Latest / DA CREW Podcast / BASIC BLAQUE AFTER DARK live every 1ST & 3RD FRIDAY 6-6-25
Transcript
- 0:30Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, May I have your attention please? The
- 0:38Speaker 1: show starts in ten line eight, seven, six, five, four
- 0:53Speaker 1: three two one.
- 1:15Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, it's your girl, Black Diamond, and you're tuned
- 1:19Speaker 2: in and you're tuned into Basic Black after Dark, the
- 1:23Speaker 2: show that meets you where you are and gives you
- 1:25Speaker 2: what you ask for. But tonight we're gonna give you
- 1:28Speaker 2: a little bit more. We're diving deep into stories that
- 1:31Speaker 2: echo with pain, healing, and the pursuit of love. I
- 1:35Speaker 2: am honored to welcome to incredible women who have turned
- 1:39Speaker 2: their personal truths into powerful written testimonients. Joining us are
- 1:44Speaker 2: Tonight's powerful voices and storytelling Mss Farren maclamore. She's the
- 1:50Speaker 2: author of the Voice of a Mother's Pain. That book
- 1:54Speaker 2: delivers a raw and unflinching journey through maternal grief, resilience,
- 1:59Speaker 2: and healing. We're also honor to welcome none other than
- 2:03Speaker 2: Natalie Murphy. She is the author of To Be Loved
- 2:08Speaker 2: By Blue. Now see, if black wasn't my favorite color,
- 2:12Speaker 2: I would turn the blue, a beautifully lyrical exploration of longing,
- 2:17Speaker 2: self discovery and unexpected places we loved chooses to find us.
- 2:21Speaker 2: So get ready, hold on to your seats, get some
- 2:24Speaker 2: tissue if you need it. This is not just a conversation,
- 2:28Speaker 2: this is soul. So please welcome Farren and Natalie to
- 2:33Speaker 2: Basic Black after Dark.
- 2:35Speaker 3: Thank you, hello, thank you so much for having us.
- 2:39Speaker 2: Absolutely wow, your books, the names, the titles, it's just
- 2:44Speaker 2: it's just chilling to me, period, it really is.
- 2:48Speaker 4: So we're gonna stir things up a little bit here.
- 2:51Speaker 2: So Farren, I want to ask this question, because the
- 2:54Speaker 2: mother's Voice, the voice of a mother's pain. What stirred
- 2:59Speaker 2: your soul to write the Voice of a Mother's Pain?
- 3:03Speaker 5: You know what?
- 3:05Speaker 6: First, again, thank you so much for having me. It's
- 3:08Speaker 6: always a pleasure to you know, just be you know,
- 3:11Speaker 6: on your show, and just to be able to share
- 3:14Speaker 6: this this platform with you.
- 3:16Speaker 3: So thank you.
- 3:17Speaker 6: Also, just a huge shout out to doctor Carolyn Stevens
- 3:20Speaker 6: and the b HC Media who will help me put
- 3:24Speaker 6: this whole thing together, who helped bring this whole vision
- 3:27Speaker 6: to life. I have to thank her for that and
- 3:31Speaker 6: these incredible women. So the Voice of a Mother's Pain,
- 3:35Speaker 6: five incredible women, including myself. We are raising children with
- 3:40Speaker 6: disabilities or special needs. So this book deeply it was
- 3:46Speaker 6: born from my own experience of my daughter being born
- 3:50Speaker 6: with a rare condition called incontinentity of pigmente also known
- 3:54Speaker 6: as IP, being a first time mother to this unknown
- 3:59Speaker 6: and navigate anting that pain, that fear in the unknown.
- 4:04Speaker 6: There were times where I felt voiceless during one of
- 4:08Speaker 6: the most traumatic times in my life, so watching my
- 4:11Speaker 6: daughter fight for her life and also facing my own
- 4:16Speaker 6: medical crisis, which you got to get the book to
- 4:18Speaker 6: see what I went through. But I knew I wasn't
- 4:22Speaker 6: alone in it. So so many mothers carry silent pain,
- 4:28Speaker 6: and I wanted to give a voice not only to
- 4:30Speaker 6: my own story, but I wanted to also give a
- 4:33Speaker 6: voice to every woman who has ever endured grief, guilt,
- 4:39Speaker 6: or worry in silence.
- 4:41Speaker 4: So this story was rooted in your own lived.
- 4:44Speaker 2: Experiences, the voices of other women, and a combination well
- 4:48Speaker 2: basically a combination of both. Yes, what was it like
- 4:51Speaker 2: trying to pull everybody together? Because when you're talking about
- 4:54Speaker 2: pain of a child, especially in your own child, how
- 4:57Speaker 2: what was that like approaching other women and acting them
- 5:01Speaker 2: to write about their lived experience?
- 5:05Speaker 6: You know what? It went smoother than I thought. Actually
- 5:10Speaker 6: I know one of them, but the others. It was
- 5:14Speaker 6: just reaching out just to see who would be willing
- 5:17Speaker 6: to share their journey. You have to think about it.
- 5:20Speaker 6: This is a traumatic experience for most of us, so
- 5:25Speaker 6: to rewrite about it, to relive it.
- 5:28Speaker 3: I know that even though we're currently living.
- 5:30Speaker 6: It, it was traumatic to revisit just all of what
- 5:36Speaker 6: our child went through. And actually it was pretty smooth.
- 5:39Speaker 6: I introduced myself to these incredible women and we bonded.
- 5:43Speaker 6: We were able to bond, you know, on It was
- 5:47Speaker 6: such a connection because we understood what it was like to,
- 5:52Speaker 6: you know, raise these children with this disability. I tell
- 5:55Speaker 6: people all the time, I can connect with you because
- 5:58Speaker 6: you have children, but it's a different connection when you're
- 6:02Speaker 6: raising a child with a disability, because it's just a
- 6:05Speaker 6: whole nother ballpark, and especially if you're a first time mother,
- 6:10Speaker 6: there's no rule of to parenting, so you are literally figuring.
- 6:15Speaker 3: This out and so connecting with each of them.
- 6:19Speaker 6: We all shared our stories together, some of us even
- 6:23Speaker 6: cry together, just being finding that community of people who understand, right,
- 6:30Speaker 6: and that was the biggest thing, is having someone who
- 6:33Speaker 6: understands that you can go to and no longer have
- 6:37Speaker 6: to suffer in silence.
- 6:39Speaker 2: Well that I'm so happy that you guys have each
- 6:42Speaker 2: other to support one another through this journey, and I'm
- 6:46Speaker 2: hoping that. I'm not sure that other young ladies, but
- 6:50Speaker 2: I'm hoping that they find a cure for everything. I
- 6:52Speaker 2: hate to hear that any child is sick, and really
- 6:57Speaker 2: bothers me because I like for them to run and
- 7:00Speaker 2: play and do everything else. And they may be able
- 7:02Speaker 2: to do that, but then there's some limitations with them.
- 7:05Speaker 4: Maybe they get exhausted a little bit more. It's just
- 7:08Speaker 4: a little bit too much on them, So that bothers me.
- 7:12Speaker 2: But you're doing a wonderful job with raising your daughter,
- 7:16Speaker 2: and I see her with you all the time, and
- 7:19Speaker 2: she's a beautiful child, and you have a beautiful family.
- 7:22Speaker 2: I've seen them to be loved by Blue. Yes, such
- 7:27Speaker 2: a poetic and powerful title. Can you share what blue
- 7:30Speaker 2: symbolizes in your story?
- 7:33Speaker 5: In my story, blue symbolizes police officers. So the main
- 7:39Speaker 5: character Antoinette Tony Kennedy has had such disappointment when it
- 7:46Speaker 5: comes to the man in blue, her uncle, her dad,
- 7:50Speaker 5: and one of her male interests, and they've all in
- 7:56Speaker 5: some way heard her or disappointed her, and so she
- 8:02Speaker 5: tends to have this thing to lean toward men in blue,
- 8:06Speaker 5: and she ends up meeting Darius, who's a cop. And
- 8:12Speaker 5: Darius is everything she doesn't want. He's an itch shorter
- 8:17Speaker 5: than she is. She likes the more brown skin brother.
- 8:22Speaker 5: Oh no, that's supposed to be funny.
- 8:27Speaker 2: That's what I'm in to. Not's why I laugh. I
- 8:32Speaker 2: thought I was the only person in the world that
- 8:34Speaker 2: would say something like that.
- 8:35Speaker 4: But no, I will, I will not. I just can't
- 8:39Speaker 4: do it. I'm sorry. I don't know what it is.
- 8:41Speaker 4: I praise.
- 8:43Speaker 5: Everybody has their preference, and hers was is a man
- 8:47Speaker 5: over six feet, brown skin. Darius is light skin. He's
- 8:53Speaker 5: shorter than her, and he's a cop, and he's got
- 8:56Speaker 5: all kinds of corny pickup lines.
