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Who We Are Now.... After the Pandemic!
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Mar 14, 2024
Sometimes life turns you upside down, dumps you on the floor, and asks, “so what are you going to do about it?” That’s what happened to Michelle Fishburne in 2020. After losing her job, her hearing and most of her balance she decided to hit the road and took a 12,000-mile RV journey all over the U.S... all during the first two years of the pandemic. From that experience "Who We Are Now" Stories of What Americans Lost, and Found During the COVID-19 Pandemic, was born. This promised to be a great conversation. Join us!
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0:03
sometimes life turns you upside down
0:06
dumps you on the floor and asks so what
0:09
are you going to do about it that's what
0:11
happened to Michelle Fishburn in 2020
0:14
after losing her job her hearing and
0:16
most of her balance she decided to hit
0:18
the road and took a 12,000 M RV Journey
0:22
all over the US and all during the first
0:25
two years of the pandemic from that
0:27
experience who we are now stories of
0:29
what Americans lost and found during the
0:31
covid-19 pandemic was born so stay tuned
0:35
we've got a great show for you we'll be
0:37
right
0:46
back hey Michelle welcome to the show
0:49
well thank you um when you described
0:52
what I did I was like what kind of crazy
0:55
person would do that that would be
0:58
you
1:00
because you really did that and wow your
1:02
story is incredible and the stories that
1:04
we're going to be talking about as well
1:06
in your book are incredible so I just
1:09
want to jump right in let's talk about
1:10
your journey let's take you all the way
1:12
back to 2020 we all know what was going
1:15
on back then so tell us a little bit
1:18
about what happened and I know it's an
1:21
anniversary today as well so give us a
1:23
little bit of backstory okay so today's
1:25
anniversary just everybody can key
1:27
themselves in is four years ago today
1:30
March 13th was the last day of school in
1:34
2020 and if you if you talk to a teacher
1:38
and you say to them what happened on
1:39
March 13 2020 they all know and they all
1:42
know it was a Friday um but so what
1:45
happened to me is uh is I start off 2020
1:48
with a job I loved uh and then an
1:51
unknown virus took out my eighth cranial
1:54
nerve in my right ear and destroyed my
1:57
hearing in that ear and my vestibular
1:59
system so I was walking on a
2:02
walker um and and having to learn how to
2:06
walk again um in a straight line and uh
2:09
then about two weeks later I got laid
2:12
off because of covid um because I was
2:16
doing National events for a nonprofit
2:19
that couldn't happen and they said
2:20
there's no reason for us to keep you
2:21
going so I had a lovely spring with my
2:25
senior in high school and we got of
2:27
course this probably resonates with a
2:29
lot lot of people got to spend a lot of
2:31
really amazing quality time that we
2:33
wouldn't have had right right I
2:34
submitted 86 customized cover letters uh
2:38
to get a job and nobody wanted me I was
2:42
57 and I don't know if that played a
2:44
part but I couldn't get I mean people
2:46
wouldn't even take me for free w so um
2:49
and so on July 31st the lease on the
2:52
post divorce house was up and I was
2:55
without a house a spouse a job and or a
2:58
kid to look after cuz my senior was
3:00
going out to high school and it didn't
3:02
make any sense for me to rent a place
3:04
because I didn't know I'd have to go to
3:06
get a job so I I had homeschooled my
3:08
kids and I had uh a 2006 motor home and
3:12
I thought well I'll just move into the
3:14
motor home and then I thought okay I
3:17
could take it to the beach but
3:20
fortunately I was wise enough to
3:21
remember that you can wake up in hell
3:24
when you are in Paradise right because
3:27
because lovely
3:28
quote because if I woke up every day and
3:32
kept trying to get a job or consult my
3:34
way to a job which is a what a lot of
3:35
people are doing right um I think I
3:37
would have been nervous every darn day
3:40
and so um I just decided I'd to start
3:43
driving um and I'm a project person so I
3:45
