Speaker 1: Should I take my hat off? I started recording No,
Speaker 1: you should not take your hat off because it said
Speaker 1: give me six ft, which is actually the best Caroline.
Speaker 1: Y'all everyone listening, this is my bestie for my whole
Speaker 1: entire life. We're the kid we've been the Carolines. It's
Speaker 1: Caroline Squires Nearman. Is your did you change her middle
Speaker 1: name to Squires or what's your Yeah, it's Caroline Squires Nearman.
Speaker 1: So growing up, Caroline and I became best friends. When
Speaker 1: we were two years old. We were the only friends
Speaker 1: that went to each other's birthday party. Like, I think
Speaker 1: you're the only friend I had at my party. And
Speaker 1: it just was instant. How did we become besties? I
Speaker 1: think our moms were just good friends and then we
Speaker 1: so we were around each other and we just were
Speaker 1: instant besties, and like we did dance together. And Caroline
Speaker 1: had the coolest older siblings, Ryan and Shay, and they
Speaker 1: were like seven years older than you, right, so five
Speaker 1: and seven. Yeah, growing up we would go play at
Speaker 1: your house and Ryan and Shay were always like cool
Speaker 1: teenagers and they were like they had like the the
Speaker 1: junior high in high school talent show. And somehow we
Speaker 1: weaseled our way into Ryan's talent show act and we
Speaker 1: did a dance routine in front of the whole high
Speaker 1: school when we were like, what how old were we? Oh?
Speaker 1: My goodness, I think we were like in fourth grade.
Speaker 1: And it was like a really big deal because the
Speaker 1: talent show was for the school that we didn't attend,
Speaker 1: and it was for seventh grade to twelfth grade. But
Speaker 1: somehow the Carolines weaseled their way in and we did
Speaker 1: our little dance routine with our cut off shorts and
Speaker 1: we didn't split. Yeah, and we pretty much thought we
Speaker 1: were the coolest people ever. We thought like we stole
Speaker 1: the show. We're like, we're hanging out with the high
Speaker 1: schoolers and the I mean, you know what it was
Speaker 1: because your brother Ryan, he's so cool, but like he
Speaker 1: was the guy that like just kind of like made
Speaker 1: everything happen at and like he's so rolling in hot.
Speaker 1: So they didn't have an act, like every grade had
Speaker 1: to have an act, and so he just decided to
Speaker 1: like act like a talent scout and throw us in
Speaker 1: the act as like the talent he was scouting. And
Speaker 1: then he just went together this act and he didn't
Speaker 1: have to do anything and we got and we got
Speaker 1: to shine. He's pretty much known for being efficient with
Speaker 1: everything he does, and so I think the most efficient
Speaker 1: way to get to accomplish his requirement for the Talent
Speaker 1: Show was to get us and then he didn't have
Speaker 1: to do anything and it was great. Oh man, gosh.
Speaker 1: We also Caroline growing up. Every single weekend we would
Speaker 1: spend the night together. We would do jazz or size exercise,
Speaker 1: videos would play all I mean, we go hunting for
Speaker 1: giant scary things that lived in the little pond behind
Speaker 1: your house. Um, we would go what was what called
Speaker 1: those things that Ryan would find in the paul um
Speaker 1: the alligator gars? Yeah, yeah, I don't know, but you
Speaker 1: know what we love to do most was go to
Speaker 1: Mervyn's body suits, Yes, matching outfits. We matched every day
Speaker 1: and we loved Mervyn's and we would go with our
Speaker 1: moms and buy every single matching body suit we could.
Speaker 1: We only wore Caroline. He made body suits cool before
Speaker 1: body suits were cool, if you Oh, definitely, yes, we
Speaker 1: had every single color. And um, we also wore our hair.
Speaker 1: You remember the same way. Oh, we as have my
Speaker 1: hair so I could get it to flow the right way.
Speaker 1: So we wanted to do the sunflower Oh, we would
Speaker 1: spray sunflower like leaving condition on our hair and make
Speaker 1: we oh, we lay on the head and put our
Speaker 1: head on the back of the bed so it would
Speaker 1: fall off, and then we brush our hair and get
Speaker 1: it so smooth on the top and do the tightest,
Speaker 1: tightest ponytail you could get. And then we'd spray it
Speaker 1: down leaving condition and let it dry so it literally
Speaker 1: would crack. It was so hard. Right, you have the
Speaker 1: one little hair in front of our face like Madonna
Speaker 1: that I would cut to make sure it's just that
Speaker 1: one hair that because it had to be on the
Speaker 1: same side. We had to just match perfectly. How do
Speaker 1: we even come up to have the hair in our
Speaker 1: face the one little way? I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: that was your your initiation. I think you started that
Speaker 1: and I just of course went along with it. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, I mean talk about true best friendship, like literally, Caroline,
Speaker 1: I feel so and the fact that we have the
Speaker 1: same name is crazy. But I feel so lucky because
Speaker 1: we have been best friends our whole life. Like it
Speaker 1: never didn't we never like lost it, you know, I know.