- 8:58Speaker 7: But that's what that's.
- 9:05Speaker 2: Yeah, it reminds me of you, like, GiB what's your sign?
- 9:08Speaker 2: Meeting him at the club, I'm gonna score you.
- 9:12Speaker 7: So his very first line is.
- 9:17Speaker 5: He tells her, that's the very same face I see
- 9:20Speaker 5: in my dreams every night.
- 9:21Speaker 7: I just need the name to go with it.
- 9:23Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, he's one for the books. Yes,
- 9:31Speaker 2: he is one for the girls. I don't blame you, girl,
- 9:35Speaker 2: I don't.
- 9:37Speaker 4: I don't. That's why he's probably alone.
- 9:39Speaker 2: He got the same line, probably worry, but she she
- 9:42Speaker 2: rejects him.
- 9:43Speaker 4: So he goes over there and he says the same
- 9:45Speaker 4: thing as somebody. Yeah, Now this is the book.
- 9:49Speaker 2: And we're sitting there cracking up, laughing because we've seen
- 9:53Speaker 2: that happen.
- 9:54Speaker 5: Absolutely, that is in real life.
- 9:58Speaker 4: Yeah, I know it.
- 10:00Speaker 2: What deeper meaning does it hold for the character and
- 10:04Speaker 2: for you personally? Because you say it's a real life thing.
- 10:07Speaker 2: Is these characters somebody you actually know?
- 10:12Speaker 5: They actually are not? But now here's a really cool thing.
- 10:15Speaker 5: So you see the picture of Darius behind me. My
- 10:19Speaker 5: husband and I were in Chipotle in Maddison, Illinois, and
- 10:25Speaker 5: my husband says, hey, look over there. That cop looks
- 10:28Speaker 5: like Darius. I'm like, no, get out of here. And
- 10:31Speaker 5: I look over and he does, and he goes, come on,
- 10:34Speaker 5: let's go tell him school. I'm like, I'm not hearing
- 10:36Speaker 5: to go tell him.
- 10:37Speaker 7: He looks like some made up character.
- 10:38Speaker 5: With my husband, being as bold as he is, went
- 10:40Speaker 5: right over to him, told the guy, you know what,
- 10:43Speaker 5: you look like one of her she writes for Romance.
- 10:46Speaker 7: You look like one of her characters. And he was
- 10:48Speaker 7: like is that right?
- 10:50Speaker 5: So so since he's there, I'm like okay. So I
- 10:52Speaker 5: showed him the picture the cover of the book, and
- 10:55Speaker 5: he goes, will.
- 10:55Speaker 7: You look at that?
- 10:56Speaker 5: He said, And he has an arm sleeve like me too.
- 10:59Speaker 5: They had the exact same arms. It was the weirdest
- 11:04Speaker 5: thing to see one of my characters in real life.
- 11:07Speaker 5: And even he said, oh, yeah, he looks like me.
- 11:11Speaker 7: So but a better line.
- 11:15Speaker 2: I truly hope he picks up a better line than
- 11:17Speaker 2: this characteristic line is going to take you.
- 11:20Speaker 7: Absolutely, no, Oh there he's there. Author the book. They're
- 11:24Speaker 7: author the book.
- 11:26Speaker 4: I gotta get this book.
- 11:30Speaker 7: But Tony loves it.
- 11:31Speaker 4: I want to take a shout out to Todd. Hey
- 11:33Speaker 4: d D thank you so much.
- 11:36Speaker 2: I just imagine look, he said, he seemed like he's
- 11:40Speaker 2: a card that both.
- 11:42Speaker 4: Arthur Farren Maclamore is an amazing woman.
- 11:45Speaker 2: I ad my your strength and determination and the love
- 11:47Speaker 2: you have for your baby, so sweet, such.
- 11:54Speaker 4: A sweethearts, such a sweetheart.
- 11:57Speaker 5: And that is so true. So you definitely the fans
- 12:00Speaker 5: love for her babies.
- 12:02Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 12:03Speaker 2: Yeah, So, how do how did you sum We're gonna
- 12:08Speaker 2: have to try to pull it together because these blue
- 12:09Speaker 2: things just got me.
- 12:11Speaker 4: How did you summon the strength to pour such to
- 12:16Speaker 4: pour such raw, unfiltered emotion into the voice of a
- 12:19Speaker 4: mother's pain. I'm emver read that.
- 12:21Speaker 2: I'm gonna say that again. How did you summon the strength? See,
- 12:25Speaker 2: I'm sad you separate altogether?
- 12:28Speaker 8: How did you, oh, how did you summon the strength
- 12:42Speaker 8: to pource such raw, unfiltered emotion into the voice of
- 12:44Speaker 8: a mother's pain.
- 12:46Speaker 2: In other words, what pushed you to speak your truth
- 12:48Speaker 2: so boldly on the page? Now we understand that it
- 12:51Speaker 2: came through something unfortunate, which was, you know, the illness
- 12:55Speaker 2: of your daughter.
- 12:56Speaker 4: But you were old when you wrote some of this stuff.
- 12:58Speaker 4: So what pushed you to speak some both?
- 13:02Speaker 3: You know what?
- 13:03Speaker 6: My strength came from my daughter Kamaya till this day.
- 13:08Speaker 6: You know, she doesn't really understand what's going on, but
- 13:11Speaker 6: I still watch her push through. Her resilience gave me
- 13:17Speaker 6: the courage to comfort my own pain head on, to
- 13:21Speaker 6: confront my own pain head on, Because if you look
- 13:25Speaker 6: at this little girl, you know she's going through all
- 13:28Speaker 6: these you know, tests and all these all this pain,
- 13:32Speaker 6: not knowing what's going on. But yet she keeps going,
- 13:36Speaker 6: she keeps going. So writing, of course is never easy.
- 13:40Speaker 6: But every tear that I shed as I type. This
- 13:43Speaker 6: story was a part of my healing because my passion
- 13:48Speaker 6: is to uplift and inspire and encourage others, and I
- 13:53Speaker 6: always ask God.
- 13:55Speaker 3: How can I do that?
- 13:57Speaker 6: Never knewing it was gonna be with my daughter, never
- 14:00Speaker 6: knew that it was going to be my own, you know,
- 14:03Speaker 6: life's own, real life experiences. So I reminded myself to
- 14:08Speaker 6: be honest about my emotions that it could give someone
- 14:12Speaker 6: else freedom to acknowledge their own. So this book, I
- 14:17Speaker 6: hope that this book will give other mothers permission to
- 14:21Speaker 6: share their own stories because having raising a child with disability,
- 14:27Speaker 6: sometimes you feel isolating because the looks, the stairs, the
- 14:32Speaker 6: unsolicited advice. You know, there's so much that comes with it.
- 14:37Speaker 6: And I experienced that. You know, people would stare because
- 14:39Speaker 6: in continuity of pigmenty is a skin condition. It's primarily
- 14:42Speaker 6: a skin condition, however, it affects your central nervous system,
- 14:47Speaker 6: your your way your hair grows, alopecia, the way your eyes.
- 14:52Speaker 6: It goes, Yeah, it goes deeper, and it depends on
- 14:56Speaker 6: your symptoms. Their mild to severe. So my daughter she
- 14:59Speaker 6: had severe. Yes, So the skin condition so it's it's
- 15:04Speaker 6: newborn three six nine twelve and she's ten today and
- 15:11Speaker 6: so they're like.
- 15:14Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 15:15Speaker 6: So literally she they're like war like bumps is what
- 15:21Speaker 6: they come and go. And so even today just you know,
- 15:25Speaker 6: often examining her body because it changes, right, this is
- 15:29Speaker 6: something that she'll live with for the rest of her life,
- 15:31Speaker 6: so everything changes, so we closely monitor just you know,
- 15:36Speaker 6: as you know, she's getting ready to hit puberty. You know,
- 15:39Speaker 6: we have to understand what that looks like for her.
- 15:41Speaker 6: So it's so much into it that we have to
- 15:44Speaker 6: you know, focus on and we have to prepare for
- 15:48Speaker 6: still the unknown, right, but still just making sure she
- 15:52Speaker 6: has you know, the most the support down the line
- 15:56Speaker 6: with her dermatologists, you know, I doctor, everything we have
- 15:59Speaker 6: line up, so we have a pretty good support system
- 16:02Speaker 6: for her, just to keep you know, make sure everything
- 16:05Speaker 6: is squared away. She's actually getting ready for an EEG
- 16:09Speaker 6: next week because she has seizures. That's another side effect
- 16:13Speaker 6: of the condition, So we get a yearly EEG and
- 16:18Speaker 6: that's just gonna tell us, you know, what her brain
- 16:21Speaker 6: is doing, because she is on a seizure medicine. So
- 16:25Speaker 6: it's never easy, right, I know, people may look at
- 16:28Speaker 6: me and be like, girl, how did you how are you,
- 16:30Speaker 6: you know, getting through it. But it's the fact that
- 16:33Speaker 6: I can share the story. It's the fact that I
- 16:35Speaker 6: can inspire somebody else to keep going and that there
- 16:39Speaker 6: is light at the end of the tunnel even on
- 16:41Speaker 6: the darkest days. Now you have someone, you have this
- 16:45Speaker 6: book that can also help and walk you through it.
