Latest / Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin / Episode 18: Francine With Cecilia Vega-Ryan Parents Talk

Transcript

Episode 18: Francine With Cecilia Vega-Ryan Parents Talk · Parent's Talk with Francine Juhlin

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: I met a man who followed his dream that he
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: had since he was four years old of flying.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: And she wrote a book about it. Welcome to Parents Talk,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: where we give you tips and tricks for raising confident kids. Today,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: my friend Cecilia Vega-Ryan is going to talk about a
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: World War II flying ace. who followed his dream that
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: he had since he was four years old. And we're
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: going to talk about how his mother supported him. Cecilia,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: please tell us how you met this man, because it's
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: a fascinating story.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: We moved into a small town, my husband and I,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: and during the pandemic, And the community was very embracing
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and very wonderful. And he was our neighbor. So he
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: and his wife were our welcoming committee. And it was
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: wonderful to talk to them. And we would do holiday
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: dinners with them. And during a holiday dinner, I saw
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: this painting on his living room wall. And I looked
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: at it. It was Christmas of 2024. And I said,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I really like this painting. And he said, well, that's
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: me in the painting. And it was a little boy,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: which is the cover of my book. It's a little
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: boy looking at an airplane. And he totally said, well,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: that's me. And I said, Jim, I think there's a
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: story there. And he goes, yes, there is. And I said, well,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: I'm going to write it. And he goes, okay. So
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: from then on, from January 1st of 2025, I started
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: interviewing him at the airport where he had an office.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: And I think I should let you know, Jim was 102.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Wow. And he still had an office. Oh, yes.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. He had an office that he went to
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: seven days a week.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Wow. Because his wife would ask him.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: You think maybe one day you don't want to go
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: or you're not going to go.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And he's like, why?
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I want to go. So he was always at the airport.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Because he lived his passion.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: He lived his passion. He became very excited about flying.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: His father loved flying.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, wait a minute. He was 107 years old.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: 102.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: 102 years old.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And his father loved flying. Was he with the Wright brothers?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yes. His father was really into the flying. I think
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: because in that time, the Wright brothers and flying machines
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: that were flying, not great, obviously, because they weren't the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: best of planes in those days, in World War I.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: But his father couldn't fly in World War I. So
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: they would go to, You know, where they would have
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: barnstorming and places where they would have all of these planes.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And anytime you could ask somebody, hey, and you'd pay
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: very little and they'd take you up. So he went
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: up with his dad. And the minute he went up
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: in the sky, he fell in love. That became his passion.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Okay, I want to ask parents now. Is there something
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: that your child is that passionate about? And you keep thinking, oh,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: it's a phase. They'll get over it. What do you
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: think would happen if you supported your child's passion? So
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: tell us more of that story of how his parents
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: helped support his passion.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Well, his mom never went up. She kept her feet
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: firmly on the ground, always. But she was there. She
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: would take pictures. She's the one that actually took this picture.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: This was a picture that his mother took in the 1920s,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: who a friend of theirs made into a painting that
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I fell in love with and asked my illustrator to
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: make it into the cover of the book. So it's
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: gone through iterations and it's always shown a passionate little
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: four-year-old looking And he just grew up and just wanted
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: always to be in airplanes. During the Depression, he lost
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: his father and his mom, and he moved out to California.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: So during the Depression, and he was about nine years old,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: his mom would drive him to airports because that's what
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: he wanted to do. So they would go to airports,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and people liked to watch the airmail go out. or
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: the airmail come in from other states. And they would
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: go into airports and look at different planes flying in
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: and out. And eventually he worked at the Grand Central Airport,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: which was one of the most important airports on the
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: West Coast. And with the little money he'd earn on Saturdays,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: he would ask an aviator to take him up, just
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: for 20 minutes even. And he would go up. And
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: these planes were all, I would think, very dangerous. Today,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: I would think, oh, I don't know if I would
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: want my child going up. But he loved it so much,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I think his mom just supported the idea. And she
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: drove him to his job. She was always behind him,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: which I think is a beautiful thing.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: And in a way, his mother supporting him the way
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: she did helped shape our nation. OK, because there's more
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to this story. So continue on with this. It's a
