Roxann Lynn and Trish [No Name Given]

[00:03] ROXANNE LYNN: Go for it, Roxanne.

[00:04] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay. My name is Roxanne lynn. I am 52 years old.

[00:09] SPEAKER C: Today is November 6, 2020.

[00:14] TRISH HEILMAN: I live in Wichita, Kansas.

[00:15] SPEAKER C: That's where I'm located. Now. The name of my partner today is Trish and Trish is my one small step partner.

[00:27] SPEAKER D: My name is Trish Heilman. I am 46. Have to think about that. Today's date is November 6th, Friday 2020. I am also in Wichita, Kansas. Roxanne Lynn is my partner and she is my one small step partner.

[00:45] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay, Trish, why did you do this interview today?

[00:50] SPEAKER D: I love people. I love finding out about people and I'm really interested in people that are different than I am because I think people are fascinating. It's very interesting how our life experiences have shaped us and brought us to the place we are. And I also, I also wanted to see, to see somebody from, from my experience represented. Sometimes, sometimes, you know, people don't step into each other's spaces enough as far as braving these forums. And so I wanted to sort of be brave and step in and do something different. So Roxanne, why did you want to do this interview today?

[01:46] TRISH HEILMAN: I wanted to gain someone else's perspective. I'm always looking for that. I also am fascinated with human experiences. Also being a so called American, I think it is really this broad term and we are so different, but so alike and that's what fascinates me. So many cultures within a culture, subcultures within cultures, and I just can't get enough of that kind of thing. So this was an exciting opportunity for me today and meeting you has been an exciting thing for me.

[02:30] SPEAKER D: This is going to be fun. I've already got questions.

[02:33] ROXANNE LYNN: All right. Sorry, that's a little clumped. Can you that, Roxanne?

[02:38] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay. All right, here we go. I'm going to read Trish's bio.

[02:47] SPEAKER C: I'm a first generation American and my family chose this country for the freedom, liberty and opportunity here. I'm a mother to five children and happily married for 21 years. My faith is a main priority of my life and I do my best to ensure my behavior and the words match my beliefs. I've become more involved in local politics because I see how important the decisions of local politicians are, especially school boards, city councils and county commissions.

[03:22] SPEAKER D: Let's see.

[03:23] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay, now there's so much I'd like.

[03:29] SPEAKER C: To ask you, Trish, but what stuck out first of all, when I read your bio. For some reason I have been thinking about this almost every minute since I've read your bio. It says my faith is a main priority of my life. And there's more that goes on to that. But the thing that could, I could not stop thinking about it said my faith and faith was capitalize with a capital F. And I didn't know if that was intentional and I can't stop thinking about that. And I'd like to know if it was or wasn't and what that means.

[04:07] SPEAKER D: That's an awesome question. I love how specific and dug in it is. Yeah, that's intentional and it's something. It's a sort of a small grammatical thing that is sort of a respect element to me. Like when I ever write God on anything, it's a capital G. Right. Because when, even when you say him and you're referring to God, it's a capital H. Right. You know, it's sort of having that kind of respect. And so in that, that's where I did that. And thinking about it now, since it's my faith and I am not God, maybe I shouldn't have capitalized it. But anyway, that's, you know, that it was purposeful and now that you've asked about it, maybe, maybe it shouldn't have been capitalized, but that was the thought behind it. Just sort of the respect brought to faith.

[05:06] TRISH HEILMAN: Oh, interesting. Yeah. Well, and that's kind of what I. That's how I interpreted it. So I just wanted to make sure that that was the way I was interpreting it. And so another. Am I able to keep asking questions? Okay, here we go.

[05:23] SPEAKER C: So now I have some strong feelings when it comes to. Maybe they're even just triggers, perhaps when.

[05:32] TRISH HEILMAN: It comes to faith in my personal experience.

[05:35] SPEAKER C: So when I see faith with a capital F, that sounds different to me than religion.

[05:42] TRISH HEILMAN: What do you think?

