Let's Catch Up!

[00:00:05] Speaker A: Hello, and welcome to Somos Padres!!! [00:00:08] Speaker B: Podcast dedicated to the constant development of our parenting and ourselves. [00:00:12] Speaker A: We are your hosts, Paulo and Jessena. Thanks for joining us as we share our parenting experiences rooted within the context of our own life journey. [00:00:20] Speaker B: In that spirit, we will also be sharing parenting information and the stories of mother and Padres out there... [00:00:26] Speaker A: Who have embraced their own personal evolution as the greatest gift of parenthood. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Here we go. [00:00:46] Speaker A: Padres. [00:00:47] Speaker B: Welcome. Bienvenidos. [00:00:49] Speaker A: Here we are on our second episode, and we're fired up. We're ready, right? [00:00:56] Speaker B: Yeah, let's do this. [00:00:57] Speaker A: I know. And part of what has us ready is that you made us an amazing drink. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I think from now on, we're going to strive to actually do every episode whenever we are, like, the two of us together. We're going to start the episode also with a drink. [00:01:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I feel like it totally gets us all relaxed. So that we're ready to talk. [00:01:26] Speaker B: Yes. Well, yeah. [00:01:28] Speaker A: What are we drinking? Paulo. [00:01:29] Speaker B: So today? Well, something that you need to know about me is that I love to try different mixes. I love to actually mix drinks, like create cocktails and mess up with different flavors. I love to do that. [00:01:47] Speaker A: He's very good at it, actually. [00:01:48] Speaker B: So today we're going to start recording this episode, episode number two, with watermelon martini. [00:01:57] Speaker A: That's what you're calling it? [00:01:58] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a watermelon martini with a kick of pineapple. [00:02:01] Speaker A: Okay. With a splash. [00:02:02] Speaker B: With a splash. Obviously, there's more. [00:02:05] Speaker A: I saw you put gin in it. [00:02:09] Speaker B: It is gin based, not vodka based. [00:02:14] Speaker A: All right, see, he was trying to be sly. [00:02:17] Speaker B: Yeah, because I love to mix the different types of liquor. [00:02:23] Speaker A: Okay, so what's in this martini? Watermelon. A splash of pineapple. [00:02:29] Speaker B: So it's just concentrated flavors, like natural flavors, not artificial stuff. [00:02:36] Speaker A: Okay. [00:02:36] Speaker B: Natural flavors. It's watermelon and real pineapple juice, not concentrated. And gin and gin. Yeah. The other stuff is just the things that I create. [00:02:47] Speaker A: You're not going to share. [00:02:48] Speaker B: Why? Because people are going to go, like, gross. [00:02:51] Speaker A: Yeah, they're not drinking it, Paulo. We are. [00:02:55] Speaker B: Yeah, but if it tastes good yeah. [00:02:57] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. He's not going to share his secret ingredient. [00:03:01] Speaker B: He's not about secrets. [00:03:04] Speaker A: Okay, well, it is on the sweeter side. [00:03:07] Speaker B: It is on the sweeter side because oh, I added a splash of mint, and I didn't know that mint had sugar in it. [00:03:16] Speaker A: So what was the other thing that has sugar in it? [00:03:19] Speaker B: The agave syrup. [00:03:21] Speaker A: Oh, see, why didn't you say you put agave syrup? [00:03:23] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that one I just forgot. Oh, my gosh. [00:03:25] Speaker A: Okay. [00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah. To sweet to my drinks. I use agave. [00:03:28] Speaker A: Okay. [00:03:28] Speaker B: Yeah, for the most part. [00:03:30] Speaker A: That is your drink for the day. People may well, I don't even know how you say, like, people can try the mix out. I mean, you didn't even if they. [00:03:40] Speaker B: Ask, I'll give them to them. [00:03:45] Speaker A: He'll give you the secret ingredient. [00:03:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:49] Speaker A: If you're curious, you can DM us. Other than that, how are you feeling? [00:03:57] Speaker B: I'm feeling great. And I'm feeling great because I'm on vacation. [00:04:02] Speaker A: Yes, you are still on vacation. [00:04:04] Speaker B: I'm still on vacation. It's just one of those it's beautiful time for you. Yeah. One of those how do you call it? Like, what's the word that they use? [00:04:15] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:04:16] Speaker B: Not the kirks. Like, what is it? [00:04:18] Speaker A: What? [00:04:20] Speaker B: Whenever you have something about your job, your career oh, the perk. Perk. Yeah. [00:04:26] Speaker A: It's one of the perks of your job. [00:04:27] Speaker B: It's one of the perks of our job. [00:04:29] Speaker A: Being a teacher. [00:04:29] Speaker B: Being a teacher. We need that summer soft. Otherwise, if you know any educators, otherwise we will go crazy. Yeah, we need the summer. We need the summer for the mental break. Our mental health. Right. Honestly, especially dealing with the teenagers, which you do. Or some teachers dealing with children in elementary. [00:04:51] Speaker A: Yes. [00:04:52] Speaker B: Or the poor middle school teachers. And the push they have. It tougher. [00:04:56] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. And then we just got back from vacation with the kids. