Welcome to Unlimited Parenting. This is a show
where we talk about what it's like to be parents
of children with disabilities and or special
health care needs. My name is Allison and I am
joined today by the illustrious Melissa and the
whimsical Sarah. And today we are going to be
adjectives. I just came up with them on the fly.
I don't know if I even know what they mean. Of
course you do. Today we are. We are gathered
here today to bring our own topics. Everyone
has come to this table with a topic. Here we
go. Okay. Sarah, you want to go first? Absolutely.
I'd be delighted. What do you want to talk about
today? Well, I had a hard time thinking about
something, and then I just realized, you know
what? There's the beginning of a new school year.
It's our last year. Yeah. That's sad. It's been
21 years of school. Oh, my God. i mean that's
a lot of back school if you go back to yeah it's
been a long time yeah because how old is boston
he'll be he just turned 27 in the city hundreds
of years boston my oldest just turned 27 so i've
been doing school for a few years truman's in
his in the last year of the 18 to 21 program
and so i was thinking hey truman i love halloween
i love holidays i love celebrating people and
recognizing people it's the cheerleader in me
and making people happy by doing things or making
things for them or recognizing the good work
that they do because we all put in a lot of work
and what a missed opportunity to say that you
weren't joyful Sarah instead of whimsical no
right darn it well you didn't know her topics
exactly so it sort of fits yeah so I was thinking
that's what fills my bucket is making other people
feel happy or feel seen or feel recognized. So
you're a, what is that called? Like a gifts of?
Acts of service. Acts of service. Thank you.
Acts of service are part. That's your love language.
For me to give to other people. I don't necessarily,
like I do appreciate acts of service. Yes, definitely.
But you love. I love. Sharing. When people feel
seen. Share with me, Chester. Just people work
hard. Sometimes go above and beyond. anyway back
to the beginning of my i appreciate that about
sarah i was thinking about this might take it
a totally different way i'm not complaining but
when you have a kid with a disability and they
go to school and they have a teacher and they
have a helper and they have a nurse, and they
have a parent, and they have PT, OT, all of the
things. All the things. It kind of adds up. All
the people. Yeah. When you're recognizing, especially
at the end of the year, because I like to, it's
a lot of work with our kids sometimes. Who has
$800 for all those Starbucks gift cards? Uh -huh.
That's what I'm saying. So I am, that is my topic,
I guess, is like, we're coming up on Halloween.
We're coming up on Thanksgiving. And then we
go into Christmas. And then we go into Teacher
Appreciation Week. Maysember. All of those things.
Like it's constant, right? It's always something.
And so I've graciously done it and I've enjoyed
doing it. But I'm the kind of person that kind
of goes overboard. Right? That's my topic. How
do you guys feel about, because I definitely
would never want to leave anybody out. Like,
are you even getting stuff for the bus drivers?
Absolutely. I just wish. I do. Yep. Yep. So I
don't get, I don't want this to sound weird.
No. I'm not trying to throw anybody under the
bus. For typical students, I've never got anything
for the bus driver. Because they may, they. They
get on the bus and they sit down. They get on
the bus and they sit down and don't make it hard.
And they don't like try not to get on or off
or something like my special needs child does.
He makes it exponentially harder. So they earn
that treat at the end of the school. You know
what I mean? But I'm just like you, you know,
we have an OT, a PT, a speech. We have four pairs
in a class. It adds up. It's a lot. Right. And
I really do enjoy giving. gifts and doing recognition
when it's not obligatory like that yeah but it's
also i also enjoy the theme of giving and creating
so well and it's you've been on the other as
like a preschool teacher receiving end and that
has to feel really good to be recognized that
for going it's it does make me feel nice but
i'm just like it's been 20 something years and
here i am Maybe I'm coming to the realization
that this is it. This might be the last time
to have that. You know what I would do if I were
you? A picture of Truman. Print it out from the
Walgreens. Like 800 of them, right? And then
on the pack. you write a heartfelt message like
don't forget me i hope i taught you something
on your teaching journey so it's a low financial
lift yeah but it's but it allows you to access
that creativity and think of a memory that you
loved most and say you know truman wants me to
remind you of the time that you got out of the
bus and slipped and fell trying to help him haha
or something like that you know you mean me exactly
or like like that i appreciate that because of
you truman has learned to navigate his aac or
something like that yeah that's what i would
want i'm thinking of like when i was a registered
behavioral therapist that's not what i was is
that what i was because that it doesn't matter
that gives you the opportunity to really personalize
it for i love that yeah yeah thanks because i
remember i even i even remember all my kids I
wouldn't be able to recognize them anymore because
they'd be like five or six years older. Yeah.
