This season always pulls me back to the voices and moments that shaped me most. This week, we’re bringing back a special conversation from a couple of years ago, one that feels especially meaningful during the holidays. It’s a visit inside my Grandma Vee’s home in western Pennsylvania, where three generations sat down to talk about life: my grandmother, my mom Terri, and me.

What unfolds is a warm, funny, deeply personal look at family stories, the lessons that stay with us, and the unexpected moments that help us understand who we are. My grandma talks about building a life from scratch, raising kids in a one-bedroom house, finding her own strength after loss, and the quiet bargains she made with herself to stay grounded.

From coal-mining memories to the quiet strength of a 95-year-old woman reflecting on love, loss, and presence, this episode is all heart.

What You’ll Hear:

• Growing up in a coal-mining town and the resilience it built (06:54)
• How a young couple built their home, literally, board by board (10:25)
• Motherhood across three generations (16:07)
• The stories that reveal who we become (23:09)
• Grief, strength, and learning to stand on your own (54:16)

Tune in to hear how our generational past impacts our present lives. This is the kind of conversation that reminds you to ask the questions, hold the moments, and take in the stories right in front of you that shape who you are.

You can watch this interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z0ULjUXmBHI 

For a full transcript and more, check out our blog post: https://www.lindsaycz.com/show-notes/grandma-vee-25  

[00:00:01] Grandma Vee: You can get more with sugar than with vinegar.

[00:00:21] Terri: You have a good, a lot of good advice. You've had a lot of good advice that I will keep looking for.

[00:00:59] But anyway, this episode is a special one that I did and I recorded this two years ago, but I really felt called to put it out this week because I think anybody that is just thinking a lot about family this time of year, as we all are want to do, I think that there is so much in this conversation that I still think about today.

[00:01:49] We only lived like a four-hour drive away, but still, it made it feel like this really special thing that we were doing anytime we went to see them for the holidays or just for a visit. But I also realized that it made that time when we were visiting them feel. Really, special. Almost like you didn't want it to end because we didn't get to see them all the time.

[00:02:38] Because I was sort of hearing these stories and making these connections at that timeab out like, oh my gosh, this is why I do that. Because that's where it comes from, and these two women before me. And I found that really powerful. And I'm guessing that some of you hearing this will understand exactly what I'm talking about.

[00:03:18] I would from time to time feel this pull like, oh, I wanna go see my grandparents. I really wanna go see them and visit them and see the rest of the family. And we all get busy, right? And we have these lives, whether you're in college or you're out of college or you're working with kids, whatever. And there is not one time that I made that drive four hours that I ever regretted the time spent.

[00:04:02] 'Cause man, is that true? Now, moving on, the other thing that I hope you take from this conversation is, people say this, but listening back to this and having this conversation with my mom and my grandma, I realize. We are so much a product of where we're from and how we're raised and who our people are around us.

[00:04:38] I feel that there is so much power in taking time to ask the questions, and that comes from if you're trying to step to the next level on a job. And it also comes to if you wanna be closer with your family, you know, so. I would say taking the time to sit with your relatives around your holiday tables and just asking random questions, getting to know something that you've never asked before about the history of, you know, what life was like, is just so valuable.

[00:05:24] I'm so glad you're here for this episode because this one's a little personal. I'm bringing you inside my grandma's house in western Pennsylvania. So my grandma Vee just turned 95, and she's amazing. She always had cheese and crackers out when, anytime we would show u, when I was growing up during my childhood, but I asked her and my mom to join me for a conversation to talk about a lot of different things, and I'm so excited for you guys to be a part of this.

[00:06:12] Grandma Vee: I don't feel that old.

[00:06:44] Lindsay: I guess that's kind of where I started really wanting to talk to you, is what it's like, but also like what you've learned, you know, what you take away from things. But there are so many stories too that, like my mom has filled in the gaps during the years, but you realize you don't really know about, you know?

[00:07:02] Grandma Vee: I was a little bit different because I wanted to play and have a good time, and then as I got older, I got more serious, and so as I got more serious, then that's how I wanted to raise my children, and it worked out so good.

[00:07:24] Grandma Vee: Really?

