February 13, 2024 • 23 mins
Welcome to another episode of The Taoist Corner Podcast. Today, rather than continue our work through 365 Tao by Ding Ming-Dao, I’ll interview writer Heidi Pyper, who recently won The Taoist Online’s holiday writing contest!
Heidi Pyper's storytelling not only paints vivid pictures with words, but it also knits the very fabric of her being into each narrative. As this episode unfolds, she takes us on a deeply personal voyage, exploring the memories of her late father and the indelible impact of his surprise theatrical foray. Winner of the Taoist Online holiday writing contest, Heidi's voice is a mix of nostalgia and wonder as she reflects on the complexities of her writing journey. We navigate writers' often surprising decision-making process, examining how Medium has shaped her as a storyteller and the importance of choosing which memories to embrace and which to let flutter away like leaves in the wind.
You can read her touching and heart-warming winning story below.
When Christmas Brought Me The Gift Of Discovering My Father’s Light
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Daoist
Corner podcast.
I'm your host, patrick Stewart,founder and chief editor of the
Daoistonline and projectjadenet.
Normally what we do is we workthrough a book called 365 Dao by
Ding Bing Dao, but today we'regoing to do something a little
(00:39):
different.
You see, during the holidays,the Daoist online had a writing
contest a holiday writingcontest, where writers were
supposed to turn in theirfavorite holiday memory.
The winning author, writer,heidi Piper, wrote an amazing,
(00:59):
heartfelt story about her father, who has now since passed away.
One Christmas, heidi's fatherdecided to surprise his children
by inviting them to the theater, only to not attend.
His children were surprised tolearn that not only was he in
fact there at the theater, butwas actually performing on stage
(01:21):
.
So, without further ado, let'swelcome writer and contest
winner Heidi Piper.
First of all, congratulationsfor winning the contest, thank
you All right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
so I just want to say thank you for the first number
one.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You're very welcome, Absolutely.
Why don't we actually starttell us a little bit about
yourself and how long you'vebeen writing?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So my name is Heidi, my pen name is Heidi Piper, and
I've been writing on and off foryears Poetry I started writing
poetry with more focus aboutfour years ago and then writing
(02:06):
properly writing about a yearago, but forever.
I've always had notebooks.
I've always written kidsstories.
I spent a lot of time as aneducational writer so I was
always writing educationalstories like that.
So I've been writing sort ofall my life, but actually
focusing and creating projectsand, most importantly, finishing
(02:27):
projects has been just the pastfew years.
I'm a great starter but not avery good finisher.
So discovering medium Idiscovered medium in May last
year and that's changedeverything.
Just knowing that I can put apiece of work up there, get
feedback, read other writers,it's just really really
(02:52):
motivating and learning to crafta piece of work.
And there's so much to learnfrom the writers on medium.
The advice that they give andalso the stories that you read
that the quality there isincredible.
So that's been the past yearhas really been instrumental in
my writing.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Well, it seems to be going really well, at least for
the writing contest.
I mean, we were just talkingbefore we started recording that
your article that you submittedfor a holiday writing contest
was by far and away the bestarticle that we had for
submissions.
Can you take me through why youchose to write about your dad
(03:35):
and that story?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
That story it's been.
I actually I think it just what.
Trying to be succinct with myresponse, but I think what I
like about writing particularlywriting about writing on medium
is I always start off with anidea and think that's what I'm
(03:59):
going to write about, but in theprocess of writing something
else comes up, and that's whathappened with my dad's article.
I was writing something about.
I think I was writing aboutyour dreams and holding onto
your dreams and why they'reimportant and they're not just
airy fairy dreams.
And then it just sort of cameout on the page my dad's story,
(04:29):
and it just flowed from therereally, and I sort of remembered
I was taken back to the time.
So that time I mentioned in thestory where he was unveiled to
us on stage and we had no ideaabout his love of theatre, and
that was just a really magicaltime.
And whenever I tell people aboutthat I always well up.
My father died.
(04:51):
As I said, he died about 17years ago, so that's a very
strong childhood memory.
And then it just flowed fromthere really.
So it was sort of, you know, Iwas wondering, well, what shall
I write about?
And then the main idea justcame to me as I was testing out
other ideas.
Was there anything?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
in the article that you I know as a writer a lot of
times I'll go through and I'llcut things out and I'll kind of
move things around.
Was there anything specificallychallenging or things you've
left out that in this article,that you just either thought
that it wasn't important orwasn't time?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
There was a lot.
I think I went into a lot ofdetail.
