November 21, 2025 • 31 mins
Explore inspiring adoption stories and the rich history of Thanksgiving. Learn why family traditions matter, discover the meaning behind America’s favorite holiday, and hear real-life accounts that celebrate love and gratitude.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load. Michael
Varry Show is on the air. Fact Drunken stupid is
no way to go through life.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Stuck.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off
my feet and I'm gonna see the world all my dreams.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I love old, the frig gass water.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Type that.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Is a little Yes, we believe it is bad.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm going steady, nice French kiss. So everybody does that.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, but Daddy says I'm the best daddy.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
A careful man, the fabre.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Everybody down the ground.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
We gotta what on the colorscope or what the wise
wise world of sports are going on. Thank you to
each and every one of you who shared your stories
with us, whether in writing or by voicemail.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I really do.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It means the world to me that you trust us
enough with these stories to make yourself vulnerable and share
it because I do think it matters somebody hears it
that it will matter to.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
So.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Dan Matthews, he's one of our teammates here at iHeart
Radio Media here in Houston, and he's the co host
of the morning show on Sports seven ninety and apparently
he's a fan of our show.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I did not know do you know him?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Okay, Ramon knows it, but he reached out and I
thought it was really cool that he did. And he
said he was born at Saint Luke's Hospital in the
Medical Center and he was adopted by the Homes of
Saint Mark. His parents, Gary and Jackie adopted him at birth,
(02:03):
and his adoption story is one that he was willing
to share. Whenever people mention they're interested in adopting, he
says that his immediate response is do it. So he
sent me an email and he said, hey, if you
want to have you know, I'm happy to tell my
story on the air if you want. And I said, well,
how about if you'll just take a moment as a broadcaster,
(02:26):
go into the studio, take a few minutes and record
your story. And he did, and here is that story.
And I'm grateful to him for sharing it.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
The Sports Talk seven ninety morning show. You can listen
to us every single weekday morning over on your home
of the Astros in the Rockets Sports Talks seven ninety
and this is an awesome show and I'm really, really,
really proud to be a part of this.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Today because I found.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Out a couple of years ago that Michael did this
show every single year. An adoption is my story. It's
everything that I am. If you follow me on social media,
I put on my about me on both my Instagram
and my Twitter account probably adopted because that is exactly
how I feel every single day.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So a little bit about me.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
I was born September third, nineteen eighty five, at Saint
Luke's Hospital, right there in the med center, and just
days later, I was adopted through the homes of Saint
Mark to my mom and dad, Gary and Jackie, both
just amazing people and both people who never ever made
me feel like I was anything other than their son.
That you know, they had a son that was through
(03:35):
natural birth with them, my older brother Ryan, And by
the way, he hates that I even mentioned him because
whenever I mentioned my brother, it's always hey man, don't
talk about me on the air. Very private person, but
still love them, and definitely I want to be able
to share about my family.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And so my mom and dad, both.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
Incredibly successful people that gave me and my brother anything
we could ever want in life. And getting back to
what I said about, you know, they never made me
feel like I was anything other than their son. It
kind of reminds me of a story that I heard
when I went to mass a couple of years ago,
and the priest gave the homily about a little girl
who was adopted, asking the mom, you know, mom, where
(04:18):
did I come from? And she said, well, babies come
from the womb, but you were born out of my heart.
That's the way I felt every single day with my
mom and dad. You know, both were very successful attorneys
here in Houston for years now live out in the
Texas hill Country. And my mom's air quotes retirement was
after thirty plus years of being an attorney, she went
(04:40):
and became a special education teacher right there in Burnett,
ID and that was the rest of her professional life.
Was helping other kids too. And another cool story that
I heard was years ago. We grew up over at
Braburn Country Club and there was somebody that we knew
that used to work there, and I was at a
memorial weekend event from one of my friends that had
(05:01):
passed a few years ago, and somebody had told her
whose son I was, and she came up to me
and she said, I just want to let you know
that I'm a really big fan of both your mom
and dad. And I said, well, good so am I
and she said, we're adoptive parents too. And I hope
I don't tear up telling the story because it just
kind of encapsulates how my dad is is. When her
(05:21):
and her husband were about to adopt their child, she
had asked, my dad, you know what advice do you have?
What can you tell us about adoption? And he just said,
just love them. That's all you can do.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Just love them.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
And that's what they've done for me every single day,
and through the good the bad times, I've never felt
like that I was anything other than a Matthew's and
that's my mom and dad to a team love him
so much. I mean sure, when I was younger, there
were times where I didn't necessarily understand what it meant.
(05:53):
My parents did everything they could to be able to
take me to homes of Saint Mark Christmas parties or
Easter parties or you know, Halloween celebrations, to be around
other adopted kids to kind of understand what it meant.
And as I've gotten older, I have become even more
proud of it, because I guess if there's anybody out
(06:13):
there that has any questions about it, I always say,
reach out to me. I'm glad to talk with you
about it. But my advice would be, if you're on
the fence, do it. If you are selfless in any means,
do it, and you will not look back. You will
not have any qualms about being an adoptive parent, because
it's going to be as much a blessing for your
(06:34):
kids as it is going to be a blessing for you.
