June 8, 2025 • 47 mins
Ep. 6 Telling Stories
So far, Sarah and Corinne have shared some of the hardest stories of their lives. In this episode, they share some of the easier, beautiful ones and the nuggets of insight that accompanied them. Pull up around this bonfire and join in the laughter and wonder that come when wise women share life in story.
To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne
For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.
So far, Sarah and Corinne have shared some of the hardest stories of their lives. In this episode, they share some of the easier, beautiful ones and the nuggets of insight that accompanied them. Pull up around this bonfire and join in the laughter and wonder that come when wise women share life in story.
To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne
For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Sarah (00:02):
For all the match strikers, this
is spiritual pyro.
(00:25):
All right, so I'm really excited about what
we're talking about today.
>> Corinne (00:29):
I know today feels like actually just
sitting around the bonfire telling stories.
>> Sarah (00:35):
It does. It just has, like, this, like,
I don't know, little bit softer, a
little bit easier, and just stories
that live in our bones. Like, stories that
come from us, that have been shared with us
in our own families and legacies,
and also as a response to.
>> Corinne (00:55):
To, the stories that people are sharing with
us through these first handful of episodes.
I think what's been so beautiful is
everybody at different ages and stages of life.
There's not just one type of listener. There's
older women and younger women. There's
the college girl, there's the new mom,
(01:17):
there's the friend living overseas,
there's the neighbor living down the street. It's just
such a variety of women who have shared their experiences.
And I think that just speaks. Speaks to these stories that have been swirling
for us around this fire.
>> Sarah (01:31):
The reality is that we come from a long
line of women who have found their own
ways to really write the story of their lives in the
best ways that they could over time. Right. Then we talk
about the stories that we've been
handed in many ways
that can feel heavy, that can feel like those
(01:51):
are the stories we wade through, in therapy.
Those are the stories we wade through to try to kind of sort
out our past. The things we want to
take with us, the things we want to leave behind. But
the stories that we're handed is also this really
gorgeous way of looking at the
legacy that we are a part of, both
within our families, but also just as women, like
(02:14):
the legacy of women that we get to be a part of
and that we get to participate in as we.
As we practice that same work of, living
out our stories ourselves.
>> Corinne (02:26):
Yeah, it's usually when I hear the
phrase it's something I was handed, that
feels like a pejorative. It feels automatically like it has a
negative connotation. But
also, in therapy, we've,
like, dug up these really
beautiful stories of things that we're handed. So I think if
that's like, the fullness of that work. Right. Is
(02:48):
unraveling what's not ours to
carry, setting that down. And then also
when we strike gold and we find that
thing that was handed to us that was truly
pure and good and beautiful, we get to carry that
with us. So
whether it's. I mean, sometimes those are things from. In
(03:09):
our families, things we're Raised with. Sometimes what we're handed
is something beautiful from a mother or a grandmother
or an auntie. and then sometimes it's outside
of our lineage. It's outside of
that bloodline. Right. Sometimes it's a
teacher or a mentor or just a friend
who passes along, something that then gets
(03:29):
grafted into our bones and becomes part of us. And I
think you and I have stories for all of the above.
You know, the different people whose
shoulders we stand on and just recognizing
that we might be the first in some ways,
but we're never the first in all ways.
So I don't know. I just. I love that. Maybe we could tell some of
(03:50):
those stories today and talk about the women we
come from, the dragons we come from.
>> Sarah (03:55):
Yes. I mean,
I can't have a conversation like this
without immediately thinking of my
grandmother on my mom's side. No.
We lovingly call her Mamo and she.
>> Corinne (04:10):
Which. Which hang on. The fact that both
of us have
grandmothers that we call.
That we have a nickname for that is almost identical.
Your momo. My momo. Like
that. I remember when the first time we started telling stories about our
grandmothers, and that was just so funny to. To realize that we
both have that. And maybe that's not unusual. Maybe tons of people have
(04:33):
grandmothers with that same nickname. But, I just thought that was
really, really sweet. So I always have such a, like, secret
affection for your grandmother that's just kind of like, baked
in.
>> Sarah (04:42):
Yep. Yep. I mean, it makes me wonder, like, for those that
are listening, what. What nickname do you have for your
grandmother? Because there are so many. I had not
met anyone else who had a momo. Momo.
M. Before. It's just.
>> Corinne (04:56):
It's.
>> Sarah (04:56):
It's kind of unique. As
is she. As is she. She is the most
tenderhearted, whimsical woman.
And when I think about my childhood
and looking at her now as an adult, there's so many pieces
of her magic and her
whimsy that are woven into my memories.
(05:19):
she. She always had these
crystals hanging from, like, fishing line that she
would hang in her windows. So you'd get
that magical afternoon light, and you would just have,
like, a kitchen full of rainbows. And
I have one of them now.
>> Corinne (05:36):
I do that.
>> Sarah (05:37):
That's why I do that. Yep. Yep. She's given
one, to each of her grandkids, and
now Mercy has one as well. and Emerson.
And they're just this, like. It's like a small,
handed down piece of
whimsy of magic of this, like, it's not,
it's. It's one of those like it's play,
(05:59):
it's not necessary. It's just makes
everything more beautiful and more fun.
and it's so funny how that is a small
thing, but I have such vivid memory
as a little girl of her home and always
thinking it really was this, you know, magical
place. And she lived in. She
lived in the same mountains that my
(06:21):
cabin was in. Like that same area she was in show
low. And so I remember we lived in the
valley and I remember driving up the rim as a
kid and as, you know, like it's
just so high and canyon y. And you know,
just. I always. It sometimes
it would be you'd have these really low hanging kind of
(06:41):
clouds, this fog, this mist.
And I remember I would always
as a little girl like roll down my window and stick my
hand out and like grab some of the cloud and put it in my
pocket and like bring.
>> Corinne (06:54):
Of course you did. Of course you did.
>> Sarah (06:57):
I would bring it to my grandma and you know, and it's nothing
but I'm just like, I brought you some cloud. I brought you some
cloud. And she would just, oh, it's so gorgeous. And
it's so m. You know, it's that there's
this sort of choice childlike,
why not let it be
beautiful? And you know, I
don't know, it's. It's a really beautiful thing. So. So there's that
(07:20):
piece of her that I carry with me that shaped
a lot of really sweet memories from my childhood.
And knowing so much more of her
story now as a woman looking
at all she had to navigate
through her life and the ways that she found to do that
without losing that
(07:41):
beautiful part of her and choosing
to hand down those types
of memories and stories rather than
some of the other heavier pieces of her life. I just
have such a deep appreciation and affection for
her and who she is in my
memories as my grandmother, but also
(08:02):
so much respect for her as a woman
navigating the world, you know, at a time
when women didn't have much say,
they had less say than they even
do now in this country. And I
don't know, she's just, she's wonderful and she's still with
us. I'm so thankful for that. So she's still someone
(08:23):
I can reach out to and
carry with me in this, in this life now.
>> Corinne (08:29):
Yeah, you're your photos every
time you have a chance to spend time with her are,
some of my favorite
pieces of your creativity,
like your Words, your painting,
but your photos of her and
the way that you talk about her skin and the
(08:51):
map lines is just, I
don't know, I mean, like, I could see, like, that could be like an exhibit
someday. Honestly, like, those photos are pretty
incredible. when you talk about
knowing more of her story now
as a woman and, you know, you still get to,
spend time with her and interact with her. I think about my
(09:12):
momo, which her name was Mona.
And so her
influence in my life was when I was young, because she
actually died so young. She died in her
mid-50s from a long battle
with lung cancer. And, you know, she's the
reason I've never smoked a cigarette. Not because I was ever
(09:32):
following rules, but just because as a young girl,
I watched, I watched her body
suffer from the effects. And that
became something that was so intrinsically,
woven into me just because that was so difficult
to lose her so early. And it was, it was
a. It was brutal. Right? So
(09:53):
her death was, something that was part
of my young, my younger years.
But her legacy and the things that I remember
are her on the open road
as a woman, as a single woman later
in life, and she lived
in this massive RV by
(10:16):
herself, and she spent her days on
the open road, driving all the way up the coast
to see friends, driving
to our house, driving to my aunt and
uncle's house, and then driving to the beach. And
there is this sense of adventure and
sense of, this like,
nomadic spirit that when I look back at her,
(10:38):
I think, oh, like, I think that's where I got it from.
