Chad’s Feeling Nifty at 50!

[00:00:02] What you want when you want it where you want it. This is The MESH

[00:00:31] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a special half century old edition of Big Fan

[00:00:37] Some may compare it to a fine wine Hank

[00:00:41] Some may say with age comes perfection

[00:00:45] Others say life is a journey filled with ups and downs laughter and tears and the biggest realization comes when we understand that age is just the number

[00:00:54] And we refuse to define us

[00:00:57] Hank I've also heard that hey, you're not 50

[00:01:01] You're 18 with 32 years of experience and of course Hank's favorite happy 50

[00:01:07] Isn't it nifty? No need to be shifty. You don't even need a face lifty

[00:01:12] Hank I say that two or three times a day. I gotta tell you it just rolls off the tongue

[00:01:17] You know a lot of 50 year olds now too, but I do know a lot of 50 year olds

[00:01:20] How about a crowd that you know, I grew up with they're all turning 50 this month

[00:01:24] Well, listen, I know a lot of 50 year olds and I had a huge monologue ready

[00:01:30] teed up some of the funny stuff I ever wrote but

[00:01:33] To be completely honest

[00:01:36] I'm used to being kind of in a youthful mood with you and seeing you

[00:01:41] Just decrepit old 50 year old man is tough to watch man. It's tough to look in the mirror

[00:01:46] I'll be honest do you mean hold the paper over here? He's got listen putting my readers on right now as we speak this old

[00:01:51] Man, uh, it's going to get through this birthday somehow some way. Oh, I know you're getting through it

[00:01:56] Yeah, I'll get through it somehow some way

[00:01:58] So, you know before we talk about birthdays because it is happening turning 50, you know, I I do feel wiser

[00:02:05] Uh, like I mentioned like a fine wine i'm almost to perfection

[00:02:09] I'm just not quite there yet, but it's very very close like you're saying like you feel like you know

[00:02:14] Refined refined. Yes, like refined. Okay, so like

[00:02:18] most people like if they're

[00:02:20] I want people to close their eyes and have a mental note and they might know what your face looks like and put

[00:02:24] That on there and then imagine a a collared shirt on this gentleman

[00:02:29] Okay, this is what a refined gentleman would do

[00:02:32] And then imagine him rolling the sleeves up in a business atmosphere

[00:02:35] And that's what you have with chad chad is standing in front of me with a collared shirt on and

[00:02:40] Rolled up sleeves like he's getting ready to pick up somebody at half court. I mean, it's ridiculous. What are we doing?

[00:02:46] I'm here hank. I'm sorry. I talking about 50. It just made me get a little sweaty

[00:02:51] Uh, so I gotta roll up. That's like male hot flashes

[00:02:54] Maybe that's what i'm going through a little male menopause right now

[00:02:58] But anyway, so yes, it's happening a lot of birthday celebrations

[00:03:01] A lot of our buddies have already turned 50 some have their birthdays yet to come mine. It's next thursday next thursday

[00:03:07] Next thursday, so we'll make sure that we celebrate but as doing in doing this writing this little monologue here for the for the big fan

[00:03:16] fastest growing podcast in

[00:03:18] northwest hickory hank

[00:03:20] Fastest growing. I love it. I mean i'm telling you the numbers are just soaring sorry

[00:03:25] I can use the word sorry sorry. I dig it. Um, I started thinking about old birthday parties

[00:03:30] And so tell me if you can remember and we'll just start with

[00:03:33] 21 when you turned 21

[00:03:36] Was there something special? Did you do something special?

[00:03:39] Did you do like most of us and just go to the bar trying to drink 21 shots of

[00:03:44] Rumple mints and then make it home. So I think on my 21st birthday, I was actually home

[00:03:50] So my birthday is october 11th. Okay, and so it was right on fall break. Yes, okay

[00:03:55] and I

[00:03:57] My brother who's two years older than me was home

[00:04:00] So he was like i'm taking you to the tavern or the tap room

[00:04:03] So we go downtown right and we have a great time. You know, I love my brother

[00:04:07] We you know, we're having a great time

[00:04:09] And then I remember, you know, obviously we're not driving home

[00:04:12] Right, so let's start walking. We didn't live far from there. So we start walking through downtown

[00:04:17] The next thing I remember is we both have our shirts off and we're fighting

[00:04:21] In the front of lance marvin's house, but it was it was like play fighting

[00:04:25] But it was like physical like real physical and then we both were out of breath and we're like what are we doing?

[00:04:31] And we we limped home. So it was a lot of fun. I don't know who else was with us. I'm sure

[00:04:37] You know, but two and y'all just end up play fighting

[00:04:42] It was it would have been embarrassing for jake because he would have got mad

[00:04:45] He would have got really hurt

[00:04:46] But it was uh

[00:04:47] That's all I can remember of it because I think I think banks and all those guys were home too

[00:04:52] Or a couple of them were home. So it was fun. How about you?

[00:04:54] 21st birthday. I will I remember it like it was yesterday. I was living in this really cool townhouse

[00:05:00] uh, it had a pool it was called hunter's creek and raleigh and

[00:05:03] I I had been to some of my other buddy's 21st birthday celebrations at the bar and i've seen

[00:05:10] Me they feed you all these shots. They want to make you sick

[00:05:14] And so my plan was

[00:05:17] Drink tons before they can take you to the bar and then you can say I can't go out

[00:05:21] I can't see let anybody see me like this

[00:05:24] So I started taking little shooters by myself at like four in the afternoon. This seems like a terrible idea awful idea

[00:05:30] so by eight

[00:05:32] It's over for me, right?

