Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Bring Me A Man in 2026

Transcript

Bring Me A Man in 2026 · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: iHeart podcasts, bring you the ultimate summer of love Tree.
0:04
Speaker 1: This is Famously Available. Hey, it's Ben Higgins back with
0:09
Speaker 1: you on Famously Available. Make sure to catch up on
0:12
Speaker 1: the last episode. I am handing over the microphones to
0:16
Speaker 1: all three of our amazing famously Available women, Kathy, Dianna,
0:22
Speaker 1: the Mercedes. I want to know what they're looking forward
0:26
Speaker 1: to in twenty twenty six as we enter the new year.
0:29
Speaker 1: So let's jump back into their conversation.
0:33
Speaker 2: Man, it feels like everybody's had a tough twenty twenty five.
0:36
Speaker 2: Is there anything that you're looking to leave behind?
0:40
Speaker 3: Ooh, you're going to laugh when I say it. So
0:45
Speaker 3: I said it last year too, and I will say
0:47
Speaker 3: I've made improvement this year. What is it? Interrupting people
0:55
Speaker 3: while we are laughing.
0:56
Speaker 4: But that's a good goal. That's a good goal, you
0:59
Speaker 4: know what I mean.
1:00
Speaker 3: I am better this year than I was last year,
1:02
Speaker 3: So I I you know, I left half of it
1:06
Speaker 3: behind last year. I want to leave the other half
1:08
Speaker 3: behind this year.
1:09
Speaker 4: That's an awesome goal. I love that.
1:11
Speaker 1: You know.
1:11
Speaker 2: It's funny because I believe as people, we think that
1:13
Speaker 2: our opinion is so important that we need to be
1:16
Speaker 2: heard right Instead of actively listening. That is equality that
1:20
Speaker 2: is really important to me when I'm looking to date
1:23
Speaker 2: is someone who is an active listener. But we as humans,
1:26
Speaker 2: I believe it is in our nature. We think that
1:28
Speaker 2: our opinion is so important. We think we need to
1:30
Speaker 2: be heard, and truth of the matter is is nine
1:33
Speaker 2: times out of ten, it's really not important.
1:35
Speaker 3: Or we don't like silence. We're awkward, awkward, so let's
1:40
Speaker 3: fill it. You know before I'm going to interrupt you
1:42
Speaker 3: because you might not say anything and then it'll be quiet, so.
1:45
Speaker 5: Then we will. Yeah. I feel that I'm kind of
1:49
Speaker 5: like that where I'm like, I don't want anything to
1:50
Speaker 5: ever feel awkward, so I'm always like, okay, I need
1:53
Speaker 5: to like start talking. What can I say? And I
1:54
Speaker 5: still like it keeps going Okay, something I want to leave.
2:00
Speaker 5: In twenty twenty five, this one's like kind of deep,
2:03
Speaker 5: but I feel like it's like the thing that like
2:06
Speaker 5: is coming to me is like negative talk when it
2:10
Speaker 5: comes to like myself, I feel like I get like
2:13
Speaker 5: when I'm on dates or when I'm like even if
2:15
Speaker 5: I meet new people, like, I'm like, do they think
2:17
Speaker 5: I was weird? Like you know what I'm saying and
2:20
Speaker 5: I'm so unapologetically myself, but at the same time, I
2:23
Speaker 5: still do have these voices in my head. No one
2:25
Speaker 5: would ever know except for me that I'm like, did
2:28
Speaker 5: they think I was weird? That's like my biggest thing
2:30
Speaker 5: is like do they think I was weird? Which is
2:31
Speaker 5: so crazy because I know it's not true, and I
2:34
Speaker 5: know that it's just the enemy in my head trying
2:36
Speaker 5: to like bring me down. So that's something that I
2:39
Speaker 5: really want to like just kick out and say, Syinara,
2:42
Speaker 5: stay in twenty twenty five.
2:44
Speaker 2: I love that for you. Yeah, you're not alone, Just
2:46
Speaker 2: so you know you're not alone.
2:48
Speaker 5: I know, I know. It's a very common thing.
2:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, there, I can take one thought and turn it
2:52
Speaker 2: eight way sideways in a matter of seconds.
2:55
Speaker 5: Yes, Oh I'm an overthinker for sure.