Speaker 1: I mean even after you went to Baylor and then Nashville,
Speaker 1: you know, and then came back to Austin. It didn't matter,
Speaker 1: you know how far away we were. How you know
Speaker 1: many days we're in between us chatting. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: when you have something like that, it's just rare, lucky
Speaker 1: and it never goes away. Man. So when Michael and
Speaker 1: I broke up are now Michael and I had dated
Speaker 1: four years and then I broke up with him for
Speaker 1: two years. And when I broke up, I was like,
Speaker 1: I am moving to Austin. And Caroline, you had just
Speaker 1: moved to Austin because you we both said it, I
Speaker 1: guess you you've been living in Fort Worth and you
Speaker 1: moved to Austin. And I was like, I don't know
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. I feel like my life is flying apart,
Speaker 1: but I am moving in the same apartment complex with you.
Speaker 1: I got an apartment in there before I even like
Speaker 1: looked at it, like I didn't care where the apartment was.
Speaker 1: Was like, I'm moving in the same place with you.
Speaker 1: We were like on like one floor apart, but like
Speaker 1: so close. So every single day we would hang out
Speaker 1: and like I was even there when you started dating Jason,
Speaker 1: your husband. I hope y'all meet, I know, I mean, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, the funny thing was was I was so
Speaker 1: so I went to UM I was living in Waco
Speaker 1: because I went to law school. There were not in
Speaker 1: for so I was so excited because I was going
Speaker 1: to move to Austin and I was gonna be single,
Speaker 1: and then my best friend was moving there and we
Speaker 1: were gonna be single together. Yes, Pato, we were just
Speaker 1: gonna date like crazy, which I did you stopped, yes, yeah, weird.
Speaker 1: Well then I met Jason, like basically right when we
Speaker 1: moved there, and then that's all. Man, that was a
Speaker 1: fun year. We had lots of fun. Oh Aia, you
Speaker 1: hope you ran. Katherine and I decided to train for
Speaker 1: a marathon, a half marathon, and you just would run
Speaker 1: with us just for fun, and then we run to
Speaker 1: the bar and get angrea and drink. We'd run two miles,
Speaker 1: run straight to the bar and then just drink tons
Speaker 1: of sangrea. Yeah, that's the best Thingria ever. That was
Speaker 1: so good. But yeah, we lots of lots of fun times.
Speaker 1: I mean, that was a fun year. I'm so glad
Speaker 1: we got to, like before we were married, before we
Speaker 1: had kids, we got to like live adult life. We
Speaker 1: got to like live adult life together exactly, and it
Speaker 1: was so fun because we were you know, older and
Speaker 1: like out of a certain time of our life and um,
Speaker 1: you know, just got to enjoy kind of a new face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know. And then here here comes all the babies.
Speaker 1: So you have two babies. Now one of them is
Speaker 1: my god child? Yes, sorry is your board? And Knox
Speaker 1: and were cutting out before in October. I can't believe
Speaker 1: Knox is already four. Okay, yeah, so Knox will before
Speaker 1: in October and four it will be two in October.
Speaker 1: So um yeah, just grown up. What's that like raising boys?
Speaker 1: Because you are outnumbered? You have obviously your husband and
Speaker 1: two boys, and so what is it like in a
Speaker 1: house of boys? Um? Well, I mean it's all I know,
Speaker 1: unless I'm comparing it to friends that have girls or
Speaker 1: you know, remembering my nieces when they were younger. But
Speaker 1: boys are crazy. I mean they're full, They're full of energy.
Speaker 1: I mean, for me, I love it because, um, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, we played basketball and I love sports and
Speaker 1: I love being active and so I love all that
Speaker 1: kind of high end activity with boys. But it's exhausting.
Speaker 1: I mean, they wake up they're ready to go and
Speaker 1: it is NonStop. So do they just run around like
Speaker 1: little tornadoes? Oh? Yeah, we call them ban cheese. There
Speaker 1: are band cheese and they are NonStop. I mean it
Speaker 1: requires so much energy. I mean my mom and dad
Speaker 1: are helping right now. Um, but like you really can't.
Speaker 1: I can do to both of them, obviously at the
Speaker 1: same time because they're my kids, but a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: for my mom. She can't take both of them at
Speaker 1: the same time so much. They run off there exploring,
Speaker 1: like I mean, it's just NonStop. So y'all are in
Speaker 1: Colorado right now? Yes, so we escaped, escaped the heat
Speaker 1: and um, you know, just being able to stay you know,
Speaker 1: six ft away from everybody and your whole fans there. Yes,
Speaker 1: everybody's here. They're slowly starting, everyone slowly starting to leave.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, we're just enjoying the nice cool weather
Speaker 1: here and staying out of Texas. What has it been
Speaker 1: like being in Colorado? And did you'all fly there? No?
Speaker 1: So we um we usually fly because we come every summer,
Speaker 1: but um, you know, with the pandemic and everything, we
Speaker 1: just weren't comfortable putting our banshees on an airplane. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, they just put their hands in their mouths.
Speaker 1: They aren't great at wearing their masks, and so they
Speaker 1: were just too too young. So we um packed up
Speaker 1: our vehicle and left and we spent the night in
Speaker 1: Amarillo and then made the rest of the trip here.
Speaker 1: But they did great. You know, how was that car trip? Well,
Speaker 1: I really geared myself up for it to be awful,
Speaker 1: Like I was like, this is gonna be awful because
Speaker 1: we took them to edge Falls, you know one time.