[00:05:33] And so they try to get me up put me in the car to take me to the bar capariles

[00:05:38] That was our barn raleigh and literally we don't even pull out the driveway and my buddy said

[00:05:43] He ain't going nowhere take it back. So I wake up the next morning. It's the first day of summer school

[00:05:49] I go into the summer school class

[00:05:51] I had not met jennifer east in my life my wife

[00:05:54] But she happens to be in that class

[00:05:56] I make it through the class five minutes and then I have to get up and walk out and the professor says

[00:06:01] Sir class is not over. I said sir

[00:06:05] I'm sorry. I turned 21 last night

[00:06:07] I'll try to be back

[00:06:09] And so I go outside and lay in the grass outside the class jennifer comes up. I'm there the whole class

[00:06:16] I don't go back in she walks by and she said so I meet her for officially a couple weeks later

[00:06:21] She said are you the dude that was laying in the grass the first day of summer school?

[00:06:26] I was like, yes ma'am. That's me. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, so that was my

[00:06:30] 21st birthday celebration and after that I

[00:06:33] Don't drink though. This was when goldschlager was big

[00:06:37] They had a knockoff goldschlager. That wasn't really gold flakes. It was like

[00:06:42] silverschlager

[00:06:44] Some generic one and I drank a fifth of that that night before the thing. That's ridiculous stupid

[00:06:52] silverschlager

[00:06:53] But anyway, so that was my 21st. I learned my lesson

[00:06:55] I will never do that again and let's think about gold rush. Is that what it was?

[00:07:00] Gold rush gold rush. Thank you moose our producer always comes to the rescue not silverschlager, but gold rush

[00:07:07] A 30 year old it had real it had real gold flakes in it goldschlager. I know yeah gold rush did not but

[00:07:13] 30 year old birthday. What did you do? You recall 30th? No gold rush has cubics are coming in it

[00:07:24] 30 year old I

[00:07:26] Dude, I don't remember. Yeah, I don't I don't do I can't remember

[00:07:30] How about I remember because all my high school buddies we turned

[00:07:34] Our birthdays are in may and so our wives or our girlfriends or whatever put a big party on at rock barn for 30th

[00:07:40] For 40th we had a big party at the lake at the lovern's do you remember I was at the rock barn one

[00:07:45] Yeah, i'm sure you were with the rock bar. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was at the rock barn

[00:07:49] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that was 30

[00:07:52] Okay 40 was at the lake at the lovern's ping pong tables. We had the dj out there

[00:07:57] Do you remember that one? Yeah, I do. Yeah, that was fun and then

[00:08:00] 50th to come

[00:08:02] To come so we'll see what happens. Okay, see what happens next week. What was your 40th anything fun? No nothing

[00:08:08] Gosh what a party pooper. No, I can't remember 30 or 40

[00:08:13] It's a shame. That is a shame. Yeah friends

[00:08:16] Not very good ones apparently

[00:08:18] Not very good ones. Apparently they don't care about my day. Obviously where are my friends?

[00:08:24] Where are my friends? Well, anyway, buddy, it's going to be a fun next couple weeks

[00:08:27] Uh a lot of birthday celebrations a lot of cool stuff going around in hickory

[00:08:31] You know the hum kicking off this weekend. Yep. We were just talking about the hickory fc the new

[00:08:37] Professional soccer team we have in hickory went to a game two and one three and three one. I'm sorry

[00:08:42] They won last night. They're leading their division. This is remarkable unprecedented high run precedent high level soccer, too. I didn't think

[00:08:50] What I saw last night is what I you know that level performances. Yeah, these dudes are good

[00:08:55] Yeah, they're very very good. So it's been a blast. It reminds me. Do you remember the crawdads?

[00:08:59] Came to hickory and the town was just a buzz. Oh, yeah mania

[00:09:04] Oh, yeah, remember and you'd want to go it was the hottest ticket at town and everywhere you went you know

[00:09:09] You'd walk around and see this person that you haven't seen since elementary school and this person blah blah blah same thing

[00:09:15] Do you remember do you remember a major the movie major league?

[00:09:18] Of course

[00:09:18] And do you remember when they were making them play off run and they had these like

[00:09:21] These videos of people walking down the street and they're like pointing to their hats and it like connected the city

[00:09:26] They're like, yeah, you got on this jersey. Yeah, look here. Look at here. Yeah, good to see you

[00:09:30] That's what it felt like I felt like with uh, the crawdads care in town

[00:09:34] Like you'd see a guy with a hat on you'd be like my guy, you know, what are you doing?

[00:09:38] Did you uh have all the crawdads gear too? Like as soon as it came out i'm sure you had the jersey

[00:09:42] Oh, I didn't have I wasn't i've never been a jersey guy. Yeah, I don't know what that is

[00:09:46] Like I are you a jersey guy? I don't own a jersey. I don't own a jersey either

[00:09:50] I don't know what it is about the jersey that I don't I listen if you're a jersey guy

[00:09:56] It's fine with me. I just don't I I don't want to be somebody else

[00:09:59] I guess I guess it's what it is but hat you're oh, i'm a huge hat guy. I'm a hat guy

[00:10:03] I've got i've got probably five or six crawdad hats really? Yeah

[00:10:09] Um, I would I could see you taking like, you know

[00:10:11] The um the helmet that they serve the ice cream in I can imagine you like fitting in that one pretty well

[00:10:18] Pretty funny hank pretty funny. Um

[00:10:21] That is pretty funny

[00:10:22] Because actually I do have a couple of those ice cream cups. I'm sure I there's no doubt actually

[00:10:27] But I don't put them on my hat rack. They're just like i'm

[00:10:29] On my nightstand. I would imagine them being on the top of your dash

[00:10:32] And then when you get out to play tennis or something you you just put it on

[00:10:38] Ladies

[00:10:39] Anyway getting back to this. So yes birthday celebrations, um

[00:10:43] Uh, it mixed all into the birthday celebrations. We've got graduations going on, right?

