Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Are you ready to untangle from your past, recover from heartbreak,
and revive your life. This is Soul CPR with your
host and Papa Yode. We've all had soul crushing experiences
and lost ourselves in our pain, but there is a
way out. On this podcast, Amazon best selling author, award
winning life coach and advice columnist and Papa Yode helps
(00:26):
us navigate the path from heartbreak to healing. So now
please welcome the host of Soul CPR and Papa Yode.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hello, and thank you for tuning in today. I'm so
happy if you are a regular listener or if you've
recently found our show, We're so glad that you have
joined us here on Soul's CPR, where we dive deep
into stories of resilience and transformation and the power of healing.
(01:01):
And today I'm honored to welcome my guest, whose life
journey would like an epic novel. It's filled with adventure
and perseverance and reinvention. Now, Robin Curtis is a man
of many talents and a lifetime of experiences, and from
having a Marvel comic published at the age of eleven,
(01:27):
to serving in the military and building a thirty three
year career in civil aviation, earning a black belt in
the martial arts. His journey is nothing short of remarkable.
He's also a former marathon runner and ord Dane deacon.
He performs weddings. He's also a certified scuba diver, so
(01:50):
you see, sounds like an adventurer right straight from a novel.
But beyond all of these achievements, Robin's true passion has
always been storytelling. His debut crime thriller Sicilian Corner, is
the culmination of a lifelong love for writing, one that
(02:11):
began as a way to escape a difficult childhood. Growing
up in a military family, moving frequently and facing divorce
and estrangement and an abusive stepfather, Robin found refuge in
the worlds that he created. Now, as a husband and
(02:34):
a father of five and a proud grandfather, he's proving
that it's never too late to embrace a creative calling.
We're gonna talk more about that later in the show,
but with the sequel already in the works, he's really
just getting started. So please join me and welcoming to
(02:57):
the show. I'm excited to have him here.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Hi, Robin, how are you? It's good to see you
as always. You look amazing often oftentimes Christy and I
just amazed about what you do. There's you know, your
sense of style, your professionalism, the sense of humor that
(03:20):
you have, and just the love and passion that you
show for everyone. You're just a pleasure to be around,
and I just appreciate you very much for you know,
taking the time and the interest in this book and
my life in general.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, well, thank you, and let's go ahead and put
it out there that that Robin Curtis is actually a
pen name, because I'm probably going to call you Kurt
because we do know in our personal lives and we
share a career, we go back quite a ways, having
cross paths in our civil aviation careers and my family
(03:58):
and I had the pleasure of attending your in Christie's
beautiful beach wedding so many years ago now, but what it.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Was almost that's fourteen years ago at this point. It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Oh my gosh, I could I gauge it by how
small my son Chris was. I guess I remember on
the beach and playing around, But what a beautiful time
that was. What we didn't know about one another at
the time, and thank you for the compliments that you
paid me. It warms my heart. But what you and
I did not know about one of the other at
(04:35):
the time was that we were both writers, or that
we were in our hearts. Neither of us had published
anything at the time except your Marvel comic, which we'll
come back around to. But since then we both revealed
ourselves as I guess what I would say. And so
I'm so happy that you're joining me today to talk
on this particular platform to talk more about that and
(04:55):
what inspired you to do so. But to get there,
let's go back to childhood. And I mentioned a little
bit about that in the introduction. What was it like,
Kurt to grow up in a military family and to
relocate often.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
So I would say isolating for the most part. You know,
we moved probably by the time I was eighteen, at
least ten times, you know, five different states, several countries,
and you know, but on the other hand, it was
(05:35):
also very rewarding in the fact I got to see
other cultures at a young age. You know, I was
always the new kid, so a lot of times, and
you know how difficult it is to make friends, shoot
even you know, you know, getting into groups and trying
to maneuver or network. You know, it's difficult to make
(05:58):
new friends, and as a kid, it's one of the
things that I felt like I developed very well, was
maneuvering in and out of different social groups. But yet
I knew it was only temporary. So I knew that
I was going to be leaving or they were going
to be leaving, because a lot of them were military
children as well. So it was something to where you
(06:22):
just didn't invest deeply as a child into any type
of relationships because you knew it was just short term.
So I got very good at that kind of, you know,
being the chameleon, being able to mold into whatever group
was in front of me at the time, but I
did not learn how to make long term relationships. So
(06:44):
that's kind of what it was like from place to place.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And so did your imagination start developing during this time?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Oh, holy smoke, yes, So you know I was huge
age into comic books, like you mentioned a minute ago.
As a matter of fact, I have the comic book
edition that we're talking about. I have hundreds of comic books.
Actually it's the comic book. Yeah, I still have it.
(07:16):
It's almost fifty years old. It's hard to believe that
that's how long ago it was the story about the
second scrawl. But the years fly, that's definitely the case.
But you know, I was big into matchbox cars. I
was big into army Men, if you will. I used
(07:37):
to play this game in my room to where I
would I would divide the army men and I would
put them on one side of the room versus the
other one facing each other, and I would take and
I was playing by myself because that's that's what we
had to do. I did have a little sister, but
she was a little sister, you know, she was just
a pain in my butt. Sometimes we would play together,
(08:00):
but I would take a tennis ball and I would
bounce the ball and I would try to knock down
the opposing army until there was one man left standing.
So I would develop characters within these military guys, you know,
like this guy's very special, so I'm going to make
sure he's extra secure in his bunker. And this guy
I don't care much about, so I'm going to make
(08:21):
him standing up front so I can get him easily.
And then the match boxes and I got into modeling
and things like that, but very soul type activities. Now
I did develop friends, and there were some places that
were better than others, but I have to be honest
and very transparent. There were some places that were pretty mean,
(08:43):
especially around some of the military areas. In the military bases,
I think all the kids developed a sense of toughness
that wasn't core to my nature originally. So I was
the skinny little kid, so that was a target.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
You're a target. So I hear solitary play, learning to maneuver,
not getting very close in relationships and all this what
was home life like at this point.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So my parents were divorced when I was twelve eleven,
twelve years old. Up until that point, you know, living overseas.
I mean, like I said, I have wonderful memories that
live in a little town called Chippyona, Spain. It was
right off the coast of Gibraltar. We were right on
(09:39):
the ocean. My dad always wanted to be off the
military base and in the communities surrounding the military basis.
So I was very ingrained into the Latin culture where
we lived. But the only kids that you could really
talk to pick couple of Spanish here and there, but
(10:01):
the only kid you could really talk to were other
military kids. So I don't want to diminish the fact
that up until that point, I feel like I had
wonderful experiences. He loved camping, he loved traveling. We saw
all kinds of things. We were always on the go.
(10:21):
But once the divorce came, he not only divorced my mother,
he somehow managed to divorce his kids as well, because
at the age of twelve he took off. That was it,
(10:43):
and we were strange for the you know, the next
fifty years until his death last September. I mean, he
didn't even know I wrote a book. He didn't even
know I was interesting in writing a book. I mean
he you know, no graduations, no track meets, no any
type of competition myself or my sister had. He was
(11:06):
never present. Matter of fact, he didn't even show up
for her wedding. I had to stand in at the
last minute. So very much an isolated period of time.
When we got back to this, when we got back
to the States, my mom remarried and that's where the
trouble began.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Well, let's go back to dad for just a minute,
because that's such a huge loss in life. I mean
for him to truly it sounds like abandonment right for
you and Sip and the kids who experienced it that way,
it's often talked about almost like death then that you're saying,
(11:48):
your dad just passed away this past September. So with
that estrangement happening so long ago, and it's such a
vulnerable age for you, how did that impact you then?
Were you angry? Were you sad? Can you describe your emotions?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
So in the beginning, it's almost a disbelief that it's gone,
You know that he was gone, and you know, you
mentioned his death in my adulthood even to this point.
It would have been better if he would have died.
That would have been that would have been an excuse
(12:30):
instead of him going on to creating at least two
more families past us. He was married twice more. And
you know, I have half sibling and some steps from
that as well. And I saw him investing him and
my sister, and I think she was maybe more affected
(12:52):
by it. He was investing in other children. Matter of fact,
one of my steps, as I mean, put her through
medical school. She ended up becoming a doctor. You know,
things like that. We saw long distance because we weren't
really part of his life anymore at that point. But
it was very hurtful. So I became very angry. My
(13:15):
my mode of using the anger. I got heavily involved
into martial arts. The running was always big for me,
but again it was all so it was just me,
you know, I didn't do a whole lot of team things.
(13:36):
I needed to express my energy physically, and and and
I started. I started swinging, I started punching. And when
I was I was I was a little I was
a skinnier kid. I was very thin, taller but thin,
kind of lanky. But I seemed to be for these
(13:58):
military kids kind of a target as well. So not
only I guess we can go there in a minute,
Not only my stepfather, my mom's second husband, was one
to put his hands on somebody. The kids at the
military base was were me. You know. They wanted to
(14:23):
prove their ground. And it literally was Forrest Gump walking
onto the bus looking for a seat and nobody would
give you a seat, and then at the end of
the school day you were jumped by whoever the bully was.