[05:44] SPEAKER D: Oh, I agree.

[05:45] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay.

[05:46] SPEAKER D: I agree.

[05:46] SPEAKER C: Okay.

[05:47] SPEAKER D: Yeah.

[05:48] TRISH HEILMAN: All right.

[05:49] SPEAKER C: So. And also in your bio, when it says I become more involved in local politics, when I read it again, I don't know if I understand, but do you feel like your faith is what has motivated you to become involved in politics? Like, is that what, is that part of what drives.

[06:08] SPEAKER D: No, I don't think those were. Those weren't linked in that my faith is more of a constant and, and my involvement in politics is sort of as I've developed as a person.

[06:23] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay.

[06:24] SPEAKER D: Just as far as being a mom of five kids, I was sort of covered up. I mean, you know, I was just sort of head down focused.

[06:32] TRISH HEILMAN: Yes. I'm a mom, so I understand.

[06:34] SPEAKER D: Yes. And sort of as I then had the ability as I've gotten older to sort of look out beyond my household.

[06:43] TRISH HEILMAN: Yeah.

[06:44] SPEAKER D: I've always thought, you know, these were important and stayed educated in things, but I've never really been involved as I honestly didn't have the time.

[06:52] TRISH HEILMAN: Right, yes.

[06:54] SPEAKER C: You're in survival mode or you didn't have time to breathe almost with that.

[07:00] TRISH HEILMAN: Yes.

[07:00] SPEAKER C: Okay.

[07:01] SPEAKER D: And one thing I didn't write in my bio is I have two kids with autism. I have identical twins with autism. So part of that whole survival mode, like you said, covered upness, was lots of therapies and lots of, just lots of stuff. So as, as they got older and more self sufficient and diapers were no longer a part of my journey.

[07:24] TRISH HEILMAN: Then.

[07:24] SPEAKER D: I was able to see Holy night. Look at these decisions these people are making. And, and I would really like to have some input in, you know, they don't seem to come from my perspective.

[07:35] TRISH HEILMAN: Right.

[07:36] SPEAKER D: You know, they, they don't get my life. So I've been more vocal and talking about that and, and that then led me into if I want what it is to be a mom of special needs kids, what it is to be a parent of someone who works with people with autism, that kind of stuff, then I need to be more involved because there aren't a lot of people in political spaces that get that stuff.

[08:02] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay. Anyway, great.

[08:03] SPEAKER C: All right, thank you.

[08:06] SPEAKER D: All right, so this is Roxanne's bio and she says I am a busy, hard working Jack of all trades. I have had some college but do not have a degree. I feel like I have learned and continue to learn something new every day. I am fascinated by people more than anything else. I am a mom to three daughters and their education is what consumes my thoughts most often. I educate myself to hopefully provide resources to them. And so the question that I had as I was remembering your bio, you are having kids and being a Jack of all trades, but obviously with my education passion as well. Their education consumes your thoughts most often. Do you feel. Is that because things are going well? Is that because things aren't going well? Is that. Tell me more about why you're consumed with your kids educational thoughts.

[09:04] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay. I'm a single mom, so I guess you may not have. I didn't put that in there. I guess I didn't even remember what my bio said. Honestly I didn't either. But yeah, I've been a single mom for 17 years and this. So I think the fact that I don't have a degree myself, we are a low income family. I am just, I do get consumed with finding these resources for our family, as a low income family, and hoping that my kids have these opportunities that maybe, you know, you just want them to be on this equal. Have the equal opportunity. But we have found that it's very challenging. And what does that really mean? But I feel like at times we have been limited because of finances, but I'm on this mission as someone who doesn't have that, to find all these resources in our community. We are in public school. My kids are public school kids. And I've just really. And what I have found is I found that through developing relationships and meeting people and asking questions and, you know, working hard to make sure that they have all the education they can with the resources we have. And that exhausts me at times. Well, all the time, actually, because I can't. I can't turn it off.

