Latest / Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane / Why Not Today? Season 2 - Episode 1 with Chris Kane, an Ironman and Leslie's brother.
Transcript
- 0:00Hello, this is Leslie and I am the host of the Why Not Today podcast.
- 0:04This is a podcast to celebrate people who have been courageous and said, why not today?
- 0:09I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Kane, who often did say, why not today?
- 0:14I'm based in Reston, Virginia, a Planned community right outside of Washington, DC, and thanks
- 0:18for joining us today.
- 0:20And this is our anniversary issue.
- 0:22It's hard to believe it's been a year since I started this.
- 0:24We've had a recording episode every two weeks since.
- 0:28And so I thought, since it's our anniversary, how appropriate would it be to include one
- 0:33of my siblings?
- 0:34So I have my brother, my youngest brother, Chris, joining me today.
- 0:38So I'm excited to hear his or have him share courageous stories and maybe we'll throw in
- 0:43some courageous stories of my dad.
- 0:45But I always talk about where we met and where we connected.
- 0:49It's kind of easy with Chris because he's five years younger than me.
- 0:54But I do, it's funny, I do remember Chris, that the day that they brought you home from
- 0:58the hospital, they picked me up from Lank and you were there.
- 1:01I'm like, another one?
- 1:02You were number four.
- 1:03Another one.
- 1:04And there's two more.
- 1:05I know, I had to share my reign with everybody.
- 1:11But I'm excited to have you on and just have a conversation about courage.
- 1:14So Chris, why don't you introduce yourself?
- 1:16Tell us where you live and what you do and a fun fact about you that nobody might know.
- 1:22Hopefully I know it.
- 1:23Well, I don't know, maybe you do, maybe you don't.
- 1:25So I'm Leslie's brother.
- 1:28So that's who I am.
- 1:31Born and raised in Reston and then Sterling.
- 1:34So I didn't go very far until about a year and a half ago.
- 1:38So I now live in Denver, Colorado.
- 1:40Been wanting to get out here for a long time.
- 1:42So we finally did it.
- 1:43What do I do?
- 1:45I am in technology sales.
- 1:47I've been in cybersecurity sales for the last five years, working for a company that's headquartered
- 1:52in California.
- 1:55And yeah, I don't know.
- 1:56I mean, I'm your brother and you know a lot about me.
- 2:00So a fun fact.
- 2:02So I was married in an Elvis wedding chapel in Las Vegas on Elvis's birthday.
- 2:12It was your renewing of your vows, not your initial marriage.
- 2:17Correct.
- 2:18Same woman.
- 2:19Good.
- 2:20Unmarried, then remarried, just married and did it for fun.
- 2:25She shares the same birthday as Elvis.
- 2:27So it was her birthday and Elvis's birthday and we renewed our vows in Vegas and it was
- 2:32quite comical.
- 2:34That is pretty funny.
- 2:35And of all my siblings, I would probably think you were the least likely to do something
- 2:39like that.
- 2:40I would agree with you.
- 2:41I would agree with you.
- 2:45So well, I know you've listened to several of my podcasts and given me some advice on
- 2:50it, which I definitely appreciate.
- 2:52So let's start with what does courage mean to you?
- 2:56So I actually had to look it up in the dictionary to see what courage means.
- 2:59What does the dictionary say?
- 3:01So according to Merriam-Webster, courage is mental or moral strength to venture, persevere
- 3:09and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.
- 3:13Wow.
- 3:14Yeah.
- 3:15That sounds like big and scary.
- 3:17It does.
- 3:18So what does it mean to you?
- 3:21So it's funny.
- 3:22You asked me about doing this and I was thinking about, all right, how do I answer this question?
- 3:28I think it is being willing to push yourself, get out of your comfort zone a little bit
- 3:38maybe, but also just being willing to do whatever you think is that thing.
- 3:47So for example, I've always wanted to move out west towards the mountains and Deirdre
- 3:54and I got close twice.
- 3:55It didn't happen and life circumstances presented itself and a year and a half, actually two
- 4:02years ago about this time and it worked out and we were like, screw it, let's go.
- 4:06So I don't think of courage as this big lofty thing and I fought a bear or something crazy
- 4:14like that or I jumped off a cliff, but I think it's more practical.
- 4:23Just being willing to do it and listening to some of your episodes before, it's like
- 4:26people made career choices or other life choices.