But I would have loved to have had a little picture
that just. That's sweet. I do remember that similar,
something similar I did when he left middle school.
I had him paint something with a picture of him.
So yeah, that. You could even incorporate that
as a picture and then do a drawing, you know.
Yeah. From Truman or something. Yeah. That gives
Truman an activity. Mm -hmm. you know i like
that i might steal that too okay i might steal
my own idea yeah i'm like dang that's not a bad
idea because i don't i don't want to be i don't
want to give you another teacher's mug right
one teacher i know and everybody gets chops or
hand sanitizer you know or i i do go to the pinterest
and look for all the cute things and they're
adorable are but but i guess maybe they are lacking
that heartfelt message Yeah. And sometimes things
that were appropriate earlier or later on in
a child's life aren't anymore. So, for example,
when Silas was in developmental pre -K, I got
the teachers a bottle of wine that said, I know
my kids, the reason you drink or something like
that. Yeah. It's not necessarily appropriate
for Silas now because he's in a different stage
of life. So it wouldn't be funny. Ha ha. If I
did that the way that it was when he was four.
Exactly. It almost be. really it almost be like
well like this doesn't even make sense no yeah
that's really helpful thank you for talking that
out with me because here I am it's only mid -September
and I'm stressing great about I know what am
I getting reasons I think there's a hidden message
in there that this is it gonna be yeah this is
gonna be the last year that I get to do this
I mean, I don't have to. I can continue to send
them. I appreciate all the hard work you're doing.
Every year you send them Hershey kisses. Right.
But yeah, there's, it's been a long time I've
been doing this. Yeah. But then it's also vinyl.
Well, give us some examples of what you've done
in the past. Oh my gosh. Well, right. Like I
did the painting I made. You know how you, you
can get those fridge magnet frames. Oh yeah.
Uh -huh. you're my superhero and i did a hand
print that's probably when i was teaching preschool
did a hand print with different colors and then
i made him each a different like superhero oh
and then his picture and i've done that magnet
that's a really good idea and i've done i've
done little cups with you know the yeah cards
and gift cards and things like that and he's
painted them ornaments i made a christmas ornament
on one side it's His picture like modged podged
on one side and then something Christmassy on
the other. Sarah, you were. I think we all need
to collectively agree that we're only going to
do one. So like you're either going to do Christmas
or Teacher Appreciation Day or you're going to.
We don't need to do all of it. Right. I know.
And I mean, the ornaments were. If anyone's listening,
they weren't expensive. I went to the dollar
store. This is the most listened to. I went to
the dollar store and I got like the pack of five
Christmas ornaments for a dollar and then put
the picture on the backside. And, you know, so
it wasn't, I didn't break the bank. But your
time and effort. Yeah. So I don't know. Okay.
So those would be some fun things that I've done.
I like that. Yeah. It gets me thinking more ahead
and not just like last minute. I gotta go just
get something. Like that's usually what I'm doing
is the ray of. And then up to the store. You
know what? Every year for the last like three
years that we've done this, I don't ever get
that vibe from you. But the vibe that I do, the
last minute vibe I get from you is, oh my God,
what am I going to do with this elf? Every year,
it's the elf. Yeah. So now I think I'm finally...
I think the elf... Yeah. Elfie's gone? No, Elfie
will come. But I think Elfie... I think my last
child knows about Elfie. No. I think now the
kids are going to be more a part of moving him.