[10:32] SPEAKER D: I. Yeah, I really hear you. And I, and I really, I really hear what you're saying when it, the relationships, when you seek those relationships with your kids, educators, that's. That is a lot of work, right?

[10:45] TRISH HEILMAN: Yes.

[10:46] SPEAKER D: And that's the parenting piece that, you know, people who are really killing it in the parenting sphere.

[10:53] TRISH HEILMAN: Yeah.

[10:55] SPEAKER D: That is the work involved in that to get great educations. And that's one of the. Yeah, that's one of the things that I think so many people haven't had the time and energy for. And so I'm really. That's awesome that you absolutely have that as a priority, because you're right. It makes the world of difference.

[11:16] TRISH HEILMAN: And you find that's been my experience. Right. And you hope that, you know, and you do put a lot of trust in there because I'm working and sometimes day and night and weekends, and you're just hoping that you've developed these relationships with people that you trust. And you're. I feel like, you know, you're handing your kids over to these people, and so you feel like you have to stay in it or stay on top of it or things like that. And as you know, with my kids, I have a child with an iep, which I'm sure you know what that is, and a child with a 504, which. A child with a learning disability. And so I have been in these meetings with child study teams and gotten really emotional. And then I think, oh, well, now they're gonna. The principal's gonna see me and go, well, there's that mom. And then you worry about damaging relationships because you weren't nice enough or, you know, things like that. So. Yeah, yeah. But for the Most part, I feel like. I feel like my kids have a bright future.

[12:33] SPEAKER D: That's awesome. Yeah. Well, yeah. And I absolutely know what IEPs are and 504s and that's been a big piece of my life.

[12:42] TRISH HEILMAN: Right.

[12:44] SPEAKER D: Yeah. And it's, you know, when you're doing that. Well, it is those child study team meetings when there's 10 people on the other side and then there's you.

[12:54] TRISH HEILMAN: Right. Advocating for your kids and they're using all that stupid. I even work. I've worked in Wichita public schools for 14 or 15 years now, and I still don't have the acronyms and the, like that lingo that they use that goes like. I try to pretend like it's not going over my head and then I just tell them to stop. And I'm like, now you're going to have to. To talk to me like I don't work here. You know what I mean? So.

[13:20] SPEAKER D: Right.

[13:20] TRISH HEILMAN: So that's, that's in. Not intimidating, but frustrating because it makes you feel like you're not educated. And I was right, you know, or things like that. So that gets a little overwhelming.

[13:32] SPEAKER D: Yeah. Yeah. And I have a. I have an education degree, you know.

[13:37] TRISH HEILMAN: Oh, you do?

[13:38] SPEAKER D: But I. Yeah, I do. I graduated. I did come out of college with a business education degree and because I was interested at the time in homeschooling my kids.

[13:48] TRISH HEILMAN: Right.

[13:49] SPEAKER D: That's just been my heart. I wasn't married, I didn't have kids.

[13:52] TRISH HEILMAN: Right.

[13:53] SPEAKER D: That was just my heart.

[13:54] TRISH HEILMAN: Yes.

[13:54] SPEAKER D: And so. But I never really. I substituted when I was pregnant for a time, but I never really used the education degree piece except for going to IEP meetings. And I did. Like I said, I homeschooled kids because there were times when I didn't feel like the public schools were going to do enough to help my kid with dyslexia. Dysgraphia.

[14:18] TRISH HEILMAN: Yeah. The so called special needs. And they're just not. It's not necessarily their fault. They're just not trained. They don't bring in the people that are trained or they don't have the understanding. When I talk to a lot of educators, they wish they knew how to help.

[14:38] SPEAKER D: Yeah. Yeah. And some of that is. Some of that is starting to change. Just like this year, you know, with the. I don't know. I'm not trying to pry, but my. I'll just say, like I said, my kid, I've had. We have two with autism. High functioning, but definitely autism. Not like just a little bit of Asperger's kind of thing. Definitely socially impacted. And then I have a gifted kid with slow processing, so he ended up on an IEP because of the disparity.

