October 28, 2025 • 43 mins
What if the quiet of an only-child home becomes the engine for a louder, fuller life? Tracy sits down with Leslie Berlin to trace that arc—from a childhood shaped by early divorce and Sunday dinners with dad to a grown-up world built on cousins, neighbors, and in-laws who feel like true family. Leslie’s warmth and candor turn familiar worries into practical wisdom: how to learn confrontation without sibling sparring matches, how to make small holidays feel rich, and how to carry a caregiving load without carrying it alone.
The conversation opens a window into the everyday realities only children often face as adults. Leslie shares what it looked like to support her father through decline, then to become the point person for her 91-year-old mother—text threads, emojis, and all. She reminds us that siblings don’t guarantee shared responsibility, and networks don’t build themselves; you invite people in before life gets heavy. We also explore marriage into a big family, the beauty of seeing her two sons lean on each other, and the honest joy of a house that finally feels busy.
One of the most powerful parts of Leslie’s story centers on food allergies. Two decades ago, finding safe milk substitutes and nut-free options required detective work. Instead of staying anxious, she wrote a children’s book to help kids feel normal and included, even if that meant showing up with their own cupcake. It’s a blueprint for turning fear into service: notice the gap, do the work, and leave something useful behind. Along the way we trade comfort picks—Grease, Cars, and cake—and capture the simple advice Leslie would give her younger self: most people aren’t thinking about you, so live larger.
If this conversation resonates, follow Only Child Diaries, leave a review, and share it with a friend who’s redefining what family means. Your support helps more listeners find stories that make them feel seen.
About Leslie Berlin:
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-berlin-6974623b/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leslie.r.berlin
You can find Leslie Berlin's book here:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tracy (00:00):
Finally, here is my interview with Leslie Berlin.
I've been promising it to youfor a while now.
It's been in the works for awhile, but as is the case with
many things, especially in mylife, and also in Leslie's,
well, life got in the way.
Commitments, things come up,right?
(00:22):
But we finally sat down andtalked several weeks ago, and
here it is.
I hope you enjoy it.
Leslie reached out to me onsocial media, as you'll hear,
and I think we became fastfriends, even though she's
halfway across the country.
We have a lot of commonality,and I think that that's one
(00:43):
thing that only children share,or only children who've become
adults, right?
But her story, her journey, ifyou will, is different from
mine, her growing up, and thefact that she is a parent of two
boys, or two young men, rather.
So she has something differentto share about her journey and
(01:07):
her experience.
And yet, still the commonalityis there.
I find Leslie very easy to talkto, and I think we had a lot of
fun in this interview.
I hope you enjoy listening toit.
Welcome to the Only ChildDiaries Podcast.
(01:28):
I'm your host, Tracy Wallace.
Have you ever felt like youdidn't receive the how-to
brochure on life?
That you didn't get enoughguidance about major life
issues?
So did I.
You don't have to be an onlychild to feel this way.
In my podcast, we'll exploresome of the best ways to better
(01:49):
navigate adulthood while doingso with humor delight.
Welcome everyone to the OnlyChild Diaries Podcast.
Today, I'm very happy towelcome a guest, Leslie Berlin,
(02:13):
to the Only Child Diaries.
And first, before we meet her,let me tell you a little bit
about Leslie.
She's from Michigan.
She attended Michigan StateUniversity, where she got a
bachelor's degree in foodeconomics.
She's been involved in the foodallergy community for over 20
(02:35):
years.
And in 2011, she wrote achildren's book called Okay for
Me to Eat My Food Allergies,which, if you know me, all of my
regular listeners, you knowthat it's my secret intention to
someday write my own book andget it published.
So she's already my hero.
(02:56):
Leslie says it's been my goalto be able to help in any way I
can to make sure that all kidswith food allergies can stay
safe and still be able to enjoythe fun they deserve.
Her most impressiveachievements, Leslie says, are
her two sons, Sam and Eddie.
(03:17):
Currently, she's living outsideof Detroit, Michigan, and she
works part-time in accounting,among all the other things that
she does every day.
So welcome, Leslie Berlin, tothe Only Child Diaries.
Leslie (03:30):
Thank you.
It's so nice to be here.
Thank you for having me, Tracy.
Tracy (03:36):
Oh, well, it's my pleasure.
Um, you reached out to me.
I have to say, tell everybodyhow we met is that you reached
out to me on social mediabecause you obviously are an
only child.
And um we've been talking forgosh, uh, I think it's about a
year and a half.
Yeah.
Leslie (03:57):
About at least.
Tracy (03:58):
Yeah.
Um, about collaborating on apodcast, um, doing things.
And we thought we'd start withme interviewing you.
And finally, uh, here we are.
Life threw its challenges at usin terms of scheduling.
So, anyway, I'm very glad thatwe're able to finally do it
(04:19):
today.
Leslie (04:20):
I feel like I went on your social media and told you
how much I love listening toyour podcasts, and that I've,
you know, kind of you're my herowith this.
And I always wanted to dosomething like this, and always
wanted to talk about being anonly child.
(04:41):
And the more we talked, wefound out we had some other
things in common, and then youkind of helped me um find this
volunteer work that I did.
Yeah.
So um then we started talkingabout that, and then just life
(05:01):
got in the way.
And before we knew it, we weretalking about what's it like in
California, what's it like inMichigan?
And here we are, we finally didthis, but it's been a good
road.
I've enjoyed it.
unknown (05:15):
Yeah.
Leslie (05:16):
All of our discussions.
Tracy (05:18):
Yes, it's been I because I consider you my friend.
Yes.
Um, and I because I think we dohave a lot in common.
Um, yes, you know, the onlychild part, but other things in
life too.
And I've really enjoyed gettingto know you during this time.
So it's really nice.
So more people should reach outto me on social media.
(05:41):
Why not?
Leslie (05:44):
We're all obsessed with social media, so use it.
Right.
Tracy (05:48):
Exactly.
Yes.
So tell me about the beginningsof your, you know, you're an
only child, but I think you hada different road than I did, um,
being the I'm the only child oftwo only children, but you had
a different family situation.
Um, so tell me about that.
Leslie (06:11):
Yeah.
So um my parents got married,they were married for four
years, everything was fine, andthen they had me.
And a year after I was born, itwas like the marriage was over.
So, in a way, it was actually apositive experience because
(06:37):
having friends whose parents gotdivorced, it's very traumatic
to have your parents getdivorced.
Meanwhile, I grew up with myparents being divorced, and so I
really didn't have that trauma.
It was like it was just allnatural for me to go and spend
Sunday with my dad and spend therest of the time with my mom,
(07:00):
and it was just part of my life.
Um, I had lots of cousins onboth sides, but especially my
mom.
She had four sisters, and shegot married the the latest of
all of them.
So I was the baby.
(07:22):
So my eldest cousin was 21, andthen I was born.
So I was hanging out in theearly 70s, you know, listening
to all the yacht rock andeverything like that, and
hanging out with my cousins andthinking how cool they were, and
they still are, and I look upto them a lot, and um, we're
(07:46):
very close, and that was thatwas a a big part of my life, and
I'm very thankful for it.
Oh, that's really nice, yeah.
Yes, yes.
Growing up, I had a lot offriends, I kind of had to, or
else I was just sitting in thehouse by myself.
Right.