- 16:48Speaker 6: And then you have me personally, you know, you can,
- 16:53Speaker 6: you know, lean on because now I'm able to share
- 16:57Speaker 6: as well as encourage, as well as uplift.
- 17:00Speaker 3: But the biggest thing is my daughter. You know.
- 17:02Speaker 6: I feed off of her strength and her resilience and
- 17:05Speaker 6: just her courage to keep going.
- 17:09Speaker 2: Yeah, she just wants to play and just think everybody
- 17:12Speaker 2: else's child And m hm. You know, I don't like
- 17:15Speaker 2: when you hear or even if you see someone who
- 17:19Speaker 2: looks a little different than you do that the stairs
- 17:22Speaker 2: coming then, especially from adults.
- 17:25Speaker 4: You know, you think that they would know better.
- 17:27Speaker 3: But it, honestly, and that's what it was.
- 17:30Speaker 6: It was adults just staring and I just got to
- 17:34Speaker 6: the point where I would prefer you ask, right. I
- 17:37Speaker 6: would love for you to just say, hey, you know,
- 17:40Speaker 6: it's something I've never seen, or a lot of people
- 17:42Speaker 6: would ask me if it was ezma, which she did
- 17:45Speaker 6: have a case of exzma before. But these literally are
- 17:49Speaker 6: like sores, like they could be very sore. And like
- 17:52Speaker 6: I said, they happened earlier stages, so they're not the same.
- 17:56Speaker 6: But if you, you know, seeing her, you can see
- 17:58Speaker 6: the swirl like past just like in her face, some
- 18:02Speaker 6: on her arms, so you can it's very noticeable. But
- 18:05Speaker 6: for someone who don't know, just ask. I would happily
- 18:09Speaker 6: explain it to you because I know that it is
- 18:12Speaker 6: such a rare condition, which is the whole purpose of
- 18:15Speaker 6: you know, writing my first children's books, shining through my
- 18:18Speaker 6: journey with the Continentity your Pigment Tee, to bring awareness
- 18:21Speaker 6: to that because it's so rare, and the voice of
- 18:24Speaker 6: a brother pain just takes you a little bit deeper.
- 18:28Speaker 6: It's just to my journey because it was a lot. Yeah,
- 18:33Speaker 6: it was a lot more than.
- 18:37Speaker 2: So what emotional journey do you hope reader's experienced through
- 18:40Speaker 2: the eyes of your protagonists and to be loved by.
- 18:43Speaker 7: Blue The ride that the ride that my readers are
- 18:50Speaker 7: going to take with my characters.
- 18:52Speaker 5: Is going to be a bumpy one because it starts
- 18:56Speaker 5: out say it again, I said, hold on to your seats.
- 19:02Speaker 7: Right exactly, because it starts out with Tony.
- 19:07Speaker 5: Fighting Darius and Darius, who's again mister Corny Lines, is
- 19:15Speaker 5: not looking for a real relationship, so they're looking to
- 19:18Speaker 5: just have fun. They looking for a hook up for
- 19:20Speaker 5: the night, maybe a couple of knights, and then they're
- 19:22Speaker 5: gonna do their thing. But they find out that they
- 19:25Speaker 5: actually are attracted to each other. So in that attraction
- 19:30Speaker 5: there's a push and pull Tony's Tony's really struggling with
- 19:35Speaker 5: letting her heart go, and Darius has gotten to the
- 19:37Speaker 5: point where, you know what I want her, I'm going
- 19:40Speaker 5: after her. She's going to be mine, and then they
- 19:43Speaker 5: when Tony finally realizes that she can't escape it, well,
- 19:48Speaker 5: then some things happen and she's gotta she's got to
- 19:52Speaker 5: find out.
- 19:52Speaker 7: If she can make things work between she and Darius.
- 19:56Speaker 2: So there's some emotional highs and loads and truths that
- 19:59Speaker 2: will confront them.
- 20:00Speaker 5: Yes, she's got family drama that's gonna be that's gonna
- 20:04Speaker 5: come about. Darius has three two brothers that are gonna
- 20:07Speaker 5: come into the picture. So there's there's a lot of
- 20:10Speaker 5: family stuff going on as well as some girlfriend stuff
- 20:14Speaker 5: going on. Because Tony has two best friends, and I
- 20:17Speaker 5: love a good girlfriend's story, So all my romances are
- 20:20Speaker 5: always gonna have some element that element.
- 20:24Speaker 4: Tyler Perry movies. That's what it sounds like.
- 20:27Speaker 2: It's like one of those Tyler Perry movies that you're
- 20:29Speaker 2: gonna be coming back to. Yeah, it does, you know
- 20:32Speaker 2: you're hearing it. Then when you talk about the family
- 20:35Speaker 2: that's involved.
- 20:37Speaker 7: Yeah, Tony's family is interesting one.
- 20:40Speaker 4: I can imagine. I can't and we need to get
- 20:44Speaker 4: that book either.
- 20:45Speaker 2: So when you talk about the voices of a mother's pain,
- 20:47Speaker 2: I imagined it had to be difficult. What was the
- 20:50Speaker 2: most difficult chapter for you to write and why?
- 20:55Speaker 6: So I would have to say the chapter where m
- 21:00Speaker 6: I had to recount our time in the nick you
- 21:03Speaker 6: and my own hospitalization was the hardest because when I
- 21:08Speaker 6: was hospitalized, that separated me from her, and even though
- 21:12Speaker 6: it was just three days, that was the longest three
- 21:14Speaker 6: days of my life, because I, you know, because when
- 21:20Speaker 6: you're you know, I didn't, I didn't think about my
- 21:23Speaker 6: own recovery. I had emergency C section with her, and
- 21:27Speaker 6: I never once thought you need to sit down and
- 21:31Speaker 6: heal like you also had your own major surgery. Because
- 21:35Speaker 6: I literally just wanted her to be okay, and even
- 21:38Speaker 6: though I was physically weak, I was emotionally shattered and
- 21:43Speaker 6: I was even spiritually questioned everything. So yeah, yeah, but
- 21:54Speaker 6: for me, you know, so relive in that trauma, it
- 21:58Speaker 6: brought a wave of grief that I thought I had
- 22:01Speaker 6: buried because you know, like I said, she said, now,
- 22:04Speaker 6: so I thought you know, I had got you know,
- 22:07Speaker 6: pretty I thought I was pretty healed from you know,
- 22:10Speaker 6: that traumatic experience. But it also reminded me how far
- 22:15Speaker 6: I had come, so even reliving it and you know,
- 22:20Speaker 6: just to step back and to share that emotional story.
- 22:24Speaker 6: You know, every year, you know, on her birthday, I
- 22:27Speaker 6: go back and I look at those pictures because it
- 22:31Speaker 6: shows me how far she's come. So even you know,
- 22:35Speaker 6: each grade that she go to, each thing is celebrated
- 22:38Speaker 6: because it's so much that comes with this condition. It's
- 22:43Speaker 6: literally we celebrate everything on how far she's come, because
- 22:47Speaker 6: everything is such a celebration, you know, with it. But
- 22:51Speaker 6: the biggest thing was the nick you experience because she
- 22:54Speaker 6: was born in May and we didn't get home till July.
- 22:58Speaker 6: Oh wow, we literally.
- 23:04Speaker 2: And she definitely needs to be celebrated, But more than that,
- 23:07Speaker 2: you and your husband need to be celebrated, to be
- 23:10Speaker 2: able to go through this journey and still hold it together,
- 23:13Speaker 2: and to keep it together, yes, because something like this
- 23:16Speaker 2: could have broken you. It could have, and it did not.
- 23:19Speaker 2: It just seemed like it strengthened you.
- 23:22Speaker 3: You know what.
- 23:24Speaker 6: In the book, you'll see that there were times where
- 23:29Speaker 6: it literally had to be a shift right in your mindset.
- 23:35Speaker 6: You have to shift your mind and in prayer is
- 23:39Speaker 6: what helped me through it. I literally began to thank
- 23:42Speaker 6: God for the good news because I needed to speak it.
- 23:46Speaker 3: I needed to I needed to speak. I need to
- 23:48Speaker 3: start speaking it.