[00:07:27] Grandma Vee: Oh, yes, Dad and I would go out, my mother would watch the kids, and we would go down to the club and all of our family would go down to the club and dance on a Saturday night, and that was nice. How did you meet Granddad Joe? Down a post office. He came home from the service. And I would go down after school to pick up the mail, and he would be down there. And then he would stick around, or I would stick around until the other one would be seen. And then we'd just like played cat and dog, you know. So you knew you. Yeah. You liked him. So if I wasn't waiting for him, he was waiting for me.

[00:08:31] Terri: That was the good old boys club, and

[00:08:33] Terri: You were the girl trying to get into it.

[00:08:36] Lindsay: They knew he was smitten. Probably

[00:08:42] Lindsay: Isn't that so funny? Oh, that's so funny.

[00:08:57] And as he pulled off the road and he, as he pulled off the road, then he said, Just a minute, I want to give you something. So he gave me an engagement ring and asked me if I would accept it. I said, I sure will.

[00:09:14] Grandma Vee: So then we got engaged, and then it wasn't that long, we got married after that, so it went very nicely.

[00:09:29] Terri: And you were young.

[00:09:32] Grandma Vee: 19. Whoa. Yeah. Huh.

[00:09:39] Grandma Vee: Yeah. I got this turquoise dress, and it had a low waistband, and on it, it had this ruffle that came up, uhh,u,h like that. And it was so gorgeous that everyone who saw it went crazy over it. So it was, oh my gosh. It made it special. It really did.

[00:10:21] For the land and for, so what was that process like?

[00:10:54] Wow. And so that was tough, though, because it's expensive to build a house and you don't make a lot of money in a factory. But they knew we were serious, and we knew they were serious. So everybody worked together. Nobody was like cutting each other's heads off.

[00:11:17] Lindsay: What were you like at that point?

[00:11:24] Grandma Vee: Once I met him. I just wanna get married. Wow'cause he was a handsome guy. And, he liked me too, so it worked out well.

[00:11:48] Grandma Vee: He wanted to go to Body and Fender school.

[00:11:52] Grandma Vee: Because he was just working at an ordinary factory when he went to Body and Fender School, he was able to get a trade, and by getting that trade at Body and Fender School, when he graduated from that school, he got a job at General Motors. And that's where he was working after that. And then he was making good enough money to start building the house.

[00:12:47] Every Friday, somebody can come down and pick up a load of lumber worth that amount of money. And then you go home and you do the building. Come back next week, and we'll see what we can do for you again. And that's how we built a whole house.

[00:13:13] Grandma Vee: Uhhuh.

[00:13:14] Terri: Yeah. I was wondering when you were saying that, if you think that they approved that situation because Dad said he had just come back from the service, and if they knew that he was probably a good risk from that. I was wondering about that.

[00:13:32] Oh wow. And they knew that he wasn't gonna Rene on it, you know? So it worked out really well then.. We both worked. Done, yeah. And I worked in the factory. And then he got a job after that at General Motors.

[00:13:53] Is that right? Wow. And then this one came along. My mom. Yeah. Yep. What do you remember of that time when you found out that you were gonna have a baby for the first time?

[00:14:22] So, if you noticed on the pictures, we had a black house with black paper on the outside; it did not have siding on it. Whoa. Because it costs a lot of money to buy siding.

[00:14:38] Grandma Vee: So we built the house that far, put the black siding on it when the black siding was on it. Then we decided it was time to have the baby.

[00:14:50] Grandma Vee: And that was it.

[00:14:54] Grandma Vee: Well, you had to have something to then that gives you that drive. If you have a drive like that, then you wanna get everything done you wanted you plan to do. Wow. And it worked out perfectly.

[00:15:10] Yeah. So when mom was born, what do you remember of that?

[00:15:24] Grandma Vee: Oh, it was a Sunday. And I said to Joe, Dad, I go, Joe, wake up. We have to go to the, we have to go to the, hospital. No, we have to go to church first.

[00:15:42] Lindsay: And what, so what happened?

[00:15:45] Lindsay: What?

[00:15:47] Lindsay: You were in labor? Yeah.

[00:15:51] Lindsay: And how did that feel?

[00:15:55] Lindsay: Well, yeah,

[00:15:56] Lindsay: Were you in pain in church?