(08:07):
And I would always want to beat their homes, just and they
would let me sleep over, and I'dhave dinner with them, and they
would always be just arguingand bickering with their
siblings, and I would justthink, why are you doing this?
You're so lucky, you have thesesiblings, and I would just
(08:30):
cover my ears, and you know,just the confrontation was
really, really hard.
That's one thing that I reallynever learned was confrontation
because I really never had toargue with anyone.
So I don't know about you, butright, it's like I didn't I
don't do that well withconfrontation.
Tracy (08:52):
Yeah, yeah.
That's definitely, I think Ihad to learn that skill because
I didn't have thoseopportunities to really practice
that.
Leslie (09:04):
Right, right.
It is something that peopleprobably take for granted.
I mean, I watch my son all thetime, they're just uh going back
and forth and give them askill.
Tracy (09:20):
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
So so were you now after yourparents' divorce, were they in
the same community together?
Leslie (09:31):
Basically, they they both lived in the same 20-mile
radius, something like that.
Uh back then things were reallydifferent.
Um, I don't know if it was justthat my dad maybe didn't fight
as some men do now.
He didn't really push it.
Now I see dads who have theirkids several times a week.
(09:54):
They have a lot more rights andand visitation.
Um I saw my dad pretty muchlike once a week and had dinner
with him, and we were prettyclose.
He he was the best dad that hecould be, and he only had me to
(10:16):
work with.
Um I really wanted my parentsto get remarried, and um they
never did, and I used to justgo, Oh, why don't you date, go
on a date?
I'd love a half-sister, I'dlove a, you know, I'd love a
step sibling.
Um, but that never happened.
So um, it that's okay.
(10:40):
But that was something that Iwanted when I was younger.
Tracy (10:45):
Yeah, that's too bad.
But it is what it is.
It is what it is.
Leslie (10:49):
I mean, honestly, yeah, there are positives to being an
only child, as you know.
Tracy (10:56):
So as yes, yes, there are.
So then as you became ateenager, um, did you keep
having a lot of friends?
Did you develop more friends?
I did.
As you got older?
Leslie (11:11):
I did, and I I branched out.
I remember I had these twospecial friends, and we were
both in the same situation, allof us.
We both were all three of uswere only children that had
divorced parents whose dadslived out of state or they
(11:34):
didn't see them very often.
Um, and it was just mom and momand the daughter, and we became
very close.
And I still talk to them tothis day.
We're not um we're not as closeas some of my other friends,
but they they really meant a lotto me, and I really felt that I
(11:56):
could bond with them, whereas alot of my other friends who I,
you know, they just these twounderstood me.
So yeah, yeah.
Tracy (12:09):
Did you ever experience like a stigma of being an only
child?
Like, did did your friends withsiblings be like, oh, you're
kind of weird, or you don'tunderstand because you're an
only?
Leslie (12:22):
Right.
Well, it was like, well, why?
You know, why are you an onlychild?
Well, um and and what did Iknow back then?
I mean now I can see so manyreasons being as an adult.
It's a lot of times it's reallyin God's hands or or whatever.
(12:48):
Some people can't have any morechildren, some people can't
afford more children, somepeople get divorced and never
remarried.
I mean, there's so manydifferent reasons.
And nowadays, especially withthe way the economy is, with um
how expensive it is to raise achild, people are opting for for
(13:10):
an only child and really beinghappy with it.
And um we adjust, we adjustjust fine, yeah.
Tracy (13:21):
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
We adjust.
We we uh yeah, we adapt.
Adapt as the yeah, yes, that'sthe word the animals do, yeah.
Leslie (13:37):
And then when I was in high school, it was like I
wanted to be around more people.
I got a job in a restaurant,and I just put myself with with
people all the time.
And it was kind of like havinganother family, and I'd go to
the restaurant, I'd eat dinnerat work while I was at work, and
(14:00):
it kept me busy.
It kind of kept kept my it keptmy heart full with kind of
coming home to a big house.
I was at work with a big houseand being around so many others.
So that was a very positiveexperience.
Um, and it basically the olderyou get, I think the less
(14:25):
traumatic it is.
When you're little and you'rerunning around the house and you
have nothing to do, I thinkit's like, oh, I wish I had
someone to play with.
But by the time you're 18, 20,you adapt.
Tracy (14:40):
You adapt, yeah.
Yeah, and I always liked itbecause I felt like I got to
choose my family in a way.
I mean, my friends are myfamily too, so I get to choose
and building that core group ofpeople that you really like or
(15:01):
that you love as your as yourfriend, your your sisters, or
you know.
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, now I think of them.
I think when I was younger, Ijust thought of them as friends,
but then as you get older, yourgirlfriends kind of become like
your sisters.
Right, exactly.
I mean, right, at least for me.
Right.
Leslie (15:20):
Because as you see, not every family relationship is a
walk in the park.
So um I'm I'm very lucky.
My husband is very close withhis brothers, and the whole
family is really close.
And I have two brother-in-lawsand two sister-in-laws, and
(15:44):
everyone gets along, and I'm I'mso thankful.
I mean, I still I have mygirlfriends, I have my high
school friends, and my otherfriends, and we've been together
longer, but it is a really nicething to have, and they really
filled in the gap.
Um, and I have my cousins too.
I still am close with them, andthey help.
(16:09):
They help a lot, especiallywith aging, you know, parents.
Tracy (16:16):
That's really hard to um for sure.
Yeah, I think that that's oneof the biggest challenges of
being an only child is takingcare of your parents as they
age, you know.
Leslie (16:33):
Yes, it is, it is, and I've kind of I went through it
about 10 years ago with my dad.
He kind of never really gotover my mom, you know, my mom
splitting up with him, so thatwas really hard.
And um, he didn't really takecare of himself, so I I used to
(16:56):
have to kind of help him along.
And when my kids were aboutnine and seven, he needed like
assisted living and all that,and so I used to have my mom
come over and watch my kids ifthey weren't in school, so I
(17:17):
could go take my dad to doctorappointments.
Whereas I know a lot of times Isee my friends that the parents
went to doctor appointments,you know, together.
So um we had that kind of thinggoing on.
But I was very thankful that mymom was in a was in a situation
(17:38):
that she could just come in andhelp me.
And unfortunately at 75 we lostmy dad, but he uh, you know, he
was a good dad.
I miss him.
Tracy (17:55):
Yeah, oh that's it's nice that it's nice that you were
able to take help take care ofhim or be there for him, right?
Leslie (18:04):
More be there for him.
More I didn't I didn't take himin.
Um, I don't know, that's justsomething that I couldn't do.
I people are saints that reallycan take their parents in.
Um, it's not for everybody, butno, no.
But but you still took care ofhim.
(18:26):
I mean you absolutely I was thethe person.
I was the person.
So yeah, yeah.
Tracy (18:34):
So yeah, it's difficult, yeah.
And your mom now is you'retaking care of her.
I mean, and you know, she'sneeding you, and right, she's
91.
She's having more more morehealth, 91.
Leslie (18:50):
91, God bless her.
Um, and she stopped driving.
It was her choice, which washelpful.
Yes, that's good.
And so I see her a few times aweek.
We text all day long, talk onthe phone.
(19:14):
Um, I'm so thankful that shetexts.
Um, because I 91 and text, andshe is amazing with emojis.
Like she finds emojis that Ididn't know existed.
That's great.
That's great.
