Why Emotional Connection Matters More Than You Think in Relationships, ft. Annie Miller | Ep. 35

Now, I'm going to gift you with some unexpected questions that...

Let's get into it.

Some listeners have sent in...

Hey, let's tear off the bow and the wrapping paper.

Let's tear it off.

Hey, you all, I'm putting the finishing touches on this week's episode of the Talk to People Podcast.

And if you haven't been here before, my name is Chris Miller, and each week I talk to a new person about the power of social connection.

I believe that social connection is one of the most important traits to a healthy lifestyle.

And unfortunately, not that many people are talking about it.

If this is your first episode, then you've lucked out because this episode is with Annie Miller, AKA my wife.

Now we talk about a lot, but here's the little thing about Annie Miller.

She's smart.

And if you don't believe she's smart, then go look at her GPA.

She's getting full rides from all these different places.

She went to PhD school.

She's brilliant.

She's funny.

If you don't believe that, then see how much I laugh in this podcast, and then all of the other podcasts we've done.

And she knows how to tell a good story.

So we talk about a whole bunch of different stuff from how we met to how I propose to what to look for in a partner, or how we navigate conflict, or how we keep the romance alive.

If you are single and you're like, oh man, this doesn't apply to me, it does, it will help you if you go and you want to look for a relationship.

If you are in a relationship, don't listen to this and be like, ooh, I want to do everything they do.

Be yourself, lean into your personality.

But overall, this was a blast.

If you enjoyed it, comment on the YouTube video.

If you're just listening, rate it.

But I'm learning the more people comment about things they like, the more I can create content that's gonna help you, but also that's gonna keep this thing going.

So thank you for being here.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and have an incredible day.

Talk to people.

I get a little nervous before podcasts.

That is so surprising to me because you always seem so relaxed and poised.

It's probably good for people who are listening to know that you get nervous, it humanizes you.

I think I know how much work goes into them.

So whenever I get to actually recording one, it feels like game time.

Pressure's on.

It's like, we've been practicing all week.

I've done all the editing, I've had all the planning, the setup, everything like that, and now it's game time.

And you don't want to choke.

I don't want to choke.

So I figured I'd give you a couple of rapid fire questions to start the podcast.

Oh sure, I'll warm up, you'll warm up.

Yes.

Sunny will warm up.

Okay, favorite childhood TV show?

Lizzie McGuire Show.

Lizzie McGuire Show.

Disney Channel.

Dawn or dusk?

Dawn.

If you could travel back in time, what period would you go to?

Do you know my answer for this?

The prairie days, the last on the prairie days?

Yeah, I actually think I would do quite well during that time.

Say a word in Spanish.

Hola.

Favorite ice cream flavor?

Chocolate Thunder from Silas and Maddie's.

Who has it easier in life, men or women?

Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh, what a divisive question.

Plead the fifth.

Plead the fifth.

Okay, and then last rapid fire question for you.

What does a person need to be happy?

What does a person need to be happy?

People.

People.

Good answer.

Did I pass?

I think you passed, but now-

How about I rapid fire you?

Okay, you want the deck?

Also, where did you get that deck?

We went from ice cream flavors to quite a hot topic.

Okay, should I do the same ones?

Elfster, well, there's tons of them, and I only picked one.

Okay, cake or pie?

Cake.

Place you most want to travel?

Bolivia.

Favorite number?

Five.

If Voldemort offered you a hug, would you accept?

Yes.

Okay, last one.

What's for dinner tonight?

Some type of butternut squash pasta with veggies in there.

Perfect, you passed.

I like this.

Maybe we could close with a few too.

Yeah, close with a few.

Well, you're back.

This is your third time on the podcast.

I'm back.

Welcome in.

Thank you for having me.

It's funny, I've tried my best to make sure I'm including other people, but at the same time, I have so much fun talking to you that I wanted to make sure I get you back on.

Well, thank you for having me back on.

I will say this is great because I love talking to you, and I see all the behind the scenes work that you do in our home to make these episodes from start to finish.

So getting to sit here with you and be a part of it in this capacity is a lot of fun, but I will say there's also, it's a double edged sword because then I sit here and I'm like, ooh, I love this.

And it's funny because most times you have to leave the house whenever I'm recording a podcast.

We have to be strategic, like, okay, I'll stay at work until 6.30 and go to the store.

And then by the time I'm done with that, you'll be done recording.

Or I have to check in with you before I schedule a podcast.

And it's funny because I'll have someone who went to Princeton and they're like an executive director for a large nonprofit.

And I'm like, hold on, let me check in with my wife to see if she's gonna be home or not.

And we make it work.

I always say, I can't, what do I say?

I can get lost for a couple of hours.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can.

Gives me time to catch up.

But this time I feel a bit more prepared because I actually went on the interwebs and I told some people, everybody who follows the podcast on social media, so shout out to all of you.

And I said that I was having you on and I asked if there were any questions or topics that they'd like to hear.

So I have over, I don't know what it was, but in the double digits regarding things to talk about.

Okay.

Well, let's hope I have enough information.

Yeah.

Well, I'm sure you will.

But catch this up.

What's happened since you've last been on?

I believe it was 22 or 21.

So that would have been three months ago.

It was episode 20.

So you know, and this is gonna be 35.

So-

I just remember, cause 20, you know, multiple of 10.

So it's easy to remember.

So what's happened since then?

So let's see, that was in May.

The summer has flown by.

I know we always say that, but the summer really has flown by.

You've gone to five weddings?

Four.

And you've been in five of them?

You've been in what, two?

One so far.

You were in two.

Yeah.

And then one we just attended.

Shout out to Joel and Kat.

Shout out to Carson and Nat.

Kevin and Becca.

Shout out to Kevin and Becca.

And then shout out to Sarah and Etu.

We love you guys.

We're so excited for each of you.

Marriage is a journey and it's a fun one.

So it's incredible to have a great wife.

Aw, it's incredible to have a great husband.

It's so fun to see that the day, the wedding day and people, it really, it sounds so cliche.

And people told us this is just the beginning, but it really is.

It's such an exciting beginning.

So a lot of weddings, I traveled to Ireland as well.

Yeah, what was that like?

That was, it was, before I, I'll get into some specifics, but it was a really great trip.

I got to go with my mom, which is very special because she is 98.1% Irish.

So it's very special for her to go back and connect with her roots and just feeling very tied to the culture there.

And I share that with her.

You know, my sister and I both were Irish dancers growing up.

So that was a special way that we felt tied to the Irish culture and the piece of our ancestry.