Speaker 1: That's like a little little secret water hole in Texas
Speaker 1: that y'all go to, like a little pond far. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's um, it's our family's place that's um in
Speaker 1: Texas and it has a big watering hole. But you know,
Speaker 1: going back to that, you might recall when we took
Speaker 1: a little trip there when we were seniors in high school.
Speaker 1: But anyway, so we took the kids on a trip
Speaker 1: there and it's usually like three hours from Waco, and
Speaker 1: Knox is potty trained, and so anytime he had to
Speaker 1: stop to good bathroom and we had to pull over,
Speaker 1: and then of course he wanted to buy something at
Speaker 1: the gas station, so it ended up turning into like
Speaker 1: a five and a half hour trip, right, And so
Speaker 1: after that, I was like, I'm never driving anywhere that's
Speaker 1: longer than like two hours with these kids. But then
Speaker 1: this whole opportunity came up and I was like, well,
Speaker 1: guess we're just gonna go. Yeah, how many hours? So
Speaker 1: I think it was like fourteen and a half or fifteen?
Speaker 1: How how did you do it? So? Yeah, how did
Speaker 1: you do that? Well? I guess during COVID. You know,
Speaker 1: the great mother that I am, I got my kids
Speaker 1: addicted to the iPads, so we um, so we put
Speaker 1: the iPads on and they didn't complain too much. Okay,
Speaker 1: what do you what do they like to watch? So? Um?
Speaker 1: I mean they call it bob Ba, which is just
Speaker 1: really anything they find on kids YouTube. Kids so Knox
Speaker 1: has really gotten into They watch all these little like
Speaker 1: truck videos and car videos like kids. Um. Knox has
Speaker 1: recently gotten into more like Pepper Pig and um Curious George. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, they like to watch There's all these like
Speaker 1: songs and like baby Bus and all these different things
Speaker 1: that I hope they're learning from. Um. But yeah, so
Speaker 1: it I geared it up for it to be awful,
Speaker 1: and then it turned out to not to not be
Speaker 1: so bad. So what have you love doing in Colorado?
Speaker 1: What have you all been doing? This? And awesome? Well,
Speaker 1: the best part is that you know, we can get
Speaker 1: the kids out of the house. You know, in Texas
Speaker 1: it's like so so hot that if you're not in water,
Speaker 1: especially now, you can't go anywhere. Um, it's just so
Speaker 1: hot outside. So you know, it's just so beautiful here
Speaker 1: that we can take them to every single playground. I
Speaker 1: bike them, you know, all around. We got to watering
Speaker 1: holes and just kind of adventure outside seven So it's
Speaker 1: so fun. I know what, Um, what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on this pandific? Like? What is happening? Like? What is
Speaker 1: happening in the world? You know, it's it's crazy, it's scary.
Speaker 1: Oh I don't even know if I've told you, but um,
Speaker 1: you know we actually had a COVID scare here really yeah,
Speaker 1: So um, first of all, back to my thoughts. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just it's to me, it's scary. It's um,
Speaker 1: it's just the unknown, you know. So um, but you know,
Speaker 1: we are where we are and we just have to
Speaker 1: go with it. And um, you know, for me being
Speaker 1: around my parents, I want to make sure that um
Speaker 1: and they help with the kiddo that we're taking all
Speaker 1: the precautions weekend too, you know, be safe and keep
Speaker 1: our kids around them. So UM. But anyway, so our
Speaker 1: babysitter drove up to Colorado with my mom because my
Speaker 1: mom didn't want to fly. So she drives up with
Speaker 1: my mom and UM, she's with us for like from
Speaker 1: Monday until Saturday. She flies home Saturday. Well, Sunday, the
Speaker 1: next day she gets home, she um doesn't feel good,
Speaker 1: mostly sinuses, et cetera, and goes to the doctor thinking
Speaker 1: she just has a sinus infection. Well, they ended up
Speaker 1: testing her for um corona and she had it. Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: she was with you all the whole time. Yes, so
Speaker 1: we were totally freaked out because my mom was in
Speaker 1: the car with her for sixteen hours and with you
Speaker 1: at the house and I mean everything, How did I
Speaker 1: have no idea? I mean, we are so shocked. But
Speaker 1: you know, when my mom drove up with her, she
Speaker 1: made her wear a mask the whole time in the car,
Speaker 1: and my mom wore a mask and then she sat
Speaker 1: in the back seat. Um, because my mom had talked
Speaker 1: to my sister who lives in Hong Kong, and in
Speaker 1: Hong Kong at school, they've rearranged desks and they don't
Speaker 1: they do something where kids can't turn backwards or something.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Something she learned from my sister. She
Speaker 1: put her our babysitter in the back seat, and so
Speaker 1: she took every oh and road with the windows down
Speaker 1: most of the way. Your mom has always been when
Speaker 1: it comes to taking precautions, Leave it to Cynthia to
Speaker 1: go right. There's a ten out of ten. Cynthia is
Speaker 1: doing a twenty twenty out of ten checklist exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: Safety first. Always, she's always seen a new articles on
Speaker 1: the internet about some weird disease floating around, and now
Speaker 1: it actually is happening. All her precautions are paying off, right,
Speaker 1: So um, anyway, she sent um, she did all that,
Speaker 1: and then none of us bought it. So we called
Speaker 1: our you know, doctor to make sure, you know, we
Speaker 1: didn't need to do anything else. But we stayed away
Speaker 1: for fourteen days and kind of followed all that stuff,
Speaker 1: but none of us got it. That's crazy. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you know she had very very mild symptoms and lost
Speaker 1: our taste and smell, and yeah, that's it. I know,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I just it's like I always tried to
Speaker 1: find the positive and everything, and there is a lot
Speaker 1: of positive like yes, we're getting like family time and
Speaker 1: like you know, it's like helping us reassess our values.