[15:08] TRISH HEILMAN: Yeah. And that's interesting, having the gifted up. Yeah.

[15:12] SPEAKER D: The dual designation thing.

[15:15] TRISH HEILMAN: Yeah, it is.

[15:18] SPEAKER D: In a whole. I'm sorry, what?

[15:20] ROXANNE LYNN: I thought that was the end of a thought. But if you want to continue again, I was just going to say, Roxanne, if you wanted to ask the third question there.

[15:27] TRISH HEILMAN: Oh, I see there. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. We could just go on and on. Okay. All right, Trish, who's been the most influential person in your life and what did they teach you?

[15:43] SPEAKER D: My mom and my grandma. So. And I had to sort of stop and think about it as far as like, hold on a minute, who's. And I remember specific conversations with my grandma that were sort of worldview shaking. Right. I grew up in Washington state, or at least junior high to college was in Washington state. So those teenage formative thought process years. And I've always. Washington state. I don't know if you know the area, but it's fairly progressive. I mean people, you know, it just has a fairly progressive vibe. Right. And I've always been like a square peg in that round hole. So I've always been just sort of a, just more of a straight lace. I mean. Yeah. I love people and so there's always been a. I want people to have their best. I want. That's never been an issue. But I've, I've always just sort of had comments. Well, hold on a minute. That. Hold on a minute. You know, just sort of kind of thought process. And my. But when my grandfather shook his glass, my grandmother, I worked for them for a summer. And he would shake his glass, the ice would shake as an indication that he needed a refill.

[17:03] TRISH HEILMAN: My dad did the same thing and as a.

[17:07] SPEAKER D: Was an 18, 19 year old, I was furious. And my grandfather wasn't somebody that you got furious. Right. So I sort of later I said, grandma, why do you let him do that? That is gross.

[17:23] TRISH HEILMAN: And.

[17:24] SPEAKER D: And she said, she, she said, trish, there are some things that you, you can battle and there are some things that you let go because you want. Because you want harmony, because of, you know, because of the choices that you're making and how you're going to run this life. And, and getting him a drink is something I'm going to let go. But I've held his feet to the fire and how he treats me. So just know that there's a lot of background that you don't see. When you see the glass shaking. And I just sort of thought, that's strength. That's strength to be able to choose how you're going to be treated. But a glass shaking, I'm going to let that go. So I just. Yeah, that was sort of one of those lessons that my mom has, is similarly just a very strong common sense, easy to talk to woman. And that's somebody I want to emulate. So, Roxanne, who has been the most influential person in your life and what did they teach you?

[18:31] TRISH HEILMAN: I had to think of. Think about this for a moment. But I did come back to my parents, which surprised me because I guess they have influenced me by not influencing me, I should say. They were very laissez faire parents. However, my dad was a realist and didn't talk very much at all. But it just seems like throughout my life, because he didn't talk much. Those are the words that I just keep hearing all the time because he. You know, those people that don't really have much to say, but you just remember what they say when they say it. And my mother and I were close, but like I said, she was very laissez faire. My dad was a realist and quiet, and my mom was very outgoing, a boisterous, perhaps flamboyant and a spiritual person. So when I would go. And they never gave us advice, which. So I'm really funny about advice. I don't like giving it to people, and I don't like people giving it to me. When I went to my dad, he would say, think about it. What do you think? Just stop and think about it. And I think he just didn't want to be bothered in retrospect, you know, looking at that now. But that's what I would do. And then I would go to mom and she would say, pray about it. So I just remember I spent a lot of time thinking and praying, but that's what's kind of gotten me through all of this. And so I guess that's a big influence.

[20:07] SPEAKER D: Absolutely. Absolutely. I can see that.

[20:13] TRISH HEILMAN: And of course, there were probably a few. I have memories of a couple teachers that really kind of got me thinking, and I think that was a real blessing. But they were not trying to change me. They were just giving me information that was new to me that I really appreciate, and they were giving it to all of us equally. And they. And they were things that I weren't hearing a lot from people in my community. But so I appreciate them for that.

