May 29, 2022 • 36 mins
Bonus Episode!! As part of a listener-led series, Amy sat down with podcast listener, Erika Gandy, and answered a list of questions she came up with! Hope you enjoy this little Q&A whether you listen to it on a ‘Sunday Stroll’ {shout out ‘The Walk Thing’ — iykyk!!} or not! :)
4ThingsWithAmyBrown@gmail.com if you would like to lead a Q&A episode!!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Happy Sunday. Welcome to another listener, Q and A episode.
We did about four of these and then had to
take a little bit of a break, but now we're back,
at least with a few In the next several weeks,
we'll have some different listeners coming on today. I am
sitting across from Erica Gandy on Zoom. Hey Erica, Hi,
(00:26):
where are you coming to us from? So I'm coming
to you from Minneapolis, Minnesota, And so how did you
start listening to the Four Things podcast? So I'm actually
like a day one Four Things listener. I'm originally from
South Dakota, so I was lives living in super Balls
and I had to commute an hour to Worthington, Minnesota
to work when I was doing occupational therapy. So we
(00:49):
had a big snowstorm one day and the only radio
station that was on was the one that had the
Bobby Bones Show on. So that's it's funny because it
was when Lunchbox was talking about tack is too, and
I was like, what is this like? But you guys
gotta be hooked. So I've been a listener ever since. Yeah,
(01:09):
lunch Box is definitely the guy to not use for
tax advice, but it is hilarious. Every year his his
tax that that he does and how much money he
gets back. We're worried about him though. One day we're like, Okay,
is he gonna go to jail for some of this?
Who knows? And I also see through the zoom that
you have on and Esplas Star necklace. Yes, so I
(01:30):
got this like, oh gosh, I don't know three or
four years ago. And I will be your biggest like
champion for this necklace because I think the only day
I took it off was for my wedding. Like I
shower in it, I swim in it hot to adminute.
It hasn't rusted, my neck hasn't turned any colors, like
it is amazing. Oh well, I'm so glad you love it.
(01:51):
That's a necklace that's made locally in Nashville by women
that work for a company able and my friend Gracy,
she actually started the will read part of that. And
these are women that are transitioning out of difficult lifestyle
and it provides them work. And then the necklace also
supports Haiti. So I'm a big fan of it too.
And it's so cool that you've been able to wear
(02:12):
it for so many years. Okay, so now I'm done
with the questions for you. You it's your turn to
ask me questions, So take it away, Erica. So um,
A lot of people may see your job obviously on
the radio. You get to host awards shows, go behind
the scenes at big events, and they probably think it
looks so glamorous, And my first question is what is
(02:36):
it really like behind the scenes or like backstage on
the red carpet? And do you have a favorite award
show or festival to work at. My favorite one to
work is our I Heart Country Festival because it's ours
and it always has the biggest people in country music,
and there's fun surprises, like last year we had George
(02:57):
Straight show up and surprise us and it was amazing.
This year, Dirk s Bentley was the surprise guest. But
it's just a rotating stage. What is weird now? Because
these artists have become like our friends or some friends,
some just you know, really good acquaintances because we've interviewed
them so much, or we've seen them here and there,
And so I heard festival the country one is my favorite.
(03:17):
Vegas is pretty cool too because it's all genre and
you see people like Justin timber Lake, or random actors
and actresses that you've loved forever, but like, I don't
know them, so you just kind of passed them in
the hall and you're like, oh, gosh, okay, there's that person.
Know that's so crazy, there's you know. So both of
the I Heart festivals are fun. But obviously I love
(03:40):
the country one too because I'm working the whole time,
and I love the hustle and bustle of a backstage situation.
It's not as exciting as people would think, so I
want to clarify that because it's just seems like, oh, backstage,
but if you've ever been back there, you're like, okay,
this is kind of just boring. But I stay pretty
busy at something like country fest, and I love the
(04:03):
walking from place to place and needing, you know, you
need to be here and then got to be here.
And I learned this year that's why I wore comfortable
cowgirl boots and I did get some questions. I still
haven't posted about my outfit yet because I've been taking
longer breaks from social media. I still have so many
pictures from my Heart Country Festival that I haven't posted yet,
(04:23):
at least at the time that we're recording this. And
I wore these metallic silver boots from Steve Madden and
they were super comfortable, and I'm like, this is the
way to go at country Fest. And I've worn heels
previous years and more uncomfortable shoes, but I'm like, Okay,
Steve Madden coming through with the metallic cowgirl boot, so
(04:44):
probably gonna stick to that. But that to answer some
questions that I've gotten those metallic boots or Steve Madden,
and they have them in a lot of different colors,
so check them out. They fit true to size. In
my opinion, that's good because shoe size is very drastically
all right, So this question kind of goes back to
like a February Bobby Bones show ish, but Maddie from
(05:07):
Maddie and Tay she was on the Bobby Bones Show
in February and she mentioned getting into a fight that
lasted a couple of days with her husband and like
the energy was weird, and I was like, oh, other
people experience that tube. I feel like people don't always
talk about like the hard parts of marriage, and so
I was wondering, since you've been married for about fifteen years. Right, Yes,
(05:29):
what is your real and raw advice for newly married
couples and what are some obstacles that are like kind
of normal to go through if you're newly married. I'll
just go ahead and prepare you for the fact that
you and your spouse are going to grow and change.
And you know, hopefully you grow in the same direction,
but sometimes your your influences are going to be different,
(05:49):
your experiences are different. You might be reading a different book,
you might be hanging out with a different group of
friends that brings different thoughts or topics. Like I think
that I can speak to that personally because my husband
I grew up when knowing each other very young. We
didn't date until we were in our twenties, but I
met him when I was about nine years old, and
we went to the same church. And while I love
the community we had, it was very legalistic and things
(06:15):
were very black and white. And I think as we
grew into our own and we became more, you know, adults,
and I would say even in our mid twenties, we
were still so young, but we were newly weds, and
you know, we put into practice a lot of what
we grew up with. But then as we got older,
I mean now I'm forty one, we evolved, and even
(06:36):
when it comes to something like adoption, Now that's not
a black and white type thing that I'm talking about,
but he we were trying to get pregnant and he
really wanted biological children, and sure he was open to adoption.
But after we had biological children, and I was on
the starting line, like ready to race for that way
faster than he was, he had to get there in
his time. So that's something where we differed. And we
(06:58):
weren't ever able to have buy logical children, so naturally
he kind of just had to to default to it,
but it it took some work. But that's an example
of where I was there first and I had to
wait for him to catch up. And there might be
some things that you encounter where you're somewhere first, or
you're evolving and you're changing, or you have different desires
that your partner doesn't have, and either they are going
(07:20):
to come and meet you where you are or they're not,
And then that's where there needs to be some room
for conversation or some room for grace or some room
for acceptance. But then back to like the how we
had to evolve as a couple, like in our faith
and what kind of church we were going to go
to and how do we want to raise our kids
and it's obviously still an important part to us, but
we just definitely don't want to be in such a
(07:42):
black and white, legalistic type situation and so that took
a lot of work. But that's just an example of
how we evolved in our own time, but then also together.
And then honestly, you have to just realize that we've
been saying this one on the podcast. If you're not evolving,
you're dead. So like looking for those opportunities of growth
and hopefully being able to do it together. But if not,
(08:06):
then that's where you might need to to get some
some third party we'll call it help. And it was funny.
Before we started recording, I was late in meeting Erica
because the Bobby Bones show went late and we had
scheduled this weeks ago and I didn't want to cancel.
But now my whole schedules behind because I was going
to do multiple things before I sat down with you.
But anyway, here we are, and I was like, shoot,
(08:27):
I need to eat because I actually have a couple
of therapy with my husband um later this afternoon, and
I'm not going to be able to go home, but
I know I gotta get food in my belly, So
I just dore dash some Chipotle to the station and
I'll eat that and hopefully show up to therapy in
in a good headspace. And you know, taking care of
yourself before you ever into therapy, I think is important.
