In this 30th episode of “Wes and Shelly Share” from October 26, 2024, just a week and a half away from our momentous national, state and local elections, we recorded a bit of a “time capsule” about things we are thinking and advice we would offer to our children in this momentous time. After half time, we focused on more positive thoughts, recalling memories of bedtime routines with our kids when they were very little and books as well as songs we remember sharing with them. If you’re listening, please share some feedback with us, either as a comment on Facebook or by reaching out in another way. All the links to connect with us as well as access other episodes of our podcast are available on: https://www.shellyfryer.com/podcast/.

• 00:00 Welcome and Introduction
• 00:24 A Perfect Saturday
• 01:35 Yard Work and Outdoor Activities
• 03:06 A Day at the Dog Park
• 05:00 Fall Weather and Reflections
• 07:05 Political Climate and Voting
• 13:11 Concerns About Political Violence
• 20:12 Messages to Our Children
• 23:51 The Importance of Communication
• 28:33 Reflecting on Family Connections
• 29:25 Halftime Break and Funnel Cake Ad
• 31:11 Memories of Bedtime Routines
• 35:48 Cherished Bedtime Stories
• 43:53 Singing and Family Traditions
• 49:27 Concluding Thoughts and Podcast Outro

Here are links to the different projects and websites referenced by Wes in this podcast episode:

• Communitarian Prepper
• “Conspiracies and Culture Wars”
• Heal Our Culture

This podcast epiosde is also available on YouTube.

If you are not familiar with the picture book “Pele and Poliahu” by author by Malia Collins and illustrator Kathleen Peterson, a read-aloud version (by someone else) is available on YouTube as well.

Episode Transcript (created with Descript.com)

Wesley: Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Wes and Shelly’s Share. I’m Wes Fryer. I’m here in Stallings, North Carolina. We actually just had to be kind of chased in from Our patio where we were just having a lovely hamburger dinner because some rain is rolling in. We’re gonna call this episode, I think, time Capsule and we are going to recount a little bit of what today.

Well, because it was just like a perfect Saturday and we are gonna talk about this political moment because there’s a lot that feels a bit surreal as we’re a week and a half out. From the election. And then we’re going to also just kind of talk about our family and why we’re so proud of where our kids are today and the choices they’re making and kind of where we just fear, see ourselves as parents and spouses and empty nesters and for baby parents and all that good stuff.

So. Hello, Shelly. How are you tonight? 

Shelly: I’m feeling relaxed tonight. It’s a beautiful fall evening. Um, we did have to come inside from our chiminea fire, um, but we did get to have a picnic on the patio and and enjoy the pinyon wood for a little while and we loved, um, we worked in the yard earlier this afternoon and um, so anyway, I love having everything kind of neat and tidy in the backyard.

It was beautiful. 

Wesley: So we’ll just kind of recount a little bit of today. So we’ve been busy and I’ve been co chairing our stewardship committee for church Which has meant the last two months pretty much a Thursday night meeting every week. And so this week We did not have a meeting and but we did go we went we went to a author talk at St.

John’s Baptist Church in Uptown Charlotte, just down the street from our church, um, about countering Christian nationalism. And so there’s been a lot of things, election wise, of course, that have been on our minds. Um, but let’s talk a little bit about what else went on today besides cleaning up. We, uh, we actually didn’t, we didn’t get all the leaves at the end of last year, either in our front or our backyard.

There are a lot of leaves here, if you didn’t know. And so, anyway, we just thought, well, let’s, let’s go ahead and work on the backyard, and then we’ll work on the front yard later, but, um, this would, this would be the time to plant fescue seeds, if we were going to be planting seeds, and so, anyway, the yard was kind of a mess, too, from, Hurricane Helene and all the branches.

We did not, not get hardly any damage at all. I think we only got only four inches of rain, which was a small amount compared to other places. But anyway, we, uh, we did that. And then Shelly, it’s only taken us two years. What did we do after that? When we hit the road today? 

Shelly: Well, we have a lovely park, um, in South Carolina that we love to go to, um, and Springs Close.

It’s, um, I guess it’s a club. I mean, it’s open to anyone, but it’s a greenway. Um, and, but we’ve been hiking there, you know, we, it was recommended by Lee Tappe, who is one of, well, I guess it’s Wes’s, um, principal. And it’s one of the very first places that we traveled to go hiking. And we just fell in love with it.