(19:34):
So um, but it's you know, it'shard.
She knows it.
Like she'll say, Oh, I I feelbad that there's no one to help
you.
But like I said, I have mycousins, they go and see her,
they call her all the time.
And, you know, we we're allgonna we're all gonna have to
(19:54):
deal with our parents, you know,whether or not we're only
children.
I know people who have siblingsand their siblings either live
very far away or they're justnot involved at all.
So sometimes it doesn't evenmatter, really.
Tracy (20:16):
Right.
Yeah, no, it's it's tough.
It's tough.
So when you when you found yourhusband, then um did you make a
conscious decision to not havean only child then?
Leslie (20:34):
Well, I I knew that I, if I could, would like to have
more than one child.
Um I didn't know, of course,you never know what's gonna,
what the outcome is gonna be.
I know I I wanted threechildren as an you know, as an a
young adult, but by the time Igot married at 29 and he was 35,
(20:59):
it was like we we kind ofdecided that it was, you know,
probably a good idea.
We thank goodness have twohealthy children, and we're
gonna we're gonna stop so thatyou know we're not 85 and going
to soccer games and so yes.
(21:22):
And I um I probably dated anonly child or so, and I thought,
huh.
But it it uh I don't think Iever said, Oh, I can't go out
with you, you're an only child.
But um yeah, I'm glad that itworked out the way that it did.
Tracy (21:42):
So yeah, it's nice that you have your husband's family.
Um does your husband havesiblings?
Yeah, he's has three siblings.
And so then he has some niecesand nephews, and I knew his
(22:03):
mother.
I didn't I missed his dad.
I met him after his dad hadpassed away.
And yeah, his mom was one ofeight children.
Oh wow.
So yeah.
Um and so some of her siblingswere still alive.
I got to meet the meet well,one of them and talk to a couple
(22:23):
on the phone.
The last sister just passedaway.
Uh she was 101, I think.
She just passed away in thelast four months.
Yeah.
unknown (22:36):
Yeah.
Tracy (22:36):
She had a uh shot of whiskey every day.
I hear that kind of thingworks.
It's yeah, there you go.
I don't know.
I think a lot of only childrendo marry a spouse with a family
or a big family.
And it's it's such aninteresting dynamic because or
(22:57):
dichotomy or whatever, because Ithink he sometimes he looks at
me and he thinks, oh gosh, mylife would have been easier if
I'd been an only child.
And then I look at him and Ithink, wow, you're so lucky that
you have a big family.
Um, but a lot of the times he'dsay, Oh, well, they're they're
(23:17):
your family too.
So they were all very welcomingto me, which was you know, is
something that I had neverexperienced, or I had never
really experienced that before.
So that was really nice.
It was really nice to to tomarry into a family.
Leslie (23:36):
Um just just someone with a little more.
I just wanted a little morecraziness in the house.
I think that's what I waslooking for.
It was too quiet.
Tracy (23:49):
It's too quiet because yeah, because I think like
holidays, like for me, likeThanksgiving, right, and
Christmas were kind ofdepressing in a way.
Like if you right, like if youcompare yourself to like a TV or
a movie or something wherethey're celebrating
(24:11):
Thanksgiving, right?
And there's like eight peopleat the table or ten people at
the table, or people say, Oh,we're having a potluck
Thanksgiving, and we had 30people over.
And I'm just like, what what isthat even like, you know?
Right?
Right, right.
So yeah.
So I didn't really get toexperience stuff like that.
(24:33):
And I think that the most thatwe really did was uh his brother
would come over because hisbrother lives here, but the
sisters live on the other coast.
Um but and a couple times aftermy dad died, we take my mom out
to eat for Thanksgiving, and weinvited a couple other friends
(24:54):
who's who had a recent loss intheir family too.
So maybe we'd have like six ofus or eight of us or something
and make it like a like a youknow, kind of like a family
group.
Leslie (25:10):
Well, like a friend, what do they call it?
Friends giving or something.
It's it's Friends giving, yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And that's yeah, and that'sfriends become family, right?
Tracy (25:20):
Yeah.
Right.
But we never had, you know, Imean, when I was growing up,
like we'd go over to mygrandparents.
Um the I didn't realize ituntil much later.
Uh, because they never theythey never verbalized it.
But my mom's parents and mydad's parents, I mean, I knew
(25:41):
them both, apparently theydidn't like each other because
they never they never fully umaccepted the fact that my
parents married each other.
And so we would go over uh whenI was little, we'd go over to
one set of grandparents and we'deat there, and then we'd get in
(26:02):
the car and we'd drive the 10miles to the other grandparent
and we'd have dinner over there.
And so, you know, like in whenyou're a kid, you just kind of
accept that.
Right.
And you think, okay, this iswhat we're doing.
But in retrospect, years later,I was like, Well, why didn't we
ever like all just get togetherat the same place?
(26:24):
Because that was like a lot ofturkey and a lot of stuffing,
and well, it would have been afun comedy show if they were all
together.
Leslie (26:32):
They would have been at each other's throats.
Tracy (26:36):
And they were definitely yeah, yes, yes, definitely at
each other's throats.
Yes.
Leslie (26:44):
So family dynamics, yeah.
Tracy (26:47):
Whatever, but family dynamics, yeah.
It's not always like the happygo lucky, um, you know, yeah, it
was it was not that.
Never had that.
So, you know, I'm just yeah,I'm just grateful for any kind
of good times.
(27:07):
It's fine that it's small, butyeah, I kind of missed out on
that whole thing.
So anyway, um, yeah, andcousins.
I didn't really have anycousins uh either.
So, you know, just that's okay.
I had other things to you.
(27:28):
I adapt, yes, yes, there yougo.
Um so now you're so your sonsare in uh they're older, they're
in are they both in collegenow?
Leslie (27:47):
The oldest one just graduated from undergrad and
he's working.
He lives at home for a while,which is really nice.
Um and the yeah younger one isa senior in college, and he just
went back two days ago.
(28:07):
He's uh he will probably nevermove back to Michigan.
He likes he will probably moveto the West Coast or some other
country somewhere.
It's a little too, a little tooflat here for him.
Oh he's yeah, he's anenvironmental guy and he's he's
(28:32):
got some some good stuff up hissleeve, so can't wait to see
what he does.
It's that's really the that'sgreat.
The interesting thing isseeing, you know, my boys and
how they interact and how myolder son misses my younger son.
And it's uh it's a nice thingto see, and I'm I'm thankful.
(29:00):
Yeah.
Tracy (29:04):
I mean has it been challenging to be a parent, an
only child parent of of twochildren ever?
Leslie (29:15):
Um I honestly I I don't I don't think that that really
ever had anything into play.
Well, I would probably saythis.
If I wasn't if I didn't havesome parental help or my in-law
(29:39):
siblings weren't able to justcome over on a on a whim if
there was an emergency orsomething like that, then that
would be hard.
But um otherwise, it was likewhere we live, it's it's like a
really neat community.
And um, in fact, I lived acrossthe street from a woman who had
(30:06):
an only child.
And we used to talk about thisall the time because she was one
of five, but her daughter wasan only child.
And so she would look at me andshe'd say, Well, you kind of
turned out okay.
I'm not so worried about mydaughter.
And her daughter is reallyamazing and doing well, really
(30:33):
go, you know, a go-getter.