I think it's going to be more for surprise each
other. Surprise each other. Yeah. So now it's
just Archer's surprise. No, but I think. No,
but all the other. I think the others will surprise
Archer with moving the elf. But I have a feeling
that this year Elfie is going to start doing
like naughty stuff. He's not any longer going
to be just like. Elfie's going to be a G -rated
elf. Melissa, what's your topic? Okay. I think
my topic. So I have been traveling a lot lately,
right? And I think my topic is no one else can
do it for you. Only you can let it in. I didn't
have a topic, but now I do. I have a topic. Okay,
so I've been traveling a lot. And I came to the
realization that, you know, when you go through
security and you get all your stuff out of the
bins, I very much think that the people that
grab their bins and put them in the stack of
the receptacle. And then pull our stuff out.
No, I was like, don't leave the bins just there.
Yes. They are the same people that put their
shopping carts away. A hundred percent. Because
I would never. You can tell so much about a person.
Absolutely. By how they react after they have
a shopping cart and after they go through security.
Because it is like, are you the most selfish
person in the entire world? Or are you going
to like. Do some norms, like 10 second extra.
10 seconds. 10 seconds. Just put it in the pile.
Maybe 20 a shot is coming. I will say it is.
TSA to me is like a Costco in the sense that
it's kind of hard to have a good attitude there.
Yeah. Okay. Recently. Oh, girl. You don't have
a. I was at Costco yesterday and this man told
me. I don't leave my manners at the door like
other people do when they come to Costco. And
he looked at me and I was like, there are two,
I couldn't, you know how I am. You know how I
am. I stopped and I turned around and I said,
there are two lanes of traffic at this Costco.
Anyway, TSA, when we were, when we recently,
this girl to your immediate left, she is TSA
pre -checked. She went. out of her way to go
with me an individual with social anxiety through
the typical lane okay the things that she saw
with me slumming it with the regular people and
the way i was treated this man i'm laying over
a woman's toes when she was trying to do exactly
what you're talking about which is putting the
bin back where it belongs with his little bit
that he was going to take the bins and she looked
up and she was like oh my god ow so i stopped
what i was doing i walked over to her and i was
like are you good like that was kind of violent
and she was like an apology would have been nice
and that guy i i was gonna say something to him
i was so close and you believe it you know that
i was yeah until i saw his shirt it said supervisor
and i said there is There's no point. No. It's
from the top. So that's what I mean when I say
it's almost like it's hard to be a good person.
It's hard to be a good person. It is. Especially
if that's what's happening. Right. Can I also
say, do you want to tell this part about the
individual with a disability that we saw? Yeah.
Was treated worse than any person I've ever seen.
He used a... He was not elderly. He was probably
mid -20s. Yeah, he was younger than me for sure.
Used a, you could sit on it, but also push it.
Yeah. Like our grandparents would. Yeah. Thank
you. Exactly. It had a seat on it. A seated walker.
Yes, exactly. Exactly. Not come up with the word.
Great. And he, the guy's like, well, how are
you going to get through? And he's like, well,
I can't stand up. I can't walk. This man was
so nice. The individual with a disability. The
kindest person. Very sweet. And so he's like
taken off the pads to put him through the security.
And the guy who was rude to me that was helping
him also was like, well, come on over here this
way. And like made him like sit right in the
middle. everyone around him uh -huh he did not
take him to a different room he was still and
he was okay yeah okay he was waiting for him
to go figure out how to deal with this poor guy
right and just wow he went over and called someone
over he's like i gotta help this guy like it
was clear that he was put out for doing his job.
Sarah was so uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable.
I was prepared to watch the entire interaction
from a distance. But Sarah leveled up her game
and she walked right up to this man and she said,
hey, are you all right? Like, well, he's sitting
there waiting to get the other guy to get his
help. He's like, I got to figure out how to deal
with this guy. He literally said that. I have
to figure out how to deal with this guy. Talking
to the other TSA people in the stand. It's just
another layer. Yeah. And I'm like, I didn't want
to. I told Allison, I'm like, I don't want to
leave. 100%. I don't want to leave. I want to
make sure that he gets through. And I'm like,
are you going to be okay? And he's like, yeah.
Like, it obviously wasn't the first time. That
was exactly the impression I got. Like, on the
list of all the negative encounters that I've
had, this one's probably not even in the bottom
10. I hate that. I know. I hate that. The way
that this man with a disability had to be the
adult. He was not the adult. Gosh. He was alone.
