Season 2 Episode 1

Join us for the exciting premiere of Season 2 of The Man We’re In Trouble Podcast, now with a brand new format! Hosts Mitch, Ed, Matt, Dhruv, and Brendan dive deep into personal stories about reconnecting with family through gaming, facing health scares, and making life-changing decisions for loved ones. This episode is filled with heartfelt discussions, childhood reflections, and even some light-hearted moments about strange experiences. Stay tuned as we navigate real-life challenges and the complexities of being better men, fathers, and friends. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more engaging conversations in the upcoming episodes!

00:00 Welcome to Season Two!

00:36 Ed’s Gaming Bond with Dad

04:32 Matt’s Family Health Update

08:31 Matt’s Decision to Move for Family

17:34 Navigating Family Dynamics

29:03 The Role of Fathers and Personal Reflections

37:08 Struggles of Being a Provider

37:54 Balancing Work and Family Time

42:25 Parenting Expectations and Insecurities

45:16 Quality Time with Children

56:20 Weird and Interesting Experiences

57:18 Military Life and Parenthood

01:03:22 Vasectomy and Personal Decisions

01:09:27 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

#FamilyBonds, #LifeUnexpected, #TheManWereInTrouble, #SeasonPremiere, #PersonalStories, #GamingAndFamily, #HealthScares, #LifeDecisions, #Fatherhood, #FamilyDynamics, #ParentingChallenges, #QualityTime, #WorkLifeBalance, #MilitaryFamily, #Heartfelt, #ChildhoodMemories, #Lighthearted, #PodcastLife, #BetterMen, #FamilyRelationships

Transcript:

 ” All right. All right, finally, we are all here. How’s everyone doing? This is season two, the second episode. Nope, just kidding. This is the first episode of season two of The Man We’re In Trouble podcast with a brand new format that we’re trying here, guys. So today I am joined by Ed Matt Dhruv, and my brother Brendan, of course.

My name is Mitch. Thank you all for being here. Hope you all enjoy what we have in store for today. So let’s, uh, go ahead and get right to it.  So Ed, I’ll have you go first. Sure. Yeah, man. Um, so I’m a, I’m a big, I’m a big video game player. Uh, been playing a lot of Call of Duty, but my, my heart belongs to Battlefield.

And, um, found out this week that the, the new, uh, beta is out for multiplayer through my dad who used to never play video games. Now he’s, uh, now he’s hooked, man, and it’s kind of weird, but, um, ’cause he lives in a, he lives, uh, back home, not in the United States. Um, and we, you know, my parents divorced when we were young, so that, that was kind of messy.

We didn’t have a super close relationship. And we’ve rekindled, uh, we reestablished that relationship, uh, after college. Now that I’ve gotten older and since my dad started gaming, it’s been a really good way for us to really stay in touch. We used to call each other maybe once every two weeks, and now we’re chatting almost every other day.

So it’s been, it’s been pretty dope. Yeah. Who would’ve thought that I was gonna be in my thirties gaming with my, your dad? 56-year-old dad. Yeah. So, which one of y’all, that’s pretty dope. Which one of y I’m, I’m all for it. Which one of y’all’s Better on the Sticks? Who’s winning? Oh dude. Okay. So when he, when I started playing with him, he was kind of like, you know, boomers first baby steps on a controller, and now, and now he’s like, okay, um, where’s the sniper?

Tell me where he’s at. I’ll take him out. Don’t you? You stand over there, Don. Now he’s good. He doesn’t do anything else. He’s off all day playing day, playing video games. I’m so jealous. Is he like fully retired fullblown government retirement from back home? Like he’s medical. He’s just chilling. Yeah. Yeah.

That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah, man. Did you not have any other like, things to connect with before? Or like, I mean, is this like, why is this so like kind of shocking? I don’t know. Just, I don’t know your relationship. So, so he, he was never a big gamer at all. He always looked at gaming kind of like, uh, like, you know, like your typical, you know, minority father.

Like, oh, it’s so waste of time. You need to be getting good grades and. Uh, like I said, like when my parents divorced when I was young, it was very messy. There was a lot of finger pointing. I was too young to understand it as I grew up and was, as I got older and I started understanding the dynamics of what really happened, I actually started realizing that like, uh, my dad wasn’t the monster that my mother had made him out to be.

So, but there was always that pent up like, Hey, I’m sorry I treated you like shit for so long, um, from you, but the from, from both of us. And that was the biggest thing that made the turnaround for me was my dad. I always grew up with this, um, dynamic that like your parents never apologized. Like your, that’s not a thing they did.

And my dad was the first one to ever do that. And it just completely blew me away hearing my dad say like, look, I fucked up. I’m not perfect. And. I could have done better and I’m really sorry and I’m gonna try to do better. And that was the turnaround. And then when he retired, he really kind of didn’t know what to do with all his time and my other sibling lives, um, in the states far away.

And we just, even, he like just to kill boredom. He buys an Xbox one day and next thing you know, we’re all gaming. No, that’s awesome, man. That’s really great to hear. Like, that’s so hard for us these days, but we’ll, uh, yeah, I, no, that’s really great to hear. Super positive. Um, alright, let’s, let’s keep it, let’s keep it rolling with other sub more, more good things, Matt.

Yeah, I got one and it seems we’re on this, uh, family and parent dynamic today, so I’m just gonna keep it going with that. Keep it going for me. Kind of give you a little backstory. I have put a pause on my career to help with my parents’ health. So a couple weeks ago they found, or months ago, they found some nodules on my mom’s lungs and she had a procedure to, I think the word is biopsy and see what they are.

And today we got the news, which, you know, this is good and real. It is not cancer. So that’s huge. Um, dude, hell yeah. Yeah. Thanks guys. ’cause it’s, it’s, it’s at this point where if your parents are around still, you know, I’m in my mid thirties so I’d, a lot of my friends no longer have one or two of their parents.

And that’s unfortunate and, and a whole nother topic to speak about. Um, I’m fortunate to still have both of mine, so I also have the fortunate ability to watch them age, which is scary and it’s kind of a fear of the unknown. ’cause I obviously haven’t done this before. And it’s their first time here as well.

So navigating these medical appointments and these potential scares and procedures and waiting on all this information, it can be, um, difficult. But, you know, today we got some good news, so I’ll keep it on the positives. It’s just something that I am doing full-time in my life at the moment, and happy that I gotta share it with y’all.

Yeah, no, that’s awesome, man. That’s super great to hear. Yeah, that’s good, man. Yeah, I, I’m, I’m, I don’t know if, um, you know what I, well, I’m a, I’m a pa like in the, you know, my normal day-to-day job. So I’m just kinda curious medically, like, is, did your mom just go in for like a, a regular checkup or how did she know that she needed to get this X-ray or find these nodules?

Yeah. And then, yeah. So she had a stroke in November of 24, so like the week of Thanksgiving. And that kind of brought everything around. So, you know, a lot of it was cardiovascular based. Um, and from there, they guess were running some other tests. ’cause she acquired some rough cough while she was in the hospital and they were like, all right, this cough sounds pretty bad and it’s not going away.