[20:50] SPEAKER D: Yeah. Awesome. Do you want me to Ask you the fourth question?

[20:54] TRISH HEILMAN: Sure.

[20:55] SPEAKER D: Okay. Could you briefly describe in your own words your personal political values?

[21:01] TRISH HEILMAN: I guess so. I looked at this and it's just kind of. That's tough because I do like to follow politics and I guess it's just funny because when you think of yourself as a political person and political values, to me, I guess my political values are much like my personal values. So I have changed parties over my life because I want to vote for who I I want to vote for. The people in my family are kind of like these dyed in the wool party people. And that's not my personality. And so politically I just try to. Voting is really important to me. And so I just try to vote and get involved and just kind of where I feel like my personal values are my political values.

[22:10] SPEAKER D: Nice. But you educate yourself.

[22:14] TRISH HEILMAN: Yes, I hope so. All the time. Yes. And like by gaining new perspective like this situation with you, then that will help me shape my political values. I should say this question. So they will evolve. They will evolve, I think my political values.

[22:33] ROXANNE LYNN: I always think this question kind of requires a follow up or in a lot of cases begs for one. And so something that I ask people sometimes is what are maybe your hot issues, hot button issues or the things that drive. You'd go vote for a person over someone else.

[22:56] TRISH HEILMAN: I see. Okay. So I guess what right now what is important to me are the political values are education also I guess you would say civil rights. I, you know, that's important to me when it does come to all things like our value, our religion, being a woman, hoping that I would have just as much opportunity as anyone else. I'm concerned about health care. I. In the last, well since 1993, I have only had health insurance for a matter of months here and there. I don't have health insurance. That's. That's very nerve wracking as a parent, you know, things like that. I just want, basically I'm concerned about education, health care and then financial stability for everybody, everybody. So we can just all feel stable and healthy. So I don't know, those are. There's so many, I guess, hot buttons. But I primarily just want us to be healthy and able to work so we can take care of ourselves.

[24:23] ROXANNE LYNN: Roxanne, do you want to now ask question four? Back to Trish.

[24:28] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay, Trish, could you briefly describe in your own words your personal political values?

[24:36] SPEAKER D: So I am, I am a person who. It's so interesting now thinking. I'm still thinking about what you said and so now trying to put in My own thoughts. It's sort of a mishmash. I'm going to actually look at what I wrote as a help. So like I said, when I grew up in Western Washington, the Seattle kind of area, that was. That was a place where I always felt like somebody out of place. Right. Everybody was different from me in political thoughts and values. And one of the things that drove that was my belief that people. Life is sacred, that life is. We shouldn't be messing with each other as far as the ability to have life and to have on all sides. Like we shouldn't be forcing people. If immigration reform is a huge thing for me. So we shouldn't be forcing people to stay in a place where they're going to die. Right. We shouldn't be. To me, life is. You know, I believe in the sanctity of life, of the unborn, but I also. And that's not a. So I also am going to give you a caveat because some people, when they say I'm pro life, they mean. They mean I am not going to think about anything else that goes into that decision. And I get that there are moms and doctors that have to have really tough conversations about what's going on there. What I'm mostly talking about is the callous nature I've sometimes seen in treating abortion like a birth control. That's my big concern with life because I think we've probably missed out on scientists and people who could have solved our problems with this stuff, with the terminating pregnancies, you know, and from my perspective, with killing people before they even hit the ground. And I'm also very concerned with the. With the percentage of people of color that are. That have. Have abortions, that. So we're losing a lot of the black and brown faces that should be in our community. So that's part of my concern. But. And then it goes the whole spectrum, right? Like I said, immigration, that people are not. That it's not. You're not kept in a place where you can't have a life education, that you are provided educational opportunities to improve your life, that the geriatric, that you get to your natural life, that nobody is deciding when your life should end. So all those things have just been really sort of important to me just because I think. I think people were put here for a reason. I think there's thought and there's plan in this stuff. And I value every person that's here because you're supposed to be here. You're part of what was intended. And so that's been just a big, which has put me, and I'll, you know, maybe we're not trying to say specific words, but that has put me in the Republican.