Right? Mm -hmm. And I have, I have seen, I have,
you know, traveled with individuals with disabilities
and you do get, you get some. I know. Disparaging
looks and comments and it's already difficult
to travel. Don't make it that much harder. Everyone
has to be, and I swear to God, this is a fact.
Everybody has to be in their worst mood when
they travel. I know. You have to be in the worst
mood possible or else you don't have thick enough
skin to get through it. That's true. i know wow
i'm like i know i don't have to go through pre
wow because we don't have to that was nice line
but i'm like i'm traveling with my friend i don't
want her to travel alone i wasn't going to say
i'm traveling with my friend who has social anxiety
and a disability right he needs help he's like
that's not my plan to say that oh i'm traveling
with my friend and i what what do i need to do
like i know we've all seen that funny meme like
doing autism for the lady But as an autistic
adult, like what do I need to do to get support?
Yeah. Like they always say sunflower lanyard,
just ask for help. So I do. And I ask, and then
it must be the way that I come off or something,
but people automatically look at me like, well,
duh, all you gotta do is this. Like the day when
I, I was, uh, nervous so I just started taking
everything off to put it in the bin at the cell
phone everything I took off my apple watch this
man looked at me like I had just screamed bomb
right he looked at me and he goes never take
off your apple watch and I just stared at him
and he was like and you can stop staring at me
what is this in Boise yes and I just take my
watch off every time and so I just put my watch
back on and I was like I just stood there for
a minute and he was like the line is right there
and so then I had to go and walk in the line
and The way I was so overstimulated, like I couldn't.
And so people had to tell me everything twice.
And I'm like, I got to get out. I got to get
out of here. I got to get out of here. They make
it. the absolute worst experience of your entire
life right well i get i get i can't even imagine
how annoying it is to say the same thing all
day every day take your laptops out of your bag
that's not your job i get it and there's no consistency
if there was a consistency from airport to airport
you wouldn't have to say all of that no so i
didn't mean for my topic to turn into this i
was over at pre and people are taking their shoes
and belts off and i'm like I give up. I don't
even know what's going on anymore. Should we
just go through? But we should also clarify that
in this past year, we've been to northern Idaho.
We've been to Sacramento. We've been to Denver.
We've been to D .C. Heck, last year I went to,
I was in New Orleans. Like, it does not matter.
I've never had a good experience. It's not like
it's just the Boise airport or it's just the
Reagan International. It doesn't matter. so that's
what i think i think that you can tell a lot
about a person if they put away their tsa bin
and their shopping carts that's what i'm saying
we need more people who will put away their tsa
bins in the bin line yep we just need good people
in the world yeah be the good you want to be
the good and put yourself away god i wish we
don't even need to do my topic we should just
end on that line these are good well we um have
you ever gone to like a baby shower and they
are like give the new mom a bit of advice i always
say park next to a cart return because that saved
my life when i had absolutely but they won't
let you say that now because now um Oh, girl.
With all the trafficking stuff going on, they're
like, never put your kids in the car and then
walk away from your car. Like, even if you're
putting the car. But that's what I mean. I used
to park right next to the cart return so that
I would push you right there. Oh, your kids were
where you go. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So
that is a great advice. So I guess in concession
for the non -cart returners. Yeah. If you are
with your child. Okay. We will forgive you that
one time. I make my kid do it. Run across the
giant. Yeah, exactly. Run. I mean, in all fairness,
your 11 year old is 5 '10". To be honest, I think
he might be six foot. I just got home and he
was the same height as my father. No. No. Uh
-huh. Yeah. So the last week that I was gone,
I think he grew. It's like, it's bad. I mean,
there has to be some underlying something going
on because he already had his genetics test.
I know, and it was a little wackadoo, but it
wasn't anything crazy. But I don't think that
typical children grow like that, even when they
have cow hormones like you have yours. Yeah,
I don't know. I know. Maybe he'll stop. Six foot
at 11 years old. Even my 18 -year -old who I
saw this week was... way bigger than the last
time I left him. I was like, are you just like
looking at your children without your glasses
on and then coming back and putting them on?
Yeah, that could be. And you're like, crap. No,
my kid's legs. Like he's been working out. I'm
like, oh my word. I just saw you two months ago.
