May 4, 2021 • 22 mins
This is Amy’s ‘5th Thing’ (a bonus episode). ‘4 Things With Amy Brown’ comes out every Thursday, but on Tuesdays Amy shares emails and answers questions that have been sent in. Today’s emails address: life’s simple pleasures (continued), the importance of gathering family recipes, seeing lost loved ones as birds, and how to help a friend that has cancer. *To send Amy something for the 5th thing just email: 4ThingsWithAmyBrown@gmail.com!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Happy Tuesday, everybody. Welcome to the Fifth Thing. So excited
that so many of you join us for this bonus
episode to the Four Things podcast, where I go over
emails or notes that you have sent into me, and
sometimes I'm answering a question, but sometimes I'm just straight
up reading whatever you sent in because I think that
it will be encouragement to somebody else that is listening.
(00:24):
So I just want to say in the beginning, thank
you to everybody that reaches out, because it's not lost
on me that it takes a lot to take time
out of your day and get out your computer or
your phone and then find the email and then send
me a note, which the email, by the way, is
four Things with Amy Brown at gmail dot com. In
case you didn't know it, My Instagram is at Radio Amy.
Sometimes I pulled d m s from there, but I
(00:45):
love being able to hear from each of you and
connect with you in that way, and then you never
know when your note might pop up on a Fifth
Thing episode. But I do always start Tuesday shows off
with a quote, and today's is from the Good Quote.
That's just something I think they pulled from another account
called Fairies Forum, but it caught my eye and it
(01:05):
said did you heal or did you just force yourself
to forget? And I thought I would just share that
simple quote, that question something for you to maybe spend
some time with, meditate on. I mean, sometimes we don't
realize why we're acting the way that we're acting, and
if we dig a little deeper and do some work,
while we maybe have done our best to forget whatever
(01:25):
it is that happened to us that really hurt us,
maybe we didn't really heal from it. And that's what
continues to pop up over and over again, but in
different ways. Like you maybe think you buried it, it's
long gone, it doesn't matter you forgot about it, but
your mind, your body, it has not forgotten about it,
so it might be popping up in other ways. So
(01:46):
I'll just say it again one more time so you
can spend some time with this. Did you heal or
did you just force yourself to forget? All? Right? The
first email our note I'm gonna get into. Actually this
is from Susan and she sent me a d M
on Instagram, AM, And here is what Susan had to ask. Hey, Amy,
I just finished listening to your latest four Things. It
was great, lots of insightful info with Kat, and I'm
(02:08):
so glad you have some great tools and people to
work with. I do have two questions about the episode.
Can you list all of the simple Pleasures that you
went over? I caught a few, they're good, but I
didn't catch them all. Also, how do I rate and
review the podcast? I'm listening through the I heart app
and I subscribe to all of yours. They're great, the
Bobby Bones Show, Bobby Cast, Mike D's and sometimes the
(02:28):
Sore Losers. Do I have to go to a special site?
Thanks Susan. All right, Susan, I don't even know for
sure if Cat and I got through all ten of
the simple Pleasures that I wanted to go over, because
we just had so much conversation between each thing that
we ended up talking for almost an hour. And again,
if you listen to last Thursday's episode, you know in
the beginning, I was like, this was supposed to be
(02:50):
one thing, but Cat and I had so much fun
with it ended up being well, one thing, but I
didn't get to the three other things on the four
Things podcast. So I will list the ten things just
quickly right now. So you can hear what they came
up within this survey and was the servey that was
done to determine America's favorite simple pleasures, and they ranked
them tend to one And here we go in at
(03:11):
number ten, match on a dating site, number nine, home cooking,
number eight, wearing an outfit that makes you feel good, seven,
seeing flowers and trees blossom. Six, spotting a species of
bird that you've never seen before. I feel that one. Five,
doing exercise, four, finishing a really good book, three, watching
(03:32):
your favorite movie, to a nice dinner, and at number one,
listening to your favorite songs. So there you go. Hope
that helps you out, Susan, And I'm sure a lot
of other people had a similar questions so that I
would just read those off. Those are America's favorite simple pleasures,
according to a recent survey that was done. And Susan,
as for your note about reviewing and rating the podcast
(03:54):
on I Heart, you don't do it there. You can
do it through your podcast app if you want to.
On Apple or iTunes. If you have an iPhone, it
has a little podcast app and you can go subscribe,
rate and review there as well, which Houston shout out
my producer of this podcast. He just told me that
if you have the newest iOS downloaded, then it no
longer says you know, subscribe, and it's no longer like
(04:18):
in your face. You have to hit a follow button
which is now in the upper right hand corner, so
hopefully that'll be easy for you to figure out, Susan.
But you can go follow along there and then you
can rate and review as you please or as you
see fit. And then Houston also told me, if you
have the new iOS download podcast episodes are now being
loaded the oldest episode first, but there is a way
(04:41):
you can go in there and switch that. That way,
new episodes will be at the top. If that makes sense.