So I challenge anybody out there that ever has any questions,
please reach out to me.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You can find me at any time.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Dan Matthews one tea in Matthews at iHeartMedia dot com. So, Michael,
Jim Ramon, everybody out there, thank you so much for
this chance, and everybody have a blessed day, and please
please please consider adoption.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It's absolutely meant the world to me.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Which, wow, that one hits you know. I often think
to myself when I pass somebody in the hallway or
in the elevator, not so much in a car as
when you're walking. It's more intimate passing. I think to myself,
(07:28):
wonder where his parents are, Wonder how she was raised,
She's adopted.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
She's a foster child.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I wonder if fill in the blank and you hear
a story like that, you think, where would that guy
be if his parents did not adopt. If Gary and
Jackie is that right, Gary and Jackie Matthews do not
adopt him?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Where's that guy today? Dead in prison? Who knows? We
know he's living his best life. We know he's grateful
to them. Go to break Ramont.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Michael Berry.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
In the system like a modern day.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
When I went to law school, there was a study
done on what caused people, what made people most likely
to want to go to law school, and the number
two reason was your daddy was a lawyer. My daddy
wasn't a lawyer. I was part of the number one
(08:52):
reason that as a child they had read To Kill
a Mockingbird. And that was a unique period of time.
I went to law school in the early nineties. But
that particular book and the portrayal of a lawyer as
a person who takes on fights and you know, jousset
(09:14):
windmills and battles for people and provides a defense to
the defense list, that was very appealing to people, and
it was it spurred and stirred such.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
A passion in so many people.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Well, I will tell you that over the years, I've
had the same experience with people who got into radio.
And when you look at when I asked people what
got you into radio, and it is more often than
not this particular radio show. And when you ask them
(09:53):
which of that show was your absolute favorite, it is
this particular episode and it being Thanksgiving, we roll it
out every year and we never tire of it because
we believe in great tradition.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Here you go, baby, if you've.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me, I'm living on
the air.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
In Cincinnati, Cincinnati w k RY.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We got kind of tied back in and done back in,
down in town, up and down the dial. Maybe we
never been to be Just maybe think of me once
in a while. I'm at WUKRY and since Sunday.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
That wonderful television program was created by Hugh Wilson, who
later said that he based a lot of the episodes
around the actual events and characters of his time in radio.
He didn't work at WKRP in Cincinnati. He worked at
WQXI in Atlanta, but he created one of the greatest
(11:11):
TV scenes of all time referring to that turkey drop scene,
he said it was at a shopping center in Atlanta.
I think it was Broadview Plaza, which no longer exists.
It was a Thanksgiving promotion. We thought we could throw
these live turkeys out into the crowd for their Thanksgiving dinners.
All of us, naiven, uneducated, thought that turkeys could fly,
(11:34):
and remember, these are live turkeys. Of course they went
just splat. People were laughing at us, not with us.
But it became a legend. In reality, the turkeys were
thrown off the back of a truck. So based on that,
Hugh Wilson wrote the scene which came to be known
as the Turkey Drop scene, which I would argue is,
(11:58):
if not the greatest scene in television history, certainly up
there a little bit of audio less nessman, that serious
silly newsman on WKRP the Turkey Drop.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
The culture seems to be circling the parking area. Now,
I guess it's looking for a place to land. No,
something just came out of the back of the helicopter.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
It's a dark object, perhaps a skydiver, hummington to the
earth from only two thousand feet in the air.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
The third, the Hush you yet.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, the skydivers, I had got your cat. What they are?
Oh my god, we're talking to.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Crushing the credit.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
To win your thanks. I'm running around pushing each other.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Oh but you wanted to.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
M bos.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
The turkeys are hitting the ground like sense of what
snips a little bit the times running for I didn't
want to stand inside. I can't stay here and watch
this any I can't.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Go in there anything like that. My division here, Johnny, Last,
are you there? Class?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Isn't there? Thanks for that on the spot report?
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Last if you were just tuned in the finale shopping
mall has just been bombed with luck to.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Tell them at eleven.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
You know, when I think back, and that was a
different person as you were too. But when I think
back to seventies television, which would probably be my favorite,
followed by eighties television, I've told you the nineties was
a lost decade for me because between college and law
school and my first job and starting a company, I
didn't watch any television. Was there a social message to
(14:05):
seventies and eighties radio a television? Sure there was good
Times or the Waltons or Archie Bunker, but mostly it
was just entertainment. As entertainment, and the fact that the
people who got into screenwriting and script writing and production
(14:27):
lost sight of that it is entertainment and decided that
they were instead members of a cult trying to convince
people of their silly ways. When you when you consider
the effect that has has had, when you consider the
effect that that has, how that has changed our entertainment.
(14:53):
Look at how people look at football differently, the taking
of the knee, that's that's changed it forever for me.
Look at how music and musicians and actors, it's changed
all of it, maybe in a good way, because you
know what, in many ways, I guess what I'm trying
to say, and I'm fumbling around, is that it entertainment
(15:15):
should be about entertainment, and when it stops being about entertainment,
it turns us off. And maybe it's better because I
don't spend my weekends watching football, I don't spend my
time watching network television anymore, and I fill my time
with things that are more productive and fulfilling and rewarding
and meaningful. So maybe I guess you could say they
(15:37):
did me a favor.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Confuse that tone to me not a joke.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That's sarcastic, contemptuous tone that means you know everything because
you're a man, and I know nothing because I'm a woman.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
That is not a joke. That is a natural fact.