Speaker 1: But like just like when is it kind of and
Speaker 1: you know, jobs and working and like but I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just I've just we've never lived through anything like this.
Speaker 1: It's just bananas and like I want to get to
Speaker 1: Texas to go see to see my family, to see you,
Speaker 1: and it's just like living in Nashville, it's hard to
Speaker 1: We're debating on if we should fly it will that
Speaker 1: be like is it worth the risk? And it's just
Speaker 1: like you know, yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's hard
Speaker 1: and you know, Sunny being so small, that's a long
Speaker 1: car trip with her that. Um, we got to keep
Speaker 1: on chugging along and just doing all that we can.
Speaker 1: And you know, I actually pulled my boys out of
Speaker 1: school so I was I wasn't comfortable sending them to school,
Speaker 1: even though I know the school is going to go
Speaker 1: above and beyond to keep them safe. Um, but you know,
Speaker 1: they're just so small, and um that was my personal decision.
Speaker 1: So are you homeschooling? Well, they're you know, they're so
Speaker 1: small that we don't really have to homeschool much, right right. Um,
Speaker 1: So my mom um has a preschool curriculum knowledge, and
Speaker 1: so she's going to homeschool and art. She'll help teach
Speaker 1: Knogs a little bit. I feel like your mom's made
Speaker 1: for that, Like she's probably gonna love it. Yeah she
Speaker 1: she We'll see if not, how Knox does. They're so
Speaker 1: close that I don't know if Knox will be able
Speaker 1: to like sit and try to learn stuff. He'll want
Speaker 1: to go outside and explore and all of that. Is
Speaker 1: it so great having your family around now that you
Speaker 1: have kids? Yeah? So, you know, we have Knox in
Speaker 1: Austin and um, Jason, my husband just travels all the
Speaker 1: time with work. And as much as we loved Austin,
Speaker 1: it just we just knew that becoming Dwaco would be easier. Um.
Speaker 1: And you know, being being home and having family right
Speaker 1: there to help. I mean, you don't realize how incredible
Speaker 1: it is until you have it. Yeah, so um yeah,
Speaker 1: So we've been so blessed and lucky to have that
Speaker 1: and they're so so helpful and gives mommy a break
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. So what is it like coming back
Speaker 1: to Waco as an adult? Because we grew up in
Speaker 1: Waco and I felt like Waco was such a great
Speaker 1: place to grow up. And then you went to TCU,
Speaker 1: which isn't Fort Worth, and then, um, I guess you
Speaker 1: came back to Waco for law school, so you kind
Speaker 1: of knew what it was like living in Waco, but
Speaker 1: you're in the college vibe. What's it like living in
Speaker 1: Waco as an adult? Well, you know what's funny is
Speaker 1: that I always said and thought to myself, I'm never
Speaker 1: going to come back to Waco. I mean, I was
Speaker 1: just like, why is it that we say that about
Speaker 1: our hometown. It's like, oh, I'm gonna get out and
Speaker 1: go do all this stuff. But then you're like, god,
Speaker 1: home is really actually great. Well yeah, and I think
Speaker 1: like everything changed is once you have kids, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, everything changes and your priorities changed, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, when we're young and single or newly married
Speaker 1: or with no kids, you can go and you can
Speaker 1: do and you know, we like in Austin, we've loved
Speaker 1: like going out and going to restaurants and all the
Speaker 1: things that you can do. But once you have kids,
Speaker 1: especially babies, all that changes so um. I mean, even
Speaker 1: once I had Knox in Austin, I truly missed the
Speaker 1: community that Waco was to us growing up. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're just incredible people in Waco, um like so supportive.
Speaker 1: And you know, I remember somebody saying that it takes
Speaker 1: a village to raise a kid, and you know, you
Speaker 1: pick your village and you find people that are there
Speaker 1: to help and support you. And I just think that
Speaker 1: Waco has such strong community and support you know, so
Speaker 1: so yeah, so coming back to raise a family, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just so it's so different, and um, there's so
Speaker 1: much to do. I mean, you have great children's museums
Speaker 1: you have. I mean, to me, one of the my
Speaker 1: favorite things is Ridgewood and you know, being able to
Speaker 1: get on the lake in five minutes, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean up on the lake. Oh my gosh, the lake
Speaker 1: was everything. Your dad taught me how to ski. I
Speaker 1: mean I wasn't great at it, but he taught me.
Speaker 1: You would like get up on your swallow like at five, Yes,
Speaker 1: and then I've got two skis trying not to bust
Speaker 1: my face. Um, but yeah, your dad was the king
Speaker 1: of teaching everyone to ski. I know, we used to
Speaker 1: live on that lake. There's just so do well and
Speaker 1: especially when you have a family, you know, there's just
Speaker 1: a lot to do when you have a young family
Speaker 1: and a family. I still remember when my dad surprised us.