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:01] Speaker A: That was fantastic. [00:05:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:03] Speaker A: It was a solid eight out of ten for me. [00:05:07] Speaker B: For me, whether it still nine. [00:05:09] Speaker A: You said nine out of ten when. [00:05:11] Speaker B: I asked nine out of ten. Yeah, it was great. [00:05:13] Speaker A: Why was it a nine out of ten? [00:05:15] Speaker B: A nine out of ten? Because I was able to connect with all of you. [00:05:19] Speaker A: What would have made it a ten out of ten? [00:05:21] Speaker B: I think sleeping better. Yeah. That first night on the train was really hard. [00:05:26] Speaker A: Interesting, because see, when I asked him the first time, you said that you gave it a nine out of ten because you lost your cool a couple of times. [00:05:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And that's part of it, too, because come on, if you don't sleep well enough, then you're not going to be yourself 100%. [00:05:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, let me tell you guys, that's why I gave the trip an eight out of ten, because yeah. Your meltdowns, they tainted it for a small amount, but I feel like it was still the best trip we've ever. [00:05:59] Speaker B: Had with the kids. Yeah. [00:06:01] Speaker A: It was amazing. [00:06:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah. Although I get angry so easy. [00:06:06] Speaker A: Yes. We all have things that we're working on, and yeah, it's going to happen, but it's not something that ruined our vacation or anything. Everybody has little meltdowns, but it was a solid amazing. Know, I don't know how else to say it, but I really felt like I was just enjoying all the moments with the kids. [00:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And a trip consisted of traveling from La. Los Angeles, all the way to Seattle. [00:06:40] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:40] Speaker B: We were there for a couple of days. [00:06:41] Speaker A: By train. [00:06:42] Speaker B: By train. By train. It takes 34 hours. [00:06:45] Speaker A: 36. [00:06:46] Speaker B: But for us, it took 36 because. [00:06:48] Speaker A: No, it's a 36 hours trip. [00:06:52] Speaker B: I believe on the writing, it's 34, but it took us 36 because we had to stop several times, things out of our control. And then we were in Seattle and we were supposed to continue by train all the way to Mount Vernon to visit some relatives. I stayed there for a day and then the next day continue with the train from Mount Vernon all the way to Vancouver. [00:07:17] Speaker A: Yes. And then we were in Vancouver a few days and we flew back to. [00:07:21] Speaker B: And then we flew back and we actually parked our car in Lax yes. So that we don't have to not deal with the traffic. [00:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah. And it was amazing. And I know I shared some reels so far, so you can check it out if you'd like. I'll be posting more, but I haven't gotten around to doing Vancouver yet. But it was just an amazing trip. [00:07:46] Speaker B: And I say that it was cool because honestly, we were not posting on social media that much. And when you're not posting social media that much, that means that you're having a great time because you're not posting. So that means you're enjoying enjoying the moment. Enjoying the moment. Yeah. With the kids and at night, who is going to be posting things, you just want to go and rest. [00:08:11] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, I kind of enjoyed too. Vicky's older, she's twelve, and she was actually helping me create TikToks. I had never created TikToks before. [00:08:27] Speaker B: I don't know how to use TikToks. [00:08:29] Speaker A: I had a TikTok, but I didn't know how to create one. And I asked her if she would take the first day, I think, oh, the train. Because on the train, it's not like you can get off and go do excursiones and stuff. [00:08:44] Speaker B: Right. [00:08:45] Speaker A: You can't go and do things, you're on the train. And so we did have a little bit of downtime. Right, obviously. And so at one point I was like, hey, will you make this TikTok for me? And then she made it, and then I kind of watched her and saw how she did it and then I figured out how to do them and I was like, OMG, I now know how to make them. So it was cool to connect with her on that level. And then she was like, oh, why don't we do this? And so she had all these ideas and I don't know, I just felt like at every corner there was these moments of connection with the kids, which I don't know, they were super yummy to me. And yeah. I'm just so happy and in full gratitude about our trip. [00:09:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And also something that I liked was like, we were able to see our kids interact like kids. Yeah, they were like total little kids. Like total little kids. [00:09:42] Speaker A: And they were so annoying. Yeah. [00:09:44] Speaker B: Although our son is 15 years old yes. And Victoria, she's twelve, they were children again. [00:09:50] Speaker A: They were and they were like fighting. [00:09:51] Speaker B: With each other and for us was like, oh. [00:09:54] Speaker A: And we were like, oh, my God. [00:09:56] Speaker B: Can you guys tone it down? Come on. [00:09:59] Speaker A: But they're remembering how to be kids. Just playing and just annoying each other, you know, all the little things that they would do as kids just to annoy each other. She touched me, and he threw the pillow at me. Oh, my God, how old are you guys? But