[28:18] TRISH HEILMAN: I see.

[28:20] SPEAKER D: And so, and that, but it's also interesting as I've, as I've been more active in the last four or so years in the Republican Party. There are also, it's interesting how the Republican Party also labels. You know, there's sub labels within the labels. Right. And I'm sure that that's with all parties, but it's very interesting how we try to box each other and we're not meant to be in boxes. We're dynamic being, all of us. We're dynamic beings with the ability to think and do things outside of, oh, you have to be XYZ to be a label. Yeah.

[29:06] TRISH HEILMAN: I get so sick of that because I don't like the labels at all.

[29:10] SPEAKER C: And that's like, when you said faith, I was drawn to you because I thought maybe this is somebody I can connect with because I've, I've been in churches and things like that, and I.

[29:23] TRISH HEILMAN: Everyone says I'm a this, and I would never say it. And they were acting like, well, if you don't say it, then you're not a whatever. And I'm like, that's kind of what I'm trying to say. You know what I mean? So I've had a real hard time.

[29:40] SPEAKER C: With labels because also, too, I thought.

[29:43] TRISH HEILMAN: What if you do want to evolve you and then what, you don't get to be in the club anymore. You know, you have to take off the uniform or you have to hand over the little badge on your whatever, you know what I mean? So that's kind of hard for me.

[30:02] SPEAKER D: Well, and also, sometimes the clubs change, right?

[30:07] TRISH HEILMAN: Yes. And you're like, what happened? And then you have to say, who am I?

[30:11] SPEAKER C: And who are you? Right, right.

[30:15] SPEAKER D: And, and so, and that's, that's something with, with my, my faith and, and my religion. And I'll say I'm a Christian, a Protestant Christian, because it's grounded in the Bible, which doesn't change. I, I, that's where I stay. You know, the, the churches that I go to, they have to be grounded in that thing that doesn't change reason. Right. Because society.

[30:48] TRISH HEILMAN: Right.

[30:49] SPEAKER D: Does that, does the waves. I'm sorry, I'm remembering on the radio. I can't do hand signs on the radio that, you know, the society does, you know, waves up and down and changes. But that grounding is really important to me, you know, Going back to. Okay, but what does this say? So that's, that's where. Yeah, that, that piece is really important as far as how to approach almost everything, you know, loving people. That's, that's in that word, right? That, that's, that's your job.

[31:25] TRISH HEILMAN: Yes.

[31:26] SPEAKER D: And so that's, that's what, that's what, that's why that's important to me. To be a part of something that doesn't flip flop with the labels or whatever. Yeah, exactly.

[31:42] TRISH HEILMAN: Yeah. Or society or the country.

[31:46] SPEAKER D: Yes, exactly.

[31:48] TRISH HEILMAN: Yeah. Because it's interesting that we say that we have different political views, but when you shared your. Which I guess most people would say is a hot button, the life, you know, I feel like I'm in a different party, but my perspective of that is very similar to yours.

[32:07] SPEAKER C: So it's very interesting.

[32:08] TRISH HEILMAN: I became, you know, well, anyway, we can, maybe we'll have another opportunity to talk. I know this is about experiences, but a life experience maybe you and I have both had. You know, I've been pregnant several times and have had to face decisions and lost a child. So it's just really, if we all knew that we felt similarly, it might help.

[32:33] SPEAKER D: I so agree with you.

[32:35] TRISH HEILMAN: Even though we're on other sides of the aisle, so to speak, maybe we don't need to be. But you know, you have, they make you right when it comes in a way. Right? Yes, yes.

[32:48] SPEAKER D: And I think so. But I think that's, that's something I've thought a lot about because I agree with you. I think when most people sit down, some people are so triggered by even the thoughts of the thoughts that they, they're like, no, I just, I'm not, I can't go.