- 23:49Speaker 6: Even though I was getting these results and these you know,
- 23:52Speaker 6: the test results and stuff, I knew that God had
- 23:55Speaker 6: the final say, and I knew that the doctors had
- 23:58Speaker 6: a job to do. And it was because I would
- 24:01Speaker 6: be angry at them. I was angry, like why you
- 24:03Speaker 6: keep coming here and giving me these bad results about
- 24:06Speaker 6: my baby? But I knew that they had a job
- 24:08Speaker 6: to do. But ultimately I knew that God had the
- 24:11Speaker 6: final say, and so I began to I heard what
- 24:15Speaker 6: they did. But then I ended up, you know, going
- 24:19Speaker 6: back to pray, and I thank God for good news
- 24:21Speaker 6: every day.
- 24:22Speaker 3: That was my prayer.
- 24:23Speaker 6: I thank you for good news today, and I thank
- 24:25Speaker 6: you for good news tomorrow and the day after that.
- 24:29Speaker 6: And as soon as that shifted, literally the good news
- 24:34Speaker 6: began to come, began to come, and I began to
- 24:36Speaker 6: see the light at the end of the tunnel because
- 24:38Speaker 6: I knew that it.
- 24:40Speaker 2: Was you were his You were God's job, and I
- 24:47Speaker 2: feel that way because He needed to find somebody to
- 24:50Speaker 2: do that job. So your daughter of being born with that,
- 24:53Speaker 2: he needed to find the right person to be able
- 24:57Speaker 2: to go through that journey because you're bringing.
- 24:59Speaker 4: Life to it.
- 25:00Speaker 2: Had it may have been another mother, and unfortunately it
- 25:04Speaker 2: probably is. She's dealing with it silently, not bringing it
- 25:08Speaker 2: to the forefront. So yes, yes, yes, thank God for that,
- 25:12Speaker 2: because she's going to continue to use you in order
- 25:15Speaker 2: for you to get this message across and hopefully that
- 25:18Speaker 2: somebody will say, I'm going to go and try to
- 25:20Speaker 2: figure out how can I help cure this? So how
- 25:23Speaker 2: do you hope the voice of a mother's pain will
- 25:27Speaker 2: speak to mothers who will silently suffer?
- 25:32Speaker 3: You know what? For me.
- 25:37Speaker 6: Again, I just hope it gives that permission, right, I
- 25:40Speaker 6: hope that they see, Okay, she put her whole personal
- 25:44Speaker 6: personal story in this book, and she was she opened
- 25:48Speaker 6: up without you know, turning that pain into purpose. So
- 25:53Speaker 6: I hope that every mother who hears this, I hope
- 25:56Speaker 6: that they know that they're not alone and the whole
- 26:00Speaker 6: that they know that their silence doesn't make them strong,
- 26:05Speaker 6: it makes them isolated. And I hope that they know
- 26:08Speaker 6: that there's power and vulnerability and healing and honesty. So
- 26:14Speaker 6: whenever they are ready, I hope that their voice finds them.
- 26:18Speaker 6: Until then, though, I hope that this book is just
- 26:21Speaker 6: a reminder that they're not alone. And then when the
- 26:25Speaker 6: time is right, I just hope that they do let
- 26:27Speaker 6: their voice be heard so they can't start the healing process.
- 26:31Speaker 2: And I hope that they're listening now and understanding that
- 26:35Speaker 2: they're not alone.
- 26:37Speaker 4: Natalie, Yes, we're going to go a little deeper.
- 26:40Speaker 3: Okay, how did.
- 26:43Speaker 2: Your own personal understanding of love shape The Way to
- 26:46Speaker 2: Be Loved by You was written?
- 26:50Speaker 5: My own personal understanding of love for this book is
- 26:54Speaker 5: that love is messy. Love takes courage, it takes strength,
- 27:01Speaker 5: it takes determination, but in the end, if you hang
- 27:06Speaker 5: in there, it can work. And that's what happened with
- 27:09Speaker 5: Tony and Darius. Because love is messing. We know that
- 27:14Speaker 5: when we're in our relationships, we know everything is not
- 27:16Speaker 5: smooth sailing.
- 27:18Speaker 7: We probably didn't. I'll be honest with you.
- 27:20Speaker 5: I didn't even like my husband when I first met him,
- 27:24Speaker 5: kind of like Tony feels about Darius.
- 27:27Speaker 7: I didn't like him.
- 27:28Speaker 4: That's what I'm saying.
- 27:29Speaker 2: And what base did your lived experience influence how love
- 27:32Speaker 2: is given?
- 27:33Speaker 4: You see or was held in this sort because you
- 27:41Speaker 4: would have loved to be And I don't know where
- 27:43Speaker 4: they were in the bar where they were at, but
- 27:45Speaker 4: I know if I.
- 27:46Speaker 2: Was sitting there and he read that line, anything I
- 27:49Speaker 2: was drinking would have been in the back of his
- 27:50Speaker 2: head because it was just no way and this day
- 27:54Speaker 2: and age that a man is gonna.
- 27:56Speaker 4: Approach a woman with that corny line.
- 28:00Speaker 5: You know what, It's all kind of special people in
- 28:02Speaker 5: the world. I believe there's a Daiius out there. I
- 28:05Speaker 5: really do.
- 28:06Speaker 2: There's a there's a couple of them out there, absolutely absolutely.
- 28:12Speaker 5: But when you get when you get past all of
- 28:15Speaker 5: the corniness, then you you get to meet the real person.
- 28:19Speaker 5: And that's what Tony did. She she finally opened up
- 28:22Speaker 5: to meet the real Dairyus.
- 28:24Speaker 4: I'm good for her because I.
- 28:28Speaker 2: Couldn't have got passed that line and that that would
- 28:30Speaker 2: have been enough for me, and I just I would
- 28:32Speaker 2: have been just bringing me that line would have annoyed me,
- 28:37Speaker 2: and it really really would have. I would have looked,
- 28:39Speaker 2: I would have had to look at him, and I
- 28:40Speaker 2: would have had to say something like it probably would
- 28:42Speaker 2: have been rude.
- 28:44Speaker 7: She was rude, she responded, yeah, she she came back.
- 28:49Speaker 4: She go, there you go.
- 28:51Speaker 2: So I'm not seeing we might have a lot in common.
- 28:53Speaker 2: I'm liking already. I'm liking already. So what So what's
- 28:58Speaker 2: to be loved by blue? One from a specific relationship
- 29:02Speaker 2: or deep the personal experience in your life.
- 29:06Speaker 5: Not really, I like to look around. Okay, So there
- 29:11Speaker 5: are a couple of things. One, I just take my
- 29:13Speaker 5: inspiration from life. The primary I won't say primary, but
- 29:19Speaker 5: part of the inspiration for writing a story about a
- 29:23Speaker 5: cop is my favorite uncle was a cop and he
- 29:27Speaker 5: passed away recently. So this was kind of my tribute
- 29:29Speaker 5: to him, to write a story about a cop.
- 29:31Speaker 7: But this is not his story.
- 29:33Speaker 5: This is just like I said, I had an idea
- 29:36Speaker 5: to write about a cop and this was it. And
- 29:40Speaker 5: I liked the play on the word to be loved
- 29:42Speaker 5: by blue? Because a lot of people ask that question.
- 29:44Speaker 5: So what what does blue represent?
- 29:46Speaker 7: How? The police a part in the title. So yeah,
- 29:50Speaker 7: so that's about.
- 29:51Speaker 4: It now and before I just didn't understand it.
- 29:53Speaker 2: But I'm assuming that it is with the police, because.
- 29:59Speaker 4: That's the think blue. Yes, correct, Blue, you know if
- 30:02Speaker 4: my office is down or anything else?
- 30:04Speaker 2: Right, I watch a lot of TV cop shows, so
- 30:07Speaker 2: I learned a lot from that. I love with me now,
- 30:13Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Blue Bloods is it. I've learned a lot
- 30:15Speaker 2: from that family, even learned the way that they pray.
- 30:17Speaker 2: So I've loved that show. People out there listening, please
- 30:20Speaker 2: bring it back. So what part of your own truth
- 30:22Speaker 2: reads We're part of your own truth breads through this story?
- 30:29Speaker 7: What part of my own truth just said?
- 30:35Speaker 5: Their relationships are hard there, they can be hard, and
- 30:39Speaker 5: you have to you have to persevere. If it's what
- 30:42Speaker 5: you want and you believe in it, and I'm very
- 30:46Speaker 5: much a believer in love, then you stick it out,
- 30:50Speaker 5: you fight it out.
- 30:52Speaker 4: Yeah. So the title itself is powerful.
- 30:57Speaker 2: When you speak of voice in the voice of a
- 30:59Speaker 2: mother's pain, what does that represent for you?