I think that I don't know aboutyou, Tracy, but they say that
only children kind of they'rethey're go-getters, and maybe
just they have to do it on theirown.
They, you know, they have to beeverything all at once.
It's like if you have threekids, one of them's gonna be
(30:58):
lazy, one of them's gonna be thego-getter, one of them's gonna
be this.
We're just all everything.
We're everything, so right.
Tracy (31:10):
We are, we're everything.
That's a good way of thinkingabout it.
Yeah, like I mean, I'm I feellike I'm definitely an
overachiever.
That's it, an overachiever.
At least I feel anoverachiever.
Yeah, I feel like I am, yeah,because I do I still do a lot of
things.
I feel like I've you knowslowed down a little bit because
(31:33):
I I feel like I'm I get tiredeasily, more easily now.
Um, but I yeah, I am anoverachiever.
So and that's the way I thinkI've always been.
But you're right, we have to wehave to be everything.
Right.
Leslie (31:49):
Whether it's you know, I don't think my parents really
were looking for me to beeverything, but I don't know.
I was maybe trying to do it forthem.
And I don't, you know, not surewhat I achieved, but I was
(32:09):
thinking about overachieving.
Tracy (32:13):
You were thinking about overachieving.
Well now, what time period didyou write the book?
Leslie (32:19):
Well, I wrote I was it when the book when I was 40,
because my son has foodallergies, my older son.
And he was the reason, youknow, it was like 20 years ago,
you could never find a milksubstitute.
You know, now you go to thecoffee shop and you have to ask
(32:42):
the barista which of fivedifferent milks do you want?
You know, I mean, there are somany choices.
We had to drive around the citylooking for soy milk, and
because he couldn't have regularmilk and soy ice cream and fake
cheese and all of this.
And so um that was that wasdefinitely hard.
(33:07):
That's that's another podcast,a food, a food allergy podcast.
Yeah, that was challenging.
Um, and and really it was justyou know to try and make these
kids feel like they're they'rejust regular kids.
Um, they always had their owncupcake at a birthday party that
we had to bring.
(33:28):
But that was really what did itis I wrote the book because I
was watching my son, you know,go through all this.
And I was going through itbecause I was the one who was
sitting at home going, oh mygod, he's at so-and-so's house.
What is that mother gonna feedhim?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You know, so right, yeah.
Tracy (33:52):
So that was that was why I did it.
I I didn't I didn't reallythink about that being that much
of an issue 20 years ago.
Leslie (34:01):
I think well it's you're you're right.
It was happening then, but itwasn't as it wasn't as easy to
get all the the food and allthat.
I mean, now you you go to arestaurant and sometimes there's
like, oh, this has nuts in it,or that has nuts in it.
And people are trained a littlebit.
(34:21):
You know, 20 years ago when hewas three, it was like that
wasn't that wasn't happening.
So um yeah, yeah, that'sdefinitely evolved, and that was
a I'm I'm glad I did that.
I'm glad I I wrote the book.
I like you said, if you want towrite a book, write the book.
Tracy (34:45):
Write the book, yeah.
Right.
Yeah, everybody's got probablygot a book in them somewhere.
Really?
At least one.
They really do.
Right.
They really do.
Uh well, I'd like to end ourtime by asking you some
(35:07):
questions.
I've heard other podcasts dothis, and I think it's kind of a
fun idea.
Some people call it rapid firequestions, but just to um, yeah.
Um, no pressure, but just Ithink it's kind of interesting.
Um, kind of get a sense of, youknow, it's it's just a fun
(35:29):
thing.
So um what do you do tocelebrate a milestone in your
life or a good thing thathappens to you?
Leslie (35:38):
I think if something really good happens, I think I
have to tell everybody.
And I think it requires havinga big cake or something, like
like it requires like notpulling the bacon off of the
hamburger.
It's just, you know, we we needto just have fun and and
(36:02):
celebrate the good stuff.
And um I would on top of beingthankful, I would say really
just eating the cake.
Eating the cake, okay.
Tracy (36:18):
Um what is one of your favorite comfort movies?
Leslie (36:25):
My goodness, Tracy.
This is a hard one.
My favorite comfort movies.
Okay.
Probably a Disney movie,probably like um, oh, well, two.
One would be Grease.
(36:46):
Okay.
Grease one, okay.
John Travolta, Olivia NewtonJohn, and the other one is um
the movie Cars.
Um, my kids, my you know,having two boys, it was just
always on.
It was the at the the the DVD,or I don't remember what we had
(37:07):
in 2010.
Um, but those two movies reallyjust kind of they're like, you
know, they're they're likehaving a a warm, cozy blanket
for me.
Yeah.
Tracy (37:23):
That makes sense because you had boys, so you probably
didn't get overrun with thingslike frozen.
I've never seen it before.
Leslie (37:31):
I've never seen any, never seen it, and my friends
think that's crazy, but I reallyneed to have a binge and watch
all the girly movies.
So the girly movies, there yougo.
Tracy (37:45):
Okay.
Um, so this one kind of callsback to the first question, but
what is one of your favoritefoods?
You can say cake if you want.
Leslie (37:56):
Um, not not necessarily cake.
Um, one of my favorite foods islike chicken soup.
My grandma used to make it allthe time for me.
Um, and mac and cheese.
Just typical warm comfort food.
Definitely those are two goodways.
(38:20):
Mac and cheese.
Tracy (38:23):
Mac and cheese, yeah.
What are you most proud ofaccomplishing in your life?
Leslie (38:32):
I guess I'm most proud of raising my children.
And I have to say, I'm I'm justproud that I tried to be a
decent person and do what I dowhat I could for other people.
(38:55):
And I I always try not to beselfish.
I'm sure somewhere that I amselfish in there, but I think
that I'm I'm just proud that Itried to try and think of others
first.
Tracy (39:14):
Yeah, that sounds that sounds like you.
Um and then it does.
I mean, from what I know ofyou, that's yeah.
Um, and finally, what would youtell your younger self if you
had the chance?
Like what advice would you giveyour younger self?
How old would my younger selfbe?
(39:34):
Well, um, you know, any any agethat you pick, it's up to you.
Okay.
Leslie (39:45):
I would probably say if I was like 10 or 11 or 12, I'd
probably say everyone isn'tlooking at you and thinking
(40:06):
about you and talking about you.
Nobody really, nobody's reallyis interested.
Um just go about your life.
Like people always think thatpeople are talking behind their
back or saying things aboutthem.
(40:27):
It's just an insecurity, Ithink, that I had maybe as an I
don't know, only child or as ateenager.
Most teenagers have it.
Um, and just stop thinkingthat, and everything just comes
around.
And I guess it really takesuntil we're older, till we
(40:51):
really don't care what anyonethinks, till we feel confident.
So just, you know, don't be arude person, but don't worry
about what anyone else thinksand go ahead with your life.
Yeah.
Tracy (41:08):
Yeah, good advice.
Right.
All right.
Well, Leslie, it's been a lotof fun to get to know you.
Yes, get to know you better andum let everybody in the Only
Child Diaries podcast world getto know you.
And uh so thank you so much.
Thank you, Crazy.
Leslie (41:29):
It's been a pleasure, and I I really do love our
friendship.
Tracy (41:35):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, thank you.
I have to get to California.
Um, yes.
Or we get to Michigan or wemeet in the middle.
California seems so much moreexciting.
But yes, we'll figure it out.