Yeah, I went into a lot moredetail about the theatre.
The theatre, that particulartheatre where I mentioned that,
was just fundamental to ourupbringing at one point.
Me and my sister particularlyand I was going into a lot of
(05:57):
detail about that we went onstupantos.
My dad wrote plays that me andmy sister starred in as well.
So, I thought it's hard not tocram in all of that information.
And it's such an old I don'tknow if I got that across in the
story I was really trying toemphasise the fact that it was
(06:19):
really old.
The toilet was outside.
You didn't want to go to thetoilet.
You'd hold on to it so tightbecause you thought, oh, I've
got to go down those steps,slippery, slimy stone steps as
well.
But it was a real hub and it hada core audience who always came
back and yeah, and then dadjust became very known for his
(06:44):
comedy performances, which isreally nice.
You know, when you're a kid andyou're looking up and sort of
idolising your dad on stage.
It was really great.
So we were there for a year.
I think I was 11 when we firststepped in there, maybe 10, 11.
And then 18 was.
And then I mentioned he wrotethe panto, the very smutty adult
(07:08):
panto he didn't want me to be apart of because dad was such a
prude at home he couldn't, youknow, if you mentioned the word
virgin he would talk all aroundit.
He couldn't explain what thatwas.
He was just classic sort ofprudish parent.
But then on stage, that's where, just where he put everything.
That's where he sort of let go.
He wrote that pantomime whichwas hilarious and very, very
(07:33):
shocking for me.
That kind of thing went on inhis mind.
It was Hansel and Gretel, so Imean I could have gone on and on
really about that theatre,which isn't the well the
building's there now, but nowit's a fancy evening venue, so
(07:55):
it's changed.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
You know I also.
You said you know your dad hada problem with like it's kind of
prudish and like would neverreally want to talk about the
word version.
I remember you know we I thinkmost of my generation learned
what a version was from themovie Hocus Pocus.
Do you know that movie?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I do, I do, and I have seen that recently with my
daughter.
I can't, I can't remember the,the, the virgin reference,
though.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So the only a virgin can like the black candle which
brought the witches back.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And all the kids had to turn to their parents and be
like mom, what's a version?
Yeah, they're like don't worryabout it, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, my dad's classic was that that came up
with some kind of a dragon movie.
You know, back in the day wherethey would, they would
sacrifice virgins and in somemedieval village, and that that
was that's what came up in ourfamily.
I was a virgin and dad said oh,I don't know, it's something to
do with the olden days, I think.
And that's how the sexeducation went in our house.
(09:04):
There was, there was just noneof it, so tell me, tell me more.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Oh, I was going to say tell me more about your dad.
Like what, what about your dad?
I mean, I know you said alittle bit, but like what's not
in the article, right?
Like, tell us, tell us more.
I know he unfortunately passedaway at a rather early age.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I know what you mean with that, I think so.
So dad was 53 when he died andso when you, when you mentioned
sort of your, your previousquestion about what to leave in
and what to take out, it washard to know what to put in
about his personality, becausehe was, he was a very quiet man
and then he had this funny boneand he had this love of theater,
(09:47):
which and so he would he wouldlet himself go on stage, but,
and with a select bunch ofpeople.
But he, he inside, was a verystressed man and I think, I
think that's what led to hisheart attack.
He would worry a lot aboutthings, but he never expressed
those worries and I think, Ithink a lot of that comes from
(10:08):
his childhood.
So I mentioned, he just had no,he just had no education in any
sense.
He, he had no sort of formaleducation, but then there was no
sort of emotional nurturingeither.
He had, he knew his familyloved him, so there was no sort
of abuse or anything like that,but it was just that total lack
of guidance and he had to figureeverything out himself.
(10:31):
So he, he was quite remarkablein the fact that he had no
education, but he was one of themost knowledgeable people.
So he, he made a point, very hemade.
He made a point of learningeverything he could about
everything.
He was a very interested,curious person.
So if you would bring upShakespeare, he could hold a
(10:52):
conversation about Shakespeareor classical music, or so he was
.
He was quite remarkable in that.
But he, yeah, he was very, verystressed, sort of quietly
stressed person and he used tojoke that he was, he was faking
you know the, the Oliver Twist,the movie I'm trying to think of
(11:15):
, the, the musical, do you knowthat one?
The classic depiction of Fagan.
He used to joke that he waslike that which was so spot on,
he was from his childhood, likehe was proper penny pinching and
he was.