So I got tired of that. And literally it was
(14:43):
in Orlando on the Navy base I got home after
one of my beatings and I told my mom, I said,
I need to learn how to fight. And that next
day she took me down and happened to be a
Navy seal teaching a martial arts class. And that was
my introduction into marrow martial arts at that point, and
I took it throughout my adulthood.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So I'm here. You were angry at this abandonment by
your father, and you channeled it, and as you said,
there was always a physical outlet, that's what you chose,
but you found a productive way of channeling it, although
you found a way to prepare to defend yourself with
the bullies. It's time for our first break, and I
(15:25):
whant to come back talk more about the impact of divorce.
It's something that I often talk about on this show,
and I appreciate having your perspective from childhood and bringing
it to now. We're going to tie it into some
other things and how writing became away for resilience as well.
So don't go far and we'll be back with more.
Sol CPR.
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Speaker 2 (17:49):
Welcome back everyone. This is sole CPR on the Bold
Brave TV Network. I'm and Papayotti here with my guests
Kurt Robinson whose pen name is Robins, and we're going
to talk about his book later in the show, but
right now we're talking about the impact on him as
a child when his father divorced his mom and really
abandoned the family he and his sister. So Kurt I
(18:13):
just wanted to ask a couple more questions about that.
If I may, at the time, remember what you believed
to be the demise of your parents' marriage, and if
you do, remember does it differ from what you believed
as an adult or happen to know now was the
demise of the marriage.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
So as a child, I mean, without him being there,
I actually struck out at my mother as well. You know,
I don't think as a child I separated that it
was my dad, But as an adult, learning later on
and witnessing certain things, he was a rolling stone, you know.
(18:57):
I guess modern day you would call him a player.
He thought he thought himself as a ladies man and
was very successful at it, to to the point that
even after or during my parents divorce, there was a
couple of stories to where I would get lenians in
(19:19):
areas that I was angry with store owners, principal at school,
and come to find out that my dad had maneuvered
into certain people's lives with their sister or their daughter
or something like that to where he was having marital affairs.
So he was he was a dog, you know, modern
(19:42):
day he was a dog.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So yeah, I see, and I'm also curious, did you,
your sister or your mom, did any of you ever
go through any type of counseling after your father left?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
We did, so that is something that I do need
to bring up because we couldn't do it on our own,
and my mom tried to get a career from that
point on when she didn't really have one. She ended
up becoming an RN but so through all that training
(20:15):
and getting her own job, but during that time, we
did have some counseling for that first I would say
six months or so, and I really feel like, looking
back on it, the counselor at least thought enough about
our situation that my sister and I were stable enough
(20:35):
that it didn't really need to continue. You know. Obviously
as a kid, I didn't know how that conversation went
with my mother, but it seems like we were released
early if you you know, good behavior. We got off early.
So it wasn't like it wasn't like ongoing forever and
ever we had counseling, but in the beginning it did
(20:57):
help the talk yeah, and superfessional Yeah, that professional device helped.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Beautiful to hear. Because I know a lot of people
want ask me should their children see a counselor after
a divorce, and I always recommend it just because we
don't know if the children will open up differently to
someone than they will to their parents.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So just one quick story about that. The counselor puts
something on the whiteboard that stuck with me even to
this day. And he drew my life in a timeline,
and here I am just twelve years old, and he's
basically like, here's your life today, here's where you're born,
here's your life today, and here's what you can expect
(21:41):
in your lifetime if you live long enough. And he
talked about how we have certain significant emotional events in
life that create a diversion or a divergent line in
your regular line. It takes you off track of where
your normal path might have been without those events, but
he says, you basically end up at the end in
(22:03):
the very same place. So don't let those emotional events
that are significant deter you because you're still traveling along
a line that's very similar to your original And it
always stuck with me to this day what he said
in that office, So just a little.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Sit I love that he was basically saying, don't let
this event define you differently than you. I love that well.
Even earlier in the previous segment that your mom remarried
and you implied there was some abuse, So let's talk
about that. In fact, you told me your mom married
(22:41):
in a private conversation, or she was married four times.
So which or how many of her husband's were abusive
towards her towards you, your sister.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
So the first being my dad, the last was a gentleman,
all of them military men. The last one, you know,
he came along after I was already in the military myself.
But number two and three, and this may surprise you,
we're the same person. She married the same man twice, okay,
(23:13):
even after the events. And I don't know if you
want me to go into this right now. He was
an abusive man. The thing that kills me even to
this day. My sister really won't talk about it, but
I feel like maybe he was even sexually abusive with her,
(23:37):
because there was a couple of times that she said
she would wake up and she would she would describe
a situation where maybe he was touching her in her sleep,
and she would say, must be a dream mom, Must
be a dream mom, And she would just play it off.
But I can tell you the last day of their
(24:00):
first marriage and describe and maybe that'll put it in
context of what it was like. So I was sitting
in one of the front rooms of the house and
I heard my sister, who's two years younger than I am,
I was probably thirteen fourteen, maybe I heard her screaming
out and it was one of those screams that you
(24:22):
know something's going on that you got to react to.
And I came around the corner into the kitchen and
this man had my mother by the throat, and my
mother was on her knees and she was trying, you know,
his arms free, hands, his hands free from her neck,
(24:46):
and my sister was doing the best she could to
claw at them. You know, she was small at the
time as well, and she wasn't making a difference. So
as the young, skinny kid, with all my might and
like any kid I think would protect their mother, I
(25:07):
did my best. I went in full force, and thankfully
it was enough of a distraction that he let go
of my mother fearfully and terrifyingly when he turned, his
focus was on me. So I was successful in getting
(25:30):
him off my mother, and I knew what it was
like to get hit by a full grown man, and
a full grown man's punch. It was a close handed punch. Thankfully,
he didn't hit me in the face or the throat.
He hit me in the chest area, but it was
enough to send me backwards over the kitchen table that
(25:54):
was right there. A man's hands should never be used
like that against but again, that was him. I think
that was the nature of the man. He was very dismissed.
If you know, I was a nuisance to him. Me
and my sister were nuisances. I don't blame him, it's
(26:18):
kind of weird. I don't blame him. I blame my
father because my father left us to that situation when
he shouldn't have. So that's where the resentment harbored from
those type of situations. You know, I always put it
back on him, If that makes.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Sense, I do. It does make sense. And now you
said that was the last day of the first marriage.
So do you having me blame a resentment towards your
mom for having remarried him.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So my mom tried the best she could. The stories
of her childhood, my mom's family Sicilian and my grandfather
was a very hard man World War Two, served in
Saipan for three four years over there fighting who he
(27:17):
we had to My grandfather was a man that we
had to pay homage to. It almost sounds like a movie.
But when we arrived there, when we walked in the
front door, each one of us kids would have to
go in separately and say something to him in the
back room before we could do anything else. She had
to give respect to my grandfather. But the stories I
(27:38):
hear from my mom were even more brutal than what
I experienced. And you know, it's that generational thing that
I knew when I became a father that I did
not want to go any further. You know, it canst
(28:00):
and it has to stop from generation to generation. And
from what I was told, his brothers weren't mean to him.
His father was mean to him. You know, they were
from Sicily and they were just hard people. And you know,
it's it's something that's when I look back on it,
(28:24):
it's such a negative that I knew I needed that
negative energy and use it from my own good to
turn it to a positive. You know, I learned so
much from the negativity that it empowered you to say
everything that I've seen and experienced and done that can't
(28:45):
happen anymore. And that's how I'm going to live my life.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
So did you ever have a male role model in
your life from any walk of life who was positive
and moral and at school and that family man that
that did give you another example to follow?
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I did. Actually it was a coach in high school.
He's he's passed now. He was the head football coach,
or maybe he was an assistant, but he was the
head track coach. And that's what I did in high school,
ran track in cross country and did the martial arts
as a side thing. His name was coach Jeff Palmeroy.
(29:31):
I still remember him to this day. He would have
me over to his house for cookouts. He used to
call me the big L because my feet were as
long as you know, I look like a big L
because I was so skinny from the side that looked
like a bean pole with some people sticking out. And
he would call me the big L but so kind,
(29:53):
and they didn't have any kids, and it almost felt
like he knew and without me ever telling them the story,
that I needed protection and that I needed guidance. And
to this day, those cookouts the simple things, just cookouts
and talking to me, putting his arm around me, asking
(30:17):
me how things were going. Those are things that were
so impactful that you know, I've learned even from that
his example. It's the small thing. Sometimes it's the pat
on the back, it's the arm around the shoulders. It's
just that moment in time that you can take and
invest in somebody that you just don't realize how impactful
(30:39):
that is for that person. And it was very impactful
what he did for me, So.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Coach Palm l Roy, right, thank you Coach Palm l
Roy and all the men out there like him who
may not know the impact they're making on the kids
that are out there and in there where. And you
went to high school in Florida, right, I did.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Penscola, Florida. Scambria High School was my our claim to fames.
