(upbeat music)
Hashtag relatable.
Hashtag relatable, like Olympus.
Rising above the Serenget.
We're always trying
to be educational here.
You shrink basically, so you contract.
Guys, we have that.
So, it's all good, we're good people.
It always has been.
Aww, aww.
So some things do change.
This is so cool, you
almost forget they're naked.
By the way, you look like a buffoon.
Really, you're gonna wear that?
Yeah, millennials.
I'm good at a lot of things.
I'm just not great at anything.
You're a worthless
talent, just for the record.
Sadly, there's always somebody out there
that's gonna do it better than you.
You saw his face in the video.
Yeah, he was not a fan.
Yeah, stop worrying about what other
people think of you.
You do you.
See, I listen.
I mean, you remember
our first date, right?
You make fun of me for it
all the time, it comes up.
Comes up.
I know, it was--
Sounds like it might come up again.
I still don't see what's funny about it.
Just to give it a kick.
Oh, that was so hardcore.
The quote, "metro
sexual" was a label back then.
And maybe I should have had
a glass of wine, and then--
Because these are one of these stories
that we don't want our kids to hear.
So while it hasn't been a dry January,
it's definitely been
more of like a damp January.
Probably more acceptable in Vegas than--
It absolutely is.
They're also at an age
where we're having conversations
that are material.
You'll never believe what dad told me.
You know, I didn't
know my biological father.
I wanted to raise my kids
differently than I was raised.
Jumping out of a window, I
could have got away with it
because there's no proof of it.
What are you going to
do in the big moments
when it really matters?
Your dad's being arrested at
least for you for it, right?
How can we trust you with the big things
if we can't trust you
with the small things?
You were on the straight and narrow path.
I was like the straight jacket path.
There's a lot of junk on YouTube.
Absolutely.
And so we thought we'd
put our own junk up there.
I agree.
Yeah, no, that's not on brand.
You have to utilize social media.
It is the conduit to the people.
Wow, it really is
falling far from grace, huh?
Oh, I don't know how to
turn on the TVs in our house.
Wow, like that's your dream?
Struck comedy gold with that one.
A long time ago,
didn't some book come out?
Okay, well we are far from that goal.
Are we taking bets on this?
Do we care?
For me, it's all about
the time we spent together.
I know everybody was
waiting on this one too.
Oh, that was another cliffhanger.
Oh, you can do me more.
You practically finished my...
Sand castles.
(laughing) You tried to hold it in.
We cannot end with
that every single time.
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.
Two, seven.
Two, seven, we're in February already.
Okay, I think everything's rolling.
And the last time I said, I muted it out,
if in case anybody noticed it,
but I was saying it's episode four,
or it's episode three, when it was
actually episode four.
Yeah, so now we're
recording episode five.
Now we have to get it straight.
We're on episode five.
Moving into February now.
Yep.
Can you believe how fast
the year is going already?
No.
It's February.
I know, I know.
I said that on morning cereal.
I said, hey, it was January 31st,
was the last day of
morning cereal that I said it,
and I'm like, hey, no frets.
You got a whole 12
hours left to make January
what you want it to
because January's done.
Hope you made the most of it.
Right.
It flew.
And part of it, you were
out of town for so long.
It is, yeah.
It's just getting back in.
You know what I should do?
What?
Here, hold this.
We're gonna cut in just a minute
because I can't do Mr. and Mrs.
without wearing my wedding ring.
We don't wanna start some rumors, so.
Right, exactly.
I got mine on, so you--
Hey, everybody, hold on.
This is a cut.
Pause.
Talk amongst yourselves.
It's just like coffee talk.
Good to know.
All right, I'm back.
Good news is I didn't lose my ring.
Well, that's good.
We both have it on.
It truly is a Mr. and Mrs.
Yeah, we're officially
Mr. and Mrs. now, so.
Welcome back, everybody.
Yeah, geez, a lot of drama there
at the very beginning of the show.
Right.
Lost ring.
It's a hook, though.
Hopefully it grabbed your
attention for all that drama.
Yeah.
Well, we spent hours writing that.
Hours?
Coming up with that drama.
It's comedy gold.
But this, so you didn't have your--
Comedic drama.
I don't know, yeah.
I thought it was, yeah.
I was more drama than comedy there.
People were dying.
Oh, he lost his ring.
That's hilarious.
It's not funny,
because you actually
have lost a wedding ring.
That's true.
The original wedding ring is
somewhere in the Dominican Republic.
Yeah, that thing floated
straight to the bottom.
So we have platinum
rings, way off tangent here,
but we have platinum rings.
And the original ring,
for those of you that
were at our wedding,
this is a small
percentage of people listening,
at our wedding, I would
literally put my hand,
I'd let people hold my ring,
because it was so heavy.
Platinum in that time was
less expensive than it is now.
The pure metal.
And it was a quarter of a pound,
is how much my ring weighed.
And it was heavy.
To give everybody an
example of what it was,
I'd put it in one hand and we
put a whole stick of butter.
So if you ever hold a stick of butter,
I don't know if that's
old school or not either,
but a stick of butter in the other hand,
which weighs exactly a
quarter pound, by the way.
Right.
We're always trying
to be educational here.
Right, right.
And they weighed the same.
Yes. And they weighed the same.
Yeah, and so we also weren't aware,
and another educational point,
salt water, it makes your hands,
or it makes you shrink,
basically, or contract.
Guys know that.
Oh, okay.
Didn't--
Cold salt water.
I was not aware of this,
so even I'm learning things
in this particular episode.
George Costanza told us all about it,
but that's another tangent, so go ahead.
Yeah, but essentially your hands shrink
when you get into salt water.
So you had some
contraction in your finger,
your finger got skinny,
and the ring sunk to the bottom.
Quickly, because it was heavy,
and I spent two days, it
was before kids, right?
Oh yeah, that was pre-kids.
Yeah, yeah, it was early on.