(08:50):
So this is me just abmitting like I I also
don't have it all figured out, and my husband and
I have been in therapy all year, and so I
think being open to having others pour into you that
aren't personally invested in your story. Like I love our
therapist because he's really good about making sure that we
(09:12):
hear each other, and he practices mirroring with us, so
like I'll say something and then my husband will say something,
and then we'll mirror it back, and then he'll make
sure did you really hear what he's saying because we
all have different Like he could say something and then
when I repeat it back, it doesn't sound anything like
what he was trying to say, and so he's like, shoot,
is that how you heard that? Because that does not
(09:33):
how I meant that, and then it's a really great
communication tool to use, not even just in marriages, but friendships,
work relationships, parent child relationships. Children feelings seen and heard
is super important. Actually for all humans it is. But
I love that our therapists really never take sides. So
(09:55):
make sure if you are going to do any kind
of couples therapy that you find someone that's gonna be
neutral and and offer a safe space for you to
both sit down and express yourselves. So hopefully I answered
some of what your question is. I know you're we
were talking to newlyweds and I'm like, go to therapy,
But we we We've been in and out of therapy
(10:15):
our entire marriage, and I think that this is a
time where we've fully committed just because of all I mean,
we became parents four years ago, two adopted kids that
were older, and there's that shifts everything when you bring
children into the mix. Different parts of that your partner's
personality come out that you never saw and even in
yourself you're like, well, I don't know, we're just trying
(10:37):
to figure out how to do this and let's just
parent in the way we were parented. Well, I was
parented extremely different than my husband was parented. And by
the way, our kids have different needs than I have
or my husband had because my husband grew up in
a very secure, nurturing, loving home. Mine wasn't as much
because I come from a divorced home. But our kids
have very different experiences, especially coming from an institutionalized situate
(11:00):
ation from an orphanage in Haiti. So you can't parent
all children the same. So I would just say be
prepared for that, be prepared for the curveballs that come,
and not prepared as in like you're going to know
exactly what to do when it happens, but just be
open to the fact and know that it's going to
happen and you might have to pivot and you might
have to stretch and grow and it's going to be hard,
(11:23):
but you never know what's waiting on the other side
of it. On the other side of of growth is
some pretty cool stuff. After a storm, there's beautiful rainbows,
and we just have to hope that you can get
there and life will surprise you. Like my my friend
Cat has something that hangs in her office and it's
like I'm paraphrasing it because I can't remember exactly how
it said, but in my mind I hear it back.
(11:44):
As you know, life stuck sometimes, but it can still
surprise you, like in a good way. And I like
what you said about like your therapist saying, you know,
repeat back and he's like, that's how you interpreted that,
because I was in therapy one time and we discovered
that because of half trauma, sometimes I like black out
during conversations or like things to say. And so my
(12:04):
husband not my husband, but I mean in general, people
can be like, that's not what I said, and I'm like, oh, well,
I'm sorry, Like that's how I interpret it. And I
think just calmly even being able to have those discussions
of like, oh, I'm so sorry, and like owning up
to that is important for the communication part of it,
and just laying down your defenses. I have noticed, just
(12:25):
in the work I've been doing last year, just how
defensive I get. And I don't know why sometimes and
so I'll even catch myself mid sentence having conversations and
I'm like, you know what, I kind of want to
resay that because I'm sounding defensive and I don't want
to be defensive right now. And then I have to
figure out why I'm doing and I'm trying not to
(12:46):
analyze every single word that comes out of my mouth
because I want to just be be me. But then
words are so important and they do matter. But anyway,
we're all works in progress, you know, totally. My next
(13:12):
question is, tell me about mothering children of color as
a white woman, and do you what do you find
the biggest struggles are And with the social term oil
the past couple of years, has that made it anymore difficult.
It's difficult because I cannot relate and I come from
a place of privilege that they will never have, and
(13:34):
so we try to surround ourselves with family friends. They're
obviously not family members of mine because I'm white, but
mentors of sorts. And I've made sure that both of
them are in therapy with you know, my son has
a black man that is his therapist and my daughter
has a black woman, and that has not always been
the case, but that's the change that we made this year.
(13:57):
It's a game changer because there's just certain things that
I'm not going to be able to relate to when
it comes to my daughter and things she's experiencing from
hair to like real issues of like not feeling comfortable
in her skin because of something someone else has said
or done, or something on the news, like if my
son sees that people were shot because they were black. Actually,
(14:19):
I think that one he found on you know, Alexa.
Amazon popped up a news story and it says right there,
and he's like, well, this is why they were shot,
and he he looks at his skin and he then
starts to question so much. And so then there's tough
conversations that we have to have. But I know that
I alone, I'm not equipped to do that, and so
(14:39):
I have been fortunate enough to be able to surround
myself with people that that can be there for them
in that way and and relate to them, like truly relate,
And that's just something I'll never be able to do.
And the therapy part, like I said, and I get
that not all kids are even in therapy or have
access to something like that. So I do also recognize
(15:01):
that privilege of something that I'm I'm able to provide
for them. But I was like, I don't know why
we didn't think of that from the beginning. It's not
that the therapists that we had before we're bad at all.
It just wasn't the same. Like I see a totally
different connection with especially my daughter, like really getting to
sit down with someone once a week that is just
(15:23):
like her and can speak into her in that way
and can relate in a way that yeah, I never
will be able to do you ever, like in your
therapy sessions talk about like your experience like having to
handle those things. I guess so my husband is a
person of color as well, and so we've experienced things
like people with swastika tattoos coming up to us and
(15:44):
like wanting to fight him, and you know, stuff like that.
So do you ever talk to your therapists or have
six scenarios like that? I know your kids are kids,
so people probably aren't as aggressive. Yeah they're not. I
mean I have some people that are just like I'll
be literally next to myself one and this is actually
then being caring, but my son will be right in
(16:05):
front of me and they'll just look at him like terrified,
and they're like, where is your mother? And he'll look
back and say, well, that's my mom and they're like
oh what okay, and then they carry on. But you
know that's just more surprising people sometimes I feel and
secure in a way when I'm walking around because I
don't want anybody to think that I have any sort
(16:25):
of like white savior mentality. And I just in someone
that went to Haiti fell in love with the people there.
We were in the adoption process anyways, adopting domestic baby
any race. We didn't know what we would get matched with,
and then that process took some twists and turns, and
then ultimately we saw the need for older kids at
the orphanage in Haiti, and older is defined as any
(16:50):
kid like two and a half and three and up.
So by the time my kids came to America they
were ten and seven because the process took so long,
but all the newborn abies that the orphanage were matched.
And even though it was going to take a few
years for people to get or maybe two or wonder,
it just depending on how lucky you're unlucky you are
with the process, because I mean, it's just so unpredictable there.
(17:12):
You know, the younger you get a child, the more
time you have in those developmental years, which are super
important to show them that they are safe, they are loved,
they are nurtured. And some kids they age out, and
I'm so thankful that we have our kids and that
they are not in a place where they're now. You know,
(17:32):
my daughter is fifteen, and I just couldn't imagine her
still being at the orphanage. And the crazy thing is
there's there is fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year old still there.
You know, we see pictures were still involved with the orphanage,
and we see them and it's you know, some of
my friends that work closely with the oh, they're passionate
about making sure that those kids are put into a
(17:53):
trade school so they can learn a skill that then
they can use when they get out, because what are
they gonna do? So anway, I just wanted to clarify
some of my insecurities that I feel when I'm out
in public with my kids, maybe from other families that
might not look like mine, and maybe like what is
this white girl doing with these kids? And I am
(18:15):
like okay, Or if you know, sometimes my son he
literally wants nothing to If I touch his hair, he
will freak out, and I get nervous that I'm being judged,
like you don't know how to do his hair, and
I'm thinking, yes, I do. We just had a rough
morning and he doesn't want me to touch his hair,
and we trust me. I want to take care of
(18:35):
his hair, and I have all the products and the tools,
and I'm trying hard and I've watched YouTube videos and
we're figuring it out. But you know, it's just one
of those those things. I think. I feel insecure about that.
