August 11, 2025 • 51 mins
When doctors told us to call a priest because our daughter wouldn't make it through the night, we refused to accept that fate. Through dozens of surgeries, kidney failure, and countless medical interventions, we fought alongside Faith as she battled for her life. Today, she's not only thriving but hitting bullseyes at the shooting range during her recent birthday celebrations.
This episode takes you on an emotional journey through Faith's remarkable story – from her joyful birthday weekend complete with bowling adventures and her first-ever experience firing a real gun, to the heart-wrenching reality of family members who couldn't spare even ten seconds to send a birthday text. The contrast becomes even more stark when Victoria reads Faith's powerful letter from their upcoming book "Dear Silence," addressed to grandparents who were conspicuously absent during her life-threatening hospitalization.
"You didn't just miss my fight for life, you forfeited your place in it," writes Faith, now 19, who has endured over 54 surgeries in her young life. Her raw words capture the profound pain of abandonment during life's most critical moments, while highlighting the extraordinary strength she's developed as a result. The conversation expands to explore how true family is defined not by blood, but by who shows up consistently – like the strangers who brought food and offered help during Faith's hospital stay, demonstrating more authentic care than some biological relatives.
Between these powerful reflections, Victoria and Michael share insights about their educational program "Stucco Squad," designed to make learning fun for children with special needs, and offer humorous marriage advice centered on the importance of laughter and authenticity in relationships. The episode serves as both a celebration of Faith's resilience and a profound meditation on what it truly means to be family.
Join our community at acontagioussmile.com, where you can access our Academy resources, including Victoria's new ebook "Puppet Mastering the Manipulator," and learn more about the upcoming release of "Dear Silence" during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good evening and welcome to another episode of A
Contagious Smile, unstoppable.
I am Victoria, with my husband,michael, who is sitting over
here beside me.
Hi, babe.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Howdy y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Outstanding.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
He's a little preoccupied, but aren't most men
See?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, easy greasy.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm just saying so.
I want to thank everybody whohas sent out amazing birthday
wishes for Faith.
It was very sweet.
We did so much.
This kid did not have abirthday.
She had a birthday week Weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh yes, y'all, she milked it.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Oh, but she deserves it.
So let's just say very quicklywe want to thank everybody who
did reach out and send theirhappy birthday messages to her.
We went and took her to thefiring range and she shot.
And that kid has mama's talentall day long.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
So first of all she went out to her favorite
restaurant one of them.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah right, do that for dinner starts with olive
yeah, it ends with a garden.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, yeah and um then, what did we do?
We went you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, I said, and I got to watch you guys go bowling
and that was hilarious that washysterical.
I mean, this kid is walking upnow.
She hasn't bowled in a coupleof years and she's walking up
with her hand in her freakingpocket like she's the cool cat
on the right there and juststrike and then sassays back
(01:37):
with a little tush tush.
You know, yeah, I guess you'dsway it or whatever you want to
call it.
And then we get done with thatand then we do something fun.
We do her presents with riddles.
So would be like Every gift.
She would get the gift bag andthen she would say it says
(01:58):
number four and I would give herthe riddle and She'd have to
guess the gift.
And it's super fun and sheloves to do it every year.
And so then, and she'd have toguess the gift, and it's super
fun, and she loves to do itevery year.
And so then we went on anotherday, we went to the shooting
range and she has never shotindoor range ever, and so well,
she's never fired a real firearm, correct?
(02:20):
no, she's fired a bb gun yes,and so we go in and we're a
little, you know, concerned howshe's gonna do.
And we tried it cuz she hasvery sensitive hearing and she
just messaged me at him I didhit the bullseye three times so
she wanted me to let everybodyknow cuz she sees dropping.
But yes, she goes in there andbefore we go back I'm telling
(02:45):
her how to do the stancecorrectly, how not to squint
your shoulders, how not to besurprised at the kick of a gun,
and blah, blah, blah.
Right, she goes in there andjust hits the flipping bullseye
and she says I can't help mygood hearing, all right, and she
hits the bullseye.
That, my friends, is mom'soffspring, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
As my wife said, y'all we were apprehensive about
giving you know our preciousgirl a firearm.
You know, loaded, granted,granted.
You know we.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Would you like to come participate?
Faith.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
We loaded one bullet in the I'm a natural in the
magazine at a time.
So she, uh, she surprised me,she did excellent, and then once
, that once the surprise me.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You tell her we're on air.
She knows that she's sending memessages to convey to everybody
.
Like she didn't surprise me, Iknew that she'd be good.
I was just worried about herwith the kickback when she fired
the first few times and whenshe hit that bullseye like that
precious child of mine lit up solike and it was the sweetest,
(04:09):
cutest moment ever and she gotthe bullseye not once, not twice
, but three times.
It was awesome, my kid justsaying are you done?
Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So she shot, uh, my wife's uh.
Smith wesson easy glide 380.
Uh, we wanted the minimumamount of kick being her first
time.
Uh, that's.
Any parents should do that.
Don't go out and give your kida 44 Magnum for the first go.
No she once that hook was setin her and she went through I
(04:36):
don't know, probably 15 rounds.
I mean she was all giddy andbubbly and Fucked Dad.
Can we come here every time?
Can you get a membership rightnow?
Please go, get a membership nowright, when are we coming back?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
when, when, when, and then she's signing more, more,
more, more.
I want to do more, I want to domore.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I want to do more and I mistakenly y'all, I
mistakenly only bought her onebox of ammo.
Yeah, that was the firstmistake, and the sourpuss look
on her face was heart-wrenchingwhen she found out that's all
the ammo she had heart-wrenchingI offered her to shoot.
You know the 45s I brought outbut that was you know it wasn't
gonna happen.
(05:15):
So she said, dad, make sure youget plenty of boxes of that she
told me you need to get like 10boxes.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I said you, you need a job because ammo's not cheap.
But I just wanted to say that.
And then you know, I, I amforthcoming and I, and I do want
to say that, with the fact thatshe had such a great week of
birth, birth week um, that shedid have some disappointment,
(05:41):
and I just want to, you know, bethe mom, the protective,
tigering mom, and say shame onall of you who couldn't even
take.
How long does it take?
10 seconds to send a text.
I mean, even when you're on thetoilet you can text.
I mean, everybody scrolls onthe toilet.
You scroll on the toilet whenyou're in there.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
My husband, hey, that's, that's a natural guy
thing but, but I mean seriously.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
What do you have to say about that?
There are.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
My family members.
Y'all should have called andwished her happy birthday.
Or texted your family members,which are 45 minutes up the road
, should have called or textedor emailed or smoked a cigarette
.
Yeah smoked a cigarette.
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You know a birthday card card.
Go to the dollar store becausewe don't care about the
materialistic thing of it.
Get a 99 cent card.
I mean, right now stamps arealmost half that cost, if not
more.
I don't even know what a stampgoes for anymore, but not even a
10 second out of your day,simple text for this kid who has
fought her whole life to behere.
(06:42):
She is the heart of gold.
All she ever wants to do ishelp other people.
She's really sweet.
Now, granted, annie Oakley Jrover there is not someone that
you want to mess with or tangowith, because she holds her own
very, very well.
But how do you, babe as acrossthe board, because you even made
(07:03):
that clear last night how, howis a grandparent on either side
not even reach out and say, youknow, happy birthday, or you
know?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
like you said, shame on them.
You know birthdays.
For us old folks it doesn'tmean much right this is
different but when?
When?
This is your, your grandkid,you know everything she's been
through and and everything she'sbeen through, man, pick up the
phone, y'all send a flippin textso I don't know, I can't answer
(07:37):
for them but you know, youthink okay, could they
disappoint you anymore?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
and then something like this is done.
But when they come back aroundon either side, the excuse to me
will not hold water.
I mean, it's just not.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It's not because there's no excuse, none I've
just learned to be to expectdisappointment with either of
those, and I'm never going to bedisappointed well, see, that's
different for us than it is forher.
Like it is and you.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
She was heartbroken and that broke my heart.
Not that, you know, none ofthem reached out, because I
didn't expect it, but the factthat we had to watch her look at
her phone and say, guess whatthey didn't message, and that is
unforgivable.
I mean, in today's technologyand all the different ways you
could reach out, even reachingout through us, her parents, you
(08:35):
know we would have given themessage to her, but that, to me,
is absolutely inexcusable.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So that was our weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I'm off the rant.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It was excellent.
Y'all I had a fabulous time,you know, shooting with my
daughter Power Going out to eat.
She ate a ton of food at herfavorite place.
So y'all spend quality timewith your kids, because you know
we've got two others that wedon't see, and I wish we did uh
(09:07):
I wish we did, I wish we did.
But um, they're gonna grow upand they're one of them's 20 now
and, uh, they're gonna leavethe desk, probably when they're
30.
But, um, you know, enjoy thetime you got with your kids.
Like like saturdays, mydaughter and I we watch, we have
movie night every saturdaynight.
(09:27):
It's call it daddy daughtermovie night every saturday night
.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
For the past four plus years that I've been back
back with my wife, yeah, but infairness, last night didn't
start till this morning becauseit was after midnight, because
somebody was, I took a nap andit's last night, didn't start
till this morning, because itwas after midnight, because
somebody was sleeping, I took anap.
Uh no, this is how this goes.
I took I'm gonna go to bed,I'll wake up at 10, so at 10 15,
(09:55):
that's what we get.
So then faith is like I'll doit, so it was, so that's what we
get again.
I need a couple minutes to wakeup, so we send the dogs in and
then it was get off of me.
And then it's 11 and 1130.
And it's quarter to 12.
And now it's 12.
(10:15):
And I'm like that's it, I'mgoing.
So Faith was like open the door, turn on every light that she
possibly could find, remove thecovers, enter in the dogs to get
him because she was not goingto give up her movie night.
It's just not going to do it,not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Why am I that bad?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
You failed to answer the question.
I love you, oh Lord.
What are you working on overthere?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
What am I not working on?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Your 42nd book.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
No, so here's what's.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh, we had a subject we were going to discuss, do you
recall?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You have the perfect memory?
I do not.
I said we were going to discussit.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Well, first I want to take one minute before trying
to recollect Go.
I want to take one minute fortrying to recollect and put our
heart and hugs and prayers tothe DeKalb County in Georgia
officer who was killedprotecting kids and individuals
with the CDC shooting just theother day.