Long story short, the new ring,
still the second original one,
and it has survived,
although I've had a
couple scares here and there.
But it survived, and it weighs less,
because the whole point of the platinum
being so expensive then was,
it's quadruple the price that it is now.
So the ring I have now is also platinum,
but it weighs like a quarter of a bit.
Yeah, a quarter of a quarter.
So what is it, a 16th of a pound.
I don't know if that math's right,
because I went quick.
Yeah, but drama and
emergency evaded, right?
We did find the ring, it
was just in your little thing
right on your sink.
Yeah, yeah.
It's all good, we're good people.
We're good people.
So, and I did wear it
when I was in Vegas,
because here's the
other cliffhanger, right,
that we left everybody with.
I know everybody was like,
we gotta tune in to
Sean and Megan's podcast,
because Sean was gonna
find out for all of us.
Right.
Right, whether or not
Michael Jackson's Cirque du Soleil
one show was still in Vegas.
Yes, and the result is?
It is.
Yes!
It's like, it is, yeah.
It always has been.
Aw, aw.
But just to confirm it was there,
not just posters everywhere,
Bear and I went and saw it.
And obviously, I
mean, generationally Gen X
or even good Gen X,
I mean, if you're a parent of Gen X,
from the Gen X generation,
if you're a parent worth anything,
your kids should know
Michael Jackson, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah, so Bear loved it,
because they played all,
most of his hits, really cool.
It was a little less
Cirque du Soleil than say,
oh, was, or some of the other ones
that we've seen over
there, Raw and Zumanity.
You know, to that point,
Zumanity is no longer there.
So some things do change.
Remember, we figured that out
when we went back last year.
Yes, and I think you had a famous quote.
We went to Zumanity again,
we're early marriage probably.
And that is an adult Cirque show.
It was an adult Cirque show.
And Innocent Sean leans over to me,
middle of the show, and he's like,
this is so cool, you
almost forget they're naked.
They're topless, but yeah.
It was hilarious.
I'm like, yep, almost.
We might lead with that
one on the highlights.
(laughs)
So yeah, it was fun, a great show.
It was funny because Bear and I got in,
we were heading late,
we got there late almost,
running in to get on
time, for whatever reason.
Oh, he told me why, but
keep going with your story
and I'll remind you.
Okay. Keep going.
Yeah, so we're sitting
down, we get down to our seats,
we sit down, and I'm
trying to take a picture,
you know, of Bear and I
with a stage in the background.
And this girl kind of gets in,
if you saw my Instagram
post, which if you looked at it,
there's a slight pink blur
behind Bear and I in the stage.
And I didn't even
notice it really at the time,
because people were taking their seats.
But the long and the short of it,
the guy that she was with,
and you see all kinds of people in Vegas,
so you just, you never know.
I mean, when we lived there,
we saw a lot of people
dressed really weird,
and that was normal.
So I didn't think
much of these two people,
but he actually said to me,
like one foot away from me,
he's like, oh, sorry about that,
like, sorry she was in your shot.
I was like, oh, no big deal, you know?
Like have a great night, whatever.
Long story short, they're
the two stars in the show.
Oh my gosh, really?
Yeah, yeah, because
there's like five people
that kind of like take
on Michael Jackson's.
One's his shoes, one's
his glove, one's his hat,
one's his sunglasses.
I can't remember what
the other one was now,
but they were, she was the
sunglasses and he was the shoes.
Oh my gosh, that's super cool.
Yeah, yeah.
So I'm glad I wasn't
like, thanks a lot, man,
you ruined it.
And by the way, you look like a buffoon.
Really, you're gonna wear that?
Yeah, millennials.
I had no idea.
Well, you said it was a great show.
It was, it was awesome.
It's talent that I wish I
had, but I love watching it.
I'm just so impressed with
people that have that talent
to dance and sing, it's
just, it's cool talent.
It is, and it reminds, I think, people
who get to watch it,
just like, oh my gosh, I'm so thankful
there are really talented people
because I enjoy watching
those really talented people.
It was funny as we
were preparing for this,
and I was thinking about last week,
what we talked about in
confidence at work and whatnot.
I was literally just thinking about this,
that that would have been
a good point to bring up
on last week's show was how we always
just laugh about like,
man, I am, I'm good at a lot of things.
Like I can do all kinds of things, right?
And I'm not shy about that.
I'm good at a lot of things.
I'm just not great at anything.
You're a jack of all
trade master of none.
Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
But that is just, you
know, that's average.
It just kind of fades
into the minutia sometimes,
and it's frustrating.
I wish I was, you know, really good at
something like that.
Be really cool, but I'm not.
It would be really cool.
But the other thing we talk about is,
yeah, sure, jack of all
trades, master of none.
But if you're really only good at,
if you're exceptional at one thing,
and that's what you have to do.
And if you can't make
that one thing work,
then what do you do?
At least you have backups.
If you're just like me and
just kind of average, right?
Because you say the same thing, right?
I could go a lot of different directions
because I'm not
exceptional at one particular thing.
And I think we're above
average at some things.
And I mean, like, how
many people out there
feel that same way?
I would imagine a lot of people are like,
I am really good at this.
Like, I just do this well.
Whatever it may be that
you do well, you know,
but ultimately, like we
tell our kids, you know,
sadly there's always somebody out there
that's gonna do it better than you.
Yeah.
Usually.
I mean, there's a handful
that we all know are, you know,
the goat, but.
Right, but you gotta do you.
You gotta do you.
Be true to yourself.
Yeah, that was a quote on Morning Serial
at one point this week.
See, I listen.
And you listen very well,
and you have a memory that's top-notch.
It's incredible.
Megan was showing it
off on the sidelines,
and I wish you were there,
because there's two of the dads
were kind of going back
and forth on Anchorman,
and then they threw in some Top Gun,
and Megan wasn't there for
one of the conversations,
and Megan's got like an idyllic memory.
Uh, I'm--
I mean, like, it's very close.