[33:02] TRISH HEILMAN: Right, right.

[33:03] SPEAKER D: I can't. But, but I think most people, when you sit down and you, and you sort of lay that, no, I will be kind to you. Whatever you say, I will be kind to you. And if they can trust you in that, then I think most people have so much in common. And it's in the minutia that there are, that there are disagreements. And unfortunately, I think we've beat each other up with the minutiae.

[33:32] TRISH HEILMAN: Kind of like the ice cubes in the glass, you get hung up on that.

[33:37] SPEAKER D: Right.

[33:39] TRISH HEILMAN: Not seeing the rest.

[33:42] SPEAKER D: Yes. And when we've tried to write, laws are such difficult things. You can't put heart and feelings and intention in a law. Law have words that are so concrete. And when you try and create a law out of your heart and intentions, it gets manipulated. And so now we're into crafting these laws that cannot be manipulated and they end up beating. You know, you take all the nuance out of things and you beat each other with things.

[34:21] TRISH HEILMAN: It's not really what you're talking about anymore. Yes.

[34:26] SPEAKER D: That you don't intend to hurt each other and beat each other, but you end up there.

[34:31] TRISH HEILMAN: Things come into it because the, because the work. You didn't stick to the words or whatever. The law, I guess, or something. Or like you said. Yeah. It's just the feelings come into it.

[34:44] SPEAKER D: And I think. Yeah, you're right. The feelings come in because we're. These are important things to us. Right. We love. We love deeply. And so passion comes and.

[34:59] ROXANNE LYNN: Anyway, that is five minutes left. I put a few optional questions in there. If you want to wrap up a different way, that's fine as well. Go ahead.

[35:11] TRISH HEILMAN: Okay. All right. Well, I'll just say, Trish, is there anything that you learned about me today that surprised you?

[35:23] SPEAKER D: I don't know that I was surprised, but I was just pleasantly. You're sort of a mom after my own heart. You're another mom out there working to make sure that your kids have a great education in this time, and you're out there loving people to get there and working hard to get there. And we didn't get to delve into it very much, but I'd very much like to have a follow up conversation sometime. If we're allowed to have each other's contact information. But that, you know, there are struggles. There are struggles that we can all help each other with and we need to be more about that.

[36:05] TRISH HEILMAN: I agree.

[36:06] SPEAKER C: Thanks.

[36:09] SPEAKER D: Is there anything that you learned about me today that surprised you?

[36:13] TRISH HEILMAN: I don't, I don't know that I was surprised. I was eager to meet you. I'm pleasantly surprised that we were able to connect. I was, I had kind of a fear of being misunderstood, I guess. And you've been very open and that doesn't surprise me, but. And the fact that you were a mom, I had a feeling that it would kind of. We would connect that way, and I'm happy that we did so.

[36:45] SPEAKER D: Yeah, absolutely.

[36:46] TRISH HEILMAN: And then do you think we could come together after a divisive. Oh, it says, how can we come together after a divisive election this year? What do you think? Do you have thoughts about that?

[36:59] SPEAKER D: I think if we had the answer, we'd be millionaires between us, you know, I mean, isn't the world looking for that answer? But I think, I think the bottom line is assume the best about other people. Right. You want people to assume the best about you and be kind and so to do that maybe do that yourself first. You know, assume the best about people and. And we'll make it through. We're Americans.

[37:37] TRISH HEILMAN: I just think we need to see each other as Americans and not red or blue or this or that and just start there. I know we're not all in the same boat. That's kind of a cliche. But at least we're in the same place. Maybe. I don't know. Something like that.

[37:56] SPEAKER D: Yeah. And we have more in common then we have differences.

[38:02] TRISH HEILMAN: That's tough sometimes to see but it really is deep down true. We can find something. We agree on something. I joined a house plant page on Facebook because I'm just like is. I think we at least all of us like house plants. We'll start there.

[38:22] SPEAKER D: That's awesome. This is really fun. Thank you.