Speaker 1: Do you remember our jet skis? Okay, so yeah, Well
Speaker 1: my dad like surprised us with jet skis. But they
Speaker 1: were literally I mean I had never even seen a
Speaker 1: jet ski before. They were like the first jet skis
Speaker 1: like ever out. And we thought they were so fast.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, but now looking back on what they have now,
Speaker 1: I mean they were like do do do? Just like
Speaker 1: not not so fast. We felt so independent, like being
Speaker 1: on a jet skime and getting to go dart around
Speaker 1: the lake. Ye oh man but um and then we
Speaker 1: would you know, tie those alligators behind the barge, blow
Speaker 1: up alligators, like sit on the alligators while we went out,
Speaker 1: and it was so fun. So now I'm taking the
Speaker 1: barge out. So we grew up going out on that barge.
Speaker 1: Now I'm taking up taking it out with my friends,
Speaker 1: and it's so fun. I know. I realized now like
Speaker 1: our parents really did design a really great life. I mean,
Speaker 1: you got the you got the swimming pool, you got
Speaker 1: the barge, you got if you want to go golfing,
Speaker 1: then there's great countryside near a Waco where you can
Speaker 1: go explore. Really, it grows, great schools, a great community.
Speaker 1: Really is a nice, nice thing. Now that we have funy,
Speaker 1: I'm like, gosh, uh, we're so far away from Waco,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, god, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1: You get it. And also what's so great about Wakers
Speaker 1: You're right in between Dallas and Austin, So I mean
Speaker 1: I remember we would always go shopping in Dallas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know it's just so easy to get to
Speaker 1: and if you want to go, you know, out to
Speaker 1: eat in Austin, you can go and come back. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: we've we've enjoyed it. And you know for me too,
Speaker 1: uh with Jason traveling for his work before the whole
Speaker 1: pandemic um happened and he stopped traveling, but you know
Speaker 1: he would when we lived in Austin, it could take
Speaker 1: him an hour and a half to go, you know,
Speaker 1: ten miles from the airport. But in Waco, I mean
Speaker 1: he literally just lands and um is home in ten minutes.
Speaker 1: So for us, it's just been easier and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, we get to spend more time with our family.
Speaker 1: So yeah, for us at work, you know, every you
Speaker 1: just got to evaluate what you know your family needs.
Speaker 1: And you know it's hard, but I know, fitting it on.
Speaker 1: So how do you balance because you're obviously a lawyer,
Speaker 1: you're a mother, and sometimes you are a single mother
Speaker 1: because Jason is gone traveling. How do you keep all
Speaker 1: those plates in the air? How do you do working
Speaker 1: and raising kids and then parenting alone sometimes? Yeah? So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I I think all of it is hard.
Speaker 1: Whether you're a full time mom, whether you're full time worker,
Speaker 1: part time mom, single mom, all of it is hard,
Speaker 1: and so you just have to, you know, give yourself
Speaker 1: grace to be the best that you can be and
Speaker 1: just kind of take it day by day. So, you know,
Speaker 1: I just try to balance everything the best I can.
Speaker 1: And I realized that I'm not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: do something and work life. But what's your work balance?
Speaker 1: What's your work? Um? I guess work? Yeah, yeah, so um,
Speaker 1: you know I try to. I try to spend as
Speaker 1: much time as I can with my kids because it's
Speaker 1: gonna go as fast as it it's gonna go, So
Speaker 1: I try to do my work when the kids are
Speaker 1: napping or when they've gone to sleep at night, or
Speaker 1: I wake up an hour early before they wake up
Speaker 1: to try to get it done. So I try to
Speaker 1: get my work done, um, you know, when i'm when
Speaker 1: i'm can and the kids are you know, sleeping, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But I also know that sometimes I'm just not going
Speaker 1: to get it done and I might have to give
Speaker 1: him the iPad to to let them just sit there
Speaker 1: for an hour. And that's okay, you know, it's okay.
Speaker 1: So um, and then I call in for help because
Speaker 1: it's okay to call in for help. I call my babysitter,
Speaker 1: you know, I call my mom, um, because you have
Speaker 1: to realize that it's okay to have help, you know,
Speaker 1: and to call on help. Yes, And I love too though.
Speaker 1: I love that our generation, especially like I feel like
Speaker 1: it was really hard to do, uh, to sometimes be
Speaker 1: a full time mom or as much of a full
Speaker 1: time mom as you can, and to have a career.
Speaker 1: And I love that like we as women in this
Speaker 1: day and age, we really can we can do both.
Speaker 1: But I think it's I think it's great to show
Speaker 1: your kids I'm having your career I'm also percent here
Speaker 1: for you, but sometimes I have to, like I have
Speaker 1: to get help because I I am a I want
Speaker 1: to show that to Sonny, Like I don't want you
Speaker 1: to not do your dreams, like when you grow up,
Speaker 1: like if you have kids, Like, yes, obviously you be
Speaker 1: a mom if you want to, but like, still do
Speaker 1: your dreams. And I think that's good to show your
Speaker 1: kids that you're still working hard and providing for the
Speaker 1: family and doing your dreams and being a mom. Like
Speaker 1: that's a great love that that's we live this generation.