I mean, you have
verbatim memorized movies,
movie scenes without
like memorizing them.
You just know them.
In fact, yesterday was funny,
because I won't go too into detail on it,
but after the fact, we got into the car,
and you said, "Just for the record,"
he didn't quote that exact.
He misquoted.
I did say that.
Now, I have watched that movie a ton.
It was one of my
favorite movies as a kid,
so for me not to know it
would have been a shame,
and would have really
then just been a waste
of all the tens, if not hundreds of hours
I spent in my life watching that movie.
Well, I mean, like, Anchorman,
I've seen that movie twice,
but it's got so many one-liners
that I've probably seen
those one-liners a hundred times,
you know, on clips or
whatever they might be.
You punted Baxter.
I just stood there like a puppy, like,
"Yeah, yeah, that's a funny one,"
and then he goes and he says his,
and I go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, that's funny,"
and I'm trying to think.
My brain's like, "Blip,
blip, blip, blip, blip, blip,"
and once I find one, it's like,
"Oh, he just said that one,"
you know, "Blip, blip,
blip, blip, blip, blip,"
trying to find it again,
and I got in maybe one of them.
I think mine was, "That
escalated really quickly."
(laughing) But one of them, he
was already on his 15th,
you know, because he
had 20 and I had won,
so I eventually just
kind of like slinked away.
(laughing)
But your thing, I would say,
so I can memorize movie quotes,
worthless talent, just for the record.
You can do songs, like you will hear
the first note of a song
and know exactly what that song is,
and you'll be like,
"Oh, I love this song,"
and I'm like, "I have no
idea what you're talking about."
And I can sing it on key, too.
Most people think of that. Yes, yes.
I wouldn't know, you've
never sung in front of me.
I'm just kidding, that's
a total lie, I can't sing.
I have no real talent
whatsoever, that's usable.
It's not true, it's
just Jack of all trade,
master of none.
Yeah, I know, but I don't like that, so.
Anywho, Vegas was fun, you know,
got to spend some time getting to know
more of the parents on
our oldest soccer team,
which was nice, because that's a team
that we just joined this year.
We just haven't spent a
lot of time with them,
for whatever reason.
I think there's some newer
people on the team, whatnot.
So that was great, seeing those guys.
We stayed at the Mandalay Bay,
which was a nicer spot to stay at,
got a nice steak dinner.
I got to try some more bourbon.
Probably a bigger sip
than I usually give him,
and you saw his face
in the video, I think.
Yeah, he was not a fan.
It was a, "Why would you do this?"
Kind of a face.
Gosh, when was the first
time you tasted alcohol?
I was young, so.
Four?
No, I mean not four, but.
My grandma used to say
they would put whiskey
on our gums to make us go to sleep.
Yeah, I would say, I
think a lot of grandparents
did that, like our grandparents' age.
Yeah.
So what we would do when I was a kid is,
my dad would have his Manhattans,
that was kind of his drink.
And so he'd be grilling, and we'd go out,
and he would let us have
teeny tiny sips of his Manhattan.
And I just remember it evaporating.
How old were you?
I would have been maybe fourth grade
that I can remember by the first time.
But, I mean, it's terrible.
It's not like you were chugging it,
and yeah, you have to develop a taste.
It was not a pleasant experience at all.
It was just like, "Dad, let us try it."
Yeah, I remember once,
and that wasn't the first time I tasted,
but some of those
things, like a good bourbon,
or wine for sure, you have to develop
a little bit of a palate for it, right?
Absolutely.
It's not immediately you tasted it,
like this is the
greatest thing in the world.
In fact, beers like that with me,
I am not friends with
a lot of people I know,
simply because I don't drink beer.
I just, I don't like it.
For whatever reason, I
can't get on board there.
You tried, honestly.
You gave it the good college try.
Pun probably intended
there with college and beer.
But, you know, when we were early dating,
because my family is
primarily beer drinkers,
and I drank beer.
Yeah.
I mean, you remember
our first date, right?
Yeah, of course.
You make fun of me for it all the time.
It comes up.
I know, it was--
Sounds like it might come up again.
I know.
It was fabulous.
We go to a bar, right?
I mean, or it was a--
It was a sports bar.
Sports bar.
Because there was pool and whatnot there.
Yeah.
And you ordered a grilled
chicken and a Smirnoff ras,
and I ordered a burger and beer.
And--
I still don't see what's funny about it.
Smirnoff ras is awesome.
In fact, if you recall, I
drank it down at two inches,
and I asked the waitress kindly
if she'd give me a shot of Smirnoff
to top off my Smirnoff
ras, just to give it a kick.
Just to give it a kick.
Oh, that was so hardcore.
Yeah, you were definitely more of the man
on that order than I was.
Yeah, although then, of
course, we played pool,
and then you were like, no, no, no.
I do know my way around a sports bar
because you did crush me at pool.
Rightfully so, I'm terrible.
Not good either, so.
That's how I won my
man card back, though,
is because I destroyed you at pool.
Not really.
It didn't bother me, but
we did think it was funny
because when the server brought our food,
they handed you the burger and beer
and handed me the grilled
chicken and Smirnoff ras.
I did forget that part.
So, that was the funny part to me,
was that the server mixed it up.
That was a time, what,
I was 27 then, maybe?
27, 28, yeah.
Yeah, somewhere in there.
I've always tried to eat healthy,
but that was a time in my life,
some of my friends who
may listen to this too
remember the time, and I brought it up
probably in the first episode here,
that was the quote,
"metrosexual" was a label back then.
Yeah, yeah, it was.
Right, for just a guy that was clean,
took care of himself,
smelled good, took showers.
I felt like, just like
regular everyday things,
because I like to be clean and whatever.
And so, that metrosexual vibe
was always in the back of my mind, like,
"Oh gosh, what am I,
am I totally just always
"burning my man card in front of people?"
And that was a time I felt like I did.
Yeah, you didn't though.
