The Quarterback DadCast
I’m Casey Jacox, the host of the Quarterback Dadcast. As fathers, we want to help prepare our kids—not only to enter the professional world but to thrive in each stage of their lives. Guests of this show include teachers, coaches, professional athletes, consultants, business owners, authors—and stay-at-home dads. Just like you! They share openly about failure, success, laughter, and even sadness so that we can all learn from each other—as we strive to become the best leaders of our homes! You will learn each week, and I am confident you will leave each episode with actionable tasks that you can apply to your life to become that ultimate Quarterback and leader of your household. Together, we will learn from the successes and failures of dads who are doing their best every day. So, sit back, relax and subscribe now to receive each episode weekly on The Quarterback Dadcast.
The Quarterback DadCast
Courageous Vulnerability: Building a Dad Community - Angelo Melchiorre
What happens when a dad advisor and a sales nerd come together to discuss fatherhood?
Today, you will find out as we welcome Angelo Melchiorre, the founder of the Real Dad Life Podcast and Community. He joins us to share his hard-earned wisdom on balancing personal well-being with the demands of being a dad. As you will see on LinkedIn, he is a recruiter by day and a dad community builder by night. He spent years in the staffing industry at The Judge Group, and is now consulting and doing contract recruiting for Aprio Talent Solutions.
We explored the commonality of having long-lasting relationships with our wives that started in our early teens. We discuss the essence of effective communication, the joys and struggles of parenting, and the invaluable lessons learned from our parents. These stories underscore the importance of being present, making every conversation count, and how our upbringings influence our approach to fatherhood.
Lastly, we delve into the power of vulnerability and how connecting with other fathers can be a game-changer. From Angelo's Real Dad Life community to my own experiences in building meaningful father-son/daughter relationships, this episode celebrates the courage it takes to be open and honest. We'll laugh, reflect, and offer practical advice on maintaining patience, self-care, and the importance of humor in parenting. Tune in for an episode that honors the complexities of fatherhood and the strength found in community.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder, and this is my dad's show.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, this is Casey Jaycox and welcome to season five. I'm very excited for this episode. I'm also very excited to announce we have a brand new sponsor to the podcast our friends Lauren Jones and Rob Mann over at Leap Advisory Partners. I could not be more excited and thrilled that you're going to be sponsoring this for the next 13 weeks. Let's hear a little bit more about what you guys are doing from Lauren.
Speaker 1:Leap Advisory Partners is proud to sponsor the Quarterback Dadcast. Our first core value is empathy, always, and that's why we're proud to sponsor the Quarterback Dadcast for the most authentic discussions around failure, success, leadership, empathy, leading with empathy. If you're not familiar with Leap Advisory Partners, we are your technology partners to help you build with excellence, change your process and adopt your most important investment. Now let's get to today's episode with Casey Jaycox.
Speaker 2:Well, hey everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the Quarterback Dadcast. We're in season five, as you well know, and we are now on video, which I love the fact that people actually know what this crazy ball dude like me looks like and we get to see our guests which is someone I found on the wide world of LinkedIn. Literally, one day I was using one of my superpowers, which it's curiosity, which is in everybody at home if you decide to use it, and I was just curious what other people were doing stuff around supporting dads, and one of the first dudes that came up was our guest, angelo Melcury. And what I learned is that we have a lot more in common, just about passion, about being fatherhood. We both come from the staffing consulting industry.
Speaker 2:Angelo spent nearly 11 years at the Judge Group. He's now coaching, he's consulting, he's the founder of the Real Dad Life, which we'll learn about. He also is a dad advisor. He's also pretty good at push-ups and he might be a rongo from Bloomsburg, pennsylvania. We'll find out a little bit more about that. More importantly, we're here to talk to Angelo, about Angelo Dad and how he's working hard to become that ultimate quarterback or leader of his household. So, without further ado, mr Mel Curry, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 4:I love it. Thanks for the intro, casey. I really appreciate it, and it is always funny how small of a world it is because, like I told you and reached out to me, I heard your name probably six months before you even reached out to me from a mutual acquaintance, so it's just crazy. So, yeah, it's exciting to be here.
Speaker 2:And here we are. Well, we always start out each episode gratitude. So tell me, what are you most grateful for today?
Speaker 4:I'm just grateful to be alive and for my health. You know, before we hit record, I shared with you.
Speaker 4:We were supposed to record this time last week and I felt like death and found out, I had Lyme disease that same night and antibiotics are a heck of a drug. So I am feeling so good and it just has me extremely grateful for all of the little things. And a dad. Our greatest thing is our availability, and I take great pride in taking care of myself. I work out and take care of my mindset, process, my emotions and financial. Everything I do is to take care of myself and my family, but it's the little things I overlook sometimes, like being a man. Just, instead of sucking it up, I'll feel better tomorrow. Just maybe go to the doctor, okay, maybe, maybe get that annual checkup, maybe go get that dermatology appointment that they've been calling you about, uh, things like that. So I'm just really embracing, you know, my health, feeling alive and being available for my family and for my kids.
Speaker 2:Love it. I'm going to. I have comments on that statement which I'm going to hold for a second, but I want to go into my gratitude. I'm grateful for sarcasm coming, but serious that I've not started crying yet today. For everybody at home, those my, my son, my wife and daughter.
Speaker 2:We dropped him off at college literally yesterday, which was August 27th, and for any of the dads who've gone through this, you know what I'm talking about. For those who have not gone through it, it is not easy. Everybody. I will tell you that right now it is harder than I thought. But I'm actually grateful for the fact that the emotion was raw. I'm not a dad that's afraid not to cry in front of my kids because I think it's normal. That's a normal emotion and doesn't make me soft or weak, but to me it's getting out what's in us to make us feel better. And it was awesome there was on the drive home from seeing my son. We dropped him off. He's such a good spot. But my wife and me my wife myself, my daughter we're both like this is such a trip. So I'm grateful for this new phase of life and I'm going to take it head on and be the best that I can be.