Found some nodules on the lungs and just kinda like, you know, the, the process kept going. So that is how we ended up here. I hope that makes sense. Yeah, no, it does it well. So what are they gonna do with the nodules? Like, I mean, it’s not, uh, while it’s not cancerous, is it still a concern that it’s there or like, what are they gonna do?

So, I, I don’t think they’re as concerned initially. So they’re her follow ups in like six months as opposed to like three months now. So I think they’re just gonna keep kicking the can down the road and hope that nothing ever comes from it. Um, which is a, a good thing. I, I hope, um, it’s a win for today, right?

Like it’s it’s a win for right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Mm-hmm. Uh, and I’m sure that that lessened the impact on her ’cause she’s had, from a medical standpoint, a pretty rough past, like 10 months. Uh, so, you know, finding that out is, is great. And I’ll give her some props ’cause she’s almost at a hundred percent recovery.

You know, we’re not out of the woods yet. She’s not exactly the same as she was. And, and that’s fine. But I mean, she’s walking, talking, she’s wanting to get back into bowling and arts and paints painting like she likes to do in her life. So. Um, yeah. That’s pretty cool. Yeah. Do you, no. Or did you feel like the scare though, caused any sort of like, morality check of like, you know, oh my gosh, like, my mom may pass like in the near future if it was cancerous.

Did that make you change anything from behavior wise of like, spending more time with her or doing something else? Yeah. I, I completely dropped my career and, and moved to Texas. Oh, okay. Sorry. Yeah. I, no, no, like spot on. That’s a really good question because it took me, it took me a little while to make that decision, like it was on the back of my head when she had this stroke.

I can remember exactly where I was, like, it was, I found out and like the, do y’all want to hear the story? I’ll make it kind of short. Sure, yes. Cool. So I found out really that’s what we’re here for, man. Yeah. I found, I found out probably in like one of the crappiest ways possible. It was a Thursday night.

The week of Thanksgiving week, so it was November 21st on a Thursday, and I’m hanging out at my house by myself up in Louisville, Kentucky. I had a hockey game at like 10:00 PM so I’m just like, you know, what do you do in between 5:00 PM and 10:00 PM When you have a hockey game, you just kind of hang out.

And I get a text message from my childhood next door neighbor, and she’s just like, Hey Matt, I’m so sorry. And I’m like, for what? Like what are you talking about? And she’s like, Matt, it’s okay. Like, I’m just so sorry. I’m here for you if you need anything. And I’m like, yo, hey girl, what are you talking about?

She’s like, whatcha talking about? I’m getting kind. I’m like, yo, dude. Hey Rachel, if, if something happened, I legitimately do not know. I need you to call me. She calls me and is like, dude, I’m so sorry. Like no one’s talked to you today. And I’m like, no, what the hell is going on? Like, I’m freaking out. Like, what?

What’s going on? She’s like, all I know, all I know is that my mom said that she saw your mom get into the back of an ambulance and your dad’s at the hospital with her. And I’m like, what? So then I call my, yeah, call my dad. He doesn’t answer. And I’m just like, dude, oh my God. Like, what’s going on? So I’m like, she hit you with that small town gossip?

Yeah, dude, so, so it’s my mom’s like your mom. Yeah. So, and, but she doesn’t live with her parents. Like she lives three hours away in another city in Texas. So I’m like, you know, I’m freaking out. Right? Like, I’m like, dude, so one of my parents is dead right now. There’s no way that like, this is insane. I can’t get ahold of my dad like my mom.

Ah, so call my sister. And I’m like, Hey, Allison. She’s like, yo, hey Matthew, what’s up? All positive? I’m like, well, I’m about to ruin your day. And I’m pretty sure I said that verbatim. Like, I was like, I’m about to completely ruin this great mood you’re in. Like, I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to tell you what I know because our, our lives are probably about to change.

I don’t, I don’t know. Right. Like, um, so I eventually mm-hmm. Get ahold of my dad at like 9:00 PM and he tells me what has happened and she’s in the ICU and it, it was not looking very good the first couple days and like, she couldn’t, she couldn’t move her legs, she couldn’t move her arms really, like, there was barely any ability to speak.

And, and I’m sure Brendan, you know, way better than I do. It’s like those first, those first couple hours and days are pivotal to like how you’re. They see that you’re gonna recover or not. So she had a pretty slim chance of getting to where she is right now. I think it was like 11% chance of, um, surviving and a 7% chance.

That’s what they said. Right. And a 7% chance of being like normal after this. And she hit both of those. Wow. Um, ’cause they were like, you’re not gonna be able to walk for a year. I mean, the neurologist came in and was like, doom and gloom. Like, you’re not gonna be all able to walk probably ever again without a walker.

If, if even with a walker, you’re gonna be in the hospital for at least a year. Like just was just boom, boom, boom. And I’m like, Jesus. Oh shit man. Oh. So that night I went and played my hockey game ’cause I didn’t know what else to do. Right. I went and played hockey. I scored two goals. Felt pretty cool about that.

’cause it was like an emotional thing. I came home, I packed up all of my shit and I drove 16 hours to Texas. That. And I, and I, I got here, um, and I stayed here, so it took me till the 23rd, ’cause it’s a 16 hour drive. And I stopped and slept at a rest stop. But, uh, stayed here all the way until January and around Christmas time she came home from the hospital.

So she was there for almost a full month. And I just made the decision, um, I need, I need to get home. Like I, I, I don’t think I’ll ever regret making this decision to come down here and take care of my parents. And I do feel that I would regret not doing it, uh, later in my life. So there’s my whole story, guys.

No, that’s, uh, that’s, that’s like a mix with the whole. Tell me something Good. Tell me something real, man. That’s that for sure. Yeah, that’s, yeah. Well that’s awesome that like you can went from that point until now you’re finally at the end of it where like probably is a huge sigh of relief where you’re just like, okay, all that almost, you know, trauma happened and you now you’re just like, at the end of it, you’re like out in the clear for now.

And you know that it also exceeded expectations of what the doctor said. And, you know, it’s, most doctors are, should be honestly set. They, they try to set these expectations because if, like, they try not to make promises about anything medical. ’cause most of the time if you have that low, low of a chance, you don’t wanna set, tell people, oh yeah, you’re gonna recover and then they die and then they’re gonna, you know, they wanna set probably the lowest expectation to be like, this is what’s real and this is what can happen and you need to be prepared.

But anything that’s better than that, you’re gonna be like, oh, fantastic. That’s, it is kind of a me mental game for, from a medical standpoint, but that’s honestly real. To set. ’cause a lot of families, like they have to hold on to hope. But if it’s like, if you have no hope at the beginning, then anything more positive than that is gonna be hope.

I get it. I get, I get that point, like it makes perfect sense. Give you hope. Anything better than they will start you off at rock bottom. Yeah, exactly. Anything’s a win. I mean, seriously though, imagine, imagine being told, Hey dude, you’re probably not gonna be able to walk again, and now you’re walking just fine.

