Sophia Livingston and Corin Branch

[00:01] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Hello, my name is Sophia Livingston. I am age 56. I will be celebrating a birthday in a few days, and I will be 57. Today is January 27, 2024. I am recording from Memphis, Tennessee. My interview partner's name is Corinne Branch, and he is my number one son.

[00:25] CORIN BRANCH: Hello. What's up, everybody? My name is Corin Branch. I'm 36 years old. Today's date is January 27, 2024. Recording location is Memphis, Tennessee. The name of my interview partner is Sophia Livingston. Relationship is. She's my mother.

[00:46] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I would like to introduce Corin branch. I call my number one son because the terminology we received from Star Trek. We're both Star Trekkie fans, so number one is terminology from. I think it's Star Trek. Enterprise.

[01:04] CORIN BRANCH: Yeah, it was Enterprise. It's like the. What do you call him?

[01:09] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: His first officer. Yeah, his first officer was called number one. So because my son is my number one son, I adopted the term and called him number one. So he's my heart. He may not know this, but I battled with depression when I was pregnant with my son, my first son, and I was going through some hard times with his dad, and I even gave birth in the hospital when his dad was not there. However, we did eventually get back together, but I call him my number one son because he was very sensitive to my emotions. You were very sensitive to my emotions, and you were sensitive to the changes in your environment, and that's how I know the babies were very sensitive to things going around, and I was a very young mother. My first child was. I gave birth at 20 years old. So you are a year younger than your sister? Yes, I think so. Maybe a year, year and a half. Almost two years.

[02:14] CORIN BRANCH: She's born in 86?

[02:16] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Yes.

[02:16] CORIN BRANCH: I was born two years.

[02:18] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Two years between you two. So she was my firstborn, and Corin is my firstborn son. And his dad was really proud, actually. He did eventually make it to the hospital, although he said he was delayed. He did eventually make it to the hospital, but it was after birth. But being my number one son, he is a splitting image of his dad. I've seen photos of his father when he was younger. He looks just like his dad. And his dad used to laugh and say, oh, I was tall and gangly. His dad was very tall. He's like six'four. So his dad was tall and gangly and different. He had that blondish brown hair.

[03:04] CORIN BRANCH: He had swag, though. He had swag?

[03:06] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Yes, he had a lot of swag. Your dad was. He was actually a fashion designer. Yes. He was very artistic. He would draw his fashions, and he had a sketchbook, and he would draw his fashions the way a designer, professional designer, would draw them.

[03:23] CORIN BRANCH: Honestly, I used to want to go to school to be. To do fashion design.

[03:27] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Really? I think you should pursue that. So that is my number one son. This is Corinne Branch, and I'm going to ask him a few questions. Yes. Can you tell me about one of your happiest memories?

[03:47] CORIN BRANCH: Mmm. Honestly, it was the birth of my daughter, Calista. That was an experience altogether. It was very. It was very surreal. I'm very, very surreal because I was there, like, for all of you, from conceiving it to having us at, like, no change diapers, no being mean, waking up, like, four in the morning, three in the morning to, like, make bottles.

[04:16] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Fully involved.

[04:17] CORIN BRANCH: Like, I was. I was fully involved, but that was my happiest moment. Is nothing. It's nothing like that.

[04:24] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: No, you're absolutely right. There is nothing like that. There's nothing, like, making a decision that this is what we're going to do, and we want to have a girl and then having, you know, holding that child, that miracle individual. I call them miracle beings babies.

[04:42] CORIN BRANCH: And with that, like, because we lost our first. So our first child was lost.

[04:47] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Oh, okay.

[04:48] CORIN BRANCH: Yeah. So we lost our first child. So in Cali, like, she wasn't. She wasn't playing.

[04:53] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Okay.

[04:53] CORIN BRANCH: Like, she was not playing at all whatsoever.

[04:56] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: She's like, I'm here. Yeah.

[04:57] CORIN BRANCH: And she. Look, she being. She been bamdhead. Here I am.

[05:02] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: That's her personality, too.

[05:03] CORIN BRANCH: That is. That is. I mean, that's. That's what I love. That's why I love butter, though. Like, that's why I love butter.