- 4:30To me, I think it's if you keep it at a simple or more basic level of is there something
- 4:37you wanted to do that was stretching you and then were you willing to do it and put in
- 4:43the effort and follow through?
- 4:46Yeah, absolutely.
- 4:47In all the episodes I've had, we've had people doing big courageous things and little courageous
- 4:52things and everything in between and sometimes it was just step by step courage, just taking
- 4:57the next step.
- 4:58I talked to somebody the other day, she goes, I haven't done anything courageous.
- 5:01I'm like, yeah, you have.
- 5:02We all have.
- 5:05It's not always jumping off a building or jumping out of an airplane kind of courage.
- 5:10It says little things and doing the things that make you happy.
- 5:15Colorado was a big move for our family just because we've always been local.
- 5:20I remember when you moved from Reston to Sterling.
- 5:22Oh my gosh, I was thinking about that actually.
- 5:24That was like.
- 5:25I think that was a bigger move and by the way, people listening Sterling from Reston
- 5:30is maybe five miles, eight.
- 5:32Maybe six.
- 5:33Maybe six.
- 5:34I remember you moving there and it's like, oh, we got to get shots and a passport and
- 5:39pack our bags and now ironically everybody else is out of Reston.
- 5:43I'm the only one that's still there.
- 5:46So yeah, courage is all kinds of things and definitely took courage to move your family
- 5:50out there and to start a new life and but I know that's always been on your radar.
- 5:56Just finally, it was the right time.
- 6:00Yes it was.
- 6:01By the way, I have jumped out of an airplane.
- 6:03I know you have.
- 6:04I don't want to do it again though.
- 6:05Wasn't that much fun?
- 6:07Somebody asked me the other day, she's turning 50 and she wanted to do it and she wanted
- 6:09me to, she said something to me about doing that.
- 6:11I'm like, enjoy.
- 6:12That is not on my bucket list.
- 6:14Yeah, I remember when you do that and it was nobody knew until after the fact.
- 6:18So luckily you were okay.
- 6:21It's good.
- 6:22Yes.
- 6:23So I know you've done other courageous things in your life.
- 6:26I know we talked about one a minute ago, which was big courage of lots of training and lots
- 6:32of commitments.
- 6:33You want to talk about Iron Man?
- 6:36Yep.
- 6:37So for the longest time I had actually I saw the Iron Man on TV, like when we were kids,
- 6:46I guess when they first started doing it.
- 6:48It was like on ABC Wide World of Sports, like even before ESPN and all that stuff.
- 6:52So I saw it and I was like, oh, okay, that's pretty cool.
- 6:57And then started doing triathlons and our friends, the Conrad's got me into that.
- 7:03So doing that, but I always had doing an Iron Man on my list.
- 7:10And for those who are listening that don't know what Iron Man is, it's a triathlon.
- 7:14So it's a triathlon.
- 7:16It's a swim, bike and a run, but the Iron Man distance, it is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile
- 7:24bike ride and a full marathon, 26.2 miles.
- 7:27So it's 140.6 miles in one day.
- 7:32So anyways, it was on the list.
- 7:36I honestly part of getting to the point of doing it was one of my neighbors, he did triathlons.
- 7:44We started training together.
- 7:45He wanted to do it.
- 7:46He was one of those.
- 7:47He encouraged me or nudged me.
- 7:49I nudged him and we both said, screw it, let's do it.
- 7:54So it's something that is doable for a lot of people.
- 7:59It just takes a lot of work and a lot of commitment, a lot of early mornings, a lot of lunchtime
- 8:05workouts.
- 8:06So it's a lot to do, but you can do it if you put your mind to it.
- 8:10So I've done it twice.
- 8:14I thought I wanted to do three in my 40s, two in my 50s and one in my 60s.
- 8:21What happened to that one?
- 8:22Is that still on the radar or is that shifted?
- 8:24So after two, I decided it just was, I don't know, I lost enough interest or my interest
- 8:32shift where I didn't want to commit that kind of time.
- 8:37So I mean, it's just a lot of work.
- 8:40Back to the whole of what does courage mean and all that.
- 8:42It's like, okay, to me, that's not like jumping out of a plane building, fighting a bear kind
- 8:47of courage.
- 8:48It's, I think, looking at the definition of Merriam-Webster.
- 8:53Can you persevere through something that's challenging or difficult?
- 8:57So training's hard.