(11:20):
He has left a wife and two kidsand she's pregnant.
He didn't even hesitate, hewent right in there to the
shooter and tried to deescalatethe situation and he gave his
life.
And so I just want to sendheartfelt thank you to him and
his family and condolences andprayers and hugs to his family.
(11:42):
Because that's just today.
Everywhere you look, there'sactive shooting.
I mean it's incredible how,like in georgia, there's marta,
which is like the train systemand the transportation system,
and there's buses and trains andthings of that nature and, um,
(12:03):
anybody in ge knows who Marta,what knows what Marta is, and
there was supposedly not even aweek ago was an active shooter
on the train, on one of thetrains in Marta, and then the
other day two officers werestanding out at little five
point station and an activeshooter shot both officers and
(12:27):
it's every single day.
Now you are hearing about activeshooting and it's just come on.
I mean, back in the day weworried about getting smacked
around with a dodgeball or, youknow, not coming in when the
light was on on the street.
Street lamp came on.
Now, like you know, the CDC isright next to Emory.
(12:50):
They have had you know which isthe hospital, and now you're
having shootings, like right atthe hospital.
You're having them in churches,you're having them in schools.
I mean, how do we get this tostop?
How can we get this to stop?
How can we get this to stop?
This is not okay.
These are our lives, our family, our children.
(13:11):
This is just.
This has got to stop.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So you might say well , you're being a hypocrite,
because y'all were at the gunrange.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, but we're there to protect ourselves.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Exactly y'all.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
There's a big doggone difference.
We're not going to go out thereand seek revenge on people.
We're going to go and teach ourdaughter how to self-defend.
We're not going to go.
And you know, that's just notthe mentality, and we taught gun
safety from day one to her.
And the thing is, is thatpeople say, well, it's guns that
(13:41):
.
Well, it's guns that killpeople.
It's people that kill people.
A gun doesn't pick itself upand shoot itself, right.
And I've had a gun clock to myhead.
I've had a gun, you know, withmy ex, had his finger on the
trigger and it was put to myskull, you know, and most people
at that point would be afraidof guns.
But it wasn't the gun that didit, it was the piece of crap
holding it.
(14:03):
My husband is so preoccupied,hey yes pay attention I am I
mean, most people say it's gunsthat are doing with the killing.
But I mean, and a lot of peoplewant all the guns taken off the
streets.
What is your say on this?
We have several guns here wehave a good arsenal here, but
(14:28):
what about the people who saythey want to take them off the
streets?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
yeah, they, yeah, okay, let the bad guy come into
their house.
What are they going to do?
Grab a candlestick to defendthemselves and their loved ones,
their children.
Anyway, I still haven't thoughtof the topic I want to discuss.
I don't remember, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Anyway, so why are you thinking of that?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
My wife is still compiling the.
What's the title of the book?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Dear Silence.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Dear Silence.
I don't know why I drew a brainfart.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yes, I have actually written quite a few in there and
also I'm going to give you atrigger warning ahead of time.
And my husband is sopreoccupied right now it's not,
I mean, normally he'spreoccupied, but this is a
little crazy because he is verypreoccupied.
(15:36):
So while I'm pulling this up, Ido want to tell you guys what
else I'm doing.
I created a ebook if you will,of course my husband's going to
say, oh, of course you did andit's called Puppet Mastering the
Manipulator, like the unmaskingthe narcissist, if you will,
and in this it's over 180 pages.
(15:58):
It's over 180 pages and ittalks about really seeing the
true colors from within of anarcissist, and it's been valued
at about $49.
And instead of putting it outon Amazon, what I'm doing is I'm
putting it.
My husband doesn't know any ofthis y'all, so maybe this will
(16:18):
undistract him is that I haveadded it to the resource section
of the library for ourContagious Smile Academy and you
can go on there and get this180 plus page ebook for free if
you join the Academy.
And what we ask is that, if youjoin the Academy and you
partake in the classes and youlearn things and you have fun
(16:40):
and you bond with your childrenand some of the stucco squad
courses, you get any of thee-book classes or books in there
and you feel like you know what.
I want to contribute to this sothat I can help provide
scholarships for other people.
Scholarships for other people.
There's a link in there whereyou can do that as well and we
can help, because if we don'tstart getting some funding, it's
(17:01):
going to be very hard to keepup with what we're doing,
because we're the ones fundingit without any help, and it's
it's really difficult.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
It's a very challenging thing so y'all get
on our website,contagiousspotcom, join our
academy and shoot us an email ify'all want to come on our show
sometime.
I know my wife's very busy withall her celebrities that she
(17:34):
has a conversation with I thinkshe reposted Malcolm Goodwin
Because he wished Faith a happybirthday, giving our daughter a
happy birthday wish.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
But you know, you know that was excellent, he
didn't have to do that it's alsoa law and order svu he was
awesome and, if I'm not mistaken, he called up my wife a few
years ago yes, he reached out tome and said to me that somebody
he knew told him I saved theirlife, I helped them, I spoke
(18:01):
with them, I was talking withthem and helping them with all
different resources and I had noidea they knew him.
You know, I treat everybody,from a CEO to a receptionist to
the trash guy, to the same exactway.
And he reached out thanking meand said you now have a
permanent lifelong fan and me,thank you for what you do.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
and I was just like wow so malcolm goodwin has
played in I zombie and reacherand law and order he was also in
the breakout kings.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
He was so good in that in that show.
So if he's listening, that wasone of my favorite things he did
.
The Breakout Kings.
That was like a phenomenal showthat did not get the props that
it needed.
Breakout Kings should have beenlike a major, major network
show.
It really was.
It was kind of a cool concept,you know.
I think if you would watch ityou'd really like it.
(18:55):
Basically it's um, a us marshalum handpicks some criminals and
what they do is they're goingafter the some fugitives and for
every fugitive they catch theyget time taken off of their
sentencing right, and so theyhave like an array of different
(19:17):
people who offer differentskills, if you will, and malcolm
goodwin was one of them andquick-witted, hilarious fun.
He was great.
I was so upset when the showended because it was.
It was good.
All right anyway.
Enough on that one, but I amgoing to I'm actually going to
read one of the entries for DearSilence.
(19:38):
I'm going to put out theretrigger, trigger, trigger,
warning, and then, as soon asit's done, I'm going to let my
husband say what he thinks afterI've read it.
This is very triggering for mefor multiple reasons, so I'm
going to go ahead and remind youagain.
It's triggering.
This is actually from ourdaughter and she wrote this to
(20:05):
all of the grandparents acrossthe board.
She wrote this to the peoplewho say that they care about her
and then need her for whatever.
Oh, can you get me to thiscelebrity?
Can you do this, can you dothat?
And then they don't need heranymore.
And she was heartbroken, and soshe.
(20:27):
She did this and I'm very proudof her for releasing it because
I think it really did help her,but she was devastated when we
began this.
So this is just one of theentries that will be in the book
.
So I'm going to read this andI'm going to go ahead and tell
you again.
It's a trigger warning.
And then I'm just going to stopand let my husband say what he
(20:47):
thinks about it.
You knew God.
You knew.
You knew I was in that hospital.
You knew I was on life support.
You knew the doctors weretelling my parents she's not
going to make it home and youstill stayed away.
Don't tell me it was becauseyou didn't know what to do,
(21:07):
because I've lived in thehospital dozens of times before,
but none were as serious asthis.
You had one job Be mygrandparents, love me anyway and
show up.
But you didn't.
Not when my body was failing,not when I was so fragile they
(21:27):
couldn't even take me down tothe OR.
Dozens of surgeries had to bedone right there in my PICU room
because I was too weak tosurvive the trip down to surgery
.
I needed dozens of bloodtransfusions and was even put
back into a medically inducedcoma more than once.
Every time the lights would getbrighter, the room would fill
(21:52):
with doctors and I'd feel thefear in the air before I felt
the pain.
My kidneys were failing, myblood was poisoned, everything
was shutting down, but myparents refused to give up,
regardless of what the doctorsaid.
My mom had already begun theprocess to donate one of her
(22:12):
kidneys because mine was almostgone.
You guys all knew all of thisand you still stayed away.
You obviously had alreadydisowned me several times before
you even forbid me to be onyour property.
And for what reason?
Because I told the truth when Istopped playing the quiet,
(22:34):
obedient granddaughter you couldno longer control.
I thought that this was theworst you could do to me.
Use the fact I have specialmedical needs as an excuse to
your wife to see other women.
You told your wife you werewith me and my mom, but in fact
you were with whatever tramp youwere messing with at that time.
Pictures tell a thousand words.
(22:59):
But then came this.
Do you know what the nightswere like?
The machines breathing for me,the alarm screaming if my heart
rate dropped.
Nurses whispering outside mydoor like I couldn't hear them
through the haze of my pain inthe medicine.
My dad's eyes never stoppedmoving from the monitors to the
doctors and back to me.
He didn't leave, neither did mymom.
(23:21):
They lived in that room besideme for months.
They ate from vending machinesand slept in stiff chairs.
They counted every beep everyhour, praying, begging for a
miracle.
They whispered to me like Icould hear them, because love
refuses to let go.
And they weren't going anywhere.
(23:42):
And you what one phone callOnce Over months.
And you told yourselves thatwas enough, it wasn't, it didn't
count.
When, again, you were nowherearound and my mom refused to
give in, and even when thedoctors offered to take and make
me comfortable and let me passquietly, that was the moment my
(24:05):
mom was anything but quiet.
She told them hell no.
She told them I was not done.
She told them, both her and mydad would keep fighting because
they weren't about to watch meslip away.
They told me sorry.
They told them no.
So loud and so certain it cutthrough the air like a knife.
(24:29):
They told the doctors that Iwas not leaving this earth
without a fight so fierce itwould shake the walls of that
hospital, this earth.
Without a fight so fierce itwould shake the walls of that
hospital.
They told them that they wouldburn through every ounce of
their strength, every dollarthey had and every heartbeat
they had, because I was worthevery battle and they were ready
to do whatever they had to inorder to save my life.
(24:51):
They fought for me every singlesecond, and you couldn't even
fight to come by for a singlevisit.
You could have walked into thatroom.
You should have walked intothat room.
My parents fought for me everysecond, every breath.