Emmitt Smith and a couple other good football players went
to high school there as well, so I got to
see EMMITTT. Smith play. I was actually in the junior college,
Pennscola Junior College, and I went back and I got
to see Emmett Smith play as a freshman in high school.
(31:23):
And he was good back then. He was good.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
He was really cool, very cool, very cool. Well, we
are approaching our second break and when we come back,
we're going to talk a little more. I want to
know what drove you to go into the military after
all those experiences that you and they were going to
come in through writing this wonderful novel that you've written.
(31:46):
So don't go far. We're going to be back with more.
With Kurt and sulcypr.
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Speaker 2 (33:55):
And We're back. I'm Anne Papaoti here with my special
guest today Robin Curtis is his pen name. I know
him as Kurt Robinson, and we're going to figure out
how you can find him later in the last segment.
But first of all, Kurt, I'm really curious that I
imagine listeners would be as well. What led you to
(34:15):
join the military? After all those experiences you shared with
us that weren't so positive associated and now some of
the movie was some of the locations you said, you
learned a lot about cultures and all of that, But
what led you to join the military.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
So upon graduating high school, I actually was offered a
chance to go to a medical school where you go,
Huntington Medical University in Alabama. And so I was a
state level athlete and track at that point and competed
(34:51):
at state level my senior year and was offered a
scholarship for the first four years, which you know, like
nine of the graduates would going to medical school. But
I was lost, you know, and my mom. Believe me,
this is no blame on my mom, but there was really,
(35:13):
you know, guidance as far as what steps I should take,
and basically I was talked out of going that route.
Well it just so happened at that my dad was teaching.
He was teaching English at the University in Louisiana at
the time. It was Southwest USL the Raging Cagents in Lafayette, Louisiana.
(35:36):
He was actually a professor there and he offered free
college there. And one thing led to another, and I
ended up saying, Hey, this may be an opportunity for
me to get to know something at eighteen years old
that I didn't know about him, maybe gained some understanding
(35:58):
because it had been a long six year if you will.
And so I did move there, and you know, I'm
going to cut out a lot of the middle parts
of the story, but I used to drive by either
to work or when I was I hadn't started classes yet.
So I got a little job there and I used
(36:19):
to drive by Petroleum Helicopters Incorporated. It was a little
helicopter outfit that serviced the old rigs offshore. And one
day I walked in there and I found this guy
and he was the typical army sergeant looking guy with like,
you know, the half but half lit cigar, and he's like,
(36:39):
what are you doing in here? And I'm like, hey,
I want to get I want to know how I
get to work on the helicopters, and I said, I'm
really interested. I loved the thought of him. And then
he goes, well, you got to join the military. That's
what I did, and that's what you need to do.
So the next day I went down to a recruit
(37:00):
and so it was more and said, hey, I'm interested
in helicopters. And it just so happened. I was standing
outside the Marine Corps door because I wanted to fight, right,
I wanted to be tough and rough and all the
guys stuff right. T stosterone just exploding and I was
invincible at that point in my life. And it just
(37:23):
so happened to an Air Force recruiter. That's their offices
were all right next to each other. An Air Force
recruiter stepped out and said, hey, what do you do?
And I was like, I want to join the Marines.
I want to be on helicopters. And he goes, well,
the Air Force has helicopters, and I was like, what
Air Force has helicopters? And one thing led to another,
and I think I signed that same day guaranteed to
(37:46):
work on helicopters. So it was more of a career
driven at that point that I was just interested in aviation.
I was always fascinated with, you know, going to the
stars and flying and the concept around it. I had
very bad eyes, so I literally wore coat bottles at
one point in my life before I got the surgery,
(38:08):
and it was you know, I knew my vision was
going to stop me from doing any kind of pilot training.
So I went mechanic instead and been there and loved it.
Great career. Loved it and the military did give me
that sense of belonging, and it taught me the team.
It took me out of being a loner because you're
(38:30):
forced out of it. But then I enjoyed. Then I
started learning to enjoy people. You know, I bet some
of my best friends in the world are military people
and still to stay. You know, thirty five years later,
I still think I could just walk into a room
and they would be my best friend still for this day.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
That's amazing true brotherhood. I have my youngest who's not
mine by blood, who's in the military, and I believe
that same thing's going to happened for him, and he
was a lone wolf before this as well, so I
look forward to seeing him develop and grow in that
way as well. So and then so forty one years total,
(39:12):
I think between military and now civilian aviation. So certainly
you've lived that calling fighting like you said you had,
you learned to fight, and it was that loner calling.
You were always active, you were moving. The military became
this this new path. You got to take me back
to the fact that you're an ordained minister. What did
(39:35):
religion or ministry have to do with something with either
your healing or you're moving forward in life past your past?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Right? So, I think a child that grows up in
a solitary environment, there's always going to be that that hole,
that that emptiness of just kind of that communal spirit
(40:06):
that a family. Because even though I had a strong
family unit when I was around them, as far as
like the Sicilians are being on the Robinson side, who
are English Irish types in the longe times there, my
mom worked double shifts. She she did everything she could,
(40:29):
and I appreciate that about her. She showed me a
work ethic bar none. I mean, she was always seemed
like she was at work. But me and my sister
were latch key kids, and there's a certain amount even
though you could pluck us and pluck us out of
society and put us in the woods, and we'll be
(40:49):
just fine and we'll survive, no problem. There's still that
longing for some type of spirituality. There's that hole, and
and I began to look for that family outside of
my own family, and church fell into play. Actually it
was a military man. He was a chief master Sergeant
(41:12):
McKinnon was his last name. He can't remember his first name.
He invited me the church and during that process is
when you know, I first found my salvation. And it
just developed throughout the years. Became a teacher, Sunday school
teacher for many many years, became ordained, still do weddings
(41:34):
if anybody's interested and contact me. I think I've done
five five weddings in the last two years, so open.
I love weddings. It's it's the perfect time, it's you know,
it's the union of two souls, two people. It's the
happiest moment hopefully, hopefully it's the happiest moment in their lives.
And you know, from that, I just get such enjoyment
(41:59):
about being around on people and talking about God and
you know, just learning more about it. So I just
gravitated towards it because there was a hole.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
So how did this marathon runner, martial arts specialist, aviation
career man come to write a crime novel?
Speaker 3 (42:25):
I so when I started thinking about running, about writing,
you know, it always there's a certain ember, I think,
even from a young age of you know, sending my
story into Marvel comic books, and later on, you know,
(42:46):
in nineteen seventy six, seeing my story published. Although I
didn't get anything for it, you know, maybe I could,
maybe I could get some kind of dividends back. And
I don't know what fifty years of Marvel dividends would
look like. But but it's I always had stories. As
(43:06):
a matter of fact, I've probably got twelve books outlined,
and it's all types of genres. It's not just the
crime dramas the novels. Even though I want to do
you know, probably three of these before it's done in
this series, I do want to write nonfiction, you know,
I want to talk about some of the stuff like
(43:28):
we're talking about now. From my perspective, I'm not a
professional in that realm, but I think I have, you know,
maybe something to give that might help people. And and
that's where I want to do where I want to be.
So writing was an outlet because of the I get
to take my story and I get to embed it
(43:51):
in a fictional way that very few would be able
to figure out which truth and what fiction. And I
was able to express myself in this first book. It's
a diary. It's not so the scenes or the characters
(44:13):
and everything about it's fiction. It's totally fiction, but the
characters themselves. I was able to take little pieces or
chunks of my own personality and the way I would
think about this situation or that situation, and I'd be
able to express those lifelong feelings embedded into what the
characters were doing. And it was. It was. It's liberating.
(44:39):
It truly is liberating. I'm excited. I feel like a
twelve year old kid at sixty years old. I got
the energy of a twelve year old. All I can
think about doing at the moment is, you know, I
have a job. Let me back up, it's not all
(45:00):
spare time. I just love the fact and I feel
the sense of urgency that I need to get them
all written, and I think that's creating that energy. But
it was an outlet. It was an outlet to express
myself in a way that it is brutal at sometimes.
(45:21):
But some of the things I saw and felt and
I'm able to close them. I'm able to write that
chapter and almost turn the page and close it, close
that chapter of the book and put it away in
real life as well.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
What a beautiful way to express that, because first of all,
I want to tell you that I took this beautiful
book on vacation and I couldn't put it down. And
while I haven't finished, ye's no spoilers please. It is
a page turner, and it is brutal at times because
(45:58):
it is a crime, okay, and it's you know, it's
set in New Orleans, and it's got the you know,
got this the Italian kind of Sicilian that you know
there it's happening, and it's the way you develop your characters.