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: beautiful story.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Well, as he he actually learned to fly at Grand
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Central Air Terminal, which was the place to be. This
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: is where all of the movie stars of the silent
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: movies and comedies and everybody and any movie made in
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: the 20s, 30s or 40s at an airport or about flying.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Even Pee Wee's Big Adventure that came out many years
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: later were all done at Grand Central Air Terminal. So
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: he learned to fly there. And eventually World War II
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: seemed to be brewing and he wanted to go. He
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: wanted to enlist and go, but he was still underage.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: And his mom said, no, no, no, no, no. When
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: you're old enough, if that's something that's still available, you
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: make that decision. But while you're a minor, no way.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: My mom did the same thing to me. I wanted
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: to join the Navy at 17 and she made me
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: wait till I was 18. Yep. Yeah.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And, and in those days you had to be, you know,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: two years of college and you'd had to be 21
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: years old.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. To be a pilot. Right.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: To be a pilot.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: And you know, that, that, He was still too young.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: So he just like hatched a plan and decided he's
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: going to do this. He's going to do, he's going
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: to go to school. He's going to do, he's going
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: to work for aviation places, which were around everywhere around
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: that airport in Burbank and in Glendale. This is where the,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: where Lockheed Martin and Boeing and all of those big
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: companies that became, you know.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, Hughes was a manufacturers. Yeah.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: This is where they started. So he, started working for
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: people and learning about, you know, how to fix an airplane.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: He already knew how to clean them because he was
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: doing that when he was a kid. So he started working,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: you know, doing that and going to school. So he
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: would work all night and still get up in the
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: morning and go to school and sleep in the afternoons
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: and then, you know, repeat that until World War II
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: broke out and they lowered the age of being able
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: to get in. And he took his 10 months training
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: and he came out on top and he was a
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: lieutenant and he was able to get what he wanted.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Not everybody got what they wanted. He wanted to go
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: to England, fly P-38s and, you know, be part of
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: the solution of the Allies. And, you know, he got
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: what he wanted. He flew 37 missions out of Normandy, France.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: So he was part of the whole Normandy invasion. And
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: he just, that was his thing. They love him in Normandy,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: by the way. There's a street named after him there.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: So he's just, and he would go out there. He's
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: met four different presidents through his life. I told him,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: only four? You should have met every one of them
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: every year. He just laughed at me. He goes, well,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: you know, not every year.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I just want to bring out to the parents is
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: that if his parents didn't support him, then he could
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: have turned into the rebellious child. He could have been wayward.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: He could have floundered.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: But he found his passion and his parents supported it.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and that was so important that like I said it
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: helped shape our nation if he was not passionate about
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: being a pilot and didn't go to World War II
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: how many of those battles might have been lost because
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: of his inspiration to the other pilots, if nothing else.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: He influenced his own son. Because his love of flying
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: went to his son. And the two of them worked
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: together building aircraft hangars across the country at different airports.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: And he did all sorts, everything he did his whole
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: life had to do with aviation.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Everything.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: So that support that he had at the beginning, that
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: tiny little support of just taking him to airports from
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: his parents nurtured that passion that was in him. And
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: I think that was really, I think that's really the
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: message that I want to put out for children is that, yes,
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: this is his whole life story. Well, you know, his
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: life story, but it's all about following your dreams. believing
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: in yourself, believing in what you can do, working hard
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: towards something, it's worth it. It's always worth it. No
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: matter what it is. I mean, it doesn't have to
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: make you rich. It doesn't have to be your job.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: But if it's still something you love, it is something
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: you could always do that makes you feel good. And
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: in times when you're down, Even if it's music, you
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: may not be the musician, but when times when you're
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: like feeling a little low, you could play the piano
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: or a guitar. And it's a good feeling because it's
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: something you could turn to. So to me, following a
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: passion and always keeping it in your life is important.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: And I keep coming back to one of the characters
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: in my book. In the book, The Butterfly Who Changed Everything,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Jesse's parents were immigrants. And they never wanted her to