2:57
Speaker 3: We all could do that. But to be aware, self
3:00
Speaker 3: aware enough that you're doing it that right, there is
3:02
Speaker 3: half the battle, Mercedes. Yeah, for all of us. If
3:05
Speaker 3: you recognize it, then you can sort of say, nope,
3:07
Speaker 3: I'm not going to let that happen. I'm going to
3:08
Speaker 3: turn from that before it really gets its grips on me.
3:12
Speaker 5: Yeah.
3:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's something that I have also been working on
3:15
Speaker 2: this year, and I don't always see the improvement in myself.
3:18
Speaker 2: It is much easier for me to see the improvement
3:20
Speaker 2: in you guys or someone else.
3:22
Speaker 4: But I would say that I go down the rabbit
3:25
Speaker 4: hole less.
3:27
Speaker 2: It still happens because I am human, so I have
3:29
Speaker 2: to have some grace with myself. But I go down
3:31
Speaker 2: the rabbit hole less, I spin out of control, just
3:34
Speaker 2: a little bit less. And so I'll take those as
3:36
Speaker 2: wins because you used to. I could spend days mother
3:41
Speaker 2: mother effing anyone.
3:44
Speaker 3: So what do you want to leave behind or is
3:46
Speaker 3: that what you want to leave behind? Diana?
3:48
Speaker 2: Well, no, no, Mine is kind of deep too, and
3:50
Speaker 2: I think that's just because of the transformative year that
3:53
Speaker 2: I have had. But I want to leave my old
3:55
Speaker 2: self behind.
3:56
Speaker 3: I think there's all of you behind.
3:59
Speaker 2: Nope, no, but I just think that what I have
4:02
Speaker 2: gone through over the last few years. And Kathy, we
4:08
Speaker 2: have discussed this, like, divorce is grief, right, there are
4:12
Speaker 2: many many versions of grief, and my divorce was very
4:16
Speaker 2: much grief for me, and I rode every wave and
4:20
Speaker 2: so there is this beautiful piece where like I still
4:24
Speaker 2: am me, but I also get to be a different
4:26
Speaker 2: version of me, and I think I have spent a
4:29
Speaker 2: lot of time feeding into myself and doing a law
4:32
Speaker 2: of work, you guys, doing a law of work all
4:34
Speaker 2: the therapy. I am a person of growth. I will
4:37
Speaker 2: I will jump on any experience to learn more about
4:40
Speaker 2: myself and to be better with myself. I'm going to
4:43
Speaker 2: a retreat in January and I'm going to meditate, and
4:46
Speaker 2: I'm going to listen to my own like inner voice
4:49
Speaker 2: and be one with God, you know. And I am
4:52
Speaker 2: so excited because so ex I have always been like that, like, please, yeah,
4:57
Speaker 2: tell me what I did wrong. I want to work
4:59
Speaker 2: on that. I want to grow. I want to be better.
5:00
Speaker 2: I want to be better for myself. But I also
5:02
Speaker 2: just want to be a better woman and a better mother.
5:04
Speaker 2: I don't want my children to experience the same grief
5:08
Speaker 2: and heartache that I have that I have had, and
5:11
Speaker 2: so I just want to be a better person. So
5:13
Speaker 2: I say that I want to leave my old self
5:15
Speaker 2: behind because I think it's really wonderful that I get
5:18
Speaker 2: to learn more about myself this year and I get
5:21
Speaker 2: to choose greatness. I get to choose to be different,
5:24
Speaker 2: I get to choose to pause. You guys, I too,
5:27
Speaker 2: Kathy believe that my opinion is very important that I.
5:30
Speaker 4: Need to be heard as it is not everybody needs
5:33
Speaker 4: to hear it.
5:45
Speaker 3: Wait, I have a question for both of you though,
5:48
Speaker 3: And I think Deanna, you and I have touched on this,
5:50
Speaker 3: but your horrific divorce. Mercedes, I don't know. I'm sure
5:55
Speaker 3: in your fabulous, beautiful twenty seven years of life, I'm
5:58
Speaker 3: sure you've had heartache and this appointment because we all have,
6:01
Speaker 3: none of us escape it. My question do you both?
6:03
Speaker 5: Then?
6:03
Speaker 3: I ponder this all the time because of my husband's suicide,
6:07
Speaker 3: Because of what I've been through, I am a better person.
6:11
Speaker 3: I did a ton of grief therapy. Here's my question.
6:15
Speaker 3: Do you think it takes that kind of cataclysmic, catastrophic
6:22
Speaker 3: event for us to work as hard as we are
6:26
Speaker 3: working to be better people? Like? That's what I wonder,
6:29
Speaker 3: like sometimes say, God, really, you know? Did I need this?