The Michael Show.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Is just the wrong song.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I like the one where they haven't made the food,
but they make it. It's a faster pace and they
do the popcorn and the toes and it and the message.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's a very redeeming message.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
The message is, Okay, you don't have what you're supposed
to have for Thanksgiving, but we'll make something. And then
all of a sudden, the food starts popping out and
everyone's happy.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
You don't remember that. That's it, that's it right there.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
You got, you got Snoopy, he's he's got the sticker,
the shish kebob cooker. You got Charlie Brown and Linus
and putting the toast and the coaster and the toast
is coming out, and I think, if I remember correctly,
Snoopy is kind of like waving his run like he's
(16:50):
the conductor.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
And then when the toast all comes out.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
He sticks it through there and then they slapped the
butter on it, and then he goes over.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
And that was back when you do your popcorn.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
If you remember the popcorn, he's up on a chair,
I remember correctly, and he's got the popcorn going on
top of the stove. Did you ever do the stove
top popcorn?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Man?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
That was good times right there. And then and then
Orville Redden Boker came out. My grandmother was fond of
Orville Redden Boker popcorn, and therefore so was I. And
then it just got better and better and better. How
many days a year? How many times a year do
(17:32):
you think you consume popcorn?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Four?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
That's probably mine too. Popcorn is the sort of thing
that I literally never intend to eat. I've already eaten,
and I'm somewhere that popcorn is present, and I smell
it and someone says, hey, would you would you like some.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Popcorn? And I eat it? And then I eat.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Way too much, and I feel disgusting and I don't know,
I don't know what else to do about it. Yeah,
and then and then I wish I hadn't eaten popcorn.
And it leaves me with a bad feeling, especially if
you get it from a movie theater, because they put
too much butter on it. What other food do I
shovel in my mouth. Let me come back to that,
(18:25):
because I want talk about thanks forving a second. If
there's something I can get through to you today, for
this weekend, and some of you are gonna be off,
you can be traveling over the next few days.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
It is this.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
A democratic republic is not a set it and forget it,
ron pou peel. You don't get to do it and
walk away from it.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It is a labor of love. You know.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
When I got my first carves in nineteen seventy nine,
Volkswagen Rabbit.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
It had one hundred and fifty thousand miles on it.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
And when I got my dad said, well, you'll own
a car for the rest of your life and it
will be nothing but a problem for the rest of
your life. And I remember thinking, what damn, I'm kind
of fired up about my little Volkswaehian Rabbit. Why are
you gonna make it seem like that. When I got
my first house, he said, a house is a constant
(19:19):
need because he's a maintenance man, right, A house is
a constant need for maintenance and work.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You will have, you will you will never get to
relax again.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
And I remember thinking, well, Dad, but that wasn't He
wasn't depressed about that. That was him giving fatherly advice.
And I kind of feel like, you know, that's what
Ben Franklin said when asked, you know, mister Franklin, is
it a monarchy or a republic?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
And he said a republic.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
If you can keep it, because he understood that they
had just written the bylaws for a document that would
require the public's constant attention and care and good decision making.
It's much easier to have a monarchy. And I think
(20:12):
many people even in America today, without understanding what they're doing,
would like a benevolent dictatorship because they don't want to
have to fool with it. They don't want to have
to be adult. They don't want to have to make decisions.
They don't want to have to discern between one candidate
and the other, one plan and the other. They don't
want to have to keep up with what are the
(20:32):
effects of raising interest rates or raising the minimum wage,
or lowering interest rates, or sending all your money to
Ukraine or sending missiles to Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
They don't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
But one of the things we have to do is
we have to preserve our traditions because they don't.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And we can't sit around and say.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Well, the TV's not doing it, and the school's not
doing it, and this person's not doing it.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
We've got to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
So I went to a history site, very simple to
help you out, and this is what you have to share.
Print out the meaning of Thanksgiving this Thanksgiving and just say, hey, guy,
I know it's kind of old fashioned, but I'm feeling
pretty good, feeling good about American I want to start
a new tradition. I would like to read on just
(21:16):
goa give me sixty seconds. I would like to read
the history of Thanksgiving, and history dot com has one
the easiest one. There's more in depth and it goes
like this. In sixteen twenty one, the Plymouth colonists from
England and the Native American Wampanaga one Ponnoag people shared
(21:39):
an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of
the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than
two centuries, days of Thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies
and states.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It wasn't until.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Eighteen sixty three, in the midst of the Civil War
that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to
be held each November, but the holiday is not without controversy.
Many Americans, including people of Native American ancestry, believe Thanksgiving
celebrations might mask the true history of oppression and bloodshed
(22:20):
that underlies the relationship between European settlers and Native Americans.
These same people, who even if they are a direct descendant,
have no problem with their great grandfather having murdered other
tribes to take hold of the land, don't want the
same done to them.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And that's the reality of it all. The history of.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Humanity is one of conflict, and America defies that tradition.
So as you sit on your iPhone, having gone to
schools and universities under a scholarship for being Native American,
maybe give thanks that you have air conditioning and steel
(23:07):
belted radial tires and a roof over your head and
airplanes to fly around in. Because the advancements that occurred
on American soil after those evil, awful white men came
to town are being enjoyed by you to an extent that
almost seems like you halfway enjoy them. Now back to
(23:29):
the point the beauty of this tradition. If you heard
what I said is it began in sixteen twenty one.
It began almost an entire century and a half before
we declared our independence from England in sixteen twenty one.
(23:50):
It was not for two hundred years that it became
an official holiday, but it was continuously observed. It's older
than America, and distinctly Americans.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
You know, as strong as Gary Allen's voice is busted.
