order to have enough energy
for the weekend, which will
leave us completely depleted
for the following week, but.
Yeah.
Choo, choo, all aboard the chaos train.
Choo, choo, yeah.
(laughing)
That was so lame, I am so sorry.
I was like, maybe
that's just how you end it.
That's the new ending,
is you just saying that.
Even the station, we'll just go all in
on that choo, choo, train metaphor.
But you can be, you're definitely the
conductor doing that.
No, I don't want that.
We could stand up and like,
choo, choo, choo, choo,
out of the frame at the very end.
While you're going, choo, choo.
It's very Mr. Rogers feeling, right?
Because I can remember the
train to make "Believeland"
or whatever it was.
You would watch the
train leave and then, anyway.
I totally remember that.
I feel like we had a
secret closing track last week.
We closed and then we
had like two more minutes
of like a secret track.
If you hung on for that.
If you hung on, yeah,
because we did our closing
and then you and I kept talking.
We're like, how do you think that went?
Yeah, yeah.
So let's not do that one again.
We'll just close it off right about here.
Yeah.
Somehow, Smartless actually talked about
on their last episode
changing their ending
because there's only so
many words you could say
with the word buy in it, right?
Bicycle, buy.
And in the end, Barnett was like,
"Well guys, whatever it is,
"we really need to have the listeners.
"They need to buy in."
(laughing)
They stuck with it.
So.
Of course they did.
We might just have to
stick with ours too.
Well, yeah, because we
finished each other's--
You can't say, that is just
so bad to say it like that.
Really?
Yeah, just starting it over like that.
Yeah, because it needs to
be like coming naturally
in a conversation, in a story.
Yeah.
Like we did earlier today.
That was perfect example of how to do it.
It's true.
And now we're spending like a minute.
Everybody's already hung up.
Nobody's even listening to it
because they're just like, they're
getting into the sandcastle.
So.
Or the snow angel.
You never know.
You never know how
you're gonna finish mine.
The hand witch.
There you go.
All right.
That's it, that's a wrap for this week.
Hopefully next week's better.
Positivity.
Thanks all.
See ya.