Speaker 2:But just younger dads, brace yourself. It's a journey ahead of you, but I love the fact that you talked about not being afraid to go get checked out, and I think I got a few years of life on you. I'm almost 50, which is hard to believe. I've seen buddies that have like, oh I'm fine, you know, but I've had not to get too morbid here, brother, but I've had five dads lose wives before the age of 40.
Speaker 2:And I've seen other dads have health scares, and so I think, like, when in doubt, everybody listening like did not anticipate the conversation going this way, but like I think it's so important that we do take care of our health and I love that you're you're such a present, obviously in great shape, um positive guy that, like the fact that you're already thinking about that is is awesome. And if there's a dad at home that's not thinking about it that way, I would just really challenge you to, like Angela said, go get the appointment, go get a physical. Like some of these, some of these things that are underlying that we don't know, um, it's just important to, uh, important to take care of ourselves, because we don't, you know, you don't get a second chance to make a. Or there's no mulligans in health from a golf analogy, so get one body.
Speaker 4:That's it. And to emphasize that, I will say if you ask every dad what would you do for your family, I bet you 99% of dads would say anything and I would question would you really? Because? Are we on this topic? Are we taking care of ourselves as much as we can? Are we getting those annual checkups? Are we working out? Are we eating healthy? Are we working on our mindset? You could, we could go many different directions with that, but if we're going to say I'll do anything for our family, check yourself. Are you really doing everything that you can?
Speaker 2:doing everything that you can. Yep, no, I love it. All right, man. Well, bring me inside the Mel Curry family. I'd love to learn how you and your wife met and then tell me a little bit about each member of the squad.
Speaker 4:Oh, love the question. So this is a long history with my wife and I. So people look at us and they say, wow, you guys have been together forever, because literally we just crossed the point. Well, we're approaching it in the next couple months that we have been together nearly half of our not nearly half of our lives. I'm 36 years old I'll be 37 this November but we started dating when we were 18 years old.
Speaker 4:So we went to the same high school together. I've known of her since middle school, since sixth grade, but we never hung out in the same crowd, we never even really had conversations with each other. She was in all the honors classes and let's just say I was not so a little different crowds, but we our graduating class was 97 kids, so everybody knew who everyone was Right and uh, we had a great, great time. You know I love the town we grew up in and we got together the summer after high school and she could never get rid of me. I remember. I remember talking to my friends after. You know, we kind of connected at the beach the week after high school. But again, we both had our own different things going on and I remember coming home and I said guys, like I'm going to be with that girl and I thought I was just being a dude, you know like, oh yeah, you're going to be with her. I'm like no, no, no, no, like I'm going to be with her, like I really like, no, no, no, no, like I'm going to be with her, like I really like her. And here I am today, 18 years later, telling you this story.
Speaker 4:We literally lived together, basically from day one, two, and that is like highly unusual, because most people don't even move in together until they're getting engaged or approaching marriage, whatever. And then you find out all these things about the other person that you didn't know for years before you moved in with them. But I never knew anything different. We spent time apart geographically because, again, she was doing her studious thing. I wasn't in college, I went a year longer than she did, same bachelor's, but she went to Louisville for a year. We spent time apart for a year long distance relationship. She studied abroad, in Spain, for a semester. So we've been through it all with our relationship and our marriage. We got engaged when we were eight years dating and we knew we were going to get married. So it wasn't a situation of me trying to figure it out. See how long you can let it go. We knew it and all of our friends were getting married and you know, finally it was. You know it was just a you know awesome time. We got married in 2014. So we just hit our 10 year wedding anniversary this year and thank you.
Speaker 4:So just the biggest thing that's kept us together is that we laugh every single day. I mean that's just the foundation of our relationship. I mean we love each other for who we are. I can be fully myself around my wife. She embraces all of my. You know my quirks and you know I'm just. I'm a goofy guy and I'm just I'm very unique as as we all are. But you know, the more people get to know me, they realize, like that I am different and my wife loves that and you know she had. She's told me this many times that she's like I. You're the only person I feel like I can really be me, you know, around and.
Speaker 4:I love that. So it doesn't mean everything's been perfect. No relationship ever is. I mean, we've had to work on our communication constantly because when you get married you didn't marry. You know a mom, you didn't marry. Whatever their profession is like, we evolved so your relationship has to evolve. So we've gone through a lot of that, but she's really helped me turn everything around. She's been my rock, my foundation of everything. I'm extremely grateful for her she's incredible.
Speaker 4:And the kiddos. I have a dad times two. I have a daughter that just went into kindergarten, so that was amazing. Yesterday was the first day of school and she just turned five. So she's on the younger age for her grade. She's ready and it was just so cool seeing her. I told you before we hit record just her backpack's almost bigger than her. She's a tiny girl but she packs a punch, that's for sure.
Speaker 4:And my son he's about to be eight. He was born November 11th. My birthday is November 13th best birthday present I've ever received and he's going to the second grade. He's awesome. So both kids if you saw them there are many versions of my wife and I my daughter to my wife and my son to me Good kids, they are just like any kids. They're wild and crazy at times but they're very loving, they're kind and I'm going to pat myself on the back I know they get that from my wife and I, because you know we really take seriously like being in a house of love and not just, you know, hugging our kids and telling them we love them, but like I'll stop them and I'll say, hey, bud, like I love you for who you are and like I'll say something that I'm proud of recently, or like same with my daughter, and it's just, you know, we got a, we got a fun family for sure that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Uh, well, we continue to have things in common, dude. Um, um, my wife and I have dated since, uh, eighth grade. Um, wow, hard to believe. Um, well, not hard to believe, it's easy to believe.