All right, let's get to the next email, which is
from Stephanie. Now, before I read what Stephanie had to write,
I am sharing this email because I want to encourage
each of you to get with your family members. If
you know that your mom, your dad, your grandma, your grandpa,
(05:02):
your aunt, your uncle, whomever, your sister has an amazing
recipe and only they know it, only they know how
to make this, and you rely on them solely to
do it, I just want to make sure that they
have it written down somewhere before it's too late. And
this is coming from a daughter who I've I've lost
both my parents. I don't have any grandparents left. Both
(05:23):
my parents had some pretty good recipes that were their
own that they kind of knew. Even when my mom died,
my sister and I were freaking out that we didn't
have her cheesecake recipe anywhere because my mom just kind
of knew it by heart. She didn't feel like she
needed it written down. Then luckily, my aunt found it
in one of her old cookbooks, like a handwritten thing
that my mom had done for her, and it's like few, Okay,
we've got Judy's cheesecake recipe. But my dad, he always
(05:47):
wanted a cookbook, but he never really put everything together.
He just kind of put together the idea of like
each dish he would like to have of his in
the cookbook, and he has what you need, but he
didn't put any of the measurements of what you need,
because again, he was someone that cooked to taste, and
he would kind of, you know, make it and then
take a bite and be like, oh, I'm anna addle
(06:08):
dash of this and a dash of that. Well, he
never took the time to actually measure everything out. So
here's the deal. If my sister and I decide to
and my half brother and half sister decided to do
a little cookbook and honor my dad, like, we're gonna
have to do a lot of testing in the kitchen
to make sure that everything is right because my dad
never got around to doing all the little details that
(06:31):
go into actually providing someone with a legit recipe that
they could recreate and it will still taste as good.
You know what I'm saying. Okay, So that's just my
encouragement to you reach out to people. If you have
something that they make that you love, make sure you
have got it in writing so that way you know
you've got it to honor them. Once they do pass on,
you can still make their amazing food. So this email
(06:52):
is from Stephanie. Hey, you don't have a question, but
I wanted to share something with you. I was listening
to the Live with You and Mary, but I wasn't
listening to it actually really live. Would listen to it later.
And my father in law, Gary passed away unexpectedly when
he was sixty two. He loved to cook and was amazing.
He would make a wonderful Sunday dinners, and one year
for our wedding anniversary, I had a cookbook made for
(07:12):
my husband. I converted all of Gary's handwritten recipes to
electronic files, and I added pictures of him and a
Bible verse that was read at his funeral. My husband
loved the gift. After that, my sister in law's also
used the file to gift it to their husband's too.
I made one from a mother in law and had
a picture of their four boys on the cover. It's
a great keepsake and you'll be so happy to have it.
(07:34):
I'm very sorry for your last At times, there are
just no words that can console the heart. Please know
that I have included your father and your family and
my prayers your friend, Stephanie. All right, Stephanie, thank you
so much for this no and the amazing gift idea
for other listeners. So that is something that maybe they
could do. If they have a loved one and their
anniversary or birthday or whatever is coming up a Christmas present,
(07:55):
you could, if you're listening, maybe compile some fun recipes
from that person's life and make them a little cookbook.
Convert the handwritten into you know files electronic files like
she did. And then while other people in your family
also might benefit from the gift and may be able
to gift it to their loved ones as well. So
very cool, Stephanie, thank you so much for this encouragement
(08:17):
and suggestion. Al Right, next email is from Karen. Now,
before I get into reading Karen's note, I pulled this because,
first of all, a really cool story that I just
want y'all to hear. But also, Karen, if you're listening,
it's crazy that you think your mom is a crow.
But I'll just go ahead and tell you that for
our mom, when she died in two thousand and fourteen,
(08:39):
my sister and I started a five oh one C
three called joy Crow. It's a nonprofit. We didn't really
know what we were going to do with it, and
so far we don't really do much with it on
its own, other than it's a way to support and
come alongside other groups like ESPOA, for example, is not
a five oh one C three, so we can't take
(09:01):
direct donations from people, but sometimes like ESPOA, like the
wheelchair that we recently donated Sweet Lily in Alabama, who
came from the orphanage in Haiti that my kids were at. Well,
we were able to fund raise it through SPOA for
the wheelchair. But since you know, Lily is just a person,
she does She's not a five O one C three,
So it's hard for a squaw because we only donate
to five on three's to just cut a check for something,
(09:24):
if that makes sense. So we are thankful that we
have joy Crow as like like a liaison or a conduit.
I can't think of the exact proper word here, but
it's a way for us to take the money for
the wheelchair that we fundraise for, put it into a
five O one C three, and then joy Crow is
able to pay for the wheelchair, if all of that
(09:46):
makes sense. So in a nutshell, that's what joy Crow does.
But Karen, my sister, loved crows, like she learned all
about crows in the process of naming it joy Crow,
and my mom was all about joy and crows just
like people associate was being negative, but they're actually like
really positive and they're very intelligent and they symbolize like
transformation and change. And I don't remember all of the details.
(10:09):
I feel like I might need to get my sister
on to do a whole thing on crows and why
she was super passionate about calling the nonprofit joy Crow,
and also too, when crows caw at you with no
other crows around, it really might be trying to send
you a message or build a relationship with you. So
I wanted to preface Karen's little email with that fun
(10:31):
fact about our family and crows. But here is what
Karen sent into me. Hey, Amy, I'm a longtime listener
of the Bobby Bones show in your podcast. I have
never emailed before, but I couldn't help myself after today's
(10:53):
episode about your dad being a blue jay. I just
wanted to say that, while it seems crazy, I'm totally
with you. I really think my mom is a c
and whether or not that is even remotely true, it
brings me small moments of happiness. My mom died suddenly
in November of two thousand and seventeen. I immediately flew
to Ohio to help my dad out with her house,
et cetera. The whole weekend I was there, there was
(11:13):
this pack of crows circling the house. It became the
running joke that my mom came back as a crow.