it was at the same time, it feels like I don't know, in those moments, you were starting to get a little stressed, but I was like, oh, my God, I don't know how many more times we'll get them. [00:10:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:31] Speaker A: Because it almost felt like I just want to almost enjoy them. [00:10:35] Speaker B: Because you have to enjoy it because the future is not guaranteed. [00:10:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And so I kind of just embraced them, and I was so present for the fact that I don't know see, it gets me all choked up. I don't know if we'll have that again with them, because yeah, those moments are so fleeting as they grow older and we don't have all these opportunities, and they can feel, like, overwhelming. But those are the moments. [00:11:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:08] Speaker A: So yeah, I just had a lot of that. [00:11:11] Speaker B: No, yeah. On the trip. Yeah, me too. I was like, yeah. [00:11:16] Speaker A: Okay, that's our quick little update about our lives from the last episode until now. We had actually recorded this episode before, but we did it right when we got back, and we were too tired. It was not the right moment. So we're re recording it now that we have completely rested from the trip. And yeah, we're ready to give you an even broader update about our lives. Since we love the podcast, but we thought it would also be a really great opportunity to kind of give a refresh for anyone who is joining the Somos Padres podcast at this time. And maybe this is one of the first episodes you're listening to and you have no idea who we are. We thought it'd be great to just do a really quick recap of who we are, and yeah, just a quick update, just even before the podcast. So where should we start? Did you want to. [00:12:24] Speaker B: Who am Pablo? Well, you tried to answer that question. I'm beyond any terms that we can actually describe myself. Well, yeah, just to start, actually, I was born in Mexico. Michael Mexico. Yeah. And I came here to the US. The whole entire family. We moved to the US when I was 13 years old, so I went to a little bit of 7th grade and then 8th grade, middle school, and then high school, and then I went to community college, and from community college, I went to UC Davis. And from UC Davis. I actually went to Loyola Marimon to get my master's in education. At the beginning, I was trying to become two or three things at once. I was in computer science, mathematics, and Spanish. And at the end, ended up with the Spanish and education. Well, mathematics. [00:13:22] Speaker A: And I'm yosenya and I was born and raised in the Central valley. Tilleri county. I was born in a town called Lindsay, but lived most never lived in Lindsay, but lived in a little town called Porterville. And yeah, my parents are immigrants from Mexico, also from Microcan, and they had me here, and so I was born here. It's first generation. And I ended up going to community college after high school. And that's where Paulo and I met. [00:14:03] Speaker B: We met at community college. [00:14:05] Speaker A: So we met when I was 19 and he was 18, so it was actually my second year. [00:14:10] Speaker B: Yeah, you're older than me for ten. [00:14:11] Speaker A: Months, to be exact. And I was second year community college. You were first year. And we met and we dated. Well, and then I went to UC Davis, and then, as he mentioned, he went to UC Davis, but we were kind of, like, together a year and then long distance a year. And then I ended up finishing Davis and going to USC for my masters. And so then we did long distance because he was back in Davis when I finished my Master's. That's when we got married. And Paolo moved to La. [00:14:51] Speaker B: Yes. [00:14:52] Speaker A: And that's when he went to Mary Mount. And so we were married. And then maybe like, what, five, six. [00:14:58] Speaker B: Years later, we had kids, like, let's say four. Okay, four years later. Because at the beginning, I remember that we didn't want to have kids right away. Right. [00:15:09] Speaker A: We traveled, we did stuff, and then we started trying, and then it took us a while. Oh, yeah, that's why I thought maybe it was five. But anyways, then we had kids, and we have two kids. Paolito. No, he doesn't want to be called Palito. Guys. Paolo. [00:15:24] Speaker B: Paolo Junior. [00:15:25] Speaker A: I don't know. Paolo, our son, is 15. He just turned 15 in June, and Vicky is twelve. She'll be 13 later this year. And maybe, I don't know when the kids were like when Palito was about three years old, I think that's when this moment happened where I was like, wow, I really think we need to relook at how we're parenting. And yeah, that's kind of when things started to shift for us. [00:16:00] Speaker B: Yeah, because long story short, the way we were parenting, it wasn't working right? Yeah. Palito was being raised, and we were seeing some let's see, behaviors. [00:16:15] Speaker A: Well, for me personally, I just remember this moment. And you can go back and listen to the episodes, because we talked about that. But after we had Vicki, it felt like we were not successfully navigating his feelings around it. And one day he walked in and slapped her, and we were like, Why would he do that? [00:16:42] Speaker B: But even before that, for me, physical punishment, you could call it. [00:16:49] Speaker A: Yes, we were spanking. [00:16:51] Speaker B: We were spanking. Yelling and yelling and screaming. Basically what we learned