You’re like, yeah man, I, I beat that my doctor. Fucking Jesus. Yeah. I had a doctor, um, I, I knew a doctor. He was a cancer specialist and he was an ortho, you know, oncology guy. So he dealt with a lot of, you know, cases and, you know, I was talking to him and he was saying that he had seen so many cancer patients and he can almost tell.

Who was going to do very well in the recovery versus who will not. And I mean, it wasn’t like research based, but showing up like, you know, and willingness to live and recover. And that comes from actually family being so involved in their care that gives them willingness to live. And he could basically tell who’s gonna, you know, do well and who’s gonna not.

And then he transferred the hospital and, you know, he was like, uh, visiting or something like that. And one of the cancer patient had fully recovered, you know, when he was doing very well and he was in a bad, very bad shape. Uh, but he was, yeah, he was telling me this story, how, you know, it was almost like you could tell like who has willingness to live and to pull it through and recover and do quite well or, and you know, family matters, right.

Like showing up. Yeah. And your mindset plays such a huge, such a new role. Absolutely. Because, you know, I mean, there’s a lot of time where people just give up. It’s like, okay, you know, I’ve lived my life and there’s no need to continue. Uh, you know, and so you are setting that expectation for yourself and so you’re just gonna go accordingly.

But family support is a huge role and I think your desire to want to continue to live Yeah. Um, push through. That’s why it’s really important sometimes where it’s e even if there’s some kind of family friction that you put those aside and just say, Hey, I, I forgive you and I want you to still be here with me ’cause you’re my parent, type of thing.

Not saying that’s the easiest thing at all, but I think that’s some things that we are at that age where we are having to grasp with these very real challenges as our parents age, as as we get older, having to come to the. The, the crossroads of what do we do? Do we continue, like in these challenging situations, do we continue on with our lives as normal as if our parents are gonna be the way they are when we grow up?

Or are we gonna have to, like you met, put everything away, move onto a new state and start over from scratch almost? Um, and I think that’s, it’s such a huge challenge that I think we’re, we’re clearly all grasped, you know, dealt with and, but I, I don’t know what, what a what are your thoughts on this? Very real, real touchy subject on, on, we’ll go along with the, the, the family taking care of family and family, uh, I guess, uh, positive, uh, fa family role model and integration and like keeping touch with Yeah.

What your love, what, what, what do you think, what do you recommend people to do in these types of things? Well, I just wanna point out that, oh no, you go ahead. I just wanna point out that as like, honestly what Matt you did, like, I would say is a very, like, if we’re talking about being a man, like that’s actually like one thing that you, that’s like a very manly thing to do, to like give up.

You know, some people think that it’s mainly to, you know, just push it away or, you know, but honestly, like, I feel like that’s the manless thing you can do is just give up what you feel like, you know, your personal life and then give back to your family because they, you know, worse, they raised you and now you’re having to help them too.

And that’s honestly like a big thing that I think men don’t do as much. Being decisive, I think. I guess. Yeah, like being very decisive, right? I mean, like you taught over it. But I mean, you know, you weren’t thinking for three weeks or a month. Seems like you, you know, you, you had a thinking to do and probably made a decision in like a day or two.

Uh, and I think, yeah, I think it goes one step further. I think it goes one step further and just like you’re, it’s, you’re, you’re showing love, which I think is something that, yeah, I think a lot of guys are struggling with showing and like, you clearly love your family and that, that, that, I think that in itself is, is just truly manly to be able to do something like that.

Or brave manly, I think brave. Mm-hmm. And be something like that. So, yeah. And, and even if you made that decision very quickly, like it’s still not an easy decision to make the, let me just pause my livelihood and go take care of this problem. Like, that’s because if, if there’s something about the society in which we live, it’s like a lot of men place.

So much of their self worth and self, uh, and, and value of themselves in what they do for a living. So if, if you are this career oriented man that you’ve spent your entire life with a single goal of getting to this job, this position to get into this economic status, and now life just says, um, I need you to put that in pause to come take care of this.

Like, I don’t, I don’t think there, I think there are dudes out there that would have a really hard time making that decision. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, I would agree to, to start, uh, br Brendan, it started with you. So, Brendan Drew, Mitch, ed, thank you for all those kind things y’all said. Um, ’cause you, it, it’s, it’s a.

I’m not, I’m obviously not doing this to get praise and and compliments, right? But it is nice to hear it because it is hard, right? And everyone kind of looks at me crazy when they’re like, well, what are you gonna do for work? Like, you didn’t come down here with a job, you don’t have a plan. Like, no, I do have a plan.

And part of that plan was for the past decade plus, I didn’t privily spend all of my money away to where I am struggling to be able to like pay bills or put food on the table Right now, I, you, I you have a nest egg hopefully if you can afford to do that. And I planned and I didn’t buy a bunch of fancy stuff for the past decade or so.

That’s besides the fact. But like, that’s kind of a lot of what I get and it’s like, oh my God, like you don’t have a job, you don’t have this, you don’t have that. And that’s fine. Um, not everybody needs to understand why I did it. I know why I did it. It sounds like that’s it. Like, y’all, y’all get it, y’all, y’all see where I’m coming from here.

Um, and I am confident enough in my skills and my abilities that all I can find a job. I know that much, but I wanna find the right job that gives me the flexibility to take care of my parents and stay where I am right now. Um, so Mitch, you did ask me a question a second ago, which was like, what advice would I give to other people in similar situations or just in general when it comes to like, parents aging?

Uh, a big one Yeah. Is to, is to not do the avoidant strategy. And you, like, you kind of see it in like relationships where they’re just like, well, I’m just gonna kind of avoid that. Maybe my partner’s treating me bad, or maybe I’m, something is happening behind closed doors that I don’t know about. And take that same principle to this scenario.

Um, I had a family member that did the, I’m just gonna avoid the reality of this and just act like it’s not happening. Right. Um, but it is happening and it is real. And if you avoid it, you’re going to cause more pain to yourself and possibly your family members in life. So, uh, it’s gonna be hard for anyone that’s listening that might be dealing with this.

It is going to be hard, but you only get to do this one time. So, like, make the deci obviously make the decision that works best for you, but don’t ignore the fact that reality has set in and just don’t avoid it. I think I wanna do, I wanna put a disclaimer. Uh, you know, I mean, not everyone who’s in a luxury, first of all to be able to do this, you know?

Agreed. Agreed. But yeah, so I, you know, I mean, I just wanna state that, you know. Yeah, I not telling everyone to, yeah, don’t put their jobs and maybe someone don’t do that. Someone didn’t say someone bought a Lamborghini in the past decades that they have to pay for, you know? Uh, now they’re stuck with it.

But I wanna add too, like, um, there’s another not so rosy reality that, um, not everyone’s family’s healthy. And a lot of us also have toxic relationship with family members in which, like, like you said, Matt, don’t ignore it. But the unfortunate reality is sometimes not ignoring, it means knowing when to step away and knowing when it’s best for not just you but that other family member.