He was always would you wantthat, for no, you don't need
(11:36):
that and he would sort of.
You know, he was always sittingwith his receipts carrying them
.
So he was quite, he was quite acharacter.
So he was a big mix of things.
He was a big mix of things andhe was just, yeah, it was just
great fun to chat to.
You know, we always used to putthe world to rights and, yeah,
particularly when we got olderand we could, we could join him
(11:57):
in the pub.
He loved that.
So then we'd spend.
We'd spend many nights over abeer just discussing various
topics until until we got kickedout.
Basically so, yeah, he was, hewas a character.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
How did he get involved in theater, Like in
like.
How did he start that?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I actually don't know .
I don't know at all.
It just he must have.
What I'm thinking is he musthave gone out looking for it,
because he did always used totell that story that I wrote in
the article about how he triedand somebody just disliked him,
and then he took that to heartthat particular day and he just
(12:41):
he didn't go back and it musthave just been on his mind.
So I actually don't know at all, but I'm guessing that's what
happened.
And then that was just, I think, every weekend, every evening,
yeah, it was just all theatreall of the time.
And yeah, like I said, he usedto bore me silly, being like oh,
(13:02):
heidi, is this script Test meagain?
No, please, but it was quitefun.
But at the same time gosh, it'sthe hundredth time I've grown
from your lines, but he was just, he was just obsessed with it.
Yeah, he just absolutelyobsessed with it.
He loved it.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And I know in your story you guys were surprised to
see him on stage.
Was that the?
Were you surprised because, Imean, you didn't know he was
going to be there, you didn'tknow he enjoyed being on stage
Like which, which surprised both.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Both, yeah, definitely both we.
We I can.
I can really remember mumsaying we're going to the
theatre and that was, that wassuch a treat.
And then in the next breath shesaid dad's not going to be
there.
And we just went, well, and Ican remember really feeling, oh,
this is not well, this sucks.
You know, why isn't dad goingto be there?
(14:01):
So to have that initialdisappointment.
But then he was there because hewas on stage.
So there was that, that shock,which was, which was lovely, and
, yeah, just the strangeness ofit, because it was.
I think it was a production ofCinderella, it was a pantomime.
So he, like I said, he came outwith his the makeup you know
(14:22):
how you have the really orangeface so you're not washed out
and the big cheeks and thefrilly clothes and everything,
and it just, it was just so, sostrange.
It was just so not what we'dever seen him do, because he was
.
He was a painter and decorator.
He was always covered in muckand paint and, you know, wearing
(14:43):
big boots and dirty clothes.
And there he was.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Is that where you?
Is that where you thought hewas?
Do you?
I mean, do you remember like?
Did you just think he wasworking on a job, or we?
Where did you think he was?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It didn't make sense.
So mum said he was working,which didn't make sense at all.
But I just remember thinking oh, that's not, that's not right.
But then I didn't give it muchthought, I just sort of knew no,
no, so the the explanation shegave didn't make any sense, but
I had no idea where he was.
(15:17):
But they were a fan of doingthat, actually, mum and dad,
they they liked to I think thatwas probably my mum's idea to
surprise us like that, becausethey surprised us with the
holiday one time.
They said we were, we weredriving down to the seaside and
then we ended up in HeathrowAirport.
So they liked things like that,they liked to keep us in the
(15:38):
dark.
And the big reveal they didthat quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You're a good talker, you're like this is.
This is why I was reallynervous that I'll cut this part
out.
But I was really nervous thatyou know, I saw I interviewed a
lot of people for, like you know, jobs and whatever.
And get those people oninterviews where they don't
speak, like they don't sayanything, like they only answer
(16:04):
the question, they don't knowhow to keep going and you're
just like do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.
I'm just whistling your thumbs.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Oh, that's nice.
You say that then because I hadno idea what to expect either.
I just know how you do.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, at the end of your article you've got it says
me my brother and sister areraising money for the British
Heart Foundation.
How long have you all?
Is that new?
Have you been doing that for awhile?
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
That's very new.
In October last year, mybrother messaged me and said
would you like to do a marathonin April?
It's coming up.
It's two months away now.
I just immediately wrote backand said, no thanks.
He went oh, go on.
My brother and sister areyounger than me only about four
(16:59):
or five years.
My sister's doing it too.
What's happened is my brotherand sister are close.
We all live in the same place.
Now again, my brother andsister are very close and they
spend a lot of time together.
I always feel left out becausethey've got the same social
(17:22):
group.
They're very extrovert people,whereas I'm very introvert, so
they love going out socializing.