from our parents. Yes. Not judging our parents. [00:16:58] Speaker A: No. Or anyone else. It's just that's how we were raised. Right? And then that's how we parent, and so that's what we thought we would do. And we were both professionals at the time, so we thought, well, of course we know what's right. But we just had moments, each of us separately, where we were like, okay, this doesn't feel right. Bottom line, it just didn't feel right. And it felt like, we need tools. We need help. We need something else. And so it landed us on this deep dive, and we started just researching and parenting books and parenting classes. [00:17:34] Speaker B: And then the thing that changed me, for me, it was just attending parenting classes. [00:17:39] Speaker A: Yeah, we went to nonviolent parenting classes. [00:17:41] Speaker B: Nonviolent parenting classes and learning. For me, long story short, again, it was learning about how the brain develops. Yeah, it was an AHA moment. Once you understand how the brain develops, it is oh, my God, it's eye opening. You go like what? Yeah. And once you realize for all of your listeners, it takes until age 25 to 27 years old for the brain to fully develop. And we were like, and we're asking these children, why did you do that? [00:18:20] Speaker A: And to control themselves. [00:18:22] Speaker B: Control them. [00:18:25] Speaker A: And that's kind of the beginning. That's kind of like the beginning of the learning. And then the unlearning and the shifting and the AHA. And so it just led us on this path that down the line, we were like, oh, my gosh, this information cannot just be for us. [00:18:43] Speaker B: We just wanted to find other ways. Yes, other ways. Because what we were doing wasn't working, right? Yeah. [00:18:49] Speaker A: And then we were like, hey, let's share it. Let's share this information. And that's how someone's brother has started the podcast. [00:18:55] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:18:57] Speaker A: And then we got to a point where we ended it. [00:19:01] Speaker B: We ended it because we were at the beginning of the pandemic. Right? [00:19:05] Speaker A: And we talked about that last episode, why we ended it and all that, and so now we want to bring you all the way forward to what happened once we turned off the mic. And, you know, it's really interesting. Well, the biggest shift that happened is that we left La. Well, we lived in Glendale, but we left Southern California. We left La. County as a home. Southern California. We left and we moved back home. [00:19:39] Speaker B: And it wasn't even planned. [00:19:40] Speaker A: No, that's the crazy part, is that it was so not was so it felt all of a sudden and for anyone that knows what the home buying process is like, even when you put a bid on a house, right. Then you're just waiting. [00:20:01] Speaker B: Yeah. When you put an offer sorry. [00:20:03] Speaker A: When you put an offer in, then you're waiting. And then even once you're in escrow, you're still waiting. Things could happen, and it doesn't work out. So it felt like we were in limbo, and we really couldn't plan. Everything actually felt very sudden, the way that things happened. But I think the most interesting part was that maybe two years before we bought the house back in our home, well, what would be like, my hometown? I know you didn't grow up here, but what I would consider my hometown before that, maybe two years ago. And I apologize because I can hear Vicki screaming in the backyard background because she's probably watching some videos. Sorry about that, guys. But anyways, I had this one moment when I remember waking up, and I looked at you it was like a Saturday morning, and I looked at you, and I was like, hey, I don't know what we're doing in La. Anymore. And I seriously was like, I think it's time to move back. And you were, I'm never I'm never moving back. And you were like, no, I don't. [00:21:23] Speaker B: Think I said never, but I was like, no, I'm not moving back. [00:21:27] Speaker A: Yeah, you were like, if you want to move back, you move back. [00:21:29] Speaker B: You move back. I'm like, I don't like the summers. It's way too hot. And I am so comfortable. Yeah, because it's comfort. I'm so comfortable where I'm working. I have plenty of friends, and what else can I ask for, right? [00:21:46] Speaker A: Like, our life felt, and I'm growing. [00:21:49] Speaker B: As a person, right? Yeah. [00:21:51] Speaker A: And I felt the same way, but at the same time, I also felt like I feel like the cycle is done. I don't know. It was just this feeling. [00:22:01] Speaker B: I can't even explain. You're crazy. [00:22:03] Speaker A: I know it was this feeling. And I remember even at that time that I was going through coaching, or maybe it was later on that I was doing coaching with Dari Luna. For anyone that follows Dari, I was doing coaching with her. And I remember doing a one on one session, and she's like, what's your dream? And I was like, I dream about waking up, and I look out of my house, and all I see is land. And, yeah, it was such a clear vision for me. Like, that was my dream. And I remember that there was this house that we had found at that time, and we went and looked at it, but you didn't like it. It didn't sell you you weren't sold on that house back then, right? And you were like, Nah. And whatever. You were like, I don't want to move back. And it was just off the radar. You let it go. But then the pandemic hit, and many of your colleagues were buying homes, and they were like, hey, Minchaka, you