I mean, 20 years later,
I think it was just fine.
I knew you well enough to not think
anything weird of it.
Yeah, yeah.
So, it may have been like our first date,
but we had talked for
so long before we dated,
before we went on a date.
Well, what got me on that one,
which was funny though,
it was just talking about
some of those first ones,
and I had tasted alcohol before that,
but I remember the first
time I had proper, like, cap,
was, had it been 18 probably, maybe 17?
Somehow, running around
with a bunch of people
in high school, we got
into somebody's house
in the Broadmoor, and
that's like a swanky,
used to be like a very
uppity, rich, large house
in Colorado Springs, where I grew up.
We were trying to find
alcohol or something,
like just trying to find something to do.
Like, are these one of these stories
that we don't want our kids to hear?
I don't know.
I don't think, I don't know.
Because I know they
listen to this at times,
but one story short is, we found,
a wine, and it was an open, like, cab,
and I remember we were like
passing the bottle around,
like just taking it to
the face, chugging it,
and it was so bad.
Obviously, that's not how you drink wine.
No, that's not how you drink wine.
You sip wine.
And you enjoy the flavor of wine.
Don't do elbows up, like.
No.
It's another long
story, we'll get into it
some other time, probably.
Yeah, yeah, no, no, no,
you sip it, you enjoy it.
I mean, that's how
bourbon is for you now.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's not at all how it was
when I would take a sip of my dad's
while he was grilling our dinner.
You didn't elbows up in fourth grade.
Oh, gosh, no.
I mean, like, it had to
have been the smallest sip.
Yeah.
It's terrible.
So I think our
parenting philosophy there is,
you know, if they're,
let them be curious now
while we're around.
Sure.
I mean, just sipping, I mean, obviously,
we're not giving them
drinks, they're kids.
But I never once tasted
alcohol at my house growing up.
Yeah.
That was not, and there was
beer in the house, really.
I don't remember there
being like Coors Light
or something like that.
I don't remember any
other kind of alcohol.
I don't think there was ever spirits.
Yeah, and we always,
see, and we always had that,
but it was very, I mean,
my parents, thankfully,
they always drank very responsibly.
It was, you know,
social drinking or, you know,
on a Saturday night.
And boy, do they still.
Yeah, I mean, it's just part of it.
But they never locked a liquor cabinet.
I mean, it was always like so.
And that never bit
them in the butt either.
I mean, it's not like
any of your siblings
ever threw big parties and
refilled the liquor cabinet
with water in the bottles.
Yeah, that was
siblings, so that wasn't me.
I know.
Yeah, my siblings had
some ragers, but yeah.
It was never like a taboo thing.
So I think, at least for me,
I definitely learned to drink
responsibly because of that.
Oh, no, there are always.
I'm being facetious when I talk about
your parents like that.
They're great people
who drink responsibly.
Yes, yeah, so.
You can enjoy it, because
that's what it's for, you know.
It is. When done right.
It is, and we're talking about drinking,
but like we were just
talking the other night
how this January schedule,
I hear a lot of people
talking about dry January,
and we did not intend
to do a dry January,
but every weekend, we have had something
like almost every weekend evening,
and that's primarily, if
we're gonna have a glass
of something, it's on a weekend.
It's pretty rare, it's on a weeknight.
And we're like, so while it
hasn't been a dry January,
it's definitely been
more of like a damp January.
It has, it has, and to the point where,
well, I did contemplate a
dry January, if you recall,
like on December 30th for 15 seconds.
Right, and then we're
like, gosh, we were off.
We were on PTO at that time.
I was like, well, but do
you want a glass of wine?
Absolutely. And it wasn't, absolutely.
That was flushed down the toilet quickly.
It was a terrible idea to begin with.
Yeah, yeah, but I mean,
because Friday night was, we were busy.
I mean, we didn't get home till nine,
you know, with different kids things,
and you don't really wanna be the person
picking up your kid in a school line
after you had had a couple cocktails, so.
Well, I remember where I
was going with it now though,
is because when I was in
Vegas two weeks in a row,
which gets old, right?
Yeah.
I mean, if the whole family
was there, it'd been great,
but it was just one-offs and whatnot,
and it was a weird
schedule when we were there
this last time, because we had games
that we had to rest in
between, we can't walk,
because coach didn't
want them walking around.
But I did drink when I was there.
I mean, I had my usual
old-fashioned two nights in a row.
Yeah.
I had two at one place
and one at the other place.
(laughs)
I might not have been quite as damp as,
my January wasn't as damp as yours.
Yeah, I was single parenting at home,
I'm like, eh.
Probably more
acceptable in Vegas than drinking
a lot at home. It absolutely is.
Yeah, and I mean, we
had some late night games
and things like that
where it was just like, no.
And for me, it's more fun
if I'm gonna have a cocktail
or a glass of wine, I
would rather do it with you
than you just kinda feel like a lush.
But anyway, but that, I'll
bring it back to the first story
of Michael Jackson one and
why you were running late,
because I hear from
our oldest the other day,
I don't know where you
had gone to, but he's like,
"Mom, I learned so many
things about dad at dinner."
And I was like, "Really?"
He's like, "I learned so many stories
"that I had never heard."
And so I think that's where--
Maybe I should have
been drinking too many.
You guys were deep in conversation,
which is I think why you may have been
rushing to get to one.
Well, I mean, we've talked about it.
Our kids are getting at an age
that we can have great
conversations with them
and they're fun and
they're also at an age
where we're having
conversations that are material.
These are baseline conversations that
kinda set a direction
and expectation and setting
lines in the sand sometimes,
but also knowing you
don't have to be perfect.
So, I mean, yeah, we had
some really good conversations
there and I don't remember, I don't
specifically remember
which ones I shared with
them, so maybe offline.
Offline, I'll tell you
which ones he told me about.
There was nothing I didn't know about
and I think it was completely appropriate
that you shared the stories that you did,
but it goes back to like
you were sharing stories
about maybe times you
didn't make the best choices
or times when, you know,
like the time you were roofied.