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: suffer financially. They wanted her to have everything they didn't have.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: So they pushed her into finance. But she wanted to
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: be a teacher. She had a very successful career in finance,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: but she was never truly happy because it wasn't what
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: she wanted. And when she and I started working together,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: we had to overcome those beliefs that she couldn't be
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: happy without all the money because that's the belief that
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: was instilled in her from childhood. So once she changed
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: those beliefs and followed her passion, she was happy without
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: the penthouse and the Mercedes. And this young man at
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: four years old knew he wanted to be around airplanes.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: What would have happened if his parents said, we can't
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: afford it? We don't have time to help you. That's
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: a crazy thing to want. It's too dangerous.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Of which it was, but at the same time, how
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: do you not nurture something and hope that you look at,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: and you can still, I mean, I can still say, yes,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: you want to be in a fast car or, you know,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: test pilot. That's dangerous. But training is what helps. understanding
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: what it is you want to do. It's not just
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: jumping in. Jim didn't jump in. He didn't just jump
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: in and say, I'm going to fly a plane, you know,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: because he wanted to be in a plane. He slowly
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: learned to fly. Being in the planes and being with
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: aviators and slowly having people who knew what they were doing,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: teaching him in planes that probably crashed most of the time.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: True, true. And, you know, it's almost like if you
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: compare flying in an airplane to driving. Driving is probably
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: more dangerous.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: If you think of how many per capita car wrecks
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: there are versus airplane. And even at the very beginning
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: of aviation, while automobiles were at their very best, beginning too,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: how dangerous were they? Because there were no traffic laws.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: There were no safety features. There were no real roads.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: It was dangerous to drive a car back then, just
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: like it was dangerous to fly an airplane. And if
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: you think about it, when you first started talking about
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: how his parents would take him to airports... to look
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: at the airplanes, the first thing that came to my
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: mind was back in the Wild West, parents would take
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: their kids to watch the Pony Express ride by. Now,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: if that wasn't dangerous, you know, but it was a
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: very necessary job that some people, some young men just
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: really wanted to do. Oh, I remember when I wanted
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: to be an aircraft electrician in the Navy. Wouldn't you
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: rather be a secretary?
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: No.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you rather work in supply? No. They tried to
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: talk me out of wanting to be an aircraft electrician
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: as a woman. So there's always someone trying to talk
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: you out of doing what you feel passionate about. My
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: mom tried to talk me out of joining the Navy
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: because she was afraid I'd get hurt. But she was always.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: And that's understandable.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, if it's what you want
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: and your desire is there.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: It was something I had to do for myself. So
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: remember that you can't always keep your kids safe. You
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: might try. But there comes a time where you have
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: to let them make their own decisions.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: And it becomes, you instill as a parent, when they're young,
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: values and ideas and concepts and the thought of trying
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: to be safe, not just trying to be, you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: you don't run into the street because the traffic's coming.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Let's see if we can get through. You learn. those
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: skills and you are taught those things by your parents. And,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: you know, that sense of value and self-worth that comes
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: from at a young age. And you take that later.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: And I know it's hard to let go when they're older.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just hard because they get older and
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: you're thinking, oh, but you have to depend on the
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: fact that you did it. You gave them the tools.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Let's see how they use those tools. Let's see how
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: they take those tools with them and be able to
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: walk into the world doing what they want.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I have the same conversation with parents and middle schoolers.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: They want to do everything to make sure their children
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: succeed and in a way that's holding them back because
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: they don't let them fail. They don't. they don't allow
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: them to learn their lessons. So if Jim's parents wanted
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to make sure he stayed safe, if Jim's parents wanted
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: to make sure that he never failed, they wouldn't have
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: allowed him to test his wings. Yeah, really. Pun intended,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: pun intended.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good pun. But, you know, we learn more from
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: our mistakes than we do from our successes. So if
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: you're allowed to make a mistake, especially in those formative
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: years of being in middle school, you get more from it.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: I know it's hard, but, you know, life can't be
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: one smooth sailing across like this. It has to have bumps.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Ups and downs, because you appreciate the ups when there's
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: a couple of downs.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Yes. And if you constantly do for your children, we