Speaker 2:But it's um, and we just celebrated uh 25, which is real I still feel like I'm, you know, a mindset of a 12 year old at times with my jokes. But, um, and our daughter riley, she was young, she was a very younger side of going into, uh, her grade too. She was. Then, when you said she's ready, immediately made me think of riley. She was just emotionally ready, grade-wise ready. She's only 5'4" but, to your point, packs a punch. I mean, sorry, buddy Ryder, riley's the toughest one in our family. She's a hooper and scrappy defender. But, yeah, she missed the cutoff by five days and wasn't like we want to have her go advanced. It was like, no, it was like I think if we held her back it would have been detrimental. And she's, thankfully, she's grade-wise worked out. But they are so different, they're so alike but they're so different.
Speaker 2:And the other thing I love that you said that I hope people have taken notes already on this episode is being present slowing down to make the words meaningful of every conversation. I, slowing down to, to, to, to make the words meaningful of every conversation, um, I can tell you, the more you do that it will make an impact. Um, I'm proof. Um, you know, after we said goodbye to our son at the college, I just, you know, send him a message from the hotel saying, bro, you're ready, love you, so, proud of you. Uh, I'm a phone call away. Uh, I'm a you know visual way. Uh, uh, I'm right there next to you. And he just said he just said the super nice text back saying how much our support and love meant more than years. It was like super powerful stuff, right that you don't realize all the work for 18 years you do, but it's paying off, you know. And so I would just encourage dads to this isn't fluff that we're talking about, this is real shit.
Speaker 2:And know part of the goal, angela, why I started this podcast five years ago was really to help unlock humility, vulnerability and curiosity in dads. It's the same work I do in sales, leadership, work for sales teams and leadership teams, but, like as a dad, they are superpowers. And when we slow down to think about these things and just for me it helps. I don't know if you agree with this, but just it helps me. When I focus on those three values and skills, it helps me. Let them lead their journey, not the journey I think they should, should, should be leading.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it just makes it a lot easier when it's when I just, it's my, just, I'm there to support them, keep them.
Speaker 4:you know no gutter balls, hopefully keep the lanes up. But um, that's our job. I've seen that as I've just. I've learned that and I'm thankful, at a young age, that you know our kids need basically the super, the Autobahn, the super highway, but we need to give them the guard rails. Let them go as fast as they want or as slow as they want and go left or right and just be there as the safety rails so they don't. They got to make their own decisions. But if it's going to be something that's really going to be detrimental to them, we got to be there to help keep them in check.
Speaker 4:But otherwise, let kids be kids and learn that their lives aren't our lives and we can't expect them to achieve the things that we didn't and we're still holding on that like, oh I wish I did that. So you're living through your kids. As a youth sports coach, I see it all the time Like I could. I could talk for a long time about that, but it's. You know, we got to let our kids be kids and, like you said, support them, love them. I love curiosity. That's going to be something from this conversation. I'm just going to use that as a, as a strong foundation. I don't use that word enough, but I am a very curious person.
Speaker 2:Love it. Yeah, man, I've done multiple episodes on youth, sports and mindset and best practices. And, um, for my listeners, or your listeners, there's a dude named Bruce Brown. If you've not heard about him, check him out. I interviewed him earlier in like season three, I think, and just an absolute legend.
Speaker 2:He lives up here in the north of Seattle and he wrote a book, an article, and did a big speech on it, called the Car Ride Home, which talks about the best way for parents to handle the car ride home from a sporting event.
Speaker 2:It does not be sporting, it could be a band concert, it could be a theater, but just it emphasizes the fact of the car rides.
Speaker 2:Not for you to light your kids up the car ride homes, for you to tell them that you love watching your kid compete and play, for you to light your kids up the car ride homes, for you to tell them that you love watching your kid compete and play, and if, if the sport or the activity is important to your son or daughter, they will bring it to you.
Speaker 2:And I tested this when my son was seven, eight years old and like holy shit, it worked and um, it's you know, cause I think when we focus so much on the ladder, it becomes outcome focused, which is set up to fail, versus focusing on the process and the fundamentals of growth. Because, in the end, you can't always control your outcome, but you can control what you put into each activity, each movement, each effort. You know, and so I would definitely link that in the show notes when I um, when this episode comes out. Um, all right, I want to, I want to put the car in reverse here, brother, and I want to go back in time and walk me through what was life like for you growing up and talk about the impact your parents had on you now that you're a dad.
Speaker 4:I thought a lot about this over the last year as I've been just going through my own expansion as a dad, as a husband and everything as a dad, as a husband and everything. So growing up I honestly never had the confidence that I had now. I was always the fun guy, the life of the party, get along with everyone, smile on my face, positive, but I never had that true inner confidence and feeling of high self-worth that I do now. It was always that fake it till you make it. Sure, I could get in the zone sometimes, but I never really had it here. I never really felt that I was truly enough.
Speaker 4:And it's not because my parents didn't give me love or show me love. They definitely did. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is. I think you know we all just experience life in different, a different lens, and we can take today and just view our past and just whatever lens we we choose to. But you know my parents, I mean they love me, I mean we were in a loving household. We said I love you, you know every day. You know, even when I was love you, you know every day. Um, you know, even when I was a teenager, you know my parents would give me a hug and kiss before I went to bed, and the older I got, I just thought it was more and more embarrassing. I'm like, come on, guys, like.
Speaker 3:I don't.
Speaker 4:I don't need a hug, and kiss before I go to bed, right, but you know what? I'm going to do that with my I do it every night with my kids. If you asked me this question five years ago, I would answer it very differently. I wouldn't be looking at it with so much gratitude because I used to look at the things that stood out in a negative way, like, oh well, not, my parents didn't come to all the away games. You know, didn't do this, didn't do that. Not, my parents didn't come to all the away games. You know, didn't do this, didn't do that. And it was just because I was in a place from just focusing too much on the negativity of the past.