It was the one thing that made us laugh that weekend.
What kind of bad luck do you have to have
to come back as a crow? Well, after that weekend,
I never really thought about it much again. Fast forward
to May third, nineteen. It was a day before my wedding.
I was really having a tough time. My mom was
(11:34):
my best friend, so the idea of getting married without
her was really rough. I was home by myself, and
I was making trips in and out of the house
to load up a van with wedding stuff. On my
second trip out, I noticed a crow was sitting on
the edge of the open van door. By my third
or fourth trip out, the crow was screaming at me.
It wouldn't go away, and it didn't seem phased at
all that it was so close to me. So once
(11:56):
I made sure no one was looking to see how
crazy I looked, I just started talking to it. It
stopped screaming at me, and it stayed on that van
door until I had moved all of my wedding stuff out,
and then it just flew away. I have no idea.
It sounds insane, and I've only ever told that to
my husband because I don't want anyone to think I'm crazy,
but in that moment though, when I needed her the most,
(12:18):
it helped me feel like she was there with me.
And now every time I see a crow, I smile
just a little. So long story short, You're not alone
with the bird thing. Keep doing what you're doing. I
love all your content and I think I've bought all
of your suggestions off your Amazon page, and I'm a
big fan of all things Espua. Also, I want to
thank you for your candid conversations about your mom. They
(12:38):
actually really helped me when I lost mine. Have a
great day, my friend Karen, So Karen this story. I
almost even teared up reading it. I was trying to
hold it together, but I had goose bumps because, yeah,
it really doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, and it
doesn't really matter if our parents are these birds or not.
It really doesn't at the end of the day. It
(13:01):
brings us comfort. Well okay, here I thought I wasn't
gonna cry. It brings us comfort, and it brings us
like small moments of joy and happiness. And if it
makes us think of our parents, then I mean, I
don't think you're crazy at all, and you're not insane
and I just now got to the part where I
was like, oh, yeah, shoot, I wanted to check with
(13:21):
you before I read this email because you had only
ever told it to your husband. But I'm not even
saying your full name, so hopefully you're okay with the
fact that I just read this email. But I think
it will be helpful to people. And I also just
wanted you to know that crows are amazing. And my
sister has again a laundry list of reasons why, so
I really don't think you have to have bad luck
(13:41):
to come back as a crow. I know you put
that in there, and I was like, whoa, whoa. I
wanted to know that crows are awesome, and I will
get that list from my sister so you can be
comforted by that, Karen. But this really is a cool story,
And thank you so much for sharing it with me
and then hopefully being okay that I'm sharing it with
everybody else. And also thank you for being such a
big fan and supporter of all things Spoa. That means
(14:03):
a lot, Like we're able to do a lot of
really cool things in Haiti because you guys help support
what we have going on. Anything a Spoa cool mom
for things even are pimp and joy stuff. We're gonna
have our yearly thing where we partner and build a
home for a veteran and so that'll be coming up
right around the corner really because we do it around
fourth of July each year. But we get to do
(14:24):
all this stuff because of you guys. And we just
wrapped up Mother's Day shopping and we had so many
of you buying gifts from your mom that are helping
new moms in Haiti through Project Meta Share, so y'all
are awesome. And another thing that's going to help the
new moms in Haiti through Project Meta Share is our
Born Year Pullovers. And I know so many of you
have been waiting for these to come out. Trust me,
we are pumped that they're finally releasing as well. They
(14:47):
are so cool. I love the artwork. It's so edgy
and cute, like I want to live in mind mind,
says a d One. Of course, we're don't have all
of the years coming out, but you can follow along
for the details at Shop s Law. I run that
account or at the Shop Forward Mary runs that account,
and the Born Year Pullovers will be releasing this Friday,
(15:08):
so make sure you check in and see if we
have your year coming out. If we don't, we likely
will be adding your year soon. We are a small business.
We can't roll out every year at the same time.
It's just not possible at all. But that is something
exciting that we have in the works that will be
releasing this Friday. All right. Fourth and final email is
from Linda. Hey, Amy, I hope you're getting back into routeinam.
(15:31):
Please remember to take care of yourself, both physically, mentally
and emotionally. I will continue to pray. I was hoping
you could help me. I have a friend undergoing chemotherapy
for breast cancer. Thank god, her prognosis is good. Would
you have any suggestions on skincare or other pampering products
I could give her. I'm also having problems knowing how
to help her. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for
(15:53):
reading this. Take care Linda. Now, Linda, I just know
from my personal experience, but also I just wanted to
get a concise list for you that I could go
over or anybody else listening that may have a friend
or a loved one that has cancer or any other
diagnosis or disease or disorder, something where they might need
some extra love and care during this season of their life.