Is I feel like I'm watching a popular Netflix series
(46:25):
episode by episode, and I can't wait for the next one.
I'm like on a binge and I know I'm in
touch with their feelings and their emotions and seeing where's
the twists gonna come and what's next. And I'm in
their shoes, each and every one of them. And that's
a master Kurt, you have written this masterly, and I
(46:50):
believe you could sell this to a screenwriter if you
choose to do so. And I know you're working on
the sequel, and like you said, you might may do
three in this series. I hope you do, because I
think that people who read this and become fans of
yours are going to want it. They're going to demand
it even But I'm telling you that as I'm reading it,
(47:10):
because I know you, I'm thinking, which character is he
that I think I'm hearing you say? You're a compilation.
There's these different things, okay, all of them, but the
way you know, I'm going, oh my gosh, this is marriage.
How many people have experienced this in their marriage? And
(47:30):
how many people have thought this or felt this? And
it's very very relatable, and I highly recommend to read listeners.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
I really really coming from you, and I really appreciate that,
because you know, I respect you for what you have
done and and you know, the show and the books
and and just your life example. I truly appreciate what
you're saying. It means a lot to me. Thank you,
Thank you well.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
I hear what I hear from you is that there's
been healing through writing there is it is true.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Okay, that's true. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
I know that you and I both agree that everyone
has a story, at least one or more. Not everyone
story is something they want to share publicly, and not
everyone wants to share it in the form of a book.
But for those who do but don't feel worthy or
(48:30):
whatever maybe holding them back, what would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (48:34):
I would say, just do it, and just even if
you don't feel like writing, just start putting your thoughts down.
Or even the way I started it literally was sitting
in a My first words on paper were sitting in
a waiting room waiting for a loved one to come
out of surgery. And all I did was, you know,
(48:57):
I was sitting there on my laptop and I was like,
going to describe this room and see what words come
out describing the room. You know, it never made it
into the book or anything like that, but each day
that you come across a person, whether they're positive or negative,
those personalities are impactful, and you know it. It was
(49:23):
something that I could use and if I was emotionally
down or emotionally up or super excited, or you know,
had a bad day, good day, it still was a
way to express even though you're not maybe just writing
chapter after chapter, just put your thoughts and emotions down
(49:46):
on a piece of paper, and it is calming, it
is satisfying, it's healing, it's healing. And because the first
thing I thought I wanted to write, which I was like,
this is ridiculous, I was gonna do. I'm gonna do
an autobiography and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's going to sell.
Autobiography of Kurt Robinson, you know, normal, average, every day Joe,
(50:10):
you know. And I was like, but by going fiction,
I could create characters and I could write about myself,
but yet hide it within the characters. And it's so
funny because I just did a book club reading here
where I live, and during the question and the answers
(50:33):
of the audience, they were referring to my characters like
they live next door to me, you know. They're like,
you know, do you know what John's going to have
for dinner tonight? And I'm like, you know, that's just
a character in the book, right. But what I began
to realize is that people start to identify with the characters,
(50:55):
and thus, in turn, what that means is that they're
identifying with me, and therefore, you know, my investment back
into them. Knowing you know that they are paying attention
if you will, is something that I always want to
make sure I do is take the time for that
(51:17):
and make sure that they know that I care about
what's going on with them and in their lives as well.
But I know not everybody is a writer, so not
everybody's going to do it, but it really doesn't matter.
I think whatever your your avenue is, there needs to
be something in all of our lives that you can
(51:40):
invest in and get that same type of reward back
or something out there.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
All Right, we're going to take our final break and
when we come back, we're going to have some closing
thoughts with Robin Curtis, author of Sicilian Corner, available on Amazon.
Will be back in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
Mike Zorich a three time California state champion in Greco
Roman wrestling at one hundred and fourteen pounds. Mike blind
six birth was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a
six time national placer, including two seconds, two thirds, and
two fourths. He also won the Veteran's Folk Style Wrestling
(52:23):
twice at one hundred and fifty two pounds. In all
these tournaments, he was the only blind competitor. Nancy Zorich
a creative spirit whose talents have taken her to the
stage and into galleries and exhibitions in several states. Her father,
a commercial artist who shared his instruments with his daughter
and helped her fine tune her natural abilities influence her
(52:46):
decision to follow in his footsteps. Miss Zorich has enjoyed
a fruitful career doing what she loves. Listen Saturday mornings
at twelve Eastern for the Nancy and Mike Show for
heartwarming stories and interesting talk on the BBM Global Network.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
As we've wrapped up today's episode of Soul CPR, I
just want to ask you, Kurt, do you have a
key takeaway for today's audience. I want to leave them with.
Speaker 3 (53:16):
I do so, and we talked about it a little bit.
I do believe everyone has a story. It doesn't mean
that everyone's a writer, but everyone has a story. And
you know, the growth comes from your personal history and
the way that you used it. I'm sure there are
stories out there that are way more impactful than mine.
I feel blessed in what I experienced and everything that
(53:40):
happened to me, the people in and out of my lives,
the ones that are long term, and the spot I'm
in today, I feel truly blessed. So it has been
a wonderful life, if you will, even with the negativity
early on and the feelings that I had it it
has it has been and a joy and a pleasure
(54:01):
to be on this earth. I believe that people need
to express themselves in the healthy outlet that you know
you need to find. People need to find their way
whatever that looks like. You know, mine early on was physical,
but as you get older it changed. And right now
I've got bushes waiting on me in the backyard to
(54:24):
plant along the fence line, and those are those are
things that I enjoy to do as well as I
get older, and it's an outlet or besides just the writing.
So time is short, you know, the seconds crawl, the
years fly by, and I believe that you should always
(54:45):
say yes to family events. You can take naps later,
but you know, we don't have very long and you
know we always need to be involved. We need to
go ahead and get those precious moments when we can.
So be kind, be patient, love one another. I have
to go, but each one of you has a chapter
(55:07):
in your life as well, and I just hope that
your book is well written at the end as well.
Speaker 2 (55:15):
That's beautiful. And I just want to community because we
do know that hurting people tend to hurt people. You
overcame that you have become an amazing father, stepfather, grandfather, husband, friend, employee,
all of those things. You made a choice. It is
a choice. No matter your side of domestic abuse and violence,
(55:39):
you have a choice. You can choose to heal. I
do want to give the domestic violence hotline since we
did talk about abuse today, nine one one. If you're
in a situation, call it if you're observing it, witnessing it,
or it's happening to you nine to one one always
the hotline dot org for the National Domestic Hotline eight
(56:02):
hundred and seventy ninety nine safe that's seven two three
three at the end, or you can text start eight
eight seven eight eight twenty four to seven. Those lines
are manned. Kurt, thank you so much for being on
the show today and sharing your stories and your book.
And the book is available on Amazon and you can
(56:25):
connect with Kurt on LinkedIn at Kurt Robinson is where
you're going to find him right and then we've got
in the show notes everything else. And as we're closing
out today, I just want to remind everyone that healing
is not a linear journey. It is a process of
profound transformation, as you heard in Kurt's life examples there.
(56:49):
And if today's story resonated with you or this episode,
please like it, share it, rate it, and give this
to someone else. Share this podcast who may need a
lifeline on their own or inspiration and motivation from the
story of Kurt's life. We'd appreciate subscribing, rating, and leaving
(57:12):
us a review so we can reach more hearts. That's
how these algorithms work, right. You can always connect with
me on social media as well. I can help you
reach Kurt Facebook at skybe Coaching, LinkedIn x, Instagram, at
a Papa yote. Let me know your thoughts, your stories,
and the other types of subject matter you'd like to
bring to the show, and we're going to make that happen.
(57:34):
Thank you for listening, and until next time, may you
find strength in your vulnerability, encourage in your journey. And
that's always read deeply, love openly, and live soulfully good
day everyone, Thanks again
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Kurt, this has been Soul CPR with host and Papa
Yote read Life into your Spirit with each episode where
she and special guests explore the relationships that hurt us
and discover that healing can only begin with you, Tuesdays
(58:11):
at three pm Eastern on the Bold Brave TV network
Are you ready to untangle from your past, recover from heartbreak,
and revive your life. This is Soul CPR with your
host and Papa Yode. We've all had soul crushing experiences
and lost ourselves in our pain, but there is a
way out. On this podcast, Amazon best selling author, award
winning life coach and advice columnist and Papa Yode helps
(00:26):
us navigate the path from heartbreak to healing. So now
please welcome the host of Soul CPR and Papa Yode.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hello, and thank you for tuning in today. I'm so
happy if you are a regular listener or if you've
recently found our show, We're so glad that you have
joined us here on Soul's CPR, where we dive deep
into stories of resilience and transformation and the power of healing.