6:33
Speaker 3: Couldn't you just like broken my wrist or something? You know? Slightly?
6:36
Speaker 2: I kind of love this question, Yeah, I mean I
6:38
Speaker 2: love this question. And Mercedes, I know that you're a
6:41
Speaker 2: Christian as well, so I don't believe in a punishing God.
6:45
Speaker 2: I believe we are given free will to make decisions.
6:49
Speaker 3: I agree.
6:50
Speaker 4: We are allowed to do that.
6:52
Speaker 2: And therefore there are consequences for our actions when you
6:57
Speaker 2: try to deviate from the path you are meant to
6:59
Speaker 2: be on. When you deviate from that, you get to
7:03
Speaker 2: reap the consequences, whether they are good or bad, consequences
7:07
Speaker 2: for our choices and our actions. So, if you are
7:10
Speaker 2: allowed allow yourself to relinquish full control and let your universe,
7:18
Speaker 2: your God, your higher being, whatever it is, have full
7:21
Speaker 2: control of your life. If you can truly do that,
7:25
Speaker 2: then you could have less heartache, less grief, less things
7:30
Speaker 2: if you're able to get yourself on the right path.
7:32
Speaker 2: But as humans, we are allowed fore will to make
7:36
Speaker 2: our own decisions, and therefore sometimes we have consequences for
7:40
Speaker 2: our actions. So if I'm going to use myself, for example,
7:45
Speaker 2: I sometimes look back at my marriage. I'm not sure
7:47
Speaker 2: why I married that person, other than my children are
7:52
Speaker 2: my greatest gifts. I was meant to have Addison and Austin.
7:55
Speaker 2: They were made for me. That's what I believe. Call
7:58
Speaker 2: me nuts whatever you want, I believe my children were
8:01
Speaker 2: made for me.
8:01
Speaker 4: They were a gift.
8:03
Speaker 2: My God knew that I needed them in my life,
8:06
Speaker 2: that I needed those kids and the only way to
8:09
Speaker 2: have those two children was to have them with my
8:11
Speaker 2: ex husband.
8:11
Speaker 4: They are my greatest gift.
8:13
Speaker 2: I could not have made them without him. But because
8:17
Speaker 2: of some of the decisions that I made and the
8:20
Speaker 2: path that I walked, I had to endure grief and
8:23
Speaker 2: heartache and pain, and he did as well. Because ultimately,
8:27
Speaker 2: I don't believe that we are supposed to spend a
8:29
Speaker 2: lifetime together.
8:30
Speaker 4: I don't know, what do you think, Mercedes.
8:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I'm with you, like the same thing. Like,
8:35
Speaker 5: I do not think God does anything to punish us.
8:38
Speaker 5: I think God is like, he's not chaos, He's not
8:42
Speaker 5: so anything outside of that I don't think is necessarily
8:46
Speaker 5: from him or was meant for us. But I do
8:49
Speaker 5: think back to Kathy's question, like my heartbreak, I had
8:54
Speaker 5: never so I experienced heartbreak when I was twenty three
8:58
Speaker 5: or four. I think, worst thing ever. And I know
9:02
Speaker 5: that it probably it did like I was a twenty three,
9:04
Speaker 5: twenty four year old whatever like, But genuinely I was like,
9:07
Speaker 5: I do not wish this feeling upon anyone. I felt
9:12
Speaker 5: like I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep.
9:14
Speaker 3: It was.
9:14
Speaker 5: It was genuinely the worst thing ever. And because of
9:18
Speaker 5: that I feel like I had so much hate in
9:21
Speaker 5: my heart towards that person, because I'm like, why would
9:23
Speaker 5: you do this to me? Like why are we doing this?
9:25
Speaker 5: Like can we try to figure it out? Whatever? But
9:29
Speaker 5: I will say because of that, it gave me values
9:33
Speaker 5: that I love about myself now. Like the only way
9:36
Speaker 5: I got over that was because I prayed for him,
9:38
Speaker 5: and I was like, he needs he needs healing, and
9:41
Speaker 5: it has nothing to do with me. It has everything
9:43
Speaker 5: to do with him, and he needs healing, so let
9:44
Speaker 5: me pray for him. And it made me forgive him.
