Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Writing A Brighter Future with Michael Allio

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Writing A Brighter Future with Michael Allio · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Almost Famous Podcast.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: It's been here today and I get to chat with
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  Speaker 3: a fan favorite in Bachelor Nation. We got to know him,
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Katie Thurston season and season eight of Bachelor in Paradise.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: He's got an incredible new children's book out called Where
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: the Wild Heart Grows that has a very important and
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  Speaker 3: I think relatable message.
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  Speaker 2: So let's get into it. Michael A, welcome back.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Hey, thanks for having me on, buddy.
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  Speaker 2: It's nice to see you all right.
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  Speaker 3: So, you know, we just celebrated Father's Day, which is
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  Speaker 3: a great weekend to not only celebrate the fathers in
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  Speaker 3: our lives, but also the fathers around us as a
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  Speaker 3: single dad, and so much of this conversation, Michael is
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: going to be around kind of the past moving into
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: them the present. I know you're in a relationship, and
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: you've been in a relationship for a while, and it
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  Speaker 3: looks happy and healthy and full of joy and all
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: the good things. Right, But in relation to this book,
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: obviously the past is you know, revisited, which it should
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: be and remembered. Sure, but as a single dad, now,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: does Father's Day feel different to you.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think. I think Father's Day has always felt
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  Speaker 4: different every year, regardless if I'm in a relationship or not.
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  Speaker 4: And it's it's mainly because each year in my son's life,
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  Speaker 4: as you you'll find out too, it requires a different
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  Speaker 4: piece of you. And so there's there, you know, in
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: the beginning, it's it's showing up, it's diapers, it's putting
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: them to bed, it's it's making sure that they all
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: their basic needs are met. And as they evolved, they
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: develop more deeper needs, and so it's trying to meet them.
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  Speaker 4: We're at they're at, and I just had the best
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  Speaker 4: Father's Day ever. They treated me extremely well. Jade has
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  Speaker 4: just been amazing, and it's it's honestly so great to
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: see their relationship blossom. Yeah, I mean, just the noise
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  Speaker 4: in the house sounds sounds great. The mess, you know,
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  Speaker 4: like James running in in the morning into our bedroom
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  Speaker 4: and running straight to her, like all of these things
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  Speaker 4: I'm very cognizant of and just feel very blessed in
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  Speaker 4: this season of my life.
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  Speaker 3: How did that happen? I mean, obviously for those that
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: don't remember, you lost your wife seven years ago, I believe, Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: And that obviously started a whole new journey for you,
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  Speaker 3: not only professionally. I remember last time we talked, you
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  Speaker 3: were doing a lot in that space to try to
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  Speaker 3: care for women well and care for people going through
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  Speaker 3: a similar situation. But then also, you know, you had James,
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  Speaker 3: and James was what do I remember?
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  Speaker 2: One?
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  Speaker 4: James was two and two old when Laura passed.
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  Speaker 3: So Laura passed seven years ago, James was two. You
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: went on the show You then you met Jade. How
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  Speaker 3: does the process for you work where you bring somebody
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: into your home and you know, I don't I'm going
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  Speaker 3: to use the wrong words, but like integrate them into
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  Speaker 3: you and James's life.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: No, No, that's that's that's a very good word. I
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  Speaker 4: remember when before Jade moved, she was like, tell me
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  Speaker 4: what I'm walking into, and I was like, I don't
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  Speaker 4: know what you're walking into because this is the first
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  Speaker 4: time that I'm doing these things too. There's there's a
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  Speaker 4: lot of dynamics that go into blending a family together,
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  Speaker 4: and there's there's a lot of emotions. I mean, as
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  Speaker 4: as a dad and as just a person, I have
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  Speaker 4: my own personal needs of wanting to find love again,
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  Speaker 4: and you know, wanting to see James grow up with
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  Speaker 4: these milestones and share them with somebody and build that relationship.
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  Speaker 4: And it's also being cognizant of him and his emotions
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  Speaker 4: and not rushing things and while still being able to
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  Speaker 4: set those kind of boundaries. It is a balancing act.