[00:10:48] So the high school is getting ready to graduate your son getting ready to graduate eighth grade eighth grade amazing

[00:10:52] When does that take place? 28th. Okay, so in a couple weeks, um, my daughter finished her first, uh,

[00:10:59] Year of school at south carolina. So we both of them did first year high school first

[00:11:03] Yeah, that's right. Lucy rose first year high school libya first year of college. So we pick her up last wednesday

[00:11:07] I don't know if i've told you this story yet

[00:11:09] Maybe we go down to pick her over the middle of the week move her out blah blah blah

[00:11:13] and so we're driving back and I just

[00:11:16] Feel like there's a sense of

[00:11:18] Confidence in her that when I dropped her off great

[00:11:21] What I mean it was probably there but now it's just bigger

[00:11:25] Yeah, and it's showing itself more of pride and confidence

[00:11:29] So I was like, this is pretty awesome. So we you know driving home

[00:11:33] It's a great drive home and i'm famous for when I was growing up

[00:11:37] You know if it got quiet or something

[00:11:39] I was like hey and I was having a conversation with a friend in a car or wherever we are

[00:11:45] Hey, you guys want to get deep? Let's talk let's talk about something deep, you know

[00:11:49] So i'm with olivia and I was like libya

[00:11:51] You know

[00:11:52] You want to talk about something deep and she got nervous. She said oh god, what's he gonna say about here?

[00:11:56] Here's a question for you and i'm gonna pose it to you hank. Tell me what you think

[00:12:00] We'll call this deep conversation say conversations with olivia in the car. Okay

[00:12:06] All right. Am I olivia or am I hank? You're you okay, but so I'll pose this to olivia

[00:12:10] I'll pose it to you. So let's just say

[00:12:13] I have the ability to snap my finger like this

[00:12:16] Hear that hank

[00:12:18] And once I snap my finger you

[00:12:20] Will automatically become the most proficient person

[00:12:24] In one of these categories, okay, but only in one you can't say

[00:12:29] It's only one. Yeah

[00:12:31] So here are the categories that you could be proficient in and then tell me why

[00:12:35] This would be the why you say yes to this one and no to the others sure so subjects in school

[00:12:40] You could be the most proficient mathematician in the world basically

[00:12:44] So, you know, you would know all the theories and theorems and psych

[00:12:49] physics and gravitational

[00:12:52] Blah blah blah our universe sure

[00:12:54] Or you could be very proficient in a foreign language the smartest french linguist or spanish, you know

[00:13:01] Sure or top of the field in history, you know everything about world history european history american history everything

[00:13:09] or

[00:13:10] You could be the number one chef in the world. You can cook everything people would want to come to you

[00:13:15] So you would serve them

[00:13:18] Or the top athlete in any sport you chose

[00:13:22] and lastly

[00:13:24] The best musician using one instrument whether it's your voice a guitar a piano only one

[00:13:30] But you could choose these things you can't make money

[00:13:34] You can't make money off them, but you are just like that dude at the cocktail party

[00:13:38] Right that somebody asks a history question that you're the history guy. Yeah, you can just

[00:13:42] Run it it just flows right through. You know all the answers gotcha

[00:13:47] What would you what would you choose hank? Okay

[00:13:50] So most of you guys I mean most of these people know me

[00:13:53] So there's an obvious choice out there, right?

[00:13:55] I think that most people would be but i'll tell you it's probably not the one i'm going to choose

[00:14:00] Okay, good. Okay

[00:14:02] So let's go the one that I would let's go down some of the ones that I wouldn't yes mathematician

[00:14:06] Okay, I think if you're a statistical genius and you worked in math, I think it would almost be

[00:14:14] It would almost cause you to be insane thinking about numbers all the time beautiful mind ish

[00:14:19] Beautiful mind ish. So I mean, I think that that's probably not something because it would it would consume you

[00:14:24] It would consume you okay, and I don't I know that you're able to

[00:14:28] Bring jets down from the sky and all that stuff, but there's not much joy to the you know

[00:14:33] You can't spread that joy sure

[00:14:36] Knowing the secrets of the you being able to potentially unlock the secrets of the universe would bring me much joy

[00:14:41] Sure, but I can understand how it would be overwhelming. Okay next was history history. Okay, I would not choose history

[00:14:48] Okay, although i'm fascinated in history. I don't feel like um

[00:14:54] Again that would bring me personally joy knowing exactly when the

[00:14:59] But wouldn't it be great?

[00:15:00] You're at a cocktail party with rogers young and he brings up this thing about something that happened the

[00:15:06] 1954 political election you say no, sir. That's incorrect

[00:15:11] You just made that up

[00:15:13] To impress these other people at the party and that is incorrect, sir

[00:15:16] Although that sounds very good. I'm not going to go with it because I like roger. I like roger

[00:15:21] Okay, I don't want to challenge him in that fair enough. Okay. Next one was an athlete. No, which one was this one?

[00:15:25] um

[00:15:26] language language language the language was probably

[00:15:30] as

[00:15:31] Close to the top as anything interesting because I think that it would be amazing to

[00:15:38] Go somewhere and be able to fall into the culture and hear it and i've actually seen a guy on

[00:15:44] I don't know some real and he starts out a conversation and he's american and he's very proficient in a ton of

[00:15:52] uh asian

[00:15:53] dialects and so

[00:15:55] He will actually have an individual they're having a conversation

[00:15:59] And we'll on a dime switch and it's like perfect mandarin, right?