Speaker 4:And now, as I've been looking to help build up fatherhood in other dads and myself, I'm now seeing all the lessons that, like my mom and dad had taught me, like my mom, dad had taught me. Like my mom, she's a two-time breast cancer survivor. She is one of the most resilient people that I know. My mom doesn't take no for an answer. My mom will do anything to get the job done and when she wants it done, she's going to get it done right then and there. She's not going to wait around. I'll give you an example she had. Next to our house we had this. It's a garden now, the original house I grew up in Before it was a garden, it was a you know macadam, which is like concrete or you know pavement basically. So it was on my dad's honey do list forever to take a pickaxe and get rid of it all so we can make a little garden out of it. Well, one day and I was so young when this happened I remember my mom she's out there sweating, just taking a pickaxe getting rid of all the concrete there got the job done. That's just like one of many stories. And when she first had breast cancer, I didn't even know what cancer was, or oh, it's in her lymph node. I have no idea. I'm just in elementary school.
Speaker 4:I just hear that it really sunk in when my mom was telling me how to do laundry, because she said one day I may not be here, so you're going to need to learn how to do this. And I was like, holy shit, what? Like? You're not gonna be able to do my laundry. I'm just kidding, but for real, like it really sunk in. I was like, oh my God, like. So that was like the first moment that I realized like this is, this is real life stuff. And my best friend's mom was going through the same experience and she unfortunately lost the battle but my mom survived and it just hit me hard and I reflect on that big time that, like you know, life is, you know, anything can change like at any time. You know life is, you know, anything can change like at any time. My dad was a hard worker. I mean, he just now recently left the place where he worked for, I think, over like 40 years or something 40?.
Speaker 4:Yeah, wow Long. He was a general manager at a lumber yard forever, forever. And and you know what that taught me was that you know, my dad was loyal, to a fault, I think, at times, honest, to a fault at times, like he was, and those are lessons that I didn't grasp as a kid, but he always let me know he loved me and everything and he was always a huge fan of me, especially, you know, with sports and everything, and he was always very proud again of me, especially, you know, with sports and everything, and he was always very proud. Um, but now I see, you know my dad didn't always feel that he was a great father. He didn't feel that he was doing a good enough job.
Speaker 4:My oldest siblings are eight and nine years older than me and I think he made some mistakes with them that he was trying to kind of recover from, when me and my sister who are only two years apart, you know with us. So I'd always hear from my oldest siblings like, oh, you have it easy, you have it so easy. I'm like, what do you mean? Like dad yells at us.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 4:And they're like, no, no, no, like it was different. They're like, no, no, no, like it was different. So my dad and I now you know, we've had some really deep conversations, but it's only been possible because I've been looking deep inside myself, being vulnerable with myself, with other people. So now I can, you know, look my dad in the face and, just you know, thank him for all the lessons. And one conversation he said was about how you know he was. He was sorry, like he wished it was different. You know, like we should be better, like in regard he, if he would have done differently, we could be even further ahead.
Speaker 4:And I'm, like dad, like I am who I am because of you, all the good and all the bad, like I wouldn't change it. So please don't feel that way, because in no way would we be having this conversation now. Mm-hmm, that word's so relative to every single person, but we can let it define us or it can just be part of our journey and just shape who we are in a good or bad way. And I choose it to be a good way and to be part of my journey and part of my growth and how I'm able to be here having this conversation confidently and courageously and share it with other guys too and know exactly what they're going through, because I'm going through it now myself. My dad's gone through it. He didn't have the resources that I have today and I want to pass that on to other dads right now that have it. I can't help the dads really that are, you know, 30 years my senior. They've already been through it.
Speaker 4:You know, Hopefully I can inspire them that it's not too late to make a change. But I want to help the dads with young kids right now, mostly because they're in the most critical time of their kids' lives and their lives as a father. Then it can impact the next generation as well, because now our kids are going to have such a different tool set and skills to work with. Because of the work we're doing right now together, you included.
Speaker 3:Hi, this is Kathy Orton. I'm the director of talent management at CoWorks Staffing Services. Coworks is one of the largest staffing firms in the United States, with operations in all 50 states, over 60,000 temporary field talent. We are devoted to the success and growth of our employees and our clients. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary this year and are proud to have a legacy of treating people the right way, doing the right thing, supporting our communities and putting field talent first. Our team places candidates in administrative light, industrial, call center, distribution, third-party logistic positions with additional opportunities through our executive search, creative staffing and luxury, beauty and fragrance divisions.
Speaker 3:We had the pleasure of having Casey Jaycox deliver a keynote presentation and training workshop to our sales team this year and I have to tell you it was exceptional. Casey is funny, he is engaging and he is approachable. What sets Casey apart is that he really walks the walk. He lives what he teaches. He spent time with us outside of the workshop, really taking the time to get to know our people. He shared information about his personal life, about his family, creating the foundation for authentic relationships, one of the core elements of the strategy he teaches. Casey left our teams feeling motivated, energized and armed with the actionable tools to transform their sales performance. I cannot recommend Casey enough to any or any organization looking to grow and unlock their full potential. If you want to learn more about Cowork Staffing, please visit our website at CoworkStaffingcom. Now let's get back to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Love it. So if there's a dad listening, angelo, that's like the start is stopping them. They can't get out of their own way and they're like man, I want to go talk to my dad but I'm scared, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do it. Describe, if you can like, what gave you the strength and maybe how did you go about doing it. That might help a dad at home who wants to go talk to his or her dad but just doesn't know how to do it.
Speaker 4:Pick up the phone and just click dial. That's the simple. Whenever you want to start something, forget everything else that you have that could possibly come up and you just find what is the simplest action I can take to get moving forward. And that's the simplest action is you just pick up your phone, see your dad's number, click dial, that's it. Hey dad, how you doing Done, that's it. And sometimes that may be really uncomfortable, so I'll share that. Like my dad and I have now. We have an amazing relationship.