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  Speaker 4: And I'll tell you what, like looking past the or
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  Speaker 4: looking back the last two years, we've had successes and
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  Speaker 4: we've had failures, but through it all, we've grown stronger
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  Speaker 4: together because we've been able to get through them together.
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  Speaker 4: And it's just I'm at this place right now where
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  Speaker 4: a lot of that worry, a lot of that concern
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  Speaker 4: about all of these what ifs, started to get answered,
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  Speaker 4: and I am, like I said before, it just feels
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  Speaker 4: like a very peaceful, blessed time in my life. One
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  Speaker 4: of the first moments in the past decade where I
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  Speaker 4: can take a breath and honestly say that all that
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  Speaker 4: hard work is paying off and just enjoy it.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: You know, this children's book that you can come out
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  Speaker 3: with is and it comes out I believe next week.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I will. Yeah, it was. It was.
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  Speaker 4: It started pre sale about a month ago. Sales have
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  Speaker 4: been amazing, the outpouring and support has been great and
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  Speaker 4: we're going to start shipping out books first weekend July.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Again, the book is called Where the Wild Heart Grows.
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  Speaker 3: There's this specific place right now where people can find
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  Speaker 3: this book and purchase it pre sale before it comes out,
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  Speaker 3: and then once it gets out into the world, will
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  Speaker 3: be in bookstores or what's the best way for people
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  Speaker 3: to to go grab it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the best.
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  Speaker 4: Place right now is the Wildheart Grows dot com. And
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  Speaker 4: the book really has this old world feel to it,
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  Speaker 4: so it's actually a one hundred and fifty pages each.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Each illustration was done with oil on canvas by a
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  Speaker 4: professional painter, Luke Streeter. You guys should check him out.
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  Speaker 4: He's actually James's best friend is his son and they
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  Speaker 4: go to school together. So this is essentially a story
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  Speaker 4: of two dads trying to find a way to slow
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  Speaker 4: time down and be able to connect with their kids
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  Speaker 4: and use storytelling as a way to start conversations with
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  Speaker 4: their children. Because when Laura passed, I didn't have the
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  Speaker 4: right tools to be able to engage James in some
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: of these tougher conversations. And I think one of the
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  Speaker 4: biggest misconceptions about this book is that it's about grief,
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  Speaker 4: it's about growing up, it's about overcoming these challenging seasons
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  Speaker 4: in your life. And I use nature as a metaphor
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  Speaker 4: to be able to teach kids in a very simplistic
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  Speaker 4: kind of beautiful way, because the best wisdom in lessons
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  Speaker 4: that I have ever learned have always been the simplest,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: and a lot of times I've found that wisdom in
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: kids books. I'm not sure if you've seen the same,
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: but some of these kids' books that are out there
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  Speaker 4: the way they simplify things, almost things that we were
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  Speaker 4: taught a long time ago and since have forgotten, and
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  Speaker 4: when you're reading them to kids, like is this book
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  Speaker 4: for the kid or is it for me? And I
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  Speaker 4: think that's really that space where my book, Where the
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  Speaker 4: Wild Heart Grows lies is. I think kids are going
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  Speaker 4: to see a story of a spider whose web keeps
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  Speaker 4: breaking and the frustration that happens with that a parent.
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  Speaker 4: I think, may I don't want to tell people what
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  Speaker 4: to take from it, but my hope is that they
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  Speaker 4: see the layers that are in this book and they
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: will say, well, maybe this is the courage and the
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: determination that I need in order to move forward from
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: a divorce or move forward from uh an idea or
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: a goal that I had that is unfulfilled. And so
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  Speaker 4: that's really what the book is about. Each story leads
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  Speaker 4: into the next, and they're they're really old world fables
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  Speaker 4: that are that are calming and still using nature. And
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: it's it's such a like, I I'm telling you, it's
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  Speaker 4: so beautiful how the whole thing came out. I'm just
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  Speaker 4: so proud of it.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously we're in the season of children's books, and it
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  Speaker 3: feels good, like it's a good checks and balance on
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  Speaker 3: our priorities and what is important to us, like sometimes
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  Speaker 3: we've lost it. Like these are good also to go
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  Speaker 3: back to as an adult and say, Okay, when I
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  Speaker 3: was a kid, what were my dreams, what was I pursuing?