If you just go your separate ways, like sometimes it is best to, uh, take, walk your separate ways and. The, the thing is, especially when we’re talking about our relationships as adult men with our parents and other adult family members, is everyone’s an adult. Everyone’s responsible and accountable for their actions.

So, you know, you might have one parent, yeah, you might have one parent that, you know, in my case, I had a, a not the greatest, uh, childhood with my parents getting divorced. Um, and with time I was able to rekindle one relationship and the other one has been tabled and the other one’s been given an opportunity to happen.

And like, and I just like Matt’s advice, I didn’t ignore it. I met it head on and I wasn’t able to find a solution or open a door to that one. It’s like, okay, well if, if you have to walk away from a relationship with a family member, especially a parent. It’s not an easy thing to do, but it gets, it, it you can sleep at night knowing that you tried.

How did you know, how did you know when to walk away? Did you talk to someone? Was it a friend that said, this is toxic and you should move away? Or did you talk to a therapist? How did you know when the time, when the right time was to say, Hey, I am putting more harm on myself, trying to fix the problem, um, than good do.

Was there, was there something, or was it, did you just come to that reality yourself? I, I kind of came to that reality myself, but I, I ended up going to a lot of like psychiatrists or psychologists as a kid. Like, like, um, like divorce counselors. When you were a kid. I feel like I, I kind of kept a lot of what I shared back then, and the, the big turnaround for me was that eureka moment, like I shared earlier, where I finally heard one of my parents apologize and take accountability and that shit blew me away.

Hmm. And that was enough for me to say, I am, I’m sorry too. I respect you so much more for admitting your fault. Like, to me, you always grow up with these male role model images of like, men are, men are tough. Like they don’t admit their mistakes. Like, you just suck it up and, and drive on. Like, nah, man, like to me, if, if you have the balls to, to say, I fucked up, I can do better, I apologize.

Like that’s, that’s huge to me. That’s like the absolute epitome of maturity. I saw that from my dad. I didn’t see that from my mom, um, from her side of the family. Like I, I would sit, I tried sitting down with her and saying, I’m not saying you are the entire problem. I am saying you are part of the problem and I am admitting to having played a part in this myself.

If you’re willing to admit you half, I’ll admit my half, we can put it behind us and we can move on. I was willing to make amends and change. The other party was not, and I What do you do? Yeah. Do you feel like though, that, let’s say she’s just not ready for to, to be, you know, come meet you halfway. Are you still open if she were to be or do you think that’s really a hundred percent.

Oh, okay. Yeah, a hundred percent. But the, the, has she tried to reach out in such infuriatingly childish ways that when she tries to she’ll she’ll. She’ll say like, oh, sorry, I butt dialed you. And I’m like, oh God, that’s, that’s worse. Nobody. But I’m like, I’m like, mom, nobody but dials. Do you have something to say?

Like, like, talk to me for fuck’s sakes, say something. And she’s like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, and, and, and I usually always close the conversation with balls in your court. Balls in your court. Yeah. This is, um, you know, this is a good point. Yeah. Yeah. I wanna 0.1 now. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. Well, the, the thing I wanted to close with is like, one of the things that’s been infuriating me as a guy is always hearing anecdotes of people talking about their shitty fathers.

And society loves piling on top of a shitty father. Oh, he sucks. Nobody questions it. You as a, you as a man, or as a guy. Share an anecdote about a shitty mother. Get ready for the Mongol hoard to just run over you. Oh, she’s your mother. Like there’s, you could, you could tell them that she perpetrated the Holocaust herself and they will always justify it as well.

She’s your mother. And I just think that’s so unfair. Yeah. It makes my, I do think, I do think, I don’t know, I think some, some of the bubbles that I’ve been kind of going through, I have been seeing more and more of the forgiveness of a father than automatic forgiveness of mothers, because I think they’re now, it’s still always gonna be there.

You’re always gonna assume one thing based on father, mother, but I have seen more and more. Uh, people supporting dads as, as think. I think that’s also the whole point though, is like we’re trying to change that stigma that women are perfect and versus like, and men are not. And that’s what I think we would try to change that paradigm shift of saying like, it shouldn’t matter if your mom or dad both can be shitty, but there shouldn’t be a default.

Women is better men. Like, you know, dads are bad. Women are, moms are good. I think it just should be that, um, why can’t there be shitty moms and shitty dads or great moms and great dads? That’s kind of what I. Argue, and most people just assume that ’cause they don’t know who you are in the internet, they’re just gonna assume that your mom, you know, you know, they raised you.

Sure. And yeah, she did sacrifice a lot. But at the end of the day, like if she’s acting this way, no one else is in. The Internet’s gonna care. They’re just going to Yeah. Just be like, oh, why don’t you just forgive her and be a man or something. But it’s, uh, you know, that she’s the way she is. It’s just, um, I’m saying that the point is that we should change that paradigm though, to be like, you know, men or HU dads are great too, or can be great and then, or women can be, you know, not so great.

Yeah. On that day. I have a question for you. I wanna ask Mitch, I’m sorry. Go ahead. Uh, ish. Go question first. I have a question for you, ed. So, um, in your conversation, you know, I mean, since like, you know, all of this like. Like a communication gap most of the time, right? Mm-hmm. And then, mm-hmm. One person’s unwillingness to either be self-aware or even have someone tell them and reflect, you know, that, hey, you are not being self-aware.

But long story short, hey, you know when you mentioned that story about like she called you and then she was like, Hey, I dialed you right. In that situation, I’m curious, how would she respond if you were to say, well, did you think about me? Or you know, like, you can tell me if you were thinking about me, and that’s fine if you said that.

Okay, if you thought about me and you called me, that’s fine. I appreciate it. What would she have said? Dude, that is brilliant. And honestly, the next time. The next time she calls, I’m gonna try that. Like, I’m not kidding. Like that is, that is really good. Yeah. Like, let me tell you this, because this happened.

I’m going to try to disarm her with kindness. Like, were you thinking about me? Like, yeah, no, it’s fuck dude. If that’s what we gotta do. Yeah. If, if that’s the breakthrough that I need, then because I, I a discussion. I don’t wanna, I just wanna put, ’cause I learned, like literally yesterday, I had a discussion with my dad yesterday because he was visiting.

Yeah. He was visiting me. Right. Okay. And my dad has this, uh, way to not directly ask questions and it goes to my family. Like, everyone try to zoom. So like, here’s a great example, right? So I was like, dad, just stay here, you know, I’ll extend your ticket. Right. What do you gotta do when you go back? You got, you know, he is retired.

Like you have nothing to do, so stay with your son. And then he was like, oh no, I have a wedding to go to. He has some wedding to go to next week. And all that. I like, okay, I get it. And then my sister texted me like, Hey, did you ask Dad? Does he wanna stay? I’m like, yeah. I asked him and he wants to go. So I was like, okay.

