Episode 15 | One Father’s Lasting Gift To His Daughter December 12, 2021

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GUEST: Dr. Chris Yandle, Author, Lucky Enough: A Year of a Dad’s Daily Notes of Encouragement and Life Lessons to His Daughter

Chances are, at some point, you’ve felt the sting of not fitting in. If you’re a kid, this can be a big blow to your confidence and spirit. So, what’s a parent to do? If you are Dr. Chris Yandle, you write notes – lots of them. In this episode, Chris shares how his notes to his daughter Addison helped her through a tough year at school. Thanks to social media, his pithy expressions of encouragement, advice, and wisdom (#DadLunchNotes) soon gained a large following – and eventually became a book. Can a few good words help you through the tougher times in your life? If you are lucky enough, they just might.

GUEST BIO:

Dr. Chris Yandle is the author of Lucky Enough: A Year of a Dad’s Daily Notes of Encouragement and Life Lessons to His Daughter, a book in which he shares more than 150 notes he wrote to his daughter Addison during her fourth-grade year. He has continued to write notes to Addison, and his son Jackson, gaining fans around the world through the book and social media. Chris is also a former college athletics administrator and an award-winning public relations professional. He has spent the majority of his career as a communications professional with NCAA Division I college athletics programs – including the University of Miami and Georgia Tech. Earlier this year, this native of South Louisiana, became the assistant commissioner for public affairs with the Louisiana Board of Regents.

LINKS:

Lucky Enough: A Year of a Dad’s Daily Notes of Encouragement and Life Lessons to His Daughter

Dr. Chris Yandle

#DadLunchNotes

Screenshot of Chris Yandle and Brad Phillips during episode of The Speak Good Podcast

Full Transcript

BRAD PHILLIPS, HOST, THE SPEAK GOOD PODCAST:

A few people have asked us what’s that shouting right before the episode begins. Well, that “Speak good!” you just heard is four kids. My two sons and my business partner’s two children. One of the kids you just heard is my eight-year-old son. He recently came home from school, and he told us that when he sat down for lunch with another boy, the boy stood up, moved his lunch to another table, and left our son sitting by himself.

He ate lunch by himself that day. And, we tried to help him make sense of that moment after the day ended and arm him with strategies to cope with that sort of situation. We coached him on how he could strike up a conversation with the other kid by asking him about his interests, something like, “What’s your favorite Pokémon card?” We reassured him that he’s an awesome kid – and that if other kids don’t recognize how amazing he is, how special he is, that it’s their loss.

But the truth is we felt largely powerless to help him navigate that type of social isolation and rejection. Like most parents, we want to shield him from pain and help him figure out how to more easily fit in with his classmates. But inevitably, he’s going to have to do a lot of that work on his own, when we’re not around to help him.

Many parents end up asking themselves variants of these three questions:

What can we do to build our child’s confidence and resilience?

How can we help them figure out how to deal with awkward or painful situations when we’re not around?

And how can we make sure that tough moments don’t break their spirit and make them retreat from the world – and instead, embrace all of the opportunities it offers them?

My guest today, Chris Yandle, was facing a similar situation. When his daughter Addison – who goes by Addy – was in fourth grade, she suddenly became moody, resistant, isolated, anxious, and impatient. Like many kids at that age, she wasn’t forthcoming with the reasons, likely because she didn’t fully understand them herself.

Chris knew he had to do something to help her. So, at the beginning of her fourth-grade year, he started writing her short notes – notes of encouragement and notes that contained life lessons – and he stuck them into her bookbag or lunch box, so that Addy would discover them during the day. Here, in Chris’s voice, are a few of the notes he left for Addy.

(SOUND BITE, CHRIS YANDLE)

September 18, 2017: Addy, The loudest voice in the room is rarely the smartest person. Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument. Love, Dad

September 29, 2017: Addy, Always be kind to everyone you meet. You don’t know what battles they are facing. Love, Dad

March 29, 2018: Addy, We are all “weird.” There is no such thing as “normal.” When someone calls you weird, say thank you. Love, Dad

(SOUND BITE ENDS)

I should point out here not all of his notes contained serious lessons. Some of them were just plain ridiculous.