Red shirt who? Look at you. A what? A gray. What
does that mean? It's about the same as red shirt.
Okay. Yeah. You digress. I digress. It wouldn't
be worth it. Well, what's yours? My topic is,
I don't know. Okay, well, I mean, I know what
my topic is, but now I don't know if it's like,
it's maybe not a good fit for this with the previous
topics. My topic was, it just, it kind of feels
like now that everyone else has given their topic,
it's like complain hour, but that's not what
it is. Before you started working here, you didn't
have any children with disabilities, right? The
answer is yes, because that's why people come
into this work, right? Because we had children
with disabilities. That's why we're all here.
Oh, okay. Sure. Did that make no sense? Sorry.
Didn't make sense because I did work at another
place with a child. You mean we wouldn't have
thought to work here? You wouldn't be here without
a child with a disability. Like no one was in
high school saying, I want to work at a PTI when
I grow up. 100%. So my question is, before you
had children with disabilities, what were you
going to do? What was your life path when you
charted your life corners? Oh, really? But then
when I realized that I would have had to maybe
put them asleep. Oh, no way. Oh, I don't want
to do that. Yeah. Yeah. And then like the other
Melissa that we saw at the conference because
she wanted to be a vet. Oh, yeah. I'm pretty
sure she wanted to be a veterinarian. Yeah, she
did. Because then you made that comment and I
was like, oh, my God, that's right. You wanted
to be a vet, too. That's right. Yeah. And then
I was going to be, then I was going to do like
ultrasound for a while. On animals again? No,
on humans. But then I, when I got like in that
track, I was looking and there was way too much
math that was necessary. How about I just do
a business and that's where we ended up. Why
do you need so much math to wave a wand on a
body? I don't know. It was like science math.
Right? You would think business would not even
require science math. Yeah. But calculus too.
And whatever math that I had already done in
high school was sufficient. Yeah. Okay. Well,
because when I tried to go to BSU for a business
major, they told me I had to go all the way to
calculus. And I said, girl. Hey, no. Because
I would not have done that. Thank you. That makes
me. Well, me for business management, I went
business management, human resources. So I don't
know if that removed. I bet it did. I don't know.
I just needed to get out of there with no more
math classes. Truth. Yeah. Because it hurt. It
hurt the brain. No, I would never. Even up until
five years ago, I wouldn't have considered this
line of work. Yeah. Yeah. I just didn't know
it. Because even in no existence. Even doing
it, like being a parent of a child with a disability,
several in fact. And I remember being like, I'm
not expert enough. Yeah, we are. It's always
like an imposter syndrome type of thing. Absolutely.
We kind of say that all the time. Oh, yeah. You
know, I tell parents I give not we don't give
advice, but we give resources and such that sometimes
I haven't even used. I need to be using them.
Yeah. What about you, Sarah? Where were you going
to be? And you kind of are here, though, right?
I was I was two classes plus student teaching
away from a teaching degree. And then I had a
baby with complex medical needs. jeez talk about
a whole change of just your life everything different
so i teach different in different ways did you
always want to be a teacher like even when you
were little little five years old really it never
changed it was always teacher and did yours ever
change was it always bet oh yeah really my mind
fluctuated so much really yeah so from like five
to 13. i'm in my poor sister Sit through class
so many times. Yeah. I'm going to spank you if
you don't do your homework. Oh, yeah. Old school.
I was old with my dogs. And my brother would
have to bring them. He was the client and he
would have to bring them. And he would just drop
them off and I'd weigh them and stuff. Cute.
Well, cute. Well, what about you? Well, when
I was younger, I was gonna be a famous singer.
Oh. Like, it wasn't an option. I was gonna be
a famous singer. And then I realized I'm... Did
you do, like, choir and stuff? Oh, yeah. I had
private singing lessons. I did choir. Did you
do that? No. You guys are always so sweet. Yeah,
you just drop these random. I had private singing
lessons. I showed dogs. It's like, what? Those
are not normal. I mean, I wanted to be an actress
too. I was in drama and all those things, but
teaching is sort of like that. But no, I didn't
know that about you. Then. Busted out. Let's
do it. I did. No. Come on. Then I did a, I wasn't
like, okay, let's be very, very for real here.