Sometimes it's hard to.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
And he does not come out of the school of
beautiful voices terrif. But I think that's what I like
about it. Very raw, very raw. He's had a lot
of pain in his life, if you know the story,
had a lot of pain in his life. So the
(24:39):
piece we played by Dan Matthews on Sports Night seven ninety.
Thank you to Dan for presenting that beautiful piece. Well
we learned a little something. The newest member of our team,
Darryl Koon to the kon De man, who is an insanely,
insanely talented voice guy. We know most everybody in the
(25:03):
business or most of the people in the business, and
he's as good as anybody. His variety of voices are amazing.
He was the professional voice of iHeart in Houston when
for years and then he left and went to work
for an oil company planning events, and then we hired him.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
We hired him.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
He has events a bit a year, and I didn't know.
I've known Kunda for twenty years, had no idea he
was adopted. So he shared his story, and I have
chosen not to not to play that story during the
segment and have to come back and talk after it,
(25:50):
because then I end up getting emotional and I don't
like blubbing the end of the damn microphone, so I'm
not going to do it. So here's what I'm going
to do, a bit of a spastic move, but I was.
I'm going to play his bit that he created and
let it crash into the break. That way, I can
turn off my microphone so if tears start streaming, I
(26:11):
don't have to talk afterwards, and you don't have to
hear me, because it's not pleasant for you and it
ain't pleasant for me either. But I got an email
from following them, Chris Alfano. He said, I'll be going
through a medical procedure this Friday, so I won't be
able to call. So he's going through the procedure today.
I hope he's doing well. There's a show playing now
that I think maybe one of the stars Channels as
(26:31):
t Arz, called Show Me the Father, and he says,
this is the most amazing adoption story you will ever see.
I'm going to play you a few seconds of this,
but I agree. I wish I could play the whole thing.
But it's a beautiful, beauty It looks to be a
beautiful storytelling show.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
All of us have.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
A fatherhood story. My dad was my hero growing up.
My father was somebody who disappointed you. To have my
father proud was my soul. Purpose to play football.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
I want to make a difference in the lives of
young people the way my father made a difference in
my life.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
We put a representation of our father and all of
our biggies.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I pray for me and my brother and my mom
to get through this night.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I think we lived in seven different houses kind of
running from my dad.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I started losing my ability to walk. We didn't realize
the war that was going on inside of him. I'm
wishing that I could just die hard.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Why didn't you give me a dad I could call?
Because I need wisdom right now. I knew that I
wasn't prepared to be anybody's mom.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I was doing the right thing for him.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
My panics and Sherman says, man, listen, calmed down, and
it's a beautiful thing to have a child. This is
why I do what I do for guys like that.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I mean, it was like a herald Sady George, by
the way, who was played for the Titans, who I
had the honor of smoking a cigar in DC with
last year. Here is Darryl Kunda's piece that I'll play
now that I was not able to play earlier. I
just wanted to play to crash into the break.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
My name is Valerie Kenda and my dad is Daryl Kunda.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
I am so thankful that my granny and granddad adopted
my dad, and I love them so.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Much for that.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Hello.
Speaker 7 (28:15):
My name is Daryl Kunda, part of the Michael Berry
Show team, and I'm so blessed to share my adoption
story with you today. It's one of my favorite days
of all time. My parents' story begins growing up in
the small Texas farming towns.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
A lot of you Texas folks will know. They were
young kids.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
Mom from Moulton, Dad just down the road, in Ingle, Texas,
where they spent the summers picking cotton sun up to
sundown and that aggressive summer heat, making just enough money
to get by. This sounds overly dramatic, but it's true.
They were kids of the fifties. Money was not a forefront.
It was about hard work working as sharecroppers, figuring out
(28:54):
how to put food on the table and surviving.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
It was a simple reality these two kids grew up.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
They would find each other in a Texas dance hall,
as most teenagers back then in that area would do.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They would meet at a polka.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
Dance at one of the MIFW halls the KC halls.
They found each other and eventually decided to marry in
October of nineteen sixty. They would marry in the Catholic
church in a tiny Texas town called Braha, Texas.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Now back then and I get a kick out of this.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
As simple as times were, Mom and Dad, they knew
how to throw a party. Wedding at ten am, followed
by two meals lunch supper with homemade colachis for dessert,
followed by a dance till midnight, and all the food
well that was donated by family and friends.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's what we call the Goodladays.
Speaker 7 (29:46):
Now that they're married, these two love birds would agree
that life should take them to the big city of Houston,
Texas and took a job with Houston Lighting in Power
what we call now Center Point Energy. Life was good,
but the only thing vacant was being parents. Now, time
it can be a cruel clock ticking can become taxing.
(30:07):
Motherhood to Mom seemed like a dream that would never
become a reality. So fast forward to nineteen seventy four.
Mom and Dad considered adoption for the very first time,
and that would bring the blessing of a daughter, Melissa.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Who I'm lucky to call my sister. And three years
later Mom and Dad decided it's time for a son. Hey,
that's me.
Speaker 7 (30:27):
I was born in Houston and my birth mother decided
I was more of a blessing than a burden and
made a brave decision to transfer her newborn baby to
Catholic charities. And somehow, by the grace of God, that
farming couple that met at the front door of that
Texas dance hall who wanted a son so badly adopted
me and took me home on a freezing January day,
(30:51):
in nineteen seventy eight, and their loving arms forever I.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Would grow up.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
I'd make a proud make them frustrated, make them both
wonder what the future would hold. But one thing I'll
always treasure is being called their son. The name of
the couple Alga and Bernard Kunda, whereas I will always
call them.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Mom and dad.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
I love you.