- 8:59There's definitely days it was like, okay, I do not want to meet my training partner
- 9:03at the corner at six o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, go for a six hour bike ride
- 9:07and then come home and coach my kids lacrosse game.
- 9:11But it was cool.
- 9:12I mean, it's super exciting.
- 9:14It's hard.
- 9:16The first time I did it, I was extremely nervous and paranoid about screwing up, about getting
- 9:24hurt.
- 9:25I mean, there's danger involved, right?
- 9:28You start to swim with 2000 people that just start swimming at once.
- 9:32So that's kind of sketchy.
- 9:34But I was more nervous about like, okay, can I do it?
- 9:38Did I eat enough?
- 9:39Did I drink enough?
- 9:40And all the hydration stuff.
- 9:43So fortunately, the first time was, it wasn't easy by any means, but it worked out probably
- 9:51as well as I could have hoped.
- 9:52I had a time goal.
- 9:54I felt pretty good throughout.
- 9:57I didn't feel awful afterwards.
- 10:01And when you finished, it's like, it's super cool.
- 10:03Someone who's seen it on TV, there's the announcer, this MC, who probably doesn't do it anymore,
- 10:12but really famous statement of Leslie Kane, you are an Ironman as you cross finish line.
- 10:18So it's super cool.
- 10:20So it was super exciting and fun and hard and all that.
- 10:23And I think the interesting part was the second time I did it.
- 10:27So my training partner got injured.
- 10:29So I ended up doing it by myself, which a lot of training by myself, which was super
- 10:34hard.
- 10:35But when I was during the race, I was feeling good on the swim, felt really good on the
- 10:41bike.
- 10:43And I ran out of gas on the run about mile 11 or 12, which meant I had about 14 more
- 10:52to go.
- 10:54And I literally would walk a couple hundred yards and then maybe run a hundred yards and
- 11:01then walk a couple hundred yards and then maybe run.
- 11:03And I was not feeling good.
- 11:06I totally out of gas.
- 11:10Thought to myself, okay, what am I doing this stupid thing for?
- 11:13I'm going to quit.
- 11:14And that takes courage to keep going.
- 11:17I had a lot of mental arguments over this.
- 11:2114 miles.
- 11:23That's a long way to go.
- 11:24And it's like, okay, holy crap, how am I going to get this done?
- 11:27So it was hard for sure.
- 11:32Interestingly enough, what helped, I don't want to say it saved me, but definitely helped
- 11:37me was on the race course, they serve all kinds of stuff, power bars, cliff bars, all
- 11:46kinds of bars, drinks and stuff.
- 11:49One of the things that they serve is warm chicken broth.
- 11:53So the first time I did it, I'm thinking, why are they handing out chicken broth?
- 11:56I don't get it.
- 11:58Well, I found out the second time I did it because after a while of sucking down goo
- 12:04and Gatorade and energy bars, your body doesn't want that junk anymore.
- 12:11So I tried some chicken broth once I could kind of choke it down.
- 12:17And really what it does, it's got sodium.
- 12:20So it really helped replenish.
- 12:22So it was pretty amazing.
- 12:23Anyways, I didn't either.
- 12:27So I got to the point where I could walk a little further than run a little further than
- 12:32run a little further.
- 12:33So long story short, the second time took almost an hour and a half longer than the
- 12:38first time because the last 14 miles or so I was really struggling.
- 12:44And it was tough.
- 12:46I mean, honestly, by the time I finished and crossed the finish line, I probably should
- 12:50have went into the medical tent and got an IV.
- 12:52And so it was pretty hard.
- 12:55But while I was out there and I'd done all the training, the one thing I wanted to do
- 13:00was not finish.
- 13:03So it was definitely taxing physically because I completely ran out of gas.
- 13:11But anytime I think you get into particularly sort of an endurance event like that, it's
- 13:18more mental than it is physical at some point.
- 13:20So yeah.
- 13:21So lots of things you said about that is great.
- 13:27Just even saying you're going to do it and putting out there and then people are kind
- 13:30of watching and asking, are you doing it or you're not.
- 13:33And probably some people are expecting you to maybe back out like, okay, that's pretty
- 13:37big.
- 13:38And then I don't remember your second one as much as I do remember a lot about your
- 13:41first one.
- 13:42First I remember you did the Marine Corps Marathon and we went and watched that.
- 13:46And just watching that, like I am not a runner.
- 13:48And I watched that and I'm like, wow, maybe I could do that.