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  Speaker 3: What was important? Amen, it is not important, And the books,
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  Speaker 3: you know, remind us. And I love that you use nature.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, I was just looking. We're cleaning out our
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  Speaker 3: house right now a little bit and doing some summer cleaning,
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  Speaker 3: and I saw as a kid, I was a weird kid.
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  Speaker 3: I wrote a lot of poems and I still like
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  Speaker 3: to write. Yeah, I definitely spoke to my enneagram for
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  Speaker 3: know I was going to be this like dark somber,
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  Speaker 3: you know person as a kid.
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  Speaker 2: I have this.
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  Speaker 3: I have this poem that I just read that I
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  Speaker 3: wrote it said, uh fall, It was called fall, and
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  Speaker 3: the only line that I wrote in it was has
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  Speaker 3: death ever looked so beautiful?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah? Amen, dude, I love that you brought that up,
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  Speaker 4: because that is capturing. What this is about is who
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  Speaker 4: can teach us what, or I should say, what can
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  Speaker 4: teach us more about the season of our own life
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  Speaker 4: than nature? You look at a tree, for example, like
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  Speaker 4: your poem that you wrote when you're a kid. A
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  Speaker 4: tree in the summer, it's got green leaves, it's got
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  Speaker 4: animals that rely on it, it's got fruit that everything
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  Speaker 4: feeds off of. It provides shade, and then as the
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  Speaker 4: season changed, it gets beautiful right before it dies. And
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  Speaker 4: does the tree, for example, more in the loss of
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  Speaker 4: its leaves? Does it more in the loss that squirrels
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  Speaker 4: and animals started to abandon it because it no longer
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  Speaker 4: provided what it needed. Now we know that trees are
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  Speaker 4: wise enough because they know that they have to let
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  Speaker 4: go in order to welcome new growth into their life.
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  Speaker 4: Why can't we accept those same types of lessons? And
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  Speaker 4: so I actually have a story like that in this book. Now,
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  Speaker 4: imagine this is an era of life that we've never
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  Speaker 4: been in, but I know is coming when our kids
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  Speaker 4: no longer rely on us, when we get older and
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  Speaker 4: they stop coming around, just like the squirrel going.
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  Speaker 2: To a treat.
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  Speaker 4: How are we going to react to that? Well, we
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  Speaker 4: understand that season of life. Will we miss this chaotic
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  Speaker 4: time in our life? And I know we will, And
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  Speaker 4: so it's really all focused on remaining present even during
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  Speaker 4: the most stressful, painful, chaotic times in your life, because
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  Speaker 4: one day you're going to miss it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know you write in the book about the
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  Speaker 3: gift of grief is a part So for the listeners
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  Speaker 3: out there, you know, you just kind of walked into it, right,
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  Speaker 3: the wisdom of the nature around us for letting go
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  Speaker 3: so that they can regrow and have rebirth and move
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  Speaker 3: forward into bigger and new things. Can you walk our
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: listeners through as you look at this season of life
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  Speaker 3: for you and kind of where you're at grief process?
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  Speaker 3: Why a gift of grief was something you wanted to highlight.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, the gift of grief was something I wrote
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  Speaker 4: on Instagram. It's actually not per se in the book
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  Speaker 4: but I wrote about that mainly because now that I mean,
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  Speaker 4: now that Laura has been gone for seven years, one
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  Speaker 4: way that I've been able to make sense of grief,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: instead of running from it, instead of numbing it, instead
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  Speaker 4: of avoiding it, is really to welcome it into my life,
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  Speaker 4: to feel all of the you know, the emotions that
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: come around with it, because it never goes away. It
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  Speaker 4: stays with you. It walks alongside new love and there
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  Speaker 4: is new growth and still memories of what was lost.
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  Speaker 4: And I remember having this thought that I loved everything
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  Speaker 4: that gave me. I loved the memories. I love James,
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  Speaker 4: I love how the fact I mean we were together
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  Speaker 4: sixteen years since we were eighteen, and she built me
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  Speaker 4: in so many ways. So much of who I am
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  Speaker 4: today is just that relationship I had with her growing together.