[05:08] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: That's cool. Thank you for sharing.

[05:10] CORIN BRANCH: You're welcome.

[05:10] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Um, can you tell me, um, what is one of the most important lessons you've learned in life?

[05:19] CORIN BRANCH: Mmm. I would definitely say that you should just live, like, live, like, live in a moment and just basically just, like, practice mindfulness. Like, you can't. I had to learn. I can't control everything, man.

[05:43] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: What?

[05:44] CORIN BRANCH: Look, some things are just, like, out of my hands, out of my reach. What I can do, though, is I can do. I can put 120% into, like, making sure it goes this direction.

[05:58] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Right.

[05:58] CORIN BRANCH: But even if it. If. Even if I do that, I mean, still, it's, like, a 75% chance of, like, or 50. Like, you know, a 50% chance, like, is not gonna work out, so.

[06:08] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Right.

[06:09] CORIN BRANCH: I mean, I had to learn to just, I mean, let things go, like, do all that I can after I do all that I can then just know, say, hey, let the rest done it. It'll figure itself out. It figured itself out. So that's the most important lesson.

[06:28] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: To add a footnote to that. That's also been one of my most important lessons as well, and one that's been most travailing for me because I grew up in a single parent home. My dad left the house when I was seven years old. And then having the pleasure of raising you and your siblings alone, sporadically, with your dad in and out of my life, traveling, doing what he did, but letting go, first of all, feeling, waking up one day and says, oh, my God, I'm responsible for four little ones. And then realizing that I had to step up to the plate and just deal with some things and deal with some life happenings and deal strongly with them because I was a single mom. And from that, learning to let go and not hold you guys so tightly at being a mother hen, oh, my gosh. I think I just smothered the hell out of it. I felt like I was smothering the heck out of you guys.

[07:34] CORIN BRANCH: I mean, I understand that. It's understandable. Like, honestly, I couldn't understand how you could do it because I have two kids right now. Like, my oldest son, like Amaris and Calista, those who together. No, no.

[07:50] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Cliched about herself, entirely different ballgame.

[07:54] CORIN BRANCH: Like, she. Like, three kids by herself.

[07:55] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: She is. Luckily, luckily, I learned how to be disciplined at home, and I taught you guys how to be disciplined. And just a little advice from mom. You have to have. You have to teach your children discipline, because scientifically, it has been proven that if you do not teach children discipline in the home when they're young, then they become problem children out in the street and in the community and in school later. And with four kids by myself, I had to teach you discipline. There were days when I was pulling my hair out. Cause y'all wouldn't go to sleep, and I had to go to work in the morning.

[08:35] CORIN BRANCH: Understand?

[08:36] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Yes. So I went to work one day, and they said, what's wrong with you, Sophia? You look haggard. I said, I just.

[08:41] CORIN BRANCH: Right?

[08:42] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: They're driving me crazy. These kids will not go to sleep. They're just like, are you not the mom? I say, oh, okay. Yes, I am the mom. So I had to look at life a little differently and just deal with raising children a little differently. But thank you for sharing that as well. I think I have another question. How would you like to be remembered when you leave your legacy in the world?

[09:06] CORIN BRANCH: Look, I looked at this question and it stuck out to me. I was going to ask you that question.

[09:10] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I'm gonna answer that one, too.

[09:11] CORIN BRANCH: Okay. How would I like to be remembered? I want to be remembered for, like, making some sort of impact. Like, I don't know what, but I want it to be, like, a massive impact.

[09:28] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Right.

[09:29] CORIN BRANCH: Like, whether it's. If I can just, like, no. Spread a message or like, a positive message, if I can connect with somebody to. No lending helping hand. I mean, I don't. Regardless of what it is, I just want to be remembered as, you know. Hey, Corinne, was.

[09:44] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: He was that person, right?

[09:45] CORIN BRANCH: He was understanding or he was empathetic. You know, he was honest. He was caring. He had integrity.

[09:51] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Right.

[09:54] CORIN BRANCH: I don't know. I just. I'm just. I'm just a very intimate person and I don't mind. No. Sharing it with everybody.

[10:03] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I think you learned that from me.

[10:05] CORIN BRANCH: Yeah. I just want to be remembered as somebody who actually just made a difference.