(16:17):
And I found a helpful article called helpful Tips when
Supporting a friend, and it's from cancer dot net, and
I'm just gonna go through each thing. I'm just gonna
read it off to you so that you can hear it,
although you could google it and search it up yourself
so that way you could have a copy. But just
know that everybody going through cancer is very different. So
these are general suggestions for showing support. Um. One thing
(16:38):
that I love that they had on there was making plans,
Like don't be afraid to make plans for the future,
because this gives your friends something to look forward to,
especially because cancer can be long, entiring cancer treatments that
is there, it can be depending on what they have
going on, it can go on and on. But making
plans for the future give someone something to look forward to. Also,
(16:59):
be flexible if you do make plans in case your
friend needs to cancel or reschedule, like just be super
upfront about how it's no big deal. Make them feel
comfortable with that. Find things to do where you can
laugh together. Also allow space for sadness. Very important. Do
not ignore uncomfortable topics or feelings. You know, I don't know,
it might make you uncomfortable as well, But if you
(17:20):
can just be there for them, hopefully you can allow
for that sadness to take place. Also, check in, like
do check in phone calls. Just let your friend know
when you're going to be calling. Let them know it's
okay if they can't answer the phone, no worries. That way,
you know they don't feel like they have to pick
up depending on how they're feeling. And then you can
offer to help, like ask your friend just straight up
(17:42):
what you can do for them, if there's any specific tasks,
and like lay it out if they've got kids, say
can I pick up your kids from school? Can I
take care of your dog? Can I prep a meal?
And you know, maybe they're gonna be like, oh no,
you don't have to do that, be like, actually, no,
I know that you've got kids, I know that you
need to eat, I know that you've got a pet.
If they deny your offer, move from can I to Okay,
(18:05):
Hey on Tuesday, I'd love to pick up your kids
from school, and Hey, on Thursday, I'd love to take
your dog on a walk. And then hey, next week,
I'm bringing you dinner on Wednesday night. Then you switch
it to that because some people don't feel comfortable even
answering the question. If you do ask, also, you can
talk about other topics and cancer with them, like do
things that don't remind them of what they're going through,
(18:26):
like if they have any interests, hobbies, anything but cancer,
because they definitely need a break from talking about the
disease for sure. You know one thing that was super
helpful for me and my sister. I didn't have kids
at the time, but my sister had four kids when
we were really in the thick of it with my mom,
and she had so many friends that would just show
up and kind of start doing chores around her house
(18:47):
or start doing laundry. So that's another thing, like I
don't know how close you are with this person, but
could you show up and just help them with things?
Or if they have a yard, does their yard need
to be mode or did the weeds need to be pulled?
Can you maybe plant some flowers for them to brighten
their day. I feel like that might be something good.
Shopping for groceries, picking up prescriptions, and you know I
(19:07):
mentioned asking if you could take them a meal. What
if you're the one that organizes a meal train for them,
Like you can go online, start one of those meal trains,
email it out to you know, five ten other people
that maybe are in their life that might want to
help out, and then boom, they can sign up for
a day and you helped coordinate that. Or maybe there's
(19:28):
other support teams that need to be coordinated, Like depending
on what all is going on in your friend's life,
I don't know, but just think about them, what kind
of family they have, what kind of needs do they have,
and how can you build a team to help support
all of those different needs. Because also you can't put
it all on yourself, But there might be other people
in your friend's life that want a way to pitch
(19:49):
in as well, and you can kind of be the
ringleader for that. As for gift ideas, I don't know
about specific products for pampering per se because I don't know.
People's skin might be different during treatment. I don't know
what reactions they may have. They might be super sensitive.
I know for my mom, she didn't want a lot
of smells around her at all. She didn't want to
(20:10):
really be touched because sometimes it was painful, but she
did love a good manny petty appointment, so we would
often go get pedicures for sure. She loved that. My
mom also loved doing crossword and suduco puzzles while she
was in the waiting room at the hospitals. Maybe you
get your friends some note cards or even a journal,
make her a video message from you and mother, friends
(20:32):
and families. Pajamas or robes those are clutch, and also
warm fuzzy socks or really cozy blankets are great because
oftentimes hospitals are cold, so if they're spending a lot
of time there for treatment, that is stuff that I
think any cancer patient would definitely appreciate for sure. So
you're sweet to reach out. And I know, Linda that
(20:52):
you are showing up as an awesome friend, and I
hate that you know she's going through that, but yes,
thank goodness, it was a good prognos us and she
will be on the mind in no time. All right.
Thank you to everyone that listen today, Thank you to
everyone that sent in emails, and yeah, y'all keep them coming.
I would love to hear from you. Four Things with
Amy Brown at gmail dot com and then again on Instagram.
(21:15):
I'm at Radio Amy, but I also run the shop
Squat accounts, so don't forget to follow over there as
well at shop Squa, especially if you want all the
details on the new born Year pullovers that are releasing
on Friday. And I will say that born year doesn't
have to be just for the year you were born.