should consider. [00:23:15] Speaker B: You should consider now buying a had really? [00:23:19] Speaker A: We had thought about buying a home in La. Previously, but we never put roots down. I think we always compared the prices in La. To the prices in the Valley. And we're like, I just can't see myself paying double three times or three times for a home in, you know, back home, the prices are so low. So we just never bought a home in La. [00:23:43] Speaker B: And we were so close. [00:23:45] Speaker A: You know, looking back, it was financially, generational wealth building wise. Bad idea. But when you don't know, you don't know. [00:24:00] Speaker B: Yeah, because for us, we were living life. [00:24:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:04] Speaker B: We were like buying luxury cars. [00:24:07] Speaker A: Go buy a house. All right? You young people listening, go buy a house. But learn from our mistakes. But we didn't. And then all of a sudden, during the pandemic, colleagues are like saying this too. [00:24:20] Speaker B: They're like, Paolo, come on, here's this home. Check it out. [00:24:24] Speaker A: Like, almost all of them bought a. [00:24:26] Speaker B: Home during the Pandemic. [00:24:28] Speaker A: If not all of them, or if. [00:24:30] Speaker B: Not during the Pandemic, before in the Pandemic. [00:24:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So then all of a sudden, you were like, okay, I remember one of your colleagues sent you a house, like on a Wednesday, and you showed it to me, and I was like, okay, it's a cute little house. And you were like, I'm going to get us pre approved. And so on a Thursday, you got us pre approved. And then on Saturday, we were looking at houses. [00:24:56] Speaker B: Yeah. And we were looking at that particular house. [00:24:58] Speaker A: Yeah, we went to go live that house. And then we saw another house that. [00:25:02] Speaker B: We had found on that house. Actually, we said no, because it wasn't like an upgrade from our apartment that we were living. Just like, you're not going to pay close, Mendes, to a lot of money for something that is not even going to improve the current lifestyle you have or the living circumstances. [00:25:20] Speaker A: And not only that, we were like, it's going to add so much more of a commute. So we were very clear, like, we didn't want to add a humongous commute unless we were getting the house of our dreams or something. You know what I mean? It had to be worth it. [00:25:34] Speaker B: It has to be worth it, because imagine paying it was going to be twice what we were paying for rent, right? [00:25:39] Speaker A: And we were like, no, that's not going to work. So then we found another house that was like in the East La. Area, which would have been perfect, because our commutes would have been the same. [00:25:48] Speaker B: Our children would continue to attend the same schools. [00:25:50] Speaker A: Yes, they could still go to the same schools. It wasn't going to change much of our lifestyle in that sense. And the house seemed beautiful, completely redone. [00:26:00] Speaker B: We were like remodeled house completely. [00:26:03] Speaker A: But as you may remember, the housing market was insane. This house, we bid on it or put it up. We put an offer, and they wanted 100,000 more than what we had put in our offer. [00:26:19] Speaker B: And $100,000. [00:26:21] Speaker A: No, it was a crazy, insane time. And then there was another house we liked, but they wanted people to put in an offer before you could even go look at it. And we're like, well, that's insane. [00:26:32] Speaker B: That is just craziness, complete nuts. [00:26:34] Speaker A: And so we're like, you know what? We're just going to stop looking for a second. [00:26:38] Speaker B: And we were moving east every time, getting further and further away from downtown La. [00:26:46] Speaker A: So yeah, we were like, you know what? Let's just stop looking. Yeah, but then Paolo came back and. [00:26:52] Speaker B: Then after a few days yeah, it was on a Saturday, I was like I'm like, let's see what's in Zillow. And I opened Zillow and I was like, I'm not going to know the area, I'm just going to go, you know what? Something just popped into my head. Let me check the Valley, the Central Valley where we actually grew up. And right away, no kidding, I just opened Zillow and seeing Lindsay, California and Porterville for you can zoom in and zoom out from the maps and I was able to see both the town of Lindsay and the city of Porterville. And then a house in the middle just popped up. He was like, Let me click the house in Stratmore, California. And I clicked on it, I opened it and I was like, wow, this house is nice. It's completely remodeled. And they just put it it was that day that they actually put it online. And I was like, wow, it almost looked Photoshop. [00:27:56] Speaker A: And it was on an acre of land. [00:27:57] Speaker B: An acre of land, yeah. And I was like, babe, will you consider moving back to the Valley? [00:28:04] Speaker A: No, you said I remember you saying. [00:28:06] Speaker B: Would you consider living in yeah, in Strathmore. And to be honest, to put it into perspective, strathmore only has one light, right? [00:28:16] Speaker A: So he wasn't saying Lindsay, where he grew up, or Porterville where I grew. You know, these were bigger towns with know stores. Like Portoville has like a Target, which is very important, multiple Starbucks and all the things. And Strathmore is the town in between the two