9:46
Speaker 5: And now everything I do in life, like if someone
9:50
Speaker 5: makes me mad or someone does me wrong, like I
9:52
Speaker 5: pray for them and it's I don't know. It just
9:55
Speaker 5: completely changed my thought and it took me like a
9:58
Speaker 5: year to get there, but now I feel like it
10:01
Speaker 5: because I went through heartbreak and because I went through that,
10:04
Speaker 5: now I have something about me that I know what
10:07
Speaker 5: to do when people do do me wrong. And it
10:10
Speaker 5: just completely changed my life.
10:12
Speaker 3: That's beautiful too. Yeah, just to be clear, that's beautiful, Mercedes.
10:15
Speaker 3: And by the way, do not diminish when you say
10:18
Speaker 3: I was only twenty three or twenty four. Do not
10:20
Speaker 3: diminish your heartbreak, what you went through, that's as real
10:23
Speaker 3: as anything that I've gone through. That's your life, and
10:26
Speaker 3: your life has all as much value as our lives do.
10:30
Speaker 3: So yeah, But just to be clear, though, I wasn't
10:33
Speaker 3: saying that God punished me. I was saying, if God
10:41
Speaker 3: wanted my attention, obviously my husband of the free will,
10:44
Speaker 3: I agree with you, Dianna to do what he did.
10:49
Speaker 3: But at the same time, I also believe that God
10:51
Speaker 3: is in control of our lives, and so I'm thinking
10:56
Speaker 3: God was trying to really get my attention, which he did, uh,
11:00
Speaker 3: you know, whiplash. But that that was my question sort
11:05
Speaker 3: of now a question, more of a comment. I wish
11:08
Speaker 3: that it didn't we didn't. I wish Johnny, you didn't
11:11
Speaker 3: have to go through the horrible divorce to get you
11:15
Speaker 3: where you are today. I wish I didn't have to
11:17
Speaker 3: go through what I went through. Mercedes, I wish that
11:20
Speaker 3: that hadn't happened to you. But I realized saying that
11:23
Speaker 3: at the same time, you know, as we close out
11:25
Speaker 3: this fabulous here, that these that life lessons. I mean,
11:29
Speaker 3: life is what happens to us on the way to death.
11:32
Speaker 3: You know, we have all these lessons, and I just
11:34
Speaker 3: I sometimes wish it they weren't quite so stringent, quite
11:38
Speaker 3: such a big smack across the face. And having said that,
11:41
Speaker 3: I am a much better person. I joke all the
11:43
Speaker 3: time that the guy that gets me, mister Wright, who
11:47
Speaker 3: is right around the corner, he is getting so much
11:50
Speaker 3: of a better version of me than than my husband had,
11:55
Speaker 3: which is sad to say.
11:57
Speaker 2: I hate the saying that there's beauty and pain, Yeah,
11:59
Speaker 2: because there is is right the pain and exactly what
12:02
Speaker 2: you said you went through, Mercedes, like we've all done it, right,
12:05
Speaker 2: We've all done it. I did it just a few
12:06
Speaker 2: years ago. There were days I could not get out
12:08
Speaker 2: of the bed. Had I not had children, I would
12:10
Speaker 2: not have gotten out.
12:11
Speaker 4: Of the bed. It is awful.
12:13
Speaker 2: But then there when I say that rebirth, you guys
12:16
Speaker 2: for me, look at the beauty in that, Look at
12:19
Speaker 2: the beauty in that. Yes, I would have absolutely And
12:23
Speaker 2: my ex husband is not my only heartache, right, I had,
12:27
Speaker 2: like grateful to have loved many times and loved really
12:32
Speaker 2: great guys like I wouldn't change that for the world.
12:36
Speaker 4: I might change some of this circumstances.
12:40
Speaker 2: I might take a few bad decisions back, But like
12:43
Speaker 2: I am grateful to have loved and lost than to
12:46
Speaker 2: have never loved it all. And I hate cliche sayings.
12:49
Speaker 2: I hate them, hate them, hate them, pay them, but
12:51
Speaker 2: it is true I would have taken it over anything.
12:54
Speaker 3: Well, I just want to say, we're we're going to
12:57
Speaker 3: move into what we think about twenty twenty six. Here
12:59
Speaker 3: a second, bet, I just want to say, for me,
13:02
Speaker 3: one of the other fabulous things about twenty twenty five
13:04
Speaker 3: is getting to know both of you and your beautiful
13:08
Speaker 3: such incredible women. But one thing I've learned from both
13:12
Speaker 3: of you that I don't even think you set out
13:15
Speaker 3: to teach me, is that we all it doesn't matter.