This, like, desire to just be constantly
on the move and in search of adventure and. And
that outdoor, open road life that is
just always calling to me. I really
do feel like that's part of her
legacy in me. And I remember, you
(10:58):
know, my early love for the ocean came from
being with her and staying in that RV over on the
beach. And it was not
fancy. It was, but it was
perfect. It was this like, only what you need,
only what you can carry, you know, like, put it on your
back kind of life. And I
(11:18):
was so enamored with it. So as a
woman now, hearing stories, hearing my
parents tell stories of her life, she
was this adventurous woman, but she also,
that part of her life was out of necessity.
She decided how she was going to define
that as a result of the things that she had to
(11:39):
live through and survive and the circumstances she
was handed. So I really
resonate with that. And actually, just recently, what's been really
sweet Is that, she had an
extensive turquoise collection. I know you and I share
that, love of turquoise being
handed down in our families. And there's key
(11:59):
pieces of hers that my mom has that I
have dibs on. There's very few. I'm like, that
one's mine. And we do that in my family. Some
people think it's morbid, but I'm like, no, we have very
specific intentions for the things that are being handed down.
but recently, Carson had a birthday, and
my mom had gifted her a piece of
turquoise in a new, jewelry box. And
(12:22):
that piece of turquoise was, something that was being handed
down. And she had done that for my niece as
well. And so it was. It's been really beautiful to
see. Not only do I have some pieces
from my grandmother, but now
my daughter's being given some of those
pieces, some of those talismans. Right?
(12:43):
from that open road, from that adventurous spirit
from this place, you know, from
the Southwest. So, anyway, I.
I love that. I love knowing that she.
That the part of her that I resonate with most
is the part of her that,
came after
(13:05):
really hard things, that she got to
decide what came next, and
she did for as long as she had.
And even though that. Now I think, oh, my gosh, mid-50s,
like, that's not that far off. That's crazy.
You know, when I was in elementary school, I. I still
felt like she was older and she was my grandmother. But now I think about it,
(13:26):
and I'm like, she was in her mid-50s,
and yet there was a full life that,
that is part of. Part of mine. It's in my
bones. So when I crave that open
road and I'm, you know, taking a road trip
or, you know, just a day trip or something like that, there's.
There's part of her that I take with me.
>> Sarah (13:47):
I. That is so beautiful. I didn't know that story about
Carson. I love that so much.
>> Corinne (13:51):
Oh, I know. That was just recently. It was just a couple weeks ago.
>> Sarah (13:54):
That is so sweet and so beautiful. I can't
wait. I can't wait to be able to pass down some
pieces to Mercy as well.
and I've learned to appreciate
also, number one, turquoise jewelry is my
favorite. And so I'm very, very glad that of all the
things that could be handed down to me, that that is what she has
chosen to give to me. I. I cherish it. And
(14:17):
I choose very intentionally to wear it
in my. In my life, you know, to.
It's almost like carrying a piece of her with me. And, the idea
of women passing down,
specifically jewelry from.
From, you know, woman to woman, that. That
way of caretaking in a time when women
(14:39):
didn't have much and couldn't get access to much.
But it's almost a way of
making sure if they needed
help, if they needed support, they could
find a way to financially protect or
provide for themselves. And that feels so just,
sort of like underground revolutionary,
(15:00):
right? Like, that's so empowering at
a time. And what a creative way
to be empowered and to empower.
and now, of course, it's become this
beautiful heirloom tradition that represents
so much. But to really think that
in other times, the ways that these pieces came to
(15:22):
be came from different types of stories,
right? Different type, different intention, the
jewelry, the passing down this way of
saying, this is a way I can
pass some empowerment onto you. And now
it's become this gorgeous sentiment of
memory keeping and the heritage of
(15:44):
that.
>> Corinne (15:44):
I actually recently, have also
been thinking about how we do that for each other as friends
too. I think there's also something to
be said for the gifting of jewelry among
women, even if it's not passed down, even if
it's not within a family, that
there's an intimacy and friendship when
(16:05):
we give each other jewelry. And I feel like that is something
that has been really beautiful as well. And I'm thinking
back to when I went, on that big
solo trip and I brought you back a bracelet that had a
black pearl. And it was like, it
wasn't about how expensive it was. It was
a piece of that big
(16:25):
moment for me. And wanting to,
you know, wanting to, make, sure that you had
something of that from that moment as well,
was a, ah, sharing of that experience. And then I
also remember, I, I remember when you
gave me the necklace, I mean, honestly, a long
time ago now, the necklace that had the little matchstick on
(16:45):
it.
>> Sarah (16:46):
Oh, yes, it had the.
>> Corinne (16:47):
The matchstick charm. And it was like there
was so much foreshadowing there that, you know, we hadn't even, like,
fully leaned into that, imagery for ourselves
yet. But, just those early days of striking
the match and how that was already such
a part of the DNA
of the work that we were doing together. but, yeah, I don't
(17:07):
know. So. So, yes, to handing things down and
heirlooms and also bringing each other
in on that, as. As women, as
in friendship, in, the communities that we're a
part of, that's Equally
beautiful and special.
(17:46):
M.
Okay, tell another story. Let's. Let's keep telling stories.
tell a story. Well, whatever
(18:08):
you want.
>> Sarah (18:09):
Okay, so I have, I have this very
specific ah, memory of my mom.
So the summer between when I graduated
high school and I started college, I took a
trip with my mom. We were living in Arizona and the school
I was going to be attending was in California. So we took this
like six hour road trip to the coast
(18:32):
and we got
so lost we didn't have. We were using like a
map, like a paper map. and we're both
terrible a direction. Okay. We're going west.
There's only so far west you can go before.
>> Corinne (18:47):
True.
>> Sarah (18:48):
Before you're going to find ocean. Right. which
is exactly what we did. We. We
inevitably eventually ended up at the
Pacific and completely missed all of our
off ramps and ended up. It was
sunset, just. It was dusky. It was kind of
like past that really bright orange poppy
(19:08):
sunset and into the kind of, you know, like
not quite indigo skies yet but there
and.
>> Corinne (19:16):
Blue hour.
>> Sarah (19:17):
Yeah, blue hour. And I remember feeling
really anxious, like we've already
missed. We're so late, what are we doing?
And my mom, she
just got out of the car and started walking
toward the water and I took off my
shoes and kind of chased after her. She
didn't even wait to like roll up her jeans.
(19:39):
She just stepped into the waves and her pants got
soaked like up to her knees. And I like rolling up
my pants and coming in after her and just had this
moment. We really didn't say anything, but I remember,
you know, I'm 18 years old and I'm
watching my mom and I'm looking at her
face and the, you know, the salt spray in her
(20:00):
hair and she just had this contented,
happy, almost childlike
expression on her face. And I
remember so viscerally this moment of seeing
her and seeing her in such
a much more full, like in the fullness of her in a
way that felt like looking not just
(20:20):
at my mom and not just as a daughter looking at a mom, but
really woman to woman in a way. It was this
really profound for me shaping moment
of not yet having the maturity or
scope of life to really be able to appreciate
the depth and nuance of
her, but having a sense for the
(20:42):
first time that there's so much more
to this woman than I know and a
really appreciation for it where it wasn't just
my mom and we're on this trip and whatever it was,
this moment of her, her taking
the Opportunity to
really almost like be embodied. Which I didn't get to see very much
(21:03):
of her as embodied growing up.
And it was profound. It was obviously so profound that it's something
that I remember to this day.
>> Corinne (21:10):
Wow. Like, that
moment when you realize that your mom is a woman,
not just your mom, like, that she's
a woman apart from you, I
think is not only
so profound about her, but also like, that's
a pivotal point in our own minds when we go, oh,
(21:31):
oh, you mean like you have your own
experiences apart from me or outside of me?
You know, it's like, because as kids we just think
everything's about ourselves. Right. So. Whew.
That's really beautiful, actually. I love knowing that her
pants were soaked up to, up to her knees, you know.
And it was like she didn't even wait for you. She was
(21:53):
like, gotta go, gotta go.
>> Sarah (21:55):
See about a girl.
>> Corinne (21:56):
She was going to see about a girl.
>> Sarah (21:58):
Oh, I love that. I do.
>> Corinne (22:00):
Forever love that.
>> Sarah (22:02):
I, had brought with me like a,
single use camera. You didn't have
camera on it. And I brought a single use camera
with me. And after that moment.
Yeah, right. Honestly, in some ways, like,
they're making a comeback. I saw that. I did see
that. I'm like, I'm bored with that. My kids are like, how do you use this?
>> Corinne (22:24):
I know. Yeah.
>> Sarah (22:25):
Honey, like the call it.
>> Corinne (22:26):
The college honeys, like, are buying,
the little point and shoot regular cameras
that are just have the little digital screen and
they think they're so cute with those. They
are.
>> Sarah (22:38):
They are so cute. I'm so here for it.
>> Corinne (22:41):
Yep. Yeah.