Speaker 1: And I right, And I mean I think like for
Speaker 1: you having a daughter, I think it's awesome for her
Speaker 1: to see her mom doing that. For me having sons,
Speaker 1: I want them to, you know, see the importance of
Speaker 1: um having a mom that's doing that or in the future,
Speaker 1: you know, a woman supporting them to support their dreams
Speaker 1: and goals and help them, um, you know, get where
Speaker 1: they want to get, um, you know, whenever they're older,
Speaker 1: finding their wife, I guess, um, so yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I just try to And you know, for me, it's
Speaker 1: good for my kids to get a break from me.
Speaker 1: They need to be around, you know, other people. And
Speaker 1: for me it's a good. I need a break, like
Speaker 1: I need to get on you know, a work email
Speaker 1: and have an adult conversation with somebody. You know, it's just,
Speaker 1: you know, it's good for everyone to get that, um,
Speaker 1: that little bit of break too totally, and I just
Speaker 1: try to do the best. You know, I've realized I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be perfect at everything. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be a perfect mom every day. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be perfect at my work every day. I just
Speaker 1: have to do the best I can and then you know,
Speaker 1: tomorrow's a new day. Amen to that. What has motherhood?
Speaker 1: How has motherhood changed to? Well, for me, you know,
Speaker 1: it's completely changed my UM priorities. You know, I before
Speaker 1: I was more about myself probably we all all were,
Speaker 1: because you know, I focused on what I wanted to
Speaker 1: do when I wanted to do it, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and I could because I had no other responsibilities. So
Speaker 1: you know, now everything is about my kids first and
Speaker 1: so put I always of course put them first, and
Speaker 1: everything I really try to do is for them. UM
Speaker 1: and so changing probably parties and just you know, of course,
Speaker 1: you know, feeling a love for somebody that you've never
Speaker 1: felt before. So it's just life changing and it's the
Speaker 1: greatest you know, gift that I think. What's a day
Speaker 1: or memory that you think of that just brings you
Speaker 1: so much joy, Like when you think about it, it it
Speaker 1: just swells your heart. Um. I think probably the day
Speaker 1: that I gave birth to Knox, because um, you know,
Speaker 1: but not everybody else knows that we did. We did surprises,
Speaker 1: you know, with knocks and boards, so we didn't know
Speaker 1: if it was a boy. We didn't know if it
Speaker 1: was a girl. And so with our with Knox, you know,
Speaker 1: just having that moment not only that I became a mom,
Speaker 1: but also only Jason and I in that moment knew
Speaker 1: that we had a son, and so it was it's
Speaker 1: pretty seriously, I know, it was just like you know,
Speaker 1: so besides the doctor's nurses of course, but just having
Speaker 1: that moment of becoming parents, but also like here's here's
Speaker 1: our son that nobody else knew whether it was a
Speaker 1: girl or boy, and so it was just really um,
Speaker 1: really special and um, you know, I just you don't
Speaker 1: ever know what it's like until it happens, you know,
Speaker 1: So that day, I know what you mean, like that
Speaker 1: day when meeting Sunny, like I it is, oh, it
Speaker 1: is just the most transformative experience I think I'll ever
Speaker 1: have in my life. Like it's just insane, I know,
Speaker 1: and you just are holding this tiny human being that
Speaker 1: depends on you, i mean for survival, and so yes,
Speaker 1: it's you feel like, oh my gosh, I have this responsibility,
Speaker 1: but you know, the love and everything that goes along
Speaker 1: with it is just there's nothing like it. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's probably obviously my happiest moment, you know, kiro Um Okay,
Speaker 1: So I well, I'm so happy that we finally haven't
Speaker 1: had a chance to get this interview documented because literally
Speaker 1: you have shaped me so much. You are so much
Speaker 1: of who I am, like honestly the Carolines for life.
Speaker 1: Like it's just been such a blessing in my life
Speaker 1: to have you as a best friend, To have someone
Speaker 1: that you walk through every single phase of life with
Speaker 1: who has known you from the start, like to just
Speaker 1: be seen you have seen each other our whole lives.
Speaker 1: I mean, what a blessing is that to have a
Speaker 1: friend like that, And now like you have families together,
Speaker 1: and our husbands get along, and when we all get together,
Speaker 1: it's like so fun and it's just like that's just
Speaker 1: so rare and I think the older I get, the
Speaker 1: more I realize the rarity of it, you know, because
Speaker 1: when you're young and you're doing all this stuff, like
Speaker 1: every exciting and you meet people and all this stuff,
Speaker 1: but then like when you get to this next chapter,
Speaker 1: it's like, wow, these are the people in my life.