But most of my questions with my therapists have to
do with how I can show up for them and
stay calm, because parenting can get hectic at times and
(18:58):
I need to be the calmest person in the room
at all times. So it's mostly working on myself so
that I don't get worked up about certain things and
things don't escalate. Thank you for sharing that we will
transition to something a little lighter. So my next one
is is you're still making bracelets for the Shop Forward
(19:19):
and how hard is it to pick charities that you
want the donations and what not to go towards, because
I know, like people get mad that you're you know,
you've said like they're not covering or you're not doing this,
and you're like, well, I can't do everything well when
it comes to Pimp and Joy, like, we have specific
things that might pop up, or we've got organizations we've
(19:40):
worked with in the past, or like coming up. At
the end of next week, we'll release our Fourth of
July and like our Patriotic Pimp and Joy line, And
for the last four years or so, we've been partnering
with building homes for heroes, so they'll send us some
veterans and then we go through and kind of everyone
as a team collectively, depending on where the home is
being at, the timeline of the home, whether or not
(20:02):
the person is open to being interviewed on the radio,
stuff like that, narrow it down to a veteran that
the Pimp and Joy Patriotic Line is going to support
come fourth of July. So at the end of next
week those shirts will go on sale. But that's kind
of a little behind the scenes process of what we
just got done doing about a week ago. And we're
excited about the veteran and his family and he actually
(20:26):
can't speak for himself after his injuries serving in the
Middle East, but his wife is going to come on
and speak for him in the interview. So we'll be
sharing that on the Bobby Bones Show next week. But
when it comes to a Spua items and Haiti likes
to share his bracelets always go towards the orphanage where
she grew up whenever she does do it. And I
(20:48):
mentioned to her the other day because the Orphanage has
had a lot of needs that have come up, I'm like, hey,
it might be time for another round of bracelets if
you're up for it. But I obviously want it to
be I want her to want to do it, which
she does, but she's been very busy. The school year
was wrapping up, she had tests, she was finishing eighth grade,
and then her summer is actually going to be kind
(21:08):
of busy, and so she's she's like, okay, I will
let's carve out. Sometimes she wants to do it. So
we'll have to get with Mary in the shop forward
and see when those will load up. But when it
comes to other organizations that ESPOA supports, Mary and I
haven't been able to go to Haitian years because it's
not safe currently for us to do so. And it's
(21:30):
a bummer because we want to check in on things
and we that's how we network down there. We meet people,
we see what the needs are and so currently we
have you know, the Orphanage that we support through Team Haiti.
We have My Life Speaks, which is a home for
children and families specifically with special needs. So they're orphans,
(21:51):
but they're not. It's not an orphanage where you adopt from.
They create families within their village, which is a really
special way to go about providing for these kids. It's
actually probably the most impactful way. And then we have
Project Meta Share which is in Central Plateau, Haiti, and
they're doing a lot of medical work. It was founded
(22:12):
by Dr Green out of Miami years ago and they
have a few maternity centers. So those are the main
places that we support. We haven't been able to go
down there and like I said, network and meet and
vet other places. We do want to do our due
diligence and we want to make sure that where we're
donating it's legit and so that way, if you're wearing
(22:33):
like you're wearing the Star necklace and whatever year you
bought it, you might you might know, you might not know,
but you know that it helps spread hope in Haiti,
and it's like, oh, but some people might know. We
have a particular Mother's Day campaign like we just did
with Project Meta Share and they might wear their cool
mom shirt or they might be carrying their four things
tot and know like, oh yeah, this helped provide birth
(22:53):
kits for women in rural parts of Haiti that can't
even make it to the hospital to give birth because
midwives go to them. And this is like life saving
work that's happening. So those are the main organizations we
work with, and we hope to get back to Haiti
one day soon and maybe we'll meet some some other
organizations to come alongside them as well. But that's currently
the process of choosing organizations because but we love them
(23:15):
like I'm not even looking you know. Of course, we
want to know if there's other needs or ways we
can help, but we're not We're not unhappy with the
current group that we have because they're all amazing people
doing really tremendous work, which I'll just say ESPA means
hope in Haitian crill. We might have some new listeners.
I just sometimes assume, so again it means hope. And
(23:37):
then shop SPOA dot com, E S p w A
S where you can find all the items that support Haiti.
I probably forced my husband to be but we have
lots of Spoa stuff and um, you as a couple
(24:00):
of years back, did one for literacy, and so I
think it was a Christmas one where you did your
Christmas favorite Christmas things or whatever, and then it went
to like literacy for children, and he's a teacher, and
I don't think he realized that's what it was for.
And I was like, you need to tell your co
workers to buy them helps of literacy and he's like,
oh my gosh, I didn't know, but yeah, we love
(24:21):
the causes. Um. I also got a retro pimping Joy.
This is probably eighteen. So my next question was if
do you have any updates from those service dogs. Oh? Yeah,
the service dogs are all in action so every so
to update people the retro pimp and Joy repeat shirt. Yes,
that year, our goal was to get a service dog
(24:41):
and name it after every member of the show. So
that's how many we were going to get, which I
can't remember at the time how many that was, but
I think we ended up raising like a d twenty
thousand dollars or something, and the dogs are twenty thousand
dollars each. That's how expensive it is for these veterans
to get a dog. That is life changing for them.
(25:04):
But the training that goes in is obviously it's a lot,
because that's why it's so dang expensive. So it was
really cool to come alongside Canines for Warriors, which was
the organization that we worked with. And so there's an
Eddie Dog and Amy Dog, Bobby Dog, a Lunch Bogs dog,
and so it's really cool. But some of the dogs
(25:25):
they don't always make it through like they started off.
For example, I can't remember which dog this was, but
let's just say it's the Bobby Dog. There was a
Bobby dog and he was going to graduate, but then
he like barked too much and that can be alarming
to a veteran and not exactly ideal for the situation.
And so the original Bobby Dog got kicked out for
(25:47):
barking too much, and so then they replaced it with
another Bobby Dog. And so yeah, now all the dogs
they're out there there with veterans and it's super cool.
I love that so much. Yeah, and thank you for
being a part of that campaign. Oh my god. Of course.
It was I think my first pimp Enjoy item and
it was so soft it was they're probably the soft
shirt son, and so you really are a good endorser
(26:10):
for the stuff that that we have. I one of
those people who I like, I find my niche and
I just stick with it, like I know what I
like and I don't like to stray from it. Yeah, well,
then I gotta tell you you're gonna love this Pimp
Enjoy Patriotic line that's dropping on Friday June three. So
Friday June third, Pimp and Enjoy Patriotic line supporting Building
Homes for Heroes. They are gonna love the veteran that
(26:33):
it's helping, helping them literally build a home that fits
his needs at their a d A certified and he
is in a wheelchair, so like has very specific needs
for a home and it's just gonna bless their family
like so much. I love the work that Building Homes
for Heroes does. But Mary designed the current Patriotic line
(26:55):
and we got it in the mail yesterday and I
sent her text and I was like, oh my gosh,
I love all of this. It is so cute. And
we're taking show pictures early next week and each package
will get a little picture of the show and saying
what it's supporting. And then you know, you get to
wear it on fourth of July and know that, yes,
it helped an amazing cause, but it's high quality. You'll
(27:16):
have it for a long time. I think sometimes people
get confused because they hear, oh, it's a proceeds are
going to a cause, so they feel like it's like
a cheap o charity shirt and it's just not. It's
really high quality stuff. Like Mary doesn't mess around at
the shop forward. She picks out the best of the best,
and it's really cozy, comfy stuff, so you can feel
(27:38):
good wearing it, you can feel good gifting it, and
you really are shopping with a purpose but also shopping
for like style and comfort to totally. So my next
question kind of a silly one, but I'm like a
religious Bobby Bones listener. It's what I listened to in
my car of a podcast listener, and I'm wondering, like,
(27:59):
do you guys sometimes have to quote unquote play dumb
to like some things because there's new listeners. So you know,
Bobby brings up something that like you for sure already know,
are you ever like oh yeah, tell me more? Or
like I mean, I think there is times where we
do have to reset for character building for new people,
and there's yeah, there's no not a lot of people
(28:20):
are listening to the entire show even so we may
reset things multiple times in a day. But when it
comes to things from like years ago, Yeah, there's stories
I have heard probably fifty times, and I'm like, oh,
tell me more. If it's not for character building, if
it's stuff that we're bringing up, like hey, this is
what happened to me yesterday, or this is like we're
(28:41):
in the moment, real time, like this is what's happening.