[10:09] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Right. I understand that. Do you have any regrets for things? I know you have a dream of how you want to make that mark on life. And before you leave this plan and before we're raptured away, do you have any regrets?

[10:30] CORIN BRANCH: I wouldn't say I have any regrets because honestly, whatever happened, happened. Because if it didn't happen the way it did happen, I wouldn't be right here.

[10:42] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Exactly.

[10:43] CORIN BRANCH: So I don't have any regrets.

[10:45] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I mean, amen.

[10:46] CORIN BRANCH: I don't ever. Grits.

[10:48] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Wonderful. Let's see. When was the last time you cried and why? Mind you, you're a man and it's okay. We can skip this question. Do something different.

[10:59] CORIN BRANCH: I don't care. Like, everybody know. Like, people who know me know I cry with, like, honestly, the last time I cried was. Maybe it was actually recently. Hold up. I want to say it was Tuesday, okay? It was Tuesday.

[11:20] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Why?

[11:24] CORIN BRANCH: Because I was watching cars and there's a scene at the end of them cars. Where is. It gets really. It gets real emotional. It's real emotional and it makes me cry every time. I was watching cars, like Pixar cars.

[11:44] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I think I remember that scene. I cried, too. I was watching another. I was watching another Pixar movie, and I think it was soul. I cried on soul, too. That's a tear jerker.

[11:56] CORIN BRANCH: It is emotional. It is emotional.

[11:59] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Okay. What are your hopes for me and what are your hopes for your children?

[12:08] CORIN BRANCH: Mmm. So my hopes for you is that I hope that you receive and you. You get bestowed. Whatever. Like, you're searching for. Like, I know you you're destined for something greater. You're destined for something more meaningful. And I know it's. Is you just uses you just you scratching, you know. You know.

[12:32] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: You know, you know exactly how I feel.

[12:35] CORIN BRANCH: But I hope that, like, everything you ever wanted just, you know, manifest for you. I just want you, honestly, at the end, I just want you to be happy. Like auntie. That's all the whole for. I just want you to be happy.

[12:49] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Thank you.

[12:50] CORIN BRANCH: I mean, I can. And for my kids, the exact same thing. Like, I just want them to be happy. Like, regardless of, like, what they choose to be in life. I mean, I just want them to be happy.

[13:00] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Cool. Okay. For future generations of your family, listening to this year from now, is there any wisdom you want to pass on to them? And what would you like them to know?

[13:16] CORIN BRANCH: Oh, man.

[13:17] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I know. That's a whopper.

[13:19] CORIN BRANCH: I didn't know. There's, like, so much.

[13:23] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Say you had a conversation with your kids. You sat them down at the age they are now, and you broke it down to them. What would you like them to know about life? Something they can take away and remember, right?

[13:36] CORIN BRANCH: Take away.

[13:37] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Remember.

[13:37] CORIN BRANCH: I would say life is all about risk. Like, there's. There's no. There's no reward without risk. But I would say that they need to. They need to show empathy. Like, they need to be understanding. They need to be humble, right? And they need love, right? Like, love. Love is, like, so important. Love is important.

[13:58] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Love is, like, the sauce of life.

[14:00] CORIN BRANCH: It is a sauce of life. But as I was saying, there another life lesson would be to, like, just, I mean, ride the wave. Like, let things go. Like, I mean, if you. Constantly swimming at the current. Constantly swimming at the current. I mean, that reminds you. You gonna drown. Just ride away.

[14:18] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: That reminds me of finding Nemo. I had this epiphany when we were watching finding Nemo, and they hit the wave in Australia. I forget what it's called. The EU.

[14:27] CORIN BRANCH: Oh, the east australian current.

[14:30] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Yes. And they pop into the current. It's like, yeah, we about to jam over here. And these turtles have these funkiest surfer personalities. I was like, how interesting is that? And they're just chilling, so just. Just chill. You're gonna get where you're going, but you're gonna get there just a little faster than you realize. You're gonna get there and just relax and let it go. And then when one of the turtles pops out, they freak out. The parents freak out. Oh, my God. I said, don't worry about it. He's gonna make his way in. Turtle just swims over and pops himself back in. I said, okay. That's life right there. That's how life is.