(01:01):
And today I'm honored to welcome my guest, whose life
journey would like an epic novel. It's filled with adventure
and perseverance and reinvention. Now, Robin Curtis is a man
of many talents and a lifetime of experiences, and from
having a Marvel comic published at the age of eleven,
(01:27):
to serving in the military and building a thirty three
year career in civil aviation, earning a black belt in
the martial arts. His journey is nothing short of remarkable.
He's also a former marathon runner and ord Dane deacon.
He performs weddings. He's also a certified scuba diver, so
(01:50):
you see, sounds like an adventurer right straight from a novel.
But beyond all of these achievements, Robin's true passion has
always been storytelling. His debut crime thriller Sicilian Corner, is
the culmination of a lifelong love for writing, one that
(02:11):
began as a way to escape a difficult childhood. Growing
up in a military family, moving frequently and facing divorce
and estrangement and an abusive stepfather, Robin found refuge in
the worlds that he created. Now, as a husband and
(02:34):
a father of five and a proud grandfather, he's proving
that it's never too late to embrace a creative calling.
We're gonna talk more about that later in the show,
but with the sequel already in the works, he's really
just getting started. So please join me and welcoming to
(02:57):
the show. I'm excited to have him here.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Hi, Robin, how are you? It's good to see you
as always. You look amazing often oftentimes Christy and I
just amazed about what you do. There's you know, your
sense of style, your professionalism, the sense of humor that
(03:20):
you have, and just the love and passion that you
show for everyone. You're just a pleasure to be around,
and I just appreciate you very much for you know,
taking the time and the interest in this book and
my life in general.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, well, thank you, and let's go ahead and put
it out there that that Robin Curtis is actually a
pen name, because I'm probably going to call you Kurt
because we do know in our personal lives and we
share a career, we go back quite a ways, having
cross paths in our civil aviation careers and my family
(03:58):
and I had the pleasure of attending your in Christie's
beautiful beach wedding so many years ago now, but what it.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Was almost that's fourteen years ago at this point. It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Oh my gosh, I could I gauge it by how
small my son Chris was. I guess I remember on
the beach and playing around, But what a beautiful time
that was. What we didn't know about one another at
the time, and thank you for the compliments that you
paid me. It warms my heart. But what you and
I did not know about one of the other at
(04:35):
the time was that we were both writers, or that
we were in our hearts. Neither of us had published
anything at the time except your Marvel comic, which we'll
come back around to. But since then we both revealed
ourselves as I guess what I would say. And so
I'm so happy that you're joining me today to talk
on this particular platform to talk more about that and
(04:55):
what inspired you to do so. But to get there,
let's go back to childhood. And I mentioned a little
bit about that in the introduction. What was it like,
Kurt to grow up in a military family and to
relocate often.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
So I would say isolating for the most part. You know,
we moved probably by the time I was eighteen, at
least ten times, you know, five different states, several countries,
and you know, but on the other hand, it was
(05:35):
also very rewarding in the fact I got to see
other cultures at a young age. You know, I was
always the new kid, so a lot of times, and
you know how difficult it is to make friends, shoot
even you know, you know, getting into groups and trying
to maneuver or network. You know, it's difficult to make
(05:58):
new friends, and as a kid, it's one of the
things that I felt like I developed very well, was
maneuvering in and out of different social groups. But yet
I knew it was only temporary. So I knew that
I was going to be leaving or they were going
to be leaving, because a lot of them were military
children as well. So it was something to where you
(06:22):
just didn't invest deeply as a child into any type
of relationships because you knew it was just short term.
So I got very good at that kind of, you know,
being the chameleon, being able to mold into whatever group
was in front of me at the time, but I
did not learn how to make long term relationships. So
(06:44):
that's kind of what it was like from place to place.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And so did your imagination start developing during this time?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Oh, holy smoke, yes, So you know I was huge
age into comic books, like you mentioned a minute ago.
As a matter of fact, I have the comic book
edition that we're talking about. I have hundreds of comic books.
Actually it's the comic book. Yeah, I still have it.
(07:16):
It's almost fifty years old. It's hard to believe that
that's how long ago it was the story about the
second scrawl. But the years fly, that's definitely the case.
But you know, I was big into matchbox cars. I
was big into army Men, if you will. I used
(07:37):
to play this game in my room to where I
would I would divide the army men and I would
put them on one side of the room versus the
other one facing each other, and I would take and
I was playing by myself because that's that's what we
had to do. I did have a little sister, but
she was a little sister, you know, she was just
a pain in my butt. Sometimes we would play together,
(08:00):
but I would take a tennis ball and I would
bounce the ball and I would try to knock down
the opposing army until there was one man left standing.
So I would develop characters within these military guys, you know,
like this guy's very special, so I'm going to make
sure he's extra secure in his bunker. And this guy
I don't care much about, so I'm going to make
(08:21):
him standing up front so I can get him easily.
And then the match boxes and I got into modeling
and things like that, but very soul type activities. Now
I did develop friends, and there were some places that
were better than others, but I have to be honest
and very transparent. There were some places that were pretty mean,
(08:43):
especially around some of the military areas. In the military bases,
I think all the kids developed a sense of toughness
that wasn't core to my nature originally. So I was
the skinny little kid, so that was a target.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
You're a target. So I hear solitary play, learning to maneuver,
not getting very close in relationships and all this what
was home life like at this point.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So my parents were divorced when I was twelve eleven,
twelve years old. Up until that point, you know, living overseas.
I mean, like I said, I have wonderful memories that
live in a little town called Chippyona, Spain. It was
right off the coast of Gibraltar. We were right on
(09:39):
the ocean. My dad always wanted to be off the
military base and in the communities surrounding the military basis.
So I was very ingrained into the Latin culture where
we lived. But the only kids that you could really
talk to pick couple of Spanish here and there, but
(10:01):
the only kid you could really talk to were other
military kids. So I don't want to diminish the fact
that up until that point, I feel like I had
wonderful experiences. He loved camping, he loved traveling. We saw
all kinds of things. We were always on the go.
(10:21):
But once the divorce came, he not only divorced my mother,
he somehow managed to divorce his kids as well, because
at the age of twelve he took off. That was it,
(10:43):
and we were strange for the you know, the next
fifty years until his death last September. I mean, he
didn't even know I wrote a book. He didn't even
know I was interesting in writing a book. I mean
he you know, no graduations, no track meets, no any
type of competition myself or my sister had. He was
(11:06):
never present. Matter of fact, he didn't even show up
for her wedding. I had to stand in at the
last minute. So very much an isolated period of time.
When we got back to this, when we got back
to the States, my mom remarried and that's where the
trouble began.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Well, let's go back to dad for just a minute,
because that's such a huge loss in life. I mean
for him to truly it sounds like abandonment right for
you and Sip and the kids who experienced it that way,
it's often talked about almost like death then that you're saying,
(11:48):
your dad just passed away this past September. So with
that estrangement happening so long ago, and it's such a
vulnerable age for you, how did that impact you then?
Were you angry? Were you sad? Can you describe your emotions?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
So in the beginning, it's almost a disbelief that it's gone,
You know that he was gone, and you know, you
mentioned his death in my adulthood even to this point.
It would have been better if he would have died.
That would have been that would have been an excuse
(12:30):
instead of him going on to creating at least two
more families past us. He was married twice more. And
you know, I have half sibling and some steps from
that as well. And I saw him investing him and
my sister, and I think she was maybe more affected
(12:52):
by it. He was investing in other children. Matter of fact,
one of my steps, as I mean, put her through
medical school. She ended up becoming a doctor. You know,
things like that. We saw long distance because we weren't
really part of his life anymore at that point. But
it was very hurtful. So I became very angry. My
(13:15):
my mode of using the anger. I got heavily involved
into martial arts. The running was always big for me,
but again it was all so it was just me,
you know, I didn't do a whole lot of team things.
(13:36):
I needed to express my energy physically, and and and
I started. I started swinging, I started punching. And when
I was I was I was a little I was
a skinnier kid. I was very thin, taller but thin,
kind of lanky. But I seemed to be for these
(13:58):
military kids kind of a target as well. So not
only I guess we can go there in a minute,
Not only my stepfather, my mom's second husband, was one
to put his hands on somebody. The kids at the
military base was were me. You know. They wanted to
(14:23):
prove their ground. And it literally was Forrest Gump walking
onto the bus looking for a seat and nobody would
give you a seat, and then at the end of
the school day you were jumped by whoever the bully was.
So I got tired of that. And literally it was
(14:43):
in Orlando on the Navy base I got home after
one of my beatings and I told my mom, I said,
I need to learn how to fight. And that next
day she took me down and happened to be a
Navy seal teaching a martial arts class. And that was
my introduction into marrow martial arts at that point, and
I took it throughout my adulthood.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So I'm here. You were angry at this abandonment by
your father, and you channeled it, and as you said,
there was always a physical outlet, that's what you chose,
but you found a productive way of channeling it, although
you found a way to prepare to defend yourself with
the bullies. It's time for our first break, and I
(15:25):
whant to come back talk more about the impact of divorce.