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  Speaker 4: And so she also gave me grief because I loved
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  Speaker 4: her so much, and so I have to love that too,
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  Speaker 4: just like all of those things. And we are all
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  Speaker 4: going to lose someone. That's the sad reality and death
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  Speaker 4: and being a widow. It's kind of a taboo subject
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  Speaker 4: that people dance around. And I do believe that we're
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  Speaker 4: at a time right now where we should start normalizing it.
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  Speaker 4: Having those conversations. No one ever knows what to say.
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  Speaker 4: And the truth is is that if you're out there
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  Speaker 4: trying to take care of somebody that's grieving, you don't
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  Speaker 4: have to say anything. You just have to show up.
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  Speaker 4: You just have to listen, and the person who's going
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  Speaker 4: through it will tell you everything without even asking.
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  Speaker 2: The obviously this book is.
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  Speaker 3: And you know it's honoring Laura's life, and then also
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  Speaker 3: at the same time it's meant for all of those
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: out there who need maybe the push to have the
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: conversation or to have the reminders of a story. I'm
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: sure at this point James has walked through this book
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  Speaker 3: with you. What was that process? Like, I mean, for
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: I'm just sitting here trying to put myself in your
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: shoes and I really can't. But I'm thinking, Okay, an
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  Speaker 3: adult could have a conversation with me when there's a
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  Speaker 3: loss in my life and I can handle it, right,
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  Speaker 3: I can walk through it in the way that I
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  Speaker 3: want to or need to or however, But when it
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  Speaker 3: comes to a kid, I would be nervous about having
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  Speaker 3: trying to explain it to them in a way that
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: you know helps them. Understand, but then also helps them
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  Speaker 3: move forward and helps them honor as well. So for
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: you as a dad doing this project and then presenting
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: it to your son, who I'm guessing was the motivation
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  Speaker 3: behind a lot of this, Yeah, what was that like?
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  Speaker 4: It really came from the idea that I really didn't
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: know how to start conversations, and I put myself in
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  Speaker 4: his shoes as a kid, and I never liked getting
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: preached to the second. I felt like my parents were
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: interrogating me to figure out what's going on in my life?
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  Speaker 4: What do we tell them? You know, how is your day?
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  Speaker 4: It was good? What you do nothing? How you feeling?
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  Speaker 4: I'm fine? And it's Those aren't the real conversations. And
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  Speaker 4: so that wasn't good enough for me, as I know,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: it's not good enough for a lot of parents. And
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: so storytelling you I started. I'm actually made thirty five
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  Speaker 4: of these ories. James hand selected seven for the book,
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  Speaker 4: and they all tackled different things. Some of them are
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  Speaker 4: about letting go, some of them are about beginning again
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  Speaker 4: and the courage it takes. There's one story called the
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Tale of Two Streams, which is about two streams that
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: their entire life they experience everything together. They ran in
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: parallel and then they hit an obstacle and were forced
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: to go their separate ways, and there was mourning for
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: both of them that they had to separate but each
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: but by separating, they were able to experience something individually,
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  Speaker 4: something that they never would have been able to experience
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  Speaker 4: had they remained on that same path. So all of
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: these components they have to do with grief, but a
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: larger a larger theme is that it really has to
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: do with growing up and also growing old. It's a
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  Speaker 4: book for children, it's a book for adults. And doing
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: this alongside James was just I mean, honestly, it was
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. I'm
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: actually upset now that the creative process is finished and
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: the baby is out in the world. It's like, I
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: just I wanted to just keep working on it forever.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: But he found it very, very peaceful. And again, it's
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: meant to be a bridge. It doesn't lecture, it's meant
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: to start conversations. Have you ever felt this way, James?
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  Speaker 4: Have you ever known anybody that's felt this way? If
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: someone was going through this, how would you help them?
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: And through those kind of questions, you'll figure out what
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: the true underlining truth is going on in their head
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: and in their life.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: What did you first? I mean, for parents listening? Who
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: are I mean?
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Goodness, I don't know if I think parents liked act
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: like we know what we're doing.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: You know, we do, but we do not.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: We do not. We're figuring out.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: When did you first start having these conversations with James?