The doctor set my parents downand told them I was in full
kidney failure.
(25:12):
When they explained that mybody was shutting down, that
every organ was struggling, Iwas put on dialysis.
They warned my parents thateven if I survived the night,
there was no promise of atomorrow.
You could have walked into thatroom and again, you should have
walked into that room.
You could have held my hand,even if I couldn't squeeze back.
(25:34):
You could have said we love you, even if it was the first time
in years.
But you didn't, because in youreyes I was already gone.
You no longer could use me asyour excuse for your
extramarital activities,therefore making me useless to
you.
And here's the part you'll nevererase.
I survived, I came home and Iremember.
(25:57):
I remember the dozens ofsurgeries you weren't there for.
I remember my mom's voicetrembling as she talked about
giving me her kidney because shehadn't slept or stopped crying
in days.
I remember my mom, having justlost her hand, learning how to
function as a new amputee,trying to put on a glove so that
she could learn how to help inmy wound care one-handed, crying
(26:20):
in frustration, but never oncegiving up.
And guess what?
She figured out how to doeverything I needed and she did
it all one-handed.
I remember the chair by my bedthat my dad stayed in, right
beside me, and I remember thesilence that told me more than
words ever could say that choice.
It will follow you.
It will sit beside you when youclose your eyes at night, it
(26:43):
will echo in the hollow spacewhere your love should have been
.
I lived, I came home and I willspend the rest of my life
knowing the truth.
You can never outrun that.
I fought to stay alive withoutyou and I won.
You didn't just miss my fightfor life, you forfeited your
place in it, and when people askwhere you are, I will tell them
(27:05):
the truth.
You were nowhere, not becauseyou couldn't be there, but
because you chose not to, andthat choice will carve your name
into my story as the ones whoabandoned me when I was dying, a
brand of cowardness that willoutlive you and rot whatever
legacy you thought you had everhad left.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Y'all that is from our 19-year-old daughter who's.
Who's had well over 54surgeries, which is more than
anyone should have in theirentire life.
I've I've barely had onesurgery and they call it
tonsillectomy.
But how dare you say I'm hergrandparent?
(27:56):
You almost don't get that rightto say I am her grandparent.
You don't have thatpossessiveness.
This little girl was fightingfor her life and you didn't show
up one time.
You know, hey, a phone call.
(28:17):
How's she doing?
All right, I'll time.
You know, hey, a phone call.
How's she doing?
All right, I'll call you backin a few hours.
I'll call you back tonight.
I'll call you back it shouldhave been.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I'm on the way you know, it should have been.
I'm on the way yes, I knowyou're.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
You're a state away.
You're, you're an hour away.
I know it's inconvenient rightright.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Most of I mean parts of that were directed towards my
biological parents, but thepremises of the whole thing was
written towards both sides ofour family y'all know, as
parents we see it one way.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
But y'all just saw it from the eyes of a child, a
little girl.
Now I'm getting choked up.
Um, that that was for her life.
Y'all heard the words.
We didn't encourage these.
We didn't tell her to writethis stuff down.
No, we already know ourdaughter's amazing.
She's effing amazing.
Okay, even in the shootingrange.
You know she gets it from myside.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
No, she doesn't.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But she has written some amazing stuff, some amazing
poems, and she's this is justher you know expressing herself
and you know we're dang proud ofher.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
And you know the thing is is that your brother,
when he got hurt, I hadn't evenmet him yet and we were like,
we're on our way, what do theyneed?
We're on our way down.
And they were how long of adrive away, six hours, okay, we,
I had never met that brotherand it was like let's go, what
do they need?
Let's go.
It was late at night and youknow I was sending stuff to the
(29:46):
family and to their son andthere was no hesitation, we got
to go.
You know, when your parentslost their air conditioning, it
was in the middle of the nightand it was hot and I was like
let's go, and we drove down inthe middle, we left, drove down
to get them and came back thesame night and we brought them
(30:06):
back and there was no hesitation, because that's what you're
supposed to do for family andyou know my husband can say what
he wants.
But you know, babe, I'm sorry,I'm just going to say it across
the board Shame on every singleone.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I mean seriously, there's no excuse.
If you, if you know, your momhad a colonoscopy, a routine
colonoscopy, and I sent herflowers and it, you know, it was
just a routine, there wasnothing they found, they just
did it because you're supposedto at that age.
I sent her flowers, I checkedon her constantly.
You checked on her, you know.
But I don't expect everybody totreat everybody the way we
(30:43):
treat them.
I get that, you know, that's.
That's one thing, but to noteven a wish this kid a happy
birthday, which is so minute inthe whole scheme of things, but
when she's in the hospitalfighting for her life, and they
literally told us I mean theytold my husband what did they?
What did the surgeon say to you?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
he told me go call a priest before he even got up
there.
Go call a priest now.
Now all y'all know when do youcall a priest?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
right.
He said she's not comingthrough the night, like they
made that clear and they're likewe'll just keep her comfortable
.
And I was anything but quiet atthat point.
It was just like no, Iliterally couldn't stand up.
I almost fainted.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
The nurses yeah, I wanted to grab him and punch him
in his face like I.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
I couldn't even.
I couldn't even stand up, andit was.
You know we've come this far.
There is no way.
I mean you're watching yourlittle girl hooked up to
everything under the sun.
She had IVs anywhere that theycould have put them.
She was on dialysis.
They had two nurses in the room.
You know we're in the pediatricICU.
You know her organs areconstantly failing.
(31:52):
She's having surgery aftersurgery after surgery I mean
we're talking multiple a day,not just one and then you know,
a few hours later she's havinganother one and she's too
fragile to move and so they'redoing it bedside.
And one point she had 11 bloodtransfusions in one day and it
was just.
(32:12):
It was probably, if not thescariest moment of my life like
watching her go through this,and I couldn't change places
with her.
I couldn't take that away fromher and give it to me so that
she could be sitting thereplaying games with you while I
lay there for her.
Because that's what a realparent does, that's what someone
does that really loves somebodyis that they'll take their pain
so that they don't have to feelit or experience it.
(32:34):
And that's exactly what I wouldhave done without a hesitation.
And you know, I told thedoctors I don't care, go over
there, take me across the street, take my kidney, my liver, I
don't care what it is what sheneeds, you just do it.
And then you find a way to getme back over here and I will
recover here because I'm goingto be right here with her.
(32:54):
Why Is it going to kill her?
No, you know, they're like youcan't touch her because
stimulation could do something.
My child is suffering frombradycardia, which is a low
heart rate, so if I stimulateher and her heart rate comes up
a little bit, then that's not abad thing.
Go get your license somewhere,from anywhere other than Walmart
, your medical license, andmaybe you could talk to me.
(33:16):
Then I would never do anythingthat puts my daughter's life and
health in jeopardy.
Ever, never, ever, ever.
And for these momos to like like, literally, she's not going to
make it through the night, butyou can't touch her, screw you
and the horse that you just gotoff of.
Don't tell me that.
And don't tell me me you'regonna like make her comfortable
(33:38):
and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Because that's not gonna happeneither.
Because if making hercomfortable and not giving her,
you know, any stimulation isgonna help.
Quote-unquote the process ofletting her go.
I'm gonna make a rock concert inthat room.
It's gonna be loud andboisterous, we are gonna.
I'm gonna wake her up and Isaid I don't care, I will piss
(34:01):
her off and make her mad at me,but then for the rest of her
life she can live and tell mehow mad she was that I didn't
let her sleep.
Because I am not burying my kidperiod, not doing it just okay.
I'm I going to silence my micfor a minute because now I feel
my blood pressure rising.
But there is no excusewhatsoever why people are so
(34:27):
self-centered and soself-involved that you can't
even check on your old,godforsaken grandchild, who
would have moved heaven andearth for you time and time
again.
Mic drop, giving it to michaeljust I.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I believe god was with her then he has been.
She was a god forsaken herentire life but I know what you
meant.
So from going for you know fromwhen, the when that douchebag
doctor said call the priest.
She, she, may not livethroughout the night.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
No, he didn't say she may not.
He said she will not.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
And then we went to another 24 hours and then we
went to a weekend and it justkept getting longer and longer.
Here's this beautiful girl atthe shooting range.
You would have never have thunkit, seeing everything that she
(35:31):
was hooked up on.
She had two poles because hehad two poles on just one.
There was not enough room forall the pumps and everything
going into her plus theventilator, plus the dialysis.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
You know she had a broviac, she had swan, she had
central line, she had pick lines.
I mean she had a Broviac, shehad swan, she had central line,
she had PICC lines.
I mean she had IVs.
You know there was.
There was constantly changingsome medication around the clock
because one would finish andthe other would start, and I
counted over 50 at one point.
It was nonstop.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
So you know, don't tell me as a parent, oh, it's
easy to give up on your child.
So you know, don't tell me as aparent, oh, it's easy to give
up on your child.
It's not.
There's no way I could haveRight.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
But I mean.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
I mean they told us let her go in peace.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Right, but I mean, how do you?
What do you say to the peoplewho couldn't even reach out when
she went through this, orcelebrate her coming through?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
OK.
So Looking at that, you expectus to come running to you now,
when your old ass is in thehospital, because it's coming.
You're pushing 80.
Or our 80.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Not just one side.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Right, so are we going to be there for you?
Do you expect us to?
Do you expect us to pick up thephone?
Call the phone.
Oh, anyway, that's why my wifeand my daughter and my two dogs
and I, we like to have a what doyou call it?
(37:01):
No drama trauma no drama traumaright Home of the nose.
So so we like, we like to besomewhat introverts.
You know, we have ourpodcasting, we get out, we go
out to eat.
Uh, we, we meet hundreds ofpeople, um, we do events, you
know, and and whatnot.
But you know, we just like tokeep it simple.
(37:23):
Just us right, our christdinner, y'all.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Oh, it's fabulous.
We got a Waffle House.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Waffle House.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Christmas dinner at Waffle House, but Christmas Eve
we make dinner here as a family,that's right.
Right, and that's what we do.
But you know, what's justironic is that I took Faith to
nice and so sweet and sothankful, and you guys are just
(37:52):
amazing, and they were, you know, just people that I've
interviewed on podcasts, peoplethat I have helped, you know, in
different situations that Ihave become friendly with, they
reached out and said happybirthday, or how is faith?