[00:16:02] Lindsay: Yeah. Oh my gosh. What kind of mom was Grandma?

[00:16:10] Lindsay: What was she like as a mom? Mom.

[00:16:13] Lindsay: Really?

[00:16:14] She was. You were. If you were, you always did things around the house, but if something better, there was something better to do with us; you should say, okay, let's just do it.

[00:16:35] Lindsay: My mom has two younger sisters. Sandy, my aunt, is two years younger, and my aunt Anita is nine years younger than my mom.

[00:17:01] And we would go outand we would stop and have just a small lunch and shop, and then come home. But she would do that. Or like if there was a pool here in Youngwood and Mom might have a bunch of stuff to do that day, and she would, I would say, Can we go to the pool? And she'd say, sure, we should just stop what we were doing.

[00:17:37] And a lot of the friends are people that I still see at reunions and stuff.

[00:18:00] I'm a cry. I will not do that, but. I think that's awesome. And we call it Woo. Yeah. You know, it's my mom's. Woo. So what did youreallyal, like? Why did you, why were you like that? Why did you like to just go and have fun? What do you think? Where does that come from?

[00:18:18] Terri: Do you remember how you would always watch American Bandstand with us?

[00:18:22] Terri: We knew every song on American Bandstand, on the black and white TV. We would watch it. We knew everybody's name on the show, Myrna, and, oh yeah, we knew everybody's name.

[00:18:37] Terri: Yep.

[00:18:43] Terri: God, what's wrong? I think that drove your dad crazy, too, because I want to have too many adventures.

[00:18:57] Terri: Like before anybody got married? How was that?

[00:19:17] But you had to be, the advantage of that is you had to be home at 11 o'clock 'cause nothing went back home after nine 11. Okay. So we would go home at 11 o'clock and that always turned out nice 'cause we could all go to work the next day, you know, not be tired.

[00:19:41] You had so many siblings. Yeah. But your siblings were so close. Was it because you guys all stayed in the house so long? How long did you guys live together?

[00:20:06] And I said, That's okay, but I don't wanna have anybody forced out of anything. And they said they wouldn't be forced out. But then we figured it out that if we were going to get married and we were living in the house, you know, downstairs, okay, we could use the downstairs room. So then when we got married, that one moved out, and then that left room for another one that's able, and it worked. It just kind of fell.

[00:20:39] Lindsay: It is. So what does that make me think about is what was the biggest lesson now? That you think about when you think about how you grew up and everybody being under one roof, how does that play for all different women? You know, like, what are the decisions you make?

[00:21:25] So, you know, it, nt right down the, line.

[00:21:44] So then I'm like, well then, like, what are you, how are you doing that?

[00:21:56] Terri: No.

[00:22:00] Terri: Yeah. And it's a less-than-ideal situation because you might have one room that the person you're marrying was in, and nobody complained about it.

[00:22:32] We're like, thank you so much that you're including us, and we can do it. We would have a cot in there, two double beds, and a couch, and I don't know, I. We didn't have two cots, so I'm sort of wondering if Chet and I and somebody else slept together, but it was never like, oh my gosh, we did it for a week. It was never a problem.

[00:23:03] Lindsay: What's one of the craziest things that you remember, or maybe it's not crazy, but that you remember Grandma doing as a mom?

[00:23:34] And I can't believe, 'cause I saw how you made that work. Oh, that was crazy.

[00:23:41] Lindsay: Really. But this is my mom. We wanna be kangaroos for Halloween. Can you do it? And you have a month, maybe not even that much. That's what my mom does for us. She does her Halloween costumes. You go,

[00:24:00] So it was like, to me, well, I wanted to do it because that's what you did. Yeah. You always made her Halloween costumes.

[00:24:09] Terri: Well, you just, and you were so good. I do remember saying when I was getting married, Would you consider making my dress? You said no. Because I would probably be walking down the aisle behind you, sewing the back. And I'm like, yeah, you're probably right.

[00:24:25] Grandma Vee: Just at the factory.

[00:24:30] Grandma Vee: You learned? Four. Oh yeah. Four H. Four H. You learned how to sew patches. And all these different things. So when you got that learned, then when you went.