It's super organic. We in fact, have always had a
rule save it for the air, and if we start
to get into something when we're in a songbreak or
commercial break, Bobby's like that the the save it, save
it because he wants it to play out on the
air for the first time. Or when we all send
(29:03):
in our prep individually the night before, might d Scooba, Stephen,
Bobby are the only ones that see everybody's individual prep
and then they compile the run of show, so I
never know what might pop up. But if you know,
Bobby brings up some lunch box story, I have no
idea what lunch Box submitted the night before, so I'm
hearing it for the first time, and so is everybody else,
(29:26):
and that's the way, or if lunch Box has done
audio for something, I'm hearing those clips with listeners at
the same time, even if the audio pertains to me
or something like I haven't heard stuff back sometimes segments, Yeah,
it might be audio or so story about me that
I don't know that someone's going to bring up, like
the spill the t the throw people under the bus,
like we'd ever know who's who it's about, And so
(29:49):
we're all just kind of sitting there, like, what is
someone going to say? What is my defense going to be?
What happened? And it's pretty organic. But obviously if you've
been a long time listener, you know certain stories and
you know it's not the first time we've heard it. Either,
I never knew if you guys are like here we
go again, like sometimes, or if you're like no, I mean,
(30:10):
I think we all understand that the character building piece
is an important part of looping listeners in and you know,
being on air. As long as we have again, we're
gonna have some loyal listeners that know everything or close
to it, and then we have brand new listeners that
are finding us for the first time, and so it's
important to reset and give a little backstory or give
(30:33):
some context, or or share, you know, a story that
hits well that you know is going to help you understand.
When I say character building, that sounds so behind the scenes.
It's not normally how I talk, but it is something
I keep in mind, Like when I'm prepping a story.
This is getting into the weeds of like my prep
that I do the night before. But I might find
(30:53):
an article that will give Lunchbox an opportunity to talk
about how he's prompting here he was in ninety nine,
and I'll be like, oh, we should talk about this,
because would be a funny way for lunch Box to
be you know, you know, if we talk about it,
Lunchbox will bring up how he was prompt king. Or
you know, if we talk about this island that's for sale,
Lunchbox will talk about how he wants to buy it
(31:13):
because that's all he wants to do with his lottery winnings.
Or if we talk about these people that are graduating
right now and looking for words of advice, like Bobby
can talk about how he just got a doctorate and
spoke at the university of Arkansas, or if we talk
about this kid got free sneakers from Shack or whatever,
Bobby can talk about how man when he was a kid,
(31:33):
he didn't have sneakers and getting free sneakers from people
at church was like really cool. So it's amazing that
Shack is out doing this. So it's just finding things
that are gonna give an opportunity for other people on
the show to build their character for new listeners, because
some listeners may tune in and be like, wait, I
didn't know Bobby grew up poor, But for listeners of
(31:55):
the show for the last sixteen seventeen years, they're like, Okay, yeah, yeah,
we know Bobby grew up or you know that's but
you have to think of it full picture and that
we're speaking to all kinds of people every single day.
And also fun fact if you're if you're new here,
I ramble. Okay, other fun fact. So one of the
(32:15):
previous sessions that we had scheduled, Shannon was like, okay,
any kind of ramble, So you have to cut her
off because it's a deadline. I'm like, listen, I'm a
rambler too and not good at cutting people off, So
maybe we should be last. Well, I know I do
have another interview, so I will do that to am
I Chipotle is hopefully here, and then I'll go off
(32:36):
to my couple's therapy. But I really appreciated our chat
and made me miss the listener Q and A's they
were so fun when I did the last round and
then I just had to hit pause. But that was
just some of that self awareness stuff where I was like, well, okay,
plates getting a little too full. I gotta I gotta
reel it back in and I'll just leave people with
that is Sometimes you gotta assess and evaluate and pivot,
(32:58):
and I'm not the best at it it at all.
I'm trying to, you know, figure a lot of that out.
But I'm thankful that Erica was patient with me, because
I know we did reschedule this multiple times and then
I was late today. So thank you, and thanks to
everyone that just listens to the show. And if you
wanna lead a listener, Q and A, make sure to
(33:19):
send an email to four Things with Amy Brown at
gmail dot com. And I mean that's what you did, right, Erica.
You just sent an email and then said hey, and
then we got back to Yeah, I just kind of
described who I was, what I do, how I feel
connected to you, and then an email so and then
while la here we are, is there anything that you
would like to say to listeners, maybe about who you
(33:40):
are and what you do or anything you want to
shout out or sure. I work for a company in
the cities that does like case management for people with
UM You have to be deemed disabled and many of
them have mental health. You know a lot of schizophrenia,
schizo effective chemical dependency stuff. We deal with a lot
of the almost in transient population. So in the state
(34:03):
of Minnesota, this can very state to state. But if
someone goes into the hospital, if they're homeless, they cannot
discharge them back to the streets, so they have to
be discharged to a skilled nursing facility. So then we
would come in and help make sure they had their
benefits and we'd find appropriate housing and supports for them
in the community. So that's kind of what I started
with and now I do. I'm a designated manager over
(34:25):
a program that does like housing support, so people who
are already in the community and have a stable, stable
housing situation go help them do like grocery shopping or
pick up their medication or go through them mail and
pay bills because you know, some of them are illiterate
and they don't know what it's saying and like checking
their bank account and stuff like that. So that's kind
(34:47):
of what I do. Wow, well that is amazing. It's
hard but fulfilling. And but I think like the work
you do um with Stephen from is it Home Street? Yeah,
Home Street Home. So he came on and gave a
story I think in twenty nineteen, like follow twenty nineteen,
and it was the first Christmas I was spending away
from my family, and so I was like his story
(35:09):
inspired me, and I was like, you know what, I
don't have a lot of money right now, but maybe
I can bake some cookies and on Christmas hand him
out to the homeless people on the streets. Well, some
more got out and I got hundreds of dollars of
donations to go buy water and blankets and like all
this stuff. So even like what you're doing like sparks
ideas for people to give back to their community, and
(35:31):
I think it's super great. Well that's all Stephen, and
he is the best, and like he's amazing, and I'm
so glad you were inspired by him. I am inspired
by him often, you know, I follow him on Instagram
and he came over to the house for dinner a
few months ago with his wife, and you know, I
just wanted my kids to like sit around the table
with him and have a conversation. And we're gonna try
(35:52):
to do something together coming up soon. And he's just
a really, really great guy making a huge impact in
the city. And not only that, I guess yeah, because
he takes the time to go on podcasts, he's impacting
people like you, Erica, So that's super cool. I'm gonna
pass that story along to him like he that will
That's a story that will just blow him away and
me in the world to him. So thank you for
(36:14):
sharing a little bit about you and what you do.