Long story also happened in Vegas.
Anyway, it was fantastic because--
Not in the last two weeks though.
It was not in the last two weeks.
That was also early.
20 years ago.
Yeah, yeah, it was early on.
But yeah, he was loving the stories
and was full laborgasted.
Really? Oh yeah.
Cause he's always just so straight faced.
He's a very mellow kid, very mellow.
So I'm surprised, I guess
I'm happy they landed at least.
Oh, they landed, like
they made an impression.
His eyes lit up, I'm like,
you'll never believe what dad told me.
Really?
Oh my gosh, that's funny, wow.
Yeah, so.
Hopefully it's for the
better than not, you know,
not for the worse.
I think my philosophy is, I don't know,
right, wrong or otherwise.
I think it was really
good that you shared that
because I think parents,
or kids think of their
parents sometimes as--
Perfect. Perfect.
And unrelatable.
Because they were perfect all the time.
And it's like, no, we
did the same stupid stuff
that you are probably going to do.
Yeah.
And for me, it's different too,
because I grew up in a household that,
by the time I got to my adolescence,
it was difficult.
I didn't have the greatest relationships
with either of my parents
because there's so much corolling
between the three of us.
There's a defensive here,
and this one's protecting me,
and this one's terrible.
So there's a lot of that.
I never had those conversations.
I can't remember having a heart to heart
with my parents, ever.
And I'm not trying to
throw anybody on the bus.
All those relationships
are fine and mended now.
We've all grown through that.
Let's just put that there.
But as being my own father now,
and someone that I didn't
know my biological father,
I had a testy
relationship with the father
that I grew up with.
Again, like I said, we've mended,
because I'm not trying
to stir up anything here
by any means.
But I wanted to be different.
I wanted to raise my kids
differently than I was raised.
And it's not like I grew up in the slums
or anything like that.
But I wanted to do it different.
And so part of that
is me wanting to share
some of these things with them,
and being open,
having those conversations,
because I don't have a
father figure in my life at all.
Period.
That I can go to and
bounce things off of.
I never have.
From the time I was 13 on,
I've never had a father figure.
Which is probably why
I've always been closer
to girls in my life.
And that's why it's been
difficult for me to carry on
male relationships,
because at a young age,
I never knew how to have a
relationship with a male.
Because I never had a real father figure.
Even though I had a
father that was providing
and doing things that a father back then,
I guess, is expected to do,
it still wasn't an ideal situation.
So I'm trying to do it differently now,
and hopefully not mess that up.
Well, it had a
positive impact on our son.
And it's age appropriate, right?
I mean, you were sharing
stories of things that,
within the next five
years, he may have to face.
And I think it was
very relatable for him.
Oh, I remember one of the stories now is,
jumping out of a
window at a party that was--
I wasn't sure if you wanted to go there.
I had totally forgotten this story.
That was just a funny one.
It was hilarious.
Because he was taught, yeah.
I mean, he's getting to the
age where people are starting
to drink at parties, and, you know.
We hope he makes
better choices than that.
But, I mean, he's around it,
and, or, I mean, will be
within the next couple years.
I'm just shocked at what they know
already at this age.
And we actually just said
it to you this morning that,
and we talk about it a lot
on this podcast, probably,
of just how much technology
has made our lives faster,
and we get more done,
but we're exposed to more,
and the kids are exposed to so much more.
I mean, I can only imagine
having access in a phone,
a screen, to what they have
access to, if I was that age.
You know, and my
girlfriend then had that.
I mean, like, the
self-discipline that they need to have,
and the morals in the North Star Compass,
to make the good decisions in life,
I mean, it is just, what,
multitude's more important.
Right, right, and harder.
I mean, that was
something that we didn't have.
I think we were probably
both working professionals
before it was common to have, you know,
iPhones, certainly.
But I remember I was in college,
right after college is when
I got my first cell phone.
I'm aging myself, but,
yeah, I mean, it's insane.
I remember taking pictures in college,
and it's like, would
I want those pictures
on the internet now?
No, not that they were
super damaging or anything,
but it's still not who you would want
your social media persona to be.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think the
repercussions are so much worse.
They are, you know,
that's what I'm telling,
like, nowadays, just
one picture can derail,
depending on what you want to do in life,
and where you're
trying to get into and go.
I mean, one picture,
like, we always go back,
and I won't speak to it
specifically, obviously,
but I know there's
one picture that I took
that was just, you know, I was like,
maybe I can take a
two-day picture I took.
Nothing horrible,
obviously, but something I'm like,
you know what, that is not
something that I want out there,
because I just don't
ever want that to come up,
and have to explain that to people,
even though it's innocent.
Yeah, it was naivete that probably--
Yeah, stupid.
You know?
Yeah, but yeah, you
gotta grow up for that.
You gotta look up for
that, but at 14 or 15, 16,
however old you are,
22, for crying out loud,
I mean, you're not using
your brain half the time.
You're not thinking about it.
You're just having a fun time.
You're not thinking
about the consequences,
and I feel like we hamper on that so much
that your consequences for
that one little thing now
are just multiplied.
I could've got away with it,
because there's no proof of it, you know?
Now, I mean, on the
internet, it lives forever.
Yep, exactly.
So thank God these aren't out there for--
I know, it's not like
we were talking about--
You guys should be careful what I say.
I know, not like I was talking about
having sips of Manhattan at fourth grade.
Your dad's being
arrested as we speak for--
(laughs) He's a really good man.
Yeah, but it makes parenting, I think,
completely different now,
and I think while you were in Vegas
having really fun talks with our son,
teaching him about maybe
some of the life choices
you had picked, good,
and maybe some of the not so good ones.
It's normal, everybody does it.
Everyone does it, yep.
I was also having to parent,
and that was one of the things
that I kept saying to our daughter
last weekend in particular.
You came home, and I
was like, I am exhausted.