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load. Michael
Varry Show is on the air. Fact Drunken stupid is
no way to go through life.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Stuck.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off
my feet and I'm gonna see the world all my dreams.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I love old, the frig gass water.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Type that.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Is a little Yes, we believe it is bad.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm going steady, nice French kiss. So everybody does that.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, but Daddy says I'm the best daddy.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
A careful man, the fabre.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Everybody down the ground.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
We gotta what on the colorscope or what the wise
wise world of sports are going on. Thank you to
each and every one of you who shared your stories
with us, whether in writing or by voicemail.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I really do.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It means the world to me that you trust us
enough with these stories to make yourself vulnerable and share
it because I do think it matters somebody hears it
that it will matter to.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
So.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Dan Matthews, he's one of our teammates here at iHeart
Radio Media here in Houston, and he's the co host
of the morning show on Sports seven ninety and apparently
he's a fan of our show.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I did not know do you know him?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Okay, Ramon knows it, but he reached out and I
thought it was really cool that he did. And he
said he was born at Saint Luke's Hospital in the
Medical Center and he was adopted by the Homes of
Saint Mark. His parents, Gary and Jackie adopted him at birth,
(02:03):
and his adoption story is one that he was willing
to share. Whenever people mention they're interested in adopting, he
says that his immediate response is do it. So he
sent me an email and he said, hey, if you
want to have you know, I'm happy to tell my
story on the air if you want. And I said, well,
how about if you'll just take a moment as a broadcaster,
(02:26):
go into the studio, take a few minutes and record
your story. And he did, and here is that story.
And I'm grateful to him for sharing it.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
The Sports Talk seven ninety morning show. You can listen
to us every single weekday morning over on your home
of the Astros in the Rockets Sports Talks seven ninety
and this is an awesome show and I'm really, really,
really proud to be a part of this.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Today because I found.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Out a couple of years ago that Michael did this
show every single year. An adoption is my story. It's
everything that I am. If you follow me on social media,
I put on my about me on both my Instagram
and my Twitter account probably adopted because that is exactly
how I feel every single day.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So a little bit about me.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
I was born September third, nineteen eighty five, at Saint
Luke's Hospital, right there in the med center, and just
days later, I was adopted through the homes of Saint
Mark to my mom and dad, Gary and Jackie, both
just amazing people and both people who never ever made
me feel like I was anything other than their son.
That you know, they had a son that was through
(03:35):
natural birth with them, my older brother Ryan, And by
the way, he hates that I even mentioned him because
whenever I mentioned my brother, it's always hey man, don't
talk about me on the air. Very private person, but
still love them, and definitely I want to be able
to share about my family.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And so my mom and dad, both.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
Incredibly successful people that gave me and my brother anything
we could ever want in life. And getting back to
what I said about, you know, they never made me
feel like I was anything other than their son. It
kind of reminds me of a story that I heard
when I went to mass a couple of years ago,
and the priest gave the homily about a little girl
who was adopted, asking the mom, you know, mom, where
(04:18):
did I come from? And she said, well, babies come
from the womb, but you were born out of my heart.
That's the way I felt every single day with my
mom and dad. You know, both were very successful attorneys
here in Houston for years now live out in the
Texas hill Country. And my mom's air quotes retirement was
after thirty plus years of being an attorney, she went
(04:40):
and became a special education teacher right there in Burnett,
ID and that was the rest of her professional life.
Was helping other kids too. And another cool story that
I heard was years ago. We grew up over at
Braburn Country Club and there was somebody that we knew
that used to work there, and I was at a
memorial weekend event from one of my friends that had
(05:01):
passed a few years ago, and somebody had told her
whose son I was, and she came up to me
and she said, I just want to let you know
that I'm a really big fan of both your mom
and dad. And I said, well, good so am I
and she said, we're adoptive parents too. And I hope
I don't tear up telling the story because it just
kind of encapsulates how my dad is is. When her
(05:21):
and her husband were about to adopt their child, she
had asked, my dad, you know what advice do you have?
What can you tell us about adoption? And he just said,
just love them. That's all you can do.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Just love them.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
And that's what they've done for me every single day,
and through the good the bad times, I've never felt
like that I was anything other than a Matthew's and
that's my mom and dad to a team love him
so much. I mean sure, when I was younger, there
were times where I didn't necessarily understand what it meant.
(05:53):
My parents did everything they could to be able to
take me to homes of Saint Mark Christmas parties or
Easter parties or you know, Halloween celebrations, to be around
other adopted kids to kind of understand what it meant.
And as I've gotten older, I have become even more
proud of it, because I guess if there's anybody out
(06:13):
there that has any questions about it, I always say,
reach out to me. I'm glad to talk with you
about it. But my advice would be, if you're on
the fence, do it. If you are selfless in any means,
do it, and you will not look back. You will
not have any qualms about being an adoptive parent, because
it's going to be as much a blessing for your
(06:34):
kids as it is going to be a blessing for you.