You know. Um, and then my sister calls my dad and I’m sitting right next to him. My sister asks like, do you wanna stay? I will extend the ticket. And my dad’s like, no, you know, I feel like he is not going to, you know, his like, work in business because I’m here. And I’m like, I, I was like, I didn’t say anything.

But after, you know, he hung up. I told him, well, you didn’t tell me. So like, why didn’t you ask me directly that, are you not going to work or your business? Because I’m here. And I would’ve told you that I only go once a week. Right. But you didn’t ask me. You assumed. And now, you know, we are in this situation where everyone’s just assuming stuff.

Right? Uh, I can tell you Puerto Rican parents do the same shit. My, our mom does the same thing. It’s, it’s, yeah. So I told him, if you want a clear answer, ask me a very direct question. ’cause if you don’t ask your kids a very direct question, your kids cannot trust you and you will never get a clear, direct answer.

Right. So like, hey, and to your point, you can, you can confront your own parents by just putting on, on the stand, by giving them a very clear cut and direct question. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. I learned so both ways. Um, the question that I wanted to ask Mitch was, you know, going back to the conversation about what, um, the stigma behind, um, fathers is, Mitch, now that you’re a newer father, newish, newer, how do you feel?

’cause I’m sure you’ve thought about it, like how do you feel about the stigma that revolves around dads like. How would you feel if you went to the park with your, with your kid and they were like, oh, you’re babysitting. Like, no motherfucker. I’m daddy. Like I’m being a parent. I’m adding. How do you feel about the low bar that there seems to be that’s true around dads.

I am trying my best right now to, to get over what that perceived low bar is, and I am challenged by it sometimes simply because work has, has, I think, hurt my ability to be more present than I would like to be. For example, I have to drive 45 plus minutes to and from work every single day. Being in the military, it’s like I have to wake up before he’s awake and I get home.

30 minutes before his bedtime. And it’s a struggle because I feel like an absent father sometimes. Um, I do my best to try to help Kenzie, um, but it’s still, sometimes I feel like I am not as present as I would like to be. Um, do you feel as, do you feel as a, as the male partner in your relationship that there is also a, um, expectation of being, um, to a certain degree, a provider?

Or even is it do or do you put any of that upon yourself? I don’t Automatically, okay. Wait, lemme make sure I understand this right, is your question is, is there an, do I feel like there is an expectation that because I’m a man, I’m supposed to be a provider only to my, not only, but not only, but just that you.

Should be that I have that expectation. Yeah. Um, okay. Yes. I think I do have that expectation that I need to make sure that there is a house over my kid and my wife’s head every single day that they have the ability to pay for food. Um, however, I have the luxury right now where Kenzie works. Yeah. She, if she has like, if, if she wants to, she could pay for everything herself.

So I that’s, that’s an, again, another struggle of mine where granted she works from home where it’s like, all right, I do feel useless sometimes and I’m trying to think of creative ways to make up for my feeling of uselessness. Um, ’cause I am, I’m not present all the time. I don’t feel like I am needed to pay for the house and the food.

’cause Kenzie works. And I am not as present as I would like. I, if I’m done with work early, I’ll pick him up and I’ll do what I can to play with him and stuff like that. But it still feels like I am not, it could be all in my head, but just with the way that I am missing out. And that’s a fair point for periods of life, it could be all in you.

It could be. I mean, and, and you bring a very fair point, like you’re, if it’s all in your head, or if it’s not, but you’re, you’re questioning there is a degree of this expectation that is also psychological. Yeah. I mean, lemme say something. So, um, well first of all, Mitch, I don’t think you should or anyone should feel that way.

Like you’re less than what you feel like you should be because you’re, you are given 110%. Or if you feel, if you already think that, then you probably already are. Um, and if you. You know it, but if you say that and you’re not actually performing it, then you’re just disingenuous. But, um, so just for the, the fact that you’re even recognizing that you are, um, wanting to do better, that’s the first step too.

Um, but if I, you know, if I’m being real, like the one thing that you could just improve is, you know, less technology on, in, you know, phone time. Like, you know, if you want to be more engaged with Anson and you know from when, as much time as you want, just don’t even have your phone on you. Just, you know, be with him.

Play with him. Don’t have your phone in like a different room. Have it like not on silent and just forget about technology to just have you and him time, and you and Kenzie and him time and just be with him. ’cause that’s like a big. Barrier. Like even though he’s one, he still has imp, he’s still impressionable.

And that would be, you know, if you want to be better, like that’s one big factor. I think in today’s age too, with technology and phones and, you know, communication. Like you’re having this other outside field of world, like in impact your personal bubble and you just need to let that go and spend time with your family.

Especially in the military where I have, so yeah, email and the inbox are constantly ringing. Yeah, for sure. Just here. Yeah. So here’s, uh, so, uh, you know, like the time, so like add mentioned, right? Like, seemed like, you know, for most of his life he felt a little distant from his dad versus, you know, you spent more time with your mom, I’m suppose, right Ed?

Yeah. So, I mean, would you say, Mitch, that because of this expectation, maybe you’re trying to spend more time forcefully versus just spend maybe less time that whatever time you are spending, but maybe have your own thing. So it could be anything, right? I saw this podcast, I don’t remember, but this guy has like a 2-year-old and they just talk random and he babbles and that’s their thing.

Right. But I don’t know, I mean, memories are, you’re saying like more, more quality over quantity necessarily. Like you might not be spending the most time with him, but you, whenever you do get a little bit of time, you just try to make the most out of it. Yes. I, I, let’s see, before I left for school, so that’s the other hard part.

I’m also away from Kenzie and Anson now for three and a half months. So it is a, it is a struggle. And before that it, I made it a. A point to, to try to spend more quality time with both of them. Um, but Brendan’s right, I think dropping the phone off more would solve a lot of my probable concerns, um, focusing on playing a little bit more.

Um, but I think it’s, I, I don’t know. I also wanna comment too about what, uh, ed was mentioning. You know, you were trying to say like, do you have a kind of insecurity about being with Ansin out, like you’re at the park or you’re, you know, being a dad, but I feel like you shouldn’t No, that shouldn’t even be a concern of, of your, I, I’m not insecure at all by doing dad things.

I, I am insecure about his safety of where, where I, what is it? Kenzie has a way of parenting. I have a way of parenting. I am afraid that I am not going to meet her expectation of parenting, and I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want him to get hurt. And then I feel like I am a failure from that perspective too.

So it’s like, again, it could be internalized pressure or Let me ask you this as a counter then, if, I mean, if you’re equal partners in, in this marriage and in this, in this journey of parenthood, if you have different standards and this is how you feel, do you feel like your wife also struggles with meeting your expectations of parenting?

Uh, no, because she’s always right in whatever she wants. Wait, I have a question. When you say, like, when you say hurricane, are you saying like. Maybe like playing rough with him or like what do you mean by like hurt him? Oh, no, no, no, no. I, I think, um, uh, I’m trying to think of an example. Um, I mean, you don’t wanna baby your baby either, right?