[00:16:03] Yeah, so I think I think it'd be cool to be able to unlock different cultures and stuff like that

[00:16:08] But it's not that not the one that I would want. Yeah. Okay

[00:16:12] Low-hanging fruits the athlete

[00:16:15] Okay, it certainly would give me joy. I think it would be fun

[00:16:21] I think you know, I would want to play it for joy

[00:16:25] But I think i'd go with musician wow from hankheimer the musician. I think I'd what would be your instrument choice

[00:16:32] Probably a piano

[00:16:34] Lovely, okay

[00:16:35] Probably a piano and the reason that I say that is I once was told by my mother

[00:16:40] When I was in I I started piano

[00:16:43] When I was 10 11 12 and I was taking lessons and I did it for about two years

[00:16:48] And I said mom i'm just not into it. I don't want to do it

[00:16:51] I want to play sports. I want to do this and she was like that's fine

[00:16:53] If you don't want to do it, i'm not going to pay for you to do it

[00:16:55] But let me tell you something there's going to be a time where there's a party and somebody's going to sit down

[00:17:00] At a piano and they are going to capture the room and I was like whatever I don't care and she's like just wait

[00:17:06] So it happened after I graduated college a friend of mine got married in new york city and we're in this beautiful

[00:17:14] Penthouse they're having a cocktail party

[00:17:16] It was the thursday night before the rehearsal dinner and it was just a cocktail party, right?

[00:17:20] And there's probably

[00:17:22] 50 60 people there

[00:17:24] Right this guy that played baseball with me who we had he sang the national anthem. We knew he had a pretty voice

[00:17:29] He sits down at a piano

[00:17:32] And plays beautifully

[00:17:34] every

[00:17:35] Woman in that place fell in love with him. Every man wanted to be him, right?

[00:17:41] And it was just it was just a thursday night. No, no, I didn't know

[00:17:45] I mean he surprised us our senior year when they said national anthem being sung by this gentleman and he came out and he

[00:17:50] sounded

[00:17:51] Great, but when he sat down there that was the moment that I said mom

[00:17:55] It was he was two seconds into it. I said my mom was right

[00:17:58] My mom was right. And so I think I think music would be great because it pulls people together like I mean

[00:18:05] You do it all the time is like, you know

[00:18:07] You can a song will come on and you start not you because your voice is terrible

[00:18:12] But like a song will come on and somebody will start singing it and next thing, you know

[00:18:16] Start singing it. Yes, and then next thing you know everybody that's to drown out your voice though, but

[00:18:22] That's so we don't hear you but it's everybody starts to join in the next thing

[00:18:25] You know, you have this fun communal thing and I think music does that so I think

[00:18:30] Selfishly would be sports but it would be

[00:18:33] Musician for me. How about you? Yep. So olivia chose

[00:18:37] language spanish

[00:18:39] Because she's actually taking that in college and really and she says it's very tough and hard for her

[00:18:44] But she enjoys it and so she would love to be

[00:18:47] Very proficient at it. I had the same thought as you did. I was athlete boom. It's got to be athletics, you know

[00:18:53] Then started thinking a little deeper and the next thing that popped was piano. Let me be a piano player

[00:18:59] But I settled back

[00:19:00] Because i'm a geek at the end of the day keyboard

[00:19:04] Triangle

[00:19:09] Now I went back to mathematics so that's the one that I chose

[00:19:13] Really because I just would love to well that would have been the biggest stretch for you because i'm sure you're not very good at it

[00:19:19] But yeah, I dig it terrible at it to be honest. It's my worst subject ever

[00:19:22] But I would really I just would love to figure out some of the secrets of the universe and you know with mathematics

[00:19:27] I could possibly figure that stuff out. Okay. All right

[00:19:30] So that's question maybe the alien question exactly the one that's burning in everyone's brain. Yeah, are they out there?

[00:19:37] right

[00:19:38] Second question in deep conversations with olivia on a car ride home

[00:19:42] This podcast is sponsored by jackson creative a custom communication agency located in downtown hickory, north carolina

[00:19:50] specializing in online content creation to learn more visit the jackson creative.com

[00:19:57] Jackson creative we tell your story

[00:20:01] It is the end the end of the world is coming in 30 days

[00:20:05] Okay, you know, it's coming let's say it's an asteroid and like there's nothing the whole planet the whole planet's going down

[00:20:12] You have three choices

[00:20:15] What do you do a nothing to say come on and get me come on and take it there's you know

[00:20:21] You know just live life just as you're doing now. Nothing changes

[00:20:25] be

[00:20:26] Bucket list stuff start here's your list of the things I wanted to go to fenway

[00:20:30] Wanted to go to the grand canyon

[00:20:32] I wanted to walk the great wall of china and start planning to make these things happen. Okay, or see

[00:20:38] Figure out how to stop the end of the world

[00:20:42] Like what can I do to and i'm not saying if it's an asteroid. I don't know what you do, but i'm saying

[00:20:48] Whatever it might be do you try to figure out how to prevent the end of the world? Okay

[00:20:54] Okay, let's go. So if there's an asteroid, let's just say that for instance

[00:20:57] Um, I I like the idea of kind of bucket list stuff

[00:21:00] But do you do you think air travel still like they're accommodating air travel at that point?

[00:21:04] You think they're like they're like the checking tickets at the gate like hey

[00:21:07] I'm trying to get to china and I can't really you know, where's my luggage?

[00:21:11] You know, you think people are worried about that right there. Where's my snack?