[00:24:59] Lindsay: That's the defining thing, too. Yeah. You know, you start with Yes.

[00:25:04] Lindsay: Yes, I can. Some people don't subscribe to that theory,

[00:25:14] Lindsay: That's true.

[00:25:18] Lindsay: Do you remember when we tried our kangaroo costumes on at the Hotel Washington? What was that like for you when we put those guys?

[00:25:34] Lindsay: But I, that's how much faith I have in you because of what you've always been able to do. And that's, now I know where that comes from.

[00:25:49] I'm like, I'm doing the best I can in the hotel room. I pinned it and I sent it with you, Uhhuh. And I said, you have to find a person to sew these seams. Do you have any friends who can sew? Meanwhi, you have to learn how to sew because you could do it, but it's just so funny 'cause you just made so many, or I remember the one that was black, but I wanted the print fabric cover under it with a sheer black cover.

[00:26:16] Grandma Vee: But I was so used to sewing, you know, that didn't seem like that big of a poem.

[00:26:24] Lindsay: Well, and you were probably also artsy.

[00:26:32] Which was one fortunate thing. They didn't say, no, I wanna bought one. Yeah. That could have been a drawback, but they did not do that.

[00:26:54] I know they called Pittsburgh back in the day. Hell with the top off because of how the sky would light up from the steel mills and all that, too. But what was, what types of things did you see as a kid with your dad as a coal miner?

[00:27:16] If you got hurt, you did not have a job. Did he get hurt a lot? Oh they, a lot of them did. Coal would fall down and hit them.

[00:27:27] Grandma Vee: Yeah, so they could get hurt easily. My dad figured, Do what you think is necessary. He never said, Don't do it. And so I just went ahead and took care of the kids and did that.

[00:28:12] And he loved that. Wow. Yeah. So, you know, you amused him besides,

[00:28:31] Yeah. I dunno that you would think. I would think I'm just saying, though, that was just something that you did that, yeah, in that Pittsburgh bath, they called it a Pittsburgh toilet. Yeah, because it was all downstairs, and you would go through the outdoor cellar. Into it straight home, straight from outside,

[00:28:56] Terri: he would go in through the basement, and I'll bet Grandpa Pawalkedlk did the same thing. But yeah, just is an amazing, it's just an amazing time like this.

[00:29:18] Terri: I think I didn't even like it when I came home from college, and it was a Saturday, ay, and you would make me clean the house with everybody. I remember thinking. Really? Oh yeah. I remember thinking, wait a minute, I like having been here all week. I didn't do one thing.

[00:29:51] Grandma Vee: Yeah, but not only that, my aunt and Mount Pleasant, she had poor kids. Oh yes. But she couldn't keep her house clean. So my mother felt sorry for her. So I had to take a streetcar into Mount Pleasant, and I would clean her house because nobody wanted to clean her house. So it would always be me.

[00:30:21] That's just incredible that you did that. You tell that story now, but even though you did that was still. It would be like me saying, Goodo to Aunt Sandy's house and cleaning her house.

[00:30:38] Exactly. But I would go, whoever she sent me to, I would go; it's a different set of rules. It's a different parenting, and it is acceptance of kids, too. I never felt like my mom worked and worked her butt off, and you were like super successful versus as a teacher, then an administrator, or a principal. But I never felt like you worked.

[00:31:18] Terri: Those times back there weren't so many demands. Your demands were things you had to do. Mine were things I had to do, but we didn't have all these, let's pick this, let's do this, let's do that. Let's, right. We didn't have that.

[00:31:34] Terri: And I was able to work my job, and I worked a lot at home on my job, but I didn't have other stuff out there.

[00:31:44] Terri: Well, this is just how

[00:31:45] Terri: It's just interesting 'cause you do a great job with your kids. You do stuff. When I'm like, I'll say to your dad, she needs to rest and get some sleep. But you try to fit everything in. You make sure your kids get those scavenger hunts, those things, which, to is, blows my mind because I didn't have the things that you have now.

[00:32:19] Lindsay: And it's kind of like you have to somewhere. Yep. You have more things that you have to think about, but I think you have more decisions that you have to make, maybe now, like, when you're faced with it, because of all the things, right.