I mean, a lot of our pictures have been taken at Ann Springs. But, they have a wonderful dog park. And so, we were on a wait list. And then, emails were sent to spam. And anyway, so we finally got a membership to the dog park. And it is a membership, but it has, um, Um, acres of trails. It’s a fenced in, but dogs can be off leash on the trail.

So it’s fenced in and anyways, the first time we’ve ever hiked with our dogs where they’ve been off leash and they did well. I mean, I think they did really well. Um, Rosie and Moose particularly enjoyed the stream. Um, there’s a pond that dogs can swim in, but there’s also was a stream. Um, and that was a lot of fun and they enjoyed that.

So, um, they did really well on the trails. They, we did see some other dogs and they sniffed and they greeted and they just kept going and they stayed with us majority of the time. Um, oh my goodness, talk about enrichment, sniff enrichment, um, just all kinds of smells for them. And then we played in the dog park for a little while and I brushed them really well, but it was such a lovely weekend.

Saturday, Saturday afternoon activity and it was just the perfect fall day. So yes, it was absolutely wonderful. 

Wesley: And the leaves have just started to change color here in the last week or so. And so there’s still lots and lots of green leaves. But in some cases, we’ve got trees that are fully. You know, golden, orange, uh, red, um, we’ve got just all, all colors, but it’s, it’s really kind of a, a time where I think the trees are, are being touched by the fall.

We’ve heard that it’s going to be a milder winter than normal. We have not had a freeze and that’s normal. I think from what I understand, sometimes we’ll get a freeze maybe in November, but it’s not that common for us to be. You know, super cold here. We have not ever had snow since we’ve been here. The spring before we moved here, we moved in August of 2022.

Um, the spring prior, they had had some snow for just like a few, an inch or so, I guess, a few inches that just melted off, you know, the next day. So just absolutely perfect weather. It might’ve 80 high seventies. Lowe’s, you know, started off probably in the 60s. I think this front with this rain that we’re getting is supposed to bring us down in the 50s, but it is just absolutely beautiful.

We are so happy we are here. It was a really challenging move and, you know, financially we’re still recovering and, and will be I think for a while, but we do not have regrets about the decision to move here. And so, yeah, it was just kind of a perfect night. We’ve got the We have a sun porch on the back of our house and it’s got all these windows and, uh, sliding glass panes and that also have screens.

And so we’ve got the screens on, but we’ve got all of them open tonight and you can hear the rain and you can hear a little, maybe a little bit of light wind. It’s amazing how little wind there is here. In fact, as this front came in, there was a little bit of wind and that just stirred the trees enough for a bunch of leaves to start to fall.

And, you know, Anyway, it was just really pretty. So Shelly, let’s talk a little bit about this political moment. What does it feel like for you being a week and a half away from this election? I know that we steer clear of talking about a lot of things, but I sort of feel like, I mean, this is a historic time and that’s why I just wanted to kind of capture some of this in a time capsule.

Plus I think it helps us process it to talk about it. So what are, what are some thoughts that are going through your mind as we’re here a week and a half away from. Well, 

Shelly: it’s a really strange thing to be in a state that is a swing state because, wow, I mean, in Oklahoma, we voted, but I don’t think our vote really mattered a whole lot.

Um, but here in North Carolina, it is. imperative that people vote. Um, I’m really proud of our church. Um, and I’m, again, I’m just mainly an observer this year. I know I should like commit to action, but, um, but our church has been really motivated to get people to vote. Um,

I think they do a really good job, um, specifically at church and sermons and activities of being non partisan, just encouraging people to vote, to register to vote. I mean, I know at every event that we’ve had or we’ve sponsored or we’ve been there, we’ve, um, I’m working with the League of Women Voters to, to help people get registered to vote.

Um, many, many people that have never voted in an election before and, and I know through the hard work of a lot of people, um, that that is really going to make a difference. Um, so I’m proud of our church for doing that. Um, we are going to vote this week. Early voting is really important here. And so, um, I think the last day of early voting is November.