I think that's super cool. And then thanks for the
for the interview for the listener, Q and A, and
we will be back next Sunday with another listener. But yeah,
I hope you have a great rest of the day,
and same to everyone else listening. Bye. Thank you.
Happy Sunday. Welcome to another listener, Q and A episode.
We did about four of these and then had to
take a little bit of a break, but now we're back,
at least with a few In the next several weeks,
we'll have some different listeners coming on today. I am
sitting across from Erica Gandy on Zoom. Hey Erica, Hi,
(00:26):
where are you coming to us from? So I'm coming
to you from Minneapolis, Minnesota, And so how did you
start listening to the Four Things podcast? So I'm actually
like a day one Four Things listener. I'm originally from
South Dakota, so I was lives living in super Balls
and I had to commute an hour to Worthington, Minnesota
to work when I was doing occupational therapy. So we
(00:49):
had a big snowstorm one day and the only radio
station that was on was the one that had the
Bobby Bones Show on. So that's it's funny because it
was when Lunchbox was talking about tack is too, and
I was like, what is this like? But you guys
gotta be hooked. So I've been a listener ever since. Yeah,
(01:09):
lunch Box is definitely the guy to not use for
tax advice, but it is hilarious. Every year his his
tax that that he does and how much money he
gets back. We're worried about him though. One day we're like, Okay,
is he gonna go to jail for some of this?
Who knows? And I also see through the zoom that
you have on and Esplas Star necklace. Yes, so I
(01:30):
got this like, oh gosh, I don't know three or
four years ago. And I will be your biggest like
champion for this necklace because I think the only day
I took it off was for my wedding. Like I
shower in it, I swim in it hot to adminute.
It hasn't rusted, my neck hasn't turned any colors, like
it is amazing. Oh well, I'm so glad you love it.
(01:51):
That's a necklace that's made locally in Nashville by women
that work for a company able and my friend Gracy,
she actually started the will read part of that. And
these are women that are transitioning out of difficult lifestyle
and it provides them work. And then the necklace also
supports Haiti. So I'm a big fan of it too.
And it's so cool that you've been able to wear
(02:12):
it for so many years. Okay, so now I'm done
with the questions for you. You it's your turn to
ask me questions, So take it away, Erica. So um,
A lot of people may see your job obviously on
the radio. You get to host awards shows, go behind
the scenes at big events, and they probably think it
looks so glamorous, And my first question is what is
(02:36):
it really like behind the scenes or like backstage on
the red carpet? And do you have a favorite award
show or festival to work at. My favorite one to
work is our I Heart Country Festival because it's ours
and it always has the biggest people in country music,
and there's fun surprises, like last year we had George
(02:57):
Straight show up and surprise us and it was amazing.
This year, Dirk s Bentley was the surprise guest. But
it's just a rotating stage. What is weird now? Because
these artists have become like our friends or some friends,
some just you know, really good acquaintances because we've interviewed
them so much, or we've seen them here and there,
And so I heard festival the country one is my favorite.
(03:17):
Vegas is pretty cool too because it's all genre and
you see people like Justin timber Lake, or random actors
and actresses that you've loved forever, but like, I don't
know them, so you just kind of passed them in
the hall and you're like, oh, gosh, okay, there's that person.
Know that's so crazy, there's you know. So both of
the I Heart festivals are fun. But obviously I love
(03:40):
the country one too because I'm working the whole time,
and I love the hustle and bustle of a backstage situation.
It's not as exciting as people would think, so I
want to clarify that because it's just seems like, oh, backstage,
but if you've ever been back there, you're like, okay,
this is kind of just boring. But I stay pretty
busy at something like country fest, and I love the
(04:03):
walking from place to place and needing, you know, you
need to be here and then got to be here.
And I learned this year that's why I wore comfortable
cowgirl boots and I did get some questions. I still
haven't posted about my outfit yet because I've been taking
longer breaks from social media. I still have so many
pictures from my Heart Country Festival that I haven't posted yet,
(04:23):
at least at the time that we're recording this. And
I wore these metallic silver boots from Steve Madden and
they were super comfortable, and I'm like, this is the
way to go at country Fest. And I've worn heels
previous years and more uncomfortable shoes, but I'm like, Okay,
Steve Madden coming through with the metallic cowgirl boot, so
(04:44):
probably gonna stick to that. But that to answer some
questions that I've gotten those metallic boots or Steve Madden,
and they have them in a lot of different colors,
so check them out. They fit true to size. In
my opinion, that's good because shoe size is very drastically
all right, So this question kind of goes back to
like a February Bobby Bones show ish, but Maddie from
(05:07):
Maddie and Tay she was on the Bobby Bones Show
in February and she mentioned getting into a fight that
lasted a couple of days with her husband and like
the energy was weird, and I was like, oh, other
people experience that tube. I feel like people don't always
talk about like the hard parts of marriage, and so
I was wondering, since you've been married for about fifteen years. Right, Yes,
(05:29):
what is your real and raw advice for newly married
couples and what are some obstacles that are like kind
of normal to go through if you're newly married. I'll
just go ahead and prepare you for the fact that
you and your spouse are going to grow and change.
And you know, hopefully you grow in the same direction,
but sometimes your your influences are going to be different,
(05:49):
your experiences are different. You might be reading a different book,
you might be hanging out with a different group of
friends that brings different thoughts or topics. Like I think
that I can speak to that personally because my husband
I grew up when knowing each other very young. We
didn't date until we were in our twenties, but I
met him when I was about nine years old, and
we went to the same church. And while I love
the community we had, it was very legalistic and things
(06:15):
were very black and white. And I think as we
grew into our own and we became more, you know, adults,
and I would say even in our mid twenties, we
were still so young, but we were newly weds, and
you know, we put into practice a lot of what
we grew up with. But then as we got older,
I mean now I'm forty one, we evolved, and even
(06:36):
when it comes to something like adoption, Now that's not
a black and white type thing that I'm talking about,
but he we were trying to get pregnant and he
really wanted biological children, and sure he was open to adoption.
But after we had biological children, and I was on
the starting line, like ready to race for that way
faster than he was, he had to get there in
his time. So that's something where we differed. And we
(06:58):
weren't ever able to have buy logical children, so naturally
he kind of just had to to default to it,
but it it took some work. But that's an example
of where I was there first and I had to
wait for him to catch up. And there might be
some things that you encounter where you're somewhere first, or
you're evolving and you're changing, or you have different desires
that your partner doesn't have, and either they are going
(07:20):
to come and meet you where you are or they're not,
And then that's where there needs to be some room
for conversation or some room for grace or some room
for acceptance. But then back to like the how we
had to evolve as a couple, like in our faith
and what kind of church we were going to go
to and how do we want to raise our kids
and it's obviously still an important part to us, but
we just definitely don't want to be in such a
(07:42):
black and white, legalistic type situation and so that took
a lot of work. But that's just an example of
how we evolved in our own time, but then also together.
And then honestly, you have to just realize that we've
been saying this one on the podcast. If you're not evolving,
you're dead. So like looking for those opportunities of growth
and hopefully being able to do it together. But if not,
(08:06):
then that's where you might need to to get some
some third party we'll call it help. And it was funny.
Before we started recording, I was late in meeting Erica
because the Bobby Bones show went late and we had
scheduled this weeks ago and I didn't want to cancel.
But now my whole schedules behind because I was going
to do multiple things before I sat down with you.
But anyway, here we are, and I was like, shoot,
(08:27):
I need to eat because I actually have a couple
of therapy with my husband um later this afternoon, and
I'm not going to be able to go home, but
I know I gotta get food in my belly, So
I just dore dash some Chipotle to the station and
I'll eat that and hopefully show up to therapy in
in a good headspace. And you know, taking care of
yourself before you ever into therapy, I think is important.