13:21
Speaker 3: You know, Mercedes, you're the youngest, Deanna you're in the middle,
13:23
Speaker 3: and I'm bringing up the rear. Hear. But we all
13:27
Speaker 3: are looking for love, We're all looking for connection. We
13:30
Speaker 3: all have families, we love, We all work hard, and
13:33
Speaker 3: that gives me joy to know that there's some consistency
13:37
Speaker 3: in the world that you know, we're on this journey
13:40
Speaker 3: and we're working hard to be the best we can be.
13:42
Speaker 3: But we all Age doesn't really Again another cliche, age
13:46
Speaker 3: is only a number. We usually talk about that in
13:48
Speaker 3: terms of dating. I'm talking about it in terms of you,
13:50
Speaker 3: two guys. Age is only a number. I value you guys,
13:54
Speaker 3: your opinions, your thought, your friendship. So I just wanted
13:57
Speaker 3: you to know that I.
13:58
Speaker 4: Love you guys.
13:59
Speaker 2: I think there is some path for us all, and
14:01
Speaker 2: look at the three of us. Is that we're on
14:02
Speaker 2: the right path right now. The three of us were
14:05
Speaker 2: meant to meet each other this year and do this
14:07
Speaker 2: podcast together. We might not walk off here with the
14:10
Speaker 2: man of our dreams. Oh yeah, oh okay, take me
14:15
Speaker 2: with you.
14:16
Speaker 4: Take me with you.
14:17
Speaker 3: And by the way, Mercedes and Dianna, you will too,
14:20
Speaker 3: believe you know, it's still we're We're in the moment
14:23
Speaker 3: of believe. That's my word for twenty twenty six. What
14:26
Speaker 3: is yours? My word is believe. I believe that good
14:30
Speaker 3: things are out there and we just need to open
14:32
Speaker 3: our eye. Need to keep my eyes open and wait
14:35
Speaker 3: for it and believe that it will happen. And I
14:37
Speaker 3: do believe it. Yeah, what about you, guys, what's your word?
14:42
Speaker 5: My word for twenty twenty six? Let's go with maybe
14:49
Speaker 5: like alignment. That's so good, Like I hope that like
14:55
Speaker 5: everyone that comes into my life is aligned with where
14:58
Speaker 5: I am. That's that's the word amusing and even even
15:03
Speaker 5: people but like also like job opportunities everything, Like I
15:08
Speaker 5: hope it's just all aligned with who I am as
15:10
Speaker 5: a person and my values.
15:13
Speaker 4: I want to steal that. I don't think I have
15:15
Speaker 4: a word.
15:16
Speaker 3: You can have the same word.
15:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe I might.
15:19
Speaker 2: Maybe I might borrow Mercedes word because I have lots
15:23
Speaker 2: of feelings for it. Like you know what, I think.
15:25
Speaker 2: I really want some peace. I want some peace. Yeah,
15:29
Speaker 2: but I have multiple words. I don't know that I
15:31
Speaker 2: can choose one. I want peace, I want acceptance. I
15:33
Speaker 2: want to be fully and holy loved as I am
15:36
Speaker 2: as I was made.
15:37
Speaker 5: I love that.
15:38
Speaker 4: Was that too much to ask?
15:39
Speaker 5: Oh no, not at all.
15:42
Speaker 3: Like I said, keep your eyes open and believe it's
15:44
Speaker 3: coming for you.
15:45
Speaker 4: Well, I don't know how far.
15:46
Speaker 3: However, the line starts here, so it's behind getting lied by.
15:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, well there we are, there we are.
16:07
Speaker 5: Are you on riah or anything? Would you ever do
16:09
Speaker 5: dating apps?
16:10
Speaker 4: I have done dating apps.
16:11
Speaker 2: Kathy and I have had this conversation because I was
16:13
Speaker 2: trying to encourage her to get on them and try it.
16:16
Speaker 2: I applied to be on Riya, but apparently I'm not
16:18
Speaker 2: cool enough either.
16:20
Speaker 4: Mine has not been approved. Yeah, no, you.
16:24
Speaker 5: Guys definitely aren't too old.
16:26
Speaker 4: What's the end? How do you get in on Riya?
16:28
Speaker 2: Because it mine just continues to say that my application
16:30
Speaker 2: is being reviewed.
16:32
Speaker 5: Oh I don't know. I mean you have to have
16:35
Speaker 5: did you put like people like references?