Second. And so we want to make sure that we do that, um, political climate. Um,

I probably am more informed about what’s going on in this election more than I ever have been. Um, it’s, it’s been a struggle sometimes. Um, To witness some of the conversations that are happening over social media, or maybe just in a, in a line at the grocery store, or, um, I,

I don’t know, I think this is a very pivotal election, and I think, one way or another, it’s, it’s going to be historical, um, in either direction. Thank you. I think it’s going to be, um, contentious, um, in either direction. Um, I want to make sure that we are rock solid on our values and what we, I, I love the talk about community.

Um, and a lot of what I’ve tried to do and we’ve tried to do is, is listen for community builders. As Wes said, it’s, he’s, um, community prepper, a community communitarian, um, you know, regardless of how our neighborhood or our school or our church is voting, we want to make sure that we’re taking care of people, um, and seeing people for who they are, um, And I think we’ve really tried to focus on that.

Um, I’ve tried to look for the truth. Um, and, and it’s been a challenge to find trusted sources that I think, um, are telling the truth and not putting a spin on things. I’ve been disgusted, honestly, and a little bit by both sides on the amount of, um, um, Energy that has been put to talk about the opposing side.

Um, I definitely have a candidate that I’m definitely voting for. And, um, and I do believe in maintaining our rights, um, that we have established now. And I don’t want to move backwards in some of the, uh, Gains that women have made, that LGBTQ, um, plus people have made, that women have made, um, and so I definitely want to support democratic rights in that.

I want to make sure that, um, our neighbors and our immigrant neighbors are, um, seeing for the hardworking individuals that they are, um. Anyway, it’s, I feel like I’ve been an observer, an outside observer, um, And it’s been really different being in a swing state and noting, I mean like President Obama was here, Kamala yesterday, and you know, Trump’s been in and out, you know, two or three times.

Um, the way it really affects us is they shut down all of downtown and it makes traffic even worse than it ever is, you know. So, um, we did not get to see President Obama yesterday, um, and I’m sorry we didn’t, but at the same time. Um, I have to honestly say being in a large, um, group of people in a contentious election is not necessarily where I want to be right now.

So anyway, how about you Wes? 

Wesley: There is so much that I feel like we don’t talk about and feel like we can’t talk about publicly. And so actually I want to talk about a few of those things here in part just because I want to, I want to preserve. You know, our perceptions of where we are. I was telling Shelly, I feel like that Lord of the Rings scene in, like, The Return of the King, when Pippin and Gandalf are in Gondor looking out at the fields of Pelennor towards Osgiliath and, um, Minas Morgul.

And there’s like, it’s, you know, Pippin’s like, sitting on the edge of a battle is so hard. And I feel like we have had a calm before the storm. I, it feels weird to not have been making my political voice and my political opinions known on social media and putting a yard sign in our yard. We’re not, I had a crazy talk with.

One of my parents, one of my sixth grade parents, Clive’s father, um, at Cassidy in April or May before we left in 2022, we had a chance to take the kids on a camp out. I think it was in May, it was wonderful, but I probably talked to him for two hours and, oh my gosh,

one of the things that he was talking about at that time, and this was in Oklahoma, he was very convinced that there were extremist right wing groups that were keeping track of people in neighborhoods who had identified themselves as Democrats and that there was a strong likelihood of those people experiencing political violence, um, you know, depending upon how things went down with elections and things like that.

One of the things that I have not talked much at all about publicly is maybe Two years ago, or a year ago, I created a new YouTube channel because I had been looking at content for Well, I guess we talk about this a little bit for this communitarian prepper project. I think we should be prepared for emergencies.

We just had Hurricane Helene that hit the Carolinas absolutely devastated in an Armageddon level event. That’s no kidding. Um, just crazy wiping, you know, towns, um, off the map, you know, historic flooding. We’ve still got people in, in Western North Carolina with, without power. Uh, and it’s been a month since that’s happened.

Anyway, I think that we ought to be prepared for all sorts of emergencies, whether it’s a natural emergency or some kind of other, you know, You know crisis, uh something else that happens And so anyway as I was watching those videos and different associated videos relating to let’s just say preppers Um, there’s more than that But basically that that content had all taken over my youtube channel and I ended up getting some really crazy Stuff that I wouldn’t typically see so what I ended up doing was just deleting the history of all the videos Those kinds of videos that I’d watched on my main channel and I basically sort of took my that youtube channel back For more for things that i’m more normally watching and then I have this other channel Well now that I have that channel and I actually I actually enjoy watching different influencers and content there Um, it’s just wild the different voices in social media that People are presented depending upon the ways we have curated our feeds, that we have liked videos, that we have subscribed, all of this kind of stuff.