>> Sarah (22:42):
But I had had someone walking on
the beach. I'd ask them to take a picture of my mom and I. Cause I wanted to
remember that exact moment. And it's one of my most
cherished pictures. And one of the things that I
didn't realize because of course then you have to go take the
camera in and you've got to get it developed. And then a couple days later you
can pick up your pictures and you're so excited.
And sometimes you order doubles and sometimes you don't, but
(23:05):
you should always order doubles. I'm just going to tell you that it's like 50.
>> Corinne (23:08):
I was, I was always known for ordering
doubles. And everybody, always wanted my doubles. But
don't you remember that phrase, Can I get your doubles, Doubles?
Like, that was like a part of our language back then. Can
I get your doubles?
>> Sarah (23:22):
I feel like we should bring it back. I feel like we need to bring that one back.
but photo. This photo.
I remember kind of pulling it out of the stack, you know, the
Walgreens stack.
>> Corinne (23:32):
And.
>> Sarah (23:32):
And having this moment of just sort of
awe. Because in the photo, we
were. It sounds so simple, but we were standing
the same way. Like, we had this same, like, kind of little.
I don't. It's. It's so signature. My mom, the way she
stands. And I, up until that point, had no idea
that I also have that stance.
(23:53):
And it was. It was just, again, matching that memory that
I had that I carry with me now of her. Her with your feet in
the Pacific and this kind of magical, whimsical. Again,
part of the legacy of what her mother gave her and
she gave me is that moment of.
Of beauty and joy and let it
be. Let your pants get soaked with a little bit of ocean.
(24:14):
Like, let your hair get all tangly and wild.
Just, like, let yourself. What would happen if you let
yourself. Right.
>> Corinne (24:22):
Yeah. Yeah. What would happen if you rolled the windows down and just
let your hair go crazy?
>> Sarah (24:27):
Oh, I love that.
>> Corinne (24:30):
Oh. When I think about. When I think about
a memory about my mom, I think about how
often as a kid I would roll my eyes
when she would. I would complain about something, and she'd be like,
write a letter. And I was like, I just want
to complain about something. I just, you know, and she'd be like, stop complaining
unless you're going to do something about it. Write a letter. And of course,
(24:51):
like, actual pen and paper. Right. Born in
77, you know, so this is like early,
early 80s. I'm, you know, being
taught very specifically that,
that my voice can create change.
And I remember very specifically. And
it's a story I love to tell because I just think
(25:13):
it's so precious as a
young, young kid. you know, the
biggest thrill of the day was getting
to race out to the playground at
school and flip around on the bars. And I was good
at it, Right? And I was also really
resentful of the fact that the boys got to wear
shorts and the girls couldn't wear shorts. So we either
(25:37):
had to be really hot wearing pants or we had
to wear skirts. And nobody could do all the
cool moves on the bars if they're wearing skirts,
right? So, like, there was there was this, like,
conviction inside of me that as a first
grader that we needed to be able to wear
shorts, too. If the boys could wear shorts, we need to be able to wear
(25:58):
shorts. And here's why. So anyway, my mom was like, write a
Letter. So here's little first grade
Corey in her best
penmanship, writing a letter to
the principal. Shout out, susan Sorochi
if you're still around. writing
a letter to the principal,
basically presenting my case. And what do you
(26:20):
know? This woman
invites me to have lunch in her office
to discuss. So here's a first grader,
and I'm having lunch in the principal's office,
which was such an honor because I made very.
I, you know, I tried very hard to not go to the principal's office.
Otherwise. So here's me having lunch
with the principal, explaining to her my
(26:42):
cause, explaining to
her why this was so important.
And I will never forget, I ended
up transferring schools to go to the school that
my mom taught at, the next year. But I
will never forget getting word
back and my mom telling me
that the principal had
(27:05):
changed the dress code for that following year
and girls were now allowed to wear shorts
to school. And let me tell you, let
me tell you, I was. I was
so dang proud of
be having been a part of changing something. But I was also
like, aw. And now I don't go to that school. I mean, I could have, like,
(27:25):
been wearing shorts on the playground. Now I was, like, so bummed that
I wasn't there to, like, celebrate on the
playground wearing my shorts. Anyway,
I just loved, you know, my mom.
I think for a long time I just thought that was like, a really, like, stellar
parenting move, was her telling me to write
letter. But the older I got, and especially now
in the conversations that we have, you know, woman to
(27:48):
woman, that's who she is. Like, my
mom found herself in
principal's offices advocating for
what she believed in. My mom was a lifelong educator,
you know, after a long career, retired, and
she was the one advocating for other people,
advocating for what she believed deep
in her bones was best for this school, best for the
(28:10):
kids. She was the one on stages or
at microphones, you know, contributing in
meetings and, you know, council sessions,
things like that. She was. That was who she was.
So it wasn't just that she had this, like, great parenting idea to
empower her kid. It really was that that was
part of who, who she was
(28:31):
personally and professionally, and
that that was handed down in such a sweet way,
but really a way that, again, grafted
itself into my bones and became a part
of who I've always been. for
better, for worse, right? Like, always convinced
that my voice had power or that
(28:52):
our voices collectively have the power to create change.
Like, it's why we're fools for hope
because we were convinced at an early age
that it mattered. Right. So
anyway, I love that story because it's just,
it's just so quintessential, you know, little
Corey, but also because it's like, oh, no,
(29:13):
no, I, like, I come from
dragons. Like, you know, like, there's moments when I see
that in my mom's eye where I'm like, oh, there it is.
There she is. Like, yep, I come from that dragon
too. You know.
>> Sarah (29:28):
It'S one of my favorite stories about you.
Like, I can just picture little Corey and your
best penmanship and so proud and then getting to go
have lunch with the principal. Very big
deal.
>> Corinne (29:40):
Very big deal.
>> Sarah (29:41):
Yes. So impressive and. But honestly,
truly so the courage of that is so
impressive. And the conviction that your mom
was handing you that you can
use your voice and empower yourself
and move something along and move something forward that you believe
in and to try to make an
(30:02):
effort to do something when you see something
that you don't like or isn't right or you want
changed, that you have capacity and
capability to do something about it. What an
incredible message to hand your
daughter. To hand your children, but specifically your
daughter.
>> Corinne (30:19):
Yeah. And even the, even the note of,
even if we don't get to reap the benefit of it,
right. Like, we talk about, like, moving the needle forward just a little
bit. It's not always this
massive, you know, cycle breaking,
change making moment. Like, sometimes it's just this like, tiny
needle that gets moved forward just a little bit. And sometimes we
(30:40):
don't even get to be the beneficiaries of it. And that's a very
simplistic example of that. But I think it's really just the
genuine, sweet, innocent,
you know, girlhood version of that.
>> Sarah (30:52):
Yep, yep. And we just never know what
are going to be those moments and those
stories that lock in and kind of
sink into our bones and become
grafted into who we are and the way we're going
to see the world. And even that moment of my mom standing in
the Pacific, she wasn't thinking,
I'm going to show my daughter how to be empowered
(31:15):
and embodied. And no, she was living, she was
living it. And I just happened to be paying
attention and I grabbed that moment.
Right. Like, we don't know. We don't, we, we don't always know,
what those moments are going to be. And I just want
to say shout out to Connie, because that's an incredible,
that's an incredible story. And she's raised an
(31:36):
incredible Daughter. So well done, Connie. Write
those letters, girls.
>> Corinne (31:39):
Write those damn letters.
Sam.
(32:02):
You know what though? I mean, like, I'm, I'm even thinking about our
girls. Like, we've got some
tenacious, young ones. And
I remember Carson writing a letter
to President Obama
because she really was convinced that there needed
to be a kids State of the Union.
(32:23):
So we would always watch the State of the Union, you know, and
she was like, there should be a kids State of the Union show. So she wrote
a letter and I'll never forget
her getting back the like 8 by 10,
photo of the president and it was like
on her desk, like letter from the
White House. That's right. That's right. Got
(32:44):
a letter from the White House. It was so precious. And
I'm like, the ministry of the White
House aide who responds to children's
letters is like the Lord's work. That is the
Lord's work.
>> Sarah (32:57):
That is adorable. Oh my gosh.
>> Corinne (32:59):
So cute.
>> Sarah (33:00):
That's so cute.
>> Corinne (33:01):
I mean, I know we have a million stories, especially from Mercy
and Carson.
>> Sarah (33:05):
Oh yeah, that girl,
she definitely breathes fire.