So I challenge anybody out there that ever has any questions,
please reach out to me.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You can find me at any time.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Dan Matthews one tea in Matthews at iHeartMedia dot com. So, Michael,
Jim Ramon, everybody out there, thank you so much for
this chance, and everybody have a blessed day, and please
please please consider adoption.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It's absolutely meant the world to me.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Which, wow, that one hits you know. I often think
to myself when I pass somebody in the hallway or
in the elevator, not so much in a car as
when you're walking. It's more intimate passing. I think to myself,
(07:28):
wonder where his parents are, Wonder how she was raised,
She's adopted.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
She's a foster child.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I wonder if fill in the blank and you hear
a story like that, you think, where would that guy
be if his parents did not adopt. If Gary and
Jackie is that right, Gary and Jackie Matthews do not
adopt him?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Where's that guy today? Dead in prison? Who knows? We
know he's living his best life. We know he's grateful
to them. Go to break Ramont.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Michael Berry.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
In the system like a modern day.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
When I went to law school, there was a study
done on what caused people, what made people most likely
to want to go to law school, and the number
two reason was your daddy was a lawyer. My daddy
wasn't a lawyer. I was part of the number one
(08:52):
reason that as a child they had read To Kill
a Mockingbird. And that was a unique period of time.
I went to law school in the early nineties. But
that particular book and the portrayal of a lawyer as
a person who takes on fights and you know, jousset
(09:14):
windmills and battles for people and provides a defense to
the defense list, that was very appealing to people, and
it was it spurred and stirred such.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
A passion in so many people.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Well, I will tell you that over the years, I've
had the same experience with people who got into radio.
And when you look at when I asked people what
got you into radio, and it is more often than
not this particular radio show. And when you ask them
(09:53):
which of that show was your absolute favorite, it is
this particular episode and it being Thanksgiving, we roll it
out every year and we never tire of it because
we believe in great tradition.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Here you go, baby, if you've.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me, I'm living on
the air.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
In Cincinnati, Cincinnati w k RY.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We got kind of tied back in and done back in,
down in town, up and down the dial. Maybe we
never been to be Just maybe think of me once
in a while. I'm at WUKRY and since Sunday.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
That wonderful television program was created by Hugh Wilson, who
later said that he based a lot of the episodes
around the actual events and characters of his time in radio.
He didn't work at WKRP in Cincinnati. He worked at
WQXI in Atlanta, but he created one of the greatest
(11:11):
TV scenes of all time referring to that turkey drop scene,
he said it was at a shopping center in Atlanta.
I think it was Broadview Plaza, which no longer exists.
It was a Thanksgiving promotion. We thought we could throw
these live turkeys out into the crowd for their Thanksgiving dinners.
All of us, naiven, uneducated, thought that turkeys could fly,
(11:34):
and remember, these are live turkeys. Of course they went
just splat. People were laughing at us, not with us.
But it became a legend. In reality, the turkeys were
thrown off the back of a truck. So based on that,
Hugh Wilson wrote the scene which came to be known
as the Turkey Drop scene, which I would argue is,
(11:58):
if not the greatest scene in television history, certainly up
there a little bit of audio less nessman, that serious
silly newsman on WKRP the Turkey Drop.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
The culture seems to be circling the parking area. Now,
I guess it's looking for a place to land. No,
something just came out of the back of the helicopter.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
It's a dark object, perhaps a skydiver, hummington to the
earth from only two thousand feet in the air.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
The third, the Hush you yet.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, the skydivers, I had got your cat. What they are?
Oh my god, we're talking to.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Crushing the credit.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
To win your thanks. I'm running around pushing each other.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Oh but you wanted to.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
M bos.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
The turkeys are hitting the ground like sense of what
snips a little bit the times running for I didn't
want to stand inside. I can't stay here and watch
this any I can't.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Go in there anything like that. My division here, Johnny, Last,
are you there? Class?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Isn't there? Thanks for that on the spot report?
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Last if you were just tuned in the finale shopping
mall has just been bombed with luck to.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Tell them at eleven.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
You know, when I think back, and that was a
different person as you were too. But when I think
back to seventies television, which would probably be my favorite,
followed by eighties television, I've told you the nineties was
a lost decade for me because between college and law
school and my first job and starting a company, I
didn't watch any television. Was there a social message to
(14:05):
seventies and eighties radio a television? Sure there was good
Times or the Waltons or Archie Bunker, but mostly it
was just entertainment. As entertainment, and the fact that the
people who got into screenwriting and script writing and production
(14:27):
lost sight of that it is entertainment and decided that
they were instead members of a cult trying to convince
people of their silly ways. When you when you consider
the effect that has has had, when you consider the
effect that that has, how that has changed our entertainment.
(14:53):
Look at how people look at football differently, the taking
of the knee, that's that's changed it forever for me.
Look at how music and musicians and actors, it's changed
all of it, maybe in a good way, because you
know what, in many ways, I guess what I'm trying
to say, and I'm fumbling around, is that it entertainment
(15:15):
should be about entertainment, and when it stops being about entertainment,
it turns us off. And maybe it's better because I
don't spend my weekends watching football, I don't spend my
time watching network television anymore, and I fill my time
with things that are more productive and fulfilling and rewarding
and meaningful. So maybe I guess you could say they
(15:37):
did me a favor.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Confuse that tone to me not a joke.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That's sarcastic, contemptuous tone that means you know everything because
you're a man, and I know nothing because I'm a woman.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
That is not a joke. That is a natural fact.