Well, yeah, I admit Californiais does have a lot to offer.
(41:59):
So yeah, it would be great tofinally finally see you in
person, not just on video.
All right, well, great.
Thanks again.
We'll talk soon.
Bye.
Well, there it is.
Another interview in the can,so to speak.
I hope you enjoyed learningmore about Leslie and hearing
(42:21):
our conversation.
Next week, we'll tackle anothertopic together.
I hope you'll join me.
If you like this episode,please follow the Only Child
Diaries Podcast on ApplePodcasts or other platforms you
might listen on.
And consider rating Only ChildDiaries and writing a review.
(42:43):
It helps others to find us.
Please share it with a friendyou think might like it as well.
Visit my Instagram page, OnlyChild Diaries, or Facebook, Only
Child Diaries Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
I'm Tracy Wallace, and theseare the Only Child Diaries.
Finally, here is my interview with Leslie Berlin.
I've been promising it to youfor a while now.
It's been in the works for awhile, but as is the case with
many things, especially in mylife, and also in Leslie's,
well, life got in the way.
Commitments, things come up,right?
(00:22):
But we finally sat down andtalked several weeks ago, and
here it is.
I hope you enjoy it.
Leslie reached out to me onsocial media, as you'll hear,
and I think we became fastfriends, even though she's
halfway across the country.
We have a lot of commonality,and I think that that's one
(00:43):
thing that only children share,or only children who've become
adults, right?
But her story, her journey, ifyou will, is different from
mine, her growing up, and thefact that she is a parent of two
boys, or two young men, rather.
So she has something differentto share about her journey and
(01:07):
her experience.
And yet, still the commonalityis there.
I find Leslie very easy to talkto, and I think we had a lot of
fun in this interview.
I hope you enjoy listening toit.
Welcome to the Only ChildDiaries Podcast.
(01:28):
I'm your host, Tracy Wallace.
Have you ever felt like youdidn't receive the how-to
brochure on life?
That you didn't get enoughguidance about major life
issues?
So did I.
You don't have to be an onlychild to feel this way.
In my podcast, we'll exploresome of the best ways to better
(01:49):
navigate adulthood while doingso with humor delight.
Welcome everyone to the OnlyChild Diaries Podcast.
Today, I'm very happy towelcome a guest, Leslie Berlin,
(02:13):
to the Only Child Diaries.
And first, before we meet her,let me tell you a little bit
about Leslie.
She's from Michigan.
She attended Michigan StateUniversity, where she got a
bachelor's degree in foodeconomics.
She's been involved in the foodallergy community for over 20
(02:35):
years.
And in 2011, she wrote achildren's book called Okay for
Me to Eat My Food Allergies,which, if you know me, all of my
regular listeners, you knowthat it's my secret intention to
someday write my own book andget it published.
So she's already my hero.
(02:56):
Leslie says it's been my goalto be able to help in any way I
can to make sure that all kidswith food allergies can stay
safe and still be able to enjoythe fun they deserve.
Her most impressiveachievements, Leslie says, are
her two sons, Sam and Eddie.
(03:17):
Currently, she's living outsideof Detroit, Michigan, and she
works part-time in accounting,among all the other things that
she does every day.
So welcome, Leslie Berlin, tothe Only Child Diaries.
Leslie (03:30):
Thank you.
It's so nice to be here.
Thank you for having me, Tracy.
Tracy (03:36):
Oh, well, it's my pleasure.
Um, you reached out to me.
I have to say, tell everybodyhow we met is that you reached
out to me on social mediabecause you obviously are an
only child.
And um we've been talking forgosh, uh, I think it's about a
year and a half.
Yeah.
Leslie (03:57):
About at least.
Tracy (03:58):
Yeah.
Um, about collaborating on apodcast, um, doing things.
And we thought we'd start withme interviewing you.
And finally, uh, here we are.
Life threw its challenges at usin terms of scheduling.
So, anyway, I'm very glad thatwe're able to finally do it
(04:19):
today.
Leslie (04:20):
I feel like I went on your social media and told you
how much I love listening toyour podcasts, and that I've,
you know, kind of you're my herowith this.
And I always wanted to dosomething like this, and always
wanted to talk about being anonly child.
(04:41):
And the more we talked, wefound out we had some other
things in common, and then youkind of helped me um find this
volunteer work that I did.
Yeah.
So um then we started talkingabout that, and then just life
(05:01):
got in the way.
And before we knew it, we weretalking about what's it like in
California, what's it like inMichigan?
And here we are, we finally didthis, but it's been a good
road.
I've enjoyed it.
unknown (05:15):
Yeah.
Leslie (05:16):
All of our discussions.
Tracy (05:18):
Yes, it's been I because I consider you my friend.
Yes.
Um, and I because I think we dohave a lot in common.
Um, yes, you know, the onlychild part, but other things in
life too.
And I've really enjoyed gettingto know you during this time.
So it's really nice.
So more people should reach outto me on social media.
(05:41):
Why not?
Leslie (05:44):
We're all obsessed with social media, so use it.
Right.
Tracy (05:48):
Exactly.
Yes.
So tell me about the beginningsof your, you know, you're an
only child, but I think you hada different road than I did, um,
being the I'm the only child oftwo only children, but you had
a different family situation.
Um, so tell me about that.
Leslie (06:11):
Yeah.
So um my parents got married,they were married for four
years, everything was fine, andthen they had me.
And a year after I was born, itwas like the marriage was over.
So, in a way, it was actually apositive experience because
(06:37):
having friends whose parents gotdivorced, it's very traumatic
to have your parents getdivorced.
Meanwhile, I grew up with myparents being divorced, and so I
really didn't have that trauma.
It was like it was just allnatural for me to go and spend
Sunday with my dad and spend therest of the time with my mom,
(07:00):
and it was just part of my life.
Um, I had lots of cousins onboth sides, but especially my
mom.
She had four sisters, and shegot married the the latest of
all of them.
So I was the baby.
(07:22):
So my eldest cousin was 21, andthen I was born.
So I was hanging out in theearly 70s, you know, listening
to all the yacht rock andeverything like that, and
hanging out with my cousins andthinking how cool they were, and
they still are, and I look upto them a lot, and um, we're
(07:46):
very close, and that was thatwas a a big part of my life, and
I'm very thankful for it.
Oh, that's really nice, yeah.
Yes, yes.
Growing up, I had a lot offriends, I kind of had to, or
else I was just sitting in thehouse by myself.
Right.
(08:07):
And I would always want to beat their homes, just and they
would let me sleep over, and I'dhave dinner with them, and they
would always be just arguingand bickering with their
siblings, and I would justthink, why are you doing this?
You're so lucky, you have thesesiblings, and I would just
(08:30):
cover my ears, and you know,just the confrontation was
really, really hard.
That's one thing that I reallynever learned was confrontation
because I really never had toargue with anyone.
So I don't know about you, butright, it's like I didn't I
don't do that well withconfrontation.
Tracy (08:52):
Yeah, yeah.
That's definitely, I think Ihad to learn that skill because
I didn't have thoseopportunities to really practice
that.
Leslie (09:04):
Right, right.
It is something that peopleprobably take for granted.
I mean, I watch my son all thetime, they're just uh going back
and forth and give them askill.
Tracy (09:20):
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
So so were you now after yourparents' divorce, were they in
the same community together?