And so, one of the things that I am very concerned about is political violence. It’s crazy to me that we’ve already had attempts on one of the presidential candidates lives, you know, more than once. And, you know, I was born in 1970, Shelly was born in 1965, you know, neither of us remember the political violence of the 1960s, the assassinations of President Kennedy, of Attorney General Robert Kennedy, of Martin Luther King Jr.

Um, the anger that we have in society And the vitriol and the desire by a number of people, and we’re talking a lot of folks, to really just kind of blow up the system. Um, lots and lots of anger. And, Social media has absolutely played a huge role in fanning those flames. And so I guess I sort of feel like we are standing on the edge of a precipice and there’s just stuff that we’re going to have to go through as a nation.

But depending upon who wins the presidency can, it’s, I think it’s going to be difficult either way because I think there are going to be some powerful forces that are going to contest the outcome of the election. If it, if for instance Harris wins, um, there’s going to be all kinds of, of people who are going to contest the election.

I think the thing that feels the worst to me is that I don’t feel like I have stood up enough for democracy and for human rights and for the values that are important. And I feel like those things are truly on the line in this election. And I have two of the projects that I’ve been working on for a while is the conspiracies and culture wars project, which is really trying to figure out what the heck is happening with the weaponization of social media and the ways in which conspiracy theories have been ascendant and extremist voices have had such an out sized amplification.

And then the Republican Party has been taken over by very You know, extreme, um, extreme folks, you know, there, there is not a, the moderate voices have been pushed out of the Republican Party at this point. And so, that project and then another project called Heal Our Culture I’ve been working on. So, I’m talking too long because, anyway, I am.

What

What kinds of messages, I guess, would you want to share with our children, Shelly? They’re not here, but at least one or two of them are probably going to listen to this. So, what would you want to share with them in this political moment, um, in terms of, of encouragement and just a parental, a parental message from your perspective?

Shelly: Well, I’m just going to, um, kind of do that and segue into maybe our next section. But, number one. I feel very proud of each of our children, um, and, and the accomplishments that they have had. They’ve been hard workers, um, they’re responsible, they, they love people, they’re kind, they, um, are taking steps to, um, do the right thing, um, You know, making good choices.

Um, and I don’t say that lightly. You know, of course we said things like that when they were toddlers, but, um, they’ve worked hard. They’re hard working young people. And, um, and they’re gonna make their mark in this world. And, um, They’re all so smart and so caring and are doing amazing things. I love the young people that they have chosen.

And I feel very confident in the adults that they will come and the parents that they will be. Um, um, I feel very blessed that Alexander and Grace, um, Are married and that they’ve found each other and that they are committed to each other. I think they are responsible human beings who are going to be Um amazing to each other take care of each other.

Um, raise amazing children Um, I don’t know. I just i’m very proud in that and adults that they have been and that they are all becoming, um, I don’t know, I guess I’m rambling, um, and, and I suppose most parents are proud of their children, but, um, it is wonderful as a parent to look back and, and see, wow.

You know, you, you think about who they were as young children and the, the funny things that they would say and the, the ways that they talked and, um, but, um, you know, to have children that are standing and making their own decisions and, um, adulting, they’re adulting now and they’re doing a really good job of it.

Um, and, and they, they care about people. And, um, I just, I’m immensely proud and no matter what happens in our country, no matter who is elected, no matter what the things, I, I am confident in the, the abilities of our children to, to cope and to overcome and to, um, deal with, um, and to, um, become the amazing humans that God has created them to be.

And so, I don’t know if that, but they were prepared. They are prepared. Um, and I have a lot of hope that, um, that they will continue and that our grandchildren will continue and our grandchildren’s children will continue. And, um, and that in whatever part or place that they find themselves, that they, um, will bring hope to all of those around them.

So.

Wesley: Well, I guess my message would just be one of hope and one of resilience. I think that it’s hard to have a perspective on the whole arc of history, but it’s important to study history and we do study history and we know that there have been incredibly, incredibly difficult circumstances and situations that people who have lived before us have.