- 13:51I mean, just the excitement and the cheering people on and the adrenaline and the spirit
- 13:56of that was like, okay, maybe I could do that.
- 13:59Never did and I have no desire.
- 14:01But then I remember you training for your first Ironman.
- 14:04I remember us being at the beach.
- 14:05Oh yeah.
- 14:06I was going to take the kids to get donuts or something.
- 14:09And we pass you and it's pouring down rain and you're running and running and running.
- 14:14And I'm like, oh my gosh, on vacation, he's getting up with the cracket on and still running.
- 14:21And it was, I remember a lot of training and a lot of commitment and raising kids that
- 14:25were pretty young at that point.
- 14:27That was a lot of commitment to have to do that and getting up early.
- 14:31And I think it takes the courage to get out of bed and just put your shoes on and get
- 14:35out the door and finish.
- 14:38Well, I got to a point where I just would, my alarm would go off and I would stand up
- 14:41and start moving before I realized what was happening.
- 14:44Yeah.
- 14:45I know somebody who talks about getting up and getting motivated in the morning.
- 14:48She says, hashtag just go pee.
- 14:50Just get up and start the movement.
- 14:52And then you just go to the next step and the next step.
- 14:55But then I remember when you did the Ironman and we were tracking it and watching it on
- 15:03our phones where you were.
- 15:04And I remember it was nerve wracking to watch and just scary to make worried that you were
- 15:09going to be okay.
- 15:10I know mom was a mess when you finished.
- 15:12She was, I think started crying because she was like so happy that you're okay.
- 15:16You know, because that is a lot.
- 15:18And you said the mental, I think the courage thing, it's the mental, it's jumping out of
- 15:24the plane.
- 15:25It's like getting the courage to jump and how often you hear they just push you because
- 15:29you're ready that far.
- 15:30Yep.
- 15:31Yeah.
- 15:32No, I mean, it was definitely cool.
- 15:35Super hard.
- 15:36Well, as I said, I had aspirations to do more, but I'm on to other things.
- 15:42Yeah.
- 15:43Good for you.
- 15:44Maybe a 207 mile bike ride is next on the radar.
- 15:48Oh, wow.
- 15:49So I'm really surprised your super competitive brother didn't do it with you.
- 15:54Yeah.
- 15:55I'll let you ask.
- 15:56You'll let you ask him about that.
- 15:59Okay.
- 16:00I'll let you ask him if I get him on here.
- 16:02So other things you can think of you've done courageous or in life seem courageous?
- 16:08I mean, sure.
- 16:11You know, I mean, I think there's lots of little things, nothing that stands out.
- 16:16I mean, as I said earlier, to me, I think people get locked in this idea of, you know,
- 16:23courage.
- 16:24What does that really mean?
- 16:25So I guess as I've been thinking about this and doing this podcast with you, just to me,
- 16:32it's a much more simple, basic thing of, are you willing, as I said earlier, to either
- 16:38push yourself out of your comfort zone or just push yourself and then commit to achieving
- 16:44whatever you're pushing towards.
- 16:45So I think there's elements of my life that I think are very deliberate and maybe more
- 16:54conservative and then there's elements where it's like, okay, yeah, I'll try an Iron Man
- 16:58or I'll try this or I'll do that.
- 17:00So yeah, it's definitely I think the little steps.
- 17:03And I think that's what I hope this podcast has given people is encouragement.
- 17:08Like somebody listening might think there's no way I can do an Iron Man, but they might
- 17:12do a 5k.
- 17:14I was involved with the woman's training program a couple of years ago and they did an all
- 17:20women's 5k.
- 17:21And there was a woman that, so it was all women doing it and I was kind of helping out.
- 17:26And so there were people all on the route, cheering people on with signs.
- 17:31And there was a woman that, I mean, she walked the whole thing.
- 17:35I think she had super bad knees, could barely walk.
- 17:39And yet she did this 5k and I remember her coming across the finish line last and everybody
- 17:44cheered for.
- 17:45You know, just the fact that she could walk that far.
- 17:50So it doesn't have to be big, it can be the little things.
- 17:52And I think what this podcast has done in the last year and the people I interviewed,
- 17:57it's given people permission to say me too.
- 18:03That in all different areas, you know, whatever that thing might be, whether it's the thing
- 18:06that somebody talked about or just in general to give someone courage to do those little
- 18:10teeny things that we need to do.