knew I would need a project and um uh
3:48
humans of New York came to mind that
3:51
some people might be familiar with and
3:53
um I thought I'll just go out and
3:55
interview people I don't know um about
3:58
their lives during the p mic I'll take
4:00
their picture and I'll do a little
4:01
vignette and so that turned into 12,000
4:04
miles and
4:05
hundreds you know I was sitting here
4:08
while we're waiting for the start to
4:11
start and I'm looking at all the names a
4:14
100 people right and I can see all of
4:18
them and they all come from such diverse
4:21
backgrounds and I'm sitting here just it
4:24
just takes me right back to those times
4:27
and one of the reasons why I put the
4:28
book together people I really didn't
4:30
want to do book people said you have to
4:31
have a book and I said I'm just not
4:33
doing it and then they said but this is
4:36
this is history this is American history
4:38
you have to do something for posterity
4:40
and nobody else did what you did right
4:43
and and it gives us an idea of what life
4:46
was like I mean I interviewed Mayors and
4:49
ballet directors and unhoused people and
4:54
monks and you know any and but finding
4:57
people was hard because one of the
4:59
things I had forgotten about during the
5:01
pandemic is that there's really not many
5:03
people around and so finding people
5:06
so and you know it's funny because you
5:08
just said as you looked through the book
5:10
as you were waiting it brought back all
5:12
these memories you could see their faces
5:14
and you could see so for the person
5:16
who's going to pick up this book and
5:17
we're going to show you how you can pick
5:19
up a copy of this it's um a lot of
5:22
stories there's a hundred in here right
5:24
um and each story is maybe a couple
5:27
pages long right yes like this like
5:30
anywhere between 300 and 1100 words it's
5:33
supposed to be vignettes and it kind of
5:34
tumbles you through the pandemic through
5:37
all these different lenses was there a
5:40
question that you asked them when you
5:42
sat down with them or did you just say
5:44
talk to
5:46
me well in the beginning I was terrible
5:50
at doing this I went up to people and
5:52
said can I interview you about how your
5:54
life has been during the pandemic and
5:55
people just didn't work out so well yeah
6:00
and then I started to hit my stride and
6:02
I figured out the question and the
6:03
question was this it's January 1st
6:07
2020 what was your 2020 supposed to be
6:10
like and what it end up being like
6:12
through the present and most people I
6:15
told them I said I'm not going to
6:16
interrupt you there is no follow-up
6:17
question and most people literally truly
6:21
talked for anywhere between 30 and 45
6:24
minutes in fact wow reviewed the um Jim
6:26
Purdue the from Purdue Family Farms
6:29
right and and he said well you probably
6:32
need to do follow-ups I said let's just
6:33
try this you know the way we've done
6:36
with everyone else Jim and let's just
6:37
see and when he got done with his answer
6:40
he said how long did I talk for and I
6:43
said 18 minutes that is the longest
6:47
answer of my life oh my goodness but
6:50
even recently I've talked to a few
6:52
people I've just met and I saidwell what
6:55
was your life like during the
6:57
pandemic and you know Karen it's the
7:00
same thing you if you ask an openend
7:03
question like that about their lives
7:05
during the pandemic people literally
7:08
still oh yeah for 30 minutes well and
7:12
I'm wondering I mean I I look at just
7:14
like everybody else it was like the four
7:16
years from hell and um and yet I can
7:19
honestly say there were so many
7:21
blessings that came out of it because of
7:24
those relationships be because of
7:27
realizing that every day is precious and
7:29
one of the stories in here uh the guy's
7:31
name was ziv and uh he's a New York City
7:35
resident with covid-19 and I think you
7:37
know his story is really really short um
7:40
and what's interesting about this is
7:43
that you know he say I'm lying in bed
7:44
I'm not feeling well and you think am I
7:46
going to get this you know G to get the
7:48
siren or every hour that goes by and
7:50
you're getting worse and worse and
7:51
you're realizing that you got it and
7:54