But getting to go to Ireland with my mom was so, so special.

Both of us have always loved that place.

So she studied abroad there when she was in college.

I studied abroad there when I was in college.

So it was really, really special to be with my mom and talk about people and the connectivity over there.

They're doing something right.

I've always said that Irish have such a way with people that is different than anywhere I've ever been in the world.

So social connection is high.

Very high.

It's like their lives really revolve around social connection.

It doesn't just live within their families.

It really lives within their communities.

And I think that's really unique.

So I'll give you a great example.

My mom and I made a friend named Andrew out in Ireland.

We were, long story short, there was a little bit of a snafu with some seasickness on my part.

I had to get off the boat.

Thank goodness my mom was with me.

And everybody was super supportive.

But we were fumbling trying to buy train tickets to get to the nearest city when we got off the boat.

And the machine wasn't working and it was gonna charge us 100 euro.

And I knew that was wrong because train tickets are not that expensive.

And we call him our angel in a yellow jacket.

He came up and offered us help, got us the right train tickets.

He was actually headed to that city.

So we got to ride on the train with him.

And we actually spent time with him while we were in Cork City, the real capital of Ireland, as they'll say down there.

And it just is, that is a prime example of Irish hospitality and the way that they connect with people.

And so we, both my mom and I have kept in touch with Andrew, we call him our angel.

And we just had a blast with him.

I remember hearing from you because even though our service isn't the best, shout out to Mint Mobile, they're really not the best service.

Oh no, you should probably cut that.

But they're cheap.

Yeah.

They're affordable.

Honestly, it does the job.

When we're here in Lawrence, it does the job.

It definitely does the job for us.

But as soon as we start traveling, it's like we should probably buy a third phone for the both of us.

That way we have a travel phone.

But Ireland, the green fox of Mint Mobile was not covering the service was a bit dodgy.

And I'm grateful that my mom had service because that's how I kept in touch with you.

Yeah, it's funny because I was on a trip too in Texas.

And I would hear, it wasn't Texas, was it?

Yeah, it was in Texas.

Okay, then I would hear like every eight hours, you'd be like, it's not good.

Then the next eight hours you'd be like, I'm getting off the boat.

It's getting bad.

And the next eight hours you'd be like crying.

And then the next eight hours you'd be like, we're off the boat.

Well, we were cruising through Gale Forest winds.

Yeah, which is one of the roughest waters in the world.

We learned that.

And God bless my mom.

Mary Santarelli, she's such a calming presence in everyday life and just so sweet and takes things in stride.

And no surprise, she was just that and more when we were dealing with that on the trip.

Because then you had to get off and they had to clear customs to get you off the boat.

To get permission to get off the boat.

And then we were gonna try to fly home early, but I ended up having vertigo kind of for four days.

I didn't feel.

So you didn't wanna get on a flight.

Didn't wanna get on a flight.

For eight hours.

And then after I got home, well, my mom and I both got COVID.

Right, you had COVID while you were in Ireland.

And I didn't know it.

Right.

So that may have contributed to the COVID or to the vertigo symptoms.

True.

But anyhow, so I did that and it makes for a really good story.

Got a really great new social tie out of it with our friend Andrew.

That's right.

And made some memories with my mom, which was a blast.

You and I celebrated our second anniversary on the 4th of July.

That was fun.

We went back to where we got married, Parkville, Missouri.

Who planned the event?

Chris Miller did.

He knocked it out of the park.

You know, because lately I've been learning that it's really important to plan.

And even if I don't have the best events, the thoughtfulness of planning means a lot, right?

And I always say, I'm the gal who, you give me a handwritten note, and that is a form of thoughtfulness.

It doesn't have to be a big outing.

Right.

Yeah, Sunny's on the move.

So we have a duck blanket for Sunny right in front of the cameras.

So you can't see it, but if we were to pan the cameras down, you could see Sunny there, but he just got up and moved because Sunny does not like it when we talk loudly.

No, he doesn't.

Or sing.

Or sing.

Been there, done that.

We've done these things where we sing and then he leaves the room and he gives us a side eye as he leaves the room.

And he'll kind of huff.

He's very communicative.

His non-verbals are.

And we both have master's degrees in communication and it just so happens that our dog is very good at non-verbal communication.

You have to, I mean, maybe nobody will care, but I think it's funny, the thing he did the other night.

He was doing everything he could to get our attention while we were outside.

Right, and we had the whole family over.

There were six people sitting at the table outside.

And Sonny does this thing where if we don't pay attention to him, then he'll start making noise by running into things in the house and then he'll look at us.

So he made noise with all the blinds.

He went down the line and like-

And walked through them all.

Walked through them all, made noise.

And then looks at us to see if we're looking.

And then he'll lay down and push his nose against the screen.

Like as close as you could get to breaking that screen.

And start huffing and puffing.

But we love him.

He's definitely awesome.

He's gonna be turning three in November.

Oh, little baby Sonny.

Little baby Sonny, three years old.

But our anniversary was fun.

We played mini golf.

We went back to our wedding venue.

Good pizza.

Really good pizza.

Italian sausage.

That was good Italian sausage.

It wasn't like dog kibble, right?

Because we've had pizza that has Italian sausage on it.

Some places it's just fake.

Fake.

But this stuff tasted good.

It did, it was good.

It passes my Italian test.

And did we get dessert?

I made a cake.

You made a cake.

That's right.

Oh, a pretty cake too.

It was really pretty.

And then for your birthday, I didn't plan.

Well, to be fair, you're cutting to the birthday?

Yeah.

No, we were traveling on my birthday.

So we were going from Colorado back here to Lawrence.

Right.

About an eight hour drive.

And this is a mark of vulnerability here because whenever I was thinking about it, I was like, man, we would have just gotten back from Colorado.

We spent eight hours in the car together.

We were talking the whole time.

We had a blast.

Like I was, I was pretty intentional about, you know, lately I've been on my phone a lot since starting the podcast because I'm trying to grow in the virtual spaces as well.

But I was intentional about, okay, don't spend too much time on your phone, have conversations.

And we talked about a ton of stuff.

And then we got home and it was like, oh, I got to work on something.

And then it started to set in that, oh my gosh, it's for you.

It's like, oh my gosh, it's my birthday and there's nothing going on.

And that was pretty sad and I completely dropped the ball and I felt bad for it.

And it was almost one of those moments where I was like, okay, well, see you next year.

Like, hopefully I can try again, but that's hard because then that's 365 days before I can do right.