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: I started having them as Jeez early. There was there
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: was a part where, I mean, James was two when
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: Laura passed. James was seven months old when she was diagnosed,
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: and I didn't want to push my grief on top
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: of him, you know. I wanted him to allow I
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: wanted to allow him to be a child. And that
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: was a weird balancing act, to be honest, because on
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: one side, it felt like I was keeping conversations from
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: him that I should have been having. On the other side,
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: it felt like I was giving him a chance at
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: just a normal kids, happy life. But I started having
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: those conversations fairly early and looking for the right opportunities
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: to say, you know, your laugh just now, that reminds
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  Speaker 4: me so much of your mom, you know, I think
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: about her all the time, or it's crazy how smart
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: you are, because she was smart just like you. And
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: it's it's bringing up lighthearted moments and allowing and finding
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: ways to make him feel connected to her. And that's
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: and that's really what opened up a lot of the
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: inspiration for the book too, is if I just lectured
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  Speaker 4: about life and death and all of these things, I'm
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: not sure he would have opened up the way he did,
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: and I'm not sure it would have led to some
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: of these deeper conversations than it had.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: My assumption is this book is not only for those
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: who want to open up the conversation and to navigate
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: a difficult season of somebody's life, but it's also for
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: parents in a way, preparing, as you said, for the
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: difficult seasons, because it's going to happen to all of us.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: You know, the loss of a pet, even you know,
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: the loss of a move, a loss of usact, a
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: loved one, like, there's so many changes in life that
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: will happen to everyone that I'm assuming this book is
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: not just for the specific scenario that you have navigated,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: but you know, a more holistic, broader conversation.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: One hundred percent, The forest is a metaphor for life.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: You're standing on the brink of a forest and you're
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: looking in and it's dark and it's scary, and you
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: are worried about getting lost. That's really the same with life.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: But once you start walking, you start looking around, you
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: start observing, you meet people, people change your life. You're
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: allowed to take all of these different paths, and some
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: paths that you take feel like they're life and death
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: and they'll never change, and they're gonna derail you entirely.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: And there's always a way back, and there's always a
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: way back, And there's so many beautiful stories, like, for example,
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: there's a story about a bird who gets stones thrown
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: at her, and the bird decides that in order for
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: me to be safe, I have to collect all the
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: stones on the ground. So the bird spends all of
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: the time that she has on the forest floor instead
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: of in the air, guarding stones, so she never gets
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: hurt again until she eventually starts letting them go, flying
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: and letting them go and allowing them to forgive the
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: past and allowing it to be able to move on,
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: and so letting go. It's just a huge part of life.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: It's a huge part of nature. It's a part of
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: growing up, growing old, and it's something that I have
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: personally found one of the hardest lessons to learn, and
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: that's why we try to try. That's why I'm trying
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: to deliver it in a simplistic way through kids language,
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: because it's a difficult one. It's an easy concept, but
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: it's it's difficult for at least for me to accept
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: in my life. But I'm learning.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Before we get into kind of where life sits now again,
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: it's where the wild Heart grows.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: And you said the website is the.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: Wildheart Grows dot com, and.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: The Wildheart Grows dot com.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the Wildheart Grows dot com. And we're going to
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: be available. We're really looking at independent bookstores. We already
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: have a handful taking it on. This whole thing is
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: just beginning, but I think it'll probably be Amazon on
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: Amazon maybe in a year or so. I'm trying to
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: hold off. I really want to award the mom and
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: pops that are out there doing the old school experience. Yeah,
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: and the book's really meant to be kind of an
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: heirloom that you returned back to at different seasons in
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: your own life and pull different meanings from it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: You know, switching gears a little bit. But you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: you are sitting in a different season where you know,
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: you've talked about Jade. She's in your life two years.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: I believe you've been together. Yep, you know you're living together.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: What's the future look like for the two of you.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: I'm sure everybody's wondering and curious. Yeah, but you know
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: from our from the outside perspective, it looks promising.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very promising, to say the least. I mean,
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: I don't think we would have made it this far
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: if it wasn't endgame, And so if it was up
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: to me, it probably would have happened already, like I
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: said before, blending families, making sure everybody's good, and you know,
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: being gentle with that kind of integration, as you would
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: put it. It has always been top of my mind.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: But we are at a place where life is, life
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: is exactly where it needs to be, and I think
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: I think there'll be some exciting news.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Around the ben goodness, gracious man, you come out with
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: a new children's book, you have exciting news around the corner.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Everything always lands at the same exact spread.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: This stuff out.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: The book was supposed to be out in January, and
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: you know you've written books. You know how it goes.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: It just kind of trickles over and edits and all
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: of this. But yeah, everything's landing at once, and you know.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: That is life.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: Hey, As the Good Scripture says, we mourn when morning's necessary,
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: and we celebrate when celebration is necessary. Poor and drink
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: and toast to a season of excitement and newness.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: And really good things. Michael.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: A again, it's where the wild Heart Grows. And the
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: website is the wild Heart Grows dot com. You can
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: find in some really cool mom and pop bookstores. I
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: love that idea, and then also you can go to
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: the website and purchase it there. Congrats on everything, Michael,
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: Thanks for jumping on. Enjoy the ride, enjoy the experience,
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: and then hopefully you'll come back soon with some good
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: news that we will also be talking about.