It's something that I often talk about on this show,
and I appreciate having your perspective from childhood and bringing
it to now. We're going to tie it into some
other things and how writing became away for resilience as well.
So don't go far and we'll be back with more.
Sol CPR.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Mike Zurich, a three time California state champion in Greco
Roman wrestling. At one hundred and fourteen pounds. Mike Blind
six birth, was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a
sixth time national placer, including two seconds, two thirds, and
two fourths. He also won the Veterans Folk Style Wrestling
(16:08):
twice at one hundred and fifty two pounds. In all
these tournaments, he was the only blind competitor. Nancy Zurich
a creative spirit whose talents have taken her to the
stage and into galleries and exhibitions in several states. Her father,
a commercial artist, who shared his instruments with his daughter
and helped her fine tune her natural abilities, influenced her
(16:31):
decision to follow in his footsteps. Miss Zurich has enjoyed
a fruitful career doing what she loves. Listen Saturday mornings
at twelve Eastern for the Nancy and Mike Show for
heartwarming stories and interesting talk on the BBM Global Network.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
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Do you wonder if being a caregiver is making you sick?
Are you worried about taking time off work to care
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(17:08):
I'm Pamela d Wilson. Join me for the Carrying Generation
radio show for caregivers and aging adults Wednesday evenings, six Pacific,
seven Mountain, eighth Central, and nine Eastern, where I answer
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(17:31):
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Speaker 2 (17:49):
Welcome back everyone. This is sole CPR on the Bold
Brave TV Network. I'm and Papayotti here with my guests
Kurt Robinson whose pen name is Robins, and we're going
to talk about his book later in the show, but
right now we're talking about the impact on him as
a child when his father divorced his mom and really
abandoned the family he and his sister. So Kurt I
(18:13):
just wanted to ask a couple more questions about that.
If I may, at the time, remember what you believed
to be the demise of your parents' marriage, and if
you do, remember does it differ from what you believed
as an adult or happen to know now was the
demise of the marriage.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
So as a child, I mean, without him being there,
I actually struck out at my mother as well. You know,
I don't think as a child I separated that it
was my dad, But as an adult, learning later on
and witnessing certain things, he was a rolling stone, you know.
(18:57):
I guess modern day you would call him a player.
He thought he thought himself as a ladies man and
was very successful at it, to to the point that
even after or during my parents divorce, there was a
couple of stories to where I would get lenians in
(19:19):
areas that I was angry with store owners, principal at school,
and come to find out that my dad had maneuvered
into certain people's lives with their sister or their daughter
or something like that to where he was having marital affairs.
So he was he was a dog, you know, modern
(19:42):
day he was a dog.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So yeah, I see, and I'm also curious, did you,
your sister or your mom, did any of you ever
go through any type of counseling after your father left?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
We did, so that is something that I do need
to bring up because we couldn't do it on our own,
and my mom tried to get a career from that
point on when she didn't really have one. She ended
up becoming an RN but so through all that training
(20:15):
and getting her own job, but during that time, we
did have some counseling for that first I would say
six months or so, and I really feel like, looking
back on it, the counselor at least thought enough about
our situation that my sister and I were stable enough
(20:35):
that it didn't really need to continue. You know. Obviously
as a kid, I didn't know how that conversation went
with my mother, but it seems like we were released
early if you you know, good behavior. We got off early.
So it wasn't like it wasn't like ongoing forever and
ever we had counseling, but in the beginning it did
(20:57):
help the talk yeah, and superfessional Yeah, that professional device helped.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Beautiful to hear. Because I know a lot of people
want ask me should their children see a counselor after
a divorce, and I always recommend it just because we
don't know if the children will open up differently to
someone than they will to their parents.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
So just one quick story about that. The counselor puts
something on the whiteboard that stuck with me even to
this day. And he drew my life in a timeline,
and here I am just twelve years old, and he's
basically like, here's your life today, here's where you're born,
here's your life today, and here's what you can expect
(21:41):
in your lifetime if you live long enough. And he
talked about how we have certain significant emotional events in
life that create a diversion or a divergent line in
your regular line. It takes you off track of where
your normal path might have been without those events, but
he says, you basically end up at the end in
(22:03):
the very same place. So don't let those emotional events
that are significant deter you because you're still traveling along
a line that's very similar to your original And it
always stuck with me to this day what he said
in that office, So just a little.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Sit I love that he was basically saying, don't let
this event define you differently than you. I love that well.
Even earlier in the previous segment that your mom remarried
and you implied there was some abuse, So let's talk
about that. In fact, you told me your mom married
(22:41):
in a private conversation, or she was married four times.
So which or how many of her husband's were abusive
towards her towards you, your sister.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
So the first being my dad, the last was a gentleman,
all of them military men. The last one, you know,
he came along after I was already in the military myself.
But number two and three, and this may surprise you,
we're the same person. She married the same man twice, okay,
(23:13):
even after the events. And I don't know if you
want me to go into this right now. He was
an abusive man. The thing that kills me even to
this day. My sister really won't talk about it, but
I feel like maybe he was even sexually abusive with her,
(23:37):
because there was a couple of times that she said
she would wake up and she would she would describe
a situation where maybe he was touching her in her sleep,
and she would say, must be a dream mom, Must
be a dream mom, And she would just play it off.
But I can tell you the last day of their
(24:00):
first marriage and describe and maybe that'll put it in
context of what it was like. So I was sitting
in one of the front rooms of the house and
I heard my sister, who's two years younger than I am,
I was probably thirteen fourteen, maybe I heard her screaming
out and it was one of those screams that you
(24:22):
know something's going on that you got to react to.
And I came around the corner into the kitchen and
this man had my mother by the throat, and my
mother was on her knees and she was trying, you know,
his arms free, hands, his hands free from her neck,
(24:46):
and my sister was doing the best she could to
claw at them. You know, she was small at the
time as well, and she wasn't making a difference. So
as the young, skinny kid, with all my might and
like any kid I think would protect their mother, I
(25:07):
did my best. I went in full force, and thankfully
it was enough of a distraction that he let go
of my mother fearfully and terrifyingly when he turned, his
focus was on me. So I was successful in getting
(25:30):
him off my mother, and I knew what it was
like to get hit by a full grown man, and
a full grown man's punch. It was a close handed punch. Thankfully,
he didn't hit me in the face or the throat.
He hit me in the chest area, but it was
enough to send me backwards over the kitchen table that
(25:54):
was right there. A man's hands should never be used
like that against but again, that was him. I think
that was the nature of the man. He was very dismissed.
If you know, I was a nuisance to him. Me
and my sister were nuisances. I don't blame him, it's
(26:18):
kind of weird. I don't blame him. I blame my
father because my father left us to that situation when
he shouldn't have. So that's where the resentment harbored from
those type of situations. You know, I always put it
back on him, If that makes.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Sense, I do. It does make sense. And now you
said that was the last day of the first marriage.
So do you having me blame a resentment towards your
mom for having remarried him.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So my mom tried the best she could. The stories
of her childhood, my mom's family Sicilian and my grandfather
was a very hard man World War Two, served in
Saipan for three four years over there fighting who he
(27:17):
we had to My grandfather was a man that we
had to pay homage to. It almost sounds like a movie.
But when we arrived there, when we walked in the
front door, each one of us kids would have to
go in separately and say something to him in the
back room before we could do anything else. She had
to give respect to my grandfather. But the stories I
(27:38):
hear from my mom were even more brutal than what
I experienced. And you know, it's that generational thing that
I knew when I became a father that I did
not want to go any further. You know, it canst
(28:00):
and it has to stop from generation to generation. And
from what I was told, his brothers weren't mean to him.
His father was mean to him. You know, they were
from Sicily and they were just hard people. And you know,
it's it's something that's when I look back on it,
(28:24):
it's such a negative that I knew I needed that
negative energy and use it from my own good to
turn it to a positive. You know, I learned so
much from the negativity that it empowered you to say
everything that I've seen and experienced and done that can't
(28:45):
happen anymore. And that's how I'm going to live my life.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
So did you ever have a male role model in
your life from any walk of life who was positive
and moral and at school and that family man that
that did give you another example to follow?
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I did. Actually it was a coach in high school.
He's he's passed now. He was the head football coach,
or maybe he was an assistant, but he was the
head track coach. And that's what I did in high school,
ran track in cross country and did the martial arts
as a side thing. His name was coach Jeff Palmeroy.