You can actually rep that year for any special thing
(21:36):
in your life. Maybe it's your husband's born year, maybe
it's your parents, maybe it's one of your kids. Maybe
it is the year you graduated, Maybe it's the year
that something else special happened to you. It really doesn't
have to be the year you were born, but just
wanted to throw that out. There is another option of
why you would maybe want to wear a year on
your chest in a super cute way. I really love
(21:59):
the way these pullovers turned out. I mean, they are
just so cute and I can't wait for all of
you that want them to get them. All right, I
will see y'all on Thursday. I've got Caitlin Crosby, the
founder of Giving Keys on as my guest, so we
will see call on Thursday. Fight
Happy Tuesday, everybody. Welcome to the Fifth Thing. So excited
that so many of you join us for this bonus
episode to the Four Things podcast, where I go over
emails or notes that you have sent into me, and
sometimes I'm answering a question, but sometimes I'm just straight
up reading whatever you sent in because I think that
it will be encouragement to somebody else that is listening.
(00:24):
So I just want to say in the beginning, thank
you to everybody that reaches out, because it's not lost
on me that it takes a lot to take time
out of your day and get out your computer or
your phone and then find the email and then send
me a note, which the email, by the way, is
four Things with Amy Brown at gmail dot com. In
case you didn't know it, My Instagram is at Radio Amy.
Sometimes I pulled d m s from there, but I
(00:45):
love being able to hear from each of you and
connect with you in that way, and then you never
know when your note might pop up on a Fifth
Thing episode. But I do always start Tuesday shows off
with a quote, and today's is from the Good Quote.
That's just something I think they pulled from another account
called Fairies Forum, but it caught my eye and it
(01:05):
said did you heal or did you just force yourself
to forget? And I thought I would just share that
simple quote, that question something for you to maybe spend
some time with, meditate on. I mean, sometimes we don't
realize why we're acting the way that we're acting, and
if we dig a little deeper and do some work,
while we maybe have done our best to forget whatever
(01:25):
it is that happened to us that really hurt us,
maybe we didn't really heal from it. And that's what
continues to pop up over and over again, but in
different ways. Like you maybe think you buried it, it's
long gone, it doesn't matter you forgot about it, but
your mind, your body, it has not forgotten about it,
so it might be popping up in other ways. So
(01:46):
I'll just say it again one more time so you
can spend some time with this. Did you heal or
did you just force yourself to forget? All? Right? The
first email our note I'm gonna get into. Actually this
is from Susan and she sent me a d M
on Instagram, AM, And here is what Susan had to ask. Hey, Amy,
I just finished listening to your latest four Things. It
was great, lots of insightful info with Kat, and I'm
(02:08):
so glad you have some great tools and people to
work with. I do have two questions about the episode.
Can you list all of the simple Pleasures that you
went over? I caught a few, they're good, but I
didn't catch them all. Also, how do I rate and
review the podcast? I'm listening through the I heart app
and I subscribe to all of yours. They're great, the
Bobby Bones Show, Bobby Cast, Mike D's and sometimes the
(02:28):
Sore Losers. Do I have to go to a special site?
Thanks Susan. All right, Susan, I don't even know for
sure if Cat and I got through all ten of
the simple Pleasures that I wanted to go over, because
we just had so much conversation between each thing that
we ended up talking for almost an hour. And again,
if you listen to last Thursday's episode, you know in
the beginning, I was like, this was supposed to be
(02:50):
one thing, but Cat and I had so much fun
with it ended up being well, one thing, but I
didn't get to the three other things on the four
Things podcast. So I will list the ten things just
quickly right now. So you can hear what they came
up within this survey and was the servey that was
done to determine America's favorite simple pleasures, and they ranked
them tend to one And here we go in at
(03:11):
number ten, match on a dating site, number nine, home cooking,
number eight, wearing an outfit that makes you feel good, seven,
seeing flowers and trees blossom. Six, spotting a species of
bird that you've never seen before. I feel that one. Five,
doing exercise, four, finishing a really good book, three, watching
(03:32):
your favorite movie, to a nice dinner, and at number one,
listening to your favorite songs. So there you go. Hope
that helps you out, Susan, And I'm sure a lot
of other people had a similar questions so that I
would just read those off. Those are America's favorite simple pleasures,
according to a recent survey that was done. And Susan,
as for your note about reviewing and rating the podcast
(03:54):
on I Heart, you don't do it there. You can
do it through your podcast app if you want to.
On Apple or iTunes. If you have an iPhone, it
has a little podcast app and you can go subscribe,
rate and review there as well, which Houston shout out
my producer of this podcast. He just told me that
if you have the newest iOS downloaded, then it no
longer says you know, subscribe, and it's no longer like
(04:18):
in your face. You have to hit a follow button
which is now in the upper right hand corner, so
hopefully that'll be easy for you to figure out, Susan.
But you can go follow along there and then you
can rate and review as you please or as you
see fit. And then Houston also told me, if you
have the new iOS download podcast episodes are now being
loaded the oldest episode first, but there is a way
(04:41):
you can go in there and switch that. That way,
new episodes will be at the top. If that makes sense.
All right, let's get to the next email, which is
from Stephanie. Now, before I read what Stephanie had to write,
I am sharing this email because I want to encourage
each of you to get with your family members. If
you know that your mom, your dad, your grandma, your grandpa,
(05:02):
your aunt, your uncle, whomever, your sister has an amazing
recipe and only they know it, only they know how
to make this, and you rely on them solely to
do it, I just want to make sure that they
have it written down somewhere before it's too late. And
this is coming from a daughter who I've I've lost
both my parents. I don't have any grandparents left. Both
(05:23):
my parents had some pretty good recipes that were their
own that they kind of knew. Even when my mom died,
my sister and I were freaking out that we didn't
have her cheesecake recipe anywhere because my mom just kind
of knew it by heart. She didn't feel like she
needed it written down. Then luckily, my aunt found it
in one of her old cookbooks, like a handwritten thing
that my mom had done for her, and it's like few, Okay,
we've got Judy's cheesecake recipe. But my dad, he always
(05:47):
wanted a cookbook, but he never really put everything together.