The Michael Show.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Is just the wrong song.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I like the one where they haven't made the food,
but they make it. It's a faster pace and they
do the popcorn and the toes and it and the message.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's a very redeeming message.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
The message is, Okay, you don't have what you're supposed
to have for Thanksgiving, but we'll make something. And then
all of a sudden, the food starts popping out and
everyone's happy.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
You don't remember that. That's it, that's it right there.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
You got, you got Snoopy, he's he's got the sticker,
the shish kebob cooker. You got Charlie Brown and Linus
and putting the toast and the coaster and the toast
is coming out, and I think, if I remember correctly,
Snoopy is kind of like waving his run like he's
(16:50):
the conductor.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
And then when the toast all comes out.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
He sticks it through there and then they slapped the
butter on it, and then he goes over.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
And that was back when you do your popcorn.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
If you remember the popcorn, he's up on a chair,
I remember correctly, and he's got the popcorn going on
top of the stove. Did you ever do the stove
top popcorn?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Man?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
That was good times right there. And then and then
Orville Redden Boker came out. My grandmother was fond of
Orville Redden Boker popcorn, and therefore so was I. And
then it just got better and better and better. How
many days a year? How many times a year do
(17:32):
you think you consume popcorn?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Four?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
That's probably mine too. Popcorn is the sort of thing
that I literally never intend to eat. I've already eaten,
and I'm somewhere that popcorn is present, and I smell
it and someone says, hey, would you would you like some.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Popcorn? And I eat it? And then I eat.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Way too much, and I feel disgusting and I don't know,
I don't know what else to do about it. Yeah,
and then and then I wish I hadn't eaten popcorn.
And it leaves me with a bad feeling, especially if
you get it from a movie theater, because they put
too much butter on it. What other food do I
shovel in my mouth. Let me come back to that,
(18:25):
because I want talk about thanks forving a second. If
there's something I can get through to you today, for
this weekend, and some of you are gonna be off,
you can be traveling over the next few days.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
It is this.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
A democratic republic is not a set it and forget it,
ron pou peel. You don't get to do it and
walk away from it.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It is a labor of love. You know.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
When I got my first carves in nineteen seventy nine,
Volkswagen Rabbit.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
It had one hundred and fifty thousand miles on it.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
And when I got my dad said, well, you'll own
a car for the rest of your life and it
will be nothing but a problem for the rest of
your life. And I remember thinking, what damn, I'm kind
of fired up about my little Volkswaehian Rabbit. Why are
you gonna make it seem like that. When I got
my first house, he said, a house is a constant
(19:19):
need because he's a maintenance man, right, A house is
a constant need for maintenance and work.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
You will have, you will you will never get to
relax again.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
And I remember thinking, well, Dad, but that wasn't He
wasn't depressed about that. That was him giving fatherly advice.
And I kind of feel like, you know, that's what
Ben Franklin said when asked, you know, mister Franklin, is
it a monarchy or a republic?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
And he said a republic.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
If you can keep it, because he understood that they
had just written the bylaws for a document that would
require the public's constant attention and care and good decision making.
It's much easier to have a monarchy. And I think
(20:12):
many people even in America today, without understanding what they're doing,
would like a benevolent dictatorship because they don't want to
have to fool with it. They don't want to have
to be adult. They don't want to have to make decisions.
They don't want to have to discern between one candidate
and the other, one plan and the other. They don't
want to have to keep up with what are the
(20:32):
effects of raising interest rates or raising the minimum wage,
or lowering interest rates, or sending all your money to
Ukraine or sending missiles to Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
They don't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
But one of the things we have to do is
we have to preserve our traditions because they don't.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And we can't sit around and say.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Well, the TV's not doing it, and the school's not
doing it, and this person's not doing it.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
We've got to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
So I went to a history site, very simple to
help you out, and this is what you have to share.
Print out the meaning of Thanksgiving this Thanksgiving and just say, hey, guy,
I know it's kind of old fashioned, but I'm feeling
pretty good, feeling good about American I want to start
a new tradition. I would like to read on just
(21:16):
goa give me sixty seconds. I would like to read
the history of Thanksgiving, and history dot com has one
the easiest one. There's more in depth and it goes
like this. In sixteen twenty one, the Plymouth colonists from
England and the Native American Wampanaga one Ponnoag people shared
(21:39):
an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of
the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than
two centuries, days of Thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies
and states.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It wasn't until.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Eighteen sixty three, in the midst of the Civil War
that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to
be held each November, but the holiday is not without controversy.
Many Americans, including people of Native American ancestry, believe Thanksgiving
celebrations might mask the true history of oppression and bloodshed
(22:20):
that underlies the relationship between European settlers and Native Americans.
These same people, who even if they are a direct descendant,
have no problem with their great grandfather having murdered other
tribes to take hold of the land, don't want the
same done to them.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And that's the reality of it all. The history of.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Humanity is one of conflict, and America defies that tradition.
So as you sit on your iPhone, having gone to
schools and universities under a scholarship for being Native American,
maybe give thanks that you have air conditioning and steel
(23:07):
belted radial tires and a roof over your head and
airplanes to fly around in. Because the advancements that occurred
on American soil after those evil, awful white men came
to town are being enjoyed by you to an extent that
almost seems like you halfway enjoy them. Now back to
(23:29):
the point the beauty of this tradition. If you heard
what I said is it began in sixteen twenty one.
It began almost an entire century and a half before
we declared our independence from England in sixteen twenty one.
(23:50):
It was not for two hundred years that it became
an official holiday, but it was continuously observed. It's older
than America, and distinctly Americans.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
You know, as strong as Gary Allen's voice is busted.
Sometimes it's hard to.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
And he does not come out of the school of
beautiful voices terrif. But I think that's what I like
about it. Very raw, very raw. He's had a lot
of pain in his life, if you know the story,
had a lot of pain in his life. So the
(24:39):
piece we played by Dan Matthews on Sports Night seven ninety.