I have parented the
entire time you were gone.
You kinda get breaks every now and again
where your kids are just
making the right choices
and there's not a whole lot of drama
and anything going on,
you get those breaks.
But I was like, this
has been 72 hours straight
of me parenting, and I am tired
because it was complicated things,
and you wanna say the
right thing to your kid.
You don't, you need them to
understand the severity of it.
I was just plum exhausted,
but that was what I tried to
get across to our daughter,
was that it wasn't about that moment,
it was about what are you going to do
in the big moments
when it really matters?
And I was like, you lost some of my trust
because you didn't make the right choice
in an easy circumstance.
Right, right.
How can we trust you with the big things
if we can't trust you
with the small things?
Yes.
Yeah.
So that was my weekend.
Yeah, so, and maybe I
should have had a glass of wine,
and then it wouldn't
have been quite as hard,
but those were just
moments that you can't.
You know what's kind of funny too,
is I think about that.
Yeah, you have to meet that,
and, but you were so innocent growing up.
Like you live such a
straight and narrow, like life
growing up that I'm the
only one that has the ability
to share some of those,
and I wasn't that far
off the good narrow path.
Right, but--
I strayed here and
there, but I was pretty--
You were on the straight and narrow path.
I was like the straight jacket path.
Like it was not even,
there was no deviation from it.
I mean, I didn't,
well, I would take steps
of my dad's drink.
That was in fact the one thing you did.
That was the one thing I did, and my
parents knew about it.
Like it was, it was fine.
Yeah, he corrupted you.
Right, I mean, I didn't,
I still have never smoked
a cigarette or anything for that matter.
Never.
So, you know, when the kids at, you know,
if it comes to that,
they're like, hey mom,
what were some of the
rebellious things you did?
I'll be like, you
know, maybe when I was 20,
I drank too much alcohol.
Yeah, I wore an orange swatch watch band
with a red sweater probably.
Oh yeah, yeah, actually for me,
it probably would have been
a purple swatch watch band.
Okay.
With a red sweater.
Yeah, okay, with a red guest sweater.
Gotta make sure you gotta set the mood.
Gotta paint that
picture for people in the 90s.
With like the stirrup pants maybe.
Yeah, Z Cava Ricci for us.
You guys didn't have Z
Cava Ricci down there.
We didn't.
Or up there.
Up there, yeah, yeah,
we were more guests,
and I think Gerbo was a big one.
A new Gerbo.
United, color- But you guys wore
big pants though, right?
Yeah.
Like sagging and all
that was in back then.
Yeah, although my, no one
in my family really sagged,
but yeah, the big baggy
pants were in carpenter pants.
Do you remember those?
Well, Carver Springs, as we
all know, is Superghetto, so.
I mean, compared to where you grew up,
it was for sure ghetto.
(laughs)
On the scale.
Yeah.
I always call Megan Crispy Connecticut
because she's just so
straight and narrow.
I'm straight and
narrow, like it's all, yeah.
I embrace it.
You do, and you wear it well.
I wear it well.
Yeah, I mean, obviously it
doesn't offend me at all.
I don't think many of our listeners
are gonna be shocked to hear that
I really haven't, I
didn't do anything rebellious.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
Yeah, no, that's about on brand.
But, you know, we talk about social media
and our kids have to watch that,
but even now adults are on social media,
and that's hard for me.
And I know you and I have talked about it
because I kicked around right now
with starting the podcasts.
And I started another
company, Aspen Capital Advisory.
So I am trying to get things out there.
I mean, in today's world,
it's not like you just
throw a commercial up on TV
or throw something on the
radio anymore or flyers.
I mean, you have to utilize social media.
It is the conduit to the people, right?
And for me, I am so sensitive
to annoying people with posts, you know?
But getting posts up and bringing traffic
to attract people to
see what you're doing
both on the podcast side
and on the financial advisory side,
you need to get your name and just
information out there
and just gotta get content out there.
So, you know, social
media for me is weird
because I'm new to Instagram now
and every time I post, I'm like,
I know people are rolling their eyes.
You know, I'm trying to do something
that's interesting at least
and it's not just about our family.
I mean, I do have a YouTube channel now,
but it's for the
purpose of all those things.
We do some funny things on there too.
Our daughter and I,
because we do this
funny voice with Paris,
and we have a lot of people
that are like, oh, I'm gonna get a dog around the house.
We're just like, well, we should,
because she narrates our lives
and to us it's hilarious
and to mess the world, it's probably not,
but there's a lot of junk on YouTube.
Absolutely.
And so we thought we'd
put our own junk up there.
So, you know, we've done
some things called, you know,
the PB puppies, which
is Paris and Philly.
So we have some of
those things up there too,
you know, just to bring
people to the YouTube channel
and hopefully they stumble across
or life happens, we'll
soon be up there, you know?
So just trying to bring
some of those things to it.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It's just a whole new world
and it's something that our generation
doesn't do a lot of.
Right.
And I really just don't
want to be mistaken for,
A, don't want to be a YouTuber,
B, I don't want to annoy people,
and C, you know, given,
I've been in finance
my entire career, right?
I was a national managing
director of a professional team
and I don't want people
not to take me serious
because they think I'm
trying to be a YouTuber, you know?
So in the back of my
mind, that's there too.
Hopefully driving people to the business
and things like that,
but hopefully for people
who know you, like I know you,
you know, being a
YouTuber is the furthest thing
from your mind and you
and I talk quite a bit,
you're light years ahead of me.
I don't do social media.
Or technology.
Or technology really, period.
I don't even know how to do it.
The amount of times I have to tell you
how to do simple things on your iPhone.
Well, I don't know how to
turn on the TVs in our house.
Yeah, you can't turn
on the TVs in our house.
So, I mean, it does show you
just how little TV I watch,
but I mean, I don't know
how to turn on the TVs.
So yeah, that's about as
basic as most people can get.