He just kind of put together the idea of like
each dish he would like to have of his in
the cookbook, and he has what you need, but he
didn't put any of the measurements of what you need,
because again, he was someone that cooked to taste, and
he would kind of, you know, make it and then
take a bite and be like, oh, I'm anna addle
(06:08):
dash of this and a dash of that. Well, he
never took the time to actually measure everything out. So
here's the deal. If my sister and I decide to
and my half brother and half sister decided to do
a little cookbook and honor my dad, like, we're gonna
have to do a lot of testing in the kitchen
to make sure that everything is right because my dad
never got around to doing all the little details that
(06:31):
go into actually providing someone with a legit recipe that
they could recreate and it will still taste as good.
You know what I'm saying. Okay, So that's just my
encouragement to you reach out to people. If you have
something that they make that you love, make sure you
have got it in writing so that way you know
you've got it to honor them. Once they do pass on,
you can still make their amazing food. So this email
(06:52):
is from Stephanie. Hey, you don't have a question, but
I wanted to share something with you. I was listening
to the Live with You and Mary, but I wasn't
listening to it actually really live. Would listen to it later.
And my father in law, Gary passed away unexpectedly when
he was sixty two. He loved to cook and was amazing.
He would make a wonderful Sunday dinners, and one year
for our wedding anniversary, I had a cookbook made for
(07:12):
my husband. I converted all of Gary's handwritten recipes to
electronic files, and I added pictures of him and a
Bible verse that was read at his funeral. My husband
loved the gift. After that, my sister in law's also
used the file to gift it to their husband's too.
I made one from a mother in law and had
a picture of their four boys on the cover. It's
a great keepsake and you'll be so happy to have it.
(07:34):
I'm very sorry for your last At times, there are
just no words that can console the heart. Please know
that I have included your father and your family and
my prayers your friend, Stephanie. All right, Stephanie, thank you
so much for this no and the amazing gift idea
for other listeners. So that is something that maybe they
could do. If they have a loved one and their
anniversary or birthday or whatever is coming up a Christmas present,
(07:55):
you could, if you're listening, maybe compile some fun recipes
from that person's life and make them a little cookbook.
Convert the handwritten into you know files electronic files like
she did. And then while other people in your family
also might benefit from the gift and may be able
to gift it to their loved ones as well. So
very cool, Stephanie, thank you so much for this encouragement
(08:17):
and suggestion. Al Right, next email is from Karen. Now,
before I get into reading Karen's note, I pulled this because,
first of all, a really cool story that I just
want y'all to hear. But also, Karen, if you're listening,
it's crazy that you think your mom is a crow.
But I'll just go ahead and tell you that for
our mom, when she died in two thousand and fourteen,
(08:39):
my sister and I started a five oh one C
three called joy Crow. It's a nonprofit. We didn't really
know what we were going to do with it, and
so far we don't really do much with it on
its own, other than it's a way to support and
come alongside other groups like ESPOA, for example, is not
a five oh one C three, so we can't take
(09:01):
direct donations from people, but sometimes like ESPOA, like the
wheelchair that we recently donated Sweet Lily in Alabama, who
came from the orphanage in Haiti that my kids were at. Well,
we were able to fund raise it through SPOA for
the wheelchair. But since you know, Lily is just a person,
she does She's not a five O one C three,
So it's hard for a squaw because we only donate
to five on three's to just cut a check for something,
(09:24):
if that makes sense. So we are thankful that we
have joy Crow as like like a liaison or a conduit.
I can't think of the exact proper word here, but
it's a way for us to take the money for
the wheelchair that we fundraise for, put it into a
five O one C three, and then joy Crow is
able to pay for the wheelchair, if all of that
(09:46):
makes sense. So in a nutshell, that's what joy Crow does.
But Karen, my sister, loved crows, like she learned all
about crows in the process of naming it joy Crow,
and my mom was all about joy and crows just
like people associate was being negative, but they're actually like
really positive and they're very intelligent and they symbolize like
transformation and change. And I don't remember all of the details.
(10:09):
I feel like I might need to get my sister
on to do a whole thing on crows and why
she was super passionate about calling the nonprofit joy Crow,
and also too, when crows caw at you with no
other crows around, it really might be trying to send
you a message or build a relationship with you. So
I wanted to preface Karen's little email with that fun
(10:31):
fact about our family and crows. But here is what
Karen sent into me. Hey, Amy, I'm a longtime listener
of the Bobby Bones show in your podcast. I have
never emailed before, but I couldn't help myself after today's
(10:53):
episode about your dad being a blue jay. I just
wanted to say that, while it seems crazy, I'm totally
with you. I really think my mom is a c
and whether or not that is even remotely true, it
brings me small moments of happiness. My mom died suddenly
in November of two thousand and seventeen. I immediately flew
to Ohio to help my dad out with her house,
et cetera. The whole weekend I was there, there was
(11:13):
this pack of crows circling the house. It became the
running joke that my mom came back as a crow.