- 31:02Speaker 6: Fearing voice for me means no longer suffering in silence.
- 31:11Speaker 6: It means honoring the unspoken fears and the cries behind
- 31:16Speaker 6: closed doors, the guilt that we hide from the world,
- 31:20Speaker 6: and and giving my pain a voice transformed it from
- 31:28Speaker 6: something that weighed me down to something that could uplift others.
- 31:33Speaker 4: How does given pain the voice shift its power?
- 31:39Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I say again, how do.
- 31:44Speaker 2: How does given a pain give How does given pain
- 31:46Speaker 2: a voice shift its.
- 31:47Speaker 3: Power for me to uplift? Right?
- 31:54Speaker 6: I think having a voice either first of all, using it. It
- 31:59Speaker 6: depends on how you're gonna use your voice in the situation.
- 32:01Speaker 6: You know, you can let it tear you down, you
- 32:04Speaker 6: can let it keep you down. But for me, I
- 32:08Speaker 6: chose to use it as a way to uplift people
- 32:12Speaker 6: because again just having that inspiration to do so, especially
- 32:16Speaker 6: it being such a traumatizing thing right.
- 32:22Speaker 3: This situation.
- 32:23Speaker 6: At the beginning, a lot of people didn't know that
- 32:26Speaker 6: my daughter even went through any of this, because I
- 32:30Speaker 6: needed to tell the right people, who one who would
- 32:34Speaker 6: pray for me p R A Y and not p
- 32:39Speaker 6: R E Y on me that I would, you know,
- 32:42Speaker 6: because some people, you know, you have these situations and
- 32:46Speaker 6: people will pray these situations on you.
- 32:48Speaker 3: So a lot of people I didn't tell right away.
- 32:51Speaker 6: A lot of people didn't know she went through a
- 32:53Speaker 6: lot of a lot of this. They didn't know I
- 32:56Speaker 6: went through a lot of this until these books came out,
- 33:01Speaker 6: because I think it was important I shared such significant
- 33:06Speaker 6: information with those who I knew would support, who would
- 33:11Speaker 6: be willing to learn. You know of this condition, we
- 33:15Speaker 6: have such an incredible support system, just our family taking
- 33:20Speaker 6: the time to learn how to care for her and
- 33:23Speaker 6: not be scared of it, right because you know, children
- 33:26Speaker 6: with disabil especially this kind, you never know what can happen.
- 33:30Speaker 6: So I think the biggest thing is just making sure
- 33:33Speaker 6: who you shared this type of information with, that who
- 33:38Speaker 6: can truly help support you, and building that community because.
- 33:43Speaker 2: Other people just can't deal with it. They may think
- 33:45Speaker 2: that they can, but when it comes down to it,
- 33:47Speaker 2: they really can. So blue is often associated with sadness
- 33:52Speaker 2: but also surroundical. How does that duality show up in
- 33:56Speaker 2: your book, madamly Well.
- 33:59Speaker 5: It shows up becau because Tony is sad. In the
- 34:02Speaker 5: beginning of the book, she is sad, she's heard, she's
- 34:05Speaker 5: disappointed by love. She's so disappointed that she's using her
- 34:09Speaker 5: body too to prevent herself from falling in love. So
- 34:15Speaker 5: she's being promiscuous. But as the story goes on, all
- 34:20Speaker 5: my stories are happily ever after. So as the story
- 34:23Speaker 5: goes on, Tony finds her serenity and her peace in love.
- 34:30Speaker 2: I might have to borrow Tony because Tony needs to
- 34:33Speaker 2: meet my character China in my book.
- 34:35Speaker 7: Oh yeah, themo.
- 34:36Speaker 4: Would be a piece of work. Them two would be
- 34:38Speaker 4: a piece of work.
- 34:38Speaker 2: If they ever ran any to each other in the
- 34:40Speaker 2: city or something like that, they would definitely. Man, oh man,
- 34:44Speaker 2: I'm listening to what you're telling me about it, and
- 34:46Speaker 2: I'm just thinking about China, like.
- 34:47Speaker 5: Oh baby, yeah, Tony's character for real.
- 34:54Speaker 2: Yeah, this is what I'm saying about China. She's a piece,
- 34:56Speaker 2: She's a piece of something.
- 34:58Speaker 4: But I love her. I love it.
- 35:00Speaker 2: And then let me ask the both of you, this
- 35:02Speaker 2: is something off to be well, your book is more
- 35:06Speaker 2: about something personal and real. Natalie, do you feel anything
- 35:13Speaker 2: for your character at all? Because I know I love
- 35:18Speaker 2: my character and I'm very very It just seems odd,
- 35:22Speaker 2: but I'm very protective of her.
- 35:24Speaker 7: Oh no, I'm so right there with you.
- 35:26Speaker 5: I love my character and actually, when I'm done writing
- 35:31Speaker 5: a book, I miss them.
- 35:33Speaker 7: It's like they're real people. I miss them, especially the first,
- 35:36Speaker 7: my very first book. Then came you.
- 35:38Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, I thought I was just going to
- 35:40Speaker 5: pass out because I couldn't be with Shannon and Zanayah
- 35:43Speaker 5: and Brian and Jabari anymore. So yeah, I know. I
- 35:48Speaker 5: love my characters like they are real people. And then
- 35:50Speaker 5: sometimes I'll be talking to my husband and I'll be
- 35:52Speaker 5: talking about my characters, and then he'll go in the
- 35:55Speaker 5: middle conversation, who are you talking about? Like I'm talking
- 35:58Speaker 5: about Tony and Darius, Like you know what I need
- 36:01Speaker 5: you to tell me when you talked about your character,
- 36:02Speaker 5: your storybook characters.
- 36:04Speaker 4: Because it's just that you've been with them for such
- 36:07Speaker 4: a long time.
- 36:07Speaker 7: You created them, Yes.
- 36:09Speaker 2: And you know that every thought and then there's a
- 36:13Speaker 2: thought that comes through your mind and then you wonder
- 36:16Speaker 2: should you introduce them to that?
- 36:17Speaker 4: And I thought that was the only person that did that.
- 36:20Speaker 5: But no, And that's like for people to kill off
- 36:23Speaker 5: their main characters. I could never kill my characters. And
- 36:28Speaker 5: one of my books, one of my characters didn't get injured,
- 36:30Speaker 5: and I almost cried.
- 36:31Speaker 7: But I can kill off my characters.
- 36:37Speaker 4: I have a character that I want to kill this
- 36:39Speaker 4: woman so bad. I really want to put my hands
- 36:42Speaker 4: around her neck.
- 36:43Speaker 7: Well, now I have characters, but not my main character.
- 36:47Speaker 4: I need her. I need her.
- 36:49Speaker 2: I think she wasn't a main character, but she's becoming one,
- 36:53Speaker 2: and I need her to move her into the second
- 36:57Speaker 2: and third book of that series because she's got some
- 37:02Speaker 2: stuff going on that is just gonna hit people.
- 37:05Speaker 4: It's gonna hit people, and they're gonna want They're gonna
- 37:07Speaker 4: hit back.
- 37:08Speaker 2: Put it that way, So, what ways has writing this
- 37:12Speaker 2: book served as a form of healing or therapy for you,
- 37:14Speaker 2: fearing or for your readers? Was that your intention from
- 37:19Speaker 2: the start or did the process? Was it just a
- 37:22Speaker 2: process for you or a process by surprise?
- 37:27Speaker 3: You know what?
- 37:29Speaker 6: I would have to say a little bit of both.
- 37:31Speaker 6: So for me, it became my release. So putting pain
- 37:36Speaker 6: into words gave me power over it. So you know,
- 37:41Speaker 6: you hear those things. You know, like I said, you're
- 37:43Speaker 6: just manifesting those things. So for readers, you know, I've
- 37:46Speaker 6: had women reach out and say that they felt like
- 37:49Speaker 6: I was telling their story, so it helped them feel
- 37:53Speaker 6: less alone, and then it gave them the language to
- 37:56Speaker 6: open up about their own struggles. So I think the
- 38:00Speaker 6: more and more I talk about it, Yeah, the more
- 38:04Speaker 6: and more I talk about it, the more and more
- 38:06Speaker 6: the healing comes because you again you get to you.
- 38:09Speaker 3: Measure like how far you come.
- 38:12Speaker 6: And then it's like a person that's usually strong for
- 38:16Speaker 6: other people, I can still I can still be strong
- 38:21Speaker 6: for other people. But now I can be strong for myself.
- 38:23Speaker 6: I can be strong for myself because you know, I've
- 38:27Speaker 6: turned what I felt like was the most trying time
- 38:31Speaker 6: in my life. Like literally the questions were why you know?
- 38:37Speaker 6: But now it's why not me?