Speaker 4:It wasn't always this way, because him and my mom split when I was 18 years old and I blamed my dad for that big time. I didn't talk to my dad for nearly three years outside of the occasional like. He texts me like hey, like you know, would you want to come over for Christmas or Thanksgiving? And I'd be like maybe. And my sister like come on. And she's like come on, like I'm going, like don't make me go by myself. I'm like okay, fine, I'll go. And I just I missed out on a crucial time in a relationship with my dad between like 18 and, geez, my, my early thirties Cause I didn't openly call my dad and he's not the one, just his generation. You know he's not in a generation that's just going to pick up the phone and text hey, how are you what's going on in life? Like what's new Kind of do to help you? Like, you know, inviting me over and stuff like. No, like, my dad's dad passed away when he was 12 so he never had a father figure. So, again, he didn't have everything that I have right now and his dad was a world war ii veteran. He was a tail gunner in a in a bomber and he was a pow for two years and and he was very closed off from what I hear, like didn't talk about his emotions and talk about his experiences, and I was at some like that's where my dad gets it from at a young age, then didn't have a father for the majority of his life to give him all these lessons. And now here we are that I'm passing lessons off to my dad actually and vice versa, constantly.
Speaker 4:But it got to a point when I had kids. That's when I reevaluated the relationship that I wanted to have with my own father, because I know how impactful it is to just have grandparents. I didn't have a grandfather on either side. I had a, you know, two grandmothers who were incredible. They were both married to some, but I never considered them like my grandfather. It was like, oh, I have Pete and I have Gabe, who he called pop pop, but I didn't consider them like my grandfather.
Speaker 4:And I went through my own experience of my low point with my mental health in 2021. And when I was working with my coach through everything she really helped change my life. I had told her one of the early sessions I had with her. I said, look, I wish I had a dad that I could just call and just have a conversation with. I said I don't have that and there was a lot that we worked through on why I felt that way and what was going on. And about a couple months later I said you know what? Like she helped me realize that, like I got to bridge the gap. Like it's a two way street, like that's how a relationship is formed. She's like if you want a relationship, like about this, everything I just said about his past. She's like you got to meet him in the middle.
Speaker 4:I said, okay, I'll make a conscious effort to start calling my dad on Fridays, because he actually just let me know he's not working on Fridays anymore. He's going into semi-retired life. This was two years ago and I said okay. So I started calling on fridays, nothing about nothing, just to say, hey, how are you? Nothing deep, nothing, vulnerable, just what's up, dad, how you doing, that's it. Conversations would be 5, 10, 15 minutes sometimes.
Speaker 4:And then there was a moment. It was when I lost my corporate job after I left Judge Group after nearly 11 years and took the leap to go start an office for a new company. When I got let go from that company, the first phone call I made was to my dad and it was an incredible moment because that's everything I wanted To be able to have a dad that I could call and just talk to about hard times. And I shared that with my coach. We had a session just a couple of days after. I'm like Karina, you're not going to believe it. I got let go from my full-time job and guess who I called first? I called my dad. It was awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what did your dad guess who I called first? I called my dad. It was awesome.
Speaker 4:Yeah, what did? What did your dad say when you called him? He was loving you know, he was very supportive, understanding, because he knows I'm a good person and he knows you know how much I'm worth and how hard I work and you know what I mean to him. And he was proud of me. Ultimately, that's all I needed to hear. And he was proud of me.
Speaker 2:ultimately, that's all I needed to hear, didn't need anything else. Yeah, it's funny, man. I talked to a lot of people about this the difference between recognition and appreciation. Not only does it apply to fatherhood, it could apply to your marriage, it definitely applies to corporate life. I say recognition takes money, appreciation takes time and like that, you know, appreciation is you're. Sometimes that's all we want to hear is just like hey, man, I love you, hey, I'm proud of you, hey, I believe in you. Hey, you got this.
Speaker 2:You know, we don't want sometimes us as dads, we like to fix things and sometimes they don't. Our wives don't want to listen to that. They don't want to get fixed, they want just to listen. Our kids sometimes don't want to get fixed, they just want to listen. And uh, I think what a, what a cool story that you know one you went from, maybe in your twenties and thirties. I'll I'm going to read the defense here. You let me know if I'm wrong here. Maybe your ego is in the way. You wanted to be right. You're trying to prove to your dad and then something clicked. You said no, this is not going down that way and you chose the alternate, which is any we can get out of any situation. You know so much of life is down to the attitude we choose each day. So I love I love the fact that we have a obstacle and a success story. So Dad's at Home can hopefully use this as inspiration today to take that action you've been thinking about doing. If you haven't yet, do it, today's the day, go do it. And I love the fact your dad now is in a spot where you guys can talk about these types of things, because Andrew, my dad, passed away December 29, 29, 2021.
Speaker 2:He had a rap sheet of health issues. He was a dad that never, never, missed anything um, all my games in college, almost bankrupting himself, going to these shithole towns we'd play in and uh. And then my dad, my parents, got divorced in college. My, my dad went through a really tough time, kind of like just emotional, and then he got just like I I said this health issues of you know, bipolar to back issues, diabetes, I mean everything you can think of he had. And then I got to a point where I almost had I remember one day Googling caregiver burnout, Because I was literally it was me and my wife by ourselves in our 20s and 30s when my business at staffing world was really, really ramping up and I was. But I was also trying to be a supportive dad, be a supportive son, by my you know, and thank God my wife was an absolute rock.
Speaker 2:But then, you know, and then COVID hit and I couldn't go see him. So it was almost like an excuse I could get out of jail free card that I didn't have to go see him. And then I remember interviewing a guy on this journey named Tony Davis. Shout out to coach Tony Davis and I was talking to him about the dementia and he challenged me. He goes hey, man, he's in there. He's still in there, your dad's in there, go find him. And I was like, oh shit, why'd you say that? And I then I had to look in the mirror and like I said, he's right, I could have easily let my ego get in the way, but I didn't and I said I'm gonna do something about it and I just made the conscious effort to start doing a little bit and then a little bit more.