towns. [00:28:40] Speaker B: Yeah, it's only like 2500 people, right? [00:28:42] Speaker A: And it has one stoplight. You can literally miss it because if you don't pay attention at that one stoplight, that's it, you're done. So when he said, Would you consider living in Strathamore? He said that because he knew he was saying, would you live in this really small town? But obviously Portoville and Lindsay, the other towns are ten minutes away. It's different because in the Central Valley, there's space between towns. And when you live in Southern California, you just cross the street and you're. [00:29:16] Speaker B: In the next and you might be. [00:29:17] Speaker A: In the next, but here there is space between towns. And so it may feel like it's far, but it's really not. [00:29:25] Speaker B: No, it's just in between. [00:29:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like 7 miles and it's. [00:29:28] Speaker B: Really close each way. Each way. [00:29:29] Speaker A: And so I was like, well, show me the house. And I looked at the house and I was like, oh, wow, for this house, I would live in Strathmore. And that was it. The next day, they were having an. [00:29:41] Speaker B: Open house on Sunday. [00:29:42] Speaker A: On Sunday. And we were like, let's not tell anyone. [00:29:46] Speaker B: Let's not tell any of our relatives. Let's just take your children and go look at the house to see what we think of it. [00:29:52] Speaker A: So we went on Sunday, and then on the way back, we called our realtor, who told us that she was able to represent us on that house as well. And so we told her we had gotten the name of the realtor for the house over here. And we're driving. And she called me back, oh, I already talked to the other realtor. They have one offer, but it's not that great. We're definitely in a good position. So literally Monday, we submitted an offer, they countered, and like, Wednesday, they had accepted our offer. I just remember it was Cinco de Mayo when they accepted our offer. It was pretty insane. [00:30:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:36] Speaker A: And then I think we had done like, a 30 day escrow that went a little bit over. [00:30:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Because of inspections. [00:30:43] Speaker A: Inspections. And we were still in the pandemic and things. [00:30:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:48] Speaker A: But anyways, it was kind of all of a sudden, like we said. And then because it was so, um, we weren't sure how we were going to make it work. Because Paolo still had his job in La. [00:31:03] Speaker B: Yeah, because everything, as we told you before, nothing was planned. [00:31:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:08] Speaker B: It was like, oh, they accepted. Now it becomes, oh, my God, what. [00:31:12] Speaker A: Are we going to do? [00:31:12] Speaker B: What are we going to do? [00:31:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And you had run the numbers, and. [00:31:16] Speaker B: I had run the numbers. [00:31:17] Speaker A: So we knew that worst case scenario, worst, paolo would stay or we would stay in Glendale for another year. [00:31:26] Speaker B: We will continue to live in the house. [00:31:27] Speaker A: We would still continue to live there, but we would have the house, and we would know. Just kind of like having things prepared until we were able to move. [00:31:37] Speaker B: It will have become like a vacation home. [00:31:40] Speaker A: Right. So, yeah, that was like, worst case scenario. But then we started talking. Well, at least in my case, I was still working from home at the time, and I still am today. And so we knew at that point, I had talked to my boss and my leadership, and they had pretty much stated for the foreseeable future, we would be working from home. And if we did have to come in, it would be one or two times or as needed. But for you, it was so much more complicated because you were on a contract. [00:32:16] Speaker B: Yeah, my contract was about to start. [00:32:18] Speaker A: Yes. And so it was too late for you to find a job in the Valley. Getting a teaching job is not like the hiring happens from one day to the next. [00:32:28] Speaker B: It's a process. It's a whole process. [00:32:29] Speaker A: And so what we ended up doing was deciding that I would. Move to the home with the kids. Because it was like timing. [00:32:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Because like you said, we were thinking of continue to live in Glendale, but then all of a sudden I was like, you know what, since your boss has telling you that for the foreseeable future, you're going to continue to work from home, you know what, why don't you just you and the kids go move? [00:32:59] Speaker A: Yes. And that way the kids would be starting a new school year. [00:33:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Because our kids were about to transition to different schools. [00:33:04] Speaker A: They were going to move anyway. We just were like, okay, let's just me and the kids will go. And you moved into a smaller space. [00:33:13] Speaker B: I'm like, I look for a smaller space in order to let go of the apartment that we were leaving. I just look for something really close to work. As long as it has one bedroom, even a studio. [00:33:26] Speaker A: Because it was just you. [00:33:27] Speaker B: Yeah, because it was going to be me. And it turns out that the universe just put things in your way when things are meant to happen. I got the little