So then that night I went to Sprouts and I got you a dinner and a cake.

And then once I got the cake, you're like, oh, I don't want the cake.

And then you said, I don't want the dinner.

But a big part of that was just because I had dropped the ball, so.

Well, and we were very tired.

Both of us were really tired from our long day of driving.

It was a long, it was such a great couple of days, but really we were only in Colorado less than 48 hours.

So it was very quick.

We were tired.

The elevation change, you and I are not used to that.

Yeah, that was tough.

We got home, we were a little hangry and then vulnerable moment for me.

I was like, I need to blow out a birthday candle, which I'm 27 years old, but I love my birthday.

But don't be too hard on yourself because I should, one thing with you that we've had to learn is that surprises, for example, you don't necessarily receive surprises that well.

I don't have a big emotive response.

And I love as good surprise.

I like, I would say I like surprising people more than I like being surprised.

Do you?

I think so.

Yeah.

So I think that those differences alone, maybe the expectations are at different levels, subconsciously, right?

Expectations, violation theory.

Oftentimes we don't know we have expectations until they're violated.

So sometimes those are subconscious.

You do a great job planning.

I want to give you some peace and comfort and some credit.

And it could be one of those things to where, overall, I do a good job, but there are moments where I could have done better.

And that was one of those moments.

And I want to echo what you said.

We don't know we have expectations until they're violated.

That's so good.

Not many people think about that, but in relationships, whenever we start dating somebody, we always see our dad do something to our mom, like always get flowers on our birthday, right?

And then it's your birthday, and you're like, oh, there's no flowers.

But we never communicated that expectation.

Right.

But once it was violated, then we can communicate our disappointment or our sadness.

Right.

And once again, to be fair, we were on a road trip all day.

What were you supposed to do, right?

Your birthday candle.

It was, one funny thing was, and the answer is I could have planned in advance, you know, I could have worked with your sister who is here.

Yet I remember whenever I got you the cake, it was angel food cake because you really liked strawberry shortcake.

And I like dressed it up and I put the candle in there and I was like, okay, well, blow out your candle.

And he looked at it for like a minute before you blow it out.

And it made me reflect on my failure of not meeting the mark.

And I was like, oh my gosh, Chris.

See, that's a good lesson for me though too.

Like talk about not great on my part, not great conflict resolution or communication truly, because you were trying to make it right.

And I was being a little stubborn and sad.

And once again, there were outside factors that contributed, tired, fatigue, hunger.

The next morning, we were waking up at 4 a.m.

so I could drive you to the airport.

So having some anticipatory stress about that.

And I had a project that I hadn't done yet.

You had a, yes, a project you hadn't done.

And so there were many, many factors.

But it's a good lesson for me too, because I could have navigated that better and being flexible and adaptable, because guess what?

Things happen, plans change.

You have to be able to roll with the punches.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, people miss the mark, like me.

And like me.

But we know that planning is a big thing.

And now I know, and I knew, but now I know even more that birthdays are really important to you and that you want a candle to blow out.

And I don't think that just because you're 27 doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to, I think you should be able to, right?

So as your husband, I need to do what I can do to make sure I provide that for you, because that's one of the things that makes you special.

Oh, thanks, Chris.

Yeah.

Well, for the record, you're very good at celebrating.

I think you say that you're not great at celebrating, but I think you are.

You're just so sweet.

You're just so sweet all the time.

I'm not good at celebrating milestones.

Like things will happen and I won't.

I need to be better at making a bigger deal about good things that happen.

I think you're good at celebrating other people.

You're better at celebrating other people than you are yourself and your own success.

And one of my mentors told me always celebrate even the smallest of things.

Yeah, yeah, I gotta get better at that.

And I saw that in my life, I would beat myself up a lot.

I'd be self-critical.

Oh, Chris, you can do this better.

You can do that better.

I feel like it started with sports and then it began to start with other things.

And I recognized that, I remember I was riding the bike in Broken Air, Oklahoma, down the street.

It was in my BMX phase.

So I was gonna go, hop some staircases or do some tricks or try to do some tricks.

And I'm listening to Graham Cook, who's a guy in the UK, who his perspective is incredible on essentially all things life.

And he was talking about how we really emphasize when we mess up, but we never really highlight when we do well.

And I was reflecting on that like, wow.

And that was the first moment where I was in the car with a friend of mine.

And I said, man, I've really been like a perfectionist lately.

And instead I want to be someone who really wants the standard of excellence, but screw the perfection.

So since then, I've been trying to celebrate, but I still need to do better.

But marrying you has been really good for me because you're very good at celebrating.

So it helps me.

Well, and that's a great example of where we get to pick things up from each other, because my family is very good at celebrating.

Like my parents, my siblings, they're really good at celebrating the people around them.

Do you remember the first event that happened between you and I where we were confronted with the fact that we celebrated a bit differently?

Yep.

To talk about it.

I have it in my head.

Yeah.

The very first, so it would have been 2019, we were dating for, I guess, a few months at this point, maybe four or five, and it was your birthday, May 4th.

And I was like, oh, I love birthdays.

This is when I thrive.

And it happened to be a Saturday, so I'm like, perfect.

We've got a full day of events.

So I think you were already done with school at this point.

I was just finishing up my first year at Wake, and it was a Saturday, so we went to the pool, and it was such a nice summer day.

We went to the pool, we had a picnic lunch.

That night we were going to have pizza and cook, I'm sorry, the way you were holding in that yacht.

Pizza and cookie cake at Cugino Forno with our friends from Wake.

And between the swim, the pool day, the picnic and the evening, I wanted to give you a gift.

And you, from the moment I met you and got to know you, I knew that you were really big into sports, activities, things that you could do with people.

So you are a big fan of throwing the ball, just going out and playing catch or playing soccer.

Or we used to shoot hoops at when we were in grad school.

And that was a lot of fun.

You love those activities that you can do with other people.

And so I was like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna get him a spike ball set because we were headed to the beach, actually, a few weeks later, and I thought, oh, he might wanna bring that.

And he likes games and sports, and I've seen people play it, and it looks like a lot of fun.

And so I wrapped it all nicely, and we were at my apartment, and I gave it to you, and you were like, do you remember your reaction?

Oh, boy, what was our reaction?

Well, it was very much like, oh, thanks.

Yeah, and you were so excited to give me the gift.

I was so excited to give you the gift, because it was also one of the, Chris and I, I will say that we're not big on gifts for each other.

Sure.