Survived and lived through and of course some people didn’t survive. I mean wars. We’ve had you know and Famines and you know, I mean the Great Depression and that you know, losing losing children and childbirth. I mean, there’s there’s so many different struggles and things that have happened and as a society We are more connected than we ever have before I think one of the things that I would like to do, and we need to see if we can set this up with them, is we need to have some calls periodically, like once a month or something.

We ended up having a call with both Sarah and Rachel. A week or so ago just coincidentally because they were both calling but it was absolutely lovely And I know during covid there were a few times when we did that as a family But communication, this is one thing that’s actually struck me with hurricane helene And watching, you know different videos and people who’ve talked about lessons learned Communication.

Oh my word There is a Well, he’s not just a prepper. He’s really like a Former like Special forces, you know, like second amendment guy and it’s interesting on this youtube channel Because there’s there’s a bunch of people who I am not politically aligned with But it’s very interesting to step outside my own bubble and echo chamber and listen to what people are saying and what their views and opinions are.

Anyway, this is not a political opinion. He was just talking about what you, you know, top three things that you need to have for emergencies. He said Starlink communication was number one. And that is something that we certainly heard, you know, for Hurricane Helene, one of the first things that got taken down by the hurricane force winds were the cell towers.

And being out of communication, knowing what was going on in the outside world, being able to reach others, being able to get assistance. It’s just so, so important. And I’ve talked about, I mean, years ago, we moved here. I was trying to say, I’m going to get my ham radio license. And I did. Kind of tried a little bit and then didn’t work out the first time I took the test and so I sort of gave up.

I still want to do that, but communication is important and it’s important for us to remember that we’re not alone. And I think it’s so important for us to, you know, remember that God is real and God walks with us. And when we reach out to God and we ask for help and we We need to build our community.

We need to continue to build friendships, invest time with others, uh, whoever our neighbors might be, you know, at work, um, relationships are so, so important. And so I’m, I’m really thankful. Shelly has commented about this with Germany, like wondering if she might’ve stayed longer, if, if we had free long distance, you know, and, and video conferencing and FaceTime and zoom and all these technologies that we have.

Because it was really, really hard for her to be away from her mother for so long. And I think that we probably take this for granted. I’ve thought about this with my dad. You know, I have a monthly Zoom call for an hour with my spiritual director, with Kurt Gruhl. And it is so wonderful to be able to have that time.

But I realize, wait a second, I’m really not, I mean, I do talk to dad about every week. But You know, I’m not always video, I don’t video with them that often. Relationships are so important and so I think that’s one of the things that we need to continue to build without a doubt. Um, we do need to pay attention to, you know, a communication plan and all kinds of things for emergency preparedness and I don’t want to dive into that here.

You can go to comprep. westfriar. com if you’d like to I see a lot of videos and things that I have about that topic, but just communication. I guess I had not thought of communication. I knew that it was important and I knew that it was a top priority, but I wouldn’t have necessarily put it at the top.

And so anyway, I just feel like we need to maintain communication. This podcast, by the way, is an example of communication. You know, I think it’s absolutely wonderful that, that Rachel and Sarah listened to this You know, I don’t know if Alexander and Rhys ever have, but they might someday. Who knows who’s going to listen to this, right?

If it gets preserved. Anyway, it’s a way of staying connected and that is, that is super important. Okay. Well, I think we need a halftime and then I think we need to talk about something positive. I think, you know what I’d like to talk about? We’ve talked about, let’s talk about bedtime routines with our kids and the books that we enjoy, enjoyed reading to them.

I’ll try to say that without being emotional because man, some of this. Anyway, we marvel at how we’re getting older and time has marched on. So, let’s go to halftime and then we’ll come back to a very positive thing talking about bedtime stories when our children were young. 

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Shelly: And we’re back. Hopefully you will find a time to enjoy some Friar’s funnel cakes. Um, Actually, on that note, um, we had last weekend our fall festival at PD and it was absolutely wonderful and it was, yeah, at our school and it was a beautiful fall day and I think it was our very, our most successful funnel cake event that we’ve ever had.