[00:32:55] It's very doable. I love that. My kids love to travel, and I'm so grateful that when I was at ESPN, they were the ones who opened my eyes to, oh, you can do this. Because they made it easy. They made it easy for me to take my son to these events and do that kind of thing. So I've gotten very used to that, nd I really value that, you know, but it's also, I've realized how, you know, there are certain times where you really need to be present. So it's a balancing act.

[00:33:47] And you guys really helped out in that. But it also gave you, which is part of what I think, why you like to come here so much that time, you know, of being here. And I have a book from Sandy when she took the kids to Deep Creek. You guys at Deep Creek Lake. And so. That's how we would, we never had any outside help 'cause we lived away.

[00:34:14] Lindsay: I think kids are inherently just curious and love to be exposed. My kids have been talking about fireflies for two weeks. Yeah. Because they knew they were coming here and they were just excited to catch 'em, and they don't get that experience at home.

[00:34:46] I haven't even seen all these pictures. Oh. You know, what was she like as a baby? As a child? I was perfect as a little girl. Wasn't my mom? Was I perfect when I was a baby? What was she like as a girl? Yeah. Yeah, right. How was it? How would you describe my mom's personality as a kid?

[00:35:05] She was pleasant, shy.

[00:35:11] Grandma Vee: Little bit shy.

[00:35:12] Grandma Vee: Like not overly shy. Shy, but you know.

[00:35:24] Terri: I can't believe you saved that.

[00:35:29] Oh. And I know that you're an artist.

[00:35:36] Lindsay: So you have a lot in this story. I was like, there are so many things that I didn't know, but one of the things that struck me was you said, when I was four and a half, I took ballet lessons.

[00:36:02] Terri: That's so true.

[00:36:05] Terri: Me?

[00:36:07] Terri: Oh, I just,

[00:36:10] Grandma Vee: That's a nice thing about putting it in writing.

[00:36:24] Lindsay: What was the song? What was the song? What song do you remember, brother?

[00:36:40] Lindsay: Mom, Stop.

[00:36:49] Grandma Vee: If you can't remember, how can I remember?

[00:36:54] Grandma Vee: Uhhuh.

[00:37:03] Lindsay: Yeah,

[00:37:06] Lindsay: How come I have horrible cry genes? Oh, and mom does if you don't do

[00:37:13] Lindsay: And so it gets better.

[00:37:30] There's no sense in doing that. But I tried everything. I've even read books on what you think about when you're gonna cry. So you look like a really cool person.

[00:37:49] I have a very heightened sense that his time goes fast, and it's so special, and you don't want it to be gone. Right, right. But I think also with that, it's like you have to figure it out. Like it is, it is transitions, and you have to just, if you can be in the moment, as much as you can be in the moment.

[00:38:23] Terri: You know? And it's in, it's really interesting, but you used to be more of a crier.

[00:38:46] Lindsay: My brother couldn't make it through my rehearsal dinner.

[00:38:58] Terri: Does your husband, Little bit. Yeah, a little bit. I mean, I just think we're all in trouble. No, I don't. You know, I do think, because I would like to present myself like. Tough like in England, and just be there, just smelling.

[00:39:14] Grandma Vee: That's You can't be everything.

[00:39:20] Grandma Vee: I know I make bargains with myself. What do you mean? What kind of bargain? Like if I promise myself that I won't be all weepy for something else.

[00:39:33] Lindsay: Wait, and I? Can like what? Yeah, tell us more.

[00:39:55] Lindsay: Oh.

[00:40:02] Lindsay: So you are talking about you control the way that you own, yeah. Outlook is on a situation.

[00:40:23] Lindsay: What kinds of things?

[00:40:39] Terri: And

[00:40:41] Terri: where I knew you never shared that before, but that's very inter. It's interesting because I know that you're a, I know you're doing something because I know that you're not like, falling apart on stuff that I would be falling apart on.

[00:41:03] Lindsay: Tell me more about, yeah. What are you doing differently?

[00:41:20] And then I'll think, oh, I'm going to live that way instead of worrying about children. Oh, so I'll, because

[00:41:29] Grandma Vee: I still worry about that. Oh

[00:41:36] Grandma Vee: Well, it makes it hard, and if you don't work on it, it's gonna be harder.