Speaker 1: Like you are a person in my life who is
Speaker 1: a rock of who I am. And it's just amazing, right,
Speaker 1: And I mean there's very few that have you know,
Speaker 1: that that are able to go through all of this
Speaker 1: part of life with each other. You know. You meet
Speaker 1: your good college friends, you you meet your good post
Speaker 1: college friends, you meet your mommy friends. Like, but I
Speaker 1: mean you and I have been going at it since birth,
Speaker 1: and you know we I mean I still have my
Speaker 1: best friend necklace. Best friend necklaces when we were like
Speaker 1: in elementary school. I still have mine too. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: we had it's the little heart that fits together, and
Speaker 1: then on the backside of it we have k Rose
Speaker 1: and kiro S and we got the other one's name,
Speaker 1: Like I have the Caro s because you're my I
Speaker 1: wear that piece of my heart is you, and then
Speaker 1: you have the Carol seat. And we needed to do
Speaker 1: gymnastics together. All the time, and you were South Carolina
Speaker 1: and I was North Carolina or what was it? Or yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. Yeah, I mean everything, not one thing that
Speaker 1: we not do together. I know it's so fun. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean you could we could go on literally for
Speaker 1: years of all our our memories and excursions and uh,
Speaker 1: all the things we did. But what's something? What's the
Speaker 1: story you are there any stories that you have of
Speaker 1: our childhood that just like pop into your mind that
Speaker 1: must be shared. Um well, I mean to show what
Speaker 1: strong of a bond we had. You know, I got
Speaker 1: really upset when you started going to camp, like because
Speaker 1: I mean I pretty much only spent the night with
Speaker 1: you, you you know when we have sleepovers, so you know,
Speaker 1: you start going to camp for like a month, and
Speaker 1: what is she doing? She's leaving me for a month.
Speaker 1: And after that it affected me because I couldn't spend
Speaker 1: the night. And remember when you came back, I would
Speaker 1: try to spend the night with you and you get
Speaker 1: a stomach acheta ache am but ur tim pm I
Speaker 1: mean yeah, and your dad would have to take me home.
Speaker 1: But oh every time the night would come around and
Speaker 1: you be like, let's don't reake her. I know, I
Speaker 1: know I ruined you. I ruined you. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: really affected me. When you started to go to camp
Speaker 1: what would be yours? Then we even thought like I
Speaker 1: just don't know why this is pup in my mind.
Speaker 1: Like we would get boxes and you and I made
Speaker 1: little symbols of like a language, and then we'd write
Speaker 1: out like all the language and the symbols and we
Speaker 1: try to like we hear to each other that no
Speaker 1: one else could read with us. Yes, we had our
Speaker 1: own private language for sure. Oh yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's just like it just such a blessing in my life.
Speaker 1: Like I am so thankful for our relationship. It's just amazing.
Speaker 1: I know, it's so incredible. I remember. I also remember
Speaker 1: like when your mom would pick us up from carpool
Speaker 1: with that fried okra oh from under U. Yes, we
Speaker 1: go get fried okra and need a whole pint of it.
Speaker 1: Um so so good, oh gosh. And when we were
Speaker 1: spending night at your house, we would prank called boys
Speaker 1: would like callum and prank call all the boys, and
Speaker 1: sometimes boys would even come over to your house and
Speaker 1: we like prank called Grand Gooble and Russell Jones and
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's what I remember. When we were
Speaker 1: in like third grade, Russell. Wait, somebody wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you out, but you already had a boyfriend. So they
Speaker 1: asked me out for the Consultis prize. Who wasn't which one?
Speaker 1: I can't remember one of the boys. I think it
Speaker 1: was Russell. I think he wanted to ask you out,
Speaker 1: but you already dating Grant Goble and third grade and
Speaker 1: then so Russell just asked me out as the side
Speaker 1: of that, as a as a second place winner, and
Speaker 1: I said, yes, three up. Oh gosh, but we would
Speaker 1: we would have like whenever we would break up, we
Speaker 1: would have a friend break up with them. We couldn't.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever did it themselves. No, no, every all the
Speaker 1: boys always wanted to ask you out, and then I
Speaker 1: would just get I would be the leftover, like whoever.
Speaker 1: It's so true. You were like the one all the
Speaker 1: boys wanted to date, and then I was like cool
Speaker 1: and stuff, like I would get if you were taken.
Speaker 1: Then they'd be like, Okay, I guess I'll ask out
Speaker 1: Caroline Cuver. Oh hush, well you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: We went together, So yeah, you and I always together.
Speaker 1: Oh that's so funny. Oh my gosh, I feel like
Speaker 1: they're like I feel like I remember we would go
Speaker 1: to elkie Kistador with our parents like every First Friday
Speaker 1: or something, and I feel like one of us broke
Speaker 1: up with a boyfriend from the pay phone at El Conqustador.
Speaker 1: You did with Grant Globel. Yeah, yeah, that was right.
Speaker 1: Oh man, Caro, God, the memories, it's just so good.
Speaker 1: I love that love. I love it all. So I
Speaker 1: always in all my podcasts with leave your Life, but
Speaker 1: I'm kind of traying it into since the podcast is
Speaker 1: called Get Real. Why do you want to get real
Speaker 1: with people? What kind of what do you want people
Speaker 1: to know about myself? Anything? Just like what comes in mind?
Speaker 1: Like what do you want? What kind of wisdom do
Speaker 1: you want to get real and drop on people? Um?
Speaker 1: I think that's a tough question. I know, what do
Speaker 1: you want your about yourself? And then what do you
Speaker 1: want to know about life? I know, I'm sorry, there
Speaker 1: you go. It's not it's no easy. There's no crying
Speaker 1: in baseball, Caroline. Okay, got to ask you a question.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that as you know, I've gotten older,
Speaker 1: you know, I've just realized that life changes, you know,
Speaker 1: and you know, you think that things are going to
Speaker 1: go a certain way, um, and and they don't. And
Speaker 1: so I think you have to be able to And
Speaker 1: for me, change is hard, you know, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't like change. I get comfortable in my way and
Speaker 1: I don't like change. So I think you have to realize, um,
Speaker 1: that change is inevitable and when it happens, UM, you
Speaker 1: have to accept it. You have to be strong, and
Speaker 1: you have to persevere. Um. But you have to remember
Speaker 1: to look out for yourself and take care of yourself.