I mean, so, so I’m actually the one that babies him more. ’cause when we take him to swimming, I am like, and he supposed to go underwater. I’m over here freaking out of him being underwater for one second and Kenzie’s over here. Like, he can go under for five seconds. He’s done it before. And I’m like, I don’t want him to drown.

Absolutely not. Like I’m the helicopter, I’m the helicopter parent. Like, Kenzie’s the one that’s like, it’s fine. He’s a boy. He will get dirty. He will scrap his knees and I’m over here like Uhuh. No, he’s gotta be pristine and perfect and I don’t want him to get hurt at all. I’m on, I’m on her side. You can Sparta kick him in the pool.

We’re we’re good. I am, I am the opposite. Granted, I, I think it’s like he’s my boy. I don’t want him to get hurt. I am, I don’t know, it’s just, it’s a weird dynamic that I think I have internally, um, to where I’m, I think I’m trying to be a good father and by being a good father in my head it’s like I need to make sure he doesn’t get hurt or nothing bad happens to him.

So it’s a weird, I I thought I would be the complete opposite. I I’d be like, oh, it’s fine. He’s a boy, blah, blah, blah. But I’m over here like, Hmm, no, I have to make sure he is not hurt at all. And he’s clean and he is constantly like not getting dirty or putting things in his mouth. I mean, obviously not putting things in his mouth is definitely not, that’s pulls full errand.

Yes. But yeah, I, I don’t know. Did I answer your question? I feel like I’m rambling. I don’t know if I’m No, I mean, yeah, we’ll go with a year. We’ll go with a year. Okay. Okay. Alright. Alright. I have a question. Mitch, do you have a, does Theon have a, um, a dog with your face on it? You should, you know, you should have a giant, giant, like that stand poster that we have in the Army.

You should have that one of yours, bro, in the fucking corner. You should be, yo, should your son a Mitchell Wi Pillow. Oh my goodness. I don’t wanna Nightmare. Nightmare. You know what,

Bubu? Yes. Alright, bye. That’s on my Christmas present right now. All right. There have any, any practice? It says Get off the sand or something like that. I don’t know, but you should consider that you should buy that the life size cutout of you in the uniform or something. I was, I was gonna say that. I was gonna say that.

Uh, I honestly have like very kind of similar situation with, um, my wife Natalie. She has her way of doing things and I have my way of doing things and I would say. Ultimately we, we have fights about this where, you know, you, why can’t we, we try one way, we try the other, or we have to bend to somebody else’s.

Like basically like if she gets her way, I’m upset if I get my way she upset. It just never ends up always well, but it, I think the end result really was more just recognizing that, um, at least personally too, is that I have these like, control issues. And I think you prob, I mean, us being brothers, you probably were raised very similarly that you have a control issue and I, you know, I have control issues about, you know, just letting things go.

Like it’s, I, there’s nothing end result is gonna be the same, uh, in the end of the day. Maybe more dirtier her way, maybe less dirtier her way, but in the end he’s still, uh, breathing. I mean, you could still be there and present, but you don’t like, I think just recognizing of like, okay, he’s, he’s gonna be okay.

Like, I’m, I’m here, but I am not trying to be like controlled because I think that would be more of toxic, um, to always have that, um, control for, you know, raising a child, because then they’re gonna be like resentful about that. So, yes. I have a follow up question based on that. Okay. Did you guys, before you had your first child, have the parenting question with your wives of what it was, was there a we are going, this is the joint direction in which we are going.

How do you want to parent them? Okay, this is how I wanna parent them. Oh. How did, how did dad go? I. I think we talked about it. Um, we basically said that we would disown him if he had specific beliefs. See, and I, and I bring up the question because there seems to be a, that this, this dynamic that because the woman births the child, she automatically gets 51% of the vote.

So she has controlling share of what happens. And you got street credits. I feel like a, yeah, well I feel like a lot of the time the father also gets pushed away because it’s like, well, mother knows best. And there’s that weird dynamic where dad’s rules don’t really matter as much as mom’s rules or I, so he is in the boy’s life, I think.

Hold on, hold on, on, hold on. I, I think. And this is, this is, I, this might not be the right way to, to go about this. So knowing how busy I was after his birth and the way my wife is and how she, when when she goes in on something, she will go 150% researching anything and everything about that specific topic.

Like whenever she wants to buy something new, she will go, falls to the wall. Learning about that subject, like she, it’s almost like she, I think she called it OCPD, obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. And so she is very, she was very knowledgeable, I think, about parenting skills and styles and stuff like that.

She’s very methodical. She’s very methodical. A hundred percent. Knowing how my schedule was and how busy I was going to be over this past year, like I wholeheartedly trusted her ability and knowing that, like I, we have very similar beliefs, very similar goals, very similar mindsets. I trusted her in her ability to parent and like do most of the, like, the, like what she does say, go.

Mm-hmm. It, it was like, it, it wasn’t something that I fought against because everything that she did, I was like, yeah, I would do the same thing, or yeah, I would agree with the same. So it’s, it, I don’t have different morals or beliefs of how we would like, want to raise him. So I, I’m probably not the best person to be able to say like, oh, did we have that talk?

We, we did. But it was like, all right, we’re on the same page, so I trust you. You’re on the same page, on the macro. It’s really just the, yeah. Minor techniques per se, where you might not necessarily be, um, the same, which is fair. I mean, yes. So no two people are the same, obviously. So like gentle parenting, that was the, the, I guess the red herring, the elephant in the room type of thing of like, obviously we don’t wanna yell at him.

He’s a baby. He doesn’t understand logic or reason. Yeah, he has to and, and I, I acknow, so when she got her, her, her puppy, I had one way of thinking of how to discipline, said puppy, to which it’s the opposite of what, how she would discipline, said puppy if she, it, you know, he pooped in the house, to which then her logic, I’m like, oh, okay.

That’s a new way of like how to, how to go about getting a baby or a dog to do something that you want. And so I’ve had to learn that to, ’cause I don’t want to cause him trauma. ’cause I feel like renon, correct me if I’m wrong, I feel like we were a little traumatized for some things growing up. I don’t know.

I mean, I don’t, maybe it’s Asian culture. Uh, I don’t know if you’re referring to when you say traumatized being yelled at and stuff, but I mean, I got beat up. You know? I don’t know. I grew up in India and you know, in Indian culture you get beat, you know, mean bro, go to school. That’s minority culture. I’m right there with you.

Get the shit outta you, you know? I mean, uh, the Flipflops are flying. Yeah. You know, like we had something called the blue whacker, but, hey look, I had great relationship. We had a blue wh relationship is a piece of rubber. Yeah. Uh, but so the point I’m trying to make is str Is that when you strangle your dick?

Yeah. Um, so like, yeah. The thing is, you know. And like a lot of time you don’t remember what people did for you, but you remember how they made you feel. Right? And I think that’s what matters, right? Yes. Because a lot of times you don’t remember, remember the one time you gave me $6,000 I, and then you had no clue about it.