If there's an
85-year-old watching this podcast,
they're probably like,
"Even I know how to turn on the TV."
Yeah.
You're ahead of me.
It's not that
difficult, but it is what it is.
Yeah, but all that to say, I mean,
I think social media can be so positive
and it can do a lot of great things,
but there are so many dangers.
I mean, I think our eyes
were opened a little bit
when it was our daughter's coach
actually gave a whole
parent meeting on social media
and how you should use
it to promote your brand
or the skill and all of that
and how it should not be used.
Yeah, you say it's a good thing.
And I don't even know that I agree with
that wholeheartedly.
I mean, there's just so much bad.
It can be so bad.
Maybe that's-- It can be, yeah.
And it's unfortunately a necessary thing
that you have to utilize
that I don't really love or like
because when Facebook
first came out, it was just,
and even now, I'm never
on Facebook first off.
I mean, I know I post a lot to it,
but again, we're trying to build things,
but I'm never on it scrolling through it
because years ago when I used to do that,
it was like people
just putting pictures up
of moments in their lives
trying to make them look bigger,
maybe than they really are,
living a different life
than maybe they really are.
And so it's not, and
that's a widely known,
bad side effect that
people are just trying to,
so I mean, a lot of people are just
trying to post stuff
just to make themselves,
paint themselves in a different light,
maybe look better, like
they're living a better life
maybe than they really are.
And I think what we're trying to do
is just put things up there
for family and friends to see
and maybe to be
entertaining, to bring some people
to the website or whatnot.
But if nothing else, we're
just trying to put up stuff
just to be relatable.
Hashtag relatable.
I laugh at that because of
the story from the other night.
Hell yeah, so we were having dinner
and our son had said something about math
and it was a great family dinner.
Our daughter then was like,
I'm the smartest person in my math class
and our oldest pipes up immediately with?
Hashtag relatable, yeah.
I should have said that dinner
so it can be used in the opening one,
but it was perfect timing from the oldest
who doesn't have the funny bone
as much as some of the other ones do.
So when he pulls one
out like that, it's great.
It was great.
She's going on about how
smart she is, hashtag relatable.
So that's been-- Hashtag relatable.
I mean, that's exactly what it was.
And that has been kind
of the theme for the week.
And as you and I were
talking about Mr. and Mrs.
I was like, gosh, can
that, can hashtag relatable?
Can you boil down Mr. and
Mrs. to just hashtag relatable?
We like to think that
we're all in this together
and we just want to be relatable.
Yeah, yeah, it's funny.
That makes me think of I was listening
to Smart List the other day
and the guys were talking on that one.
That's just such a funny podcast.
Hilarious.
And one of them was talking about like,
I just want to be able to, I want to go
to the grocery store
and just push up, push the
cart up and down each aisle
and just pick out whatever food I want.
And one of the other guys is like, wow.
Like that's what, that's your dream.
I mean, holy cow, hashtag relatable.
Going to the grocery store is
so out of the normal for him.
People can really relate to him.
Oh yeah, really, really.
See, it's so universal.
Our oldest struck
comedy gold with that one.
Yeah, it was good.
Yeah.
It was a good one liner for sure.
Yeah, it was good to, that was actually
such a fun family dinner too.
Our kids were really like
firing on all cylinders.
I think this is a
second week in a row now
where we've been able to
talk about a family dinner
that we had, that's--
I think we have to do it more.
Yeah.
Because I mean, a long time ago,
didn't some book come
out about how to, you know,
have a good family,
relationships and whatnot.
One of them was sitting
down and having a good,
having family dinner.
Every night, I think
probably those books would say.
Yes, yeah, okay, well we
are far from that goal.
Yeah, once a week.
Once a week is, hopefully we can have,
we'll get to like two a
week over the next couple,
but yeah, it was so fun to hear the kids.
They were kind of bragging on themselves,
which is fun to do in
a family environment.
It's a safe environment to do it.
Yeah.
You have to be able to
do that to some degree.
You have to have somewhere safe.
They were so proud of themselves.
That's exactly right.
They were just talking about a couple
of their accomplishments from school
that they were really proud of.
Yeah.
In turn, as a parent, I was super proud.
Yeah.
And then I learned things.
Not growing up in Texas, I
did not learn Texas history.
Me either.
Texas is the, well, I
think in our last episode,
we talked about your
District 11 education,
but I learned things from them
because then they'll start talking about
Battles of San Jacinto.
I was like, I've never heard of this.
Yeah, the Alamo, I've never heard of it.
Wow, it really is
falling far from grace, huh?
No, you're right though.
Your point is totally right on,
because I haven't said
that yet, this episode.
I say that every episode,
probably four or five times.
Yeah, there it is.
They enjoy that and it's fun
for them to be able to talk.
And we need to make an
effort to do that more often
with them because I think they enjoy it.
It's really the only
one-on-one time we get with them
because they're in the back
of the car on the way to soccer
and they get out for soccer,
or they're on the way to
school and they get out.
I mean, there's not a
lot of one-on-one time
and you should take more advantage of
that while we have it.
Yeah, because it goes so fast.
Then the three of them,
because there's not a
competition involved,
the three of them are usually,
okay, maybe fighting for
attention a little bit.
I'm next, I get to talk next,
but for the most part,
it's a harmonious time
when we can all download from the week.
It is.
Although they do fight, you're right.
Did you just mention that?
That they fight for who's talking.
And one of them will
be raising their hand
and by the time we get to them, I forgot.
I forgot.
Yeah, it turns into tears.
Yes, that was our
youngest, this one, right?
He's like, I forgot.
Yeah.
You felt all bad.
Which I didn't realize.
He tells the longest story sometimes.
Oh yeah, everyone forgets.
You gotta rap it, bud.
Yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Although a story came out
that I didn't know about you,
you drew a cartoon about
someone who forgot their story
and they were crying.
Yeah, in fifth grade, Mr. G's class.
I'd never heard that
story in all these years.