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: talk about science projects a lot because I'm a science nerd. Well,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: if you do the science project for your kids, what's
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: that teaching them? They don't learn how to put a
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: project together. They don't learn the time management They don't
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: learn to ask for help if you do it for them.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And from somebody who's just now learning how to ask
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: for help in my 60s, and my parents never did
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: for me, because my mom was a working mom, I
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: did it for myself. But I was ultra-independent. I never
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: wanted to ask anyone for help. And maybe some of
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that was because I knew that. didn't have the time
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: or the money to help me. So I'm glad I
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: didn't have someone jumping in to rescue me all the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: time because I learned that. But I wish I had
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: a little bit more of the lesson of asking for
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: help when I needed it. So there's a balance there.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: There's definitely a balance.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Absolutely a balance. I think it was, I was lucky
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: that I had teachers in elementary school who always opened
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: up saying things that ask for help. Ask me if
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: you need help. Ask me if you, whatever it is,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: the question. And as a teacher, because I've been a teacher,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: I teach, I've always told my students the same thing.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Ask me. I'd rather you ask me something 10 times.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: then not ask me at all and not figure it
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: out or not get it. You know, we'll work through it.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: We work through it. That's what we're doing. We work
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: through it together. That's what learning is about. That's what
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: teaching is about. It's back and forth. It's never just
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: one way. It's back and forth. It's a give and take. And,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: you know, it helped me as a child because my
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: mother also was a working mom and I did things
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: on my own, you know, and it was, and it
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: was also a time when, you know, you were just
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: went outside and played.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: True. For hours. Right. And as long as you were
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: home for dinner. Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: You know, and I mean, we were given a parameter,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: my cousins and I, but that's it. You know, this
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: is where you play.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: They're outside playing. That's all anybody knew. They were there
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: outside playing and nobody thought anything of it. And that
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: to me, was the healthiest thing. Well, we know through
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: science that that is one of the healthiest things you
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: could do for children is having them play. My cousins
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: and I would outside, we'd play with a ball. We'd
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: play with our bicycles. We made mud pies when we
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: were young and put rocks in them and leaves, and
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: then we'd present them to somebody in the house. I mean,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: we did all sorts of things. We climbed trees.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Creativity. Yes.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Yes. We played with dolls and we played with balls
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: and we played with all sorts of things and we
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: played on a teeter-totter. My cousin's grandpa was a carpenter
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: and out of scraps of wood, he made us a teeter-totter.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: So we used to play on the teeter-totter and sing
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: songs and he made us a four-seater swing that we
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: would swing on all the time and pretend it was
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: a train. I mean, the things that we did through
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: our imagination... And we'd spend time doing it and not
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: a soul came outside to watch us do this because
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: we were not that interesting, obviously, because they had other
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: things to do.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Okay. I want to circle back. I did not know
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: you were a teacher. I knew you were an author,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: which is why I invited you on Parents Talk. So
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: now what grades did you teach? And tell me more
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: about that.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I teach college. I teach child development. community college
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: so i prepare teachers to be teachers.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: So important so important.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: So that to me is um was always a an
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: amazingly fun thing to do it's always been very fun
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: i enjoy the classroom i do a lot on zoom
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: now but i am very um connected and i still
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: talk to my teachers and all my my students that
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: have gone on to be teachers i call them my
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: teachers um and they still contact me, and it's a
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: wonderful thing to see them blossom. These little buds that
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: have blossomed and are doing what they love. And it's
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: exciting to see people follow their passion.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: That's it, following the passion. And I'll tell you, after
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: my career with the military, 33 years of being an
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: aircraft electrician, It was a little scary because I didn't
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: know what my passion was beyond that. And I found
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: it in a really unusual way. The universe dragged it
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: out of me. I never intended to be a children's author.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I don't even have kids of my own. But now
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: that I've been thrown into it, I absolutely love it
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: because I'm helping shape tomorrow's leaders. So Let's go back
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: to this story because this pilot, Jim, he was a leader.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: So how did his parents help shape him as a leader,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: not just a pilot?