that it's serious I mean when when Z
7:56
said to me because I did this interview
7:58
with him because I already knew zeve a
8:01
little bit and um and he looked at me
8:03
and he
8:04
said what' he say he said at least four
8:08
or five times over two weeks I two weeks
8:11
right at least four or five times over
8:13
two weeks I literally dialed nine one
8:17
and was like if it doesn't get better in
8:19
10 minutes I have to go to the hospital
8:21
so he would dial
8:23
91 to wait to see if you had to hit the
8:25
other
8:26
one was he alone was he is was he a
8:29
single guy or did he have no no he's
8:31
married with two kids and the
8:34
grandparents wanted to come over and
8:35
take care of the kids but they didn't
8:38
want to expose the grandparents and they
8:40
lived in a flat in New York City and his
8:43
wife had it and he had it and um they
8:48
just decided to power through and he
8:50
said by the time the two weeks was up
8:52
and they finally could sort of make
8:54
their way to the kitchen and maybe pick
8:57
up some Legos the floor was I mean it
8:59
just was a
9:00
mess and and back then I mean nobody
9:03
actually really knew what was happening
9:05
I mean there and even today I'm sure
9:08
there are people that still think we
9:09
don't know what was happening but back
9:11
then I mean as you said school closed on
9:14
March 13th kids now were going to be
9:16
homeschooled whether they liked it or
9:18
Not by their parents it's the reason why
9:19
I launched a show called once upon a
9:21
story time to give parents a resit for
9:23
10 minutes so you know it's like oh my
9:25
God I have my kids at home what am I
9:27
going to do what was there a a a line of
9:31
conversation that went through all of
9:33
these stories that it just every time
9:34
you had the conversation everyone said
9:37
something of the same thing or was every
9:39
story
9:40
different every story was different and
9:43
in in every story there was a moment
9:46
where my jaw kind of dropped um it be
9:50
because small things would happen that I
9:53
thought oh gosh I had never thought of
9:54
that so for example um we'll go back to
9:58
the ballet so the one of things that
10:00
really intrigued me even before I went
10:02
out there is if you're a ballet dancer
10:04
you need to you need to do ballet with
10:07
another person usually well you know in
10:09
a troop or in a line or with a somebody
10:12
picking you up right right and how do
10:14
you do that and um so when I finally got
10:17
out to Yuma Arizona and talked to a
10:20
ballet company director she said we
10:24
decided to um get a grant for a big big
10:29
Ma and they did um they did a nutcracker
10:32
on a football field oh my goodness
10:35
that's right so that's the kind of
10:37
moment where people were really trying
10:40
to be resourceful and pivoting and
10:43
figuring out ways to still move forward
10:46
and the ways they did it were so clever
10:50
um so it was really interesting now at
10:52
the same time of course there was a lot
10:54
of
10:55
loss and how people dealt with that loss
10:59
also um there was just a lot of strength
11:02
I when I went out I expected for people
11:05
to be despondent desolate and even um
11:10
when people lost people I was amazed by
11:13
their pluck and pluck is a word we don't
11:15
use very much anymore you're dating
11:18
yourself a just a little bit and I'm
11:19
dating myself because I actually know
11:21
what you're saying
11:23
so it means spirited and determined
11:27
courage and and I think that
11:29
um
11:31
when remember remember when the people
11:33
in Spain were on their their balconies
11:37
and they were playing their instruments
11:39
and they were
11:40
singing and
11:42
and I'm really glad we saw that first
11:45
because to me these people were in tiny
11:48
little apartments and they really
11:49
couldn't leave them right and it gave me
11:52
hope in the human spirit that you know
11:54
we would make it through this and it
11:56
would be hard and it would be
11:57
uncomfortable but we would was still
11:59
bond together for community and so I
12:02
guess if you were asking about the
12:03
thread the thread that I did see is
12:06
after almost every interview the person
12:09
would say to me so you've been driving