Whenever I join them, I justfeel like, oh, I just feel like,
no, I'm not comfortable here, Ineed to go.
I don't get to spend much timesocially with them or doing
anything.
Actually, that's a good.
(17:43):
It was a good motivating factorfor me to say yes, I'm not
really a runner.
5k has always been my limit.
I've done 10K a couple of timesand I'm training for this
marathon now, and we'resupporting each other on
WhatsApp, so it's quite funWatching each other's updates.
(18:05):
We send screenshots of ourrunning apps and stuff, but to
be honest, I'm hating it, I'mstruggling.
I did a run yesterday and I wascursing and swearing because I
kept having to stop, because mylactic acid was building up in
my legs and I ran the furthestI've ever run yesterday, which
was 15K, and it felt like I'dbeen running for five days.
(18:29):
It's the feeling of that, andI'm not even.
What is that?
That's about a third of thedistance, isn't it so?
But today is the first daywhere the marathon feels
achievable.
So the whole point of doing themarathon is hey, we've got my
dad, we're raising money for theBridge Heart Foundation because
(18:49):
he passed away from heartattack, and I want to bond with
my sister and brother.
I want to have a nicemeaningful memory that doesn't
involve everybody getting reallydrunk.
So, because that's all it'sbeen so far oh boy.
So yeah, so that's that story ina nutshell.
(19:11):
So in two months' timehopefully a little over two
months' time, hopefully I cansay I've got a marathon under my
belt.
Laughter, cut it.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Well, good luck on the marathon.
That's something I have neverdone and there's no way anyone
will ever make me do that.
I Would die.
I think I'd die, I think I.
I just converted that intomiles as you were speaking and I
was like, oh my god, I don'tthink I've ever, I don't think
I've walked that far in my wholelife combined like I know.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And I really thought.
I thought, as I've beentraining, I thought I'm gonna
become one of these people who'sgonna tell people to do
marathons.
And I thought it's the opposite, I'm gonna tell everybody don't
do it.
It's just you either.
I think you're either a runneror you're not.
And I've, I've, always wantedto be around.
I don't know why.
Nobody, I you know, apart frommy sister.
(20:07):
She's a good runner, but reallyI, I don't know why I've always
thought I should be good atrunning.
And now I realize I'm giving mypursuit my self-permission to
dislike it and to say I.
But who knows, in two monthstime maybe I'll be transformed,
but I can't see it.
I don't know.
I'll start.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
What should we do?
Another writing contest here ina couple of months?
Then I hope you read thatarticle about your.
I'm sure what will be the Ilove running, running.
Yeah, so fun.
Let me tell you about running.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I just say one thing that was interesting yesterday
was I've never gone beyond mycomfort zone with exercise, and
yesterday I did that for thefirst time, and that that's.
That was quite a moment whereyou think there's just like a
life lesson, isn't it?
If you really really want toprogress, you have to go.
Yeah, I was thinking about that, you, you have to feel the pain
at some point.
So, yeah, I, that's that'swhere I was yesterday, feeling
(21:08):
the pain, but hopefully growing.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Well, good luck with the marathon.
I'll never do, but I Wouldn'tsay thank you again for writing
this amazing story and openingup and sharing something that
was very personal.
It was a little nervous aboutasking Questions on.
You know it's a personal,heartfelt story about your dad.
(21:34):
So, yeah, thank you very much.
We all loved this story asediting team and I Just
absolutely like.
As soon as we read it, we justknew this was, this was the,
this was the one that was gonnawin.
Yeah, I really appreciate youStopping by and hanging out for
(21:54):
a little while today and thankyou.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Can I say big thank you to you and your publication
and all your editors and for thecompetition as well, as I
really enjoyed writing it and,yeah, I've enjoyed this
interview and it's just lovely,lovely to meet people in real
life as well, all these writersthat Sort of you know behind the
articles.
It's really lovely to meet you.
So, thank you, thank you verymuch, oh.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
You're very welcome.
And, yes, it is.
It's really really nice toFinally, you know, put faces.
And here, you know you, peopleare not icons, right, people are
human beings and getting tointeract with them in a
different, you know morepersonal ways is Really
eye-opening and you kind ofdiscover that what we're, what
(22:40):
we're doing on on medium andonline, it really has a effect
on a real person.
And once you kind of put thattwo and two together, that gives
you the motivation or at leastit gives me the motivation to
keep going, right.