(29:31):
I still remember him to this day. He would have
me over to his house for cookouts. He used to
call me the big L because my feet were as
long as you know, I look like a big L
because I was so skinny from the side that looked
like a bean pole with some people sticking out. And
he would call me the big L but so kind,
(29:53):
and they didn't have any kids, and it almost felt
like he knew and without me ever telling them the story,
that I needed protection and that I needed guidance. And
to this day, those cookouts the simple things, just cookouts
and talking to me, putting his arm around me, asking
(30:17):
me how things were going. Those are things that were
so impactful that you know, I've learned even from that
his example. It's the small thing. Sometimes it's the pat
on the back, it's the arm around the shoulders. It's
just that moment in time that you can take and
invest in somebody that you just don't realize how impactful
(30:39):
that is for that person. And it was very impactful
what he did for me, So.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Coach Palm l Roy, right, thank you Coach Palm l
Roy and all the men out there like him who
may not know the impact they're making on the kids
that are out there and in there where. And you
went to high school in Florida, right, I did.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Penscola, Florida. Scambria High School was my our claim to fames.
Emmitt Smith and a couple other good football players went
to high school there as well, so I got to
see EMMITTT. Smith play. I was actually in the junior college,
Pennscola Junior College, and I went back and I got
to see Emmett Smith play as a freshman in high school.
(31:23):
And he was good back then. He was good.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
He was really cool, very cool, very cool. Well, we
are approaching our second break and when we come back,
we're going to talk a little more. I want to
know what drove you to go into the military after
all those experiences that you and they were going to
come in through writing this wonderful novel that you've written.
(31:46):
So don't go far. We're going to be back with more.
With Kurt and sulcypr.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
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(32:13):
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(32:36):
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(32:56):
coach John M. Hawkins reveals strategies to help game perspective,
build confidence, find clarity, achieve goals.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
John M.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
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(33:29):
readers reflect on what motivates them. We discover and assess
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(33:51):
in radio.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
And We're back. I'm Anne Papaoti here with my special
guest today Robin Curtis is his pen name. I know
him as Kurt Robinson, and we're going to figure out
how you can find him later in the last segment.
But first of all, Kurt, I'm really curious that I
imagine listeners would be as well. What led you to
(34:15):
join the military? After all those experiences you shared with
us that weren't so positive associated and now some of
the movie was some of the locations you said, you
learned a lot about cultures and all of that, But
what led you to join the military.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
So upon graduating high school, I actually was offered a
chance to go to a medical school where you go,
Huntington Medical University in Alabama. And so I was a
state level athlete and track at that point and competed
(34:51):
at state level my senior year and was offered a
scholarship for the first four years, which you know, like
nine of the graduates would going to medical school. But
I was lost, you know, and my mom. Believe me,
this is no blame on my mom, but there was really,
(35:13):
you know, guidance as far as what steps I should take,
and basically I was talked out of going that route.
Well it just so happened at that my dad was teaching.
He was teaching English at the University in Louisiana at
the time. It was Southwest USL the Raging Cagents in Lafayette, Louisiana.
(35:36):
He was actually a professor there and he offered free
college there. And one thing led to another, and I
ended up saying, Hey, this may be an opportunity for
me to get to know something at eighteen years old
that I didn't know about him, maybe gained some understanding
(35:58):
because it had been a long six year if you will.
And so I did move there, and you know, I'm
going to cut out a lot of the middle parts
of the story, but I used to drive by either
to work or when I was I hadn't started classes yet.
So I got a little job there and I used
(36:19):
to drive by Petroleum Helicopters Incorporated. It was a little
helicopter outfit that serviced the old rigs offshore. And one
day I walked in there and I found this guy
and he was the typical army sergeant looking guy with like,
you know, the half but half lit cigar, and he's like,
(36:39):
what are you doing in here? And I'm like, hey,
I want to get I want to know how I
get to work on the helicopters, and I said, I'm
really interested. I loved the thought of him. And then
he goes, well, you got to join the military. That's
what I did, and that's what you need to do.
So the next day I went down to a recruit
(37:00):
and so it was more and said, hey, I'm interested
in helicopters. And it just so happened. I was standing
outside the Marine Corps door because I wanted to fight, right,
I wanted to be tough and rough and all the
guys stuff right. T stosterone just exploding and I was
invincible at that point in my life. And it just
(37:23):
so happened to an Air Force recruiter. That's their offices
were all right next to each other. An Air Force
recruiter stepped out and said, hey, what do you do?
And I was like, I want to join the Marines.
I want to be on helicopters. And he goes, well,
the Air Force has helicopters, and I was like, what
Air Force has helicopters? And one thing led to another,
and I think I signed that same day guaranteed to
(37:46):
work on helicopters. So it was more of a career
driven at that point that I was just interested in aviation.
I was always fascinated with, you know, going to the
stars and flying and the concept around it. I had
very bad eyes, so I literally wore coat bottles at
one point in my life before I got the surgery,
(38:08):
and it was you know, I knew my vision was
going to stop me from doing any kind of pilot training.
So I went mechanic instead and been there and loved it.
Great career. Loved it and the military did give me
that sense of belonging, and it taught me the team.
It took me out of being a loner because you're
(38:30):
forced out of it. But then I enjoyed. Then I
started learning to enjoy people. You know, I bet some
of my best friends in the world are military people
and still to stay. You know, thirty five years later,
I still think I could just walk into a room
and they would be my best friend still for this day.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
That's amazing true brotherhood. I have my youngest who's not
mine by blood, who's in the military, and I believe
that same thing's going to happened for him, and he
was a lone wolf before this as well, so I
look forward to seeing him develop and grow in that
way as well. So and then so forty one years total,
(39:12):
I think between military and now civilian aviation. So certainly
you've lived that calling fighting like you said you had,
you learned to fight, and it was that loner calling.
You were always active, you were moving. The military became
this this new path. You got to take me back
to the fact that you're an ordained minister. What did
(39:35):
religion or ministry have to do with something with either
your healing or you're moving forward in life past your past?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Right? So, I think a child that grows up in
a solitary environment, there's always going to be that that hole,
that that emptiness of just kind of that communal spirit
(40:06):
that a family. Because even though I had a strong
family unit when I was around them, as far as
like the Sicilians are being on the Robinson side, who
are English Irish types in the longe times there, my
mom worked double shifts. She she did everything she could,
(40:29):
and I appreciate that about her. She showed me a
work ethic bar none. I mean, she was always seemed
like she was at work. But me and my sister
were latch key kids, and there's a certain amount even
though you could pluck us and pluck us out of
society and put us in the woods, and we'll be
(40:49):
just fine and we'll survive, no problem. There's still that
longing for some type of spirituality. There's that hole, and
and I began to look for that family outside of
my own family, and church fell into play. Actually it
was a military man. He was a chief master Sergeant
(41:12):
McKinnon was his last name. He can't remember his first name.
He invited me the church and during that process is
when you know, I first found my salvation. And it
just developed throughout the years. Became a teacher, Sunday school
teacher for many many years, became ordained, still do weddings
(41:34):
if anybody's interested and contact me. I think I've done
five five weddings in the last two years, so open.
I love weddings. It's it's the perfect time, it's you know,
it's the union of two souls, two people. It's the
happiest moment hopefully, hopefully it's the happiest moment in their lives.
And you know, from that, I just get such enjoyment
(41:59):
about being around on people and talking about God and
you know, just learning more about it. So I just
gravitated towards it because there was a hole.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
So how did this marathon runner, martial arts specialist, aviation
career man come to write a crime novel?
Speaker 3 (42:25):
I so when I started thinking about running, about writing,
you know, it always there's a certain ember, I think,
even from a young age of you know, sending my
story into Marvel comic books, and later on, you know,
(42:46):
in nineteen seventy six, seeing my story published. Although I
didn't get anything for it, you know, maybe I could,
maybe I could get some kind of dividends back. And
I don't know what fifty years of Marvel dividends would
look like. But but it's I always had stories. As
(43:06):
a matter of fact, I've probably got twelve books outlined,
and it's all types of genres. It's not just the
crime dramas the novels. Even though I want to do
you know, probably three of these before it's done in
this series, I do want to write nonfiction, you know,
I want to talk about some of the stuff like
(43:28):
we're talking about now. From my perspective, I'm not a
professional in that realm, but I think I have, you know,
maybe something to give that might help people. And and
that's where I want to do where I want to be.
So writing was an outlet because of the I get
to take my story and I get to embed it
(43:51):
in a fictional way that very few would be able
to figure out which truth and what fiction. And I
was able to express myself in this first book. It's
a diary. It's not so the scenes or the characters
(44:13):
and everything about it's fiction. It's totally fiction, but the
characters themselves. I was able to take little pieces or
chunks of my own personality and the way I would
think about this situation or that situation, and I'd be
able to express those lifelong feelings embedded into what the
characters were doing. And it was. It was. It's liberating.
(44:39):
It truly is liberating. I'm excited. I feel like a
twelve year old kid at sixty years old. I got
the energy of a twelve year old. All I can
think about doing at the moment is, you know, I
have a job. Let me back up, it's not all
(45:00):
spare time. I just love the fact and I feel
the sense of urgency that I need to get them
all written, and I think that's creating that energy. But
it was an outlet. It was an outlet to express
myself in a way that it is brutal at sometimes.