(SOUND BITE, CHRIS YANDLE)

October 12, 2017: Addy, You cannot make everyone happy. You are not a taco. But if you were a taco, then everyone would be happy…and hungry! Love, Dad

(SOUND BITE ENDS)

Those notes – and more than 150 others – eventually became a book, called Lucky Enough: A Year of a Dad’s Daily Notes of Encouragement and Life Lessons to His Daughter. And that book eventually landed Chris on national television – The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America. Clearly, his notes to his daughter touched a nerve with parents around the country – and all over the world.

We’ll talk to Chris about his notes to Addy, and now about the notes he’s also leaving for his young son, Jack. We’ll also delve into some more difficult territory by talking to Chris about his own journey through depression, job loss, and even suicidal ideation. And even though we’ll get into some heavy topics during our conversation, my hope – and I am sure Chris’ – is that you’ll also leave this episode feeling inspired by just how much a simple act can make a big difference.

(MUSIC PLAYS)

First of all, I guess the place I’ll begin is in your book, you were very open that you’re an introvert and that it’s scary as hell for you to share your feelings and emotions out loud as opposed to in writing. So, thank you for doing this, especially given that context.

CHRIS YANDLE:

Yeah, it’s funny, you know, being a public relations professional for 15 years now, I always hated talking to media or doing interviews, but gotten really comfortable over the last 10 to 12 months.

PHILLPS:

I guess, with all of the success you’ve been having with the book lately, you have kind of had to come out of your shell and speak to national media. We’ll get into all of that. But I can really relate to that. I’m in a position that requires you to be an extrovert and to be very good at it. And I think I’ve gotten very good at doing it. And people are always surprised to hear me say that I’m really an introvert. And I like nothing more than at the end of the day, especially after interacting with people, going into a dark bedroom, closing the door, reading a book, and being left alone for a couple of hours.

YANDLE:

Yeah. I can relate on so many levels.

PHILLIPS:

So, 2017, you decide to start writing these daily notes to your daughter, Addy, when she was entering fourth grade. Maybe we could just start there with what your own motivators were. What made you decide at that moment to start writing these daily notes?

YANDLE:

Sure. Looking back at August of 2017, Addison was starting fourth grade and down here that’s middle school – here in Louisiana in our school district. It just so happened to be her fourth school in five years. So, prior to moving back to Louisiana in 2016, we spent two years in Atlanta, and then two years in Miami before that. It wasn’t the way we drew it out. But when she started middle school, obviously middle school’s hard for any kid, but especially young girls, I just noticed some anxiousness. She wasn’t as energetic as she was in third grade. And on the third day of school, it was a Monday, August 14, 2017, I was making her lunch and I just thought, well, maybe I’ll just scribble a note. And, I scribbled a message on it. Didn’t they didn’t think anything of it, but it was my way to let her know that, Hey, dad’s here. You may sit by yourself at lunch, but if you read it, it’s like I’m sitting next to you or enjoying it with you. And really, it was just my way of trying to be a dad again, because it was my fault, really, that we moved so many times. And, it was my fault that we moved back to Louisiana. So, it was my way of bridging that gap and letting her know that her dad was back and here for her.

PHILLIPS:

How did she react when she saw that first note in her backpack, her lunchbox, wherever you had placed it?

YANDLE:

It really wasn’t until about the second or third week that I noticed that she was paying attention. It’s the story I’ve told many times, but we were running late one morning, and she left a sticky note next to her lunch box saying, don’t forget my note for the day.

PHILLIPS:

(LAUGHS)

YANDLE:

So, when I saw that, I realized, okay, she’s paying attention. She may not necessarily read or understand everything I’m writing, but she is paying attention.

PHILLIPS:

I have to tell you that while reading your book I decided, you know what, this is such a lovely tradition that I’m going to try this with our son. We have two boys. They are in third and first grade. So, I can relate a little bit, especially with the third grader to how closed off these kids can become at a certain age.

YANDLE:

Yeah.

PHILLIPS:

Anyway, I left a note for our younger boy that day, and I just wrote dear, his name, I love you. Have a great day. Love dad. I picked him up from school that day, and on the walk back, he said, ‘I saw your note, daddy.’ I said, ‘Oh, what did you think?’ He said, ‘Well, I kind of like it and I kind of don’t like it.’ And I said, ‘Okay, why don’t you like it?’ And he said, ‘Because the other girls are going to think someone has a crush on me, so don’t leave them for me anymore.’