And that's, we're both, you know, absolutely content.

We've talked about that.

We'd rather have an experience where we go do something than, but this is one of the first gift giving opportunities in our relationship.

And I remember feeling very sad, like, oh, he didn't like it, or he didn't, you know, appreciate the thoughtful, the thought that went behind it.

And then as I got to know you, I realized, though, you're not as emotive in those instances or expressive.

Yeah.

And that's okay.

Everybody's different.

And in my head, hearing you go through your whole logic for picking spike ball makes a ton of sense, right?

And in my head, at UCO for my undergrad, I had put on this huge spike ball tournament, and I actually had a spike ball set.

It was just under my bed.

I hadn't used it.

And it was one of those activities that I hadn't played much, and I didn't really think about it.

So whenever I saw this, I was like, oh, this is the same thing as what's under my bed.

And I was like, oh, wow.

And I have to do better at not thinking about all that stuff because you don't know any of that.

Yeah, true.

Instead, I have to be thinking about what you were thinking whenever you got me it.

In the moment, that's hard for me, but some people are really good at it.

Yeah.

Yeah, like you were pretty good at it.

And it makes me think of that viral video of the little girl who's opening up the gift and it's a banana.

For me, a banana?

And she's so happy to have this banana.

But that mark of joy and illustrating, I don't know if you know, but what I do know is you got me this gift.

Yeah, but it's once again, it's I don't want to put labels on like a good or bad reaction because everybody's different and the more we've gotten to know each other, you know, we're still getting to know each other.

I think, I don't think you ever stop, which is a good thing, but.

And thankfully, we got to navigate that in that moment, but I do remember there was tension there.

There was.

Because of EVT, Expectation Violation Theory, right?

You had an expectation and I did not know about that.

And I didn't meet it.

And once it got violated, it was like, whoa.

You know, I put this thought into the gift.

Do you not recognize that?

Can I tell a funny story about gifts?

It has to do with little Annie.

Okay, go for it.

When I was a kid, my parents had to fact check the age, I would guess maybe five.

One of my uncles got me a gift.

I think it was a, no, I don't think I know.

It was a set of stickers that were really cool.

But, and I was little, granted, but it was a teachable moment for me.

And I said something like, oh, I already have these.

My mom and dad were like, you know, Annie, that's not very kind when somebody gives you a gift and you already have them.

You don't respond like that, you thank them for the gift and be grateful that you've got two sets of something.

And so then didn't end there.

I'm really grateful they did this.

There was a donation center where I grew up that served, underserved populations in our community.

And they had the opportunity for you to drop off, think of like a Goodwill but more local.

And so they said, you know, Annie, you are, we're going to try to teach you a lesson about being thankful and grateful and realizing how lucky you are to have the things that you do.

And so we think it's important that you donate this set of stickers that you said to your uncle, I already have, so that some kid who's going to get those is really going to enjoy them.

And so I, my parents brought me to the Spanish Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

It's what it was called.

And I walked in there and I had to hand over the stickers.

But you know, I'm really grateful they did that because.

Totally, it's a lesson.

It's a lesson that, you know, teach very teachable moment.

And they did it in the very, the most gentle way, but impactful.

Wow, yeah, you could do it seminar and gift giving.

Now, I'm going to gift you with some unexpected questions.

Oh, let's get into it.

Some listeners have sent.

Hey, let's tear off the bow and the wrapping paper.

Let's tear it off.

Okay, view responses on Instagram, on my personal and on the podcast account.

I posted, I'm having Annie on the podcast.

Let me know if there's any topics you'd like to discuss.

And not to my surprise, but really expectedly, a lot of people have some questions.

Okay, so we're going to start with Jordan Nash.

Now I got nervous.

Yes.

All right, my fellow, you see a Bronco icon.

She asks, how did you two meet?

Oh, great question.

Thanks for sending that in, Jordan.

Natural, natural.

Do you want to say it or do you want me to?

Sure, I'll start.

So I am in grad school, and this is for most grad schools.

You, it'll be maybe a two year program or yeah, if it's a two year program or even a one year program, whenever you are making your way through the program, the next people who are going to be there next year, they start applying and some of them may show up on visits to check out the department, to check out the school.

And the director of graduate studies will hit up the current students and be like, hey, is there a group of people?

Is there some people who are available to show up and kind of walk this person around?

Because you can connect with the person better since you're younger and you can talk about what it's actually like.

And then the professors will meet up with these people too.

And I wasn't part of your group whenever you came to visit, but I do remember on your visit day, you chose to sit in on a class, right?

And we talked to one another in the lobby of the communication building.

And we were just chatting, having fun, talking to one another.

And then I walked to the class and it turns out that you were sitting in my class.

Yes, yeah.

And then you shadowed the class.

I did.

And I was particularly funny that day.

He was hilarious.

I was like, I'm sold.

And it's such a niche thing that we're joking about, but we're talking whenever you do a research paper, part of the research paper at the very beginning is the-

Abstract.

Abstract, which is like the 500,000 level view or mild view of what you're doing.

You talk about, here's what I'm doing and a little bit about the ending.

It's like a little preview.

And I made some jokes about abstracts.

Yeah, basically the professor said, you know, I gave you all the assignment of bringing in a really great abstract.

Does anybody want to volunteer to read their abstract?

And we want to know who the author is and whatnot.

And so Chris Miller raised his hand.

Oh, go ahead.

Because he's thinking like, professional researchers who have done this for 50 years.

Exactly.

Really well known in their field.

But Chris Miller raises his hand and said, yeah, I've got a good abstract and so you read it.

And the professor was like, oh, Chris, who is that by?

And you said, me, I wrote it.

It was just so, the confidence, it was so funny.

So anyhow, I guess, yeah, Jordan, we met at Wake Forest.

And this is good because Jordan, she and I went through the same ICOM curriculum.

And she knows how Dr.

B was really like, you better write a good abstract.

And I feel like we got really good preparation.

You got super good preparation too.

We got really good preparation for grad school.

And anybody who made it to the ICOM class could have gone to grad school and done just as well.

Okay, question two.

This is from Lexi.

If you were in Beauty and the Beast, what household object would you be?

Oh, wow, I like that.

That's a fun one.

Are you gonna answer too?

Yeah, I'll answer after you.

Oh my goodness.

I think that, that's a tough one.

And we just saw a production of Beauty and the Beast.

I thought Lumiere, I like Lumiere, the candle, the candlestick.

Lumiere's awesome.

He's fun.

He lights up the room.

He does light up the room.