(08:50):
So this is me just abmitting like I I also
don't have it all figured out, and my husband and
I have been in therapy all year, and so I
think being open to having others pour into you that
aren't personally invested in your story. Like I love our
therapist because he's really good about making sure that we
(09:12):
hear each other, and he practices mirroring with us, so
like I'll say something and then my husband will say something,
and then we'll mirror it back, and then he'll make
sure did you really hear what he's saying because we
all have different Like he could say something and then
when I repeat it back, it doesn't sound anything like
what he was trying to say, and so he's like, shoot,
is that how you heard that? Because that does not
(09:33):
how I meant that, and then it's a really great
communication tool to use, not even just in marriages, but friendships,
work relationships, parent child relationships. Children feelings seen and heard
is super important. Actually for all humans it is. But
I love that our therapists really never take sides. So
(09:55):
make sure if you are going to do any kind
of couples therapy that you find someone that's gonna be
neutral and and offer a safe space for you to
both sit down and express yourselves. So hopefully I answered
some of what your question is. I know you're we
were talking to newlyweds and I'm like, go to therapy,
But we we We've been in and out of therapy
(10:15):
our entire marriage, and I think that this is a
time where we've fully committed just because of all I mean,
we became parents four years ago, two adopted kids that
were older, and there's that shifts everything when you bring
children into the mix. Different parts of that your partner's
personality come out that you never saw and even in
yourself you're like, well, I don't know, we're just trying
(10:37):
to figure out how to do this and let's just
parent in the way we were parented. Well, I was
parented extremely different than my husband was parented. And by
the way, our kids have different needs than I have
or my husband had because my husband grew up in
a very secure, nurturing, loving home. Mine wasn't as much
because I come from a divorced home. But our kids
have very different experiences, especially coming from an institutionalized situate
(11:00):
ation from an orphanage in Haiti. So you can't parent
all children the same. So I would just say be
prepared for that, be prepared for the curveballs that come,
and not prepared as in like you're going to know
exactly what to do when it happens, but just be
open to the fact and know that it's going to
happen and you might have to pivot and you might
have to stretch and grow and it's going to be hard,
(11:23):
but you never know what's waiting on the other side
of it. On the other side of of growth is
some pretty cool stuff. After a storm, there's beautiful rainbows,
and we just have to hope that you can get
there and life will surprise you. Like my my friend
Cat has something that hangs in her office and it's
like I'm paraphrasing it because I can't remember exactly how
it said, but in my mind I hear it back.
(11:44):
As you know, life stuck sometimes, but it can still
surprise you, like in a good way. And I like
what you said about like your therapist saying, you know,
repeat back and he's like, that's how you interpreted that,
because I was in therapy one time and we discovered
that because of half trauma, sometimes I like black out
during conversations or like things to say. And so my
(12:04):
husband not my husband, but I mean in general, people
can be like, that's not what I said, and I'm like, oh, well,
I'm sorry, Like that's how I interpret it. And I
think just calmly even being able to have those discussions
of like, oh, I'm so sorry, and like owning up
to that is important for the communication part of it,
and just laying down your defenses. I have noticed, just
(12:25):
in the work I've been doing last year, just how
defensive I get. And I don't know why sometimes and
so I'll even catch myself mid sentence having conversations and
I'm like, you know what, I kind of want to
resay that because I'm sounding defensive and I don't want
to be defensive right now. And then I have to
figure out why I'm doing and I'm trying not to
(12:46):
analyze every single word that comes out of my mouth
because I want to just be be me. But then
words are so important and they do matter. But anyway,
we're all works in progress, you know, totally. My next
(13:12):
question is, tell me about mothering children of color as
a white woman, and do you what do you find
the biggest struggles are And with the social term oil
the past couple of years, has that made it anymore difficult.
It's difficult because I cannot relate and I come from
a place of privilege that they will never have, and
(13:34):
so we try to surround ourselves with family friends. They're
obviously not family members of mine because I'm white, but
mentors of sorts. And I've made sure that both of
them are in therapy with you know, my son has
a black man that is his therapist and my daughter
has a black woman, and that has not always been
the case, but that's the change that we made this year.
(13:57):
It's a game changer because there's just certain things that
I'm not going to be able to relate to when
it comes to my daughter and things she's experiencing from
hair to like real issues of like not feeling comfortable
in her skin because of something someone else has said
or done, or something on the news, like if my
son sees that people were shot because they were black. Actually,
(14:19):
I think that one he found on you know, Alexa.
Amazon popped up a news story and it says right there,
and he's like, well, this is why they were shot,
and he he looks at his skin and he then
starts to question so much. And so then there's tough
conversations that we have to have. But I know that
I alone, I'm not equipped to do that, and so
(14:39):
I have been fortunate enough to be able to surround
myself with people that that can be there for them
in that way and and relate to them, like truly relate,
And that's just something I'll never be able to do.
And the therapy part, like I said, and I get
that not all kids are even in therapy or have
access to something like that. So I do also recognize
(15:01):
that privilege of something that I'm I'm able to provide
for them. But I was like, I don't know why
we didn't think of that from the beginning. It's not
that the therapists that we had before we're bad at all.
It just wasn't the same. Like I see a totally
different connection with especially my daughter, like really getting to
sit down with someone once a week that is just
(15:23):
like her and can speak into her in that way
and can relate in a way that yeah, I never
will be able to do you ever, like in your
therapy sessions talk about like your experience like having to
handle those things. I guess so my husband is a
person of color as well, and so we've experienced things
like people with swastika tattoos coming up to us and
(15:44):
like wanting to fight him, and you know, stuff like that.
So do you ever talk to your therapists or have
six scenarios like that? I know your kids are kids,
so people probably aren't as aggressive. Yeah they're not. I
mean I have some people that are just like I'll
be literally next to myself one and this is actually
then being caring, but my son will be right in
(16:05):
front of me and they'll just look at him like terrified,
and they're like, where is your mother? And he'll look
back and say, well, that's my mom and they're like
oh what okay, and then they carry on. But you
know that's just more surprising people sometimes I feel and
secure in a way when I'm walking around because I
don't want anybody to think that I have any sort
(16:25):
of like white savior mentality. And I just in someone
that went to Haiti fell in love with the people there.
We were in the adoption process anyways, adopting domestic baby
any race. We didn't know what we would get matched with,
and then that process took some twists and turns, and
then ultimately we saw the need for older kids at
the orphanage in Haiti, and older is defined as any
(16:50):
kid like two and a half and three and up.
So by the time my kids came to America they
were ten and seven because the process took so long,
but all the newborn abies that the orphanage were matched.
And even though it was going to take a few
years for people to get or maybe two or wonder,
it just depending on how lucky you're unlucky you are
with the process, because I mean, it's just so unpredictable there.
(17:12):
You know, the younger you get a child, the more
time you have in those developmental years, which are super
important to show them that they are safe, they are loved,
they are nurtured. And some kids they age out, and
I'm so thankful that we have our kids and that
they are not in a place where they're now. You know,
(17:32):
my daughter is fifteen, and I just couldn't imagine her
still being at the orphanage. And the crazy thing is
there's there is fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year old still there.
You know, we see pictures were still involved with the orphanage,
and we see them and it's you know, some of
my friends that work closely with the oh, they're passionate
about making sure that those kids are put into a
(17:53):
trade school so they can learn a skill that then
they can use when they get out, because what are
they gonna do? So anway, I just wanted to clarify
some of my insecurities that I feel when I'm out
in public with my kids, maybe from other families that
might not look like mine, and maybe like what is
this white girl doing with these kids? And I am
(18:15):
like okay, Or if you know, sometimes my son he
literally wants nothing to If I touch his hair, he
will freak out, and I get nervous that I'm being judged,
like you don't know how to do his hair, and
I'm thinking, yes, I do. We just had a rough
morning and he doesn't want me to touch his hair,
and we trust me. I want to take care of
(18:35):
his hair, and I have all the products and the tools,
and I'm trying hard and I've watched YouTube videos and
we're figuring it out. But you know, it's just one
of those those things. I think. I feel insecure about that.
