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We're Closing Season Four and Planning Season Five: Travel, Wildfires, and Podcast Roses & Thorns

Missy and Elisabeth catch up on a busy summer involving travel to see parents, a college summer boot camp, home projects, and multiple trips (Pullman graduation, Las Vegas, Burbank, San Juan Capistrano, and upcoming Nashville, Indiana, and Mexico). They discuss wildfires and water concerns in the West, including a visible fire near Tucson and shrinking water levels at Lake Powell and near Hoover Dam, plus a local perspective on long-term stewardship and water use. Health and bureaucracy come up with neck pain, MRIs, ROTC/FAA medical paperwork, and aging parents’ recoveries. They mark their podcast’s progress (first episode Sept. 20, 2023; this is episode 39; top downloads included the Sabina episode), share roses and thorns of podcasting, and brainstorm new season questions while considering taking the rest of summer off and returning in September with more consistent recording.

NOTE: The summary above and below sounds whack-a-doo because this truly is how our conversations go - ha! Composed with the help of our editing program. Enjoy!

00:00 Catching Up Again

00:19 Boot Camp And Season Plans

01:49 Weather Fires And Monsoons

04:00 Water Worries And Lake Powell

07:28 Graduation Trip And Vegas

09:50 Friends Nashville And Work Updates

12:35 Parents Health And Moving Talk

14:37 Mexico Trip And Tropical Ideas

18:17 Fireproof Bags And Paperwork

21:11 Health Issues And Podcast Milestones

24:13 Episode Milestone Chat

24:54 Roses and Thorns Reflections

26:35 Favorite Guests and Family Episodes

28:36 Stories Worth Preserving

31:22 Scheduling Struggles and Rejection

33:29 Season Five Question Refresh

36:14 New Prompts and Distractions

41:12 Upcoming Guests and Summer Plans

42:43 Signing Off and Life Updates

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Meet Andrea!

Elisabeth knows her from the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) where she leads the DC chapter, and shortly she will become the Online chapter lead.

The mission of ASAP is to provide arts classes to those serving in the military, veterans, their families and care givers to combat the challenges and isolation of military service. ASAP classes combat that isolation. Through comedy, story telling, improv, art, photography, musical performance (and many more) they provide a fun and vibrant community.

It's clear that Andrea enjoys her work with ASAP, and is helping encourage Missy to sign up for the next stand up comedy class :-)

Andrea is a delight - enjoy!

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Meet Phyllis!

Phyllis Wilson is President of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation – the only major national memorial honoring the 3 Million women who have defended America from the Revolutionary War to today.

Phyllis served 37 years in the Army as a Military Intelligence Voice Intercept Operator. She has served around the globe – visiting more than 35 countries – in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America. She has been mobilized numerous times to shoulder the duties of defense of the nation and has deployed to Iraq several times as an Intelligence Analyst with Special Operations.

If we could sum up Phyllis in one word it is: indefatigable! You can feel her energy in this episode!

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In this episode we chatted with Beth Jarvis. Beth and Elisabeth met along the sidelines of soccer and basketball when our daughters were in high school. Beth is an Army vet, an Army brat, and an Army spouse. Like many military spouses, Beth has worked both traditional jobs and for many volunteer organizations that support children and military family members.

After attending Georgetown and earning a graduate degree in communications, she now works for the Microsoft Military Affairs team, managing the relationships with all base organizations involved in supporting Microsoft Software and System Academies.

One of the reasons we wanted to interview Beth is that there are two things that she is incredibly skilled at: experiencing everything that Washington DC has to offer (she is a Vet Tix power user) and making and keeping friends. We know you will enjoy this great conversation!

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Lots of behind the scenes work (and life) going on at You Should Meet My Friend - new episodes are in the hopper we promise! But we were able to pull off a Mother's Day miracle - a podcast with all of our kids. We knew we couldn't get them all into one (virtual) room, so here is a compilation of our conversations with them. We asked them our "Five Questions" and their answers are all over the map, sometimes surprising, and a complete delight. Enjoy!

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Elisabeth and Missy caught up this month and chatted about the holidays and what's happening with our families. In this episode we also drop in a clip from last month's episode with Robin where we explain who we are and why we podcast (in case you are a new fan!). We also listened to the first few minutes of our very first episode we recorded with Jennifer Judd. We are grateful for the many people who have come along on this adventure, both guests and the many who support us in the background. Look forward for fresh new episodes in the early spring! Enjoy!

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Here is your special December gift – a second episode!

In this episode, we meet Robin Johnson, a 20 year plus Army veteran, who after retiring from active duty and a couple of transitional jobs, discovered that her passion lies in the intersection of workplace culture, comedy, and supporting the veteran community. So she started her own consulting firm focused on helping organizations to improve culture and humor and build stronger veteran and military spouse talent pipelines.

Robin has toured worldwide as a standup comedian with Armed Forces Entertainment, and was voted Charleston, South Carolina's best comedian, and she is a certified humor professional. She has a new corporate gig that we chat about, and she also answers the question: were you always funny, or did the Army and military life make you funny?

This is the second episode this season where we discuss grief and how to respond to it. Robin and Missy would say, “always with humor.” We know you will love this episode!

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Heidi is an infectious person to talk to. She still finds humor and laughter while honoring her son Alex. You will be inspired by her.

In this episode, we talk to our friend Heidi. She is the creator and host of Alley Kat Chat, with segments such as Crime in the Valley, Tunesday Tuesday, Down the Rabbit Hole, and Minute with the Mayor (Show currently in hiatus but expecting new content soon!) Heidi owns Pink Power Printing. She is also a certified Family Wellness Instructor, a Grief Coach, an Equine Therapy Advocate, and Practitioner. Finally, Heidi has created a vlog titled Perfectly Imperfect where she shares daily videos discussing an array of topics, but most notably about grief and loss. In Heidi's words, she is "Sharing my compass to help others find light in the darkest moments."

*While we do touch on suicide and navigating loss, we also laugh and discuss a plethora of other things