Speaker 1: And so ud you learn that would you not look
Speaker 1: out for yourself for a while, like way you down? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean I think that um, you know, just their
Speaker 1: family experiences. Um. And I think I was always one
Speaker 1: to kind of UM, I would think kind of put
Speaker 1: others first and um, and I you know, I think
Speaker 1: it's just important to take care of yourself and you know, um,
Speaker 1: you know, for for me, you know, one reason that
Speaker 1: I became a lawyer was that my parents always instilled
Speaker 1: in me that you know, how important education is and
Speaker 1: being able to support yourself because you never know what's
Speaker 1: going to happen in life. And so um, you know,
Speaker 1: That's one reason I continue to, you know, try to
Speaker 1: work and balance everything because you never know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen, so you have to take care of yourself
Speaker 1: and um, you know, look out for yourself when things happen.
Speaker 1: But I think realizing that change is inevitable, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean you'll have experienced it with death and the
Speaker 1: family and unexpected death and just work changes, life changes,
Speaker 1: and you know, yeah, that's what That's what I think.
Speaker 1: So as Carol, I don't know about that. I you know,
Speaker 1: it's also trying to live by your words. You know,
Speaker 1: you can say a lot of words, but you know
Speaker 1: it's it's hard harder to live by what you're saying.
Speaker 1: So kind of making it a purpose to practice and
Speaker 1: act what you believe in. You know. I love that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: walking the walk, not just talking the talk exactly exactly
Speaker 1: because you know a lot of people, a lot of
Speaker 1: people do talk the talk because they want people to
Speaker 1: perceive them a certain way. And so um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think just trying to find who you are, what
Speaker 1: you believe in, um and act it, you know, act
Speaker 1: what you what values, what morals, et cetera. That are yours? Amen, Carol,
Speaker 1: I love you so much. If you're getting the boys
Speaker 1: out with your parents and and figuring out the time
Speaker 1: to get this podcast done. I mean, it's just I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, making it all fit. It's like a puzzle.
Speaker 1: And I am so glad we could have this conversation
Speaker 1: history forever. And I'm glad I could use my cell
Speaker 1: phone because I couldn't figure out the zoom on the
Speaker 1: and you know, of course, like not able to you know,
Speaker 1: get myself ready every morning. Oh don't worry. I mean
Speaker 1: I look terrible every day. I mean I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I'm sorry, Michael, I need to try again
Speaker 1: one day. Well, you know what, you know what's funny
Speaker 1: is every New year, every new year, I'm like, right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna really folk. Like I mean, I love you know,
Speaker 1: I love to work out, to work out. You always
Speaker 1: want to work out, right, and I can put my
Speaker 1: workout clothes on and go work out. But you know,
Speaker 1: I look at so many moms that are always put together.
Speaker 1: You know, their hair's done, their makeups done, they have
Speaker 1: a cute outfit on. So every New Year, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do this partason and they get back to their pre
Speaker 1: pregnancy anyway, and I'm like, how do you do this?
Speaker 1: And their hairs all curled and everything. And every New Year,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm gonna do this for Jason. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: like start getting myself ready, you know, because I mean
Speaker 1: in high school, I love to get ready. I would
Speaker 1: get my hair straight, I would have it queued outside
Speaker 1: every day, Oh my god, and I would like think
Speaker 1: the night before about my outfit that I was gonna wear.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, So every New Year, I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is the year I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: focus on really getting ready. And that's where priorities, you know,
Speaker 1: or not there. We're not first anymore, I know. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, I want Michael to think I'm sexy. I
Speaker 1: want him to think like, oh dang, girl, you look good.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, when it actually rolls around in the
Speaker 1: morning happens and Sunny's crying and you gotta get the
Speaker 1: bottle going and you're on the floor chasing around, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I do not want to be in freaking jeans. I
Speaker 1: cannot have my hair down because she's gonna rip it out.
Speaker 1: That's on earrings anything other than instead she's pulling them out.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I put on makeup, I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: milk on it. She's gonna wipe her face. Hey and
Speaker 1: down it like why food is in my hair. It's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not, I'm not. I can't do it. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I cannot do it. The actual um, the the the
Speaker 1: reward is not worth it to me, Like it is
Speaker 1: so much more of a pain. And they asked to
Speaker 1: have to do to be ready than just to put
Speaker 1: on work our clothes and roll with it. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: us take his time a date now dressed up? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we're in a pandemic. So where are we going?
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. But you know they make so much cute
Speaker 1: workout clothes now, so and it shows your button your
Speaker 1: boobs and that's great. Yeah, yeah, there we are. Well,
Speaker 1: I love you the whole world, and have the great
Speaker 1: rest of your time in Colorado. Thank you, love you
Speaker 1: so much, and thanks for having me. Yeah this is
Speaker 1: the best, Okay, I love you.