Thank you to Dan for presenting that beautiful piece. Well
we learned a little something. The newest member of our team,
Darryl Koon to the kon De man, who is an insanely,
insanely talented voice guy. We know most everybody in the
(25:03):
business or most of the people in the business, and
he's as good as anybody. His variety of voices are amazing.
He was the professional voice of iHeart in Houston when
for years and then he left and went to work
for an oil company planning events, and then we hired him.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
We hired him.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
He has events a bit a year, and I didn't know.
I've known Kunda for twenty years, had no idea he
was adopted. So he shared his story, and I have
chosen not to not to play that story during the
segment and have to come back and talk after it,
(25:50):
because then I end up getting emotional and I don't
like blubbing the end of the damn microphone, so I'm
not going to do it. So here's what I'm going
to do, a bit of a spastic move, but I was.
I'm going to play his bit that he created and
let it crash into the break. That way, I can
turn off my microphone so if tears start streaming, I
(26:11):
don't have to talk afterwards, and you don't have to
hear me, because it's not pleasant for you and it
ain't pleasant for me either. But I got an email
from following them, Chris Alfano. He said, I'll be going
through a medical procedure this Friday, so I won't be
able to call. So he's going through the procedure today.
I hope he's doing well. There's a show playing now
that I think maybe one of the stars Channels as
(26:31):
t Arz, called Show Me the Father, and he says,
this is the most amazing adoption story you will ever see.
I'm going to play you a few seconds of this,
but I agree. I wish I could play the whole thing.
But it's a beautiful, beauty It looks to be a
beautiful storytelling show.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
All of us have.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
A fatherhood story. My dad was my hero growing up.
My father was somebody who disappointed you. To have my
father proud was my soul. Purpose to play football.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
I want to make a difference in the lives of
young people the way my father made a difference in
my life.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
We put a representation of our father and all of
our biggies.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I pray for me and my brother and my mom
to get through this night.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I think we lived in seven different houses kind of
running from my dad.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I started losing my ability to walk. We didn't realize
the war that was going on inside of him. I'm
wishing that I could just die hard.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Why didn't you give me a dad I could call?
Because I need wisdom right now. I knew that I
wasn't prepared to be anybody's mom.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I was doing the right thing for him.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
My panics and Sherman says, man, listen, calmed down, and
it's a beautiful thing to have a child. This is
why I do what I do for guys like that.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I mean, it was like a herald Sady George, by
the way, who was played for the Titans, who I
had the honor of smoking a cigar in DC with
last year. Here is Darryl Kunda's piece that I'll play
now that I was not able to play earlier. I
just wanted to play to crash into the break.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
My name is Valerie Kenda and my dad is Daryl Kunda.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
I am so thankful that my granny and granddad adopted
my dad, and I love them so.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Much for that.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Hello.
Speaker 7 (28:15):
My name is Daryl Kunda, part of the Michael Berry
Show team, and I'm so blessed to share my adoption
story with you today. It's one of my favorite days
of all time. My parents' story begins growing up in
the small Texas farming towns.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
A lot of you Texas folks will know. They were
young kids.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
Mom from Moulton, Dad just down the road, in Ingle, Texas,
where they spent the summers picking cotton sun up to
sundown and that aggressive summer heat, making just enough money
to get by. This sounds overly dramatic, but it's true.
They were kids of the fifties. Money was not a forefront.
It was about hard work working as sharecroppers, figuring out
(28:54):
how to put food on the table and surviving.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
It was a simple reality these two kids grew up.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
They would find each other in a Texas dance hall,
as most teenagers back then in that area would do.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They would meet at a polka.
Speaker 7 (29:08):
Dance at one of the MIFW halls the KC halls.
They found each other and eventually decided to marry in
October of nineteen sixty. They would marry in the Catholic
church in a tiny Texas town called Braha, Texas.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Now back then and I get a kick out of this.
Speaker 7 (29:27):
As simple as times were, Mom and Dad, they knew
how to throw a party. Wedding at ten am, followed
by two meals lunch supper with homemade colachis for dessert,
followed by a dance till midnight, and all the food
well that was donated by family and friends.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's what we call the Goodladays.
Speaker 7 (29:46):
Now that they're married, these two love birds would agree
that life should take them to the big city of Houston,
Texas and took a job with Houston Lighting in Power
what we call now Center Point Energy. Life was good,
but the only thing vacant was being parents. Now, time
it can be a cruel clock ticking can become taxing.
(30:07):
Motherhood to Mom seemed like a dream that would never
become a reality. So fast forward to nineteen seventy four.
Mom and Dad considered adoption for the very first time,
and that would bring the blessing of a daughter, Melissa.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Who I'm lucky to call my sister. And three years
later Mom and Dad decided it's time for a son. Hey,
that's me.
Speaker 7 (30:27):
I was born in Houston and my birth mother decided
I was more of a blessing than a burden and
made a brave decision to transfer her newborn baby to
Catholic charities. And somehow, by the grace of God, that
farming couple that met at the front door of that
Texas dance hall who wanted a son so badly adopted
me and took me home on a freezing January day,
(30:51):
in nineteen seventy eight, and their loving arms forever I.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Would grow up.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
I'd make a proud make them frustrated, make them both
wonder what the future would hold. But one thing I'll
always treasure is being called their son. The name of
the couple Alga and Bernard Kunda, whereas I will always
call them.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Mom and dad.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
I love you.
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