When all this was going on, wehad people that I helped in
(38:14):
situations of abuse, that werebringing us food that we had
never met in person and theywere like how can we help?
What can we do?
Can we, you know, go mow yourlawn, can we?
What?
What do you need?
Right, and I mean those are thethings that really show you a
person's true colors of who theyare.
(38:34):
You know, I mean, that's justwhat it is.
You don't tell them that youlove them out of convenience and
then you don't need them againuntil you do, and then you have
nothing to say to them untilthat time comes back around
again.
You don't do that to people youlove.
You just don't that's right.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
So our dog, stucco, is currently sleeping on my foot
, on my wife's foot okay, that'smy baby speaking of stucco.
If y'all have not seen or knowwhat Stucco Squad is, you can go
to our website.
A contagious smilecom.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Click on the direct link on the top right menu
banner Yep, or go directly tothe Academy at a contagious
smile.
M N dot C?
O and Stucco Squad is justfabulous and I've had people
take some of the classes fromStucco Squad.
They love it because, like thesubtraction class is called,
take it away and stucco.
(39:31):
You know the beginning of it isstucco is searching for his
cookies and how did some of hiscookies, you know, disappeared?
It's a totally different way ofteaching kids.
Um, when faith was in publicschool, for the very short time
that she was, I went into thespecial needs classrooms and I
would teach a grade beneath herand the teachers were outrageous
(39:54):
, like she had a teacher thatwas like, what are you doing?
Well, I would bring in giftslike stickers or pencils or fun
things, because you don't knowif there's allergies or whatever
.
And I was teaching math, so Iwas going to do fractions, and
so I brought the board whichthey don't know if there's
allergies or whatever.
And I was teaching math, so Iwas going to do fractions, and
so I brought the board whichthey don't even do chalkboard
anymore, and they brought thewhiteboard with the stinky,
smelly markers that are awful,which I don't know how, these
(40:16):
kids don't have chronicheadaches.
And I drew a pizza right, and inthe special needs classroom
that we were in they had all thegrade levels and they were
separated in different sectionsof the room.
So I had four kids in there inthe grade I was working with and
(40:37):
so I drew a piece of pizza andI drew four slices and so I was
like all right, this one goes tothis one.
This right teacher walks up tome and says why are you wasting
your time?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
They're never going to get it, oh hell no to me and
says why are you wasting yourtime?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
they're never gonna get it.
Oh, hell, no, and it was just.
Are you shitting me like?
But the kids?
The county gives the schoolsmoney based on the ieps of these
kids and you know the teacherwould get up when class was done
and say, get out of my face,I'm tired of looking at you and
I was like, no, no.
So the courses have been writtenwhere there's so much fun.
(41:11):
A lot of the fact that I've hadsome moms say my kids love them
because they didn't realizethey were learning Like, so that
frustration wasn't there fromthe jump.
So the kids are going in therethinking, oh, I'm going to play,
I'm not trying to learn,because a lot of times it's very
frustrating for them that theycan't grasp a concept that's
developed in a certain way.
So you do it a different way,you find a way that works for
(41:33):
them right and then you apply it.
And that's what we've done hereand I've had so many parents
reach out and say these aregreat, because our kids think
they're playing and having funand they don't really realize
that they're learning thesefundamental.
You know tactics that areneeded in education, if you will
.
So it's so much fun and it'sstucco.
(41:56):
Hello, it's stucco.
And how do you go wrong withstucco?
He's just the sweetest, cutestthing ever he is, he is.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
He is our, our my wife's surface dog and he is our
family pet.
But I swear he thinks he's ahuman because when it's time for
bed he lays right down on mypillow and snuggles up with my
wife yes, but it's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
No, you gotta tell him what he does if you try to
come near me.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
If I try to give my wife a hug or kiss, he gets in
between us, pushes us away,pushes me away he doesn't push
me.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
No, and then, if my husband reaches over to try to
hold my hand, stucco takes hispaw and shoves my husband's hand
away from me anybody lookingfor a golden fever shut your
mouth.
He's trying to get rid of theboys don't call her he's trying
to get rid of the boys did?
(42:49):
she just said the hell, he won'tyou're asking the deaf person
what she said.
Stucco is the best and rusty isthe best.
They we have been very blessedwith two phenomenal, phenomenal
dogs.
They're just, they're membersof the family.
She said no, the hell, he won't.
That just came across as a textand if you do, I will cover up
(43:15):
my tattoo.
Ooh.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
That's just wrong.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
That's wrong.
It's accurate.
Good for her.
That's what I'm saying.
These are, I mean they'refamily members.
They're the best.
They are the.
I'm saying these are, I meanthey're family members.
They're the best they are thebest.
They're amazing and they're sosweet and cuddly and so what
they think, he does think he'sfive pounds.
So if I'm sitting in one of therecliners he will run up and
jump in my lap like he's fivepounds and he's 88 pounds.
(43:42):
So he's not a tiny little tot,but he just thinks he is and
that's what he does and it'sjust the sweetest thing and they
make your life so much better.
You know, it's medically proventhat people with dogs live
longer and they're happier thedogs live longer and the people
if the dogs are treated rightnow.
If you're some jackass who hurtsanimals, you know I have to
(44:05):
tell you, not that I wouldn'tgive would say my left arm
because I don't have it butKeanu Reeves, right, who is just
a stellar stand up human being,right, he has publicly come out
and said why is it that you can?
You know child abuse and peoplewho kill kids can go to jail
(44:28):
and go to death row, but if youkill an animal, you know and he
was like people who hurt animalsshould be put down.
And when Keanu publicly madethat statement I was like there
he is like just another goldstar for Keanu Reeves, right,
because he was just like nobodyshould hurt an animal.
(44:49):
I mean it's just not right andthey're right, it's not.
I mean I'm telling you whatsomebody ever hurt stucco or
rusty um and keanu's welcome onthe show anytime would do a
recording at any time, 4 am onSunday morning.
I wouldn't care if I could gethim on, just saying Remind him
(45:14):
again that I will cover thetattoo.
Okay, there it is.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Wow, thank you, faith , so real quickly.
Y'all keep writing in yourstories to Dear Silence.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
The cutoff is this week, because I'm overwhelmed
with it.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
My wife has the email to send it to Phoenix.
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
At acontagioussmilecom.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Phoenix at acontagioussmilecom.
Correct, she's read somethingfrom our daughter.
Uh, I believe you readsomething else before, right?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
not.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
That was the first reading well, I've heard some of
them and they're just, they'reeye-opening, heartbreaking,
touching.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Uh, it pisses you off but it's also from a survivor
point of view.
It should be very uplifting tomake you realize that to be
therapeutic that many peoplehave gone through this and it's
different when you're readingtheir words, where you could say
you know what I can get out toright.
I can do this.
It gives you that little boostof energy that you might feel
(46:18):
you need, Cause I mean youliterally lose all of who you
are.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
No.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
So absolutely.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
So y'all look forward to this upcoming book dear
silence.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yes, and it will be released for domestic violence
awareness month.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Speaking of books, y'all do remember that the wife
is an author of 41 books at theat this moment.
Okay, and you can find them onAmazon.
They're not all out there.
You can find them on amazon.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
uh, they're not cool out there you can find them
through our website right, andI've also made some of them like
ebooks into the academy oh yeahlike the unmasking of the
puppeteer is one of them andit's free in the academy.
Once you join it's in theresearch resource library.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yeah and uh, yeah, so we appreciate any and all
reviews that y'all give us.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Uh, actually, if they're five star.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
We don't.
We don't get enough reviewsabout our show, about our
podcast.
A contagious smile unstoppableunstoppable.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
That's us, you and I, and what else did you ever
remember what you wanted to talkabout?
Speaker 2 (47:31):
I did not.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
I'm old you're not old.
I'm over 29 that's not reallyold.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
I'm 51.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
I know I've known you for like your 20s, 30, 30s, 40s
and now 50s.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
That is crazy.
How about a tip for a good,successful marriage?
Speaker 2 (48:02):
A tip Laugh.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Come on now.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
We laugh all the dang time.
I mean, there was there's timesI remember laying in bed I
couldn't breathe, we could, wewere laughing so hard, and that
that's, that's good, you know,for us you know they say that if
you fart in front of yourspouse, that you're going to be
together forever.
Okay, there's a good tip Don'tgive your wife apple juice prior
(48:32):
to going to sleep.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
No, but hold on.
When we dated a very long timeago and you would spend the
night with me, first of all Islept wearing socks and you
would say to me take the socksoff.
I said no, I hate feet, exceptbaby feet, right.
And you're like no, and thenyou would fart in bed with me
and it was raunchy and you wouldsay, babe, how does it you
(48:56):
never fart?
Why is it you never fart?
And you said to me one dayyou're going to fart around me
and I'll know you really love me.
And I was like what?
And I mean I would get up inthe middle of the night and run
to the bathroom if I had to,because I was not going to fart
in the bed.
I wasn't going to do it.
Yes, but now she's a dork.
Now I go to sleep without sockson and my husband gives me
(49:19):
apple juice and Faith I don'tknow the competition was between
my husband and Faith, I think,I don't know, because they could
clear a room like a Savannahafter every meal and Faith will
run over and she'll blow a kissout of her butt and she goes oh,
my butt blew a kiss, which ishysterical and she runs over and
farts on him.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
Are you saying she has a butt kiss?
Yeah, you have a butt bazooka.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
Uh-uh, Hers is just as potent as no, we're both.
You're just as bad.
You are nasty raunchy becauseyou eat some nasty shit and it
comes out and it's gross On thatnote.
And what's worse.
Here's my tip for a goodmarriage Don't take a dump if
you're about to have your wifego take her bath, because my
(50:05):
husband loves to do that.
He goes to the bathroom andhe's scrolling on TikTok for
half an hour and then he's likebabe, I'm going to set your bath
for you, because not a lot ofmen would do that for their wife
.
It's overcompensating for thefact that it smells so
disgusting and raunchy in thatbathroom.
And he's trying to be sweet,because if we waited for it to
(50:28):
air out, not only would none ofus have any hot water, it would
be in the morning.
So he thinks that's a sweet wayto do it.
But men either plug it up andwait for the wife to take her
bath or shower first, or go inanother bathroom, and then you
don't have to worry about it.
Because why would you do thatto your spouse?
