Shownotes from The Second Chapter bonus episode, Season Two, Episode 00.
Kristin: This week’s episode is a quick one and a brief deviation from our normal format.
Firstly, I’m so excited to launch season two. Our first couple of conversations- with Hannah, a CEO turned thriller novelist and Tracie, who went from Silicon Valley to coach and community builder, are engaging, inspiring and fun. But I’ve had my own life change in the past couple of weeks, one that many of you have surely experienced, and is particularly common as we get older- that of losing a parent. My father died on the 13th of January, and it just didn’t feel right to go straight into season two without talking about it.
Kristin and her dad, Jack, in Scotland. 2016.
My relationship with my dad was often a difficult one, especially as a young adult, but as we both grew older, it became a close one. The further I went geographically, the closer I felt to him- a man who wasn’t known for his outpouring of emotions started telling me he loved me and though we didn’t get to spend a lot of physical time together, we stayed in touch via often daily texts. I always knew how he was doing, and he never let me forget a funny or important holiday, be it National Pizza Day in America, that he was celebrating Boxing Day with me now that I’m in London, or Robert Burn’s or a family member’s birthday.
In a time when travel is difficult to say the least, I was lucky enough to make it back to the States to see a limited number of family members and spend some time celebrating his life. Dad chose to be cremated, but I oddly found solace in a long walk around the beautiful Spring Grove cemetery in my home town of Cincinnati. It was a powerful reminder to me that I’m not alone- as cliche as it might sound, reminding me that death is part of the circle of life. I’m not unique in my grief, though we each feel our grief uniquely.
It didn’t make me miss him less, but i did allow me to appreciate the time I had him in my life more.
It’s important for me to talk to you listeners about this, because I try to bring you honest, heartfelt conversations-how can I claim to do that if I can’t even tell you why I’m struggling to get the next episode out?
It’s coming- I love talking with the inspiring women who have changed their lives and careers after 35 and know that this podcast will be hugely healing for me, just not this week.
Stay tuned… I plan to be back in conversation next week and can’t wait to share The Second Chapter season two with you.
And if you’d like to chat in the meantime, go to anchor.fm/thesecondchapter, where you can leave me a message. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for listening.