I did maybe 15 lessons because I wasn't as good
as I wanted to be. So I figured, why do it at
all? Of singing? And that was kind of my mantra
in life is that if I couldn't be perfect, I wasn't
going to do it at all. It's very much a problem.
Was it like, did you ever consider going on American
Idol? No, no, I'm not. No, I'm not that good.
Okay. But I, so part of the lessons was, you
know, like match your voice to an instrument.
So, like, some girls, like, looking at you, Hayley
Williams from Paramore, have really pretty voices
when they're paired with guitars. My voice pairs
best with a piano. A harp. A trumpet. My voice
pairs best with a pair of noise -canceling headphones.
No, but for real. I don't know why harp just
came to me. Okay. Okay. When I was seven, I used
to make my dad listen to me sing along to Celine
Dion, and he would be like, honey, please. Bring
me the noise canceling. Oh, my word. At seven.
I wish that there was, like, is there photographic
evidence of that? Oh, yeah, there's videos of
me singing into a webcam. Who will save your
soul? From 2001. I can find it. Yeah, you need
to. Yes, please. And then I wanted to be the
CEO of a company. I didn't care which company.
I just wanted to be the boss. So then I went
to, see, now this is kind of funny. I went to
school for business. And then I realized you
had to take calculus. So I had to back out. So
you went to business because you didn't have
to take as much math. I had to back out of business
because it was too much math. I think we were
in some different catalog years. We were in different
catalog years. We were separated by some years.
This was back when you needed to know how to
count to ten to graduate. We had an abacus. I
can't count to ten. I'm not that old. Oh, my
gosh. We had to learn how to use that to teach
math. Are you kidding? I could never do it. That
was the hardest math class I've ever had. It
wasn't like differential algebra. It was applicants
101. Learned how to teach math. Math. Math, math.
My golly. And that was so hard. What? What is
this? I can't be doing this. Oh, wow. I can't
be living this life. No. No. It wasn't until
recently that I wanted to be a librarian. That
was not like a lifelong goal. It wasn't? I can
imagine that that wasn't. No. That's just been
very recent, but I'm curious. what what do you
guys think i would want to do like what vibes
do i give librarian hard librarian vibes well
um you give like like lead clerk at air apostle
well no like like a loud library can you imagine
me at the bmb i'd be like hurry up can i tell
you that when i checked in at the tick and kate
yesterday the lady was like the dmv slot that
he was utopia she was like i would pass away
i would pass away robin i was like are you seeing
what i'm seeing this is utopia and he was like
yep she was so slow pressing the buttons it was
the end of her day um librarian librarian ah
yeah what about me okay yeah so no yeah i was
thinking about this is a really fun game okay
Teacher. You give, I work at, okay, this is wild.
This is wild. And you guys are going to completely
disagree with me, but I just want you to know
it's the truth and I won't accept any other answers.
You give, I work at the Mac makeup counter. Today,
I'm not wearing makeup. No, you don't even have
to wear makeup. She is so happy, so bubbly. I
can find the solution to any problem. You have
red, I can color correct. You need the cool tone,
you need the warm tone. And I also say this because
when I go to the MAC makeup counter, I know that
I am about to be very, and it's funny because
I never wear makeup, but I did a lot when I was
little. Just tons of MAC makeup. But I always
felt, yeah, I always felt so like taken care
of at a MAC makeup counter. And I knew I was
never going to leave with like lipstick on my
teeth or, you know what I mean? Like I was going
to look good. Like they did my senior pictures.
They did my wedding pictures. I hired. oh uh
-huh you could do that you can i hired the manager
at mac i said this is my wedding day i know you
could do that i want to look phenomenal give
me the best of the best and they said you can
and she's 300 an hour and i said it that's great
you go in there and they did it no they came
to me they come with their traveling makeup bag
i had no idea this is what year did i get married
2011. okay oh my 2011 300 an hour wow in 11.
anyway i would have paid any amount of money
for her she was so great my husband was late
to our wedding and she was like girl i gotta
stop what if i have to take all of this off Oh
my God. And I said, I said, put this whole face
of makeup on because if this day goes down, I
want to look hot when it does. And she was like,
Oh, I love you. Yeah. Okay. So you give, you
give you're in good hands with all state. So
I'm going to give you Mac makeup counter. You
on the other hand are a bar back. Oh, you work
at a bar late at night. Yes. You work at a bar.