You didn’t remember that It was in like 2019, like ever give you thousand, bro, I, we talked about this during, I gave you dinner like in 2019. I mean, I gave you back in like a week, but I had texted you because, you know, I, I needed to show cash. Oh, oh. And then you just, like, you didn’t ask me anything. You didn’t ask me when I was gonna return it.

I was just like, Hey Mitch, can you send me $6,000? And, and you sent me, wait a second. I didn’t. I could get 6,000 right now. Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. You’re right. USAI remember. And then, you know, like last year or year before when I was visiting you on your birthday and we had a dinner with Kenzie and I mentioned this and you had no clue.

You don’t even remember that. Right. But see, like that’s the thing, dude, I, I don’t remember. Yeah, exactly. That’s what I’m saying. Like, you know, you may not remember the things you do or whatever, but you, you know, people remember the feeling they get when you are around. Yeah. That being said, what is your favorite thing to do with Anson?

You know, like, what do you do? Or like, what’s your favorite thing to do? Oh man. Oh man. That he enjoys or, you know, I, I don’t know. Not you enjoy, I don’t care about you. Just seeing him. Do, do, uh, he’s actually been really good about throwing, like getting balls and throwing ’em back and forth. So like, I don’t know, just seeing him learn about the world.

Right now he’s, he’s a little young, you know, he’s 14 months, so he’s still learning how to do things. So honestly, that’s my favorite thing is like. Seeing him learn new things. How like, uh, learn new things. See new things, and just like, uh, oh, going to like travel to a new spot. He’s just all like, oh, this is new.

I’ve never seen this before. So that’s kind of cool. Right now these things are different. These, exactly. So, okay. Okay. It also seems like you really enjoy documenting it too. You’re taking, you like always have your camera with you, so you just like to document. That’s great. Experience that he has or just so that, that I feel like is Yeah.

Your favorite thing. Even though it’s like you just experience him growing. Like that’s the, that seems like the overall like favorite thing. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Doing stuff, being a dad. Yeah. I’ll say, I wanna also kind of circle, hold on, on, I was saying, I think we’ve been, let’s, let’s get back on topic to where, but I, I mean, we’re already, we’re about, about an hour in right now, so let’s, let’s.

Transition to something weird. Okay. I think we’ve done a lot of real things. Um, enough about me. Alright, let’s, let’s, actually, I have a weird thing that I wanna say, but before, before we do go into that, is it all right? Did, is there like really something pressing that y’all wanna still talk about for the real thing or We’ll go to the next episode when we talk about it.

Okay, cool. Alright. I’d one talk about, I’d like to talk about deep, deep political beliefs. Wait, am I still here? Can you, can you guys hear deep, deep, deep? What political beliefs Can you guys hear me? Just, I’d like to really dive. Absolutely not. I know. Politics. Absolutely not. Yes. Prove I can hear you. I’m gonna silence you.

Okay. I don’t know what’s going on. Lost reconnecting. We lost you. He kept saying, can you hear me? It’s, it’s not a mant episode unless we lose somebody. It is not, I’m gonna let him know that we saw him, but no, I don’t have anything. I was just, I was just talking shit. I don’t want to talk about politics.

That shit sucks. I was just, oh dude. Amen, brother. Yeah, I, so I don’t know if it’s politics, it’s something weird. Um, so as y’all know, I’m in class, I’m in a military class at Fort Leavenworth right now, uh, for the next three and a half months. Sick shit. Okay. I’m gonna, okay. I am in a just, bro damn you.

That’ll make you, let’s just say I am at a, a, a, a military base with a very famous prison. And so being here, I’m like, oh, this is interesting. One didn’t realize how big this prison was. Two. First week here. Oh, there is a 5K here, which is the prison break. 5K. I’m like, that’s what they called it. It was like a prison break.

5K. I’m like, bro, that’s weird. Lean into the humor. The prisoners participate. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I think you just run a five KI think it’s from the old prison, but I still think that that was funny. Um, and then, and then, um, our instructor was like, oh yeah, by the way, they, they cut the prisoners cut hair.

And I’m like, okay. And they’re like, yeah, they use, like, they use a straight razor and everything. I’m like, absolutely not. Mm-hmm. Oh shit. Nah. Not, nah, I mean, he, they’re nonviolent offenders and I’m like, I don’t care. I don’t care how cheap, I don’t care how cheap these haircuts are. I don’t, I don’t care if you cheated on your taxes.

I, you’re not touching me with that shit. I, I am sure. I am sure that they’re great. They’re, they’re, they’re trying to rehabilitate and they’re trying to do what they can being in prison. And I commend them for that. I absolutely. Um, but I, I just thought that was, that was a weird thing upon my arrival to like, hear of like all of the, the prison related things that are here that I was like, oh, that’s, that’s interesting.

I just never thought about that. It was just a fascinating, weird thing. So that’s my weird thing for this week. God, does anybody else have anything weird? I can say something weird. So, uh, I think it was a few days ago. Um. Randomly, I got a call from my cousin, Matthew that he was just called me outta the blue.

I never didn’t talk to him for like the past few years, but, um, a few, like almost 10 years ago, I went to Japan backpacking with him. And at the time he was, it was just me and him and when we went, he was apparently like he was arrested and he went to prison and not to prison. Uh, I think it was just a jail, but he had like a whole shift of his re like religious base and he’s like, is now very like.

You know, he’s reliable like daily and he’s very religious. And uh, he just called me yesterday. He called me the other day and he was like, yeah, I’m just thinking about you and thinking about our Japan trip. And now, um, you know, I wish I could have done something different because when we went to these temples, he was like, I can’t go in there ’cause it’s, you know, a not a place of God or something like that.

’cause they have Buddhists and all that stuff and there’s no, um, so it was just a, he, he kind of regrets his experience, but he just kind of called me outta the blue ’cause he is just thinking about me. But, um, he was like, yeah, so like, what’s going on family wise? And, um, well I also, Mitch knows this, but um, my wife is pregnant and I found out before, well we found out before we left and he was like, whoa, that’s crazy that, you know, we, he was just thinking about me.

And I don’t know, just sometimes these things, I mean, I’m not religious, but you know, sometimes like I do wonder if there’s still like a power that kind of. Makes people, you know, if there is a religion or anything like that, it just, you know, gets some coincidences seem too coincidental. Yeah, yeah. Um, so, but that was just like kind of a weird experience.

’cause I, again, I haven’t talked to him for like a few years. I, I, I, I think maybe I talked to him last year, but just like very few far between, but yeah. Yeah. I think it goes to show how important it can be to just randomly call someone that. Yeah. I think that’s, I think that’s what we used to do back in the day before we had social media.

Like, just randomly call someone, we don’t do that anymore. Hey, how you doing now? You gotta clear it with them via text. Like, Hey, is it cool if I call you? Like, ew, no, I’m busy. Ew. Or I think of it’s like, he’s like calling me outta the blue. He is like, oh my God, he’s in danger or something. Yeah. Like, how dare you call me without first like clearing with me being my personal secretary.