It was the one thing that made us laugh that weekend.
What kind of bad luck do you have to have
to come back as a crow? Well, after that weekend,
I never really thought about it much again. Fast forward
to May third, nineteen. It was a day before my wedding.
I was really having a tough time. My mom was
(11:34):
my best friend, so the idea of getting married without
her was really rough. I was home by myself, and
I was making trips in and out of the house
to load up a van with wedding stuff. On my
second trip out, I noticed a crow was sitting on
the edge of the open van door. By my third
or fourth trip out, the crow was screaming at me.
It wouldn't go away, and it didn't seem phased at
all that it was so close to me. So once
(11:56):
I made sure no one was looking to see how
crazy I looked, I just started talking to it. It
stopped screaming at me, and it stayed on that van
door until I had moved all of my wedding stuff out,
and then it just flew away. I have no idea.
It sounds insane, and I've only ever told that to
my husband because I don't want anyone to think I'm crazy,
but in that moment though, when I needed her the most,
(12:18):
it helped me feel like she was there with me.
And now every time I see a crow, I smile
just a little. So long story short, You're not alone
with the bird thing. Keep doing what you're doing. I
love all your content and I think I've bought all
of your suggestions off your Amazon page, and I'm a
big fan of all things Espua. Also, I want to
thank you for your candid conversations about your mom. They
(12:38):
actually really helped me when I lost mine. Have a
great day, my friend Karen, So Karen this story. I
almost even teared up reading it. I was trying to
hold it together, but I had goose bumps because, yeah,
it really doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, and it
doesn't really matter if our parents are these birds or not.
It really doesn't at the end of the day. It
(13:01):
brings us comfort. Well okay, here I thought I wasn't
gonna cry. It brings us comfort, and it brings us
like small moments of joy and happiness. And if it
makes us think of our parents, then I mean, I
don't think you're crazy at all, and you're not insane
and I just now got to the part where I
was like, oh, yeah, shoot, I wanted to check with
(13:21):
you before I read this email because you had only
ever told it to your husband. But I'm not even
saying your full name, so hopefully you're okay with the
fact that I just read this email. But I think
it will be helpful to people. And I also just
wanted you to know that crows are amazing. And my
sister has again a laundry list of reasons why, so
I really don't think you have to have bad luck
(13:41):
to come back as a crow. I know you put
that in there, and I was like, whoa, whoa. I
wanted to know that crows are awesome, and I will
get that list from my sister so you can be
comforted by that, Karen. But this really is a cool story,
And thank you so much for sharing it with me
and then hopefully being okay that I'm sharing it with
everybody else. And also thank you for being such a
big fan and supporter of all things Spoa. That means
(14:03):
a lot, Like we're able to do a lot of
really cool things in Haiti because you guys help support
what we have going on. Anything a Spoa cool mom
for things even are pimp and joy stuff. We're gonna
have our yearly thing where we partner and build a
home for a veteran and so that'll be coming up
right around the corner really because we do it around
fourth of July each year. But we get to do
(14:24):
all this stuff because of you guys. And we just
wrapped up Mother's Day shopping and we had so many
of you buying gifts from your mom that are helping
new moms in Haiti through Project Meta Share, so y'all
are awesome. And another thing that's going to help the
new moms in Haiti through Project Meta Share is our
Born Year Pullovers. And I know so many of you
have been waiting for these to come out. Trust me,
we are pumped that they're finally releasing as well. They
(14:47):
are so cool. I love the artwork. It's so edgy
and cute, like I want to live in mind mind,
says a d One. Of course, we're don't have all
of the years coming out, but you can follow along
for the details at Shop s Law. I run that
account or at the Shop Forward Mary runs that account,
and the Born Year Pullovers will be releasing this Friday,
(15:08):
so make sure you check in and see if we
have your year coming out. If we don't, we likely
will be adding your year soon. We are a small business.
We can't roll out every year at the same time.
It's just not possible at all. But that is something
exciting that we have in the works that will be
releasing this Friday. All right. Fourth and final email is
from Linda. Hey, Amy, I hope you're getting back into routeinam.
(15:31):
Please remember to take care of yourself, both physically, mentally
and emotionally. I will continue to pray. I was hoping
you could help me. I have a friend undergoing chemotherapy
for breast cancer. Thank god, her prognosis is good. Would
you have any suggestions on skincare or other pampering products
I could give her. I'm also having problems knowing how
to help her. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for
(15:53):
reading this. Take care Linda. Now, Linda, I just know
from my personal experience, but also I just wanted to
get a concise list for you that I could go
over or anybody else listening that may have a friend
or a loved one that has cancer or any other
diagnosis or disease or disorder, something where they might need
some extra love and care during this season of their life.