So I know a lot of times youwrite and you think, man, like
this just isn't like who'sreading this stuff, like I'm
(23:01):
writing and working all thistime, like what for what, like
what is happening, and so, yeah,it's really good.
Then that's why we have thediscord community To, you know,
really kind of hang out witheach other and get to know each
other.
So I'll put the link to thediscord Server in the
description and anyone can joinand come hang out with us and
like amazing writers like Heidi.
(23:22):
Well, thank you very much,heidi.
I really appreciate it.
We'll never need to see you.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Bye, thank you, bye, thank you.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Daoist
Corner podcast.
I'm your host, patrick Stewart,founder and chief editor of the
Daoistonline and projectjadenet.
Normally what we do is we workthrough a book called 365 Dao by
Ding Bing Dao, but today we'regoing to do something a little
(00:39):
different.
You see, during the holidays,the Daoist online had a writing
contest a holiday writingcontest, where writers were
supposed to turn in theirfavorite holiday memory.
The winning author, writer,heidi Piper, wrote an amazing,
(00:59):
heartfelt story about her father, who has now since passed away.
One Christmas, heidi's fatherdecided to surprise his children
by inviting them to the theater, only to not attend.
His children were surprised tolearn that not only was he in
fact there at the theater, butwas actually performing on stage
(01:21):
.
So, without further ado, let'swelcome writer and contest
winner Heidi Piper.
First of all, congratulationsfor winning the contest, thank
you All right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
so I just want to say thank you for the first number
one.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You're very welcome, Absolutely.
Why don't we actually starttell us a little bit about
yourself and how long you'vebeen writing?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So my name is Heidi, my pen name is Heidi Piper, and
I've been writing on and off foryears Poetry I started writing
poetry with more focus aboutfour years ago and then writing
(02:06):
properly writing about a yearago, but forever.
I've always had notebooks.
I've always written kidsstories.
I spent a lot of time as aneducational writer so I was
always writing educationalstories like that.
So I've been writing sort ofall my life, but actually
focusing and creating projectsand, most importantly, finishing
(02:27):
projects has been just the pastfew years.
I'm a great starter but not avery good finisher.
So discovering medium Idiscovered medium in May last
year and that's changedeverything.
Just knowing that I can put apiece of work up there, get
feedback, read other writers,it's just really really
(02:52):
motivating and learning to crafta piece of work.
And there's so much to learnfrom the writers on medium.
The advice that they give andalso the stories that you read
that the quality there isincredible.
So that's been the past yearhas really been instrumental in
my writing.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Well, it seems to be going really well, at least for
the writing contest.
I mean, we were just talkingbefore we started recording that
your article that you submittedfor a holiday writing contest
was by far and away the bestarticle that we had for
submissions.
Can you take me through why youchose to write about your dad
(03:35):
and that story?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
That story it's been.
I actually I think it just what.
Trying to be succinct with myresponse, but I think what I
like about writing particularlywriting about writing on medium
is I always start off with anidea and think that's what I'm
(03:59):
going to write about, but in theprocess of writing something
else comes up, and that's whathappened with my dad's article.
I was writing something about.
I think I was writing aboutyour dreams and holding onto
your dreams and why they'reimportant and they're not just
airy fairy dreams.
And then it just sort of cameout on the page my dad's story,
(04:29):
and it just flowed from therereally, and I sort of remembered
I was taken back to the time.
So that time I mentioned in thestory where he was unveiled to
us on stage and we had no ideaabout his love of theatre, and
that was just a really magicaltime.
And whenever I tell people aboutthat I always well up.
My father died.
(04:51):
As I said, he died about 17years ago, so that's a very
strong childhood memory.
And then it just flowed fromthere really.
So it was sort of, you know, Iwas wondering, well, what shall
I write about?
And then the main idea justcame to me as I was testing out
other ideas.
Was there anything?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
in the article that you I know as a writer a lot of
times I'll go through and I'llcut things out and I'll kind of
move things around.
Was there anything specificallychallenging or things you've
left out that in this article,that you just either thought
that it wasn't important orwasn't time?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
There was a lot.
I think I went into a lot ofdetail.
Yeah, I went into a lot moredetail about the theatre.
The theatre, that particulartheatre where I mentioned that,
was just fundamental to ourupbringing at one point.
Me and my sister particularlyand I was going into a lot of
(05:57):
detail about that we went onstupantos.
My dad wrote plays that me andmy sister starred in as well.
So, I thought it's hard not tocram in all of that information.
And it's such an old I don'tknow if I got that across in the
story I was really trying toemphasise the fact that it was
(06:19):
really old.