[00:41:42] Terri: Yeah, this, we're probably saving 200 bucks on some therapy session right here, because I never heard that. You turn, asking.

[00:41:55] Lindsay: Have a therapist. Oh no,

[00:41:58] Terri: But I call it that. Yeah, she's, you're talking about what you, yourself, you've control over your therapy.

[00:42:12] Grandma Vee: So I control myself. So then the ones that got outta hand, I'm wiping them down, saying, Come on, get down there. I have to get this one up here. And I work it out. And I don't know how, but it works.

[00:42:33] what therapists say. So what are the things that you worry about at this point? Can you, like, take us inside? What is it that it, what's it like when you're, you know, you're 95 and you, he's right. You look beautiful. You look like you belong in a soap opera.

[00:43:12] That's smart. Yeah. And it works. And I'll think, don't you let yourself worry like you're doing about the past, only the present. And that's what you tried to do.

[00:43:26] Grandma Vee: Uhhuh. Uhhuh,

[00:43:37] But you still have a way that you do that, that I think a lot of people just, yeah. Have a hard time with.

[00:44:00] This is today's, and then I'll go back to tomorrow's. Okay. And that's what I do. And it's hard to do. It is hard, but then you have to really fight yourself because you think, Is it worth all this frustration you're causing yourself? You know? And so I find out, instead of staying frustrated, I work it out inside me.

[00:44:40] Lindsay: barely know. I really know nothing about your mom.

[00:44:50] Grandma Vee: Yeah. It was very hard because she was too young. She was so sick. Yeah. And it was at a time when they probably. It might have been, I'm not saying she would've lived a lot longer, but it would've been a lot easier. But what I'm wondering is, she had six kids she had to worry about, obviously, you had a happy life, but no one has a perfect family.

[00:45:17] Grandma Vee: And then when she got cancer at the end,

[00:45:40] 'cause I, I don't know if you, I'm just saying. I always say, you're only as happy as your least happy kid. Yeah. I've read, and I think that's really true. My mom said that a lot, and it can be some dumb old thing, like somebody's upset because they couldn't get the bike they wanted, but I think that's true. So it seems like you've been able to,

[00:46:09] Terri: Do you ever talk to your mother?

[00:46:12] Terri: Do you? I talk to dad, but I only save it for big things because I don't wanna waste it on something that I really don't need. But you talk to dad too, I know. Yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:46:28] Yep. And then you have to let yourself let it sink in. How do you let it sink in? Well, because I thought about my mother today and brought her back.

[00:46:58] Terri: Oh, let's see. You were just, no, you were not born. I was in high school.

[00:47:04] Terri: She died in probably 68.

[00:47:08] Terri: Yeah.

[00:47:17] Grandma Vee: No, because everybody in the family doesn't do that. You know, some people discuss it, some people don't.

[00:47:29] Terri: Yeah. And so that's normal to have that because some people just can't talk, nd some can't. Yeah. Uhhuh.

[00:47:43] Terri: I was named after her. Her name was Theresa.

[00:47:58] Terri: I know. She is pretty cool. She was very cool. Wow. She had 18 grandchildren.

[00:48:05] Terri: There were 18; six kids had 18 grandchildren. Wow. We just had a little one, and everybody lived within a one-mile radius. That's special. Yeah.

[00:48:20] Grandma Vee: uhhuh, so it all worked out nice. But I think it's gonna help now. That's interesting.

[00:48:32] Lindsay: Do you feel like you feel her presence at times?

[00:48:42] And so I think it will help me that when I go to bed tonight and I'll be thinking of her and with the other parts. Yeah. And see what she can help me with. Wow. Yeah. You just need to talk to them sometimes.

[00:49:10] Terri: He was.

[00:49:19] I would love to get your take and advice from your wisdom, right? Yes. What is your best advice for marriage?

[00:49:37] Terri: But how about you and dad? How about you and Dad? I mean, everybody's got, you know, you get two people together and you think you have a lot of similarities and you do, but then you find out you have some that you don't have.

[00:50:08] Lindsay: Oh,

[00:50:12] Grandma Vee: Yeah. That's it.