(50:49):
That's just not okay.
It's just gross.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
Family who farts together, stays together.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz.
I don't need that relief whenI'm taking a bath.
I don't need that aroma, andyou know what?
Coffee grounds do amazingthings for smells in a bathroom,
because I have a cute littlecontainer and it's full of
coffee grounds and it makes thebathroom smell so much better
after he has dropped the kidsoff in the pool.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
You can't say that, yes, I can.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
Why.
That's like a millennial or 80sor 90s thing that everybody
says why are you laughing?
I didn't say in the pool, Isaid at the pool.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Oh Lord, All right.
Thank you for listening toContagious Smile.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Cindy, here we are.
I don't know why you'relaughing at me.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
I believe we're not sued.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Sued.
You said you're dropping kidsoff at the pool.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
Fine Good night y'all .
Good evening and welcome to another episode of A
Contagious Smile, unstoppable.
I am Victoria, with my husband,michael, who is sitting over
here beside me.
Hi, babe.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Howdy y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Outstanding.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
He's a little preoccupied, but aren't most men
See?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, easy greasy.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm just saying so.
I want to thank everybody whohas sent out amazing birthday
wishes for Faith.
It was very sweet.
We did so much.
This kid did not have abirthday.
She had a birthday week Weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh yes, y'all, she milked it.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Oh, but she deserves it.
So let's just say very quicklywe want to thank everybody who
did reach out and send theirhappy birthday messages to her.
We went and took her to thefiring range and she shot.
And that kid has mama's talentall day long.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
So first of all she went out to her favorite
restaurant one of them.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah right, do that for dinner starts with olive
yeah, it ends with a garden.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, yeah and um then, what did we do?
We went you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, I said, and I got to watch you guys go bowling
and that was hilarious that washysterical.
I mean, this kid is walking upnow.
She hasn't bowled in a coupleof years and she's walking up
with her hand in her freakingpocket like she's the cool cat
on the right there and juststrike and then sassays back
(01:37):
with a little tush tush.
You know, yeah, I guess you'dsway it or whatever you want to
call it.
And then we get done with thatand then we do something fun.
We do her presents with riddles.
So would be like Every gift.
She would get the gift bag andthen she would say it says
(01:58):
number four and I would give herthe riddle and She'd have to
guess the gift.
And it's super fun and sheloves to do it every year.
And so then, and she'd have toguess the gift, and it's super
fun, and she loves to do itevery year.
And so then we went on anotherday, we went to the shooting
range and she has never shotindoor range ever, and so well,
she's never fired a real firearm, correct?
(02:20):
no, she's fired a bb gun yes,and so we go in and we're a
little, you know, concerned howshe's gonna do.
And we tried it cuz she hasvery sensitive hearing and she
just messaged me at him I didhit the bullseye three times so
she wanted me to let everybodyknow cuz she sees dropping.
But yes, she goes in there andbefore we go back I'm telling
(02:45):
her how to do the stancecorrectly, how not to squint
your shoulders, how not to besurprised at the kick of a gun,
and blah, blah, blah.
Right, she goes in there andjust hits the flipping bullseye
and she says I can't help mygood hearing, all right, and she
hits the bullseye.
That, my friends, is mom'soffspring, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
As my wife said, y'all we were apprehensive about
giving you know our preciousgirl a firearm.
You know, loaded, granted,granted.
You know we.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Would you like to come participate?
Faith.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
We loaded one bullet in the I'm a natural in the
magazine at a time.
So she, uh, she surprised me,she did excellent, and then once
, that once the surprise me.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You tell her we're on air.
She knows that she's sending memessages to convey to everybody
.
Like she didn't surprise me, Iknew that she'd be good.
I was just worried about herwith the kickback when she fired
the first few times and whenshe hit that bullseye like that
precious child of mine lit up solike and it was the sweetest,
(04:09):
cutest moment ever and she gotthe bullseye not once, not twice
, but three times.
It was awesome, my kid justsaying are you done?
Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So she shot, uh, my wife's uh.
Smith wesson easy glide 380.
Uh, we wanted the minimumamount of kick being her first
time.
Uh, that's.
Any parents should do that.
Don't go out and give your kida 44 Magnum for the first go.
No she once that hook was setin her and she went through I
(04:36):
don't know, probably 15 rounds.
I mean she was all giddy andbubbly and Fucked Dad.
Can we come here every time?
Can you get a membership rightnow?
Please go, get a membership nowright, when are we coming back?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
when, when, when, and then she's signing more, more,
more, more.
I want to do more, I want to domore.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I want to do more and I mistakenly y'all, I
mistakenly only bought her onebox of ammo.
Yeah, that was the firstmistake, and the sourpuss look
on her face was heart-wrenchingwhen she found out that's all
the ammo she had heart-wrenchingI offered her to shoot.
You know the 45s I brought outbut that was you know it wasn't
gonna happen.
(05:15):
So she said, dad, make sure youget plenty of boxes of that she
told me you need to get like 10boxes.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I said you, you need a job because ammo's not cheap.
But I just wanted to say that.
And then you know, I, I amforthcoming and I, and I do want
to say that, with the fact thatshe had such a great week of
birth, birth week um, that shedid have some disappointment,
(05:41):
and I just want to, you know, bethe mom, the protective,
tigering mom, and say shame onall of you who couldn't even
take.
How long does it take?
10 seconds to send a text.
I mean, even when you're on thetoilet you can text.
I mean, everybody scrolls onthe toilet.
You scroll on the toilet whenyou're in there.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
My husband, hey, that's, that's a natural guy
thing but, but I mean seriously.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
What do you have to say about that?
There are.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
My family members.
Y'all should have called andwished her happy birthday.
Or texted your family members,which are 45 minutes up the road
, should have called or textedor emailed or smoked a cigarette
.
Yeah smoked a cigarette.
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You know a birthday card card.
Go to the dollar store becausewe don't care about the
materialistic thing of it.
Get a 99 cent card.
I mean, right now stamps arealmost half that cost, if not
more.
I don't even know what a stampgoes for anymore, but not even a
10 second out of your day,simple text for this kid who has
fought her whole life to behere.
(06:42):
She is the heart of gold.
All she ever wants to do ishelp other people.
She's really sweet.
Now, granted, annie Oakley Jrover there is not someone that
you want to mess with or tangowith, because she holds her own
very, very well.
But how do you, babe as acrossthe board, because you even made
(07:03):
that clear last night how, howis a grandparent on either side
not even reach out and say, youknow, happy birthday, or you
know?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
like you said, shame on them.
You know birthdays.
For us old folks it doesn'tmean much right this is
different but when?
When?
This is your, your grandkid,you know everything she's been
through and and everything she'sbeen through, man, pick up the
phone, y'all send a flippin textso I don't know, I can't answer
(07:37):
for them but you know, youthink okay, could they
disappoint you anymore?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
and then something like this is done.
But when they come back aroundon either side, the excuse to me
will not hold water.
I mean, it's just not.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It's not because there's no excuse, none I've
just learned to be to expectdisappointment with either of
those, and I'm never going to bedisappointed well, see, that's
different for us than it is forher.
Like it is and you.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
She was heartbroken and that broke my heart.
Not that, you know, none ofthem reached out, because I
didn't expect it, but the factthat we had to watch her look at
her phone and say, guess whatthey didn't message, and that is
unforgivable.
I mean, in today's technologyand all the different ways you
could reach out, even reachingout through us, her parents, you
(08:35):
know we would have given themessage to her, but that, to me,
is absolutely inexcusable.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So that was our weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I'm off the rant.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It was excellent.
Y'all I had a fabulous time,you know, shooting with my
daughter Power Going out to eat.
She ate a ton of food at herfavorite place.
So y'all spend quality timewith your kids, because you know
we've got two others that wedon't see, and I wish we did uh
(09:07):
I wish we did, I wish we did.
But um, they're gonna grow upand they're one of them's 20 now
and, uh, they're gonna leavethe desk, probably when they're
30.
But, um, you know, enjoy thetime you got with your kids.
Like like saturdays, mydaughter and I we watch, we have
movie night every saturdaynight.
(09:27):
It's call it daddy daughtermovie night every saturday night
.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
For the past four plus years that I've been back
back with my wife, yeah, but infairness, last night didn't
start till this morning becauseit was after midnight, because
somebody was, I took a nap andit's last night, didn't start
till this morning, because itwas after midnight, because
somebody was sleeping, I took anap.
Uh no, this is how this goes.
I took I'm gonna go to bed,I'll wake up at 10, so at 10 15,
(09:55):
that's what we get.
So then faith is like I'll doit, so it was, so that's what we
get again.
I need a couple minutes to wakeup, so we send the dogs in and
then it was get off of me.
And then it's 11 and 1130.
And it's quarter to 12.
And now it's 12.
(10:15):
And I'm like that's it, I'mgoing.
So Faith was like open the door, turn on every light that she
possibly could find, remove thecovers, enter in the dogs to get
him because she was not goingto give up her movie night.
It's just not going to do it,not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Why am I that bad?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
You failed to answer the question.
I love you, oh Lord.
What are you working on overthere?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
What am I not working on?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Your 42nd book.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
No, so here's what's.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh, we had a subject we were going to discuss, do you
recall?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
You have the perfect memory?
I do not.
I said we were going to discussit.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Well, first I want to take one minute before trying
to recollect Go.
I want to take one minute fortrying to recollect and put our
heart and hugs and prayers tothe DeKalb County in Georgia
officer who was killedprotecting kids and individuals
with the CDC shooting just theother day.
(11:20):
He has left a wife and two kidsand she's pregnant.
He didn't even hesitate, hewent right in there to the
shooter and tried to deescalatethe situation and he gave his
life.
And so I just want to sendheartfelt thank you to him and
his family and condolences andprayers and hugs to his family.
(11:42):
Because that's just today.
Everywhere you look, there'sactive shooting.
I mean it's incredible how,like in georgia, there's marta,
which is like the train systemand the transportation system,
and there's buses and trains andthings of that nature and, um,
(12:03):
anybody in ge knows who Marta,what knows what Marta is, and
there was supposedly not even aweek ago was an active shooter
on the train, on one of thetrains in Marta, and then the
other day two officers werestanding out at little five
point station and an activeshooter shot both officers and
(12:27):
it's every single day.