- 18:12Yeah, well, I mean, people used to say to me, just as you kind of identified like, oh,
- 18:19I can never do that around the Ironman stuff.
- 18:21Well, I didn't start running 26 miles out of the gate.
- 18:25You got to start.
- 18:26I put shoes on first.
- 18:28Yeah.
- 18:29I mean, there's, there's an element of crawl, walk, run to it all.
- 18:32And, you know, if you were actually to look at the training plan, it's, it's this stair
- 18:38step approach where you train and then you push and then you train and then you push
- 18:41a little further and you train and push a little further to where then when it comes
- 18:46time to do it, if you put in the work, I mean, I think my training program was 26 weeks long.
- 18:52And I, you know, I was exercising and doing stuff before that, but it was really a disciplined
- 18:58and focused training program for that period of time.
- 19:01But when it came time to do the race, I did the work and my, my brain and my body were
- 19:07ready enough.
- 19:08Yeah.
- 19:09Major accomplishment.
- 19:10So the other thing I was just thinking of a fun thing that you did courageous, which
- 19:14I don't think I'd have the courage to do is when, um, did you jump out of a helicopter
- 19:18to go skiing?
- 19:19Wait, no, I didn't jump.
- 19:21I mean, they landed.
- 19:23That's in the movies.
- 19:26No, I've done helicopter skiing, but they land it and you step out.
- 19:30Okay.
- 19:31I envisioned, but you still skied a pretty, not a, uh, uh, manicured perfect slope.
- 19:39That's everybody else's on, right?
- 19:44We were out in wilderness, which was fun.
- 19:46Super fun.
- 19:47I'd like to do it again.
- 19:48Can I borrow some money?
- 19:49Sure.
- 19:50Maybe from the pod, your, your, your why not today merchandise sales, you can fund, you
- 19:54can fund Chris's helicopter skiing trip.
- 19:57Okay.
- 19:58And I'll watch.
- 19:59I'm not going to join you on that one either.
- 20:00I'll get video.
- 20:01Okay.
- 20:02I'll do other things.
- 20:03So, you know, this is the anniversary episode of the podcast and it's ironically 10 years
- 20:10since dad passed away, which is really hard to believe it's been that long.
- 20:14And so he was a pretty out loud, courageous, nothing is impossible kind of guy.
- 20:22I don't think, you know, he was always problem solving what we could do.
- 20:26So anything you can think of share courage.
- 20:29I know I've actually pulled out.
- 20:31I mentioned this, but I forgot to grab it is the, um, eulogy that you guys wrote about,
- 20:36you know, he had a plan a, B and C and sometime it had to go to D or E. So lessons learned
- 20:43from dad.
- 20:44Yeah.
- 20:45So I think interesting.
- 20:47And this gets into kind of probably some, some deeper family kind of dynamics, but being
- 20:53the fourth and being sort of, uh, you know, not forgotten, but just, you know, as you
- 21:00get down to like, okay, he's still here.
- 21:02Good.
- 21:03Okay.
- 21:04Good.
- 21:05He's still talking about that the other night that they're number three and there, oh, it
- 21:09was actually Grace's husband, Braden.
- 21:11He was the third child and it was hard to find pictures of them.
- 21:15Like, yeah, Chris can relate to that one.
- 21:16Yeah.
- 21:17I've had, I've had mom say, oh, here's a picture of you.
- 21:20And she showed that to Deirdre and Deirdre's like, no, that's Brian.
- 21:23Anyways, the first week counted how many pictures are grandma's house between the two of us.
- 21:30Those of us who are thirds and fours have a different perspective than those who are
- 21:34ones.
- 21:35Yeah.
- 21:36Which is interesting that we all have different perspectives growing up in the same house.
- 21:39So, you know, I think with dad, you know, his, your, your comment about him always kind
- 21:45of, you know, being willing to do stuff and try stuff.
- 21:51I mean, I think one of the things that I appreciated about to some of his perspectives, but also
- 21:57I found frustrating at times was he had this perpetual element of buck the system, at least
- 22:02from my perspective, which other people, yeah, which, you know, I mean, I, I can appreciate
- 22:08parts of that.
- 22:10But for me personally, you know, a lot of things that I've done in my life have been
- 22:15much more deliberate and I don't have an issue conforming at certain points.