I think I would be the front door.

That would be funny, because you get to see everybody comes in, and you get to talk to them and be like, what are you doing here?

Or whenever they leave, you're like, hey, so what happened?

Why are you leaving?

Or you could be funny and not let them in, locked, it would be difficult to move.

That fits you because you're very curious and observant.

What better place to be curious and observed than the door?

You can get all the gossip.

That's true.

Even though I'm not really into gossip.

Hot gossip.

Yeah, being there.

This is from Mr.

Justin Jenkins himself.

What was traveling like whenever I was gone?

Oh, when you were gone?

For work all the time.

Oh, goodness.

So what was that time like?

That was a, so for people who don't know, you traveled, let's see, in 20, you started traveling in 2020 for work, or yeah, technically 2021, I guess, the very early, like right after the new year.

So we're still in the thick of COVID.

You hadn't traveled a ton prior to this, and you just started going to Great Falls, Montana and all these places, you know, throughout the country.

I remember my first trip was to-

Phoenix.

Outside of Phoenix, Linda, Arizona, and I stayed at the Wigwam, which is this nice golf course resort.

And I felt so cool at first, because I was staying at this resort by myself.

And then I realized it's actually not fun to go to a resort by yourself.

When you're there in the same hotel room, night after night, you don't know anybody.

That's not fun.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I don't know how you, I always say, I don't know how you did it, but you did it.

If that were me, I would not be a good candidate for all that travel.

But anyhow, you really, 2022, when you traveled before you left your role, we weren't even done with the year.

And how many nights were you gone?

Too many, over 200.

200, yes, 220, I think it was.

So much travel.

So really, I mean, that I feel like, yes, it was a challenging time.

And it's hard just being away from somebody that you love, whether it's your spouse or your sister, or brother, family member, friends, it's hard being away from the people that you love.

And you really ramped up a lot of travel right after we got married, like a few months after we got married.

And so that was tough.

But I will say, I think having time apart, not having time apart, given the situation, I think it really forced us to communicate well with each other, be very intentional with our communication, and do what we could to build and engage in relational maintenance when you would come home, even if it were for a short time.

So there were times where you would come home 11 p.m.

on a Friday and you'd have to leave 7 a.m.

on Sunday.

So we really only had one day.

So we would do things like walk the dog, go to the grocery store.

Try to act like it's normal.

Try to act like it's normal and squeeze in all the normal activities that the mundane things that you do during the week that actually build up to a lot of quality time together.

So we would try to pack in as much as we could.

And I think we made the most of it.

And then come Sunday, it was always so sad to driving you to the airport.

That was always really hard.

And then coming back home and being-

And we never got good at driving to the airport.

We never got good at it.

The goodbyes were always hard.

Oh, there were always tears.

And I would have to put myself in this mindset of like, you know, just get the work done.

Yeah.

You know, like, and I've done that in the past with, be it work or be it school or be it sports, trying to shut my emotional side off and being like, just power throw.

You kind of have to.

Yeah, you have to in those moments, but if you do it too much, it screws you up.

Right?

And it can't be understated.

The first 18 months of our marriage, I was gone.

We were apart for the, we were mostly apart.

The majority of it.

And there's partners or there's relationships that that's the case.

And one interesting thing for me was that I was gone, but I was working with the military.

So I would travel to all these military bases.

And whenever I was there, I'd feel so bad.

But then I'd see these servicemen and service women who just got called for 15 months away.

A hundred, that really put things in perspective.

It's like, I remember you telling me that there was a, a person that you work with there had maybe four kids and her husband just got called.

Just got called away.

There was another woman I worked with who had two kids.

She was pregnant.

She was about to have a baby.

Her husband just got called out.

They tried to petition to be kept together and they, it didn't get approved because her husband was working in a area where you couldn't really have family.

So it's wild.

It's wild.

That really, it's like, okay, Annie, you can go from Monday to Saturday without seeing Chris.

You'll see him Sunday kind of thing.

So shout out to those people who are making those trips in the US military.

Thank you for what you do because we had a hard time.

Yeah.

Can I say one last thing on that note?

Is that I think for some people, the time apart would pull you apart and for some people, it brings you together.

And thankfully, that really brought us together, even though we were geographically apart for a lot of it.

I think we're better for it.

Yeah.

And I never traveled growing up.

Like my family, the first time I ever went on a plane was my senior year in college and my school sent me.

So I never was on a plane that I can recall maybe whenever I was like one or two, but I don't think so.

And then I transitioned to this job where I'm in a suit, I'm in a tie, I have the corporate phone and I'm always on planes.

I get to the point where I'm always flying first class.

And it was really good for me and my personal growth of being like, okay, I've been there and traveling like that, being away like that, it's not for my individual makeup.

There are some people that I met on the road who travel all the time and they love it.

They thrive, right?

It's not for everybody.

And it is a reminder, find where you thrive and then operate there.

So then that's why I left the job ultimately because I didn't thrive there.

And we could start to see moments where I just wasn't feeling good and maybe physically not feeling good or mentally not being good and being like, all right, we gotta get you out of there.

And thankfully we were in a place where you could.

Some people just like you said have to do it and have no choice.

We were able to get out of there.

We had the provision, the opportunity, which I'm incredibly grateful for.

And then I was like, oh, I'm gonna leave.

I didn't know what I was gonna do.

I had some interviews lined up and we were driving by faith.

Now this is another question from Jordy Nash, UCO ICOM, she says, what did you think when I told you I was wanting to start a podcast?

I was, I loved the idea because we had talked about it for a long time.

Like anybody, we were trying to figure out like, okay, what do we do?

Because I work full time, but also, we've got goals and things that we want for our family.

So we had to, there was a little bit of-

Financial pressure?

Financial pressure.

But I was so happy for you and I love what you're doing.

So, and we had talked about it, it'd be different I think if you came out of left field we were like, hey, I'm quitting my job and I'm starting a podcast.

Very happy that you started the pod.

I'm happy.

Yeah, and it would not be any fraction of what it is now if it weren't for your support.

So that is incredibly evident.

Here's a question from Trent Howard.

Oh, T Howe.

Hey T Howe, thanks for sending in a question.

Can I borrow $18?

Of course.

Of course.

Your check is in the mail, Trent.

Your check is in the mail.

All right, a question from Jeremy Newman.

How do you date your spouse and keep the romance and love strong in a marriage?

Oh, that's a great question.

Lots, I think there are lots of ways you could do that.

So one way, I think we talked about this on the last episode, but trying new things together.