16:37
Speaker 2: I did, yeah, and I have like a lot of
16:40
Speaker 2: my references were celebrity friends who are also on the app.
16:43
Speaker 5: Weird.
16:44
Speaker 3: Okay, I need you all to suddenly a list of
16:46
Speaker 3: who's on there, because when I applied, they did not.
16:51
Speaker 3: I don't even remember. I don't think I got a
16:53
Speaker 3: response back.
16:55
Speaker 2: They pull it from your contacts and sometimes you're in
16:57
Speaker 2: review for a period of time, and I guess they
16:59
Speaker 2: only let us an amount of people on the app,
17:01
Speaker 2: like they meet at one point in time in your area.
17:05
Speaker 2: But they'll pull your your references from your contacts. Once
17:09
Speaker 2: you do it, you click on whomever might be on
17:11
Speaker 2: Riya and that person can be your reference. And so
17:14
Speaker 2: I have done that. So I didn't get approved to
17:15
Speaker 2: be on Riya, but I've done bumble And that's for
17:20
Speaker 2: another podcast, Mercedes.
17:22
Speaker 4: That was a bit of a show, shall we say.
17:25
Speaker 5: Okay, I was.
17:26
Speaker 2: Really surprised at how many men wanted to send me
17:30
Speaker 2: pictures of their genitalia.
17:33
Speaker 4: Oh and I really bumble. Yeah, And I just didn't
17:35
Speaker 4: want that. It's just not what I'm in it for.
17:38
Speaker 2: I don't think the penis is attractive anyway, let alone
17:42
Speaker 2: sending me a picture of it.
17:43
Speaker 4: I don't want it.
17:43
Speaker 5: I don't want it.
17:44
Speaker 4: I don't want it.
17:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, that's weird, and especially on the Yeah, no, no.
17:49
Speaker 2: I did meet a couple of guys that I went
17:51
Speaker 2: out with that turned into second or third dates. One
17:54
Speaker 2: guy in particular, I dated off and on for a
17:56
Speaker 2: year and a half and I really really liked him,
18:00
Speaker 2: cared about him, and I have nothing but wonderful things
18:01
Speaker 2: to say. But I just think in the long run,
18:04
Speaker 2: the things that I need to align in the long
18:06
Speaker 2: run weren't there. Like I could never imagine introducing him
18:09
Speaker 2: to my children. Yeah, and that's a huge red flag
18:12
Speaker 2: for me.
18:13
Speaker 3: Yeah. There was one and I can't think of the
18:15
Speaker 3: name of it. I just thought of the name of it,
18:18
Speaker 3: Keller International that approached me when I came off the show.
18:22
Speaker 3: But they wanted me to pay thirty five thousand dollars.
18:26
Speaker 3: It's a membership deal and I just didn't really feel
18:33
Speaker 3: like it sort of felt like I would be I
18:37
Speaker 3: don't want to say prostitution.
18:41
Speaker 5: But they wanted you to pay thirty five thousand dollars
18:45
Speaker 5: for them to find you a man.
18:46
Speaker 2: So there are several apps you guys that are like
18:49
Speaker 2: that where you have to pay a lot of ship Yep,
18:52
Speaker 2: you pay a membership in Mercedes. It's a lot of money. Like,
18:55
Speaker 2: it's like a thousands of dollars. I don't want to
18:57
Speaker 2: invest that much to go on seventeen for states.
19:00
Speaker 3: Well, I figure if if. When she called me right
19:04
Speaker 3: afterranking off the show, she said, you know, we saw
19:09
Speaker 3: you on the show. We think you'd be great. Da
19:11
Speaker 3: da da da da, And of course then asked me
19:14
Speaker 3: to go and say, I'm somebody's island. Do you know
19:16
Speaker 3: what I'm talking about? Some guys a date an island,
19:19
Speaker 3: some famous Hollywood person and somebody knew who It wasn't like,
19:23
Speaker 3: really you got invited to go to that. I was
19:24
Speaker 3: like yeah, And by the way, that was thirty five
19:26
Speaker 3: thousand dollars to go there as well. You know there's
19:28
Speaker 3: a lot.
19:29
Speaker 2: No, yeah, those sound like pyramid schemes to me. What
19:31
Speaker 2: I think the three of us need to get on board.
19:34
Speaker 3: Richard Branson, That's what it was.
19:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, well he's listened. He's a multimillionaire for a reason.