12:12
around right and I'll say yes and
12:14
they'll say how are people doing like
12:16
could you tell me a story can you tell
12:19
me about some of the people that you met
12:22
and this sense of We're All in This
12:26
Together was very real on an individual
12:29
basis I I I that makes sense to me in so
12:33
many ways because it's almost like we're
12:35
we're not alone and somebody else is not
12:37
just somebody else everybody else is
12:39
going through what we're going through
12:41
in different degrees now I'm very
12:42
fortunate you know in my household my
12:44
husband and I we never got covid now
12:47
that might be because my husband's a
12:49
cancer survivor he's immune compromised
12:51
we never went outside it became a joke
12:53
that we literally never left the house
12:56
now my family my 90-year-old father my
12:58
mother everybody got covid multiple
13:00
times and it really puts a premium on
13:05
life right you start to think just like
13:09
that and that's what that story that you
13:11
know the story was it was zeve right was
13:14
Z and that was that was really early
13:16
like he got Co very early March the F
13:19
Well the first wave he had it yeah my
13:23
sister had it my sister was in Morocco
13:25
on a on a a group tour and the entire
13:28
group got Co it was right before uh the
13:32
the 13th actually and they were on their
13:34
way home so it it it touched everybody
13:37
but again I think it it it bound us
13:40
together in ways that we probably never
13:42
would have been bound together right
13:44
when you were talking about the people
13:45
being abroad it made me think of one of
13:48
the stories Karen who lives in New
13:50
Jersey she had been waiting to adopt a
13:52
child in Haiti and um and it was looking
13:57
like she wasn't going to be able to get
13:59
there and so she decided I'm just going
14:02
to fly down there and get my daughter
14:04
home and she was able to get her home
14:07
the day before the borders
14:10
closed wow that's like yeah and now so
14:14
um Lee just said interesting that you
14:16
experienced how as individuals were all
14:18
in it together when our society tore
14:19
itself apart on a grand scale which is
14:22
uh true as I mean that's that's that's
14:24
very true it's and and that that's what
14:26
surprised me when I went out there I was
14:28
expecting
14:30
I was actually expecting to be
14:32
uncomfortable I was expecting to be to
14:35
experience fear at times um and
14:38
disbelief at times and what what I found
14:43
was when I was dealing with people
14:46
one-on-one and fr frankly most of them
14:48
probably didn't vote the way I did um
14:50
and I asked this open question about
14:52
what was your 20120 like hardly anybody
14:55
said anything about politics wow because
14:58
when you ask somebody what's your life
15:00
been like they're going to talk to you
15:02
about their family their friends their
15:04
health their maybe their spiritual
15:07
beliefs um what they did to help others
15:10
and that's what people were really
15:11
focused on and how do I keep my job and
15:13
how do I keep an income going and what
15:15
do we do with the kids and my job right
15:18
and that's what people focused on so I
15:20
was fortunate that the question really
15:23
leaned into people being people and
15:25
hardly anybody brought up politics right
15:29
um if you're just tuning in we are
15:30
talking with Michelle Fishburn she is
15:33
the author of who we are now she spent
15:36
12,000 miles on the road um in her RV
15:41
and we'll talk a little bit about that
15:43
but if if you want to pick up a copy of
15:44
the book and I think you should uh go
15:47
ahead and scan this and if you're on
15:49
your um phone the link will be in the
15:52
comments as well and go pick this up I'm
15:55
curious and I know Michelle will
15:56
probably be curious as well which story
15:58
touches you which one of the stories you
16:00
relate to the most because there are so
16:03
many amazing stories in there so you're
16:05
out there on an in an RV right
16:09
yep with your dog
16:13
um how was that I
16:17
mean I still can't believe I did this um
16:21
I believed it while I was doing it but
16:22
now looking back I'm like wow I am um it
16:25
was it was so when I homeschooled my