I’m sorry, didn’t mean to like. My bad. Do you know what’s funny? Like I usually just like you. Dumb ass. My bad man. I’m sorry. It’s okay. Alright, Eddie, any other weird Brendan? Congrats, Brenda. Thank you. Yeah, congrats Brendan. Congrats Brendan. On the, on the baby announcement, you hear, hear first? Yes. I didn’t know, I didn’t wanna, I wasn’t sure if I was just say anything, so, but it, well that, that was also like a good, good thing that happened too.

It’s not, it’s more of like a, a very long good thing. It nothing like it’s, but uh, yeah, that’s just as, as these like weeks go on, you know, those are a lot of stuff that me and I mean Natalie are talking about with, you know, name names and then also her, uh, OB GYN appointments and um, just kind of planning and so it’s like a continuous like, you know, thing that we’re, we’re doing right now.

So, and. Fortunately, I’m only, I’m, I’ll be back whenever she delivers. I, I’m only here for six months or I’m, I’m away for six months. But, um, when I come back, then I’ll be there to support them. Yeah. Yeah. For those that don’t know, Brennan’s also deployed. Yeah. For those of you also violating opsec. Yeah.

Where he’s being deployed at. Uh, um, my mine’s, mine’s also somewhat baby related. We can go in in depth on the next episode, but about a month ago, I got a vasectomy and uh, oh, shit. Weird. I was like, what’s that? Do you have kids already at Nope. Well, I got No, no, I don’t, I’m not gonna make makeup for the slacker, you know, to keep the birth weight up.

There’s no slacking here, bro. There’s no slacking here. But, um, bro, Mitch, weird, um, fact. Once they cut the Voss deference or whatever the fucking sperm me tube is called, your testicles may settle in a different position on your sack. And now my right sack always wants to chafe against my right thigh and my hand is in my pants like every five fucking minutes.

So this speak man content that we all need to know. Yeah. Ladies, this is, this is knowledge, this is knowledge, medical advice. I appreciate may be we whole episode on this. We, we need a whole episode on this. Yeah. As the resident pa he wants, wants to know more about your right nut. Well, well, on the next episode.

Yeah, because I, I actually, I, we could talk about it too later, but I do, I did, I saw a guy, I saw a guy, okay. He, he came in and he did have a vasectomy, but then he had a vasectomy reversal, and he was like, he, he, but I didn’t, I tried not to like ridicule him, because at the time he was with his wife at the time, and he was 27 though, and he had one kid and then he got a vasectomy.

I was like, well, first of all, like, what were you thinking doing that immediately after ended up divorcing and he was like 32. And he is like, well, I have to basically get this reversed now because no one’s gonna wanna be with a man. 32. So that’s, I’m actually curious, like, why did you do it? And also, uh, do you have any, like, you obviously shouldn’t have any regrets, but at the same time, like, I’m curious like the mindset.

The night time. Any hint of regret revolves around my new permit chafing. But yes, we can. I, I, I’m down this, this can be episode two of season two Ed’s the Ectomy Journey. I’m interested in the decision making process, you know, like what led Sure, yeah. Led to, yeah. You know, that decision because I mean, I, it is quite a big decision, you know?

It is. Yeah. Yeah. I’m, oh, I’m a whole episode about my balls. That’s awesome. That’s what we’re, that’s what we’re here for. Talk about your balls. Absolutely. I, I also, okay, there’s another topic that we’ve been, I’ve waiting about to, waiting to hear about. No, no, no, no, no, no. I want to hear about your murder wife story at some point in the future.

It’s the teaser for season two. Dude. It’s a, it’s about time. It’s about time. It’s, it is time to hear this entire story that, oh shit, I don’t know this story. So I’m, I’m, I wanna know this story. I, Mitch, I, this gonna be, is this gonna be Patreon content? Mitch is the only one that really knows. No, no, because I called him and told him about it.

I, I’ve had direct, yeah. I was like, Hey man, I haven’t talked in years. Second, I remember you. And then I’m like, it’s like, uh, and because I had something similar happen to me. I I’m part of Matt’s story. You are in his Murder Wife story. You’re part of this. So, so listeners this week, Matt, Mitch should drop a poll in Instagram, somewhere in social media, and you guys can vote on Murder Wife versus My Boss, and then whichever one polls higher, we’ll talk about first.

But we’ll talk about them both. That’s, we’ll talk about ’em both. I think that’s fair. I think. Yeah. Yeah. ’cause we, I, I really, we need content and ed ball. We need content. Ed’s balls is really high up there. Sure. I think many people wanna hear about this. I’m down, drew. All, all right. Hold on. Okay. What’s another weird thing?

I, I think it’s Matt and then Drew, we, we’ll finish up with you. I mean, I don’t know what weird thing, um, anything weird happened? Oh, my, you know, Elaine, I had an appointment with Elaine. Good god.

Are we adding this to a third episode? Because this is a whole nother fucking can of worms. Good God. Tell me, so please tell me, tell me you didn’t do something, you regretted. No, I mean, I felt like she was a little shy and she had an intern do my appointment and then she, she came saying, you know, like, I, I go in and it’s an intern.

So I’m like, you know what, what happened? Where, where is my, you know, my doc? And, uh, she’s like, Hey, I’m, you know, I’m so and so. I’m doctor, so and so, I’m an intern here, you know, is it okay if I see you? And then Elaine goes like, hi.

I was like, what’s going on in here? But anyway, I think she, she knows, uh, I think she saw my profile on Hinge because, uh, I don’t see her profile anymore. So, you know, like that means that she saw my profile and didn’t swipe right. And now, and now she’s been with this podcast and now you’re, by the way, Elaine is my psychiatrist.

Or, yeah. Are you in love with your psychiatrist? And that’s, Hey, this is like a, you know, joker and like, this is no like a no, don’t you dare. He’s gonna do it again. He’s doing it again. Nope. Nope. All right. All, all right. Any, any last, last things before we close this out? No. Don’t have anything I, that’s. All right, no problem.

All right. Hey, hey guys. Thanks. Um, if you made it this far, good job. I’m surprised you made it this far. Good job. Um, no. Hey, uh, appreciate y’all being here. I thought that went really well, and I appreciate all the stories. I, I needed this. It’s been a, it’s been a minute Yeah. Since we’ve actually sat down and like, just talked.

So I’m hoping, uh, this, this is gonna be our new format moving forward with, with, uh, how we conduct this podcast. I really enjoyed it and, uh, definitely talked about topics that I think will make me, make me think about how to be a better man, how to be a better father, and, uh, how to be a better friend. So thank y’all for that.

Um, any last minute closing comments from any one of y’all? Subscribe, use the balls.

Oh yes. Forget the balls. Like and subscribe to the podcast. Don’t forget the balls. Yes, they’re always there. Alright, this is the Man. We’re in trouble. Podcast signing out. Boom.”