apartment. Yeah. [00:33:39] Speaker A: It was a small walking distance from. [00:33:42] Speaker B: The it was actually walking distance from our school. [00:33:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and I was going to say from the LAFC Bank. [00:33:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Now it's called it was bank of California. Now it's called something else. [00:33:52] Speaker A: He could literally walk to the games. [00:33:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I actually did twice. And we did the long distance. I was staying over there in La. And coming on weekends. [00:34:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So we did long distance for a whole year. It felt like we should be used to it, right? [00:34:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Because the truth at the beginning, I was like, oh, my God, this is going to be hard because yeah. Even though I'm staying over there Monday through Thursday, I'm going to be thinking about you guys and about now experiencing what it's like to be a homeowner. Because it's exciting for the first time ever. So I was coming almost every weekend. [00:34:33] Speaker A: Yes. You came almost every weekend. [00:34:35] Speaker B: Almost every weekend. [00:34:36] Speaker A: Very exhausting for you. And yeah, we settled and that was our life for a year. [00:34:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And so fortunate that after one year I was able to find a job over here. Right. I was like, yes, because I don't want to do another year. It's hard. Yeah. [00:34:55] Speaker A: And now you're here with us. [00:34:57] Speaker B: You have completed a full year now. You know what? Exactly one year. [00:35:02] Speaker A: Yes. And actually we got a text message from our realtor, actually, today. [00:35:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:08] Speaker A: She was like, can you guys believe it's been two years? We're like, wow. But yeah, it's been two years now since we've been in our home. And it feels like it takes a while to settle. [00:35:22] Speaker B: Yeah. We're still working on so many things. [00:35:24] Speaker A: And we're still working on so many things. But it's just been an amazing transition. And people will ask us, do you miss La and 1000%. I miss La in terms of my friends. I miss the people, I miss my friends, I miss bar hopping and going to events and hanging out and the laughs and all of that. But to be honest, I don't miss it because I enjoy our home so much and I enjoy our life here so much. I mentioned in the last episode that obviously there are things that are hard for me in terms of just community and finding my people here, but in terms of just my life, for the most part, no. I'm so happy about our decision and yeah. Being here, it feels completely right. [00:36:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it feels completely right. Even though I miss my friends, my colleagues. Yes, I do. Because for me, I need to start all over again. Because working at a new school, you have to start all over again. Build that trust to build those connections. But other than that, it has been great. I mean, the stress level has going down considerable. Considerably. [00:36:54] Speaker A: I feel like here we get so much because of the land and we have our pets. [00:37:00] Speaker B: It's because here we have so many things to do. Obviously everything requires money, but it doesn't have to be something big. It can be something so small as planting vegetables. [00:37:13] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. Yeah. [00:37:16] Speaker B: And it's like amazing just having the space to do it, to do it, it changes your life completely. [00:37:25] Speaker A: Totally. [00:37:26] Speaker B: Unless you hate dirt and all that. If you hate dirt and all that, it's not going to work. [00:37:31] Speaker A: But yeah, I think plants and nature and Mother Earth and all of that, I feel like that's the season we're in is this season, at least for us. It's the season of coming back and connecting with the land and working with the land and just enjoying nature and having that connection. And so, I mean, we certainly need to do so much more. We're so close to the Sequoia National Park. We haven't even been there and we've been here for two years already. I mean, we went during the trip, we were in Vancouver and we went up into the mountains and we're squamish to squamish. And we're like, why have we not been to the Sequoias? Like, we have to do it. [00:38:13] Speaker B: We mean that before, but not recently. [00:38:15] Speaker A: Yeah, with the it's I feel like that's the season we're of just because. [00:38:23] Speaker B: Some of our relatives were concerned, like, aren't you guys missing La? [00:38:27] Speaker A: I know. [00:38:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Because and I'm like, why? Because here is too quiet. That's the reason. That's what we love. [00:38:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:34] Speaker B: Now we are at this stage that we just want peace and quietness. [00:38:37] Speaker A: For me, at least personally, it was almost 20 years that I was in La. [00:38:42] Speaker B: No, for me it was the same because of the years that I did by myself. [00:38:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was like, wow, I have nothing more to ask of La. It gave me exactly what I needed in the moment that I needed. Our kids, obviously, are Angelinos. [00:38:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:00] Speaker