16:29
kids I spent 10 months on the road with
16:31
them carav caravanning with my parents
16:33
who were full-time motor homers for
16:35
seven years so we went to national parks
16:37
and state parks so driving around the
16:39
United States exploring in the motor
16:42
home is something that I'm very familiar
16:44
with doing however I didn't have my
16:47
little kids with me anymore so it was
16:49
just me and my dog and I
16:52
thought not only is our
16:54
country really being torn apart at the
16:57
seams and we have this raging
16:59
pandemic but I'm just become an empty
17:01
nester and I am going to be alone and
17:05
I'm not prone to depression I mean I've
17:07
never been quote depressed but I thought
17:10
you know this is not a good setup for
17:11
you Michelle um but I think that I did
17:14
sort of a run forest run Thing by having
17:17
a project and giving myself an ambitious
17:20
time schedule so I just kept going it
17:23
was one foot in front of the other and I
17:25
always thought that our nation's
17:27
Treasures were our national parks and
17:30
state parks yeah and what I found and
17:32
this is gonna sound so corny especially
17:35
now or especially 20120 but I really
17:38
found that our nation's Treasures
17:40
treasure is our people I really enjoyed
17:44
the meeting people and I did not expect
17:46
that to be
17:47
frank well so that's a good thing though
17:50
right so it was a great thing it was a
17:51
great thing so I am sure you get asked
17:55
on a regular basis oh what's it like to
17:59
become an RV
18:00
Nomad what should I do should I just go
18:03
rent an RV and just or buy an RV even
18:05
better should I buy an RV and stock it
18:07
up with all my stuff and just
18:10
go so good question um the first time
18:14
that I did the 10 months back in 2006
18:17
the question was should I make it short
18:19
and do the rental the rentals but the
18:22
rentals are expensive right and then
18:25
when I looked at the number crunching I
18:27
thought well if I buy a slightly used
18:29
motor home from a dealer M at a good
18:33
rate and then I take it out for a few
18:35
months and I bring it back I can
18:37
probably sell it for round about the
18:39
same price or sell it on privately for
18:43
round about the same price so I thought
18:44
I thought so so for those people who are
18:47
thinking about it number one yeah it's
18:49
probably a good idea to rent one for a
18:51
week right or two probably two weeks
18:54
just to see um and if you're going to
18:57
rent one I wouldn't go really more than
19:01
25 feet for the first time and that
19:03
might even seem big but 25 feet is kind
19:06
of small and the scheme of things for a
19:07
motor home right I would go ahead and do
19:09
that and do it for about two weeks and
19:11
see how you feel and um the whole sort
19:14
of selling the house and doing a yard
19:17
sale and getting rid of all your stuff
19:19
I I when I did this I started off with
19:23
five storage
19:25
units and I I I still have two like 10
19:31
by 15 units full of stuff and this is
19:34
year what and and don't don't be
19:37
embarrassed by that because I am sure if
19:40
we were to ask into the group right now
19:42
how many of you have stuff that you put
19:43
away in storage now you had a reason to
19:46
put everything away in storage because
19:47
you got into your RV and RVs just don't
19:50
hold that stuff did you feel like
19:52
downsizing and and doing all of that and
19:55
living simpler and you know living with
19:58
less rather than more did that also
20:00
change who you are
20:06
um that's a really interesting question
20:09
as I sit in a little tiny furnished
20:12
studio in Washington DC so at this point
20:15
I'm a I'm what they call a digital Nomad
20:17
somebody who works um and lives from
20:20
wherever they right want to right so
20:23
I've mixed things up I'm recently I've
20:25
done the RV and like Airbnb and them in
20:29
a furnished flat that's month to month
20:32
sometimes uh due trusted house sitting
20:35
um so I'm now mixing it up a little bit
20:37
um but uh did it change me
20:43
um I'm sure the answer is yes well and
20:46
I'm sure it's probably hard to
20:47
differentiate between being out on the
20:49