Now you are hearing about activeshooting and it's just come on.
I mean, back in the day weworried about getting smacked
around with a dodgeball or, youknow, not coming in when the
light was on on the street.
Street lamp came on.
Now, like you know, the CDC isright next to Emory.
(12:50):
They have had you know which isthe hospital, and now you're
having shootings, like right atthe hospital.
You're having them in churches,you're having them in schools.
I mean, how do we get this tostop?
How can we get this to stop?
How can we get this to stop?
This is not okay.
These are our lives, our family, our children.
(13:11):
This is just.
This has got to stop.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So you might say well , you're being a hypocrite,
because y'all were at the gunrange.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, but we're there to protect ourselves.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Exactly y'all.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
There's a big doggone difference.
We're not going to go out thereand seek revenge on people.
We're going to go and teach ourdaughter how to self-defend.
We're not going to go.
And you know, that's just notthe mentality, and we taught gun
safety from day one to her.
And the thing is, is thatpeople say, well, it's guns that
(13:41):
.
Well, it's guns that killpeople.
It's people that kill people.
A gun doesn't pick itself upand shoot itself, right.
And I've had a gun clock to myhead.
I've had a gun, you know, withmy ex, had his finger on the
trigger and it was put to myskull, you know, and most people
at that point would be afraidof guns.
But it wasn't the gun that didit, it was the piece of crap
holding it.
(14:03):
My husband is so preoccupied,hey yes pay attention I am I
mean, most people say it's gunsthat are doing with the killing.
But I mean, and a lot of peoplewant all the guns taken off the
streets.
What is your say on this?
We have several guns here wehave a good arsenal here, but
(14:28):
what about the people who saythey want to take them off the
streets?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
yeah, they, yeah, okay, let the bad guy come into
their house.
What are they going to do?
Grab a candlestick to defendthemselves and their loved ones,
their children.
Anyway, I still haven't thoughtof the topic I want to discuss.
I don't remember, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Anyway, so why are you thinking of that?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
My wife is still compiling the.
What's the title of the book?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Dear Silence.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Dear Silence.
I don't know why I drew a brainfart.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yes, I have actually written quite a few in there and
also I'm going to give you atrigger warning ahead of time.
And my husband is sopreoccupied right now it's not,
I mean, normally he'spreoccupied, but this is a
little crazy because he is verypreoccupied.
(15:36):
So while I'm pulling this up, Ido want to tell you guys what
else I'm doing.
I created a ebook if you will,of course my husband's going to
say, oh, of course you did andit's called Puppet Mastering the
Manipulator, like the unmaskingthe narcissist, if you will,
and in this it's over 180 pages.
(15:58):
It's over 180 pages and ittalks about really seeing the
true colors from within of anarcissist, and it's been valued
at about $49.
And instead of putting it outon Amazon, what I'm doing is I'm
putting it.
My husband doesn't know any ofthis y'all, so maybe this will
(16:18):
undistract him is that I haveadded it to the resource section
of the library for ourContagious Smile Academy and you
can go on there and get this180 plus page ebook for free if
you join the Academy.
And what we ask is that, if youjoin the Academy and you
partake in the classes and youlearn things and you have fun
(16:40):
and you bond with your childrenand some of the stucco squad
courses, you get any of thee-book classes or books in there
and you feel like you know what.
I want to contribute to this sothat I can help provide
scholarships for other people.
Scholarships for other people.
There's a link in there whereyou can do that as well and we
can help, because if we don'tstart getting some funding, it's
(17:01):
going to be very hard to keepup with what we're doing,
because we're the ones fundingit without any help, and it's
it's really difficult.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
It's a very challenging thing so y'all get
on our website,contagiousspotcom, join our
academy and shoot us an email ify'all want to come on our show
sometime.
I know my wife's very busy withall her celebrities that she
(17:34):
has a conversation with I thinkshe reposted Malcolm Goodwin
Because he wished Faith a happybirthday, giving our daughter a
happy birthday wish.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
But you know, you know that was excellent, he
didn't have to do that it's alsoa law and order svu he was
awesome and, if I'm not mistaken, he called up my wife a few
years ago yes, he reached out tome and said to me that somebody
he knew told him I saved theirlife, I helped them, I spoke
(18:01):
with them, I was talking withthem and helping them with all
different resources and I had noidea they knew him.
You know, I treat everybody,from a CEO to a receptionist to
the trash guy, to the same exactway.
And he reached out thanking meand said you now have a
permanent lifelong fan and me,thank you for what you do.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
and I was just like wow so malcolm goodwin has
played in I zombie and reacherand law and order he was also in
the breakout kings.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
He was so good in that in that show.
So if he's listening, that wasone of my favorite things he did
.
The Breakout Kings.
That was like a phenomenal showthat did not get the props that
it needed.
Breakout Kings should have beenlike a major, major network
show.
It really was.
It was kind of a cool concept,you know.
I think if you would watch ityou'd really like it.
(18:55):
Basically it's um, a us marshalum handpicks some criminals and
what they do is they're goingafter the some fugitives and for
every fugitive they catch theyget time taken off of their
sentencing right, and so theyhave like an array of different
(19:17):
people who offer differentskills, if you will, and malcolm
goodwin was one of them andquick-witted, hilarious fun.
He was great.
I was so upset when the showended because it was.
It was good.
All right anyway.
Enough on that one, but I amgoing to I'm actually going to
read one of the entries for DearSilence.
(19:38):
I'm going to put out theretrigger, trigger, trigger,
warning, and then, as soon asit's done, I'm going to let my
husband say what he thinks afterI've read it.
This is very triggering for mefor multiple reasons, so I'm
going to go ahead and remind youagain.
It's triggering.
This is actually from ourdaughter and she wrote this to
(20:05):
all of the grandparents acrossthe board.
She wrote this to the peoplewho say that they care about her
and then need her for whatever.
Oh, can you get me to thiscelebrity?
Can you do this, can you dothat?
And then they don't need heranymore.
And she was heartbroken, and soshe.
(20:27):
She did this and I'm very proudof her for releasing it because
I think it really did help her,but she was devastated when we
began this.
So this is just one of theentries that will be in the book
.
So I'm going to read this andI'm going to go ahead and tell
you again.
It's a trigger warning.
And then I'm just going to stopand let my husband say what he
(20:47):
thinks about it.
You knew God.
You knew.
You knew I was in that hospital.
You knew I was on life support.
You knew the doctors weretelling my parents she's not
going to make it home and youstill stayed away.
Don't tell me it was becauseyou didn't know what to do,
(21:07):
because I've lived in thehospital dozens of times before,
but none were as serious asthis.
You had one job Be mygrandparents, love me anyway and
show up.
But you didn't.
Not when my body was failing,not when I was so fragile they
(21:27):
couldn't even take me down tothe OR.
Dozens of surgeries had to bedone right there in my PICU room
because I was too weak tosurvive the trip down to surgery
.
I needed dozens of bloodtransfusions and was even put
back into a medically inducedcoma more than once.
Every time the lights would getbrighter, the room would fill
(21:52):
with doctors and I'd feel thefear in the air before I felt
the pain.
My kidneys were failing, myblood was poisoned, everything
was shutting down, but myparents refused to give up,
regardless of what the doctorsaid.
My mom had already begun theprocess to donate one of her
(22:12):
kidneys because mine was almostgone.
You guys all knew all of thisand you still stayed away.
You obviously had alreadydisowned me several times before
you even forbid me to be onyour property.
And for what reason?
Because I told the truth when Istopped playing the quiet,
(22:34):
obedient granddaughter you couldno longer control.
I thought that this was theworst you could do to me.
Use the fact I have specialmedical needs as an excuse to
your wife to see other women.
You told your wife you werewith me and my mom, but in fact
you were with whatever tramp youwere messing with at that time.
Pictures tell a thousand words.
(22:59):
But then came this.
Do you know what the nightswere like?
The machines breathing for me,the alarm screaming if my heart
rate dropped.
Nurses whispering outside mydoor like I couldn't hear them
through the haze of my pain inthe medicine.
My dad's eyes never stoppedmoving from the monitors to the
doctors and back to me.
He didn't leave, neither did mymom.
(23:21):
They lived in that room besideme for months.
They ate from vending machinesand slept in stiff chairs.
They counted every beep everyhour, praying, begging for a
miracle.
They whispered to me like Icould hear them, because love
refuses to let go.
And they weren't going anywhere.
(23:42):
And you what one phone callOnce Over months.
And you told yourselves thatwas enough, it wasn't, it didn't
count.
When, again, you were nowherearound and my mom refused to
give in, and even when thedoctors offered to take and make
me comfortable and let me passquietly, that was the moment my
(24:05):
mom was anything but quiet.
She told them hell no.
She told them I was not done.
She told them, both her and mydad would keep fighting because
they weren't about to watch meslip away.
They told me sorry.
They told them no.
So loud and so certain it cutthrough the air like a knife.
(24:29):
They told the doctors that Iwas not leaving this earth
without a fight so fierce itwould shake the walls of that
hospital, this earth.
Without a fight so fierce itwould shake the walls of that
hospital.
They told them that they wouldburn through every ounce of
their strength, every dollarthey had and every heartbeat
they had, because I was worthevery battle and they were ready
to do whatever they had to inorder to save my life.
(24:51):
They fought for me every singlesecond, and you couldn't even
fight to come by for a singlevisit.
You could have walked into thatroom.
You should have walked intothat room.
My parents fought for me everysecond, every breath.
The doctor set my parents downand told them I was in full
kidney failure.
(25:12):
When they explained that mybody was shutting down, that
every organ was struggling, Iwas put on dialysis.
They warned my parents thateven if I survived the night,
there was no promise of atomorrow.
You could have walked into thatroom and again, you should have
walked into that room.
You could have held my hand,even if I couldn't squeeze back.
(25:34):
You could have said we love you, even if it was the first time
in years.
But you didn't, because in youreyes I was already gone.
You no longer could use me asyour excuse for your
extramarital activities,therefore making me useless to
you.
And here's the part you'll nevererase.
I survived, I came home and Iremember.
(25:57):
I remember the dozens ofsurgeries you weren't there for.
I remember my mom's voicetrembling as she talked about
giving me her kidney because shehadn't slept or stopped crying
in days.