[15:04] CORIN BRANCH: Exactly. Exactly.

[15:07] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Okay. Is there. Are. Is there anything about me that you always wanted to know? But I've never asked.

[15:20] CORIN BRANCH: Not really, because we. I mean, we tend to communicate when we need to. If there was one question, I would say it will be. It will be more. So. Mental health, I just want to make sure you're good mentally, because everybody needs that. No, hey, how you doing? If you need to talk, we can always talk, but with it also, like, as I said, I mean, if you needed to talk, you always, like, come and talk to me.

[15:51] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Thank you. Thank you for that. I do need that sometimes for. Yes, you're right. For mental health, because there's so many things going out, going on out in the street. There's a lot of pain out there, because I'm very empathetic, as you are, and I discern a lot of pain. We went through an opioid crisis. We're still going through an opioid crisis in the country, but there was a severe opioid crisis that Memphis that people were not talking about. And then we were told about Covid-19 and the mental health crisis. I'm excuse the mental health crisis, which is associated with the opioid crisis, just kind of got brushed under the carpet. And I'm thinking, like, what happens to all of these people who don't get help? Who do they talk to that we have this opioid? I mean, excuse me, Covid-19 issue, and everybody's sequestered in the house with the crazy people who really need help. And I thought it was very unfair. And my heart just goes out to people who have mental health issues. And it goes back to the scripture that says, the Lord says, I had not given you the spirit of fear because any mental health breakdowns associated with the spirit of fear, because people fear being insane or fear of that. That stigma, fear of being called crazy or fear that people shunning them because they're crazy or whatever. But God says, I have not given you the spirit of fear. I've given you the spirit of love, of power, and of soundness of mind. I said, okay, as long as you have not given me spirit. I'm having this conversation with God because I have conversation with him every day. So I'm talking with him and I said, okay, you haven't given me fear. So I'm not supposed to pick that up. That's not mine. Throw the fear to him and as a chasmic cares upon him. So I wanted to just say that we should not fear fear. We should not fear mental stigmas. We should not fear being crazy or mental health. It's just a part of growing outside ourselves and being stretched beyond our understanding. And some people fear being stretched outside of their understanding because I did. I thought I just knew everything about the universe. I knew Christ when I was seven years old, and I received Christ when I was seven. So we've got, like, this 50th anniversary coming up.

[18:13] CORIN BRANCH: Right? Right.

[18:13] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: With him. And I just felt like I was going to lose my mind because all these things were just coming at me, coming at me daily, daily, daily, daily. And then you have some people who just enjoy, you know, their toxic personalities and they enjoy the pain of others because that's their. That's their. I guess that's just source of nourishment.

[18:32] CORIN BRANCH: Right.

[18:33] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: But however, we who know better, we receive our energy and positivity from the Lord himself. And we have no need to fear that mental health stigma. So I want to just extend an invitation to you as well. If you ever need to talk to me about anything, just spill it out. By the time we get finished, we laughing and crying and whatever. It's going to be good. Of course.

[18:57] CORIN BRANCH: Of course.

[18:59] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: But I struggled with, not with a mental health issue, but with anxiety, because a lot of people were, and someone told this to me years ago, that people are going to start pulling on you because you have a lot of wisdom in you, and they're looking for answers sometimes, and they don't know how to ask for that. And they push on you and try to get your attention. Sometimes grown people can be like children. They'll do things to get your attention, like your child will. Pat, pat, pat, pat, pat, pat, pat, pat you to get your attention. Some grown people do the same thing because they have not learned how to communicate effectively. So when I dealt with that, I felt like I was picking up. It was like picking up just tidbits of energy from everybody throughout the day. And they will come and drop their energies in my lap and have these deep conversations with me, tell me all about their lives when we stand in checkout line at Walmart. And then I go back to the park and I'm like, what happened?

[19:58] CORIN BRANCH: See, that's the thing about being empathetic, though. Like, if you. If you empathetic, like, they, like, they can sense that, right? They can sense that. They say energy. They can write it. And it's the same way for me because I work in the. The service industry. I'm a server. And being around people all day, like, having to wait on people all day and fill in their. Their emotions, having to talk to them, having to communicate, having is. By the time, I'm just like, you're exhausted. I'm just mentally drained. I mean, I'm just. Energy is just completely gone. Like, I'm just drained.