road during covid and all that and just
20:52
being out on the
20:53
road I think that it made me more com
20:59
comfortable uh with being by myself and
21:02
entertaining myself um I was really
21:05
happy I mean I mean um I if somebody
21:09
said to me could you do this for an
21:11
extended period of time by yourself uh I
21:14
would say I'd be lonely but I I wasn't
21:18
and I really enjoy meeting people and
21:20
you know when you go even on vacation if
21:22
you go with a spouse or a partner or a
21:24
friend you don't re really meet that
21:26
many people um when you're on vacation
21:29
um and but if you go by yourself it's
21:32
completely different so I went to PTO
21:33
varda uh a couple years ago um I the
21:36
first week there by myself and then my
21:38
daughter joined me for the second week
21:40
and by the time she got there a lot of
21:43
people knew me because that's the way I
21:46
am and and and when she got there she's
21:49
like Mom WTF like everybody knows you
21:53
are you already the mayor like what's
21:56
going on but it was but it was so much
21:58
fun because I got to know all these
22:00
people and and the moment she got there
22:02
we turned
22:03
inwards and and and that was it that was
22:06
it with meeting
22:07
people so why why do you continue to do
22:11
this I mean I know that you're going
22:13
back out for a while so why do you
22:15
continue to do this what is the reason
22:16
yeah I'm going back out tomorrow
22:19
morning okay um I'm going back to the
22:21
motor home um and I miss it I do um and
22:26
I'm going to be Lakeside for a while and
22:28
I like staying at um Farm stays um so
22:30
I'm going to go stay at an alpaca
22:33
Farm which will be fun and I'm also
22:35
going to stay at a brewery which will be
22:37
fun too in a different way right and um
22:40
so why do I keep doing it it's
22:44
um I'm I'm a buffet kind of person I I
22:49
am I'm not a sit down I remember when I
22:51
got married in my early 30s and they
22:54
assumed I wanted to sit down dinner and
22:56
I almost you know that's not me no I
23:00
don't want that no no it's got to be a
23:02
buffet I I I I um I really like changing
23:06
things up and also when you change
23:08
things up and this thing keep falling
23:10
out of my ear and this is the ear that
23:12
works so that's a problem
23:16
um gotta be honest right gotta be honest
23:20
um
23:23
but I have enjoyed aging because what
23:25
I've realized and I've been enjoy I've
23:27
enjoyed in a strange way being thrown
23:30
about and and having the rug pulled out
23:32
from under me because every time
23:34
something
23:35
changes I get to see a different version
23:37
of myself and so what I've said to
23:39
people is I think of people like
23:41
kaleidoscopes we're born with a certain
23:43
n number and like colorful whatever at
23:46
the end right and every time we turn it
23:48
we get to see a different version of
23:50
ourselves and and each version's
23:52
beautiful and frankly you know I
23:56
wouldn't normally if if I'm really
23:58
comfortable I'm not going to mess with
24:01
it the dial right but when the when the
24:03
Kaleidoscope gets dropped on the ground
24:05
like it did in 2020 and I picked it I'm
24:08
like ah there's the new Michelle what's
24:10
I mean and what's interesting is and I
24:12
don't know if you want to tell everybody
24:14
how old you are but you know we are both
24:16
of a certain age and um you know I'm I'm
24:18
67 and I I I say that but it's we get
24:21
stuck in our ways I think as we get
24:23
older and it's harder and harder to do
24:25
new things but you are a walking a
24:28
example of somebody who doesn't follow
24:31
that I mean maybe it's hard to do new
24:33
things but you did it anyways I mean you
24:35
just did it yeah so I'm I just turned 61
24:39
and um I think doing new things is
24:42
something that um gosh it just seems
24:46
exciting to me now and it and and even
24:49
when it brings me to my
24:51
knees which sometimes stuff does I've
24:54
proven to myself now that um I'm going
24:58
to okay and I'm going to get up one one
25:01
of the one of the keys that I that I do
25:03
to keep
25:04
myself um upright I guess you could say
25:08
is that when things are going really
25:10
well I feel like I'm surfing on top of a