YANDLE:

(LAUGHS)

PHILLIPS:

So, I was not as successful as you were, and I was 0-for-1. And I know you say in your book, you know, you give a baseball analogies, and to keep on swinging the bat. But for now, at least I put the bat down. Maybe I’ll try again at some point.

YANDLE:

Nah. They just, all they care about is that you’re there. And obviously, third and fourth and fifth grade kids, hormones, girls, boys, you know, they’re afraid that their friends are gonna make fun of them because their parents care for them. But ultimately all they care about is that we’re there for them.

PHILLIPS:

That was actually something I was curious about. What you think Addy reacted to most. Do you think she reacted to the content of the notes or to the very fact that you were leaving notes at all?

YANDLE:

That’s a good question. I think a mixture of both. In the book, I am very honest that sometimes the notes were more for me than they were for her. Because I needed them just as much as she did. So, I think in the beginning it was the fact that I was present at doing them. And I’ll admit that there were some that were probably way over the head of a fourth grader. But as I mentioned, they were mostly for me. But,  I think as the months progressed and her teachers started noticing what I was doing for her, and wanting to share it with other students in the class, I think she started paying more and more attention to that content.

PHILLIPS:

If we can kind of pick up that thread about you, we’re doing it more for you than for her. Obviously, you’ll draw the bounds of what you feel comfortable talking about and not comfortable talking about. But, in your book, you were pretty open about mental health and depression. You said at one point you were a dead man walking. You weren’t mentally present at home. Could you kind of walk through where you were back in 2017, and what you mean by these were as much as for you as for her?

YANDLE:

Sure. When we moved back to Louisiana 2016, I lost my job unexpectedly. I was an assistant athletic director in college athletics and moving around chasing job titles, chasing job promotions. It was two years after winning a national award in our profession for being one of the best at what he does. And two years later,  I’m out of a job. Because, I just didn’t love it anymore. The job didn’t love me back, and I was tired. In 2016, I was only 34 and I felt like I was about 54, just because of the job stress and the moving around and chasing and being told you’re being let go. I mean that, that’s a killer and that’s a killer for anybody, but especially when you’re 34 and you were just told two years prior that you were one of the best at what you do.

So, I was dejected. I was beat down. I was unemployed for probably six or seven months. I stocked shelves at Target to keep my mind out of the gutter. Finally found a job in 2017 back in PR. I was struggling and not to mention I’d gone back to school for my PhD because I thought that would have been good for my head. But the next two or three years, I was still trying to make up for what I did. I was blaming myself every single day that my kids are in this position because of me. It is my fault, and I never forgave myself. I probably didn’t forgive myself until earlier this year. Just to see that my eighth-grade daughter is now thriving and she’s doing well. But, ultimately I said I was a dead man walking because at one point I didn’t think I was going to be alive at the end of 2017, honestly.

So, the notes a lot of times those affirmations were for myself. So, I can still be here for my kids because working in sports, that’s 80 to 100 hours a week, especially during college football season. So, my kids were young, very young. They don’t remember much of what I did, but to me, I still remembered it because I wasn’t there to see them grow. So, I missed out some of that, but my kids don’t remember it. But again, I blame myself for all of that. It took three or four years. And this has been a huge exercise for both of us. Not only has Addison grown, but I’ve grown too throughout this whole process.

PHILLIPS:

I wonder if part of the reason your book has gotten noticed, and I see on social media who else is tweeting your work (and it really has gotten a lot of notice) that it seems like the notes to Addy really also talk about the difficulty and hardships we go through as parents. More specifically in our cases, as fathers. The specifics of our own narratives and stories may be different, but there was so much about not being fully present. The specifics of your reasons for that, and my reasons for that are not the same, but in effect it is the same. Because you may be physically sitting at the dinner table, looking across from your kid, but in your head you’re thinking about, crap, I didn’t re return that email to that client or a customer problem. Or man, I have no days off coming up and it’s just this machine and what is it all about? So, all of that comes out in your book in, in different ways. I’m curious, in many ways it seems like the entries to Addy are almost like a diary that reflects your own headspace at that moment in time. As you look back and reflect on those notes that you had written her four years from now, how do you see them? Are you the same guy? Are you, and obviously you’re the same guy, but do you recognize where you were at those moments in a way that may be different from where you are today?