[20:32] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Okay.

[20:33] CORIN BRANCH: So I can understand it.

[20:35] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: How do you deal with that when you feel that your energies are just depleted?

[20:41] CORIN BRANCH: When I feel like that, I usually one. I take it. I take a nice, long, hot shower, I wash the day off, I get out, and I just, like, I get. I get in my zone. Like, I chill. I've getting. I've getting a lot bigger into, like, meditation also.

[21:04] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Okay.

[21:05] CORIN BRANCH: So that's what I've been doing a lot as well. Just meditation. Meditation.

[21:09] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Awesome. Thank you.

[21:12] CORIN BRANCH: Of course.

[21:14] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: So I'm going to ask you one last question.

[21:17] CORIN BRANCH: Okay.

[21:18] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I'm going to tell you what you mean to me. As a mom, you have always been. Man, I should have brought some tissues. I'm about to be weeping. As a mom, you have been my rock. Literally, and I'm almost embarrassed to say this, there were times when I. Life was so difficult being a single mom and not having anybody to depend on or to call. This was after my grandmother moved down south. She was. She was my rock as well. She was my best friend. But she moved to south, and she was no longer in New Jersey, where we lived. So I would call her and talk to her sometimes, and the last time I called her, she said, well, just come on down here. And that's how we got to the south. But you have been my rock. Even during meal times, if somebody wanted something extra, you would give off your plate to feed one of your siblings. I don't know if you remember that or not. You were always the one who would chip in. When I had housework to do, when I didn't ask anyone for help, you would always chip in. And then we would make it a playdate, and then we all turn chores into a playdate. But you are the one who had even emotions. Very empathetic, very encouraging. Mom, are you okay? You was always the one who would give me a hug out of the blue and just come and just sit and hold. I said, you know what? Mommy needed a timeout. So as a mom, I wanted to just thank you for being my rock when you didn't know you were being my rock. And I needed that stability, and I needed to be reminded what was important. And you would remind me on a regular basis that my children came first. And it didn't matter what the world said or what the world did, I would slay a dragon for my babies. And I just want to thank you for being that for me. And as an adult son, I want to thank you for your friendship and understanding that life is what it is. And we as adults, can add our peace to the puzzle, because we all, we're all members of, we talk about this in church all the time. We are all members of the body of Christ. Everybody wants to be the chief, everybody wants to be the head. But if God makes me a hand, I'm going to be the hand to the best of my ability. If God makes me the foot, I'm going to be the foot to the best of my ability. Because one day, God may very well make me the hand. And if he makes me the neck of the body of Christ, I want to be that to the best of my ability. So as I see you as a man and as a person in your growth and your struggles, and your growth struggles, just, they are us breaking our psyche, breaking out of molds that we have, and stipulation that we have placed upon our life. And God just shows up and goes, crack. And everything just explodes, and he smashes you and go, he pats away the things that he doesn't want in our lives, and before you know it, he's brushing all the pieces together and he just smashes him again, like, oh, my God, what is going on? And by the time he grinds us down to a powder, we feel that we're dying. And then he comes, he waters us with his love, that living water, and remolds us, and we wake up again. We're in a different vessel. So I wanted, as a mom and being a prophetic person, I wanted to thank you for your flexibility with what's going on in your life and knowing that it's going to be okay at the end of the day, because his plans for us are for our success. He does not give us anything to destroy us. And it will always work out in the end, even if you walk blindly along your path of life. I just admire you for taking life as it is and being a man and says, hey, this is what we going to do, and we're going to grab life by the balls or whatever, and we're just gonna be a boil with it and we gonna keep it going, what, come what may, we're just gonna boil and bum rush it and walk on through. The secret is just constantly moving, that constant moving. You have to keep it moving, even if it's just one step at a time. So I admire that. And you are never giving up and never quitting. I don't care what's happening. Cause you conquer some things that just blow my mind. I was like, oh, my God. Jesus, I'm so glad. I didn't know at the time. I think I would have just died right there and just fainted and just passed out. I've been in a coma for a long time just to recover from the shock. But the things that you have encountered and experienced and yet, and look at you, you know, other side of this table and the positive frame of mind that you are and the wonderful heart that you have and the kindness and the empathy, and you're just a beautiful person.