Leslie (09:31):
Basically, they they both lived in the same 20-mile
radius, something like that.
Uh back then things were reallydifferent.
Um, I don't know if it was justthat my dad maybe didn't fight
as some men do now.
He didn't really push it.
Now I see dads who have theirkids several times a week.
(09:54):
They have a lot more rights andand visitation.
Um I saw my dad pretty muchlike once a week and had dinner
with him, and we were prettyclose.
He he was the best dad that hecould be, and he only had me to
(10:16):
work with.
Um I really wanted my parentsto get remarried, and um they
never did, and I used to justgo, Oh, why don't you date, go
on a date?
I'd love a half-sister, I'dlove a, you know, I'd love a
step sibling.
Um, but that never happened.
So um, it that's okay.
(10:40):
But that was something that Iwanted when I was younger.
Tracy (10:45):
Yeah, that's too bad.
But it is what it is.
It is what it is.
Leslie (10:49):
I mean, honestly, yeah, there are positives to being an
only child, as you know.
Tracy (10:56):
So as yes, yes, there are.
So then as you became ateenager, um, did you keep
having a lot of friends?
Did you develop more friends?
I did.
As you got older?
Leslie (11:11):
I did, and I I branched out.
I remember I had these twospecial friends, and we were
both in the same situation, allof us.
We both were all three of uswere only children that had
divorced parents whose dadslived out of state or they
(11:34):
didn't see them very often.
Um, and it was just mom and momand the daughter, and we became
very close.
And I still talk to them tothis day.
We're not um we're not as closeas some of my other friends,
but they they really meant a lotto me, and I really felt that I
(11:56):
could bond with them, whereas alot of my other friends who I,
you know, they just these twounderstood me.
So yeah, yeah.
Tracy (12:09):
Did you ever experience like a stigma of being an only
child?
Like, did did your friends withsiblings be like, oh, you're
kind of weird, or you don'tunderstand because you're an
only?
Leslie (12:22):
Right.
Well, it was like, well, why?
You know, why are you an onlychild?
Well, um and and what did Iknow back then?
I mean now I can see so manyreasons being as an adult.
It's a lot of times it's reallyin God's hands or or whatever.
(12:48):
Some people can't have any morechildren, some people can't
afford more children, somepeople get divorced and never
remarried.
I mean, there's so manydifferent reasons.
And nowadays, especially withthe way the economy is, with um
how expensive it is to raise achild, people are opting for for
(13:10):
an only child and really beinghappy with it.
And um we adjust, we adjustjust fine, yeah.
Tracy (13:21):
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
We adjust.
We we uh yeah, we adapt.
Adapt as the yeah, yes, that'sthe word the animals do, yeah.
Leslie (13:37):
And then when I was in high school, it was like I
wanted to be around more people.
I got a job in a restaurant,and I just put myself with with
people all the time.
And it was kind of like havinganother family, and I'd go to
the restaurant, I'd eat dinnerat work while I was at work, and
(14:00):
it kept me busy.
It kind of kept kept my it keptmy heart full with kind of
coming home to a big house.
I was at work with a big houseand being around so many others.
So that was a very positiveexperience.
Um, and it basically the olderyou get, I think the less
(14:25):
traumatic it is.
When you're little and you'rerunning around the house and you
have nothing to do, I thinkit's like, oh, I wish I had
someone to play with.
But by the time you're 18, 20,you adapt.
Tracy (14:40):
You adapt, yeah.
Yeah, and I always liked itbecause I felt like I got to
choose my family in a way.
I mean, my friends are myfamily too, so I get to choose
and building that core group ofpeople that you really like or
(15:01):
that you love as your as yourfriend, your your sisters, or
you know.
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, now I think of them.
I think when I was younger, Ijust thought of them as friends,
but then as you get older, yourgirlfriends kind of become like
your sisters.
Right, exactly.
I mean, right, at least for me.
Right.
Leslie (15:20):
Because as you see, not every family relationship is a
walk in the park.
So um I'm I'm very lucky.
My husband is very close withhis brothers, and the whole
family is really close.
And I have two brother-in-lawsand two sister-in-laws, and
(15:44):
everyone gets along, and I'm I'mso thankful.
I mean, I still I have mygirlfriends, I have my high
school friends, and my otherfriends, and we've been together
longer, but it is a really nicething to have, and they really
filled in the gap.
Um, and I have my cousins too.
I still am close with them, andthey help.
(16:09):
They help a lot, especiallywith aging, you know, parents.
Tracy (16:16):
That's really hard to um for sure.
Yeah, I think that that's oneof the biggest challenges of
being an only child is takingcare of your parents as they
age, you know.
Leslie (16:33):
Yes, it is, it is, and I've kind of I went through it
about 10 years ago with my dad.
He kind of never really gotover my mom, you know, my mom
splitting up with him, so thatwas really hard.
And um, he didn't really takecare of himself, so I I used to
(16:56):
have to kind of help him along.
And when my kids were aboutnine and seven, he needed like
assisted living and all that,and so I used to have my mom
come over and watch my kids ifthey weren't in school, so I
(17:17):
could go take my dad to doctorappointments.
Whereas I know a lot of times Isee my friends that the parents
went to doctor appointments,you know, together.
So um we had that kind of thinggoing on.
But I was very thankful that mymom was in a was in a situation
(17:38):
that she could just come in andhelp me.
And unfortunately at 75 we lostmy dad, but he uh, you know, he
was a good dad.
I miss him.
Tracy (17:55):
Yeah, oh that's it's nice that it's nice that you were
able to take help take care ofhim or be there for him, right?
Leslie (18:04):
More be there for him.
More I didn't I didn't take himin.
Um, I don't know, that's justsomething that I couldn't do.
I people are saints that reallycan take their parents in.
Um, it's not for everybody, butno, no.
But but you still took care ofhim.
(18:26):
I mean you absolutely I was thethe person.
I was the person.
So yeah, yeah.
Tracy (18:34):
So yeah, it's difficult, yeah.
And your mom now is you'retaking care of her.
I mean, and you know, she'sneeding you, and right, she's
91.
She's having more more morehealth, 91.
Leslie (18:50):
91, God bless her.
Um, and she stopped driving.
It was her choice, which washelpful.
Yes, that's good.
And so I see her a few times aweek.
We text all day long, talk onthe phone.
(19:14):
Um, I'm so thankful that shetexts.
Um, because I 91 and text, andshe is amazing with emojis.
Like she finds emojis that Ididn't know existed.
That's great.
That's great.
(19:34):
So um, but it's you know, it'shard.
She knows it.
Like she'll say, Oh, I I feelbad that there's no one to help
you.
But like I said, I have mycousins, they go and see her,
they call her all the time.
And, you know, we we're allgonna we're all gonna have to
(19:54):
deal with our parents, you know,whether or not we're only
children.
I know people who have siblingsand their siblings either live
very far away or they're justnot involved at all.
So sometimes it doesn't evenmatter, really.
Tracy (20:16):
Right.
Yeah, no, it's it's tough.
It's tough.
So when you when you found yourhusband, then um did you make a
conscious decision to not havean only child then?
Leslie (20:34):
Well, I I knew that I, if I could, would like to have
more than one child.
Um I didn't know, of course,you never know what's gonna,
what the outcome is gonna be.