- 22:23But you know, when I, you know, kind of thinking back, and I don't know if this is courage,
- 22:28but certainly feel like he encouraged all of us to explore, but also enjoy what we were
- 22:37doing and make decisions around that kind of stuff.
- 22:43Because you know, I mean, it could be over in an instant, you know, think about him,
- 22:49right?
- 22:50I mean, he had that accident when he was in high school, you know, I think about me and
- 22:54my jet ski accident, I could not be here right now.
- 22:59You know, so there's an element of, of it could all be over and not sell everything
- 23:05and run to the hills and live, you know, live like today's your last day.
- 23:08But you know, I think one of the things that I took from him was sort of that enjoyment
- 23:12piece and you know, he used to always say, especially towards the end, like, I woke up
- 23:17on the right side of the grass, right?
- 23:19You know, and then I think about actually the day died.
- 23:22We're at our ski house in West Virginia.
- 23:25And Brian was like, we got to go home and it's dumping snow.
- 23:30It's one o'clock in the morning.
- 23:32And I was like, no, we're not going anywhere.
- 23:34So we wake up the next day and there's a foot of fresh snow on the ground.
- 23:40And Brian and I look at each other and say, well, dad would have wanted us to ski before
- 23:43we went home.
- 23:44So I mean, I take that hike to the top of that mountain that night though.
- 23:49Yeah, we did it that night.
- 23:51Yeah.
- 23:52And then we see the next day.
- 23:53Okay.
- 23:54Of course he would have.
- 23:55So, but I mean, that to me, that's sort of what one of the primary things that I kind
- 24:01of think back on and take from him was again, not this, you know, life's a party and perpetual
- 24:07enjoyment, but doing things, you know, I guess he could probably couch it in that, you know,
- 24:13do you work to live or live to work?
- 24:15Yeah.
- 24:16Right.
- 24:17And, you know, I kind of joke, you know, with friends and like, oh, you got to work.
- 24:22I'm like, yeah, but the work pays for the fun I'm doing.
- 24:24Exactly.
- 24:25So, I don't know.
- 24:27That's the kind of stuff I would take or I think about and, you know, again, when you
- 24:31asked me to do this, I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to say.
- 24:35You know, I know all of us have different perspectives on that.
- 24:38I mean, you know, just looking at you, right?
- 24:41You quit your corporate job and went and started selling makeup full time.
- 24:45It's like, oh, holy crap.
- 24:47Okay.
- 24:48Yeah.
- 24:49Good for you.
- 24:5023 years ago.
- 24:51Which is crazy.
- 24:52But that, you know, that's just another, you know, just another way to sort of adapt maybe
- 24:58that outlook, you know, and yeah, I don't know.
- 25:02I mean, I would say that kind of stuff.
- 25:04I mean, I think, you know, his stuff of being Mr. Community was great, but also I just kind
- 25:10of looked at him.
- 25:11He was just our dad.
- 25:12Yeah, exactly.
- 25:13You know, and all those things that he taught us, you know, big and little.
- 25:18And so, I don't know.
- 25:20But yeah, I would say that that kind of stuff of just enjoying the ride.
- 25:25Yeah.
- 25:26And so people listening may not know this story, but he has.
- 25:29And so the logo is an eye patch and handlebar mustache because the night he graduated from
- 25:33high school, he got in a major car accident was thrown.
- 25:36I think it was 300 feet out of the windshield and they didn't think he was going to live.
- 25:42And so he always had an eye patch.
- 25:43And then he was in another serious accident before him and mom got married.
- 25:49And he was scalped.
- 25:51And I remember mom has a scar on her cheek.
- 25:53And I remember you said at one point, I thought all moms have that.
- 25:56I thought it was makeup.
- 25:58Yeah.
- 25:59But I remember being in high school and I wrecked his precious car and I thought, oh
- 26:03my gosh, it's going to kill me.
- 26:05Like I was scared to tell him he was out of town.
- 26:07And he came home with flowers.
- 26:09Or he first told mom, just tell Leslie, I'm glad she's alive.
- 26:13And that's what matters.
- 26:14And he brought me flowers, which was a good lesson that I've never forgotten.
- 26:17It's like, OK, a car is a thing, but a life is so much more important.
- 26:20You can replace a car.
- 26:22But then the thing we were talking about last night, which we were with Brian and Kelly,
- 26:28Kelly's our sister-in-law, and we were talking about our cross-country trip we took, which
- 26:33looking back was pretty amazing that they did that.