I remember my mom, having justlost her hand, learning how to
function as a new amputee,trying to put on a glove so that
she could learn how to help inmy wound care one-handed, crying
(26:20):
in frustration, but never oncegiving up.
And guess what?
She figured out how to doeverything I needed and she did
it all one-handed.
I remember the chair by my bedthat my dad stayed in, right
beside me, and I remember thesilence that told me more than
words ever could say that choice.
It will follow you.
It will sit beside you when youclose your eyes at night, it
(26:43):
will echo in the hollow spacewhere your love should have been
.
I lived, I came home and I willspend the rest of my life
knowing the truth.
You can never outrun that.
I fought to stay alive withoutyou and I won.
You didn't just miss my fightfor life, you forfeited your
place in it, and when people askwhere you are, I will tell them
(27:05):
the truth.
You were nowhere, not becauseyou couldn't be there, but
because you chose not to, andthat choice will carve your name
into my story as the ones whoabandoned me when I was dying, a
brand of cowardness that willoutlive you and rot whatever
legacy you thought you had everhad left.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Y'all that is from our 19-year-old daughter who's.
Who's had well over 54surgeries, which is more than
anyone should have in theirentire life.
I've I've barely had onesurgery and they call it
tonsillectomy.
But how dare you say I'm hergrandparent?
(27:56):
You almost don't get that rightto say I am her grandparent.
You don't have thatpossessiveness.
This little girl was fightingfor her life and you didn't show
up one time.
You know, hey, a phone call.
(28:17):
How's she doing?
All right, I'll time.
You know, hey, a phone call.
How's she doing?
All right, I'll call you backin a few hours.
I'll call you back tonight.
I'll call you back it shouldhave been.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I'm on the way you know, it should have been.
I'm on the way yes, I knowyou're.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
You're a state away.
You're, you're an hour away.
I know it's inconvenient rightright.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Most of I mean parts of that were directed towards my
biological parents, but thepremises of the whole thing was
written towards both sides ofour family y'all know, as
parents we see it one way.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
But y'all just saw it from the eyes of a child, a
little girl.
Now I'm getting choked up.
Um, that that was for her life.
Y'all heard the words.
We didn't encourage these.
We didn't tell her to writethis stuff down.
No, we already know ourdaughter's amazing.
She's effing amazing.
Okay, even in the shootingrange.
You know she gets it from myside.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
No, she doesn't.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But she has written some amazing stuff, some amazing
poems, and she's this is justher you know expressing herself
and you know we're dang proud ofher.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
And you know the thing is is that your brother,
when he got hurt, I hadn't evenmet him yet and we were like,
we're on our way, what do theyneed?
We're on our way down.
And they were how long of adrive away, six hours, okay, we,
I had never met that brotherand it was like let's go, what
do they need?
Let's go.
It was late at night and youknow I was sending stuff to the
(29:46):
family and to their son andthere was no hesitation, we got
to go.
You know, when your parentslost their air conditioning, it
was in the middle of the nightand it was hot and I was like
let's go, and we drove down inthe middle, we left, drove down
to get them and came back thesame night and we brought them
(30:06):
back and there was no hesitation, because that's what you're
supposed to do for family andyou know my husband can say what
he wants.
But you know, babe, I'm sorry,I'm just going to say it across
the board Shame on every singleone.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I mean seriously, there's no excuse.
If you, if you know, your momhad a colonoscopy, a routine
colonoscopy, and I sent herflowers and it, you know, it was
just a routine, there wasnothing they found, they just
did it because you're supposedto at that age.
I sent her flowers, I checkedon her constantly.
You checked on her, you know.
But I don't expect everybody totreat everybody the way we
(30:43):
treat them.
I get that, you know, that's.
That's one thing, but to noteven a wish this kid a happy
birthday, which is so minute inthe whole scheme of things, but
when she's in the hospitalfighting for her life, and they
literally told us I mean theytold my husband what did they?
What did the surgeon say to you?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
he told me go call a priest before he even got up
there.
Go call a priest now.
Now all y'all know when do youcall a priest?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
right.
He said she's not comingthrough the night, like they
made that clear and they're likewe'll just keep her comfortable
.
And I was anything but quiet atthat point.
It was just like no, Iliterally couldn't stand up.
I almost fainted.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
The nurses yeah, I wanted to grab him and punch him
in his face like I.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
I couldn't even.
I couldn't even stand up, andit was.
You know we've come this far.
There is no way.
I mean you're watching yourlittle girl hooked up to
everything under the sun.
She had IVs anywhere that theycould have put them.
She was on dialysis.
They had two nurses in the room.
You know we're in the pediatricICU.
You know her organs areconstantly failing.
(31:52):
She's having surgery aftersurgery after surgery I mean
we're talking multiple a day,not just one and then you know,
a few hours later she's havinganother one and she's too
fragile to move and so they'redoing it bedside.
And one point she had 11 bloodtransfusions in one day and it
was just.
(32:12):
It was probably, if not thescariest moment of my life like
watching her go through this,and I couldn't change places
with her.
I couldn't take that away fromher and give it to me so that
she could be sitting thereplaying games with you while I
lay there for her.
Because that's what a realparent does, that's what someone
does that really loves somebodyis that they'll take their pain
so that they don't have to feelit or experience it.
(32:34):
And that's exactly what I wouldhave done without a hesitation.
And you know, I told thedoctors I don't care, go over
there, take me across the street, take my kidney, my liver, I
don't care what it is what sheneeds, you just do it.
And then you find a way to getme back over here and I will
recover here because I'm goingto be right here with her.
(32:54):
Why Is it going to kill her?
No, you know, they're like youcan't touch her because
stimulation could do something.
My child is suffering frombradycardia, which is a low
heart rate, so if I stimulateher and her heart rate comes up
a little bit, then that's not abad thing.
Go get your license somewhere,from anywhere other than Walmart
, your medical license, andmaybe you could talk to me.
(33:16):
Then I would never do anythingthat puts my daughter's life and
health in jeopardy.
Ever, never, ever, ever.
And for these momos to like like, literally, she's not going to
make it through the night, butyou can't touch her, screw you
and the horse that you just gotoff of.
Don't tell me that.
And don't tell me me you'regonna like make her comfortable
(33:38):
and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Because that's not gonna happeneither.
Because if making hercomfortable and not giving her,
you know, any stimulation isgonna help.
Quote-unquote the process ofletting her go.
I'm gonna make a rock concert inthat room.
It's gonna be loud andboisterous, we are gonna.
I'm gonna wake her up and Isaid I don't care, I will piss
(34:01):
her off and make her mad at me,but then for the rest of her
life she can live and tell mehow mad she was that I didn't
let her sleep.
Because I am not burying my kidperiod, not doing it just okay.
I'm I going to silence my micfor a minute because now I feel
my blood pressure rising.
But there is no excusewhatsoever why people are so
(34:27):
self-centered and soself-involved that you can't
even check on your old,godforsaken grandchild, who
would have moved heaven andearth for you time and time
again.
Mic drop, giving it to michaeljust I.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
I believe god was with her then he has been.
She was a god forsaken herentire life but I know what you
meant.
So from going for you know fromwhen, the when that douchebag
doctor said call the priest.
She, she, may not livethroughout the night.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
No, he didn't say she may not.
He said she will not.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
And then we went to another 24 hours and then we
went to a weekend and it justkept getting longer and longer.
Here's this beautiful girl atthe shooting range.
You would have never have thunkit, seeing everything that she
(35:31):
was hooked up on.
She had two poles because hehad two poles on just one.
There was not enough room forall the pumps and everything
going into her plus theventilator, plus the dialysis.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
You know she had a broviac, she had swan, she had
central line, she had pick lines.
I mean she had a Broviac, shehad swan, she had central line,
she had PICC lines.
I mean she had IVs.
You know there was.
There was constantly changingsome medication around the clock
because one would finish andthe other would start, and I
counted over 50 at one point.
It was nonstop.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
So you know, don't tell me as a parent, oh, it's
easy to give up on your child.
So you know, don't tell me as aparent, oh, it's easy to give
up on your child.
It's not.
There's no way I could haveRight.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
But I mean.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
I mean they told us let her go in peace.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Right, but I mean, how do you?
What do you say to the peoplewho couldn't even reach out when
she went through this, orcelebrate her coming through?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
OK.
So Looking at that, you expectus to come running to you now,
when your old ass is in thehospital, because it's coming.
You're pushing 80.
Or our 80.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Not just one side.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Right, so are we going to be there for you?
Do you expect us to?
Do you expect us to pick up thephone?
Call the phone.
Oh, anyway, that's why my wifeand my daughter and my two dogs
and I, we like to have a what doyou call it?
(37:01):
No drama trauma no drama traumaright Home of the nose.
So so we like, we like to besomewhat introverts.
You know, we have ourpodcasting, we get out, we go
out to eat.
Uh, we, we meet hundreds ofpeople, um, we do events, you
know, and and whatnot.
But you know, we just like tokeep it simple.
(37:23):
Just us right, our christdinner, y'all.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Oh, it's fabulous.
We got a Waffle House.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Waffle House.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Christmas dinner at Waffle House, but Christmas Eve
we make dinner here as a family,that's right.
Right, and that's what we do.
But you know, what's justironic is that I took Faith to
nice and so sweet and sothankful, and you guys are just
(37:52):
amazing, and they were, you know, just people that I've
interviewed on podcasts, peoplethat I have helped, you know, in
different situations that Ihave become friendly with, they
reached out and said happybirthday, or how is faith?
When all this was going on, wehad people that I helped in
(38:14):
situations of abuse, that werebringing us food that we had
never met in person and theywere like how can we help?
What can we do?
Can we, you know, go mow yourlawn, can we?
What?
What do you need?
Right, and I mean those are thethings that really show you a
person's true colors of who theyare.
(38:34):
You know, I mean, that's justwhat it is.
You don't tell them that youlove them out of convenience and
then you don't need them againuntil you do, and then you have
nothing to say to them untilthat time comes back around
again.
You don't do that to people youlove.
You just don't that's right.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
So our dog, stucco, is currently sleeping on my foot
, on my wife's foot okay, that'smy baby speaking of stucco.
If y'all have not seen or knowwhat Stucco Squad is, you can go
to our website.
A contagious smilecom.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Click on the direct link on the top right menu
banner Yep, or go directly tothe Academy at a contagious
smile.