[00:21:16] So um, okay, so I would I would I would hope and I think I would be

[00:21:21] I'd want to spend as much time with my family and friends

[00:21:23] Like i'd want to make sure that we're all together

[00:21:25] But i'd also think that I would want to try to figure out how to stop this thing

[00:21:29] I wouldn't do nothing. I mean that seems stupid and bucket list stuff

[00:21:33] I mean nobody i'm sure the baseball season is cancelled at this point

[00:21:37] No double headers in this way with 30 to 30 days left in the world

[00:21:42] But um, yes, I completely agree

[00:21:45] So we actually we did this question last night not in the car with Olivia

[00:21:48] As a family coming back from the soccer game and so we try to guess what other

[00:21:54] People of our family what their answer would be right? And so they all guessed mine

[00:21:59] Because I would try to stop it. I mean, I try to figure out a way

[00:22:02] And again if it's an asteroid, what the hell am I going to do? Well, if you're a mathematician, you'd be able to know bingo

[00:22:07] So at least make an effort, you know if it was something about

[00:22:11] A volcano in the middle of the ocean is going to

[00:22:15] Explode I would try to figure out some way that we could prevent it, you know

[00:22:18] Second thing would be the

[00:22:20] And after i've done that and exhausted everything I can then I would go bucket list

[00:22:24] But the bucket list again, it wouldn't be really traveling. It'd be

[00:22:27] spending time

[00:22:29] family and friends

[00:22:30] Um olivias was nothing

[00:22:34] Chill she said it's over. I'm just gonna hang out. Hey, maybe have a cup of cookouts

[00:22:40] We'll all hang out but really nothing that i'm gonna do can't do anything. Let's stop it

[00:22:46] Let's let the scientists figure that out

[00:22:48] I said olivia, but you want to be a scientist. That's what you're going to scope for to stop things like this

[00:22:53] He's like but i'm not yet. Yes and now you to provide a solution for things like this. So anyway, I thought that was fun

[00:22:59] uh

[00:23:00] So what you don't know if you ever do that with hairs

[00:23:02] I'm sure you do just

[00:23:03] Asking ask him some things that you know, he wouldn't really think about and see the answers because it's amazing

[00:23:08] They love talking about stuff like this

[00:23:10] I mean when I was a kid their agent my parents asked me something like this. I'd say bye

[00:23:16] I would leave but these kids, I mean they just seem engaged about it

[00:23:20] Anyway, it was a fun little exercise for sounds like it. Yeah

[00:23:24] You know, I cut you off before your

[00:23:27] Intro because normally you say i'm a big fan of blah blah blah

[00:23:30] Did I did you have something? No, no, no, no

[00:23:33] It worked out. Yeah. Yeah worked out very good. All right, buddy. So well we've talked about you know

[00:23:38] So

[00:23:39] Deep conversations about 50th birthday parties, you know, I gotta talk to you about moving

[00:23:44] All right, because you've just gone through this and it's very close to my occupation

[00:23:48] We deal with it every day every day and my parents are moving they closed yesterday and they moved

[00:23:53] I'm sorry

[00:23:53] They closed monday and then moved into a new condo that they wanted to live in this area forever

[00:23:58] Are they living in the condo? I mean they slept there last night. So they slept there last night

[00:24:01] There last night. How's your back?

[00:24:03] I asked my mom and dad or asked my mom I hadn't talked to my dad yet and she said it's lovely

[00:24:07] But they were so exhausted like literally from all this stuff. They're mentally and physically exhausted

[00:24:12] She said she laid down like at 10

[00:24:15] She don't know if it's a good sleep. What? I mean, she was just wiped out wiped out

[00:24:18] So you were telling us the other day about how moving just sucks. Oh, it's awful. It's terrible. It's awful

[00:24:25] So I volunteered my brother my sister and I jennifer the girls we were there all weekend or most of the weekend

[00:24:31] Helping them because my dad can't really do much stuff for my mom

[00:24:35] Which this is when friends like my mom has a million friends, right?

[00:24:39] She had like two of them upstairs going through the study and then one of them in the kitchen clean

[00:24:44] I mean and they volunteered their time. Yeah, one of them stayed six hours five days in a row

[00:24:50] Cleaning up my mom's house. So anyway, it's good to have it's good to have friends. Yeah

[00:24:56] So the I guess the thing I want to say is they've lived there for 20 years

[00:25:00] So when olivia was born, she's 19 they had just purchased the house. We had livia's christening party there

[00:25:05] So all these memories, you know, we're going through this so lucy rose found this book

[00:25:10] We're cleaning out the uh, my tutu's closet her my mom's closet

[00:25:13] And this is a book when we went to disney world when she was three

[00:25:16] We haven't seen it since she was three, you know

[00:25:18] My mom made these books and so we're before I know it instead of moving

[00:25:22] We were laid back on the couch, you know and up an upstairs sofa that hasn't been sat in in years

[00:25:28] And we're just going through these books. So

[00:25:30] A lot of memories sure. Um, i'm happy for them for the move, but I think my dad is very sad

[00:25:37] Is he I think he's really sad. I don't think he thought he would be as emotional about the move right then as he is

[00:25:43] Yeah, my mom on the other hand. She's like let's go another adventure. Yeah, you know start another adventure

[00:25:48] So anyway, I don't know if you had the same kind of thoughts when you moved

[00:25:50] Well, I mean the thing is is like, you know, I don't even think of your mom and dad's house as that house

[00:25:56] Right. I think of the one in bethlehem, right?