(45:21):
But some of the things I saw and felt and
I'm able to close them. I'm able to write that
chapter and almost turn the page and close it, close
that chapter of the book and put it away in
real life as well.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
What a beautiful way to express that, because first of all,
I want to tell you that I took this beautiful
book on vacation and I couldn't put it down. And
while I haven't finished, ye's no spoilers please. It is
a page turner, and it is brutal at times because
(45:58):
it is a crime, okay, and it's you know, it's
set in New Orleans, and it's got the you know,
got this the Italian kind of Sicilian that you know
there it's happening, and it's the way you develop your characters.
Is I feel like I'm watching a popular Netflix series
(46:25):
episode by episode, and I can't wait for the next one.
I'm like on a binge and I know I'm in
touch with their feelings and their emotions and seeing where's
the twists gonna come and what's next. And I'm in
their shoes, each and every one of them. And that's
a master Kurt, you have written this masterly, and I
(46:50):
believe you could sell this to a screenwriter if you
choose to do so. And I know you're working on
the sequel, and like you said, you might may do
three in this series. I hope you do, because I
think that people who read this and become fans of
yours are going to want it. They're going to demand
it even But I'm telling you that as I'm reading it,
(47:10):
because I know you, I'm thinking, which character is he
that I think I'm hearing you say? You're a compilation.
There's these different things, okay, all of them, but the
way you know, I'm going, oh my gosh, this is marriage.
How many people have experienced this in their marriage? And
(47:30):
how many people have thought this or felt this? And
it's very very relatable, and I highly recommend to read listeners.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
I really really coming from you, and I really appreciate that,
because you know, I respect you for what you have
done and and you know, the show and the books
and and just your life example. I truly appreciate what
you're saying. It means a lot to me. Thank you,
Thank you well.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
I hear what I hear from you is that there's
been healing through writing there is it is true.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Okay, that's true. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
I know that you and I both agree that everyone
has a story, at least one or more. Not everyone
story is something they want to share publicly, and not
everyone wants to share it in the form of a book.
But for those who do but don't feel worthy or
(48:30):
whatever maybe holding them back, what would you say to them?
Speaker 3 (48:34):
I would say, just do it, and just even if
you don't feel like writing, just start putting your thoughts down.
Or even the way I started it literally was sitting
in a My first words on paper were sitting in
a waiting room waiting for a loved one to come
out of surgery. And all I did was, you know,
(48:57):
I was sitting there on my laptop and I was like,
going to describe this room and see what words come
out describing the room. You know, it never made it
into the book or anything like that, but each day
that you come across a person, whether they're positive or negative,
those personalities are impactful, and you know it. It was
(49:23):
something that I could use and if I was emotionally
down or emotionally up or super excited, or you know,
had a bad day, good day, it still was a
way to express even though you're not maybe just writing
chapter after chapter, just put your thoughts and emotions down
(49:46):
on a piece of paper, and it is calming, it
is satisfying, it's healing, it's healing. And because the first
thing I thought I wanted to write, which I was like,
this is ridiculous, I was gonna do. I'm gonna do
an autobiography and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's going to sell.
Autobiography of Kurt Robinson, you know, normal, average, every day Joe,
(50:10):
you know. And I was like, but by going fiction,
I could create characters and I could write about myself,
but yet hide it within the characters. And it's so
funny because I just did a book club reading here
where I live, and during the question and the answers
(50:33):
of the audience, they were referring to my characters like
they live next door to me, you know. They're like,
you know, do you know what John's going to have
for dinner tonight? And I'm like, you know, that's just
a character in the book, right. But what I began
to realize is that people start to identify with the characters,
(50:55):
and thus, in turn, what that means is that they're
identifying with me, and therefore, you know, my investment back
into them. Knowing you know that they are paying attention
if you will, is something that I always want to
make sure I do is take the time for that
(51:17):
and make sure that they know that I care about
what's going on with them and in their lives as well.
But I know not everybody is a writer, so not
everybody's going to do it, but it really doesn't matter.
I think whatever your your avenue is, there needs to
be something in all of our lives that you can
(51:40):
invest in and get that same type of reward back
or something out there.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
All Right, we're going to take our final break and
when we come back, we're going to have some closing
thoughts with Robin Curtis, author of Sicilian Corner, available on Amazon.
Will be back in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
Mike Zorich a three time California state champion in Greco
Roman wrestling at one hundred and fourteen pounds. Mike blind
six birth was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a
six time national placer, including two seconds, two thirds, and
two fourths. He also won the Veteran's Folk Style Wrestling
(52:23):
twice at one hundred and fifty two pounds. In all
these tournaments, he was the only blind competitor. Nancy Zorich
a creative spirit whose talents have taken her to the
stage and into galleries and exhibitions in several states. Her father,
a commercial artist who shared his instruments with his daughter
and helped her fine tune her natural abilities influence her
(52:46):
decision to follow in his footsteps. Miss Zorich has enjoyed
a fruitful career doing what she loves. Listen Saturday mornings
at twelve Eastern for the Nancy and Mike Show for
heartwarming stories and interesting talk on the BBM Global Network.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
As we've wrapped up today's episode of Soul CPR, I
just want to ask you, Kurt, do you have a
key takeaway for today's audience. I want to leave them with.
Speaker 3 (53:16):
I do so, and we talked about it a little bit.
I do believe everyone has a story. It doesn't mean
that everyone's a writer, but everyone has a story. And
you know, the growth comes from your personal history and
the way that you used it. I'm sure there are
stories out there that are way more impactful than mine.
I feel blessed in what I experienced and everything that
(53:40):
happened to me, the people in and out of my lives,
the ones that are long term, and the spot I'm
in today, I feel truly blessed. So it has been
a wonderful life, if you will, even with the negativity
early on and the feelings that I had it it
has it has been and a joy and a pleasure
(54:01):
to be on this earth. I believe that people need
to express themselves in the healthy outlet that you know
you need to find. People need to find their way
whatever that looks like. You know, mine early on was physical,
but as you get older it changed. And right now
I've got bushes waiting on me in the backyard to
(54:24):
plant along the fence line, and those are those are
things that I enjoy to do as well as I
get older, and it's an outlet or besides just the writing.
So time is short, you know, the seconds crawl, the
years fly by, and I believe that you should always
(54:45):
say yes to family events. You can take naps later,
but you know, we don't have very long and you
know we always need to be involved. We need to
go ahead and get those precious moments when we can.
So be kind, be patient, love one another. I have
to go, but each one of you has a chapter
(55:07):
in your life as well, and I just hope that
your book is well written at the end as well.
Speaker 2 (55:15):
That's beautiful. And I just want to community because we
do know that hurting people tend to hurt people. You
overcame that you have become an amazing father, stepfather, grandfather, husband, friend, employee,
all of those things. You made a choice. It is
a choice. No matter your side of domestic abuse and violence,
(55:39):
you have a choice. You can choose to heal. I
do want to give the domestic violence hotline since we
did talk about abuse today, nine one one. If you're
in a situation, call it if you're observing it, witnessing it,
or it's happening to you nine to one one always
the hotline dot org for the National Domestic Hotline eight
(56:02):
hundred and seventy ninety nine safe that's seven two three
three at the end, or you can text start eight
eight seven eight eight twenty four to seven. Those lines
are manned. Kurt, thank you so much for being on
the show today and sharing your stories and your book.
And the book is available on Amazon and you can
(56:25):
connect with Kurt on LinkedIn at Kurt Robinson is where
you're going to find him right and then we've got
in the show notes everything else. And as we're closing
out today, I just want to remind everyone that healing
is not a linear journey. It is a process of
profound transformation, as you heard in Kurt's life examples there.
(56:49):
And if today's story resonated with you or this episode,
please like it, share it, rate it, and give this
to someone else. Share this podcast who may need a
lifeline on their own or inspiration and motivation from the
story of Kurt's life. We'd appreciate subscribing, rating, and leaving
(57:12):
us a review so we can reach more hearts. That's
how these algorithms work, right. You can always connect with
me on social media as well. I can help you
reach Kurt Facebook at skybe Coaching, LinkedIn x, Instagram, at
a Papa yote. Let me know your thoughts, your stories,
and the other types of subject matter you'd like to
bring to the show, and we're going to make that happen.
(57:34):
Thank you for listening, and until next time, may you
find strength in your vulnerability, encourage in your journey. And
that's always read deeply, love openly, and live soulfully good
day everyone, Thanks again
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Kurt, this has been Soul CPR with host and Papa
Yote read Life into your Spirit with each episode where
she and special guests explore the relationships that hurt us
and discover that healing can only begin with you, Tuesdays
(58:11):
at three pm Eastern on the Bold Brave TV network
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