I know I I wanted threechildren as an you know, as an a
young adult, but by the time Igot married at 29 and he was 35,
(20:59):
it was like we we kind ofdecided that it was, you know,
probably a good idea.
We thank goodness have twohealthy children, and we're
gonna we're gonna stop so thatyou know we're not 85 and going
to soccer games and so yes.
(21:22):
And I um I probably dated anonly child or so, and I thought,
huh.
But it it uh I don't think Iever said, Oh, I can't go out
with you, you're an only child.
But um yeah, I'm glad that itworked out the way that it did.
Tracy (21:42):
So yeah, it's nice that you have your husband's family.
Um does your husband havesiblings?
Yeah, he's has three siblings.
And so then he has some niecesand nephews, and I knew his
(22:03):
mother.
I didn't I missed his dad.
I met him after his dad hadpassed away.
And yeah, his mom was one ofeight children.
Oh wow.
So yeah.
Um and so some of her siblingswere still alive.
I got to meet the meet well,one of them and talk to a couple
(22:23):
on the phone.
The last sister just passedaway.
Uh she was 101, I think.
She just passed away in thelast four months.
Yeah.
unknown (22:36):
Yeah.
Tracy (22:36):
She had a uh shot of whiskey every day.
I hear that kind of thingworks.
It's yeah, there you go.
I don't know.
I think a lot of only childrendo marry a spouse with a family
or a big family.
And it's it's such aninteresting dynamic because or
(22:57):
dichotomy or whatever, because Ithink he sometimes he looks at
me and he thinks, oh gosh, mylife would have been easier if
I'd been an only child.
And then I look at him and Ithink, wow, you're so lucky that
you have a big family.
Um, but a lot of the times he'dsay, Oh, well, they're they're
(23:17):
your family too.
So they were all very welcomingto me, which was you know, is
something that I had neverexperienced, or I had never
really experienced that before.
So that was really nice.
It was really nice to to tomarry into a family.
Leslie (23:36):
Um just just someone with a little more.
I just wanted a little morecraziness in the house.
I think that's what I waslooking for.
It was too quiet.
Tracy (23:49):
It's too quiet because yeah, because I think like
holidays, like for me, likeThanksgiving, right, and
Christmas were kind ofdepressing in a way.
Like if you right, like if youcompare yourself to like a TV or
a movie or something wherethey're celebrating
(24:11):
Thanksgiving, right?
And there's like eight peopleat the table or ten people at
the table, or people say, Oh,we're having a potluck
Thanksgiving, and we had 30people over.
And I'm just like, what what isthat even like, you know?
Right?
Right, right.
So yeah.
So I didn't really get toexperience stuff like that.
(24:33):
And I think that the most thatwe really did was uh his brother
would come over because hisbrother lives here, but the
sisters live on the other coast.
Um but and a couple times aftermy dad died, we take my mom out
to eat for Thanksgiving, and weinvited a couple other friends
(24:54):
who's who had a recent loss intheir family too.
So maybe we'd have like six ofus or eight of us or something
and make it like a like a youknow, kind of like a family
group.
Leslie (25:10):
Well, like a friend, what do they call it?
Friends giving or something.
It's it's Friends giving, yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And that's yeah, and that'sfriends become family, right?
Tracy (25:20):
Yeah.
Right.
But we never had, you know, Imean, when I was growing up,
like we'd go over to mygrandparents.
Um the I didn't realize ituntil much later.
Uh, because they never theythey never verbalized it.
But my mom's parents and mydad's parents, I mean, I knew
(25:41):
them both, apparently theydidn't like each other because
they never they never fully umaccepted the fact that my
parents married each other.
And so we would go over uh whenI was little, we'd go over to
one set of grandparents and we'deat there, and then we'd get in
(26:02):
the car and we'd drive the 10miles to the other grandparent
and we'd have dinner over there.
And so, you know, like in whenyou're a kid, you just kind of
accept that.
Right.
And you think, okay, this iswhat we're doing.
But in retrospect, years later,I was like, Well, why didn't we
ever like all just get togetherat the same place?
(26:24):
Because that was like a lot ofturkey and a lot of stuffing,
and well, it would have been afun comedy show if they were all
together.
Leslie (26:32):
They would have been at each other's throats.
Tracy (26:36):
And they were definitely yeah, yes, yes, definitely at
each other's throats.
Yes.
Leslie (26:44):
So family dynamics, yeah.
Tracy (26:47):
Whatever, but family dynamics, yeah.
It's not always like the happygo lucky, um, you know, yeah, it
was it was not that.
Never had that.
So, you know, I'm just yeah,I'm just grateful for any kind
of good times.
(27:07):
It's fine that it's small, butyeah, I kind of missed out on
that whole thing.
So anyway, um, yeah, andcousins.
I didn't really have anycousins uh either.
So, you know, just that's okay.
I had other things to you.
(27:28):
I adapt, yes, yes, there yougo.
Um so now you're so your sonsare in uh they're older, they're
in are they both in collegenow?
Leslie (27:47):
The oldest one just graduated from undergrad and
he's working.
He lives at home for a while,which is really nice.
Um and the yeah younger one isa senior in college, and he just
went back two days ago.
(28:07):
He's uh he will probably nevermove back to Michigan.
He likes he will probably moveto the West Coast or some other
country somewhere.
It's a little too, a little tooflat here for him.
Oh he's yeah, he's anenvironmental guy and he's he's
(28:32):
got some some good stuff up hissleeve, so can't wait to see
what he does.
It's that's really the that'sgreat.
The interesting thing isseeing, you know, my boys and
how they interact and how myolder son misses my younger son.
And it's uh it's a nice thingto see, and I'm I'm thankful.
(29:00):
Yeah.
Tracy (29:04):
I mean has it been challenging to be a parent, an
only child parent of of twochildren ever?
Leslie (29:15):
Um I honestly I I don't I don't think that that really
ever had anything into play.
Well, I would probably saythis.
If I wasn't if I didn't havesome parental help or my in-law
(29:39):
siblings weren't able to justcome over on a on a whim if
there was an emergency orsomething like that, then that
would be hard.
But um otherwise, it was likewhere we live, it's it's like a
really neat community.
And um, in fact, I lived acrossthe street from a woman who had
(30:06):
an only child.
And we used to talk about thisall the time because she was one
of five, but her daughter wasan only child.
And so she would look at me andshe'd say, Well, you kind of
turned out okay.
I'm not so worried about mydaughter.
And her daughter is reallyamazing and doing well, really
(30:33):
go, you know, a go-getter.
I think that I don't know aboutyou, Tracy, but they say that
only children kind of they'rethey're go-getters, and maybe
just they have to do it on theirown.
They, you know, they have to beeverything all at once.
It's like if you have threekids, one of them's gonna be
(30:58):
lazy, one of them's gonna be thego-getter, one of them's gonna
be this.
We're just all everything.
We're everything, so right.
Tracy (31:10):
We are, we're everything.
That's a good way of thinkingabout it.
Yeah, like I mean, I'm I feellike I'm definitely an
overachiever.
That's it, an overachiever.
At least I feel anoverachiever.
Yeah, I feel like I am, yeah,because I do I still do a lot of
things.
I feel like I've you knowslowed down a little bit because
(31:33):
I I feel like I'm I get tiredeasily, more easily now.
Um, but I yeah, I am anoverachiever.
So and that's the way I thinkI've always been.
But you're right, we have to wehave to be everything.