[00:25:57] So, I mean I I don't really have that and so I think it's funny

[00:26:01] Because we all do have this connection

[00:26:02] I met with somebody today with one of my agents about they were so emotional about selling the house and

[00:26:07] The conversation came back to disconnecting themselves from it, you know

[00:26:11] My house that I just moved from harris was born there right? That's where reagan and I spent most of our marriage

[00:26:16] Uh together so I mean it was it's been an important thing

[00:26:19] But like you said, it's an adventure to move on and do something else

[00:26:23] And so like, you know, it is kind of funny

[00:26:25] but I heard a I read an article the other day and it was about real estate and and the connection that you feel towards

[00:26:32] um

[00:26:33] Our things right our property our cars our clothes are tangible

[00:26:37] And it said, you know, you do realize that

[00:26:41] You know

[00:26:42] in a hundred years

[00:26:44] Your car is going to be crushed in scrap metal

[00:26:47] Every piece of your clothing is going to be

[00:26:50] Through goodwill and gone and right everything your house is no longer going to be the east house

[00:26:55] It's going to be the smith's house. Sure. There's not going to be a trace of chad east in a hundred years, right?

[00:27:01] Unless you know a few little trinkets that lucy rose has passed on to her kids kids same thing with olivia

[00:27:08] Or you know, it's it's going to be interesting to see like and once you think about it that way

[00:27:13] None of this is important

[00:27:14] None of the stuff in that house is important that doesn't hold like right something close to your heart

[00:27:20] So that's the way I was like after I read it

[00:27:22] I was like why did I keep half that crap in my attic?

[00:27:25] Why did I keep those 3 000 t-shirts? I have what am I doing?

[00:27:30] And so it is kind of amazing because moving is more emotional than people want to give it credit for right?

[00:27:35] Interesting way to look at it really because what you really take the stuff

[00:27:40] That when I was going through all the things I'd look at it and yes, I'd feel nostalgic

[00:27:44] But it's really the memories that took the place that that are my brain right not a tangible shirt or this painting

[00:27:51] You know nothing like that really really matters

[00:27:53] It's just the memories that I had for being there seeing olivia get christened seeing lucy rose's first birthday party

[00:27:59] There those things and isn't it funny how we have an emotional tie towards something because I looked at my my um drawer

[00:28:05] The other day and I have a shirt from a team that I tried out for in college

[00:28:11] Right

[00:28:12] It's the worst

[00:28:14] Feeling fitting shirt. It's disgusting. I've never wear it

[00:28:18] It looks like a a bucket was put around the neck and stretched out

[00:28:22] But there's a feeling that I get when I see that shirt that I don't want to get rid of it

[00:28:26] And so I mean it is it has nothing to do with the cloth as much as it does

[00:28:30] The day I was there and if I think about that day, I was there memory toss that shirt

[00:28:34] Get rid of that terrible burlap shirt another team that you didn't make i'm sorry, but you probably got a lot of those shirts

[00:28:40] Got cut from this one got cut from that one. It's got a stack of them at the house

[00:28:45] Line them up, uh and staying on this

[00:28:48] Subject if we can another big thing that's happening in hey congratulations. You got me one time

[00:28:53] This is the time you got me. What episode are we on?

[00:28:56] Go ahead. I get you on every one boy, but to stay on this nostalgic kind of thinking that we're doing

[00:29:02] so there's this place that

[00:29:04] Talk about memories that last and for all the kids in hickory. It's called the foundation center

[00:29:09] We've talked about it on this podcast at least a thousand times

[00:29:13] It seems like anytime I go anywhere with someone from hickory for having a beer over here

[00:29:17] We're at the beach over here

[00:29:19] The the name the foundation center always seems to come up because that's where we learn to play baseball and basketball

[00:29:24] And swim and play tennis and have our first kiss in the teen room and our first dance and all this stuff

[00:29:30] It happened there. Yeah, so they are in the midst of right now. It's

[00:29:35] Going bye. Bye. It's the

[00:29:38] Some of it is some of it is the whole building is not yeah

[00:29:40] Not the whole building but some of the

[00:29:42] Like the wall like this the wall that I would sit on before my mom and dad would pick me up after school every day

[00:29:48] It's gone. Yeah, it's those things so it's more of the nostalgia of

[00:29:53] The places where you grow up are

[00:29:56] And mixed with me turning 50 and mixed with my mom and dad moving all in one week. I'm like holy cow

[00:30:02] I know this is breaking my heart. Yeah, but as you mentioned to me very wisely

[00:30:07] It can't stay like that the same place for in my mind it can yeah

[00:30:12] But physically it doesn't have to because it wouldn't last right? It's old, right?

[00:30:17] And you know in in the shoe for the shoe for family who brought that property

[00:30:21] Uh, you know brought it to where it is. Um, and you know in the 50s they had the zoo

[00:30:25] They had the train they had the pool and c.l miller is this gentleman that pulled it all together, right?

[00:30:30] He was the the the steward of this whole thing and we grew up there and we have these great memories

[00:30:35] And then when they went to the y I hated the idea of the y I was I was a senior in high school

[00:30:40] I hated the idea someone asked me today when it when did the y by the foundation center? What year was 94 95?

[00:30:46] I think it was 94 because it was

[00:30:48] The year I was going into my senior year

[00:30:51] And because we had to do the basketball league. They tried to make it the same

[00:30:54] But it wasn't the same for my senior year

[00:30:57] so

[00:30:58] but with that being said

[00:30:59] You know

[00:31:00] I didn't realize when you'd walk into the center the center it was the same

[00:31:05] 50 to 75 kids in there every time right the same people at the pool same people. Yeah

[00:31:11] The diversity of the people that walk through the door now

[00:31:15] I think

[00:31:16] Is such a benefit to the community that that place is

[00:31:21] Is a weight room is a workout facility is a tennis court is a

[00:31:26] And is reaching so much more of our community and is actually bettering and it's it's that campus is doing it for them

[00:31:32] And so i'm actually when we talked about this before i'm the executive

[00:31:35] uh campaign chair for how we raise the money for this and so the idea wasn't to

[00:31:42] destroy the center and I know that there's people that are are thinking that it's it's to

[00:31:48] Really bring it into

[00:31:50] The next generation so people can use it from here on out because you're exactly right

[00:31:54] I tell people all the time. I know I hit my first home run there. I know I hit my first three-pointer there

[00:31:58] I know I kissed my first girl there. I scored a first touchdown there. Um, you know, there's all these things that are

[00:32:05] Very symbolic to my youth there and I want it to be there for harrison harris's kids and everything else

[00:32:11] But the wall

[00:32:12] I think everybody was on board with the changes and making and then the wall which was such a centerpiece

[00:32:18] To this thing. Yeah, right started to have to take down because what it is doing

[00:32:22] The wall is holding two handicapped spots up at the top, right?