19:39
Speaker 2: But what I think the three of us need to
19:42
Speaker 2: start doing is we need to all send our emails
19:45
Speaker 2: to iHeart and and maybe what needs to happen is
19:48
Speaker 2: they need to do the next couple of podcasts in
19:50
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six as a matchmaking service. Maybe we need
19:53
Speaker 2: to have a matchmaker come on and set the three
19:56
Speaker 2: of us up. And now that we have done you know,
19:59
Speaker 2: the dates, maybe we should start exploring. Because I did
20:03
Speaker 2: hear this in Bryce's interview as well. He was like,
20:05
Speaker 2: it was kind of hard to date with eighty other
20:07
Speaker 2: people around. Maybe we start exploring, you know, in our
20:10
Speaker 2: next couple of episodes, more traditional dates. And I believe
20:13
Speaker 2: our listeners would like that as well, a more traditional
20:17
Speaker 2: situation where we actually get to know someone and see
20:19
Speaker 2: if there's something there.
20:20
Speaker 4: But maybe, you guys, we need.
20:23
Speaker 2: To talk to our producers as if they're not listening
20:27
Speaker 2: right now, I have a match.
20:29
Speaker 3: Ida you sound like a producer, But with that not
20:33
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm.
20:34
Speaker 2: Really pulling for the three of us, okay, And maybe
20:37
Speaker 2: we need a matchmaking service here.
20:40
Speaker 3: Can I just need to point out something. I never
20:42
Speaker 3: got a concert date, but after watching yours concert date,
20:47
Speaker 3: I'm going to take a hard pass on this.
20:49
Speaker 2: Listen, Kathy, you can you can learn from our mistake.
20:53
Speaker 2: So okay, although I would say I think Mercedes went
20:55
Speaker 2: really well, but but yeah, let's let's you know, concerts
20:58
Speaker 2: are fun.
20:59
Speaker 4: They're fun. Let's let's let's do this. Let's do this,
21:03
Speaker 4: all right.
21:03
Speaker 3: I will one more question I have for you. I'm
21:06
Speaker 3: loaded with questions. That's another thing I asked any questions.
21:08
Speaker 3: I'm going to try to stop that too, all right,
21:10
Speaker 3: how do you plan to prioritize loving yourself in the
21:14
Speaker 3: new year. I stay up late night thinking of these questions.
21:19
Speaker 4: You're just your head.
21:20
Speaker 2: Look at her, Mercedes, if you need her head is
21:22
Speaker 2: just out of control.
21:23
Speaker 4: She's just spinning down the rabbit hole right now.
21:26
Speaker 2: I will answer first, if that's okay, I'm already practicing this.
21:30
Speaker 2: I have been practicing this for the last I don't
21:34
Speaker 2: know eight plus months. Is prioritizing myself putting myself first,
21:38
Speaker 2: and that goes across the board with everything. Because I
21:41
Speaker 2: told you guys a lot what my prayer is when
21:45
Speaker 2: I wake up in the morning, is like, you know,
21:46
Speaker 2: thank you for my gifts. I've got a lot of them,
21:49
Speaker 2: and I'm really, I'm really really grateful for everything that
21:52
Speaker 2: I have and the way my life is going, in
21:54
Speaker 2: the path that I'm going down. But truthfully, I want
21:57
Speaker 2: to be a better woman. I want to be a
21:59
Speaker 2: better now.
22:00
Speaker 3: How do you plan to do that?
22:01
Speaker 4: Though, I'm about to tell you Ken, oh.
22:03
Speaker 3: Sorry, I thought you were saying just one.
22:05
Speaker 4: I want to bet.
22:07
Speaker 3: Six can't come soon or not.
22:11
Speaker 4: We're almost there, Cathy, you just hold on tight. I
22:13
Speaker 4: want to be a better woman.
22:14
Speaker 2: I want to be a better mom, and I want
22:15
Speaker 2: to be a better partner some someday. Right those are like,
22:18
Speaker 2: those are my top three priorities right now in myself.