Her ability to, I don't know,
somehow resource a kind of courage
and confidence that I am
in awe of the moments when she'll call upon it
and in ways that I, I wouldn't
(33:25):
have, as when I, when I was 12, I did not,
not outwardly in the same ways that she is able to
express. And I
celebrate that so much because I really do think if we're
talking about like this, this handing
down that we do as women, where we both
are a recipient and a giver of that,
(33:45):
of that story, the ways that I wasn't
able to access that type of courage and confidence,
let's say at 12, watching her
find ways to do that and understanding
that part of that part of that is just
her. That's her fire, that's her dragon
soul, that's her. But there's a piece of it
(34:07):
where I've been able to hand her
something that has in some way
made it so that she can access
much faster and easier and safer.
That type of bigness, that type of voice, that
that little part of her that's, that's not afraid
to cause m some disruption, you know?
>> Corinne (34:28):
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. I have, I have another story. Do you have another
story? Because I want to like, this is so fun. I'm, I'm loving
all the storytelling.
>> Sarah (34:38):
Always, always more surprise.
>> Corinne (34:40):
Okay. So recently I was able to have a
conversation with a woman who is
really largely responsible for
my sense of environmentalism and my
sense of what it means to be an activist. And she was my sixth
grade teacher. Hi, Tess, if you're listening.
and we were able to have a conversation recently where she was
(35:01):
reminding me of some details surrounding one of
my favorite stories, which was when I was
young. And she, I mean she was like,
she's the one who had me get. Ordering
my Save the Whales patch from Greenpeace and putting
it on my backpack. And I know you and I have that in
common, at that young age.
(35:21):
But this woman was.
Became so well known and again, pre
Internet, so we're talking about like local news,
newspaper articles, things like that. She became so,
so well known as having been
consistent in her environmentalism
activism. Her, as an educator,
teaching her kids, involving her kids. We were
(35:43):
very, very involved in, as sixth grade
students in like early recycling movements. Like
it was like real life application. Right. Of what
we were learning. Well, it had. She
had been selected
to be one of the people and the
educator that got to fly in a
helicop up to Prince Edward
(36:05):
island to witness the
preservation and protection of the baby harp seals.
So back then there was a lot of awareness
being raised about the clubbing that was happening. It was really
brutal and violent. And she had been
part of awareness campaigns.
I'm sure I'm missing details, but she
(36:26):
had gone and been present for
this protection, of the baby harp
seals up north on this island and had gotten to see
it firsthand. And she
tells the story. There was an actress,
a famous actress that actually it was, she told
me this the other day. It was the woman who played Hot
(36:46):
Lips on mash.
She was like, also part of this like,
activism effort. They were like just trying to pull all of these
people who could be a voice for this effort. And she ended up
like passing, you know, this woman in, in. In the process.
And she got to tell the story and she got to bring it back
and share it with us. And she felt like
(37:07):
larger than life to me at that point.
Same season of life, she
ends up connecting with John Denver, of
all people. And she
gets us, her sixth grade class of
little activists on stage with John
Denver at Gammage Auditorium. And we
(37:28):
are singing a song with him
on stage, larger than life. Like,
who are. We're just these little kids, you know, from
Arizona. And we had this opportunity to
stand with this, I mean, famous person.
Yes, but like really this voice for
the planet and this voice for, for
preservation and conservation. And it felt like
(37:51):
we were bigger Than life. Right. Not
any one of us, but the collective of us
singing. I mean, I'm sure we sounded awful, bless his
heart, you know, but what a memory.
And for her to have connected us in such a
way that gave us access to something
that was so much bigger than ourselves,
(38:12):
so much bigger than this little fundraiser we did or this little
project we had in science class. It was this big, big,
big life that we could be a part of.
And I have always loved that.
And I love that she's still a part of my life. She's still
someone who cheers me on and encourages me. And,
she's cheering us on in. In this work that we're
(38:33):
doing together. And she's. She's part of it. She's part
of what was grafted into my bones early on.
>> Sarah (38:39):
Wow, that story is amazing. I feel like I
knew part of it, but I don't think I ever put it all together. Like,
I knew you'd been on stage, stage with John Denver. I
don't think I realized that's how you got there.
>> Corinne (38:51):
Yeah, but I mean, like, was. It was. It was a.
It was a small thing, actually. Even though it was John
Denver, it was a small thing that felt so, so
big. And I think that was really the,
That's the greatness of it, right? Is it's this little
snapshot of her living her life,
doing what she was doing anyway, and bringing us along
(39:13):
with her. And how formative
that was for me.
>> Sarah (39:19):
So profound. So one.
One thing that I'm remembering right now, this. This
moment as I'm looking kind of back at my timeline, and
I've been asking myself this question about, you know,
who are the women in my life who
have handed me something. Something
beautiful, some type of legacy that. That extends
beyond, beyond
(39:41):
myself? And I have this very
specific memory. It's fairly recent, really.
We were back, visiting my parents
at the ranch in Arizona, and I had
brought Mercy with me. And my parents still have
horses. They've got a few. And
they ride. They still ride. And so I was out
at the barn with my stepmom Jen, and Mercy was
(40:03):
with us, and she's been taking some riding lessons.
I nodded to that in one of our previous episodes that
we've been getting into it. She's obsessed and loves
it and would like a horse in the backyard. And I
also would like a horse in the backyard. However,
we live in the suburbs, so that's not going to happen.
but for now, we satisfy that itch with
(40:25):
riding lessons. So we were Back at the barn and she
was so excited to show Nana her grandma this, you know,
this skill that she has and something
that she has in common with, with both
myself and with. With, my stepmom
and I, I had this moment
of sitting on their, you know, big
(40:45):
iron fence and watching
my stepmom show Mercy how to put the
big western saddle, like lifted onto the back of the
horse. And here's how you pick their feet. And then
putting the bit in the mouth and draping the leather
reins and leading the horse through to the
arena. And just her and Mercy having this sweet
(41:05):
little conversation and really seeing so
much of myself in my girl
and watching the way that my stepmom was
mothering her through this moment and teaching her and sharing
this moment and having kind of an out of body where
it's like, oh my gosh, this is the same ranch
I grew up on. This is the same place that so much of my
(41:26):
childhood played out at the same age as
Mercy. And it was. It
was this really gorgeous thing. So just. And then getting to like, watch
her ride and, and watch Mercy
start to find her confidence and gain Morgan of that,
some of that courage and go from walking to
trotting and my stepmom cheering her
(41:47):
on. And I'm just sitting there having this moment of
really just absorbing watching this
sort of this generational handing
down of this. Of this love in real
time. yeah, it was one of those.
Okay, this is one of those I'm going to
remember. And
(42:07):
in my family, we
talking about cameras and pictures and all those things,
sometimes we'll just kind of do this little thing where we'll take
almost like it's. We'll do the hand motions of a camera,
right?
>> Corinne (42:18):
Like a little click.
>> Sarah (42:19):
And it's a memory picture. And so that. That was
definitely for me, a memory picture moment
of looking at that moment with. With my
stepmom, my daughter and myself
in this place that holds so much memory for me and
watching it be handed to Mercy, who now
has her own memories, her own experiences, her own love,
(42:39):
her own sense of place within the same,
you know, dirt within the same earth within
the same desert land.
So, gosh, I know, I
know there's a lot you can tell stories,
so many stories. But I think it's.
It's really beautiful. Even as I'm
(43:02):
thinking about what we've shared today and these stories and
pieces of our lives and the women that we know and what
we've been handed and the
ways that, you know, even in
what we've shared. We come from women
who are cycle breaking
giants. Who are these dragons who
change the trajectory of generations.
(43:26):
Sometimes we come from women who survive just barely
enough to move the needle. And honestly,
usually it's the both and. Right. Usually
it's always, I dare to say always it's the
both. And in the women that came before us, even in
ourselves, in the ones that will come after us,
there are pieces of our story that
(43:49):
we might look at and go this far, no further.
we will not hand this. I'm not handing this
on.
>> Corinne (43:57):
Sometimes we're the cycle breakers.
>> Sarah (44:01):
And sometimes we.
Sometimes we're the first ones to break.
>> Corinne (44:07):
Yeah. Sometimes what we're handed
is painful and
it's up to us. Right. And then sometimes what
we're handed is deeply rich and beautiful.
And I, I think that there's room for all of it
and I think, I think it's equally
revolutionary. So for,
(44:28):
for the ones who are breaking the cycles and becoming
giants, doing what giants do,
like there's room for that. For the ones who are receiving
from a long line of,
courage and beauty, like yes
to that as well. Like aren't we,
(44:49):
aren't we the result of all those woven
threads? All that
both and like yes. Yep.
Yep. Because that's also how it works.
>> Sarah (45:00):
this is also how it works.