- 38:38Speaker 3: Right? Why not me? Even though it's it's a daily struggle.
- 38:43Speaker 6: And sometimes I look at her and I, you know,
- 38:46Speaker 6: never want to question God because I know that everything
- 38:49Speaker 6: has a purpose, But sometimes I look at her and
- 38:52Speaker 6: I often still kind of question, you know, why.
- 38:56Speaker 3: Is this sweet, bright, bubbly girl like you know?
- 39:01Speaker 6: But it's her journey, and I understand that sometimes our
- 39:04Speaker 6: journeys are not for us. It's for those that are
- 39:07Speaker 6: around us.
- 39:09Speaker 2: And so take your daughter as far as you can
- 39:12Speaker 2: take her, and then he's gonna say thank you, and
- 39:15Speaker 2: then he's gonna take her and let her be her
- 39:17Speaker 2: own voice because it's coming because you're teaching her. You're
- 39:21Speaker 2: teaching her already, she's paying attention and she's watching. She
- 39:24Speaker 2: may be a little girl and doing her thing, but
- 39:26Speaker 2: you want to take it for as far as you
- 39:28Speaker 2: can take her and as far as he wants you
- 39:30Speaker 2: to take her, because there's another assignment waiting.
- 39:32Speaker 4: For you, but it needs for you to finish this one.
- 39:34Speaker 2: And that's why he's not giving you the other one
- 39:36Speaker 2: right now, because this one is so very important and
- 39:39Speaker 2: it's it's waking people up.
- 39:41Speaker 4: Even then, even.
- 39:43Speaker 2: Though the children don't have IP, they're saying to themselves, Wow,
- 39:47Speaker 2: she's able to do that. I can do this, and
- 39:50Speaker 2: I need to not be afraid to come out and
- 39:53Speaker 2: say that this is what's going on with my child
- 39:56Speaker 2: because a lot of people are still like what you said,
- 39:59Speaker 2: they're holding it in and then not letting it out.
- 40:02Speaker 2: What powerful conversation do you hope that the voice of
- 40:05Speaker 2: a mother's paining on the night while families, especially between
- 40:09Speaker 2: mothers and their children.
- 40:12Speaker 6: So you know what the biggest thing is that I
- 40:17Speaker 6: hope it opens up space for vulnerability, for children to
- 40:22Speaker 6: recognize that their mothers as human being layered with all
- 40:29Speaker 6: the emotions, and then for mothers just to feel safe
- 40:34Speaker 6: expressing their needs and not meeting everyone else's I hope
- 40:38Speaker 6: that the healing begins. Sorry, I hope that the healing
- 40:43Speaker 6: begins so we can stop pretending that we're okay and
- 40:47Speaker 6: start telling the truth because you know, as women were
- 40:50Speaker 6: naturally were naturally strong. But there are times where I,
- 40:57Speaker 6: you know, admitted like, this is a lot, this is
- 41:00Speaker 6: a lot to take in, This is a lot for
- 41:03Speaker 6: a first time mom, not knowing anything. But I knew
- 41:07Speaker 6: that the biggest thing that I was gonna love her regardless.
- 41:11Speaker 6: I was gonna love her regardless of what would happened.
- 41:15Speaker 6: I still love her just as much even with IP
- 41:18Speaker 6: it doesn't matter. So for me, it was just being
- 41:22Speaker 6: okay with not being okay and just realizing that this
- 41:27Speaker 6: this is our life. And again just that that shift
- 41:31Speaker 6: in your perspective and how you choose to deal with
- 41:33Speaker 6: it is what I hope that you know, mothers can
- 41:40Speaker 6: recognize and then, like I said, for children to recognize
- 41:42Speaker 6: that their mother is as human beings with layered emotions.
- 41:46Speaker 6: You know, we're emotional people, but I think that emotional beings, yeah,
- 41:52Speaker 6: just expressed.
- 41:55Speaker 2: So Natalie, how do we need to find love through
- 41:58Speaker 2: the lens of your character? And does that definition shift?
- 42:02Speaker 4: As you wrote.
- 42:06Speaker 5: Again, defining love through them is discovering each other, discovering
- 42:13Speaker 5: themselves and discovering.
- 42:16Speaker 7: That they like each other.
- 42:19Speaker 5: They once they get past all the walls that they've
- 42:22Speaker 5: got up, they discover that they love each other. I
- 42:27Speaker 5: don't think that my understanding of love got any deeper,
- 42:31Speaker 5: but my understanding of love continues to grow as I
- 42:37Speaker 5: write the books, because I get to fall in love
- 42:41Speaker 5: every time I write one of these books.
- 42:44Speaker 7: I get to go through all the.
- 42:45Speaker 5: Emotions, the ups, the downs, the sideways, I get to
- 42:49Speaker 5: go through all of that. But in the end, I
- 42:51Speaker 5: get to fall in love and have a happily ever after.
- 42:55Speaker 5: And that's one of my goals is to put this
- 42:59Speaker 5: is my way of putting love into the world. I
- 43:01Speaker 5: can't love on everybody, but I can put this out there.
- 43:04Speaker 5: That's my that's my effort.
- 43:08Speaker 2: So what lasted impact do you hope to be loved
- 43:10Speaker 2: by Blue leaves on readers.
- 43:18Speaker 5: That they can not necessarily just to be loved by Blue,
- 43:23Speaker 5: but any of my books is that it's a place
- 43:26Speaker 5: to go to escape because there's so much going on
- 43:29Speaker 5: in the world right now that we need we need
- 43:34Speaker 5: an escape, and that's what that's what my books are.
- 43:37Speaker 5: They're an escape to get away from the ills of
- 43:39Speaker 5: the world, the things that are stressing us out, this
- 43:42Speaker 5: climate of politics that we live in. We need, we
- 43:46Speaker 5: need a chance to get away. And that's what I
- 43:48Speaker 5: want for my books to do for my readers. Give
- 43:51Speaker 5: them an opportunity to get away, to have that happily
- 43:55Speaker 5: ever after that reason or smile.
- 44:00Speaker 2: So what deeper truth or transformation do you want them
- 44:03Speaker 2: to walk away with after experience in his.
- 44:05Speaker 5: Story that love is real and love exists. Because I
- 44:11Speaker 5: talk to a lot of people when I'm out doing
- 44:14Speaker 5: events and selling my books, and they say, oh, I
- 44:17Speaker 5: don't do romance. I don't believe in love. Love ain't real.
- 44:19Speaker 5: I don't I want people to know love is real.
- 44:23Speaker 5: How can love not be real? God is love and
- 44:26Speaker 5: He created created us to be in relationships. So I
- 44:32Speaker 5: want those readers to know that love is real, it exists,
- 44:36Speaker 5: and and hopefully these books.
- 44:40Speaker 7: Say it again some people, I was saying, and don't
- 44:42Speaker 7: be afraid of it.
- 44:43Speaker 4: Some people are afraid of falling in love because they.
- 44:45Speaker 7: Got hurt exact time.
- 44:47Speaker 4: And they just don't want to take the chance again.
- 44:50Speaker 5: Right, and you get hurt sometimes two, three, four times,
- 44:54Speaker 5: But you can't. You can't stay down just because you
- 44:58Speaker 5: get knocked down. You got you gotta try. If it's
- 45:01Speaker 5: something that you really truly want, you have to try.
- 45:04Speaker 5: And I know that's so much easier said than done
- 45:07Speaker 5: because it requires being vulnerable. Like Pharaoh was talking about
- 45:12Speaker 5: being vulnerable. Falling in love is being vulnerable too. You
- 45:16Speaker 5: have to open yourself up and allow somebody in. When
- 45:19Speaker 5: you do that, that opens you up to the possibility
- 45:23Speaker 5: of being hurt, but it also opens them up to
- 45:25Speaker 5: the possibility of being hurt as well.
- 45:28Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely right, farn What unexpected truth or revelations did
- 45:34Speaker 2: you uncover about yourself while right and the voice of
- 45:37Speaker 2: a mother's pain.
- 45:40Speaker 3: That I was stronger than I thought.
- 45:45Speaker 6: But also that stripth isn't about holding everything together, that
- 45:52Speaker 6: it's about being willing to fall apart and still get
- 45:55Speaker 6: back up, just like Natalie.
- 45:56Speaker 3: Just you know, you get not down, but being willing
- 46:01Speaker 3: to get back up.
- 46:02Speaker 6: Also realize that again my pain had purpose, so sharing
- 46:07Speaker 6: it could help others to find theirs their purpose.
- 46:11Speaker 2: And how did the process of telling your story transform you?