YANDLE:

I do. Because four years ago, I didn’t think four years from that point was possible. I didn’t think 2021 would be possible. I didn’t think I’d still be here, but looking back on what I said to her, I’ve seen where my headspace has gone from then until now, as well as where her head space is and how she’s grown. Now that she’s about to enter high school, which I am totally not ready for. But, this year, I started the same exercise with my son who started fourth grade, the same time that I started notes with her. So, seeing how different and similar they both are and the same things they struggle with, it’s amazing to see. But now that I’m four years older and wiser, I could tackle it a little bit differently. But there are times that I’m still sliding in some messages for my own good, but it’s been a unique exercise in seeing how far I’ve come since I started doing it four years ago,

PHILLIPS:

Is there a particular note that you look at that resonated still with you now more than any other?

YANDLE:

That’s a good question. There’s a lot of them and it’s hard for me to remember, even though I keep a spreadsheet of all of them and I try not to repeat them. I think the biggest message that resonates with me out of all of them is just trying to be nicer to myself and being sure that I give myself some grace, especially after what we all went through last year, and we’re still going through in a pandemic. That life isn’t a competition. We need to give ourselves some extra credit on making it this far, given the circumstances. I think that’s the biggest thing, Brad, for me, not only to share with myself, but with my kids is that, you know, the last 18 months have sucked. Honestly, they have sucked. 2022 may also suck, so we have to give ourselves, grade ourselves on a curve and give ourselves some grace in how we’re growing. Because, nobody knows what the hell they’re doing, especially in the middle of something that only happens once every hundred years.

PHILLIPS:

You know, it’s almost like there’s an entirely different conversation we could be having about you getting caught up in the almost what I call for myself, the linear path. Some of the worst decisions I’ve made in my life have been when I felt like, oh, I’m supposed to be here by this age. And I wasn’t in certain places by that age. And then I would say, okay, well I better do something fast to get there. And then would do that and realize what a mistake that is. And it’s almost like one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is everybody has their own path. There’s no right or wrong. Nobody really knows what they’re doing, but you sure as hell shouldn’t be looking at other people to try to figure out what timeline makes sense for you.

YANDLE:

Exactly. And I wasted 10 years of my life doing that. I had to learn the hard way, but now I’m finally in a job and a career and a place in my life where I turn 40 next year. And finally, I’m not totally comfortable with myself and where I’ve been, but I’m a lot closer than I was five years ago.

PHILLIPS:

I’m a decade ahead of you. And I will only tell you that I hope your experiences like mine. Because 40 to 50 was, I think Oprah (Winfrey) said this too, and I remember hearing this Oprah quote at the time, going oh, that’s just something somebody says when they get close to 50. And now that I’m almost there, I’m like that really is when you start figuring stuff out. At least for me, that’s been the case. Back  to Addy for a minute, how did your relationship with her change or did it change? Do you feel like even today, your relationship with her is different as a result of having started this routine with her four years ago?

YANDLE:

It’s very different. Again, having a middle school daughter and, you know, being 9, 10, 11, 12, it’s the toughest time for a young girl. I even remember being a middle school boy and it was tough, but nothing near the likes of being a pre-teen girl. But our relationship has gotten a lot stronger over the years. She tells me stuff before she tells her mom whether that’s good, bad, or indifferent. She’ll always call me first for things. She enjoys when I bring her to school some mornings, although we’ll see how well that routine goes in high school. Don’t want to be too by other boys, but I definitely think we’re a lot closer. Obviously fourth grade, her age and where I was mentally and emotionally, that was like oil and water. That mixture wasn’t going to work, but slowly but surely fifth grade and sixth grade got a little better.

As she got older and matured more and dealt with bullying and other stuff at school and got through that, that’s where we started to get stronger because she saw that we weren’t just mean, old, boring parents. We were the parents that are going to protect her and do what’s best for her. And when she saw that we were an ally and not an enemy, I think that helped a lot. Now don’t get me wrong. She’s 13. We still go at it because teenagers think they know everything. And as I’ve told her, I have a PhD and then she goes out on me about, well, I have a PhD, too. So, whatever …

PHILLIPS:

(LAUGHS)

YANDLE:

It’s, you know, it’s the typical teenage daughter dad fight. But, for sure, you know, looking back, our relationship has, has grown leaps and bounds. Not only has she grown up through the process, I’ve grown up as well.