[00:32:27] And so to get the flow of traffic so kids are able to get dropped off daycare. They had to do something different

[00:32:32] Now the post on the corner which most people look at

[00:32:36] They're going to try to put it somewhere else on campus. Oh really right?

[00:32:39] That's the plan now the post has to cooperate because it's been there since 1950 and you know

[00:32:44] We're going to remove it and so it has to cooperate but I think steve maul did a great job our friend steve maul

[00:32:50] Is a state

[00:32:51] Guy like you love him. Yeah, he did a great job because on facebook people were being very vocal about what their thoughts are with it

[00:32:57] and he did a wonderful job of kind of connecting the history with it in the future of it because it is a

[00:33:03] Polarizing thing because it means so much to us in our minds

[00:33:07] But everybody, you know a lot of people were talking about the state is how many of the people that are upset and there

[00:33:12] Might be a lot

[00:33:13] Are members of the ymca, right?

[00:33:16] Right see benefit from it and they need it if you walk in there before they started the construction it is

[00:33:22] amazing I couldn't I

[00:33:24] It was amazing because I couldn't remember how like

[00:33:27] Boxy the rooms were and and it's going to be such a better place for people to go to exercise and everything else

[00:33:33] But with that being said

[00:33:35] It breaks my heart because it was such a big piece of our history. Absolutely

[00:33:40] So you've answered the question very

[00:33:43] Very well, so one of our my friends and I think you know him too. He knew we were doing our podcast today and he

[00:33:50] Didn't go to hickory high

[00:33:52] No, he did go to anyway. He's much younger than us. And so he had he said me

[00:33:56] I'll just read this to you. It's pretty interesting

[00:33:58] He said chad, I think you're doing your podcast today. Would you mind talking a little bit about what's going on at the center?

[00:34:05] He said looking at the destruction and thinking back to growing up at the foundation center makes me think of the transition from the

[00:34:11] End of school to riding my back, you know

[00:34:13] Because it was the end of school everybody go to the center

[00:34:15] Yeah

[00:34:15] Then you'd ride your bike to the foundation center for swimming and for playing ping pong or playing games with your friends

[00:34:20] So he's got all these memories just like all of us do right so it's breaking his heart, right?

[00:34:25] He says I need someone to prove me wrong or agree

[00:34:29] The found the transition of transition of the foundation center to the ymca

[00:34:34] Was the death of the younger generations growing up at the center now

[00:34:39] Understand this he says the center was focused on youth. The y is focused on members. Am I right or am I wrong?

[00:34:46] He's a member of the y he goes there all the time and he loves that right?

[00:34:49] But that was his question. It actually did answer very nicely with what you said earlier, but do you understand what he's saying?

[00:34:55] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you know what the the other thing is is in 1994 95. I think

[00:35:02] the center

[00:35:03] You know

[00:35:05] needed things

[00:35:06] Needed things and and

[00:35:09] It wasn't in a place to do that. Sure

[00:35:11] And so I think that the the youth I think today a youth center is extremely important to the city of hickory

[00:35:18] But at that time with it being the y the y's mission is is

[00:35:23] For for everyone. I mean, you know, it's for memberships, but it's for everyone. It's it's for

[00:35:27] Families, it's for old young everything else and I think it's important to realize that

[00:35:33] They're important to this community, but I think another like a youth center is also important

[00:35:41] It's just right now. We've got to make the hickory foundation center

[00:35:45] A place where people are going to be able to do it for the next 70 years

[00:35:49] Because if we if we didn't do this transition now

[00:35:51] That building would be obsolete and it would be instead of a 10 million 12 million dollar repair

[00:35:56] It'd be a 30 to 40 million dollar repair in the city of hickory wouldn't sustain that and I mean and to tell you

[00:36:02] To tell you a little bit about the community thinking that this is an important thing to do

[00:36:07] We did a feasibility study before we even went through here and they said that the community would raise three to four million dollars

[00:36:13] To help in this project. Okay

[00:36:16] Right when we decided to start this project covet hit

[00:36:18] Oh shit, okay. So nobody's going to give money for that at that point. We've raised just over 11 million dollars

[00:36:24] No kidding. So the the community said that it would be no more than four main and they've given 11

[00:36:30] Certainly, there's the need certainly there's need now for the gentleman that wrote this to you. I would say

[00:36:37] i'm with you

[00:36:39] I loved it for what it is. I

[00:36:42] Think that it was an important part of my childhood

[00:36:46] But this is the best thing for our community

[00:36:48] Yeah for the community to grow and the youth still have a place to go

[00:36:52] This is what had to be done right because it's still doing youth sports

[00:36:55] It's still doing, you know organized youth sports. It's still having, you know the the swimming

[00:36:59] It's still doing all that stuff. So I mean it is what it is. I get listen. I get it

[00:37:03] I get it and I get the people that are angry about it. I understand that too