So whether it's novelty is really great for relationships because it gets you out of the routine and monotony of things that you just do every single day.

And when you can explore something new together.

So I'll give you an example.

On our anniversary, which is an atypical day because we were celebrating something, but we went to, we played mini golf, right?

We've both played mini golf before, but it was the coolest mini golf place either of us had ever been to.

It was like tucked in the trees and it was so cool.

And so we were doing an activity.

We got to talk about this new place we were at and we created a lot of memories around it.

And so you can even do that by going to a different grocery store to change things up.

We've done that.

Do you remember a few weeks ago, we went and just walked around Sprouts?

That's how we found the chocolate gems.

A great deal on chocolate gems.

Great deal on chocolate gems.

Yes.

So I would say novelty, I would say finding time each week to do something together that is once again outside of your work, exercise.

So for example, on Monday nights, we sit down.

We tried to do it every Monday.

Last Monday, we didn't do it, but we'd try to, on Monday nights, take what, 30 minutes or so to do our Bible study together.

A weekly devotion.

A weekly devotion.

So we do that together.

And it's nice because we're both, we take in some of the, a few verses, but then they're really good questions that you wouldn't necessarily ask if you were just sitting, having normal conversation, which isn't a bad thing.

But so I would say, building some sort of routine where you have protected time each week to do something.

Maybe it's watching your favorite show.

Maybe it's doing your devotional.

Maybe it's using the John Gottman deck that sometimes we use when we go out to ask each other questions, once again, that you wouldn't think of.

So I think those are a few ways that we do that.

Do you have anything to add?

I would suggest leaning into the individual personalities of one another, and operating there.

This is a really easy question or concept to get caught up in what other people do.

I love hearing what other people do.

It's so interesting.

But one thing to avoid is being like, oh man, we need to do what, who do you listen to with that?

Shawn Johnson.

Oh, Shawn and Andrew.

Like Shawn and Andrew.

They'll talk on their podcast about stuff they do, which is really cool to hear, and they're funny, they're fun.

But I have a different personality than Andrew.

You have a different personality than Shawn.

So operating in those individual personalities, what you do may be completely different than what another couple does.

I have best friends who are married.

They have different personalities than me.

Even though we're best friends, we operate completely different in our marriage.

So like, don't feel too much pressure to match the activities of others, but definitely feel called to a greater standard if people are spending more quality time with their spouse.

It's like, that's something you need to do.

It's up to you on how you do it, but it's really important to have fun and lean into your unique quirks.

I love that, Chris.

Also, it got me thinking too about how, I'm glad you just mentioned Sean and Andrew and they talk about what they do.

And they always say like, this is what we do, but it doesn't necessarily, not everybody has to do it, might not work for everybody.

But one thing that's easy to do is sometimes equate dating your spouse or spending time together with like spending money or going out to dinner or things.

And it doesn't have to be any of that.

I think really it's just embracing each other's personalities, really learning each other.

And then, hey, the Monday night thing works for us.

And we really like that protected time.

Or we really like every now and then to change up where we go grocery shopping or try, go to a new musical or something like that.

So it doesn't always have to be, we're going out on a date, we have a date night.

It doesn't have to be that.

You can build it into your everyday life.

Zach Harris from North Carolina, he says, favorite North Carolinians.

Oh, Zach and Lainey Harris.

Are two of our favorite North Carolinians.

We sure love them.

They helped us move across the country during a global pandemic.

Yes, we definitely love Zach and Lainey so much.

And we're really excited for Zach in the future because he's got some cool things he's working on.

And to one day, he's gonna be a guest in the Talk to People Podcast, which Lainey would be an incredible guest too.

We're just waiting on them to come to Lawrence.

I know Zach always asks me when I'm coming to North Carolina.

We're due for a North Carolina trip though, because there are so many people we love out there.

Al Loudon.

Shout out to Al Loudon.

There are so many great people from North Carolina who listen to this podcast.

And I'm gonna tell you that I'm grateful for you all.

You all have largely contributed to Annie and I being a couple, because if it weren't for you all, we wouldn't be able to be there.

So, now we're here hanging out.

Yes.

All right, Nana, AKA Juice.

He just says Sunny, exclamation point.

Sunny Bear.

Sunny's sleeping.

Sunny is passed out in the side.

But we sure love him.

We definitely love him.

Trent Howard, another question.

Oh, good gravy.

What'd you think of the Barbie movie?

You know, admittedly, I did not see the Barbie movie.

I think I've had this weird thing where I've been a little resistant to seeing it because I, oh, there he is.

There's Sunny.

Sunny, come here.

All right, Juice or Nana, here you go.

Sunny is making his way into the frame.

He is.

Getting a little scratch under the chin.

If you have a dog, comment below, send a message in.

Does your dog like getting a scratch under the chin?

Because Sunny really loves this.

And there are moments, like parts of the dog, where you know it's good, because whenever you scratch them there, they start to scratch.

And you're like, okay, cool, this is where you would scratch if you could scratch.

So I'm going to dial in on that.

But here he is.

I have to fix this cord.

Oh, but what I was saying about Barbie.

Yeah.

I haven't seen Barbie, I think because it was such a big thing.

And so I've been a little resistant to seeing it, because I didn't want to see it when everybody else saw, which is not a good reason.

I hear it's really funny and really good.

We'll probably watch it when it's streaming.

Yeah.

I did see the Haunted Mansion though.

What'd you think?

Spooky.

Yeah, you came home, going like, oh.

Okay, Kristen Klinka says, I love this.

Exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point.

I love you, Chrissy.

We love Chrissy.

Shout out to her.

Man, you really made the podcast go bonkers, Kristen Klinka.

I just want to let you know.

I don't think she's going to believe you, but it's true.

It was, I showed the analytics to Annie, and that was really cool, Crisco.

So do not underestimate yourself.

Yes.

Okay.

Another question is, how did I propose?

Ooh.

Who sent that in?

Jordy.

Jordy.

So her and Trent sent in three questions.

Which I'm like, shout out to you all, because-

They're showing up.

They are showing up.

And over a hundred people saw the story.

So they make up for the people who didn't send questions in.

Yeah, and the people who didn't send questions, we know who you are.

Technically, we do, yeah.

Technically, we do.

But we're not gonna worry about that.

I'm just kidding.

So how did I propose?

So in graduate school, at our university, there was this big building that I personally loved called Waite Chapel.

And Waite Chapel is gorgeous.

If you can imagine some pillars up front, this beautiful, large steeple, and all around it, there's this beautiful brick.