- 26:35And Kelly couldn't believe we possibly did that.
- 26:37We're going to tell all the stories on that one.
- 26:39But when I was 16 and you were 12?
- 26:4211.
- 26:43Yeah, 11 and a half.
- 26:45So our parents bought a 25-foot camper.
- 26:49And I don't know where they came up with this idea, but to drive cross-country.
- 26:54And not even our youngest sister, because Amanda wasn't even born, but Katherine was
- 26:58five weeks old when we left.
- 27:00And we drove cross-country and we were gone for five weeks.
- 27:03And as a 16-year-old with a brand new driver's license, the last thing I really wanted to
- 27:06do was be with my family.
- 27:07But it was a pretty cool experience in the fact that dad worked and we were able to travel
- 27:12and see all these things and do all these things.
- 27:14I do have a memory of when we were at the Redwoods and they were up, they're like, look
- 27:20at this beautiful thing.
- 27:21And we're like teenagers, like we might go back to sleep.
- 27:25You were, I was excited about it.
- 27:27Oh, you were?
- 27:28Okay.
- 27:29I wasn't totally different viewpoint, but that was definitely an adventure.
- 27:33I think the courage part there for dad was he let Brian and I learn how to drive a 25-foot
- 27:38motor home on that trip.
- 27:39And people can't believe that story.
- 27:42And you were 11 and Brian was 12.
- 27:44Yes.
- 27:45Yeah, that's a little crazy.
- 27:46It was on straight highways and they switched drivers, but I drove probably a third of the
- 27:52trip and I was 16 years old, which I think mom drove for 15 minutes.
- 27:56That was enough for her.
- 27:59That was kind of crazy.
- 28:00But all right, so we could chat all day, but we don't want to have four people with all
- 28:03our family history.
- 28:04So how, how or what would you say to encourage somebody to be courageous?
- 28:10To be what?
- 28:11Be great?
- 28:12Oh, courageous.
- 28:13I'm sorry.
- 28:14Yeah.
- 28:15I think just, you know, if there's something you want to do, you know, identify, you know,
- 28:22how do you get from point A to point B and commit yourself to do it?
- 28:26I mean, it's, I think back to my, our previous comments of, I think, I think people put barriers
- 28:33up like, oh, that's just too big or too hard.
- 28:36Right.
- 28:37And they don't do it versus it's just the thing.
- 28:42Whatever the thing is, and this is how you achieve stated goal of thing and just put
- 28:47your mind to it, which again, back to the Ironman example, right?
- 28:51I didn't start running 26 miles or riding my bike a hundred miles.
- 28:55It took me a while to get there.
- 28:57Right.
- 28:58So I would say, you know, just if there's something that you want to do, just be willing
- 29:04to do it, but kind of break it down at a practical level.
- 29:08Like, and don't, don't immediately dismiss it because it seems hard or too lofty.
- 29:14Yeah, totally agree.
- 29:17Just take that one step.
- 29:18Yeah, like one step.
- 29:19Be your friend, your friend's example.
- 29:20If you just got to get out of bed first.
- 29:22Okay.
- 29:23Well, that you go.
- 29:24Yep.
- 29:25Exactly.
- 29:26Well, this has been fun and I thank you for joining me.
- 29:29And it's been extra special.
- 29:30I'll have this as an anniversary episode.
- 29:33I did pull up the analytics the other day.
- 29:35And when I looked earlier in the week, it was 1,575 people had, had downloaded the episodes
- 29:41and it was in 26 different countries.
- 29:43People had listened to, which was kind of cool.
- 29:45Like who would have thought this one's going to tip the scales so I can feel it.
- 29:48Okay.
- 29:49All right.
- 29:50It will.
- 29:51So, um, well, thanks for joining me.
- 29:52And if you want to follow the why not today podcast, we're on Apple, iTunes, Google, there's
- 29:56a website now, which is just why not today podcast.
- 30:00We do have some merchandise, which I guess the sales are going to work to fund Christopher
- 30:04for going, um, helicopter skiing.
- 30:07I've got and T shirts and vinyls and I even have a, um, a jacket now, which is kind of
- 30:13fun.
- 30:14So, well, thank you again.
- 30:15And if you want to rate the podcast, review it, I would really appreciate it.
- 30:19And thanks Chris for joining us.
- 30:21Thanks.
- 30:22All right.
- 30:23Bye.