A: They were born over there, born in La. And they will always have that. But it was time for me, at least, like, I felt like I have to go back to my tierra, to my homeland. [00:39:14] Speaker B: And another thing that the listeners need to know is that we have no relatives in Southern California. [00:39:19] Speaker A: No. We were by ourselves. [00:39:20] Speaker B: We were by ourselves. We raised our kids by ourselves. [00:39:23] Speaker A: Wow. With Francisca. [00:39:25] Speaker B: Thank you. Because we found a neighbor that became our nanny without Francisco. I don't know, her daughters and her family. [00:39:32] Speaker A: I mean, they were the VIPs. [00:39:34] Speaker B: They were like they were our saving grace. That tool that you need to help you to move on and continue yeah. [00:39:45] Speaker A: We found our support system out there. [00:39:47] Speaker B: Out there. [00:39:48] Speaker A: But yeah. I have nothing but immense gratitude for La. And I continue to work for La county, and so I continue to have a connection, and I go I'll be going next week for work. So I continue to be out there. I continue to be connected to my dear friends. The friendships are yeah. I feel like we have the best of everything, and that's it. [00:40:15] Speaker B: That's the and now, finally, after two years, my friends from La are coming to visit. [00:40:23] Speaker A: I know. Hey, my friends, where are you? [00:40:26] Speaker B: They're coming to visit. Finally. They were like, Paolo, we're ready to go visit you. Can we go visit you? And I'm like of course you can. Come on. Your home is over here. [00:40:37] Speaker A: That's right. But yeah, it's been an incredible that's I think it gives you kind of a glimpse of our mindset and where we are today. Definitely. If you're following any of our social media you've seen, probably certainly our life revolves around our home and all the things that we're doing outside. I would say my life also revolves around Zumba and my yoga classes, but mostly Zumba, and just still trying to connect and do all of the different healing practices and working on myself. [00:41:20] Speaker B: It's not that we enjoy our home because of the new things that we're doing that is teaching us even more to work on ourselves. Oh, yeah. It's not a physical structure. [00:41:34] Speaker A: No. [00:41:34] Speaker B: That we admire. It's a nice home, by the way, but it's not that. It's the new things that we're doing, doing that we're going, like at least from my personal perspective, it's like, wow, this is teaching me so much about life as well. [00:41:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:50] Speaker B: Even the insects. [00:41:51] Speaker A: Yes. We're allowing all of it to teach us. [00:41:54] Speaker B: Yeah. And now we used to have two cats. Now we have four cats because we adopted two stray cats. And now we have chickens. We are in a second flock of chickens because of many things that happen in between. [00:42:08] Speaker A: We'll share later. [00:42:09] Speaker B: We share later. [00:42:09] Speaker A: Sure. [00:42:12] Speaker B: They just have become our pets, and our pets love us. We love them. [00:42:16] Speaker A: We've now kind of adopted a stray chicken. And now, who would have thought? [00:42:22] Speaker B: Who would have thought that a stray chicken just walked over here and it. [00:42:27] Speaker A: Went to everybody's land, but it stayed in ours. I really feel like we have an energy about us on this land. [00:42:35] Speaker B: We attracted the cats. [00:42:36] Speaker A: Yes, because we also attracted the cats. And we're here for it. We're here for whatever the land offers. [00:42:46] Speaker B: And it's not that the cats came by themselves. It's like, no, a cat. That was a mom. Trust us enough. That she brought with her her kittens. [00:42:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:57] Speaker B: She's just like, here, we're starving. We're just starving. Help us out. [00:43:01] Speaker A: It was a mommy and her three. [00:43:03] Speaker B: Little babies in our patio. [00:43:06] Speaker A: And we helped them get adopted. [00:43:07] Speaker B: And why not the other neighbors? [00:43:10] Speaker A: No. [00:43:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:11] Speaker A: No. It was us. Lots of stories to continue to share. So many things to share. But that's it. That's the update. You are now updated, and we're going to continue to share. We didn't really go into a lot of reflections and things because we want to save that for our future episodes. But just to give you a little taste, next episode, I will be beginning my summer series, which I'm very excited about. I hope you are, too. I really want to get into the topic of healing and really share with you some of my deep personal stories that I'm now ready to share. And I can't wait to have that heart to heart "platica" with you, with you all. And that's where we're going. And then we have just incredible lineup of interviews that are pending. And so it's going to be exciting. It's going to be an exciting season, and we just can't wait. [00:44:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, with that, cheers. [00:44:13] Speaker A: Cheers. [00:44:18] Speaker B: Ciao. Hi. Speaker B: If you like this podcast, please share with your friends and family. Speaker A: You can subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. It's super important to help spread the message. Speaker B: You can also follow our parents on Instagram, @iam.yesenia, @paulomenchaca, and @somos.padres. Gracias!