The toilet was outside.
You didn't want to go to thetoilet.
You'd hold on to it so tightbecause you thought, oh, I've
got to go down those steps,slippery, slimy stone steps as
well.
But it was a real hub and it hada core audience who always came
back and yeah, and then dadjust became very known for his
(06:44):
comedy performances, which isreally nice.
You know, when you're a kid andyou're looking up and sort of
idolising your dad on stage.
It was really great.
So we were there for a year.
I think I was 11 when we firststepped in there, maybe 10, 11.
And then 18 was.
And then I mentioned he wrotethe panto, the very smutty adult
(07:08):
panto he didn't want me to be apart of because dad was such a
prude at home he couldn't, youknow, if you mentioned the word
virgin he would talk all aroundit.
He couldn't explain what thatwas.
He was just classic sort ofprudish parent.
But then on stage, that's where, just where he put everything.
That's where he sort of let go.
He wrote that pantomime whichwas hilarious and very, very
(07:33):
shocking for me.
That kind of thing went on inhis mind.
It was Hansel and Gretel, so Imean I could have gone on and on
really about that theatre,which isn't the well the
building's there now, but nowit's a fancy evening venue, so
(07:55):
it's changed.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
You know I also.
You said you know your dad hada problem with like it's kind of
prudish and like would neverreally want to talk about the
word version.
I remember you know we I thinkmost of my generation learned
what a version was from themovie Hocus Pocus.
Do you know that movie?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I do, I do, and I have seen that recently with my
daughter.
I can't, I can't remember the,the, the virgin reference,
though.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So the only a virgin can like the black candle which
brought the witches back.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And all the kids had to turn to their parents and be
like mom, what's a version?
Yeah, they're like don't worryabout it, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah, my dad's classic was that that came up
with some kind of a dragon movie.
You know, back in the day wherethey would, they would
sacrifice virgins and in somemedieval village, and that that
was that's what came up in ourfamily.
I was a virgin and dad said oh,I don't know, it's something to
do with the olden days, I think.
And that's how the sexeducation went in our house.
(09:04):
There was, there was just noneof it, so tell me, tell me more.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Oh, I was going to say tell me more about your dad.
Like what, what about your dad?
I mean, I know you said alittle bit, but like what's not
in the article, right?
Like, tell us, tell us more.
I know he unfortunately passedaway at a rather early age.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I know what you mean with that, I think so.
So dad was 53 when he died andso when you, when you mentioned
sort of your, your previousquestion about what to leave in
and what to take out, it washard to know what to put in
about his personality, becausehe was, he was a very quiet man
and then he had this funny boneand he had this love of theater,
(09:47):
which and so he would he wouldlet himself go on stage, but,
and with a select bunch ofpeople.
But he, he inside, was a verystressed man and I think, I
think that's what led to hisheart attack.
He would worry a lot aboutthings, but he never expressed
those worries and I think, Ithink a lot of that comes from
(10:08):
his childhood.
So I mentioned, he just had no,he just had no education in any
sense.
He, he had no sort of formaleducation, but then there was no
sort of emotional nurturingeither.
He had, he knew his familyloved him, so there was no sort
of abuse or anything like that,but it was just that total lack
of guidance and he had to figureeverything out himself.
(10:31):
So he, he was quite remarkablein the fact that he had no
education, but he was one of themost knowledgeable people.
So he, he made a point, very hemade.
He made a point of learningeverything he could about
everything.
He was a very interested,curious person.
So if you would bring upShakespeare, he could hold a
(10:52):
conversation about Shakespeareor classical music, or so he was
.
He was quite remarkable in that.
But he, yeah, he was very, verystressed, sort of quietly
stressed person and he used tojoke that he was, he was faking
you know the, the Oliver Twist,the movie I'm trying to think of
(11:15):
, the, the musical, do you knowthat one?
The classic depiction of Fagan.
He used to joke that he waslike that which was so spot on,
he was from his childhood, likehe was proper penny pinching and
he was.
He was always would you wantthat, for no, you don't need
(11:36):
that and he would sort of.
You know, he was always sittingwith his receipts carrying them
.
So he was quite, he was quite acharacter.
So he was a big mix of things.
He was a big mix of things andhe was just, yeah, it was just
great fun to chat to.
You know, we always used to putthe world to rights and, yeah,
particularly when we got olderand we could, we could join him
(11:57):
in the pub.
He loved that.
So then we'd spend.
We'd spend many nights over abeer just discussing various
topics until until we got kickedout.