Speaker 2:And then the last six weeks of his life I saw him almost every day and the dementia almost kind of went away at the end. And, um, I didn't. I went from a mindset of like, oh, I have to go see him, no, I get to go see him. And it was the best and I was there, was holding his hand in his last breath. And season three of this journey of podcasting every episode I started with each episode was I dedicated it to him, because during COVID we obviously funerals were shut down here in Washington and he kind of lost a lot of his friends during this like 15 year, run out of in and out of like health facilities and and um mental wards and assisted living facilities. But I mean, to me it was like the most peaceful ending ever.
Speaker 2:And I still talk to my dad every day. I think about him. I, you know where, where my son's going to play golf in college, there's a uh, actually you can't see. There's a picture on my desk over here where I'm. It's my dad around me, one of my last games in college and it's near the, the one of the end zones, near the field goal post, and I, literally I was there yet two days yesterday, I know two days ago, just looking at it by myself, and uh, rider my son, yeah, what are you looking at? I go. What are you looking at. I go, I'm looking at the, the goal post, where where me and grandpa mike were, and just just thank you great, I'm great gratitude for him.
Speaker 2:He's like oh it's so cool, dad, and so it's like it's, it's conversations like that that you got to be present for everybody. You know, and shit, I'm not. I don't want this to come across, like you know, angelo, and I have it all figured out because we don't, I'll speak for you.
Speaker 2:We don't, and we're making mistakes we're making mistakes, like you guys are, every day. But I think the work he's doing with dads, the work I'm doing with dads, at least in my world, this is I get free therapy out of talking to guys like Angelo, and I get free therapy by producing these episodes every week and I don't get paid for this. This is like my gifts of service, and maybe one day there'll be a sponsor says hey, you know, you're doing some really good stuff, we're going to sponsor you, but that has not happened to everybody. So I I'm here, you know, doing this for for me, but I'm also doing it for you and I and I hope that if you are a loyal listener, you take time to take notes, like, like I am, and you and you think about ways to, to, to challenge yourself, to get better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there you go. I mean so and it's funny when everybody, when we started this episode, I told Angela, I said, hey, there's no script we're going to use like curiosity to take this bad boy. So I really appreciate what you're sharing and it's been fun just kind of hearing your story and me sharing a little bit about mine. Okay, I want to, I want to learn about. He talked about a lot of love, a lot of laughs in your household and also in your household. But as you think about the core values that your parents taught you, is there a story of how you learned that value, or how you learned that lesson that really sticks with you, that you'll eventually share with your children?
Speaker 4:I would say kindness is I'll backtrack real quick. You know how parent lessons work. The the lessons never clear until you actually live the experiences. And then you know. Now you're say current state, dad, and you look back and you're like, oh, those were the lessons right. Like I never got the specific talks that are like, okay, this is what I want you to learn about.
Speaker 4:X, it was just a way of being. So I'll give you a few examples. Right, I talk about loyalty as a value. So both my mother and father were extremely loyal to everyone in their life. You know my dad in particular with again. He worked at the same place for nearly 40 years, had a lot of ups and downs there, but he was loyal. Boom to like again, almost to a fault. And I'm that way now, like I'm the company guy guy where I let my work speak for itself. I'm not the loud guy that's saying, hey, look at me, look at my numbers, look how awesome I am. Or in sports, I never talked, smack. I was the guy that you better just watch me, because I'm going to do my work. I'm going to do it in silence. Now, if you want to talk, smack to me. Yeah, expect a little back and I'm going to work harder to make you be quiet. But I'm not going to use my voice to make you be quiet, right, I'm just going to work harder and be me. So. Loyalty was a huge one, just good old fashioned hard work.
Speaker 4:Both my parents we didn't have. We had enough, I'll put it that way. But we certainly were not a wealthy family and we weren't a poor family either. I would say we were firmly in the lower middle class where going out to eat was a luxury. Right, we did it every now and then. Family vacations, yeah, it was a luxury. We did it, sometimes, not every year, but we had enough, and both my parents just worked incredibly hard to make that happen. We grew up in a really small house, you know, with four kids and my up until my my brother, oldest brother, he was 18 years old, his senior year in high school. He's still sharing a room with me and my sister, so we're like nine and 10 years old, whatever. He's sharing a room with us. Lots of stories about that that were pretty funny.
Speaker 4:But you know, we always my, my parents always talked about getting a new house and you know, we always my my parents always talk about getting a new house. And you know my dad said, look, no, I want to stay at home, mom, for a long while. And he said, if you want a new house, then you go by. Promise. If you go back, you know, full time. Kids are older now you know we'll get a new house.
Speaker 4:So what my mom did? She, boom, went and got a new job and she was a secretary of church for like 16 years or something crazy. We got a new house. It was awesome. My dad cashed in every single favor from being the general manager at a lumber yard, so he got all the materials at cost and everything. We got a nice house, not a big house, but a new house.
Speaker 4:It was really freaking cool, but it wouldn't have happened without hard work. Yeah, my dad got home late every single night, but at least he he came home and he was there. He was there for dinner and that is the epitome of just you know, hard work right there and just just general kindness. Like my, my parents were kind people. You know my, my, my mom and dad will just always do what's right, no matter what. Neither of them cut corners, neither of them said or did anything behind someone's back that they wouldn't say to their face. They were just kind and kindness is free.
Speaker 4:And now I see all that stuff. And another lesson I could keep piling them on, but my dad involved me in a lot of stuff around the house. It could be anywhere from hey, okay, my dad would come home with his case of beer. Hey, I'm going to show you how to put these in the fridge. You know what? I took great pride in putting those in the fridge and making sure the labels are faced the right way. Because now, if you look at my fridge, everything is neatly organized, labels facing the same way and everything I don't drink anymore. But when I have even seltzer water, labels are facing the same way. It's neat and organized. Um, so I just I do things the right way, because if you don't do it right the first time, when are you going to have time?
Speaker 4:to do it right the second time, so I do things the right way. And he'd involve me in chores Not just chores, but we had an old house growing up right, so there's always a leaky pipe. He'd bring me downstairs, I'd hold the blowtorch, when it was time to hand it over, I'd pass it to them, and I'm there just watching. So now I do that with my kids.