M N dot C?
O and Stucco Squad is justfabulous and I've had people
take some of the classes fromStucco Squad.
They love it because, like thesubtraction class is called,
take it away and stucco.
(39:31):
You know the beginning of it isstucco is searching for his
cookies and how did some of hiscookies, you know, disappeared?
It's a totally different way ofteaching kids.
Um, when faith was in publicschool, for the very short time
that she was, I went into thespecial needs classrooms and I
would teach a grade beneath herand the teachers were outrageous
(39:54):
, like she had a teacher thatwas like, what are you doing?
Well, I would bring in giftslike stickers or pencils or fun
things, because you don't knowif there's allergies or whatever
.
And I was teaching math, so Iwas going to do fractions, and
so I brought the board whichthey don't know if there's
allergies or whatever.
And I was teaching math, so Iwas going to do fractions, and
so I brought the board whichthey don't even do chalkboard
anymore, and they brought thewhiteboard with the stinky,
smelly markers that are awful,which I don't know how, these
(40:16):
kids don't have chronicheadaches.
And I drew a pizza right, and inthe special needs classroom
that we were in they had all thegrade levels and they were
separated in different sectionsof the room.
So I had four kids in there inthe grade I was working with and
(40:37):
so I drew a piece of pizza andI drew four slices and so I was
like all right, this one goes tothis one.
This right teacher walks up tome and says why are you wasting
your time?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
They're never going to get it, oh hell no to me and
says why are you wasting yourtime?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
they're never gonna get it.
Oh, hell, no, and it was just.
Are you shitting me like?
But the kids?
The county gives the schoolsmoney based on the ieps of these
kids and you know the teacherwould get up when class was done
and say, get out of my face,I'm tired of looking at you and
I was like, no, no.
So the courses have been writtenwhere there's so much fun.
(41:11):
A lot of the fact that I've hadsome moms say my kids love them
because they didn't realizethey were learning Like, so that
frustration wasn't there fromthe jump.
So the kids are going in therethinking, oh, I'm going to play,
I'm not trying to learn,because a lot of times it's very
frustrating for them that theycan't grasp a concept that's
developed in a certain way.
So you do it a different way,you find a way that works for
(41:33):
them right and then you apply it.
And that's what we've done hereand I've had so many parents
reach out and say these aregreat, because our kids think
they're playing and having funand they don't really realize
that they're learning thesefundamental.
You know tactics that areneeded in education, if you will
.
So it's so much fun and it'sstucco.
(41:56):
Hello, it's stucco.
And how do you go wrong withstucco?
He's just the sweetest, cutestthing ever he is, he is.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
He is our, our my wife's surface dog and he is our
family pet.
But I swear he thinks he's ahuman because when it's time for
bed he lays right down on mypillow and snuggles up with my
wife yes, but it's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
No, you gotta tell him what he does if you try to
come near me.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
If I try to give my wife a hug or kiss, he gets in
between us, pushes us away,pushes me away he doesn't push
me.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
No, and then, if my husband reaches over to try to
hold my hand, stucco takes hispaw and shoves my husband's hand
away from me anybody lookingfor a golden fever shut your
mouth.
He's trying to get rid of theboys don't call her he's trying
to get rid of the boys did?
(42:49):
she just said the hell, he won'tyou're asking the deaf person
what she said.
Stucco is the best and rusty isthe best.
They we have been very blessedwith two phenomenal, phenomenal
dogs.
They're just, they're membersof the family.
She said no, the hell, he won't.
That just came across as a textand if you do, I will cover up
(43:15):
my tattoo.
Ooh.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
That's just wrong.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
That's wrong.
It's accurate.
Good for her.
That's what I'm saying.
These are, I mean they'refamily members.
They're the best.
They are the.
I'm saying these are, I meanthey're family members.
They're the best they are thebest.
They're amazing and they're sosweet and cuddly and so what
they think, he does think he'sfive pounds.
So if I'm sitting in one of therecliners he will run up and
jump in my lap like he's fivepounds and he's 88 pounds.
(43:42):
So he's not a tiny little tot,but he just thinks he is and
that's what he does and it'sjust the sweetest thing and they
make your life so much better.
You know, it's medically proventhat people with dogs live
longer and they're happier thedogs live longer and the people
if the dogs are treated rightnow.
If you're some jackass who hurtsanimals, you know I have to
(44:05):
tell you, not that I wouldn'tgive would say my left arm
because I don't have it butKeanu Reeves, right, who is just
a stellar stand up human being,right, he has publicly come out
and said why is it that you can?
You know child abuse and peoplewho kill kids can go to jail
(44:28):
and go to death row, but if youkill an animal, you know and he
was like people who hurt animalsshould be put down.
And when Keanu publicly madethat statement I was like there
he is like just another goldstar for Keanu Reeves, right,
because he was just like nobodyshould hurt an animal.
(44:49):
I mean it's just not right andthey're right, it's not.
I mean I'm telling you whatsomebody ever hurt stucco or
rusty um and keanu's welcome onthe show anytime would do a
recording at any time, 4 am onSunday morning.
I wouldn't care if I could gethim on, just saying Remind him
(45:14):
again that I will cover thetattoo.
Okay, there it is.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Wow, thank you, faith , so real quickly.
Y'all keep writing in yourstories to Dear Silence.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
The cutoff is this week, because I'm overwhelmed
with it.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
My wife has the email to send it to Phoenix.
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
At acontagioussmilecom.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Phoenix at acontagioussmilecom.
Correct, she's read somethingfrom our daughter.
Uh, I believe you readsomething else before, right?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
not.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
That was the first reading well, I've heard some of
them and they're just, they'reeye-opening, heartbreaking,
touching.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Uh, it pisses you off but it's also from a survivor
point of view.
It should be very uplifting tomake you realize that to be
therapeutic that many peoplehave gone through this and it's
different when you're readingtheir words, where you could say
you know what I can get out toright.
I can do this.
It gives you that little boostof energy that you might feel
(46:18):
you need, Cause I mean youliterally lose all of who you
are.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
No.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
So absolutely.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
So y'all look forward to this upcoming book dear
silence.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yes, and it will be released for domestic violence
awareness month.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Speaking of books, y'all do remember that the wife
is an author of 41 books at theat this moment.
Okay, and you can find them onAmazon.
They're not all out there.
You can find them on amazon.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
uh, they're not cool out there you can find them
through our website right, andI've also made some of them like
ebooks into the academy oh yeahlike the unmasking of the
puppeteer is one of them andit's free in the academy.
Once you join it's in theresearch resource library.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yeah and uh, yeah, so we appreciate any and all
reviews that y'all give us.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Uh, actually, if they're five star.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
We don't.
We don't get enough reviewsabout our show, about our
podcast.
A contagious smile unstoppableunstoppable.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
That's us, you and I, and what else did you ever
remember what you wanted to talkabout?
Speaker 2 (47:31):
I did not.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
I'm old you're not old.
I'm over 29 that's not reallyold.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
I'm 51.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
I know I've known you for like your 20s, 30, 30s, 40s
and now 50s.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Crazy.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
That is crazy.
How about a tip for a good,successful marriage?
Speaker 2 (48:02):
A tip Laugh.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Come on now.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
We laugh all the dang time.
I mean, there was there's timesI remember laying in bed I
couldn't breathe, we could, wewere laughing so hard, and that
that's, that's good, you know,for us you know they say that if
you fart in front of yourspouse, that you're going to be
together forever.
Okay, there's a good tip Don'tgive your wife apple juice prior
(48:32):
to going to sleep.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
No, but hold on.
When we dated a very long timeago and you would spend the
night with me, first of all Islept wearing socks and you
would say to me take the socksoff.
I said no, I hate feet, exceptbaby feet, right.
And you're like no, and thenyou would fart in bed with me
and it was raunchy and you wouldsay, babe, how does it you
(48:56):
never fart?
Why is it you never fart?
And you said to me one dayyou're going to fart around me
and I'll know you really love me.
And I was like what?
And I mean I would get up inthe middle of the night and run
to the bathroom if I had to,because I was not going to fart
in the bed.
I wasn't going to do it.
Yes, but now she's a dork.
Now I go to sleep without sockson and my husband gives me
(49:19):
apple juice and Faith I don'tknow the competition was between
my husband and Faith, I think,I don't know, because they could
clear a room like a Savannahafter every meal and Faith will
run over and she'll blow a kissout of her butt and she goes oh,
my butt blew a kiss, which ishysterical and she runs over and
farts on him.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
Are you saying she has a butt kiss?
Yeah, you have a butt bazooka.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
Uh-uh, Hers is just as potent as no, we're both.
You're just as bad.
You are nasty raunchy becauseyou eat some nasty shit and it
comes out and it's gross On thatnote.
And what's worse.
Here's my tip for a goodmarriage Don't take a dump if
you're about to have your wifego take her bath, because my
(50:05):
husband loves to do that.
He goes to the bathroom andhe's scrolling on TikTok for
half an hour and then he's likebabe, I'm going to set your bath
for you, because not a lot ofmen would do that for their wife
.
It's overcompensating for thefact that it smells so
disgusting and raunchy in thatbathroom.
And he's trying to be sweet,because if we waited for it to
(50:28):
air out, not only would none ofus have any hot water, it would
be in the morning.
So he thinks that's a sweet wayto do it.
But men either plug it up andwait for the wife to take her
bath or shower first, or go inanother bathroom, and then you
don't have to worry about it.
Because why would you do thatto your spouse?
(50:49):
That's just not okay.
It's just gross.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
Family who farts together, stays together.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz.
I don't need that relief whenI'm taking a bath.
I don't need that aroma, andyou know what?
Coffee grounds do amazingthings for smells in a bathroom,
because I have a cute littlecontainer and it's full of
coffee grounds and it makes thebathroom smell so much better
after he has dropped the kidsoff in the pool.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
You can't say that, yes, I can.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
Why.
That's like a millennial or 80sor 90s thing that everybody
says why are you laughing?
I didn't say in the pool, Isaid at the pool.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Oh Lord, All right.
Thank you for listening toContagious Smile.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Cindy, here we are.
I don't know why you'relaughing at me.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
I believe we're not sued.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Sued.
You said you're dropping kidsoff at the pool.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
Fine Good night y'all .
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