22:20
Speaker 2: And so what I'm doing is I'm diving into myself
22:23
Speaker 2: and that comes with self care, like waking up, making
22:25
Speaker 2: sure I'm doing my prayer and my meditation. I have
22:28
Speaker 2: to do that, you guys, to get myself right before
22:30
Speaker 2: I can be present for anyone else. And then it's
22:32
Speaker 2: really just feeding into myself and being really aware and
22:37
Speaker 2: listening to my own intuition of what I need. And
22:39
Speaker 2: some days I really want to go out and I
22:40
Speaker 2: want to be social and I want to meet people,
22:42
Speaker 2: and some days I want to lock myself in my
22:44
Speaker 2: house and binge television and go to bed at seven
22:46
Speaker 2: thirty at night. So I am truly just trying to
22:49
Speaker 2: tap into my own intuition and understand what it is
22:53
Speaker 2: that I need my soul's purpose for this upcoming year
22:57
Speaker 2: and really really listen hard because I want to be
23:02
Speaker 2: on that path, because y'all, that path has got to
23:06
Speaker 2: be better than my own path for myself, and you
23:09
Speaker 2: have seen me in the last year. That path has
23:11
Speaker 2: got to be better than anything else that I have
23:14
Speaker 2: experienced in twenty twenty five. And so I am trying
23:17
Speaker 2: to sit with myself in the uncomfortable pieces and listen
23:22
Speaker 2: to my own intuition and really be sure of those
23:26
Speaker 2: decisions before I jump the gun.
23:28
Speaker 4: On those things. And a lot of that looks like
23:30
Speaker 4: just being alone.
23:32
Speaker 5: I feel like for me, I feel like just taking, yeah,
23:36
Speaker 5: taking care of myself and putting myself first and listening
23:39
Speaker 5: to what I need. I feel like I'm a helper,
23:44
Speaker 5: I'm a giver and I love, love, love that about myself,
23:47
Speaker 5: but sometimes people take advantage of it. So again, like
23:51
Speaker 5: with what I was saying earlier of me being like
23:53
Speaker 5: this is me, take it if you will. Like, I
23:56
Speaker 5: just want to be like so in the zone with
23:59
Speaker 5: myself and know that we do have goals that we're
24:03
Speaker 5: going to reach. But like I have to be I
24:06
Speaker 5: have to put myself first, and sometimes that's hard for me.
24:08
Speaker 5: But I think that once I figure out how to
24:11
Speaker 5: do that, I'm going to be a lot happier.
24:14
Speaker 2: You're so wise beyond your years. It's just a really beautiful.
24:17
Speaker 3: Thing, Diana, because honestly, my answer is a combination of
24:21
Speaker 3: both of you. I want to spend more time in
24:24
Speaker 3: the morning praying, meditating, getting myself right before I get
24:28
Speaker 3: up out of bed, but also listening. Uh what you said,
24:33
Speaker 3: Merced is sort of listening to myself. And because I
24:35
Speaker 3: also am a gimber, I'm also checking on my friends
24:39
Speaker 3: all the time, trying to help and instead of sitting
24:42
Speaker 3: back and being a little bit quiet with myself and saying,
24:44
Speaker 3: you know, what do you need Kathy. So it really again,
24:48
Speaker 3: this is proof that the three of us, regardless of
24:50
Speaker 3: the age difference, we all have the similar challenges, similar goals.
24:55
Speaker 3: I love here.
24:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, we're not putting on ourselves on the back
25:00
Speaker 5: twenty six can know.
25:01
Speaker 4: We are not.
25:03
Speaker 2: No, we are not.
25:04
Speaker 4: I love you, guys.
25:05
Speaker 2: I'm so glad we're doing this, and I'm really really
25:07
Speaker 2: glad to be doing it with the both of you.
25:09
Speaker 3: I second that second that.
25:11
Speaker 4: Happy holidays you guys.
25:13
Speaker 3: Happy happy Highs, Happy New Year, Happy Christmas, happy Kwanza,
25:16
Speaker 3: whatever you're celebrating.
25:18
Speaker 4: Here's to twenty twenty six.
25:21
Speaker 5: Yes, it's gonna be a good year. I can feel
25:23
Speaker 5: it's all going to find our.
25:25
Speaker 3: Man fabulous here.
25:27
Speaker 2: If we don't find him, we'll find ourselves right exactly.
25:31
Speaker 3: Oh.
25:31
Speaker 4: I love you guys.
25:32
Speaker 3: Have a great day, you guys too.
25:33
Speaker 1: Thank you night Wow, ladies, thank you, thank you for
25:37
Speaker 1: letting me be a part of this journey along with
25:39
Speaker 1: all of you listeners. It's been a great fun getting
25:42
Speaker 1: to know all of you on a deeper level and
25:45
Speaker 1: seeing you not give up on love at any age.
25:49
Speaker 1: I'm hoping we make some love connections in the new
25:52
Speaker 1: year for all of you. But until then, I've been
25:55
Speaker 1: Ben