Speaker 4:All the things take longer, but hey, it's better to involve them at a young age while they want to be involved, so that maybe when they're teenagers they'll still want to be involved. So just a few of the lessons that I can recall now. But it's a laundry list, man. It really is when you sit back and think about it.
Speaker 2:Love it. One thing I was going to say before I forget. So my dad's dad died when he was like six, so he didn't really have a relationship with his dad. I didn't have a relationship with his. I didn't have a grandpa on his side. I had a step grandpa that I didn't know that well, so we got that in common too. I almost forgot to mention that, but, um, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:My, so my dad was not the handiest. He was pretty, I think, pretty handy, but he did. He had a lot of tools and stuff I don'tcious job and he had to go back and do it. Or, you know, try to build this. And we'd try. It was a shit show, or um, he ended up building like this, like an a-frame kind of house for us, which is actually pretty cool. I don't know how he did it, um, but I never.
Speaker 2:I I that is one of my biggest dad gaps is I am not handy. I wish I was. At times I used to like really get self-conscious about it and I'm like shit, that's my weakness and I just lean into it now and make fun of myself. But I know that I what I can make up for being lack of handy is hard work too. We have that in common and I always say I'm a great secondhand, I can, I, you know whatever it is, but like I just it's. It's like the mechanical mind of seeing how something's built.
Speaker 2:Um, sometimes I'm a dad that I put something together and I'm like, well, shit, there's two parts left, totally normal, totally normal. Hey, it still kind of works. Fuck them, throw them away, you know so. Um, but I think that's what like makes it, makes this genuine. Real is like I think dads lean into your inefficiencies or gaps, like we all have them. Um, it's funny. Some of my buddies will be like you might not know how to fix shit, but I don't. I can't go speak in front of 500 people, or I can't, I couldn't have played quarterback in front of I'm like well, I'm like well, I don't know. I mean it's sort of thinking that we all have our strengths, we all have our weaknesses. That's what makes us human, I think, when we try to be perfect a that does not exist and you're setting yourself up for failure as a dad.
Speaker 2:So, but I think what we can do is just lean into those things and find out what they are, and then you don't need a podcast like, like we have to go talk about these things. If you have a phone, pick up a buddy, call them, ask for help, tell them what you're struggling with. Um, if it's, maybe you call your wife and tell her what you're struggling with, doesn't make you weak, right? I think vulnerability, like so many people talk about actually I'm a massive fan of it is strength, and that's one thing I try to teach my kids a lot is, um, like just back to my son, dropped him off school, I said, bro, you're, you're going to be days where you're going to struggle, um, and I really hope that's the days.
Speaker 2:You remember that what we've talked about, like, pick up the phone and help, ask for help, say, hey, dad, hey, I'm having a tough day. Let's talk through it, right, and so, um, okay, if you were to think of an area of your dad game, Angelo, that you maybe don't quite like, where it's at that, but you're, you are working hard to get, to get better at it and I'm more than happy to go first lead my witness. Um, mine's patience, um. But tell me what is an area of your dad game that that you, you're, you're still working hard on that might speak to dads at home to make us a little bit more in common with them.
Speaker 4:I don't mean to copy you, casey, but I'm always working on my patients. So it's it's just rate raising the bar. And I, the way I talk about it, is our mental fitness. So it's how much external stressors can we take on until we hit our limit? And then that's when we're kind of saying things and doing things that we don't mean. I'm way better at it today than I was when my kids were younger.
Speaker 4:So when I say I want to keep working on my patients, it's not like my patients is horrible and I'm always yelling at the kids. Do I yell at my kids? Absolutely, I do, sometimes, not all the time, but I want to greatly reduce the time that I do yell at them. And then I sit in that state of just the dad guilt, the shame for doing it, a little frustrated with myself because it doesn't serve anyone. So I'm always working on that, understanding that I'm not perfect. So when I yell at them it's be quick to recognize that it's nothing that they did, it's all internal. And then I explain that to my kids in such a way that they know it's not because of what they did. They didn't make me feel a certain way. It's always something that I have going on.
Speaker 4:So I talked to my kids like they're an adult and I just let them know what I have going on, that that's really what got triggered and here's what we could do moving forward. So you know, example last week, when I was really, you know, I was sick down and out, my threshold was way down, so I didn't, I wasn't holding back, really Right. So, hey, kids, get get dressed. You know, let's get our teeth brushed. We got it, we got to. You know, get to camp.
Speaker 4:You know, usually I can go two, three, four, five, sometimes six times, asking if they didn't do it on the first time. Boom, I'm yelling and I'm frustrated. I'm getting them to you know, to do this, do that. And I'm like kids, you don't get it, I don't feel well. And I quickly apologize in those moments to say, hey, kids, look, I really don't feel well, I just need your help. I'm trying my best, but here's my limit, kids. And I'm up here right now I'm way past it, cause I just don't feel well. So I really need your help.
Speaker 4:Can you know, if I ask you to put your shoes on, get dressed, can can you help me a little bit and just and just do that? So I'm constantly working on the ability to be patient and just be the calm within the storm, because it never helps coming over the top, which was an old pattern of mine. You know, if someone's at say like a level six, I always thought I just need to go to a level seven and I'll just boom, I'll put this fire right out, but it just adds more fuel to the fire. So I'm just working on it. Someone, someone's out of six I come in at like a one and a two as much, as much as possible well, I think one of the things that I want to thank you for, your honesty and vulnerability.
Speaker 2:But two, I think one of the things I love the most about what you said is that you, you apologize. Um, what a gift to teach your kids that either we can let our ego get in the way and perfect and we and we can we can act like an a-hole to people and then just assume that they're going to forgive us, or we can be the one to go first which takes strength and said listen, man, that was not the best version of me, I'm sorry. And I tell you, when you get it out everybody, it is such a feeling of like, it's like a, it's like a re, it's like a control delete, you restart your computer and, uh, I think episode nine I'm on episode 260 something right now. Uh, my buddy Darren Balmores and I we did an episode on forgiveness and being able to apologize and, um, I think what a, what a important thing you said, because I think there's so many dads that won't do that, there's so many men that won't do that because, a, maybe they don't have the skills or the tools or they've never been taught to.