(16:17):
And I found a helpful article called helpful Tips when
Supporting a friend, and it's from cancer dot net, and
I'm just gonna go through each thing. I'm just gonna
read it off to you so that you can hear it,
although you could google it and search it up yourself
so that way you could have a copy. But just
know that everybody going through cancer is very different. So
these are general suggestions for showing support. Um. One thing
(16:38):
that I love that they had on there was making plans,
Like don't be afraid to make plans for the future,
because this gives your friends something to look forward to,
especially because cancer can be long, entiring cancer treatments that
is there, it can be depending on what they have
going on, it can go on and on. But making
plans for the future give someone something to look forward to. Also,
(16:59):
be flexible if you do make plans in case your
friend needs to cancel or reschedule, like just be super
upfront about how it's no big deal. Make them feel
comfortable with that. Find things to do where you can
laugh together. Also allow space for sadness. Very important. Do
not ignore uncomfortable topics or feelings. You know, I don't know,
it might make you uncomfortable as well, But if you
(17:20):
can just be there for them, hopefully you can allow
for that sadness to take place. Also, check in, like
do check in phone calls. Just let your friend know
when you're going to be calling. Let them know it's
okay if they can't answer the phone, no worries. That way,
you know they don't feel like they have to pick
up depending on how they're feeling. And then you can
offer to help, like ask your friend just straight up
(17:42):
what you can do for them, if there's any specific tasks,
and like lay it out if they've got kids, say
can I pick up your kids from school? Can I
take care of your dog? Can I prep a meal?
And you know, maybe they're gonna be like, oh no,
you don't have to do that, be like, actually, no,
I know that you've got kids, I know that you
need to eat, I know that you've got a pet.
If they deny your offer, move from can I to Okay,
(18:05):
Hey on Tuesday, I'd love to pick up your kids
from school, and Hey, on Thursday, I'd love to take
your dog on a walk. And then hey, next week,
I'm bringing you dinner on Wednesday night. Then you switch
it to that because some people don't feel comfortable even
answering the question. If you do ask, also, you can
talk about other topics and cancer with them, like do
things that don't remind them of what they're going through,
(18:26):
like if they have any interests, hobbies, anything but cancer,
because they definitely need a break from talking about the
disease for sure. You know one thing that was super
helpful for me and my sister. I didn't have kids
at the time, but my sister had four kids when
we were really in the thick of it with my mom,
and she had so many friends that would just show
up and kind of start doing chores around her house
(18:47):
or start doing laundry. So that's another thing, like I
don't know how close you are with this person, but
could you show up and just help them with things?
Or if they have a yard, does their yard need
to be mode or did the weeds need to be pulled?
Can you maybe plant some flowers for them to brighten
their day. I feel like that might be something good.
Shopping for groceries, picking up prescriptions, and you know I
(19:07):
mentioned asking if you could take them a meal. What
if you're the one that organizes a meal train for them,
Like you can go online, start one of those meal trains,
email it out to you know, five ten other people
that maybe are in their life that might want to
help out, and then boom, they can sign up for
a day and you helped coordinate that. Or maybe there's
(19:28):
other support teams that need to be coordinated, Like depending
on what all is going on in your friend's life,
I don't know, but just think about them, what kind
of family they have, what kind of needs do they have,
and how can you build a team to help support
all of those different needs. Because also you can't put
it all on yourself, But there might be other people
in your friend's life that want a way to pitch
(19:49):
in as well, and you can kind of be the
ringleader for that. As for gift ideas, I don't know
about specific products for pampering per se because I don't know.
People's skin might be different during treatment. I don't know
what reactions they may have. They might be super sensitive.
I know for my mom, she didn't want a lot
of smells around her at all. She didn't want to
(20:10):
really be touched because sometimes it was painful, but she
did love a good manny petty appointment, so we would
often go get pedicures for sure. She loved that. My
mom also loved doing crossword and suduco puzzles while she
was in the waiting room at the hospitals. Maybe you
get your friends some note cards or even a journal,
make her a video message from you and mother, friends
(20:32):
and families. Pajamas or robes those are clutch, and also
warm fuzzy socks or really cozy blankets are great because
oftentimes hospitals are cold, so if they're spending a lot
of time there for treatment, that is stuff that I
think any cancer patient would definitely appreciate for sure. So
you're sweet to reach out. And I know, Linda that
(20:52):
you are showing up as an awesome friend, and I
hate that you know she's going through that, but yes,
thank goodness, it was a good prognos us and she
will be on the mind in no time. All right.
Thank you to everyone that listen today, Thank you to
everyone that sent in emails, and yeah, y'all keep them coming.
I would love to hear from you. Four Things with
Amy Brown at gmail dot com and then again on Instagram.
(21:15):
I'm at Radio Amy, but I also run the shop
Squat accounts, so don't forget to follow over there as
well at shop Squa, especially if you want all the
details on the new born Year pullovers that are releasing
on Friday. And I will say that born year doesn't
have to be just for the year you were born.
You can actually rep that year for any special thing
(21:36):
in your life. Maybe it's your husband's born year, maybe
it's your parents, maybe it's one of your kids. Maybe
it is the year you graduated, Maybe it's the year
that something else special happened to you. It really doesn't
have to be the year you were born, but just
wanted to throw that out. There is another option of
why you would maybe want to wear a year on
your chest in a super cute way. I really love
(21:59):
the way these pullovers turned out. I mean, they are
just so cute and I can't wait for all of
you that want them to get them. All right, I
will see y'all on Thursday. I've got Caitlin Crosby, the
founder of Giving Keys on as my guest, so we
will see call on Thursday. Fight
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.