Um, and, and it was really fun, although, whoo, didn’t make me tired. I was, I think it took me two or three days to recover from that. And, um, next weekend we’ll do that for our church fall, um, event. So anyway, retreat. So yes, if you’re in the area, come and see us some delicious funnel cakes. Um, okay. So we decided that, um, for this.

Next section that we would like to talk about something positive and just some memories. Um, I think, um, one thing that’s always fun to reminisce about childhood, um, parenting memories, and one of our favorite things to do was to put our children to bed. Now, as they have not learned yet, but, um, bedtime routines are, that’s, it takes up a lot of time when And, and you try to do it really early because you’re exhausted and you’re ready for your child to go to bed so that you can have some time to yourself.

But, um, it’s something that, you know, We loved, and we loved doing it together. So, when the children were really young, and I think back when we were living on 39th Street, um, we really had one bathroom. We had two bathrooms, but the other bathroom was really tiny. So, we really had one bathroom. And so, bath time was always a joy, and it was really fun.

We had a long, um, countertop, and, um, you know, bath time was usually together, you know, um, So you bathe both kids at the same time and that just saved you time and then they entertain each other in the bathtub but you know you had to be there and you had to watch you had to make sure nobody was drowning we didn’t have a lot of the fancy equipment that they have now but I do remember a bath seat so you had the bath seat and you had the bath toys um and that was always really fun I always like bath time at Nana’s house too because Nana had different bath time toys in fact a lot of our animal collection she had a lot of these animals um and that was always fun so you toys at Nana’s house.

And then you had our bath toys at home. Um, and I always love the, you know, you put the baby lotion and all of the stuff on and they always smelled so sweet. And, um, and then you got to rock them. And, um, I remember rocking them and singing to them. Um, you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray.

You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away. Anyway, we had a whole singing routine. Um, and we would read stories and, um, we would cuddle. Um, and then, um, the sweetest thing was just, um, saying our bedtime. prayers and we always prayed together. Um, and I know that we probably both did bedtime together, but I kind of think that majority of the time when they were babies, I probably did a lot of it.

Um, I don’t know. Maybe that’s just what I’m remembering. Um, but, um, when we moved to our house, um, when we moved and we moved to our house across from Murphy, um, I was pregnant with Rachel. Big time pregnant and this is something you’ll know the more children you have you kind of get bigger and bigger with each one I don’t know if your stomach’s all stretched out or what but Rachel I was really really pregnant with her and so I’m sure that and then Alexander was getting ready to start Kindergarten, and I had gestational diabetes.

That’s right Having to test my blood sugar every day and So I was tired. I mean it wears you out and then having young children wears you out But and so I think that’s about the time that you entered in and it really I think you did a lot of bedtimes When we had moved Anyway, but that’s also the time when again Reading out loud to them and praying with them, um, each and individually, um, books were a huge thing.

Oh my goodness, I think, um, Sarah was in that Fancy Nancy phase. I think we had every Fancy Nancy book and we read a lot of Fancy Nancy and, um, Alexander, I think that’s when you started reading chapter books to him. Um, and I don’t, you’ll have to remember those. You were more of the chapter book reader. I was more of the bear snores on.

I think that was Rachel’s book, bear snores on. And, um, Alexander, you know, he had his books that he liked to read, but I can remember one of the first books that I Well, it was a harbinger. He loved Hank the cow dog You remember reading Hank, which was funny because the dialect in it is so different and then of course he loved Thomas the train engine and those books, but Anyway, the time was so sweet and those prayers were so precious and I think we prayed with our kids through high school Through high school, you know, um, I, I miss those times now.

Um, we still pray on the phone occasionally, especially when it’s been a particularly hard week or, um, so I think praying for each other and praying with our children was just a, a very special and very sweet time that we had together. What are some of your memories about bedtime routines? 

Wesley: I remember you used to walk Alexander and outside until he would sleep and then when the other girls came along they were just put in the crib to They would only fuss for a little bit and then they’d go they’d go to sleep Um, it’s amazing to me how many more details Shelly remembers about many things than I do.

Um, I love reading picture books and so One of the neat traditions that we picked up Gosh, I Yeah I’m thinking about when this was. Um, at some point when I had gone down to TCEA, uh, I had, I had met some people from this Houston school called the Kincaid school, and they brought me down. And the woman who took me back to the airport after this workshop that I did for them about, you know, doing Mac, doing stuff on Mac computers, I don’t remember what, what the workshop was about, uh, told me that when, when, uh, Either she or her husband would travel, they would always get a gift, bring a gift back.