25:13
wave and I make sure that I note the
25:16
moment I'm like oh my gosh I am having
25:19
so much fun things are going so well and
25:22
I I like I really truly make a note of
25:25
it because I know I'll be in a trough
25:27
again at some point point and only to
25:29
remember that I I was just recently on
25:32
the top of a crust of a wave and that
25:34
there'll be another one again that's so
25:36
important what you're saying is to
25:37
appreciate the highs to get you through
25:41
the lows right that's right because
25:43
you're you're gonna have them you're
25:45
totally gonna have them if you're just
25:47
tuning in we have been talking with
25:48
Michelle Fishburn she is the author of
25:51
who we are now um and I know you're
25:53
going to want to get in touch with her
25:54
and stay and connected with her so you
25:56
can go visit on her website Who who we
25:58
are now. us about Michelle you can also
26:03
find her on LinkedIn Michelle Fishburn
26:06
and also on Instagram Michelle Fishburn
26:09
but you can also just put Happy Nomad
26:12
and find her there because you've got
26:14
stuff you got some really cool things
26:15
over there as well any any last minute
26:18
thoughts you want to share that we
26:20
didn't touch on that you think we really
26:23
should be touching on well I recently
26:25
drafted an oped we'll see if it gets
26:27
picked up um
26:29
that was entitled I miss who we were
26:31
during the
26:34
pandemic interesting and um the reason
26:37
why I missed who we were is I liked it
26:40
when we were spending more time actively
26:42
thinking about each other and I think we
26:44
were happier too when we were actively
26:47
thinking about each other and we had our
26:49
lawn chairs circled up on each other's
26:52
Lawns and we were doing our happy hour
26:55
zooms and and um we were you know
27:00
checking in on people and I think we've
27:03
gotten back to our go go go go life and
27:06
um and and and I think we lost something
27:09
when we did that I that's kind of what I
27:11
meant by it was a blessing I mean my
27:13
family where we never hung out together
27:15
we're all spread out all over the place
27:17
we ended up doing a weekly Zoom that we
27:19
did for almost four years almost until
27:21
the end of last year every single week
27:24
the entire family all the kids wow and
27:27
both parents cuz I'm very blessed my
27:29
parent and we would get on with our
27:30
spouses and we would just every single
27:32
week nobody would miss it and that is a
27:35
blessing it truly is a blessing that I
27:38
fondly look back on and want to do it
27:41
again right I miss I actually I actually
27:44
missed that I want to put up the book
27:46
one more time so people can go scan it
27:48
go get a copy of it and let us know what
27:51
you think and we might want to know your
27:54
stories as well you might have some
27:55
stories are you going to do everybody
27:57
has a story are you are you doing
27:59
another
28:00
book I am going to do another book I am
28:03
torn about the topic and um and it's
28:07
it's a major commitment yeah I'm tossing
28:10
around several in the back of my mind
28:12
and um yeah so there'll be another one I
28:16
uh I really I really like
28:19
UND understanding other people's views
28:22
of life and life experiences and it was
28:26
the highlight for the trip for me and
28:28
and um so it's what I want to do for the
28:31
rest of my life so hopefully this is the
28:33
first book of many and I just I need to
28:36
really think about the next subject well
28:38
I'll be I'm going to be following you
28:39
I'll continue to stalk you as I said
28:41
when I talking you I have one last
28:44
question and that is question I ask
28:45
every single guest how do you want to be
28:48
remembered
28:50
oh as the person
28:53
who helped us understand each other a
28:56
little bit better
28:59
thank you thank you thank you thank you
29:01
to our audience you have a choice as to
29:02
where you spend your time and how you
29:04
spend your time you chose to spend it
29:05
with Michelle and I today we thank you
29:08
we appreciate you and we say to you go
29:11
out give somebody an awesome day we'll
29:13
see you next time goodbye everyone
#Social Issues & Advocacy
#Work & Labor Issues