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I think through the depression, when they were here in California,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: his mom, and his mom being a single mom who was,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: got into a car and drove from Pennsylvania to California
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: after his father passed.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: That was huge in those days. Yeah.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: And she didn't really know how to drive very well.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: So all I could think of is she really learned.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: On the road.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: On the road training is what she had. And drove
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: out here and taking him constantly to work at I mean,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: a kid working on a Saturday, quite young. I mean,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: there were no really big restrictions, but the idea that
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: he wanted to work at the airport and he was
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: sweeping floors, washing airplanes, and making just a little bit
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: of money. And for a part of that money, he
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: could use for himself, obviously, because he was earning it.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: I think that gives him that agency. And that self-awareness
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: of knowing, sure, he gave money to mom, but definitely
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: he was able to utilize that for something he loved,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: which was going up in airplanes. So I think his
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: mom allowing him to be able to be that bit
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: of an independent, not completely on his own, but at
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: least to have that and still come back and pick
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: him up when he's done in the day and take
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: him home. What a feat for a mom to be
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: doing all of that and to believe in his son
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: and believe that this is what his son loved and
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: knew that this is what his son loved. That to
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: me was saying a lot for his mom.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Okay, so now we've talked about the love of aviation
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and how his mother nurtured him. And I love that
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: you talked about the financial agency. that she allowed him
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: to make financial decisions on his own because that few
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: financial advisors and bankers on the show talking about how
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: to build financial literacy in children. So to think this
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: was going on during the depression is something that's truly
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: amazing and something to learn from. True.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I don't think that even she was aware, but I
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: think also being Alone. Also, she had to work. That
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: it was one of those. And not knowing her at all, ever.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: I would think it had to have been that sense
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: of it's you and me against the world.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: We got to get through it. You know, you're working.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Some of the money comes home. But, you know, you
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: get your money. It's, you know, you've earned it. I
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: think that's an important component and being able to know
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: that there's, you know, something to help mom and be
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: there for mom and also be able to do what
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: you love as well. I think this is a lot
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: for a kid.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Well, my friend, the banker said that she started with
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: her children, that 50% got saved and 50% is yours
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: for what you want to do. And I think that's
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: a great formula.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: I think so, too. I think it's a really good formula.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: I had piggy banks. I was allowed to pick up
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: change and get this and do that until I got
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: my first job at 16. But yeah, but I remember that.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: And my mom was always really good. It's like, well,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: you want to cut coupons? If you find things in
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: the magazines and in the papers, of things that we buy.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Does not just buy frivolously because you think we want
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: that because it's our coupons there. But if we buy stuff,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: then any of the money, because in those days, coupons,
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: they gave you back the money from the coupon if
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: you bought the item. She goes, you can keep the money.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: So I would clip coupons and keep my money in
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: my piggy bank. That was something I did when I
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: was a young kid, so.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: I remember we got a dollar a day. We could
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: either buy the school lunch or pack our own. So
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: if we packed our own lunch, we got that dollar.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: So that, you know, we could have eaten the school lunch,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: but we chose to pack a bologna and cheese sandwich.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: And take it with us. Yeah, there's little things that
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: we don't really realize that when we look back that
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: 2020 hindsight were little lessons that were coming to us
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: that we didn't even realize were lessons they were just
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: like opportunities to us as children and there's a lesson
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: in there that is there and i think that's what
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: a lot of children's books do is they give opportunities
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: for children to see themselves in there. And then there's
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: a lesson, but nothing is being didactically shown or nothing
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: is being thrown in their face. It's just something like, oh,
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: I could do that, or I like doing that. And