[00:37:06] People in the end and you know

[00:37:09] It makes sense. They just don't like change

[00:37:11] Nobody likes change. I for one do not

[00:37:14] but

[00:37:16] It's inevitable

[00:37:17] Just let me i'm turning 50

[00:37:20] I'm getting older as you are every day

[00:37:23] change gonna happen

[00:37:24] so

[00:37:26] anyway, that's

[00:37:27] It is what it is hank. Yep. So anyway, thank you for sharing. Um, I do look forward to seeing the final prod

[00:37:33] Product when is the project going to be complete? I think they are hoping

[00:37:39] November, you know, it's it's kind of you know, it's kind of funny because it's still working

[00:37:44] Um as it sits right now and they've all they they've done the one in con over it's complete they changed it

[00:37:49] Okay, and they I remember and then they had they had to change

[00:37:52] Um the creek design beside it and so they spent a lot of money on that

[00:37:56] So this is the third and final thing so okay, it's going to be I think that's about the time frame

[00:38:00] Okay, cool. Well, we look forward to watching their progress also

[00:38:04] I hope everyone will take the chance to go check out the hum this weekend

[00:38:08] I believe the band is called the chain, which is a fleetwood mac cover band

[00:38:12] I saw them last year at the hum and they were

[00:38:15] Unbelievable. Uh, so it'll be the first event at the hum this year. There's they've got a great schedule

[00:38:20] So definitely go check them out again hickory crawdads baseball hitting right now hickory fc soccer banging right now

[00:38:27] Got the graduations a hickory high going on and uh, first and foremost my birthday is next thursday

[00:38:33] So hank big things happening in may, you know the biggest

[00:38:37] What are we doing next thursday?

[00:38:39] Well jennifer says she's going to send a text. I think we try to get some folks together. She's going to maybe

[00:38:44] Have one of the breweries set up something for us and everybody who can come over there and just have a beer

[00:38:48] Have a beer kind of deal, you know, i'm checking i'm checking my calendar just to make sure that it's

[00:38:53] It's okay over there. You share a birthday with somebody else. I do

[00:38:56] Yeah, yeah. Okay. She always lets me know. I'm sure she always lets me i'm sure

[00:39:02] I will tell you I want us to give a shout out to my

[00:39:04] Uh, my sister and my niece they're on their way back to boston

[00:39:07] Yeah, and they were so upset that big fan was today because they wanted to hear it on the ride

[00:39:12] I see but um, you know my niece is

[00:39:15] Is holding on to the eimer tradition at elon, which I love, you know, she's down there and so

[00:39:21] You know, I hope they have a safe trip back. That's wonderful. One of lucy rose's dance

[00:39:25] Uh partners who she's been dancing with forever just decided that she's making elon her college of her university of choice

[00:39:32] Yeah, it's apparently the the dance program is really good

[00:39:35] She's a heck of a dancer, but she wants to be a status statistician

[00:39:39] A statistical person what's the how do you put that statistician statistician? Yes

[00:39:43] So she'll be studying there. She's validatory in her class. This girl has just got it going on

[00:39:47] So good luck to bella. She will be attending there in the fall this fall this fall awesome

[00:39:53] Awesome. Yes

[00:39:54] All right, buddy. So that's gonna do it for the uh special half century old edition of big fan

[00:39:59] I know harris is wrapping up his eighth grade year

[00:40:02] Anything you know you want to talk about that just because it's that's a big change

[00:40:08] Well, I think it's grade a high school. Well, I think it's it

[00:40:11] These schools do a really good job of trying to transition them

[00:40:15] They've had every high school in you know challenger and and uh h cam and hickory and university christian

[00:40:22] And kind of like really give them a feel of hey

[00:40:24] We're not just trying to push you to hickory city schools

[00:40:26] We we want it to be the right choice for you

[00:40:28] And so I think they've done a really good job of that and kind of transitioning

[00:40:31] They actually let them go to the high school

[00:40:33] Which I i'll tell you small town living is really cool. I don't know if I told you this story or not

[00:40:38] So they sent them to hickory high and so these eighth graders are walking in the classes, right?

[00:40:44] And they don't send them into the ninth grade classes where they probably know people and they're right

[00:40:48] They take them to senior classes and you know, these seniors are like who are these guys when each class he went to

[00:40:55] There were two or three guys in there that we knew

[00:41:00] Knew him from the pool or knew him from right but knew him

[00:41:03] Close as you would know somebody that's an eighth grader and you're a senior, right?

[00:41:08] And immediately these guys would look over and say harris come over here and sit with me

[00:41:12] And so it's the benefit of having small town, you know

[00:41:15] I mean small town good community and every one of those boys I text her dads and I was like

[00:41:19] You don't realize how special that was passing it down

[00:41:23] So when harris gets that age and right he will do the same thing. It happened to me

[00:41:27] Yeah, it you remember me. It happened to me. I mean it happened to all of us. So

[00:41:32] It is special. Yeah, hickory community makes the kids feel

[00:41:36] As good as they can and then you know, it's it's also like the train they had their

[00:41:39] They're they're formal and they got dressed up and they you know

[00:41:42] They went out to that which was great and it's kind of transitioning them to kind of move forward

[00:41:46] So I think I think he's a he's looking forward to it

[00:41:49] Yeah, right because you know

[00:41:50] It's the the strange thing in town is they're all together and then they not all together

[00:41:54] But then they you know, a lot of his friends go to northview

[00:41:57] He's at grandview and they bring it back together, which is pretty cool. Yes

[00:42:01] You know, so I I think he's I think they do a good job of it

[00:42:04] I think he's ready for it 10-4 right on. Well, good luck to harris next year

[00:42:07] Good luck to all the graduating seniors high school college everybody. We're proud of you

[00:42:12] And we will look forward to speaking to you guys next our next big fan podcast in two weeks until then enjoy your graduations

[00:42:19] Enjoy your summer peace

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