- 46:20Speaker 6: You know, the whole experience has been a whole life
- 46:24Speaker 6: changing experience. First of all, it stretched my faith right
- 46:29Speaker 6: it stretching my faith. Listen, I had to literally lean
- 46:36Speaker 6: on him to see me through. And I tell people
- 46:41Speaker 6: all the time, if you have to believe, because this
- 46:46Speaker 6: type of situation can literally literally take you out if
- 46:53Speaker 6: you when you read the book, you'll see all the
- 46:55Speaker 6: stuff that we went through, and you would literally be like, how,
- 47:00Speaker 6: like how are you still you know here? How are
- 47:04Speaker 6: you still moving through it? But my faith, my faith
- 47:08Speaker 6: is what kept me and I had to strengthen my
- 47:11Speaker 6: faith in order to give me where I am today,
- 47:15Speaker 6: So that that's a transformation for me. It's just the
- 47:19Speaker 6: strength and faith the strengthen it in my faith, just
- 47:22Speaker 6: to know that even though you know, you always hear
- 47:26Speaker 6: you don't look like what you've been through.
- 47:28Speaker 3: And I always say God that we don't look like
- 47:30Speaker 3: what we've been through.
- 47:31Speaker 6: Although I'm not physically living with IP, it's still it's
- 47:36Speaker 6: still my story because I'm raising someone who I've never
- 47:41Speaker 6: heard of this condition before. You know, this is where
- 47:44Speaker 6: the nick you doctors, her, neurologist, her her. I can't
- 47:54Speaker 6: fear the doctor name, but we all google this to
- 47:57Speaker 6: figure this out. So this is not you know, you
- 48:00Speaker 6: hear other disabilities like autism, which is known and even
- 48:05Speaker 6: though there's a huge broad spectrum whom autism is a
- 48:08Speaker 6: well known disability. But when you hear IP, everybody's like,
- 48:13Speaker 6: what what is that? So I knew I had to
- 48:16Speaker 6: always be prepared to explain what it is. And it
- 48:20Speaker 6: brings me joy to do so because I get to
- 48:23Speaker 6: teach people how to treat my daughter when she's around,
- 48:27Speaker 6: to teach people what they're going to look for when
- 48:30Speaker 6: she's around and how to handle her.
- 48:33Speaker 2: I don't know whether you played baseball or not, but
- 48:37Speaker 2: I see it as God having this big old nant
- 48:42Speaker 2: to allow you to fall into when you need to,
- 48:46Speaker 2: and then when he's ready to throw you back out
- 48:48Speaker 2: there because he knows it's time for you to go
- 48:51Speaker 2: back out there.
- 48:51Speaker 4: That's what he does.
- 48:52Speaker 2: And he has thrown you out there so many times
- 48:55Speaker 2: because he didn't want you to give up. And it's
- 48:57Speaker 2: because only you can deliver with this message. He could
- 49:02Speaker 2: have picked anybody else and chosen anybody else's child, but
- 49:05Speaker 2: he picked you because you weren't gonna lay back and
- 49:09Speaker 2: just let it be.
- 49:12Speaker 4: I don't know.
- 49:12Speaker 2: I'm gonna be honest, I don't know if I could
- 49:14Speaker 2: have done it. I don't know what I would have done.
- 49:17Speaker 2: I really I probably would have still been crying and
- 49:19Speaker 2: then being upset and then being blaming other people. So
- 49:23Speaker 2: he knew who he wanted to choose and all.
- 49:27Speaker 4: The time, and I thank you for the process.
- 49:30Speaker 3: You're welcome.
- 49:30Speaker 6: I told people all the time. I love that he
- 49:32Speaker 6: chose me to be her mother, like I love it.
- 49:35Speaker 6: I don't know, like you said, I don't know if
- 49:37Speaker 6: anybody else would have taken these steps.
- 49:41Speaker 3: You know, I didn't.
- 49:43Speaker 6: I don't know, But I love that he chose me
- 49:47Speaker 6: to be her mom so that I could, you know,
- 49:49Speaker 6: advocate for her, to be her voice. But like you said,
- 49:52Speaker 6: she's watching, she watches everything. But I can't wait to
- 49:56Speaker 6: just I tell people all the time, she is going
- 49:59Speaker 6: to be a genius.
- 50:00Speaker 3: I'm speaking in now.
- 50:01Speaker 4: And I know when I see YouTube together and YouTube
- 50:06Speaker 4: it's the cutest things I ever did see.
- 50:08Speaker 2: And you're together, the look, the look in your eyes,
- 50:12Speaker 2: and the look that she has when she's looking up
- 50:14Speaker 2: at you, it's just like looking at the moon. I
- 50:17Speaker 2: don't know if anybody else has ever seen it, but
- 50:20Speaker 2: I see that when I see her looking up at you,
- 50:24Speaker 2: it's just like a magnet thing that you just see.
- 50:28Speaker 4: Tell me somebody, have you seen that?
- 50:30Speaker 7: Yeah?
- 50:31Speaker 4: Absolutely, I've seen it.
- 50:34Speaker 7: I love seeing them together.
- 50:36Speaker 4: So forgive me for going that deep, but I do.
- 50:38Speaker 2: I see that no matter how it's going to she's
- 50:41Speaker 2: standing in front of you and you're hugging her, it's
- 50:44Speaker 2: still there.
- 50:46Speaker 4: It's still there.
- 50:47Speaker 6: Yeah, although not going anywhere now, so I don't know
- 50:50Speaker 6: how that's gonna work.
- 50:52Speaker 3: I'll be looking at her.
- 50:53Speaker 2: Then you want me going like this, Let me going
- 50:55Speaker 2: like this, and you gonna be going Natalie, is there
- 50:59Speaker 2: a particular passage or moment and to be loved by
- 51:02Speaker 2: you that deeply moved you while you were writing it,
- 51:05Speaker 2: something lingers into your spirits?
- 51:08Speaker 7: Yes?
- 51:08Speaker 5: Yes, So, like I said, Tony's a card. And she
- 51:15Speaker 5: challenges Darius. At one point they've gone out for dinner
- 51:19Speaker 5: and he was taking her home. She was standing on
- 51:21Speaker 5: the stoop, which now she's already an inch taller than him.
- 51:24Speaker 5: So now this stupid has made a few more inches taller,
- 51:27Speaker 5: and her breast come to his eyes, to his eye level. Well,
- 51:31Speaker 5: you know, she she's flawting him in his face. So
- 51:35Speaker 5: he takes the challenge and he puts his hand under
- 51:38Speaker 5: her shirt and now she's freaking out because she's like,
- 51:42Speaker 5: I didn't.
- 51:43Speaker 7: Think he was like that.
- 51:44Speaker 5: Why is he really getting ready to do this on
- 51:48Speaker 5: the street where people can see us.
- 51:51Speaker 7: Well, he just kind of looks at her.
- 51:53Speaker 5: Then he picks her up, puts her on the sidewalks
- 51:55Speaker 5: or at their eye level, and he tells her, don't
- 51:58Speaker 5: you ever let anybody just rest affect you like that?
- 52:02Speaker 5: That that is what all women want from their men.
- 52:07Speaker 7: When we just got to.
- 52:08Speaker 5: Do something stupid or step out of the box, we
- 52:11Speaker 5: want that man to say, hey, don't do that.
- 52:14Speaker 7: Would you do that to yourself? So yeah, that that.
- 52:17Speaker 2: Moment, I'm looking at him a little differently now and
- 52:20Speaker 2: before I was laughing at him.
- 52:24Speaker 7: You gotta get to know, I would admit it that
- 52:26Speaker 7: I was.
- 52:26Speaker 2: I was laughing at Darius in the beginning because of
- 52:29Speaker 2: that corny line.
- 52:30Speaker 4: But I have to hand I have to hand it
- 52:32Speaker 4: to him.
- 52:33Speaker 7: Yeah, turned me around a little bit.
- 52:36Speaker 2: I feel like gonna date you because you sure, but
- 52:39Speaker 2: you really did. I'm really surprised that you go ahead, Darius.
- 52:43Speaker 5: Now, Gary sayn't short. Darius is six feet tall, but
- 52:47Speaker 5: Tony's talk to she's six to one.
- 52:49Speaker 2: Might he might just get over a little bit it's okay,
- 52:58Speaker 2: it's okay. So what message would you offer to a
- 53:03Speaker 2: mother still carrying her pain and silence bearing who have
- 53:07Speaker 2: not yet found the strength to give her story of
- 53:09Speaker 2: voice because a lot of them are working around in pain.
- 53:13Speaker 6: You know what, you don't have to carry it alone.