>> Rebeca (45:15):
You've been listening to Spiritual Pyro with
Sarah Carter and Corrine shark on the 1C
Story Network. For more information about this and
all of our stories, please visit
just1c.com that's
J-U S T O N E C
dot com.
>> Sarah (45:54):
Okay, for real this time,
>> Singer (45:56):
the One C Story Network.
For the love of stories.
For all the match strikers, this
is spiritual pyro.
(00:25):
All right, so I'm really excited about what
we're talking about today.
>> Corinne (00:29):
I know today feels like actually just
sitting around the bonfire telling stories.
>> Sarah (00:35):
It does. It just has, like, this, like,
I don't know, little bit softer, a
little bit easier, and just stories
that live in our bones. Like, stories that
come from us, that have been shared with us
in our own families and legacies,
and also as a response to.
>> Corinne (00:55):
To, the stories that people are sharing with
us through these first handful of episodes.
I think what's been so beautiful is
everybody at different ages and stages of life.
There's not just one type of listener. There's
older women and younger women. There's
the college girl, there's the new mom,
(01:17):
there's the friend living overseas,
there's the neighbor living down the street. It's just
such a variety of women who have shared their experiences.
And I think that just speaks. Speaks to these stories that have been swirling
for us around this fire.
>> Sarah (01:31):
The reality is that we come from a long
line of women who have found their own
ways to really write the story of their lives in the
best ways that they could over time. Right. Then we talk
about the stories that we've been
handed in many ways
that can feel heavy, that can feel like those
(01:51):
are the stories we wade through, in therapy.
Those are the stories we wade through to try to kind of sort
out our past. The things we want to
take with us, the things we want to leave behind. But
the stories that we're handed is also this really
gorgeous way of looking at the
legacy that we are a part of, both
within our families, but also just as women, like
(02:14):
the legacy of women that we get to be a part of
and that we get to participate in as we.
As we practice that same work of, living
out our stories ourselves.
>> Corinne (02:26):
Yeah, it's usually when I hear the
phrase it's something I was handed, that
feels like a pejorative. It feels automatically like it has a
negative connotation. But
also, in therapy, we've,
like, dug up these really
beautiful stories of things that we're handed. So I think if
that's like, the fullness of that work. Right. Is
(02:48):
unraveling what's not ours to
carry, setting that down. And then also
when we strike gold and we find that
thing that was handed to us that was truly
pure and good and beautiful, we get to carry that
with us. So
whether it's. I mean, sometimes those are things from. In
(03:09):
our families, things we're Raised with. Sometimes what we're handed
is something beautiful from a mother or a grandmother
or an auntie. and then sometimes it's outside
of our lineage. It's outside of
that bloodline. Right. Sometimes it's a
teacher or a mentor or just a friend
who passes along, something that then gets
(03:29):
grafted into our bones and becomes part of us. And I
think you and I have stories for all of the above.
You know, the different people whose
shoulders we stand on and just recognizing
that we might be the first in some ways,
but we're never the first in all ways.
So I don't know. I just. I love that. Maybe we could tell some of
(03:50):
those stories today and talk about the women we
come from, the dragons we come from.
>> Sarah (03:55):
Yes. I mean,
I can't have a conversation like this
without immediately thinking of my
grandmother on my mom's side. No.
We lovingly call her Mamo and she.
>> Corinne (04:10):
Which. Which hang on. The fact that both
of us have
grandmothers that we call.
That we have a nickname for that is almost identical.
Your momo. My momo. Like
that. I remember when the first time we started telling stories about our
grandmothers, and that was just so funny to. To realize that we
both have that. And maybe that's not unusual. Maybe tons of people have
(04:33):
grandmothers with that same nickname. But, I just thought that was
really, really sweet. So I always have such a, like, secret
affection for your grandmother that's just kind of like, baked
in.
>> Sarah (04:42):
Yep. Yep. I mean, it makes me wonder, like, for those that
are listening, what. What nickname do you have for your
grandmother? Because there are so many. I had not
met anyone else who had a momo. Momo.
M. Before. It's just.
>> Corinne (04:56):
It's.
>> Sarah (04:56):
It's kind of unique. As
is she. As is she. She is the most
tenderhearted, whimsical woman.
And when I think about my childhood
and looking at her now as an adult, there's so many pieces
of her magic and her
whimsy that are woven into my memories.
(05:19):
she. She always had these
crystals hanging from, like, fishing line that she
would hang in her windows. So you'd get
that magical afternoon light, and you would just have,
like, a kitchen full of rainbows. And
I have one of them now.
>> Corinne (05:36):
I do that.
>> Sarah (05:37):
That's why I do that. Yep. Yep. She's given
one, to each of her grandkids, and
now Mercy has one as well. and Emerson.
And they're just this, like. It's like a small,
handed down piece of
whimsy of magic of this, like, it's not,
it's. It's one of those like it's play,
(05:59):
it's not necessary. It's just makes
everything more beautiful and more fun.
and it's so funny how that is a small
thing, but I have such vivid memory
as a little girl of her home and always
thinking it really was this, you know, magical
place. And she lived in. She
lived in the same mountains that my
(06:21):
cabin was in. Like that same area she was in show
low. And so I remember we lived in the
valley and I remember driving up the rim as a
kid and as, you know, like it's
just so high and canyon y. And you know,
just. I always. It sometimes
it would be you'd have these really low hanging kind of
(06:41):
clouds, this fog, this mist.
And I remember I would always
as a little girl like roll down my window and stick my
hand out and like grab some of the cloud and put it in my
pocket and like bring.
>> Corinne (06:54):
Of course you did. Of course you did.
>> Sarah (06:57):
I would bring it to my grandma and you know, and it's nothing
but I'm just like, I brought you some cloud. I brought you some
cloud. And she would just, oh, it's so gorgeous. And
it's so m. You know, it's that there's
this sort of choice childlike,
why not let it be
beautiful? And you know, I
don't know, it's. It's a really beautiful thing. So. So there's that
(07:20):
piece of her that I carry with me that shaped
a lot of really sweet memories from my childhood.
And knowing so much more of her
story now as a woman looking
at all she had to navigate
through her life and the ways that she found to do that
without losing that
(07:41):
beautiful part of her and choosing
to hand down those types
of memories and stories rather than
some of the other heavier pieces of her life. I just
have such a deep appreciation and affection for
her and who she is in my
memories as my grandmother, but also
(08:02):
so much respect for her as a woman
navigating the world, you know, at a time
when women didn't have much say,
they had less say than they even
do now in this country. And I
don't know, she's just, she's wonderful and she's still with
us. I'm so thankful for that. So she's still someone
(08:23):
I can reach out to and
carry with me in this, in this life now.
>> Corinne (08:29):
Yeah, you're your photos every
time you have a chance to spend time with her are,
some of my favorite
pieces of your creativity,
like your Words, your painting,
but your photos of her and
the way that you talk about her skin and the
(08:51):
map lines is just, I
don't know, I mean, like, I could see, like, that could be like an exhibit
someday. Honestly, like, those photos are pretty
incredible. when you talk about
knowing more of her story now
as a woman and, you know, you still get to,
spend time with her and interact with her. I think about my
(09:12):
momo, which her name was Mona.
And so her
influence in my life was when I was young, because she
actually died so young. She died in her
mid-50s from a long battle
with lung cancer. And, you know, she's the
reason I've never smoked a cigarette. Not because I was ever
(09:32):
following rules, but just because as a young girl,
I watched, I watched her body
suffer from the effects. And that
became something that was so intrinsically,
woven into me just because that was so difficult
to lose her so early. And it was, it was
a. It was brutal. Right? So
(09:53):
her death was, something that was part
of my young, my younger years.
But her legacy and the things that I remember
are her on the open road
as a woman, as a single woman later
in life, and she lived
in this massive RV by
(10:16):
herself, and she spent her days on
the open road, driving all the way up the coast
to see friends, driving
to our house, driving to my aunt and
uncle's house, and then driving to the beach. And
there is this sense of adventure and
sense of, this like,
nomadic spirit that when I look back at her,
(10:38):
I think, oh, like, I think that's where I got it from.
This, like, desire to just be constantly
on the move and in search of adventure and. And
that outdoor, open road life that is
just always calling to me. I really
do feel like that's part of her
legacy in me. And I remember, you
(10:58):
know, my early love for the ocean came from
being with her and staying in that RV over on the
beach. And it was not
fancy. It was, but it was
perfect. It was this like, only what you need,
only what you can carry, you know, like, put it on your
back kind of life. And I
(11:18):
was so enamored with it. So as a
woman now, hearing stories, hearing my
parents tell stories of her life, she
was this adventurous woman, but she also,
that part of her life was out of necessity.