[26:33] CORIN BRANCH: Well, thank you.

[26:33] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: And I admire that in you. Appreciate you as a person, as my son.

[26:37] CORIN BRANCH: Thank you so much. I love you.

[26:39] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I love you too. Yeah.

[26:46] CORIN BRANCH: So I want to interview you now. Can I interview now?

[26:50] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Yes.

[26:50] CORIN BRANCH: All right. So my name is Corinne Branch. I will be interviewing my mother, Sophia Livingston. So I actually want to start off by asking you, can you tell me about one of your happiest moments or happiest memories in life?

[27:06] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Yes. Like you, one of my happiest moments memories in life was not just the birth of my first child, but the actually planning that went in to have children. I was very young when I met your dad. I graduated from high school when I was 17. Majority of people in my class, we were in an honors class. So when we were an experimental honors class. This is before you guys had ab classes? Yes. So I was in experimental honor class with a board of Ed. So everyone in my class was age 1617, everybody in my graduation class, so I graduated 17. There were some that graduated at 16. And I met your dad when I was 18. And we decided that we were going to be together forever. My being young and gullible. But we decided we wanted to have children. He was very strong, strapping young man in his thirties. He was 34. He was 34 now, right? He was about your age, so he was about your age. And I was a young preacher Pyt at 18. But we were together. We were together for ten years. But we decided we wanted to have children. And we talked about having beautiful children. And that planning moment in the session and the love between us was very, very special for me. And when I gave birth to my first child, cause he was very. He was very involved. He would talk to my belly and then that's when it came out with headphones where you put on. So we would talk to the baby, and I talked to all of you in the womb. We had relationships with all of the children in the womb. So seeing legacy being born and knowing that there was greatness in all of you was one of the happiest moments of my life.

[29:11] CORIN BRANCH: That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that moment.

[29:14] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Thank you for asking.

[29:18] CORIN BRANCH: Oh, now, how about this one?

[29:19] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Uh oh.

[29:20] CORIN BRANCH: Can you tell me about one of your most difficult moments or difficult memories?

[29:26] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: One of the difficult memories, one of my difficult memories was getting involved or allowing toxic individuals, I'm talking narcissistic toxic individuals who just go bat crazy when they cannot control the life and trajectory of the life of another. So one of my difficult memories was dealing with those people and just trying to separate myself and go. No contact with difficult, toxic personalities.

[30:07] CORIN BRANCH: I mean, that's because, I mean, I've dealt with, like, I've dealt with that, like, that. Toxicity, too.

[30:17] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: You can pronounce that word. I can't.

[30:19] CORIN BRANCH: Toxicity. Toxicity. Toxicity. No. So how about this? Like, when dealing with. When dealing with toxic people, like what, like, how do you. How do you approach that? Like, what do you do?

[30:36] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Well, I. First of all, I dealt. I did my research on narcissistic personalities, right? And then I realized that they were in a state of mind where their reality was a little different than the rest of the world. And they felt I was in Wonderland. No, it's not. So. They were. They feel that they must have kind people around them in order to receive that kindness, because normally, nine times out of ten, these are individuals who did not receive love and kindness in the home when they were younger. So they're constantly looking and searching for that as adults. And I realize that they're broken individuals. But when I also understood that I just can't help those people because I'm not a psychologist, and I had to point them in the right direction. And jet and it was the most difficult decision to make.

[31:31] CORIN BRANCH: It needs to happen, though. Like, it has to happen, though. It has to.

[31:34] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: It does. There are a lot of people here who need help. They have issues with drug abuse and things like that, and child abuse in the home, and nobody's helping them. Nobody's helping the family structure. And that's why I really want to do something in the world and leave my mark. And I don't want to jump ahead, but if I could do something in the world and leave my mark in the world, it would be to help strengthen and undergird the family structure across board, I mean, all over the world, worldwide, and just do some training, do some type of virtual training, virtual speaking. Take something on the road so that people can have some takeaways and say, oh, I can try this, or, oh, I can try that and provide parenting skills for young parents.