But most of my questions with my therapists have to
do with how I can show up for them and
stay calm, because parenting can get hectic at times and
(18:58):
I need to be the calmest person in the room
at all times. So it's mostly working on myself so
that I don't get worked up about certain things and
things don't escalate. Thank you for sharing that we will
transition to something a little lighter. So my next one
is is you're still making bracelets for the Shop Forward
(19:19):
and how hard is it to pick charities that you
want the donations and what not to go towards, because
I know, like people get mad that you're you know,
you've said like they're not covering or you're not doing this,
and you're like, well, I can't do everything well when
it comes to Pimp and Joy, like, we have specific
things that might pop up, or we've got organizations we've
(19:40):
worked with in the past, or like coming up. At
the end of next week, we'll release our Fourth of
July and like our Patriotic Pimp and Joy line, And
for the last four years or so, we've been partnering
with building homes for heroes, so they'll send us some
veterans and then we go through and kind of everyone
as a team collectively, depending on where the home is
being at, the timeline of the home, whether or not
(20:02):
the person is open to being interviewed on the radio,
stuff like that, narrow it down to a veteran that
the Pimp and Joy Patriotic Line is going to support
come fourth of July. So at the end of next
week those shirts will go on sale. But that's kind
of a little behind the scenes process of what we
just got done doing about a week ago. And we're
excited about the veteran and his family and he actually
(20:26):
can't speak for himself after his injuries serving in the
Middle East, but his wife is going to come on
and speak for him in the interview. So we'll be
sharing that on the Bobby Bones Show next week. But
when it comes to a Spua items and Haiti likes
to share his bracelets always go towards the orphanage where
she grew up whenever she does do it. And I
(20:48):
mentioned to her the other day because the Orphanage has
had a lot of needs that have come up, I'm like, hey,
it might be time for another round of bracelets if
you're up for it. But I obviously want it to
be I want her to want to do it, which
she does, but she's been very busy. The school year
was wrapping up, she had tests, she was finishing eighth grade,
and then her summer is actually going to be kind
(21:08):
of busy, and so she's she's like, okay, I will
let's carve out. Sometimes she wants to do it. So
we'll have to get with Mary in the shop forward
and see when those will load up. But when it
comes to other organizations that ESPOA supports, Mary and I
haven't been able to go to Haitian years because it's
not safe currently for us to do so. And it's
(21:30):
a bummer because we want to check in on things
and we that's how we network down there. We meet people,
we see what the needs are and so currently we
have you know, the Orphanage that we support through Team Haiti.
We have My Life Speaks, which is a home for
children and families specifically with special needs. So they're orphans,
(21:51):
but they're not. It's not an orphanage where you adopt from.
They create families within their village, which is a really
special way to go about providing for these kids. It's
actually probably the most impactful way. And then we have
Project Meta Share which is in Central Plateau, Haiti, and
they're doing a lot of medical work. It was founded
(22:12):
by Dr Green out of Miami years ago and they
have a few maternity centers. So those are the main
places that we support. We haven't been able to go
down there and like I said, network and meet and
vet other places. We do want to do our due
diligence and we want to make sure that where we're
donating it's legit and so that way, if you're wearing
(22:33):
like you're wearing the Star necklace and whatever year you
bought it, you might you might know, you might not know,
but you know that it helps spread hope in Haiti,
and it's like, oh, but some people might know. We
have a particular Mother's Day campaign like we just did
with Project Meta Share and they might wear their cool
mom shirt or they might be carrying their four things
tot and know like, oh yeah, this helped provide birth
(22:53):
kits for women in rural parts of Haiti that can't
even make it to the hospital to give birth because
midwives go to them. And this is like life saving
work that's happening. So those are the main organizations we
work with, and we hope to get back to Haiti
one day soon and maybe we'll meet some some other
organizations to come alongside them as well. But that's currently
the process of choosing organizations because but we love them
(23:15):
like I'm not even looking you know. Of course, we
want to know if there's other needs or ways we
can help, but we're not We're not unhappy with the
current group that we have because they're all amazing people
doing really tremendous work, which I'll just say ESPA means
hope in Haitian crill. We might have some new listeners.
I just sometimes assume, so again it means hope. And
(23:37):
then shop SPOA dot com, E S p w A
S where you can find all the items that support Haiti.
I probably forced my husband to be but we have
lots of Spoa stuff and um, you as a couple
(24:00):
of years back, did one for literacy, and so I
think it was a Christmas one where you did your
Christmas favorite Christmas things or whatever, and then it went
to like literacy for children, and he's a teacher, and
I don't think he realized that's what it was for.
And I was like, you need to tell your co
workers to buy them helps of literacy and he's like,
oh my gosh, I didn't know, but yeah, we love
(24:21):
the causes. Um. I also got a retro pimping Joy.
This is probably eighteen. So my next question was if
do you have any updates from those service dogs. Oh? Yeah,
the service dogs are all in action so every so
to update people the retro pimp and Joy repeat shirt. Yes,
that year, our goal was to get a service dog
(24:41):
and name it after every member of the show. So
that's how many we were going to get, which I
can't remember at the time how many that was, but
I think we ended up raising like a d twenty
thousand dollars or something, and the dogs are twenty thousand
dollars each. That's how expensive it is for these veterans
to get a dog. That is life changing for them.
(25:04):
But the training that goes in is obviously it's a lot,
because that's why it's so dang expensive. So it was
really cool to come alongside Canines for Warriors, which was
the organization that we worked with. And so there's an
Eddie Dog and Amy Dog, Bobby Dog, a Lunch Bogs dog,
and so it's really cool. But some of the dogs
(25:25):
they don't always make it through like they started off.
For example, I can't remember which dog this was, but
let's just say it's the Bobby Dog. There was a
Bobby dog and he was going to graduate, but then
he like barked too much and that can be alarming
to a veteran and not exactly ideal for the situation.
And so the original Bobby Dog got kicked out for
(25:47):
barking too much, and so then they replaced it with
another Bobby Dog. And so yeah, now all the dogs
they're out there there with veterans and it's super cool.
I love that so much. Yeah, and thank you for
being a part of that campaign. Oh my god. Of course.
It was I think my first pimp Enjoy item and
it was so soft it was they're probably the soft
shirt son, and so you really are a good endorser
(26:10):
for the stuff that that we have. I one of
those people who I like, I find my niche and
I just stick with it, like I know what I
like and I don't like to stray from it. Yeah, well,
then I gotta tell you you're gonna love this Pimp
Enjoy Patriotic line that's dropping on Friday June three. So
Friday June third, Pimp and Enjoy Patriotic line supporting Building
Homes for Heroes. They are gonna love the veteran that
(26:33):
it's helping, helping them literally build a home that fits
his needs at their a d A certified and he
is in a wheelchair, so like has very specific needs
for a home and it's just gonna bless their family
like so much. I love the work that Building Homes
for Heroes does. But Mary designed the current Patriotic line
(26:55):
and we got it in the mail yesterday and I
sent her text and I was like, oh my gosh,
I love all of this. It is so cute. And
we're taking show pictures early next week and each package
will get a little picture of the show and saying
what it's supporting. And then you know, you get to
wear it on fourth of July and know that, yes,
it helped an amazing cause, but it's high quality. You'll
(27:16):
have it for a long time. I think sometimes people
get confused because they hear, oh, it's a proceeds are
going to a cause, so they feel like it's like
a cheap o charity shirt and it's just not. It's
really high quality stuff. Like Mary doesn't mess around at
the shop forward. She picks out the best of the best,
and it's really cozy, comfy stuff, so you can feel
(27:38):
good wearing it, you can feel good gifting it, and
you really are shopping with a purpose but also shopping
for like style and comfort to totally. So my next
question kind of a silly one, but I'm like a
religious Bobby Bones listener. It's what I listened to in
my car of a podcast listener, and I'm wondering, like,
(27:59):
do you guys sometimes have to quote unquote play dumb
to like some things because there's new listeners. So you know,
Bobby brings up something that like you for sure already know,
are you ever like oh yeah, tell me more? Or
like I mean, I think there is times where we
do have to reset for character building for new people,
and there's yeah, there's no not a lot of people
(28:20):
are listening to the entire show even so we may
reset things multiple times in a day. But when it
comes to things from like years ago, Yeah, there's stories
I have heard probably fifty times, and I'm like, oh,
tell me more. If it's not for character building, if
it's stuff that we're bringing up, like hey, this is
what happened to me yesterday, or this is like we're
(28:41):
in the moment, real time, like this is what's happening.