Really? Absolutely. Okay. Because you are quick.
You are. You are on it. You can management. You
need to close out your tab. Did you bring an
extra thing of whatever to table number 33? Like
you're the boss of the bar. No crowd is going
to rile you up. You are in control of everything.
You walk in and you go, I don't know if that's
like the correct term, but like a bar manager.
Yeah. You walk in and you're like. Interesting.
You think that my, you think that you can pull
this on me when I have a disabled child? You
can walk right out of Humpin' Hannah's and try
again. Like you look concerned. No, don't be
sad. What did you think I was going to say? What
vibes do I give? Do you want to try again now
that you gave me something nice like librarian?
Give librarian vibes though. Like you want people
to read. I want people to learn. And the programs.
And I look very homely. Not in a negative way.
No, not in a negative way. You are approachable
in a library. But I very much look like I'd rather
sit there and smell the book than pick out a
mascara. Like that. I mean, come on. You want
people to learn and be their best. Yeah. Okay,
well, what jobs would have you given each other?
I would have given her a teacher. Like, I know
that's really basic, but I think Sarah's... Or
like a good teacher. You could also. I want to
get Neil Teicher. I know. Or you know what else
she kind of gives? You can handle all the. Hospital
administrator. What I think is really interesting
is you mentioned the fact that you. passed on
being a vet because there was something that
you couldn't do. Yeah. And then the two of us
are like, you could do anything. You are here
because you could do anything. The animals, not
the animals. Put the animals down. That is like
the most vulnerable people get. And you go in
with your animal and then you leave without your
animal. And I've done that numerous times. And
I go to the vet. That's the curve 2024. I know.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it would be like my ducks.
I could get rid of my ducks. So I have just surrounded
myself with animals. And they're never going
to die. Well, yeah. Exactly. So it's interesting
that you thought of this topic because... So
I wouldn't have ever thought of going into anything
disability related. However, my children, my
daughter, because she has grown up in this world,
is going to school to be a pediatric physical
therapist. That's so wild. But this would never
have happened had she not had a little brother
that needed those services. And she went with
us to all of those appointments. I don't think
that would have been in her wheelhouse. Because
I think people are always just trying to find
something that they're passionate about. They
want to have a purposeful life. And she says,
I saw what good it did for Reese, and I want
to be that in other people's lives, in kids'
lives. Because it was play that made a difference.
I'm going to really make a difference in this
kid's life from a physical therapy standpoint.
So I think that's kind of cool how our kids now,
because of their siblings. Yeah. Yeah. They're
very passionate. Well, that's a quick recap.
I want everyone to go around the room and say
something nice about themselves. I could be a
barback. You could. You'd be so good, too. You
would be so good. Sarah, what would you be good
at? Making people happy. Yes. Helping people
be happy. I can't make people be happy. Girl,
that's the dream. Helping people find their happiness.
Helping people find their good. You do that to
us. You do 100%. I'll tell you that. Thanks,
because sometimes I don't feel like it. I walk
in here a little bit grumpy. That's fine. Everybody
does. That's totally normal. That's part of the
human condition. And me. You. I'm funny. Even
if other people don't think I'm funny, I laugh
at myself. And that's all that matters at the
end of the day. You would be the funny librarian.
I would be the funny librarian. I would be like,
there was the purple librarian, the purple lady
at the library. Oh my God, that's right. So you
would be them. I would wear Miss Frizzle dresses
if I worked at the library. 100%. I would wear
Miss Frizzle dresses and I would get everybody
in a group and I would read a book out loud and
I would act it out with puppets. And I could
sing. You could. I could sing. Thank you so much,
everyone out there, for listening in. And know
that if you are in Idaho or planning on moving
to Idaho and have questions on systems or services
for children with disabilities, please consider
reaching out to us on our website at iPull, Idaho.
That's I -P -U -L. or by calling us at 208 -342
-5884. Be sure to tune in next time. Until then,
this has been Unlimited Parenting. Thanks for
listening!