She decided how she was going to define
that as a result of the things that she had to
(11:39):
live through and survive and the circumstances she
was handed. So I really
resonate with that. And actually, just recently, what's been really
sweet Is that, she had an
extensive turquoise collection. I know you and I share
that, love of turquoise being
handed down in our families. And there's key
(11:59):
pieces of hers that my mom has that I
have dibs on. There's very few. I'm like, that
one's mine. And we do that in my family. Some
people think it's morbid, but I'm like, no, we have very
specific intentions for the things that are being handed down.
but recently, Carson had a birthday, and
my mom had gifted her a piece of
turquoise in a new, jewelry box. And
(12:22):
that piece of turquoise was, something that was being handed
down. And she had done that for my niece as
well. And so it was. It's been really beautiful to
see. Not only do I have some pieces
from my grandmother, but now
my daughter's being given some of those
pieces, some of those talismans. Right?
(12:43):
from that open road, from that adventurous spirit
from this place, you know, from
the Southwest. So, anyway, I.
I love that. I love knowing that she.
That the part of her that I resonate with most
is the part of her that,
came after
(13:05):
really hard things, that she got to
decide what came next, and
she did for as long as she had.
And even though that. Now I think, oh, my gosh, mid-50s,
like, that's not that far off. That's crazy.
You know, when I was in elementary school, I. I still
felt like she was older and she was my grandmother. But now I think about it,
(13:26):
and I'm like, she was in her mid-50s,
and yet there was a full life that,
that is part of. Part of mine. It's in my
bones. So when I crave that open
road and I'm, you know, taking a road trip
or, you know, just a day trip or something like that, there's.
There's part of her that I take with me.
>> Sarah (13:47):
I. That is so beautiful. I didn't know that story about
Carson. I love that so much.
>> Corinne (13:51):
Oh, I know. That was just recently. It was just a couple weeks ago.
>> Sarah (13:54):
That is so sweet and so beautiful. I can't
wait. I can't wait to be able to pass down some
pieces to Mercy as well.
and I've learned to appreciate
also, number one, turquoise jewelry is my
favorite. And so I'm very, very glad that of all the
things that could be handed down to me, that that is what she has
chosen to give to me. I. I cherish it. And
(14:17):
I choose very intentionally to wear it
in my. In my life, you know, to.
It's almost like carrying a piece of her with me. And, the idea
of women passing down,
specifically jewelry from.
From, you know, woman to woman, that. That
way of caretaking in a time when women
(14:39):
didn't have much and couldn't get access to much.
But it's almost a way of
making sure if they needed
help, if they needed support, they could
find a way to financially protect or
provide for themselves. And that feels so just,
sort of like underground revolutionary,
(15:00):
right? Like, that's so empowering at
a time. And what a creative way
to be empowered and to empower.
and now, of course, it's become this
beautiful heirloom tradition that represents
so much. But to really think that
in other times, the ways that these pieces came to
(15:22):
be came from different types of stories,
right? Different type, different intention, the
jewelry, the passing down this way of
saying, this is a way I can
pass some empowerment onto you. And now
it's become this gorgeous sentiment of
memory keeping and the heritage of
(15:44):
that.
>> Corinne (15:44):
I actually recently, have also
been thinking about how we do that for each other as friends
too. I think there's also something to
be said for the gifting of jewelry among
women, even if it's not passed down, even if
it's not within a family, that
there's an intimacy and friendship when
(16:05):
we give each other jewelry. And I feel like that is something
that has been really beautiful as well. And I'm thinking
back to when I went, on that big
solo trip and I brought you back a bracelet that had a
black pearl. And it was like, it
wasn't about how expensive it was. It was
a piece of that big
(16:25):
moment for me. And wanting to,
you know, wanting to, make, sure that you had
something of that from that moment as well,
was a, ah, sharing of that experience. And then I
also remember, I, I remember when you
gave me the necklace, I mean, honestly, a long
time ago now, the necklace that had the little matchstick on
(16:45):
it.
>> Sarah (16:46):
Oh, yes, it had the.
>> Corinne (16:47):
The matchstick charm. And it was like there
was so much foreshadowing there that, you know, we hadn't even, like,
fully leaned into that, imagery for ourselves
yet. But, just those early days of striking
the match and how that was already such
a part of the DNA
of the work that we were doing together. but, yeah, I don't
(17:07):
know. So. So, yes, to handing things down and
heirlooms and also bringing each other
in on that, as. As women, as
in friendship, in, the communities that we're a
part of, that's Equally
beautiful and special.
(17:46):
M.
Okay, tell another story. Let's. Let's keep telling stories.
tell a story. Well, whatever
(18:08):
you want.
>> Sarah (18:09):
Okay, so I have, I have this very
specific ah, memory of my mom.
So the summer between when I graduated
high school and I started college, I took a
trip with my mom. We were living in Arizona and the school
I was going to be attending was in California. So we took this
like six hour road trip to the coast
(18:32):
and we got
so lost we didn't have. We were using like a
map, like a paper map. and we're both
terrible a direction. Okay. We're going west.
There's only so far west you can go before.
>> Corinne (18:47):
True.
>> Sarah (18:48):
Before you're going to find ocean. Right. which
is exactly what we did. We. We
inevitably eventually ended up at the
Pacific and completely missed all of our
off ramps and ended up. It was
sunset, just. It was dusky. It was kind of
like past that really bright orange poppy
(19:08):
sunset and into the kind of, you know, like
not quite indigo skies yet but there
and.
>> Corinne (19:16):
Blue hour.
>> Sarah (19:17):
Yeah, blue hour. And I remember feeling
really anxious, like we've already
missed. We're so late, what are we doing?
And my mom, she
just got out of the car and started walking
toward the water and I took off my
shoes and kind of chased after her. She
didn't even wait to like roll up her jeans.
(19:39):
She just stepped into the waves and her pants got
soaked like up to her knees. And I like rolling up
my pants and coming in after her and just had this
moment. We really didn't say anything, but I remember,
you know, I'm 18 years old and I'm
watching my mom and I'm looking at her
face and the, you know, the salt spray in her
(20:00):
hair and she just had this contented,
happy, almost childlike
expression on her face. And I
remember so viscerally this moment of seeing
her and seeing her in such
a much more full, like in the fullness of her in a
way that felt like looking not just
(20:20):
at my mom and not just as a daughter looking at a mom, but
really woman to woman in a way. It was this
really profound for me shaping moment
of not yet having the maturity or
scope of life to really be able to appreciate
the depth and nuance of
her, but having a sense for the
(20:42):
first time that there's so much more
to this woman than I know and a
really appreciation for it where it wasn't just
my mom and we're on this trip and whatever it was,
this moment of her, her taking
the Opportunity to
really almost like be embodied. Which I didn't get to see very much
(21:03):
of her as embodied growing up.
And it was profound. It was obviously so profound that it's something
that I remember to this day.
>> Corinne (21:10):
Wow. Like, that
moment when you realize that your mom is a woman,
not just your mom, like, that she's
a woman apart from you, I
think is not only
so profound about her, but also like, that's
a pivotal point in our own minds when we go, oh,
(21:31):
oh, you mean like you have your own
experiences apart from me or outside of me?
You know, it's like, because as kids we just think
everything's about ourselves. Right. So. Whew.
That's really beautiful, actually. I love knowing that her
pants were soaked up to, up to her knees, you know.
And it was like she didn't even wait for you. She was
(21:53):
like, gotta go, gotta go.
>> Sarah (21:55):
See about a girl.
>> Corinne (21:56):
She was going to see about a girl.
>> Sarah (21:58):
Oh, I love that. I do.
>> Corinne (22:00):
Forever love that.
>> Sarah (22:02):
I, had brought with me like a,
single use camera. You didn't have
camera on it. And I brought a single use camera
with me. And after that moment.
Yeah, right. Honestly, in some ways, like,
they're making a comeback. I saw that. I did see
that. I'm like, I'm bored with that. My kids are like, how do you use this?
>> Corinne (22:24):
I know. Yeah.
>> Sarah (22:25):
Honey, like the call it.
>> Corinne (22:26):
The college honeys, like, are buying,
the little point and shoot regular cameras
that are just have the little digital screen and
they think they're so cute with those. They
are.
>> Sarah (22:38):
They are so cute. I'm so here for it.
>> Corinne (22:41):
Yep. Yeah.
>> Sarah (22:42):
But I had had someone walking on
the beach. I'd ask them to take a picture of my mom and I. Cause I wanted to
remember that exact moment. And it's one of my most
cherished pictures. And one of the things that I
didn't realize because of course then you have to go take the
camera in and you've got to get it developed. And then a couple days later you
can pick up your pictures and you're so excited.