Right.
Leslie (31:49):
Whether it's you know, I don't think my parents really
were looking for me to beeverything, but I don't know.
I was maybe trying to do it forthem.
And I don't, you know, not surewhat I achieved, but I was
(32:09):
thinking about overachieving.
Tracy (32:13):
You were thinking about overachieving.
Well now, what time period didyou write the book?
Leslie (32:19):
Well, I wrote I was it when the book when I was 40,
because my son has foodallergies, my older son.
And he was the reason, youknow, it was like 20 years ago,
you could never find a milksubstitute.
You know, now you go to thecoffee shop and you have to ask
(32:42):
the barista which of fivedifferent milks do you want?
You know, I mean, there are somany choices.
We had to drive around the citylooking for soy milk, and
because he couldn't have regularmilk and soy ice cream and fake
cheese and all of this.
And so um that was that wasdefinitely hard.
(33:07):
That's that's another podcast,a food, a food allergy podcast.
Yeah, that was challenging.
Um, and and really it was justyou know to try and make these
kids feel like they're they'rejust regular kids.
Um, they always had their owncupcake at a birthday party that
we had to bring.
(33:28):
But that was really what did itis I wrote the book because I
was watching my son, you know,go through all this.
And I was going through itbecause I was the one who was
sitting at home going, oh mygod, he's at so-and-so's house.
What is that mother gonna feedhim?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You know, so right, yeah.
Tracy (33:52):
So that was that was why I did it.
I I didn't I didn't reallythink about that being that much
of an issue 20 years ago.
Leslie (34:01):
I think well it's you're you're right.
It was happening then, but itwasn't as it wasn't as easy to
get all the the food and allthat.
I mean, now you you go to arestaurant and sometimes there's
like, oh, this has nuts in it,or that has nuts in it.
And people are trained a littlebit.
(34:21):
You know, 20 years ago when hewas three, it was like that
wasn't that wasn't happening.
So um yeah, yeah, that'sdefinitely evolved, and that was
a I'm I'm glad I did that.
I'm glad I I wrote the book.
I like you said, if you want towrite a book, write the book.
Tracy (34:45):
Write the book, yeah.
Right.
Yeah, everybody's got probablygot a book in them somewhere.
Really?
At least one.
They really do.
Right.
They really do.
Uh well, I'd like to end ourtime by asking you some
(35:07):
questions.
I've heard other podcasts dothis, and I think it's kind of a
fun idea.
Some people call it rapid firequestions, but just to um, yeah.
Um, no pressure, but just Ithink it's kind of interesting.
Um, kind of get a sense of, youknow, it's it's just a fun
(35:29):
thing.
So um what do you do tocelebrate a milestone in your
life or a good thing thathappens to you?
Leslie (35:38):
I think if something really good happens, I think I
have to tell everybody.
And I think it requires havinga big cake or something, like
like it requires like notpulling the bacon off of the
hamburger.
It's just, you know, we we needto just have fun and and
(36:02):
celebrate the good stuff.
And um I would on top of beingthankful, I would say really
just eating the cake.
Eating the cake, okay.
Tracy (36:18):
Um what is one of your favorite comfort movies?
Leslie (36:25):
My goodness, Tracy.
This is a hard one.
My favorite comfort movies.
Okay.
Probably a Disney movie,probably like um, oh, well, two.
One would be Grease.
(36:46):
Okay.
Grease one, okay.
John Travolta, Olivia NewtonJohn, and the other one is um
the movie Cars.
Um, my kids, my you know,having two boys, it was just
always on.
It was the at the the the DVD,or I don't remember what we had
(37:07):
in 2010.
Um, but those two movies reallyjust kind of they're like, you
know, they're they're likehaving a a warm, cozy blanket
for me.
Yeah.
Tracy (37:23):
That makes sense because you had boys, so you probably
didn't get overrun with thingslike frozen.
I've never seen it before.
Leslie (37:31):
I've never seen any, never seen it, and my friends
think that's crazy, but I reallyneed to have a binge and watch
all the girly movies.
So the girly movies, there yougo.
Tracy (37:45):
Okay.
Um, so this one kind of callsback to the first question, but
what is one of your favoritefoods?
You can say cake if you want.
Leslie (37:56):
Um, not not necessarily cake.
Um, one of my favorite foods islike chicken soup.
My grandma used to make it allthe time for me.
Um, and mac and cheese.
Just typical warm comfort food.
Definitely those are two goodways.
(38:20):
Mac and cheese.
Tracy (38:23):
Mac and cheese, yeah.
What are you most proud ofaccomplishing in your life?
Leslie (38:32):
I guess I'm most proud of raising my children.
And I have to say, I'm I'm justproud that I tried to be a
decent person and do what I dowhat I could for other people.
(38:55):
And I I always try not to beselfish.
I'm sure somewhere that I amselfish in there, but I think
that I'm I'm just proud that Itried to try and think of others
first.
Tracy (39:14):
Yeah, that sounds that sounds like you.
Um and then it does.
I mean, from what I know ofyou, that's yeah.
Um, and finally, what would youtell your younger self if you
had the chance?
Like what advice would you giveyour younger self?
How old would my younger selfbe?
(39:34):
Well, um, you know, any any agethat you pick, it's up to you.
Okay.
Leslie (39:45):
I would probably say if I was like 10 or 11 or 12, I'd
probably say everyone isn'tlooking at you and thinking
(40:06):
about you and talking about you.
Nobody really, nobody's reallyis interested.
Um just go about your life.
Like people always think thatpeople are talking behind their
back or saying things aboutthem.
(40:27):
It's just an insecurity, Ithink, that I had maybe as an I
don't know, only child or as ateenager.
Most teenagers have it.
Um, and just stop thinkingthat, and everything just comes
around.
And I guess it really takesuntil we're older, till we
(40:51):
really don't care what anyonethinks, till we feel confident.
So just, you know, don't be arude person, but don't worry
about what anyone else thinksand go ahead with your life.
Yeah.
Tracy (41:08):
Yeah, good advice.
Right.
All right.
Well, Leslie, it's been a lotof fun to get to know you.
Yes, get to know you better andum let everybody in the Only
Child Diaries podcast world getto know you.
And uh so thank you so much.
Thank you, Crazy.
Leslie (41:29):
It's been a pleasure, and I I really do love our
friendship.
Tracy (41:35):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, thank you.
I have to get to California.
Um, yes.
Or we get to Michigan or wemeet in the middle.
California seems so much moreexciting.
But yes, we'll figure it out.
Well, yeah, I admit Californiais does have a lot to offer.
(41:59):
So yeah, it would be great tofinally finally see you in
person, not just on video.
All right, well, great.
Thanks again.
We'll talk soon.
Bye.
Well, there it is.
Another interview in the can,so to speak.
I hope you enjoyed learningmore about Leslie and hearing
(42:21):
our conversation.
Next week, we'll tackle anothertopic together.
I hope you'll join me.
If you like this episode,please follow the Only Child
Diaries Podcast on ApplePodcasts or other platforms you
might listen on.
And consider rating Only ChildDiaries and writing a review.
(42:43):
It helps others to find us.
Please share it with a friendyou think might like it as well.
Visit my Instagram page, OnlyChild Diaries, or Facebook, Only
Child Diaries Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
I'm Tracy Wallace, and theseare the Only Child Diaries.
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