[00:50:14] Grandma Vee: Uhhuh, but it was nice. And so you just remember the good things and pull 'em out. Then you think about those instead of the bad,

[00:50:27] I've been thinking a lot lately about how people find ways to stay present, and I think that's really hard, especially these days, when it's like you're pulled in different directions.

[00:50:58] You know, everyone's family circumstances are different if they live around their family or if they travel to their family. And for us, we would come here on holiday, and I just remember feeling so calm and happy and peaceful, you know? And just, and so safe. I think it was like safe, but you, it was like everyone was together.

[00:51:22] Grandma Vee: Uhhuh, and see everything meant a world to us. No matter what, because we worked so hard to get it, and that made a big difference. Uhhuh. Yeah. So you don't feel like you didn't, that you didn't do enough at your house.

[00:51:59] Grandma Vee: When it makes me wanna cry, but when your two little ones come out here and they're smiling so happy, build on that.

[00:52:31] Terri: They have that pure happiness. They have that pure happiness. Yes. Yes.

[00:52:42] Think you cried enough.

[00:53:00] Right? Oh Lord, this is not usable. 'Cause I have tears rolling down my face probably.

[00:53:19] Lindsay: Yeah.

[00:53:40] Like we always knew that we could, we always knew that, what it was gonna be like when we were at home, that it was gonna be good and it was gonna be safe and like have this great environment. But I know that's not easy. You realize now that it's not easy,

[00:54:02] Okay. I'm almost done. I have one more question. What would you say is the toughest thing that you have overcome that you're proud of overcoming? I,

[00:54:34] Terri: Yeah.

[00:54:59] Terri: Yeah.

[00:55:00] Because he was well-liked.

[00:55:07] Grandma Vee: Yes. Uhhuh. Wow. Yeah. That time flies so fast. Oh.

[00:55:25] Grandma Vee: And make it work. And that's all.

[00:55:30] Grandma Vee: When you go to bed at night? You pray for the best?

[00:55:48] Grandma Vee: So, you know, you can console yourself a good bit. Yeah.

[00:56:11] Terri: Enjoy what you're doing. Take advantage of really good things. Yeah, that's

[00:56:20] It just takes a matter of time working it out.

[00:56:38] Terri: I think my dad's death was probably one of them, but also, you worry about your kids all the time.

[00:57:00] Grandma Vee: That's the last thing you say when you go to bed at night.

[00:57:04] Lindsay: What? Happiness of my children.

[00:57:12] Grandma Vee: Yeah. I'll start my rosary, and I'll think this is for them. Yeah.

[00:57:30] Grandma Vee: Anyway, yeah, that's pretty much it.

[00:57:37] Grandma Vee: Yeah.

[00:57:45] Grandma Vee: Yeah.

[00:57:49] Grandma Vee: And I never thought I could have managed that.

[00:58:09] Grandma Vee: That's right.

[00:58:16] Yeah. That makes it, yeah. You know, that helps the outcome of the situation. Whether it's balancing, you know, that's right. Parenthood, marriage, all of it. Dealing with my mom. I remember one time you told me, you said Lindsay, it's, what did you say? Sugar, not vinegar or something, or some analogy. Oh, it feels like me.

[00:58:44] Terri: And you've told me that about marriage. You've told me that about marriage. Yeah. So, and I know that's true, but sometimes that's hard.

[00:58:59] Think positive thoughts, but also help you through a circumstance. Yeah. It's very powerful.

[00:59:13] Grandma Vee: One more session. One more session. Okay. 2.0.

[00:59:29] Grandma Vee: Love you guys. Thank you so much.

[01:00:12] She said, Keep them close. Don't be afraid of keeping them close. And I think at the end of the day, when it comes to family, children, loved ones, even people that you're annoyed at in your family. There's never gonna be anything bad about keeping 'em closed, pulling 'em back in, and I think there's really a lot to say for that, especially when we live in such a time of like so much potential distraction phones, whatever it is, you know, I think at the end of the day, all everyone needs is love.

[01:01:02] And of course, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, don't forget to leave a five-star review because that's really what helps people get more. Listeners, we would love to grow this community. We are so grateful that you're a part of it. See you next time.