Basically so, yeah, he was, hewas a character.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
How did he get involved in theater, Like in
like.
How did he start that?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I actually don't know .
I don't know at all.
It just he must have.
What I'm thinking is he musthave gone out looking for it,
because he did always used totell that story that I wrote in
the article about how he triedand somebody just disliked him,
and then he took that to heartthat particular day and he just
(12:41):
he didn't go back and it musthave just been on his mind.
So I actually don't know at all, but I'm guessing that's what
happened.
And then that was just, I think, every weekend, every evening,
yeah, it was just all theatreall of the time.
And yeah, like I said, he usedto bore me silly, being like oh,
(13:02):
heidi, is this script Test meagain?
No, please, but it was quitefun.
But at the same time gosh, it'sthe hundredth time I've grown
from your lines, but he was just, he was just obsessed with it.
Yeah, he just absolutelyobsessed with it.
He loved it.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And I know in your story you guys were surprised to
see him on stage.
Was that the?
Were you surprised because, Imean, you didn't know he was
going to be there, you didn'tknow he enjoyed being on stage
Like which, which surprised both.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Both, yeah, definitely both we.
We I can.
I can really remember mumsaying we're going to the
theatre and that was, that wassuch a treat.
And then in the next breath shesaid dad's not going to be
there.
And we just went, well, and Ican remember really feeling, oh,
this is not well, this sucks.
You know, why isn't dad goingto be there?
(14:01):
So to have that initialdisappointment.
But then he was there because hewas on stage.
So there was that, that shock,which was, which was lovely, and
, yeah, just the strangeness ofit, because it was.
I think it was a production ofCinderella, it was a pantomime.
So he, like I said, he came outwith his the makeup you know
(14:22):
how you have the really orangeface so you're not washed out
and the big cheeks and thefrilly clothes and everything,
and it just, it was just so, sostrange.
It was just so not what we'dever seen him do, because he was
.
He was a painter and decorator.
He was always covered in muckand paint and, you know, wearing
(14:43):
big boots and dirty clothes.
And there he was.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Is that where you?
Is that where you thought hewas?
Do you?
I mean, do you remember like?
Did you just think he wasworking on a job, or we?
Where did you think he was?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It didn't make sense.
So mum said he was working,which didn't make sense at all.
But I just remember thinking oh, that's not, that's not right.
But then I didn't give it muchthought, I just sort of knew no,
no, so the the explanation shegave didn't make any sense, but
I had no idea where he was.
(15:17):
But they were a fan of doingthat, actually, mum and dad,
they they liked to I think thatwas probably my mum's idea to
surprise us like that, becausethey surprised us with the
holiday one time.
They said we were, we weredriving down to the seaside and
then we ended up in HeathrowAirport.
So they liked things like that,they liked to keep us in the
(15:38):
dark.
And the big reveal they didthat quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You're a good talker, you're like this is.
This is why I was reallynervous that I'll cut this part
out.
But I was really nervous thatyou know, I saw I interviewed a
lot of people for, like you know, jobs and whatever.
And get those people oninterviews where they don't
speak, like they don't sayanything, like they only answer
(16:04):
the question, they don't knowhow to keep going and you're
just like do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.
I'm just whistling your thumbs.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Oh, that's nice.
You say that then because I hadno idea what to expect either.
I just know how you do.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Yeah, at the end of your article you've got it says
me my brother and sister areraising money for the British
Heart Foundation.
How long have you all?
Is that new?
Have you been doing that for awhile?
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
That's very new.
In October last year, mybrother messaged me and said
would you like to do a marathonin April?
It's coming up.
It's two months away now.
I just immediately wrote backand said, no thanks.
He went oh, go on.
My brother and sister areyounger than me only about four
(16:59):
or five years.
My sister's doing it too.
What's happened is my brotherand sister are close.
We all live in the same place.
Now again, my brother andsister are very close and they
spend a lot of time together.
I always feel left out becausethey've got the same social
(17:22):
group.
They're very extrovert people,whereas I'm very introvert, so
they love going out socializing.
Whenever I join them, I justfeel like, oh, I just feel like,
no, I'm not comfortable here, Ineed to go.
I don't get to spend much timesocially with them or doing
anything.
Actually, that's a good.
(17:43):
It was a good motivating factorfor me to say yes, I'm not
really a runner.
5k has always been my limit.
I've done 10K a couple of timesand I'm training for this
marathon now, and we'resupporting each other on
WhatsApp, so it's quite funWatching each other's updates.