[32:20] CORIN BRANCH: So you can do. You can. I've thought about doing. Why don't you do a life coaching?

[32:25] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I've thought about doing life coaching. I will do that. I will do that. I'll take that into consideration.

[32:33] CORIN BRANCH: Yeah, I mean, it's pretty easy. I mean, yeah, you just, you can actually just, like, do a. Do an online course and, like, get a certificate.

[32:41] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I've thought about that. Doing, like, a virtual, virtual course to help to undergird and strengthen the families.

[32:48] CORIN BRANCH: This actually ties into. What I was actually going to ask you was basically, how would you like to be remembered?

[32:54] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: I would like to be remembered for being a very caring, kind, loving, intuitive, empathic, wise, forward moving individual that sees things that can be changed. I am a visionary, and I can see structures and processes and policies and things like that, but I can see little loopholes and policies. I can see things that are broken. I can see things that can be tweaked now that they just be my opinion. But to share those opinions with others would be, it feels like my stepping on someone else's toes, especially if you have that already established or things established. But I'm a type of person. If I see something that looks good and I see something that's working, but this could be tweaked and it would be perfect for me. I call that the perfect mix. And I have, like, a Facebook page called the perfect mix. That's where the perfect mix term came from. So it would be things that I can tweak for me and add to my life that would purify the energies in my life. Sometimes you just do a little adjustment. You can feel the energies aligned for you. So that's what I would like to be remembered. That's how I would like to be remembered, by somebody who adds something to someone's life that can, you know, cause the light bulb to go off and help them treat the energies in their life so they can move forward in a positive manner.

[34:28] CORIN BRANCH: Beautiful. Beautiful.

[34:29] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Thank you.

[34:33] CORIN BRANCH: So then we have time for one question.

[34:36] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Okay.

[34:37] CORIN BRANCH: So do you have any regrets?

[34:41] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: No, I do not have regrets. As life is what it is, we have both positive and negative experiences. There are some things that I've done in my lifetime. People probably scratch their head like, you did that. I'm like, yeah, so. And.

[34:59] CORIN BRANCH: Look, I should write a book. Like, they need to make a movie of my life.

[35:03] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: You is in mine. Both like, please give me a sitcom.

[35:07] CORIN BRANCH: Okay? Give me a sitcom.

[35:08] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: We can do that. Give me a talk show, you guys. My children are very. Y'all are just very animated, and every one of you has a very distinct personality. We could very easily do a reality show and sitcom, and it would be funny every time. It would be funny every time. But just. I don't have any regrets. However, I wish if I could, in hindsight, do things a little differently. Like I said about tweaking the energies, because had I known about energies and preservation of energies back in the day, I would be a different person today. I don't believe that my struggles would be. No, not struggles. I don't believe my navigation of life would be as difficult that it has been, because it was difficult for me because I didn't have a mentor. My parents were not. Were nowhere near me. I moved out of the house when I was 18. I didn't have my parents around. They were very religious. They had some stigmas. They had some, you know, judgments to kind of put some distance between us. My grandparents were not there, so I didn't have anybody to talk to, and I didn't have any close friends. I was a loner. So everything I did, I did on my own, either with you and my. In your father, so it was just he and I against the world. But I don't have any regrets. I just wish I was much more knowledgeable about life so I could have made some smarter decisions.

[36:31] CORIN BRANCH: I can see. I can understand it. Like, okay, I can relate to that, because even though I don't have any regrets either. Any. Like, either. Like, there are some. Definitely some questionable things that I probably should have done differently, right? We all have, but, I mean, I don't regret it. Lessons learned. That's lessons learned, right?

[36:51] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Lessons learned. Reply to the. Put it in the book. The book bag, the backpack. Keep on trucking. Yes. Thank you for that.

[37:01] CORIN BRANCH: You are very welcome.

[37:02] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: This has been most enjoyable, and I thank you for that. And I love you and the love of the Lord, like we say to one that we love you to eternity.

[37:08] CORIN BRANCH: Thank you. I love you. Love you also.

[37:10] SOPHIA LIVINGSTON: Amen. I.