It looks so awesome, but it's ginormous.

And it was on the, they call it the upper quad.

So on the university, they had two quads that you could walk around.

Pristine.

Pristine, it was so beautiful.

And in the fall, the leaves would be all different types of colors, you had magnolia trees that looped around both quads, and then these walkways that you could walk around.

So Annie and I, whenever we started dating, we would go on a lot of walks around these universities.

So we would walk the lower quad, we'd go up the stairs, we'd walk the upper quad, and in the Waite Chapel, you could walk inside, you could see it.

They left it open during the day for the most part, but they do these big events there.

I like to geek out whenever it comes to public speaking.

So I really like public speakers, like Martin Luther King Jr.

who was an incredible orator.

If you wanna see one of the best speeches, then look at his I Have a Dream speech, where he's standing on the Lincoln Memorial.

He's about to give this huge speech to over 100,000 people.

And you can actually look it up on YouTube.

He is as cool as a cucumber, delivering this speech.

And whenever he was practicing this speech, like this wasn't the first time he had given it, he actually gave it before he gave it in Washington, DC he gave it at Waite Chapel.

So we would always walk around this building.

I loved this building.

And I wanted to propose to Annie before she graduated.

So I called her family and I said, hey, I'm gonna propose to her.

I'm gonna do it in front of Waite Chapel.

I hired a photographer who was like a secret photographer.

So she was just taking pictures of someone else on the quad, but really she was taking a picture of Annie, but she didn't know that.

And then someone who wrote in Zach Harris, shout out to Zach Harris, he was my operations guy and then...

Weren't they picking up trash or something right before?

Yeah, and then we got Annie's family to fly in.

My family wasn't able to make it, but having her family surprise her whenever, and it was like, oh, we're just gonna go on a walk on campus.

And I remember Annie and I were actually in a little argument.

Well, to be...

Because you didn't know what was going on.

Well, we were just, so I knew that my mom and dad and Jimmy had come to visit.

Mia wasn't there.

So I already knew that they were visiting.

And to be honest with you, I thought it was gonna happen the night before.

We were at dinner, and I was in the bathroom texting Elise.

I was like, I think it's gonna happen.

And I'm like, no, no, it's not gonna happen.

It's not gonna be this weekend.

And then Sunday, you really got me because we had breakfast, we had brunch.

I ate a ton of bacon, so I had puffy bacon hands, okay?

I did not look very cute.

And we were just aimlessly walking around campus and I'm like, what are we doing?

And you were like, just come here.

I was like, Chris, what is our plan for the day?

And then you were like, I'm trying to do something.

I said, I'm not trying to make you upset.

I'm not trying to make you upset, but I am trying to do something.

And then you got down on one knee and you pulled out the ring and-

Boom.

And so my point of view is we're walking the campus.

I'm waiting on Zach to tell me like, hey, you're good.

One thing that was good for the event, like the proposal, not good for the rest of the world, was COVID had shut down the university two days before the proposal.

So nobody was there.

We were, it was temporarily closed.

That was-

Temporarily closed.

Nobody was on the squad when typically it'd be bustling with people.

But it just so happened that the facilities was changing the trash can right in front of Waite Chapel, which would have been right in the middle of our shot.

So he's texting me like, hey, wait, hey, wait, hey, wait, hey, wait, hey, wait, and he finally goes on and was like, hey, listen, someone's about to propose.

Do you think you could move?

And then they move and then he runs back to the little place that they're at and texts me.

So we're stalling.

And we're waiting for my dad to get there with Mia because Mia flew in to surprise me.

And your dad was gonna go pick her up.

So we were stalling, but finally, and like I can't imagine, I was feeling super nervous and it was really aimless walking like, oh yeah, let's walk the track and oh yeah, let's do this.

But once we finally got there, I proposed in the middle of the quad and you can see down the line, I should post up a picture of the proposal and talking about the podcast, but you can see there I am, there Annie is, and then behind us is this beautiful chapel.

It makes you feel so small in the best of ways.

Yeah.

And that was one of the best things about that place is you would turn the corner and be like, whoa, there it is.

And no matter where you were, you could see it.

And it is a gorgeous building, but that is the story of our proposal.

I love it, Chris.

You were so thoughtful.

I would not have changed a thing about it.

The global pandemic, I would have, of course, but nothing was planned.

Yep.

I mean, COVID helped the proposal out.

Well.

Shout out to the vid.

Okay, we're cutting that.

In the moment, COVID helped the proposal out.

Can I rearrange my seat?

Yeah, go for it.

So anything you'd like us to discuss or anything you'd like to cover before we start wrapping it up?

I want you to tell the people, like you are on episode, this is 35.

Whoa.

Kevin Durant.

You're Durantula.

Oh my gosh.

Give us something that you've learned in the 35 episodes that you've done.

That's a good question.

Yes, we are number 35, Durantula, Slim Reaper.

Shout out to KD.

I hope you're doing okay.

If you ever want to be on the pod, let me know.

He'd be funny because he is culturally known as someone who is a little petty.

So that would be interesting talking to him about relationships.

One of the things that I learned and I was reflecting on it was to be really grateful for all of these moments.

I had a beautiful podcast that I recently recorded with an individual who really inspires me.

Awesome person.

Awesome person and it went so incredibly well.

And a few days after the podcast, I was producing a podcast for somebody else and I formatted the SD card and I wiped it all off.

And it was gone like that, boom.

And I was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that.

This moment that I had to document and capture, it's no longer there.

So it makes me reflect on the 34, 35, as long as I don't delete your episode and accident, that will be live and that are there and how grateful I am for those moments and conversations.

And to all those who are listening and joining in on this really cool journey that we've been going on, talking to all these different people about the power of social connection.

I am grateful for you all, and I hope that we can all appreciate these moments together.

I love that.

Yeah.

That's a really good takeaway.

Yes, thank you.

So what are you most excited about in the future of the Talk to People Podcast and in the near future?

I'm most excited about dialing it in.

We met with a mentor for us both that we really love, and we were talking about, I mean, he's been on the podcast, Jeff Hall, and we were talking about how the podcast is a really cool thing, but one of the things I expressed is, I want to focus less on loneliness and more on social connection.

And people may be asking why.

Loneliness is a little complex.

It's tough.

It is tough.

Loneliness is one of the things to where there is no silver bullet.

There is no one cure.

There are several different reasons why you could be lonely.

And to some degree, loneliness is a part of the human condition.

It's normal.