PHILLIPS:

You mentioned that you’re leaving these notes for your son Jackson now. And a lot of the advice in your book that you gave to Addy was gender specific – things about what it meant to be a strong woman, that it’s not about being the prettiest person in the class, but it’s about a strength. And I’m curious how the notes to Jackson are different and specifically the parts that intersect with gender, because there’s obviously so much conversation in our country now about masculinity. What it does and doesn’t look like.

YANDLE:

That’s a very good question, Brad. For the most part right now, it’s sport-specific, because obviously, this is nothing new, but girls matured a faster rate than boys and Addison being the oldest, she always felt a little older than what she actually was growing up. So, I felt like I could write some of the things that I did to her. With Jackson, I think I’m still a year away, but I’m still teaching him ways how real men act. You can cry in public, but you also need to treat people with respect. Open the doors for everybody. Yes, ma’am; no ma’am. So, I’m slowly bringing those to him. Being he’s a huge sport freak – he watches ESPN constantly – he’s watching what athletes are doing and mimicking what they’re doing. But as a dad, I’m also paying close attention to make sure those are the actions and the body language and the things we want repeated. Because, you remember this growing up, Brad, we all worship athletes and celebrities as kids because we wanted to be them, but sometimes they’re not the greatest role models. So that’s one thing this year that I’m trying to work out and see what he understands, what he gets, what gets his attention. So, this year’s a little bit sillier than maybe I’ve done with Addison before or lighthearted or easier to understand, but as he gets older, there’s going to be a lesson in what a real man is for him.

PHILLIPS:

By the way, does he have a favorite team or sport he follows?

YANDLE:  

Oh gosh, he’s got like 19 different sports jerseys in his room. He likes anybody and everybody. His favorite sport is baseball. You know, he’s not cheering for the Astros, so he’s cheering for the Braves in the World Series. He’s a huge college sports fan. He cheers for all the schools I went to or worked for. So, he’s literally has about 20 favorite teams. I can’t keep track anymore.

PHILLIPS:

Well, okay. So, my sons are also huge baseball fans and we’ve been watching right now when we’re recording this, it is the end of the World Series. We’re five games into the World Series. The Astros are down a game. It’s three games to two against the Atlanta Braves. And as we’ve been watching the Astros, I’ve used it to make the point to them that it is better to lose honestly, than to win dishonestly. You know talk about that trashcan scandal and talk about the Yankees pitcher, maybe I’m outing myself as a fan to you. I’m glad I waited until deepen the podcast to let you know that. But you know, there’s the pitcher who was using spider tack the sticky substance. And so, sports, I think, is probably a great way to get some of those morality-tale types of lessons in for a kid. I know that your tone, much like it is in this conversation, is full of humility and you never set yourself up as you know, I am the person everybody else should be looking to as the definition of a great father. But even with that humility, obviously you’ve touched a nerve and other people are really responding to what you’ve written. What have you heard from other people about how and why your work has resonated with them?

YANDLE:

I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned comes from the tiny nation of South Korea, honestly. There was a story written on the Good Morning America website back in, I think late July, early August, and for whatever reason, it got picked up by multiple Korean media outlets. And I got flooded with Instagram messages about, in their culture, what it’s like to be a father compared to how I act. And they said it was really eye-opening because their culture doesn’t allow for such emotion sometimes. So, the fact that they were able to connect on that level just blew me away. Because again, I’ll say it over and over again, I’m just a dad in South Louisiana. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I’m just writing notes to my kids and I’m sharing them because I think maybe one or two parents might be able to relate. Because, none of us know overdoing as parents, we’re all trying to, to not mess up our kids and set them up on a path of success. Getting those messages was like, whoa, that was really eye-opening to me.

PHILLIPS:

That’s seriously amazing that people in South Korea, and I always kind of think when you hear that kind of reaction, that somewhere, people probably were feeling a bit of an emptiness. Like I wish I could be more emotive with my children and that maybe your work has given them permission to do that.

YANDLE:

Yeah. Maybe so. Like you said at the top of the podcast, it’s always been easier for me to emote with the written word rather than orally. And that’s just the introvert in me. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a little bit more comfortable in speaking, which makes this podcast a lot easier to talk on. But I think it’s important that that as dads we emote it. It’s not what it used to be when, when my dad or grandfather was growing up where you didn’t emote,. I’m going to emote whether you like it or not. So, I want my kids to know it’s okay.