Yeah, well, we'll spare the listeners,
it's not that funny,
but similar situation
of somebody waving his hand wildly
who always had the answers in class
and finally the teacher, Mr. Greasinger,
fifth grade teacher at
King Elementary called on him
and he forgot.
And the waterworks happened and whatnot.
I thought it'd be a
great idea to draw a cartoon
to make sure it was
captured and archived for history.
I wanna see this cartoon so bad.
Honestly, I might have it,
because it cracked me
up for such a long time
and it's not even that funny.
But in one of my totes
upstairs, I think I have that.
I'm gonna go show it to you.
I am picturing a Calvin
and Hobbes kind of a thing
with like just--
It's two frames.
Like, yeah, with--
It's two frames, one with
his hand up sitting at his desk
and one with his head on his head.
Oh, this poor kid.
Tears flying out.
Yeah, they were like flying out.
Yeah.
Like a Calvin and Hobbes, oh.
That's fantastic, I love that.
I wanna see it so bad.
That's funny, well,
what do we have going up
the rest of this week?
We had an 8 a.m.
soccer game this morning.
Yeah, up early.
Super Bowls from the
youngest, that was good.
Always good to get goals out of them.
Always good to get goals
and the team played like a
champ against an older team.
They showed a lot of heart and fight.
We still have one more.
Another one?
Today, yeah.
But this week is a very normal week.
You're not traveling.
Looking forward to being home.
We're all looking
forward to have you home.
And then looking forward
to Super Bowl next week.
Super Bowl, that's right.
Go Swifties.
I know, there you go.
I wonder how many times we'll see Taylor.
A lot.
Are we taking bets on
this to see if Travis Kelsey,
do we care if he proposes?
There's no way he does.
You know they're
making fun of this somehow.
He and her and all their people.
100%, he's not gonna propose.
I bet they do a fake proposal.
Maybe.
Ooh, we should pull the
listeners on that one.
It's a big gotcha.
It's a big, yeah.
Moment.
It'll be like a cliffhanger.
Who are you cheering for?
I'm cheering for the Chiefs.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm not a huge Eagles fan.
Yeah.
So we'll go for Chiefs.
East Coast team, we're Midwest people.
Same division as the
Broncos for me at least.
I gotta go there.
Yeah.
For me it's all about
the time we spend together.
I usually cook a lot, I
make a lot of appetizers
and I eat way too much.
So I'm usually full but
before the game even starts.
It's another great holiday that you spend
in the kitchen all day.
I know, I know.
But I mean, as long as people
enjoy what I'm making, then.
Oh, we do.
It's always just a
win-win, kind of lose-lose.
I don't know.
Yeah.
It's kind of difficult.
Yeah.
Hey, by the way, and we can end on,
no we don't have to end on this,
but I called Lego for
that missing bag, 27.
I know everybody was
waiting on this one too.
Oh, that was another cliffhanger.
I'd be getting bags and bags of letters,
handwritten letters asking about it.
Oh, bag 27.
And Lego was phenomenal.
Whoever helped me, I
don't remember her name,
which I'm sure she gave it to me,
but I spent 10 minutes
on the phone with her,
but she was phenomenal.
Just filled it no matter what.
It's free, it's coming in the mail.
They said it's rare, but it does happen.
Super nice.
Oh my gosh, that is fantastic.
And so the Eiffel Tower
will have progress again.
Will rise.
It will rise.
Wow, it's like a Phoenix.
No, I thought you were
gonna go with like Olympus.
Rising above the Serengeti.
Oh, I missed it, man.
That is my bad.
Yeah, yeah.
That will be, when
this actually comes out,
that'll be a reference to
last Monday's morning serial.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, one of the
greatest lyrics of all time.
Oh, it is, I mean.
Yeah.
It's because
Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus
above the Serengeti.
You can hear a clip of
that if you go to Instagram's
morning serial podcast.
Yeah, I'm excited to hear it.
I really am.
I, as a child, I had that record.
Total half a cup. The actual record.
Yeah, yeah, you told me that.
Yep, and we used to listen to it.
We'd be playing in the basement.
You guys had a lot more records,
because your family
was a musical family too.
We were, we always had music.
I only had two records.
We Are the World.
Yeah, that's a good one.
Was one, and I'm sure there was something
on the backside of that that
I don't recall what it was.
We had Michael Jackson Thriller record.
Do you still have it?
I mean, I'm sure that's
worth so much money, an original.
I have just some parents.
Yeah.
I remember.
If there's anything we
asked them for, I'd want that.
Yeah, that's, because
I know we had that one.
As everybody knows now,
I'm the world's number one
Michael Jackson fan.
You are, and that one is still a show.
Primarily because he
and I dance so similar.
Oh, you can do a mean moonwalk.
And I've taught it to, as well.
So I passed it on generationally.
Yes, he can do it very well.
I, ironically, as the person who spent--
The dancer.
15 years dancing, yeah.
Can't do the moonwalk to save my life.
Yeah, you're more of a choreographed
dancer, I would say.
For sure.
Yeah.
That is more my training, so.
But yeah, I mean, all good music.
So I am excited though to watch it,
because maybe during the Super Bowl,
you can continue to build it.
Although our oldest
said that he might invite
some friends over, so I'm excited.
Okay, all right.
I'd welcome his buddies over anytime.
Well, go Swifties.
Hopefully it's a good show.
Well, so you're officially
cheering for the Chiefs then.
Oh, officially
cheering for the Chiefs, yeah.
And I figured that would be the case,
because as usual, I mean,
we're so close that, you know,
you cheer for the same team,
because you practically finished my--
Sandcastles.
(laughing)
You tried to hold it in.
We cannot end with
that every single time,
with me just throwing out the lamest,
finished my, like, it's the lamest.
It's so funny.
Is it funny though?
I don't know.
All right.
I think that's it.
I mean, at least we get
real after at the end of it.
Have a great week, everyone.
We'll see you next time.
Have a good one.
(upbeat music)