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's important.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: We're back to your book again. Open your book and
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: read a page and tell us what a child could
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: take away from that.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: As a teenager, his mom would take him to work
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: at the Grand Central Air Terminal on Saturdays. Jim's hard
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: work would grant him about 20 minutes of time in
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: the air each week. There were aviators all over the airport,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: so it was easy to ask one to take him
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: up flying. And we could see him up flying.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Oh, that is a great picture.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: So, I mean, hard work can pay off. I think
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: that's a big deal.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Hard work can pay off. That's true. Even if you're
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: just learning fractions, hard work pays off.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Little things build up to being something bigger. And I
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: don't think that everybody always looks at it that way.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: I think we've become a very much, we want everything
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: instantaneously because we have so much modern technology that gives
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: us things so fast. We need to also step back
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: a little bit and think, well, if I do this
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: and this and this, it builds up to something. It's
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: not just going to happen because I'm there. And I
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: think that's one of those things we need to instill
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: in young children and even into adults sometimes to not
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: think that everything's coming just like that.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes I even have to remind myself how
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: far I've come. I had computer problems this week. And
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: I didn't freak out. I didn't end up in a
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: pile on the floor crying. I went step by step. Okay,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: let's do this. Let's do this. Got to a point,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: called for help, got it fixed, still some problems, figured
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: it out. And then I looked back and said, five
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: years ago, I would have been on the pile on
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: the floor crying because that's where I was back then.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: So I recognize how far I've come. So I think
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: that it's important for parents to, when a child reaches
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: a milestone, to have them reflect on how far they've
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: come to reach that milestone so they don't think it
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: was an overnight success.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: There is no such thing as an overnight success.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: No.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: When we see somebody look like they've become an overnight success,
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: whether it's an actor or we see somebody who is in...
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: in any kind of position that we recognize in public,
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: a public person, we think, oh my God, they were nowhere.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Now look where they are. We don't know all those
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: little steps that got them there. And the fact that
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: there's usually a village that's behind every human that's there
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: to support and help to get them there. And parents
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: are the first and the leaders of the village.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: They are. And then there's the teachers and the people
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: who teach the teachers and the podcasters who provide the information.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: And then I got to put a plug in for
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Sparkle Feathers TV. It's my new YouTube channel for the kiddos.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, how wonderful.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a whole section on science. There's a section
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: on fun with math. There's Authors like you reading their books,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: maybe you could do that one day. I could. There's
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: so many. I think I have more than 80 videos
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: uploaded right now. That's just fun, wholesome education that will
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: help build confidence. So parents, it's primarily for middle schoolers,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: maybe grades three through eight. Check it out. Sparkle Feathers
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: TV on YouTube. Please subscribe. This is Sparkle Feathers. Oh,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: my gosh.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: I love Sparkle Feathers.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: It is the mascot of all.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Love mascots. Fabulous. Sparkle Feathers. I love it. I'm looking
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: it up. I'm going to be subscribing.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be. I think it's wonderful. I think
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: the more we could provide and share of what we know.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: With each other. Especially since we have these great mediums.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: Like a Zoom. Like, you know, YouTube. All of these
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: things that we have that are at our fingertips these days.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: To utilize them. To help each other. And to give
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: to each other is the best thing we could do.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: I think everybody should be doing it. Whatever they have.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: Whatever their passions are.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Right? It's a community. And... I would love, if you're
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: watching this, to know what would your kids love to learn?
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Because the more I know what your kids want to learn,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: the more I could create that kind of content for them.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: And that's a big deal because that's exciting. Could you
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: imagine just being able to go onto a channel and
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: see what you want to see specifically and what you like?