I think it was her spouse that would bring back the gift. And, uh, They would, they called them happies and this was a happy and so then when, you know, dad would come back or whatever, Oh, dad’s got happies. And so I started to do that for the family and a lot of times what I would bring were books and I would get books sometimes that were about a particular area of the country and when we would travel on trips for, you know, family vacations or whatever, we would get books.

So I remember O is for Orca. I got that one when we were up in the Pacific Northwest. And one time in, going up to Chicago, I think we went to Holland, Michigan, and we got, you know, The Day the Great Lakes Drained Away, um, oh, the Hawaii books, you know, uh, Polia, what is it, Pele and Poliahu. Boy, that book made a real impression on Rachel.

In fact, there was a voice thread that she had made, and unfortunately, The voice threads that, I don’t wonder if we downloaded that one. ’cause there’s some, there’s media that we’ve lost over the years. There’s a lot that we have, but there’s some things that we’ve lost ’cause the tools have gone offline.

Um, I think I still have a backed up I iTunes library that has over a hundred audio boo reflections that we did with the kids. And anyway, that website is gone and, and, uh, voice thread. I don’t, you know, I don’t think has our. Or voice threads anymore. I’ve preserved some of them. But anyway reading the the books about Hawaii there was one of called the storm dog that was about a storm that you know hit the uh, the big I think it was a big island of Hawaii and it was about the the native legends, um, and uh, but with like with alexander And I think with sarah too.

We’ll have to ask I mean I think with all the kids, I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and that was really big. I love The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I got to teach that, um, when I first became a teacher, teaching fourth grade. We would go actually get real Turkish Delight, and we’d have a whole lesson, because most kids had no idea what that was.

And there’s a scene with the White Witch, and she, you know, uses enchanted Turkish Delight to bring Edmund under her spell. Um, But you know, introducing kids, our children, to the love of reading and there’s just that, oh, that special time of you know, preparing for bed and boy, it’s something I’ve been thinking about myself too, because I go in cycles of things and you know, I’m, I find myself to be a lot less, you know, hard working in the evenings as I’m older now.

Because I used to actually just kind of be crazy working so hard and so late and so many hours and you know I’m just not doing that now But it can be really really wonderful, of course, to read before you go to bed especially to read fiction and things that would take your mind off of the demands of your life.

And so I, uh, I remember reading The Anne McCaffrey books dragon song where these it was on what was it called Perth was the planet and this these It was called thread, but it was a extraterrestrial Parasite that would rain down and the dragon riders had to go ride up and destroy these organisms called Thread in the air with their, with their fire breathing dragons, because if the Thread would, would, uh, be able to hit the surface of the planet, it would burrow and, and then replicate, and it could take over.

Anyway, I don’t know. I love that book, and I remember reading that. I don’t know. I think, did The Hobbit, Sarah, we, I don’t, We did The Hobbit in five minutes when Sarah was at class in, what year was that, sixth grade, with what, what was that guy’s name, that teacher. Oh, he had us, he had me convinced he was just such a wonderful teacher.

He was the one that basically had packets and the kids just did all these packets about the Lord of the Rings. But anyway, um, you know, introducing them to, um, to books and to reading and to fantasy. And It was just, it was wonderful. And, uh, you know, a lot of things got left behind in Oklahoma, but praise God, as far as I know, all of our children’s books made it.

We’ve got tubs full of books, some in the garage, some upstairs in our attic. You know, and that is one gift that we hope to give to grandchildren someday. And just to share is our, our love of reading and our love of picture books. And there’s, there’s something to an actual book. 

Shelly: Reading the diary of Anne Frank with Rachel.

That was something we read together. Oh, and I remember Wildcat reading to the kids too, um, when he would go, you know, they would go to Nana camp or, you know, and that was fun. So, 

Wesley: Well, my dad read to me, uh, I remember my dad read a book called Summer Dog that loved. I think he might’ve read it to them too.

And then I, I’m pretty sure my dad read Trumpet of the Swan to me by E. B. White. He wrote, um, Oh, what was the Stuart Little? And charlotte’s web. I mean it was those those like the trilogy, but my favorite was always trumpet of the swan I should go read that book again. It is awesome um And of course singing I don’t know man.

