Why You Love What You Love

Forged In The Dark · Jul 7, 2026 · 11m · transcript

An 80s Kmart parking lot. Blankets in the bed of a truck. Those big tins of popcorn with the cardboard dividers. And a kid who was certain fireworks were pure magic in the sky.

Decades later I've seen the biggest shows there are — Vegas, Disney, the works — and the one I keep coming back to is that parking lot. Because the fireworks were never really the point. My grandfather was. This one is about a quiet truth most people never stop to notice: the people who shape what you love rarely do it in one grand gesture. They do it in ordinary moments, repeated, until the love becomes yours.

So…