(18:05):
We send screenshots of ourrunning apps and stuff, but to
be honest, I'm hating it, I'mstruggling.
I did a run yesterday and I wascursing and swearing because I
kept having to stop, because mylactic acid was building up in
my legs and I ran the furthestI've ever run yesterday, which
was 15K, and it felt like I'dbeen running for five days.
(18:29):
It's the feeling of that, andI'm not even.
What is that?
That's about a third of thedistance, isn't it so?
But today is the first daywhere the marathon feels
achievable.
So the whole point of doing themarathon is hey, we've got my
dad, we're raising money for theBridge Heart Foundation because
(18:49):
he passed away from heartattack, and I want to bond with
my sister and brother.
I want to have a nicemeaningful memory that doesn't
involve everybody getting reallydrunk.
So, because that's all it'sbeen so far oh boy.
So yeah, so that's that story ina nutshell.
(19:11):
So in two months' timehopefully a little over two
months' time, hopefully I cansay I've got a marathon under my
belt.
Laughter, cut it.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Well, good luck on the marathon.
That's something I have neverdone and there's no way anyone
will ever make me do that.
I Would die.
I think I'd die, I think I.
I just converted that intomiles as you were speaking and I
was like, oh my god, I don'tthink I've ever, I don't think
I've walked that far in my wholelife combined like I know.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And I really thought.
I thought, as I've beentraining, I thought I'm gonna
become one of these people who'sgonna tell people to do
marathons.
And I thought it's the opposite, I'm gonna tell everybody don't
do it.
It's just you either.
I think you're either a runneror you're not.
And I've, I've, always wantedto be around.
I don't know why.
Nobody, I you know, apart frommy sister.
(20:07):
She's a good runner, but reallyI, I don't know why I've always
thought I should be good atrunning.
And now I realize I'm giving mypursuit my self-permission to
dislike it and to say I.
But who knows, in two monthstime maybe I'll be transformed,
but I can't see it.
I don't know.
I'll start.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
What should we do?
Another writing contest here ina couple of months?
Then I hope you read thatarticle about your.
I'm sure what will be the Ilove running, running.
Yeah, so fun.
Let me tell you about running.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I just say one thing that was interesting yesterday
was I've never gone beyond mycomfort zone with exercise, and
yesterday I did that for thefirst time, and that that's.
That was quite a moment whereyou think there's just like a
life lesson, isn't it?
If you really really want toprogress, you have to go.
Yeah, I was thinking about that, you, you have to feel the pain
at some point.
So, yeah, I, that's that'swhere I was yesterday, feeling
(21:08):
the pain, but hopefully growing.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Well, good luck with the marathon.
I'll never do, but I Wouldn'tsay thank you again for writing
this amazing story and openingup and sharing something that
was very personal.
It was a little nervous aboutasking Questions on.
You know it's a personal,heartfelt story about your dad.
(21:34):
So, yeah, thank you very much.
We all loved this story asediting team and I Just
absolutely like.
As soon as we read it, we justknew this was, this was the,
this was the one that was gonnawin.
Yeah, I really appreciate youStopping by and hanging out for
(21:54):
a little while today and thankyou.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Can I say big thank you to you and your publication
and all your editors and for thecompetition as well, as I
really enjoyed writing it and,yeah, I've enjoyed this
interview and it's just lovely,lovely to meet people in real
life as well, all these writersthat Sort of you know behind the
articles.
It's really lovely to meet you.
So, thank you, thank you verymuch, oh.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
You're very welcome.
And, yes, it is.
It's really really nice toFinally, you know, put faces.
And here, you know you, peopleare not icons, right, people are
human beings and getting tointeract with them in a
different, you know morepersonal ways is Really
eye-opening and you kind ofdiscover that what we're, what
(22:40):
we're doing on on medium andonline, it really has a effect
on a real person.
And once you kind of put thattwo and two together, that gives
you the motivation or at leastit gives me the motivation to
keep going, right.
So I know a lot of times youwrite and you think, man, like
this just isn't like who'sreading this stuff, like I'm
(23:01):
writing and working all thistime, like what for what, like
what is happening, and so, yeah,it's really good.
Then that's why we have thediscord community To, you know,
really kind of hang out witheach other and get to know each
other.
So I'll put the link to thediscord Server in the
description and anyone can joinand come hang out with us and
like amazing writers like Heidi.
(23:22):
Well, thank you very much,heidi.
I really appreciate it.
We'll never need to see you.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Bye, thank you, bye, thank you.
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