I’m kind of maybe it’s a sign of me being emotionally brittle to not be able to You know get through some things but like I probably won’t do the whole thing But you know at some point and I don’t know how old sarah was um, you know, I would I would sing Paradise. Um, I still think Sarah and I should do a duet, um, at church sometime.

Yeah, that’s the, the story. Um, let’s see if I can do it. I’ll have to think of something that will not counter my emotion. When I was a child, my family would travel Down to western Kentucky where my parents were born There’s a backwards old town that’s often remembered So many times that the memories are warm And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the green river where paradise lays Oh well I’m sorry my son but you’re too late in asking Mr.

Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away Sometimes we’d travel right down the Green River To the abandoned old prison down by Edra Hill Where the air smelled like snakes and we’d shoot with our pistols But empty pop bottles is all we would kill And Daddy, won’t Muhlenberg County? Down by the green river where paradise lay.

Well I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking. Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away. The coal communists came with the world’s largest shuffle And they tortured the timber and they stripped all the land And they dug for the coal till the land was forsaken They wrote it all down as the progress of man Daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the green river where paradise lay Well, I’m sorry, my son, but you’re too late in asking.

Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away. So I think Sarah should play that on the guitar, and then it would do a better job of covering up my often off key voice. And I think I flipped the second and the third verses of that song, because Anyway, I sung them out of order. I love to sing. And I, I mean, I learned to sing a lot of songs in scouts, you know, camp, camp songs and things like that.

So, what other things do you remember singing? And then we’ll have to wrap it up, Mom. Besides, you are my sunshine. Jesus loves me. We have Alexander singing Jesus loves me somewhere. We’ll have to get that and put that on our podcast. 

Shelly: That was very sweet. Yeah. He had such a sweet little voice. He had. And he was such a good big brother.

And so gentle. And so kind. That’s another thing I love about our children. Is that they really, do love each other. Um, and I know the girls are getting closer now and, um, talking more and, you know, it’s just, I, I love being together with our families, with our kids. Um, let’s see. Grace was another one. I used to like to sing.

Um, and then, Oh, what’s the one I had? No, you know, I had this whole repertoire of songs. No, I didn’t. Yes, I love to sing those songs. I mean, the Wiggles were really big in our house. And Uncle Charlie was really big in our house. And, um, I know, Wiggles. We kind of missed the Barney phase. Um, yeah. But, oh, Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle.

Give me that, give me that, give me that food. Yeah, the Wiggles were really fun. Um. So that was fun. No, I’m sure all of those rocking songs will come back to me. Um, as I begin to rock my grandchildren. So I just, I guess I need to practice up on my rocking songs. That would be nice. So I bet, I bet Rosie would like me to hold her and rock her and sing her.

Oh, it’s getting past my bedtime, daddy o. Um. Speaking of bedtime. Yeah. So. Alright. Alright. Well, this has been a special night. It’s been beautiful. Um. Um. It really never rained hard, but it did rain enough for us to come inside, but it’s lovely sitting on our back porch and, um, dad fixed our lights. I really kind of like them over there with the double.

That’s nice. So we had to take the lights off the gate so we could get through the gate to dump the leaves because we did a lot of raking of leaves today. Um, wheelbarrow. Yeah. So it was fun. All right. So Wes, what do we say to end this podcast? 

Wesley: Go outside. Stay curious. 

Shelly: And have adventures. 

Wesley: Yep. Or keep exploring.

Shelly: Or keep exploring. That’s the closest. That’s 

Wesley: right. You got it. Alright. Take care everyone. 

Sarah: Wes and Shelly Share is a weekly podcast recorded and published on Sundays by Wesley and Shelly Fryer of Matthews, North Carolina. Learn more and find links to connect on social media to Wes and Shelly by visiting Shellyfryer. com slash podcast. Content on this podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution only 3. 0 license. The Wes and Shelly Share podcast is recorded and published with Anchor and distributed on all platforms. All major podcast channels including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocketcasts, and more. Please share our show on social media and tell others about us. Let us know on Facebook or via other means what you like about the show, that you’re listening, and if you have any suggestions for future episodes.

Stay curious, go outside, and keep exploring.