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: That's amazing.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: I could even call out your child. If you say
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: my child is passionate about whatever, I could call out
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: your child's name. Mary's mother told me that Mary loves,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: and here's a video from Mary. Mary would love to
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: get a call out, a shout out.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: That's wonderful. I love it. I love that you do that.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's amazing. I think that's going to be
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: That is what I thought that YouTube was going to
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: be for everybody, was going to be a place to
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: share and provide and teach and, you know, inform as
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: much as possible. Yes, entertainment's great, but we have so
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: much entertainment at our fingertips.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Well, do you know that it's a scientific fact when
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: you're being entertained, when you're laughing, you learn easier?
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, you do.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: So my content, my education for the kids is all
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: fun and goofy.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. I love fun. Yeah,
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: this is one of my serious books. And it's funny
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: because I usually write stories that are a little bit
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: more humorous and quirky. But still with that theme of
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: perseverance and believing in yourself because that's really what my
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: stories carry. But I just wanted to be able to
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: put Flyboy in Jim's hands because I wanted him to
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: see it. Unfortunately, he passed away at 103. So we
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: need to also keep that in mind that if we
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: could all live to 103, you know, and follow our
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: passion all our lives, I'm okay with that. So he
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: did see the cover and loved it. He did read
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: the story on his computer, on the computer when I
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: sent it. And he loved it, looked at it, told
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: me all of it was accurate. And he didn't get
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: a chance because the illustrator was still illustrating when he
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: passed away. She had just finished and then he passed.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: And this was last year in November. But his wife
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: is my... part of my village, part of my support.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: And she loves the book. And she's the one that
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: took it to Normandy, France. And they immediately started translating
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: it into French and reading it to the kids in
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: the classroom.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Because they know who Jim is. Because his name is
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: on a street. And because they have all of these
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: little signs, especially it was the anniversary of D-Day. And
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: so that's the person that they honored. Although there was
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: a big honor for everybody in this little small part
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: of the town in Normandy, it was Jim that they loved.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: And so, and you know, he passed on his passion
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: to his son. And his son, who is no longer
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: with us, he passed before Jim did. He passed his
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: passion of aviation to his son. So now his Jim's
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: grandson is completely involved in the Santa Maria Air in California,
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: which does all these things. And they have a museum
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: that they're opening up up there, which is going to
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: carry a lot of Jim's stuff and the book when
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: it's open sometime next year. So it's going to be
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: really nice to see that. come to a full circle
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: with his grandson as well.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: What a great achievement for his life and a great
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: way to acknowledge it.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: You know, sometimes somebody else has to come in and say,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: that was pretty cool. I like what you've done. Let's
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: put that into something.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: I just got back from the Military Influencers Conference and
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: And I was asking, have you ever thought of writing
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: a book? Oh, nobody wants to. I don't have anything
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: to write about. I'm like, you're a veteran. You're here.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: You have a story. And now I'm going to help
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: some of them write their story. So I think it's important.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: I think it's important.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: I think so, too. I think so, too. I think
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: it's wonderful. My book is now in five different airspace museums.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: in California, because they've decided, and some of them actually
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: knew who Jim was, because he was always everywhere. Anything
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: had to do with airplanes. He was there.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: He was there. So how could somebody get your book?
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: Through my website right now. I'm going to be on
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: Amazon later this month, but right now it's just through
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: my website, which is C. Vega Ryan Writes.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: C-Vega-Ryan-Writes.com.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: W-R-I-T-E-S.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: Okay. They can find you there, and you'll be on
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Amazon by November?
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: Probably towards, right before Halloween.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Perfect.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: I'll be on Halloween, and it's called Flyboy.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Flyboy. If you want to see Flyboy, you could go
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: to Cecilia's website, or you could find her on Amazon
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: before Halloween. Thank you so much for coming on Parents Talk,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: and I'm looking forward to getting a video of you
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: reading the book up on my kids' channel soon.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: We can talk about that, and I will do that. Absolutely.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Bye, everyone. Bye.