And sometimes you order doubles and sometimes you don't, but
(23:05):
you should always order doubles. I'm just going to tell you that it's like 50.
>> Corinne (23:08):
I was, I was always known for ordering
doubles. And everybody, always wanted my doubles. But
don't you remember that phrase, Can I get your doubles, Doubles?
Like, that was like a part of our language back then. Can
I get your doubles?
>> Sarah (23:22):
I feel like we should bring it back. I feel like we need to bring that one back.
but photo. This photo.
I remember kind of pulling it out of the stack, you know, the
Walgreens stack.
>> Corinne (23:32):
And.
>> Sarah (23:32):
And having this moment of just sort of
awe. Because in the photo, we
were. It sounds so simple, but we were standing
the same way. Like, we had this same, like, kind of little.
I don't. It's. It's so signature. My mom, the way she
stands. And I, up until that point, had no idea
that I also have that stance.
(23:53):
And it was. It was just, again, matching that memory that
I had that I carry with me now of her. Her with your feet in
the Pacific and this kind of magical, whimsical. Again,
part of the legacy of what her mother gave her and
she gave me is that moment of.
Of beauty and joy and let it
be. Let your pants get soaked with a little bit of ocean.
(24:14):
Like, let your hair get all tangly and wild.
Just, like, let yourself. What would happen if you let
yourself. Right.
>> Corinne (24:22):
Yeah. Yeah. What would happen if you rolled the windows down and just
let your hair go crazy?
>> Sarah (24:27):
Oh, I love that.
>> Corinne (24:30):
Oh. When I think about. When I think about
a memory about my mom, I think about how
often as a kid I would roll my eyes
when she would. I would complain about something, and she'd be like,
write a letter. And I was like, I just want
to complain about something. I just, you know, and she'd be like, stop complaining
unless you're going to do something about it. Write a letter. And of course,
(24:51):
like, actual pen and paper. Right. Born in
77, you know, so this is like early,
early 80s. I'm, you know, being
taught very specifically that,
that my voice can create change.
And I remember very specifically. And
it's a story I love to tell because I just think
(25:13):
it's so precious as a
young, young kid. you know, the
biggest thrill of the day was getting
to race out to the playground at
school and flip around on the bars. And I was good
at it, Right? And I was also really
resentful of the fact that the boys got to wear
shorts and the girls couldn't wear shorts. So we either
(25:37):
had to be really hot wearing pants or we had
to wear skirts. And nobody could do all the
cool moves on the bars if they're wearing skirts,
right? So, like, there was there was this, like,
conviction inside of me that as a first
grader that we needed to be able to wear
shorts, too. If the boys could wear shorts, we need to be able to wear
(25:58):
shorts. And here's why. So anyway, my mom was like, write a
Letter. So here's little first grade
Corey in her best
penmanship, writing a letter to
the principal. Shout out, susan Sorochi
if you're still around. writing
a letter to the principal,
basically presenting my case. And what do you
(26:20):
know? This woman
invites me to have lunch in her office
to discuss. So here's a first grader,
and I'm having lunch in the principal's office,
which was such an honor because I made very.
I, you know, I tried very hard to not go to the principal's office.
Otherwise. So here's me having lunch
with the principal, explaining to her my
(26:42):
cause, explaining to
her why this was so important.
And I will never forget, I ended
up transferring schools to go to the school that
my mom taught at, the next year. But I
will never forget getting word
back and my mom telling me
that the principal had
(27:05):
changed the dress code for that following year
and girls were now allowed to wear shorts
to school. And let me tell you, let
me tell you, I was. I was
so dang proud of
be having been a part of changing something. But I was also
like, aw. And now I don't go to that school. I mean, I could have, like,
(27:25):
been wearing shorts on the playground. Now I was, like, so bummed that
I wasn't there to, like, celebrate on the
playground wearing my shorts. Anyway,
I just loved, you know, my mom.
I think for a long time I just thought that was like, a really, like, stellar
parenting move, was her telling me to write
letter. But the older I got, and especially now
in the conversations that we have, you know, woman to
(27:48):
woman, that's who she is. Like, my
mom found herself in
principal's offices advocating for
what she believed in. My mom was a lifelong educator,
you know, after a long career, retired, and
she was the one advocating for other people,
advocating for what she believed deep
in her bones was best for this school, best for the
(28:10):
kids. She was the one on stages or
at microphones, you know, contributing in
meetings and, you know, council sessions,
things like that. She was. That was who she was.
So it wasn't just that she had this, like, great parenting idea to
empower her kid. It really was that that was
part of who, who she was
(28:31):
personally and professionally, and
that that was handed down in such a sweet way,
but really a way that, again, grafted
itself into my bones and became a part
of who I've always been. for
better, for worse, right? Like, always convinced
that my voice had power or that
(28:52):
our voices collectively have the power to create change.
Like, it's why we're fools for hope
because we were convinced at an early age
that it mattered. Right. So
anyway, I love that story because it's just,
it's just so quintessential, you know, little
Corey, but also because it's like, oh, no,
(29:13):
no, I, like, I come from
dragons. Like, you know, like, there's moments when I see
that in my mom's eye where I'm like, oh, there it is.
There she is. Like, yep, I come from that dragon
too. You know.
>> Sarah (29:28):
It'S one of my favorite stories about you.
Like, I can just picture little Corey and your
best penmanship and so proud and then getting to go
have lunch with the principal. Very big
deal.
>> Corinne (29:40):
Very big deal.
>> Sarah (29:41):
Yes. So impressive and. But honestly,
truly so the courage of that is so
impressive. And the conviction that your mom
was handing you that you can
use your voice and empower yourself
and move something along and move something forward that you believe
in and to try to make an
(30:02):
effort to do something when you see something
that you don't like or isn't right or you want
changed, that you have capacity and
capability to do something about it. What an
incredible message to hand your
daughter. To hand your children, but specifically your
daughter.
>> Corinne (30:19):
Yeah. And even the, even the note of,
even if we don't get to reap the benefit of it,
right. Like, we talk about, like, moving the needle forward just a little
bit. It's not always this
massive, you know, cycle breaking,
change making moment. Like, sometimes it's just this like, tiny
needle that gets moved forward just a little bit. And sometimes we
(30:40):
don't even get to be the beneficiaries of it. And that's a very
simplistic example of that. But I think it's really just the
genuine, sweet, innocent,
you know, girlhood version of that.
>> Sarah (30:52):
Yep, yep. And we just never know what
are going to be those moments and those
stories that lock in and kind of
sink into our bones and become
grafted into who we are and the way we're going
to see the world. And even that moment of my mom standing in
the Pacific, she wasn't thinking,
I'm going to show my daughter how to be empowered
(31:15):
and embodied. And no, she was living, she was
living it. And I just happened to be paying
attention and I grabbed that moment.
Right. Like, we don't know. We don't, we, we don't always know,
what those moments are going to be. And I just want
to say shout out to Connie, because that's an incredible,
that's an incredible story. And she's raised an
(31:36):
incredible Daughter. So well done, Connie. Write
those letters, girls.
>> Corinne (31:39):
Write those damn letters.
Sam.
(32:02):
You know what though? I mean, like, I'm, I'm even thinking about our
girls. Like, we've got some
tenacious, young ones. And
I remember Carson writing a letter
to President Obama
because she really was convinced that there needed
to be a kids State of the Union.
(32:23):
So we would always watch the State of the Union, you know, and
she was like, there should be a kids State of the Union show. So she wrote
a letter and I'll never forget
her getting back the like 8 by 10,
photo of the president and it was like
on her desk, like letter from the
White House. That's right. That's right. Got
(32:44):
a letter from the White House. It was so precious. And
I'm like, the ministry of the White
House aide who responds to children's
letters is like the Lord's work. That is the
Lord's work.
>> Sarah (32:57):
That is adorable. Oh my gosh.
>> Corinne (32:59):
So cute.
>> Sarah (33:00):
That's so cute.
>> Corinne (33:01):
I mean, I know we have a million stories, especially from Mercy
and Carson.
>> Sarah (33:05):
Oh yeah, that girl,
she definitely breathes fire.
Her ability to, I don't know,
somehow resource a kind of courage
and confidence that I am
in awe of the moments when she'll call upon it
and in ways that I, I wouldn't
(33:25):
have, as when I, when I was 12, I did not,
not outwardly in the same ways that she is able to
express. And I
celebrate that so much because I really do think if we're
talking about like this, this handing
down that we do as women, where we both
are a recipient and a giver of that,
(33:45):
of that story, the ways that I wasn't
able to access that type of courage and confidence,
let's say at 12, watching her
find ways to do that and understanding
that part of that part of that is just
her. That's her fire, that's her dragon
soul, that's her. But there's a piece of it
(34:07):
where I've been able to hand her
something that has in some way
made it so that she can access
much faster and easier and safer.