PHILLIPS:

So, being on this podcast and getting over that shyness is one thing, but you’ve also done The Today Show, as you mentioned, Good Morning America, you were on The Kelly Clarkson Show, I guess, and I know we’ve touched on this throughout our conversation, but why do you think it has resonated as deeply as it has? I mean, as you say, I’m just a dad writing notes, and yet there was a booker at The Kelly Clarkson Show, on Good Morning America, and on The Today Show that said, get Chris Yandle on our program. Why do you think it has reacted or engendered this kind of reaction?

YANDLE:

I think it’s because it’s a dad doing it. And I think I mentioned it to Craig Melvin on The Today Show, what I’m doing is not rocket science. It’s not groundbreaking or earth shattering. Maybe the story behind why I’m doing it is what emotes the most emotion and evokes the most emotion out of people. But what I’m doing, writing notes, parents have been doing it for generations. It’s just how they did it. I’ve gotten messages from parents or older adults that had parents write messages to them before social media. I think that’s great. I’ve gotten messages from people that say that writing notes isn’t parenting. I mean, I’ve gotten the whole gamut and that’s cool. It’s, again, if I could help one or two parents make that emotional connection, then to me, I’ve achieved all that I was destined to achieve. To me that’s what matters the most.

PHILLIPS:

So, somebody was being snarky, saying, writing notes isn’t parenting.

YANDLE:

Yup.

PHILLIPS:

You know what, to some degree they’re right.

YANDLE:

Yeah.

PHILLIPS:

Writing notes isn’t parenting, giving attention to your child, and listening fully, being engaged with them, that’s parenting, and writing notes us one way to achieve that.

YANDLE:

Exactly.

PHILLIPS:

I do have to ask because there’s one main character in your story who I’ve not talked about yet, your wife, Ashley. And I’m just curious if she was sitting here, what she would say about what this exercise of writing these daily notes and maybe getting known for having done so, how she sees you having changed over the past four years?

YANDLE:

Well, from the beginning, when I was blaming myself and being so hard on myself for putting us in the situation and for losing my job, she was always telling me it wasn’t my fault, constantly reiterating that over and over and constantly telling me you got to forgive yourself. The kids aren’t messed up because of you. They’re a young enough age and you can still do something about it. If you were to ask her, she would say that she knew this was going to be a success. I don’t agree. I just thought I was shouting into a void or writing into a void. But I think she’s going to tell you I’ve grown a lot, from unemployment to taking a job with a 50 percent pay cut, where I was overly qualified to finishing my PhD in three-and-a-half years and being the only one in my class to finish on time, to now getting a job in the middle of a pandemic with a promotion and, you know, finally feeling comfortable and accepting of myself and finally forgiving myself and seeing how our kids have grown.

I think she would tell you that I did everything she thought I was going to do, because honestly I wouldn’t have made out of that black hole without her. I really wouldn’t have.

PHILLIPS:

Well, I will just end by saying, I think role models come in a lot of different shapes and forms and the very fact that you’re willing to be open about it and open about your low lows and coming back from it and struggling with issues on the personal, emotional, professional fronts, but not shutting down. That is modeling behavior and is, I can only imagine, something really useful for Addison and Jackson to observe in their father.

YANDLE:

I appreciate that. It’s funny that you say it’s modeling behavior because, one of my last jobs, they told me that being honest about my struggles of mental health would hurt my career and ruin my life. And, you know, we’re at a point in our society that talking about mental health publicly is good because we all have we all battles no one else knows about. We all struggle. I’ve told Addison before, we’re all crazy. Life’s not a competition. And I stand by that. You know, we’re all just trying to make it the end of the day and helping each other. That’s one way to do it. So, I appreciate it, and, hey, I just hope my kids are better than I was at their age.

PHILLIPS:

Before we end this episode, I’d like to share something with you that we received on email. A listener who goes by the initials, CW, writing from Linden, Washington had this to say, I recently started listening to The Speak Good Podcast. Great stuff. I’ve enjoyed every episode thus far from learning about the inspiring and admirable Confess Project to tackling civil discourse via the Intelligence Squared Debate series. I routinely share, Speak Good podcasts with friends and my five teen and young adult sons. Really appreciate the program. Keep up the good work. Well, first of all, CW, thank you for that note and, my goodness, kudos to you for raising five teen and young adult sons, and also having time to listen to our podcast. If you would like to send a comment our way or offer any feedback on anything that we’re doing on The Speak Good Podcast, drop us a line. Thank you for listening.

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