- 53:16Speaker 6: That that's the message that I would give, is that
- 53:20Speaker 6: you do not have to carry it alone, and that I,
- 53:24Speaker 6: like I said, I hope that this book would give
- 53:27Speaker 6: permission for mothers who are raising children with any disability,
- 53:34Speaker 6: you know, whatever it may be, not just IP, but
- 53:37Speaker 6: just hopefully that they would be know that there's power
- 53:42Speaker 6: and being vulnerable and that's where the healing starts, right
- 53:47Speaker 6: you just acknowledging what you went through. But again, until
- 53:53Speaker 6: they're able to find their voice, I hope that this
- 53:55Speaker 6: book is a reminder for them that they are not
- 53:58Speaker 6: alone and that they are are five other women in
- 54:01Speaker 6: this book who have you know, graciously, I can't thank
- 54:05Speaker 6: them enough just for being open to share this journey
- 54:07Speaker 6: with me, because again, stuff like this is traumatizing when
- 54:10Speaker 6: you have to go revisit for me. You know, commis ten,
- 54:15Speaker 6: so you know it's not far back, but far back
- 54:19Speaker 6: enough to have to go back and you know, visit
- 54:21Speaker 6: those hospital days and even, like I said, upon my
- 54:25Speaker 6: own recovery at the same time, So there's a lot
- 54:28Speaker 6: going on. It wasn't just her, it was also me.
- 54:31Speaker 6: But you know, I wasn't I wasn't important for me.
- 54:35Speaker 6: It was I needed her to be okay. But then
- 54:39Speaker 6: it's a message in making sure that you know, we
- 54:41Speaker 6: take care of ourselves as mothers, because.
- 54:44Speaker 3: We can't in an empty.
- 54:46Speaker 6: Cup, so we gotta fill our cup so we can
- 54:48Speaker 6: overflow in the lives of others.
- 54:51Speaker 5: I love how you say there's there's power and vulnerability.
- 54:54Speaker 7: I love that phrase.
- 54:58Speaker 2: So if to Be Love by You were adapted into
- 55:01Speaker 2: a film, what kind of soundtrack would you bring into
- 55:04Speaker 2: emotions to life?
- 55:07Speaker 7: It would be sexy and sultry like mag Night and Kim. Yeah,
- 55:14Speaker 7: because one of the ladies who did.
- 55:20Speaker 5: One of the ladies who did a review for me
- 55:21Speaker 5: said that Darry No, it was my editor.
- 55:24Speaker 7: She said, Darius had her reaching for her husband.
- 55:28Speaker 2: Yes, she's got that big old picture behind you of Darien. Yes,
- 55:34Speaker 2: now it's something you made up, but he's looking pretty real.
- 55:38Speaker 2: Oh yeah, look I would take Darries.
- 55:49Speaker 4: Now, who's the who's to check this on the side
- 55:51Speaker 4: of that is that Tony.
- 55:52Speaker 7: That's Tony.
- 55:55Speaker 4: She got a call.
- 55:58Speaker 2: I don't even I'm gonna change in that. I don't
- 56:00Speaker 2: even like her for him. I don't even like her
- 56:03Speaker 2: for I don't even like that dress you wear. No, no,
- 56:06Speaker 2: no no.
- 56:07Speaker 7: But know her.
- 56:11Speaker 2: I don't want to know him now that, now that
- 56:12Speaker 2: he done said what he said, I don't need to
- 56:15Speaker 2: know her. She's going about her business. She's going about
- 56:18Speaker 2: her business, so I don't even want to mess with her.
- 56:24Speaker 2: What's next for you on your journey as an author?
- 56:27Speaker 2: Do you see yourself continue to write stories that's center
- 56:29Speaker 2: on healing, truth and emotional transformation.
- 56:33Speaker 6: Yes, absolutely, so. Healing is a journey. It's not a destination,
- 56:39Speaker 6: it's a journey. So I want to continue telling stories
- 56:42Speaker 6: that shines a light on silent battles that people face,
- 56:48Speaker 6: especially women and mothers. Fathers also go through it, so
- 56:52Speaker 6: I know the voice of a mother's pain. But it
- 56:54Speaker 6: certainly serves, as you know, a book for parents period.
- 56:59Speaker 6: Because you mentioned my husband also went through it, and
- 57:02Speaker 6: I'll share I share a little bit about that piece
- 57:05Speaker 6: of it in there as well, just what my thought
- 57:08Speaker 6: process was like for him when both of us were
- 57:12Speaker 6: in the hospital, right. You know, I got him being
- 57:16Speaker 6: strong for all of us now because I can no
- 57:19Speaker 6: longer be strong for myself. We're on two separate floors.
- 57:24Speaker 6: You know, it was a lot for him. So my
- 57:27Speaker 6: goal is to create a space for more voices, more healing,
- 57:32Speaker 6: and for more hope.
- 57:34Speaker 2: I believe that you would do that, honestly do Natalie,
- 57:38Speaker 2: how has writing this book we shaped your understanding of
- 57:41Speaker 2: what it is true? But it truly means to be seen,
- 57:44Speaker 2: known and deeply loved floors, pain and all.
- 57:49Speaker 5: Wow, it's just a reminder again that love is Love is.
- 58:00Speaker 7: Not a straight path.
- 58:02Speaker 5: It's it's It has curves, it has twists, it has turns,
- 58:06Speaker 5: but it takes faith and strange to hold on and
- 58:10Speaker 5: make it through. If that again, you have to want
- 58:13Speaker 5: it because it's easy to give up, so easy to
- 58:17Speaker 5: give up, but you have to remember it's everything is.
- 58:21Speaker 5: There's nothing that's perfect, that nothing that's easy, but if
- 58:25Speaker 5: you want to be successful.
- 58:27Speaker 7: And then you got to hang in there.
- 58:28Speaker 5: I've been married, It'll be thirty nine years in August,
- 58:33Speaker 5: thank you. And I would not sit here and tell
- 58:37Speaker 5: anybody that it's been easy. But the good I weighs bad, absolutely.
- 58:43Speaker 2: All the time, all the time, ladies, for those deeply
- 58:47Speaker 2: moved by your stories, how can listeners, if viewers stay
- 58:50Speaker 2: connected with them, follow your journey or support your work
- 58:54Speaker 2: beyond the pages of your.
- 58:55Speaker 3: Book, So you can follow out on page on.
- 59:01Speaker 6: Facebook authorfarre and maclamore, or you can visit authorfarrenmaclamore dot
- 59:06Speaker 6: com where you can keep up with the journey. I
- 59:11Speaker 6: actually started that new page where I'll be blogging, so
- 59:14Speaker 6: you'll get to also dive a little deeper. But make
- 59:17Speaker 6: sure that you do go purchase The Voice of My
- 59:20Speaker 6: Mother's Pain. I cannot tell you how moved you would be,
- 59:25Speaker 6: how it inspired you would be, just from these powerful.
- 59:29Speaker 3: Women sharing their powerful stories.
- 59:33Speaker 5: And you can find my book on my website netsbooks
- 59:38Speaker 5: dot net. All of my books are there. I was
- 59:40Speaker 5: just telling the ladies that I just finished book number ten.
- 59:45Speaker 5: It's not published yet, but you can find all the
- 59:47Speaker 5: rest of my books there. You can follow me. I
- 59:50Speaker 5: have two Facebook pages.
- 59:52Speaker 7: I have Natalie R. Murphy author.
- 59:54Speaker 5: That book gives you a lot of information about how
- 59:57Speaker 5: to self publish because I am a self publishing coach.
- 1:00:01Speaker 5: And if you want some fun and romantic and kind
- 1:00:05Speaker 5: of spicy fun stuff, my make Room for Romance page
- 1:00:10Speaker 5: on Facebook.
- 1:00:11Speaker 7: Follow me there. That page is hilarious.
- 1:00:16Speaker 1: Woo.
- 1:00:17Speaker 4: Tonight was nothing short of powerful.
- 1:00:20Speaker 2: A huge thank you to Farren macnamore and Matt Lee
- 1:00:23Speaker 2: Murphy sharing DTS had triumphs with us. Their words are
- 1:00:29Speaker 2: reminded that healing is linear and healing is actually to
- 1:00:33Speaker 2: tell you the true healing is not linear, but it's possible.
- 1:00:37Speaker 2: Be sure to grab your copies of the Voice of
- 1:00:40Speaker 2: a Mother's Pain and to be loved by Blue because
- 1:00:43Speaker 2: these stories will stay with you long after the last page.
- 1:00:47Speaker 2: Thank you all for tuning in and don't forget. Our
- 1:00:49Speaker 2: next show is June twentieth at eight pm EAS this
- 1:00:52Speaker 2: standard time, when we return with our signature panel discussion
- 1:00:57Speaker 2: for cracks in the surface strengths in the core not easily.
- 1:01:00Speaker 2: You already know that's where real healing happens. Until next time,
- 1:01:05Speaker 2: take care of your spirit, speak your truth, and remember
- 1:01:08Speaker 2: your story is superpower. Thanks for keeping it basic. Good night, everybody,