That type of bigness, that type of voice, that
that little part of her that's, that's not afraid
to cause m some disruption, you know?
>> Corinne (34:28):
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. I have, I have another story. Do you have another
story? Because I want to like, this is so fun. I'm, I'm loving
all the storytelling.
>> Sarah (34:38):
Always, always more surprise.
>> Corinne (34:40):
Okay. So recently I was able to have a
conversation with a woman who is
really largely responsible for
my sense of environmentalism and my
sense of what it means to be an activist. And she was my sixth
grade teacher. Hi, Tess, if you're listening.
and we were able to have a conversation recently where she was
(35:01):
reminding me of some details surrounding one of
my favorite stories, which was when I was
young. And she, I mean she was like,
she's the one who had me get. Ordering
my Save the Whales patch from Greenpeace and putting
it on my backpack. And I know you and I have that in
common, at that young age.
(35:21):
But this woman was.
Became so well known and again, pre
Internet, so we're talking about like local news,
newspaper articles, things like that. She became so,
so well known as having been
consistent in her environmentalism
activism. Her, as an educator,
teaching her kids, involving her kids. We were
(35:43):
very, very involved in, as sixth grade
students in like early recycling movements. Like
it was like real life application. Right. Of what
we were learning. Well, it had. She
had been selected
to be one of the people and the
educator that got to fly in a
helicop up to Prince Edward
(36:05):
island to witness the
preservation and protection of the baby harp seals.
So back then there was a lot of awareness
being raised about the clubbing that was happening. It was really
brutal and violent. And she had been
part of awareness campaigns.
I'm sure I'm missing details, but she
(36:26):
had gone and been present for
this protection, of the baby harp
seals up north on this island and had gotten to see
it firsthand. And she
tells the story. There was an actress,
a famous actress that actually it was, she told
me this the other day. It was the woman who played Hot
(36:46):
Lips on mash.
She was like, also part of this like,
activism effort. They were like just trying to pull all of these
people who could be a voice for this effort. And she ended up
like passing, you know, this woman in, in. In the process.
And she got to tell the story and she got to bring it back
and share it with us. And she felt like
(37:07):
larger than life to me at that point.
Same season of life, she
ends up connecting with John Denver, of
all people. And she
gets us, her sixth grade class of
little activists on stage with John
Denver at Gammage Auditorium. And we
(37:28):
are singing a song with him
on stage, larger than life. Like,
who are. We're just these little kids, you know, from
Arizona. And we had this opportunity to
stand with this, I mean, famous person.
Yes, but like really this voice for
the planet and this voice for, for
preservation and conservation. And it felt like
(37:51):
we were bigger Than life. Right. Not
any one of us, but the collective of us
singing. I mean, I'm sure we sounded awful, bless his
heart, you know, but what a memory.
And for her to have connected us in such a
way that gave us access to something
that was so much bigger than ourselves,
(38:12):
so much bigger than this little fundraiser we did or this little
project we had in science class. It was this big, big,
big life that we could be a part of.
And I have always loved that.
And I love that she's still a part of my life. She's still
someone who cheers me on and encourages me. And,
she's cheering us on in. In this work that we're
(38:33):
doing together. And she's. She's part of it. She's part
of what was grafted into my bones early on.
>> Sarah (38:39):
Wow, that story is amazing. I feel like I
knew part of it, but I don't think I ever put it all together. Like,
I knew you'd been on stage, stage with John Denver. I
don't think I realized that's how you got there.
>> Corinne (38:51):
Yeah, but I mean, like, was. It was. It was a.
It was a small thing, actually. Even though it was John
Denver, it was a small thing that felt so, so
big. And I think that was really the,
That's the greatness of it, right? Is it's this little
snapshot of her living her life,
doing what she was doing anyway, and bringing us along
(39:13):
with her. And how formative
that was for me.
>> Sarah (39:19):
So profound. So one.
One thing that I'm remembering right now, this. This
moment as I'm looking kind of back at my timeline, and
I've been asking myself this question about, you know,
who are the women in my life who
have handed me something. Something
beautiful, some type of legacy that. That extends
beyond, beyond
(39:41):
myself? And I have this very
specific memory. It's fairly recent, really.
We were back, visiting my parents
at the ranch in Arizona, and I had
brought Mercy with me. And my parents still have
horses. They've got a few. And
they ride. They still ride. And so I was out
at the barn with my stepmom Jen, and Mercy was
(40:03):
with us, and she's been taking some riding lessons.
I nodded to that in one of our previous episodes that
we've been getting into it. She's obsessed and loves
it and would like a horse in the backyard. And I
also would like a horse in the backyard. However,
we live in the suburbs, so that's not going to happen.
but for now, we satisfy that itch with
(40:25):
riding lessons. So we were Back at the barn and she
was so excited to show Nana her grandma this, you know,
this skill that she has and something
that she has in common with, with both
myself and with. With, my stepmom
and I, I had this moment
of sitting on their, you know, big
(40:45):
iron fence and watching
my stepmom show Mercy how to put the
big western saddle, like lifted onto the back of the
horse. And here's how you pick their feet. And then
putting the bit in the mouth and draping the leather
reins and leading the horse through to the
arena. And just her and Mercy having this sweet
(41:05):
little conversation and really seeing so
much of myself in my girl
and watching the way that my stepmom was
mothering her through this moment and teaching her and sharing
this moment and having kind of an out of body where
it's like, oh my gosh, this is the same ranch
I grew up on. This is the same place that so much of my
(41:26):
childhood played out at the same age as
Mercy. And it was. It
was this really gorgeous thing. So just. And then getting to like, watch
her ride and, and watch Mercy
start to find her confidence and gain Morgan of that,
some of that courage and go from walking to
trotting and my stepmom cheering her
(41:47):
on. And I'm just sitting there having this moment of
really just absorbing watching this
sort of this generational handing
down of this. Of this love in real
time. yeah, it was one of those.
Okay, this is one of those I'm going to
remember. And
(42:07):
in my family, we
talking about cameras and pictures and all those things,
sometimes we'll just kind of do this little thing where we'll take
almost like it's. We'll do the hand motions of a camera,
right?
>> Corinne (42:18):
Like a little click.
>> Sarah (42:19):
And it's a memory picture. And so that. That was
definitely for me, a memory picture moment
of looking at that moment with. With my
stepmom, my daughter and myself
in this place that holds so much memory for me and
watching it be handed to Mercy, who now
has her own memories, her own experiences, her own love,
(42:39):
her own sense of place within the same,
you know, dirt within the same earth within
the same desert land.
So, gosh, I know, I
know there's a lot you can tell stories,
so many stories. But I think it's.
It's really beautiful. Even as I'm
(43:02):
thinking about what we've shared today and these stories and
pieces of our lives and the women that we know and what
we've been handed and the
ways that, you know, even in
what we've shared. We come from women
who are cycle breaking
giants. Who are these dragons who
change the trajectory of generations.
(43:26):
Sometimes we come from women who survive just barely
enough to move the needle. And honestly,
usually it's the both and. Right. Usually
it's always, I dare to say always it's the
both. And in the women that came before us, even in
ourselves, in the ones that will come after us,
there are pieces of our story that
(43:49):
we might look at and go this far, no further.
we will not hand this. I'm not handing this
on.
>> Corinne (43:57):
Sometimes we're the cycle breakers.
>> Sarah (44:01):
And sometimes we.
Sometimes we're the first ones to break.
>> Corinne (44:07):
Yeah. Sometimes what we're handed
is painful and
it's up to us. Right. And then sometimes what
we're handed is deeply rich and beautiful.
And I, I think that there's room for all of it
and I think, I think it's equally
revolutionary. So for,
(44:28):
for the ones who are breaking the cycles and becoming
giants, doing what giants do,
like there's room for that. For the ones who are receiving
from a long line of,
courage and beauty, like yes
to that as well. Like aren't we,
(44:49):
aren't we the result of all those woven
threads? All that
both and like yes. Yep.
Yep. Because that's also how it works.
>> Sarah (45:00):
this is also how it works.
>> Rebeca (45:15):
You've been listening to Spiritual Pyro with
Sarah Carter and Corrine shark on the 1C
Story Network. For more information about this and
all of our stories, please visit
just1c.com that's
J-U S T O N E C
dot com.
>> Sarah (45:54):
Okay, for real this time,
>> Singer (45:56):
the One C Story Network.
For the love of stories.
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