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: Absolutely. Thanks, it's so good to see you, man. And
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: how's how's being a girl dad? How you holding up?
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: I'd have a thousand girls, man.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: I love it. You're made.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: I love being a girl dad.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: It is it is a joy, it is full of laughter,
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: it is I just wish.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: They let me like coddle them a little bit.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Whinnie is just not a cuddler and I just want
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: to cuddle that little girl.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hold her close.
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: But she wants her space. She's pushing you.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, she's an independent woman.
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: That's good too. Hey, that's good. You're gonna like that
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: later in life. Yeah.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: I just wish I had a little more, you know,
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: cuddle time now. But it's been it's been the best thing.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: It's changed life in the only the best of ways,
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: and I'm very thankful for it.
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: You were made for the role. Man. I remember meeting
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: you and uh, just thinking you're going to be the
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: best dad in the world. And I'm so happy for
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: you and Jess and wish you guys all the blessings
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: because there's gonna be a lot of seasons.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Brother.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, buckle in and enjoy the ride.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you one thing, Michael, we both can relate with.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: I'm married, and it sounds like you're on the path.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Estheticians know how to care for us well. So keep
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: your skin, Oh, keep your skin healthy.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: We do have that in common. Yeah, when Jade, when
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: Jade moved in here, like we had an extra bedroom upstairs.
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: She has a full spat up there. I mean lasers
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: like crazy things going. It's a science lab.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: That's why. That's why we're cleaning right now. That's part
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: of the process.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: We have more skincare than any Sophora in the US.
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: I say the same exact thing. It's my nieces live
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: down the street and they're you know, twelve, and they
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: come over like pretending that they're checking up on us. Yeah,
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: and why do you have these empty bags?
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it's like trigger and treat for preteens.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: I see that and I get excited. I say, yeah,
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: please go up there, take two everything.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: The amount of boxes that are coming. How old are
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: you now?
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Thirty seven?
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Okay, I just turned I just turned forty two. Yeah,
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: and it's it's crazy. It was. It was one of
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: you know, I've never been one for the number. Yeah,
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: it's always that. Forty two was weird because it was
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: almost as though, yeah, I mean, god willing, but it
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: almost felt like halfway.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like starting to clock. Yeah.
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah. It was just like, wow, this second half comes
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: at perfect timing with everything going on in my life,
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: and there's so much more life to live and it
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: feels good. But it was it was it was a
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: moment where like man, I gotta I gotta start stretching more.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: I gotta drink more water like sleep or something. It
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: doesn't repair the same as it used to.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, sunscreen, pop the bones, get ready for the day, Michael.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: That's all. Well, Hey, it's good to see you. Appreciate
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: you again. Where the wild Heart grows. Great project, make
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: you help so many. I hope that the fanfare poorson
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: messages of support and love to you because I know
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: this was this came from your heart and it's always
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: great to hear that it helped out as well. So hey,
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: thanks for jumping on the Almost Famous podcast and we'll
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: have you back soon.
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: Brother.
• 29:07
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• 29:10
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