It's normal for us to be lonely whenever our parent dies.

It's normal for us to be lonely after a relationship ends.

Situational.

Yeah, it's normal for us to be lonely when we move away.

So that reactive loneliness, but then there's the chronic loneliness and the maladaptive social cognition, the depression, the things that don't go away all the time where you need a clinician to help out.

So for all the people out there who are claiming to beat loneliness, which sometimes I have phrased my stuff that way, they can't beat loneliness.

And it's one of the things where it's different, but I think of it somewhat similar to grief.

You grieve because you loved someone or you loved something and it didn't go your way.

But the presence of grief typically is the indication that there was love there, right?

And oftentimes loneliness is the same way.

If you're lonely, something's not right, but that may not be your fault.

So beating loneliness is a great thing to say.

And it's just like curing cancer.

You want it to happen.

I don't want people to have to feel lonely, but if you are currently incredibly lonely right now as you listen to this, know that one, you're not alone, and know that two, it won't be like this forever.

There will be incredible people who position themselves around you.

And I am grateful that you're listening.

I'm praying for you.

Email talktopeoplepodcast.gmail.com.

We can talk, but the big thing about loneliness is the more people talk about it, the less people know how to solve it all at once.

So it's a case by case thing.

So I'm not claiming to beat out loneliness, but I am claiming that there's healing power and social connection.

I love that.

Yeah, and that whenever you are socially connected, you're going to be physically more healthy, mentally more healthy.

You're gonna be more resilient.

You're gonna be more productive.

Longevity.

You're going to live longer.

You're going to experience less bodily pain.

You're going to feel more fulfilled.

You're going to be way more bouncy whenever things come up that you don't like and you can respond to them.

There are so many positive effects of social connection.

So that's what this podcast is gonna be about, is exploring that social connection.

So I want to help people get better at being socially connected.

I want to explore a lot of different areas in life where we can improve our social connection.

For instance, this is really good about relationships, right?

And even if someone's not married or if they're single, they can still learn from this.

If not, just be entertained by how cute and funny you are.

Right?

But I have this book here, which I use as a prop, but it's called Together by Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States, The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.

This has been super good.

And if you all are interested, I'll get you a free copy.

I'll do a giveaway, but tell me if you're interested in that because partially that kind of feels tacky, but I do want to equip you all with great books, particularly if I am like, yeah, I like these books.

You should do a monthly book club.

And do a live, and then do a live something.

Oh wow, like a live what, discussion?

Discussion.

Of the book club and people tune in?

Yeah.

And then I do a giveaway of the book too.

Yeah, I like that.

And then this, I haven't started it yet, The Art of Gathering.

I like the cover.

Yeah, me too.

The Art of Gathering by Ms.

Priya Parker.

So I read about her book and another book that I just finished, and she is what she calls herself a master facilitator.

But she's looked at a lot of different stuff, like race relations, the importance of peace and large people groups, and ultimately why it's so important for people to get together and talk to one another.

So those are two books that I'm gonna be pulling from, but I'm gonna be pulling from all the conversations I have.

So I'm excited to continue to find this stuff, but I wanted to share both these with you all together, and then The Art of Gathering.

I'll link these in the description.

I'm not sponsored, but I do want to have you all have good resources.

I love that.

So Annie, we want to do a parting message for you.

What are you thinking?

What do you want to tell the world?

I think we should end with a few more rapid fires because those were fun.

But I want to say thank you, Chris, for having me back on the podcast.

I really love doing this with you.

And like I said, I see the behind the scenes work all the time.

And so to be on this end of it is special and fun.

And I'm really proud of you and keep on talking.

You're changing the world one conversation at a time.

Thank you.

It is a joy to have you on.

Hit me with a rapid fire.

Hit you with a rapid fire?

Well, where's our list?

Off the top.

Off the top?

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

You want me to start?

Yeah, you start.

Okay.

If you could only pick one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Apples.

Apples.

Oh my gosh.

I want pizza, but pizza would weigh me down, but apples are good for your gut.

They have a lot of water, fiber.

You know, I read a baked potato is one of the best things to say.

Well, I think about the Martian guy.

He lived on potatoes.

You know, the astronaut, the Martian, the movie?

For me, I'd probably say a sandwich.

A sandwich, yeah.

Because I can do ice cream sandwiches.

I can do pizza sandwiches like a Hot Pocket.

I can do a whole bunch of stuff.

Hot Pockets is a sandwich?

Anything that is bready with a different filling, a toaster strudel.

Oh, okay.

We're getting a little far from sandwich.

So I hope you enjoy your apples.

I'm gonna ditch my apple and jump on the sandwich train.

Oh, it's full.

This train is full.

But I will lend you some sandwiches as long as you're willing to lend me some caramel apples.

Sure.

I can do that.

I can do that.

Okay.

Walgreens or CVS?

Walgreens.

Ditto.

Yeah.

I grew up next to Walgreens.

Me too.

Right across the street.

One thing I don't like about Walgreens is everything's expensive in Walgreens.

But whenever you're in a pinch, Walgreens right there, they also have a pharmacy, which could be somewhat affordable.

Yeah.

So yeah, shout out to Walgreens.

And then, if you had a soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

What would the soundtrack be?

Like an actual, like the name of an actual soundtrack that I know of?

Like a music song.

A music song.

A music, a song.

A music, a song.

It's hard.

Oh, I don't know, that's so tough.

Yeah.

Walking on Sunshine.

Oh, that's a good one.

Yeah.

Well, what about yours?

Mine would be, you can tell everybody.

Go ahead and tell everybody.

You can tell everybody.

I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man.

Just kidding, I am not the man, I am a man.

Sometimes I feel like the man.

But thank you for being on.

Thank you, Chris.

Yes, it was so much fun to have you.

You are incredible at podcasting.

You've done it longer than I have.

No, I-

No, you have.

I really haven't.

I did one episode before you started.

Right.

So you've done it longer than me.

So I'm grateful to have someone who's more senior on here.

And what do we say at the end?

See you soon, folks.

We'll see you next time, folks.

See you next time, folks.

Can we do a special sign off?

Yeah, go for it.

Could you play that sound where I go?

Nope.

I gotta get up and walk over there.

Okay, well, what should we say?

And then I have to include that in the track.

Okay, what should we say then?

Okay, you want me to play it?

No, no, no, no, no.

We can use our sign off.

No, Chris, let's just use our sign off.

See you next time, folks.

I wasn't ready.

Is that right?

Is that what I was doing?

Good.