It's super organic. We in fact, have always had a
rule save it for the air, and if we start
to get into something when we're in a songbreak or
commercial break, Bobby's like that the the save it, save
it because he wants it to play out on the
air for the first time. Or when we all send
(29:03):
in our prep individually the night before, might d Scooba, Stephen,
Bobby are the only ones that see everybody's individual prep
and then they compile the run of show, so I
never know what might pop up. But if you know,
Bobby brings up some lunch box story, I have no
idea what lunch Box submitted the night before, so I'm
hearing it for the first time, and so is everybody else,
(29:26):
and that's the way, or if lunch Box has done
audio for something, I'm hearing those clips with listeners at
the same time, even if the audio pertains to me
or something like I haven't heard stuff back sometimes segments, Yeah,
it might be audio or so story about me that
I don't know that someone's going to bring up, like
the spill the t the throw people under the bus,
like we'd ever know who's who it's about, And so
(29:49):
we're all just kind of sitting there, like, what is
someone going to say? What is my defense going to be?
What happened? And it's pretty organic. But obviously if you've
been a long time listener, you know certain stories and
you know it's not the first time we've heard it. Either,
I never knew if you guys are like here we
go again, like sometimes, or if you're like no, I mean,
(30:10):
I think we all understand that the character building piece
is an important part of looping listeners in and you know,
being on air. As long as we have again, we're
gonna have some loyal listeners that know everything or close
to it, and then we have brand new listeners that
are finding us for the first time, and so it's
important to reset and give a little backstory or give
(30:33):
some context, or or share, you know, a story that
hits well that you know is going to help you understand.
When I say character building, that sounds so behind the scenes.
It's not normally how I talk, but it is something
I keep in mind, Like when I'm prepping a story.
This is getting into the weeds of like my prep
that I do the night before. But I might find
(30:53):
an article that will give Lunchbox an opportunity to talk
about how he's prompting here he was in ninety nine,
and I'll be like, oh, we should talk about this,
because would be a funny way for lunch Box to
be you know, you know, if we talk about it,
Lunchbox will bring up how he was prompt king. Or
you know, if we talk about this island that's for sale,
Lunchbox will talk about how he wants to buy it
(31:13):
because that's all he wants to do with his lottery winnings.
Or if we talk about these people that are graduating
right now and looking for words of advice, like Bobby
can talk about how he just got a doctorate and
spoke at the university of Arkansas, or if we talk
about this kid got free sneakers from Shack or whatever,
Bobby can talk about how man when he was a kid,
(31:33):
he didn't have sneakers and getting free sneakers from people
at church was like really cool. So it's amazing that
Shack is out doing this. So it's just finding things
that are gonna give an opportunity for other people on
the show to build their character for new listeners, because
some listeners may tune in and be like, wait, I
didn't know Bobby grew up poor, But for listeners of
(31:55):
the show for the last sixteen seventeen years, they're like, Okay, yeah, yeah,
we know Bobby grew up or you know that's but
you have to think of it full picture and that
we're speaking to all kinds of people every single day.
And also fun fact if you're if you're new here,
I ramble. Okay, other fun fact. So one of the
(32:15):
previous sessions that we had scheduled, Shannon was like, okay,
any kind of ramble, So you have to cut her
off because it's a deadline. I'm like, listen, I'm a
rambler too and not good at cutting people off, So
maybe we should be last. Well, I know I do
have another interview, so I will do that to am
I Chipotle is hopefully here, and then I'll go off
(32:36):
to my couple's therapy. But I really appreciated our chat
and made me miss the listener Q and A's they
were so fun when I did the last round and
then I just had to hit pause. But that was
just some of that self awareness stuff where I was like, well, okay,
plates getting a little too full. I gotta I gotta
reel it back in and I'll just leave people with
that is Sometimes you gotta assess and evaluate and pivot,
(32:58):
and I'm not the best at it it at all.
I'm trying to, you know, figure a lot of that out.
But I'm thankful that Erica was patient with me, because
I know we did reschedule this multiple times and then
I was late today. So thank you, and thanks to
everyone that just listens to the show. And if you
wanna lead a listener, Q and A, make sure to
(33:19):
send an email to four Things with Amy Brown at
gmail dot com. And I mean that's what you did, right, Erica.
You just sent an email and then said hey, and
then we got back to Yeah, I just kind of
described who I was, what I do, how I feel
connected to you, and then an email so and then
while la here we are, is there anything that you
would like to say to listeners, maybe about who you
(33:40):
are and what you do or anything you want to
shout out or sure. I work for a company in
the cities that does like case management for people with
UM You have to be deemed disabled and many of
them have mental health. You know a lot of schizophrenia,
schizo effective chemical dependency stuff. We deal with a lot
of the almost in transient population. So in the state
(34:03):
of Minnesota, this can very state to state. But if
someone goes into the hospital, if they're homeless, they cannot
discharge them back to the streets, so they have to
be discharged to a skilled nursing facility. So then we
would come in and help make sure they had their
benefits and we'd find appropriate housing and supports for them
in the community. So that's kind of what I started
with and now I do. I'm a designated manager over
(34:25):
a program that does like housing support, so people who
are already in the community and have a stable, stable
housing situation go help them do like grocery shopping or
pick up their medication or go through them mail and
pay bills because you know, some of them are illiterate
and they don't know what it's saying and like checking
their bank account and stuff like that. So that's kind
(34:47):
of what I do. Wow, well that is amazing. It's
hard but fulfilling. And but I think like the work
you do um with Stephen from is it Home Street? Yeah,
Home Street Home. So he came on and gave a
story I think in twenty nineteen, like follow twenty nineteen,
and it was the first Christmas I was spending away
from my family, and so I was like his story
(35:09):
inspired me, and I was like, you know what, I
don't have a lot of money right now, but maybe
I can bake some cookies and on Christmas hand him
out to the homeless people on the streets. Well, some
more got out and I got hundreds of dollars of
donations to go buy water and blankets and like all
this stuff. So even like what you're doing like sparks
ideas for people to give back to their community, and
(35:31):
I think it's super great. Well that's all Stephen, and
he is the best, and like he's amazing, and I'm
so glad you were inspired by him. I am inspired
by him often, you know, I follow him on Instagram
and he came over to the house for dinner a
few months ago with his wife, and you know, I
just wanted my kids to like sit around the table
with him and have a conversation. And we're gonna try
(35:52):
to do something together coming up soon. And he's just
a really, really great guy making a huge impact in
the city. And not only that, I guess yeah, because
he takes the time to go on podcasts, he's impacting
people like you, Erica, So that's super cool. I'm gonna
pass that story along to him like he that will
That's a story that will just blow him away and
me in the world to him. So thank you for
(36:14):
sharing a little bit about you and what you do.
I think that's super cool. And then thanks for the
for the interview for the listener, Q and A, and
we will be back next Sunday with another listener. But yeah,
I hope you have a great rest of the day,
and same to everyone else listening. Bye. Thank you.
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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