Speaker 2:But I will tell you firsthand, man. That is such a gift. We can help our kids because they'll learn to be better citizens, they'll be better corporate, they'll be better teammates wherever they will work, and it doesn't mean they're going to be doormats. But we all mess up and we all are some men's best version of ourselves, and so I think slowing down. The other thing I love that you said is it's it's in you that causes you to react, it's not them. Something that they do triggers something inside of us that's maybe we're holding onto a thought or a feeling that then that just explodes out of us. So, um, I love that you said that really good, um, really good thought that obviously triggered me to share that.
Speaker 4:I got a quick story, if you don't mind, before we hop onto the next thing, to just kind of like emphasize this point that that our kids understand and they're like the ultimate truth tellers. So oftentimes when we get frustrated, angry, we snap, whatever the feeling that it's. You may not think these thoughts, but it ultimately comes from like you're not feeling good enough in that moment. So then you snap and you get frustrated and it all gets out, put into the world. So I had this moment. I don't recall how long after I got let go from my corporate job was, but I fully jumped in and made the choice to jump into entrepreneurship, do my coaching thing, and it went really well in the beginning. And then I hit a wall and it was so tough because I'm used to being the top player in my industry, to just one of the rest instead of one of the best, and it was so frustrating and I internalized that greatly and rather than letting that pass through which is exactly what I, how I, what I coach people to do and work them through it I was like oh, angelo, dude, you effed up. Are you kidding me? How dare you say that to your kids?
Speaker 4:I was in the kitchen and I was just beating myself up. I was like Angelo, you got to apologize, man. You got to own up to this. You know what's going on. You got to apologize. But you know what it really hurts to rip that bandaid off, to admit your faults. Admit that it's you and it's not your kids which are the scapegoat. They weren't getting dressed in time. They're the ones making you late, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the things. And I knew it would be so much easier to just sit in that pain which is what most guys do and just not even think about apologizing, just continue to be frustrated. The analogy I use is you're eating a bag of potato chips and you keep eating, and eating, and eating, like you think it feels good because it's just. You keep going to eat the whole dang bag, you're indulging, but you got to just have a few chips and acknowledge I'm good, it's time to move on.
Speaker 4:Let's, let's close that bag, put it away. And I just I had to rip the bandaid off of my kids, even if it was going to make us even more late. So I ripped the bandaid off. I said kids, come here, sit down. I had each in my lap and I was very open with them.
Speaker 4:I said kids, look what just happened, with me yelling at you. I don't want you to think that that's how I show my love. That is not true. What you just did has nothing that impacted what I said to you. It's not about you not getting dressed, you not brushing your teeth, making a slate. No, that's not it.
Speaker 4:Here's what I have going on and I just laid it out, like I said. I said I'm having a tough time right now and I was one of the best and one of the, and I knew they may not totally get it. But at the end I simply decided I said kids, I don't feel like I'm being a good enough dad for you guys, like I just don't feel like I'm good enough right now. I know that's not true, I know it's just a lie in my head and one day you'll understand this, but I don't feel good enough right now. And my son looked at me and he's like dad, dad, you're always good enough. And I was like what? Like no way. You know, my daughter said it too and doubled down on it and it was just such a beautiful moment Like I didn't prompt them to say that, yeah, they, they just said it because they felt it and it was so cool and it never would have happened unless I embraced vulnerability and leaned into apologizing to them.
Speaker 4:The moment never would have happened. Now that's one of my forever things and my cookie jar of knowing that I'm enough because my kids say so. It's all the evidence I need. I know I'm enough. My wife says I'm enough. I have all the recommendations and positive messages in the world that say I'm enough. So anytime I feel like I'm not enough, I can just go back into that little cookie jar and pull out all these little moments. But dads are never going to get that from their kids unless they are vulnerable enough to rip the bandaid off and apologize.
Speaker 2:Love it, man, that's gold. Well, as we wrap up here, if you had to summarize kind of what we've talked about and we'll call it two or three actionable words or pieces of advice that dads can take from a conversation today to kind of look at themselves in the mirror to say, hey, these are two or three things you can do today to become a better ultimate or quarterback or leader of your home. Angela, tell me what comes to mind, courageously vulnerable.
Speaker 4:I think that sums up the entire conversation as a whole. I think that sums up the entire conversation as a whole just from everything that we talked about about that and accepting that you're enough right here, right now, and embracing your faults and just talking it through with people, and that's just the best way to describe it. I love it. Yeah, the actions guys can take is just simply start owning up to it. You know, think about apologizing to your kids. Don't say anything about it being their fault. Just own up to it. Let them know what you personally have going on. You know where those frustrations are coming from. And call your dad.
Speaker 2:Call your dad. There we go. I love it. Courageously vulnerable. I've never heard those two words put together, but that's like absolute gold and as a great way for us to end, that might be the title of this episode too. I'm not quite made up my mind yet, but as we, as before, we get into the lightning round which I go really random on you, I want people to know how to find you, and I'm sure that you've. I'm sure there's people listening at home. It's like man this dude's dropping wisdom bombs on me. How do I want to connect with them? Talk to us a little bit about how people can find you and talk a little bit about why did you start Real Dad Life and what is it about.
Speaker 4:Okay, so best way to find me is on LinkedIn, angela Malkiri. You'll see me recruiter by day, dad community builder by night. I started the real dad life community because I need it. I didn't start anything that I don't need and I don't have conversations that I don't need myself. I don't post things I don't need myself. So whenever I put out content, which is pretty much daily, it is all for a past version of myself, because I need to hear that, or I mean to hear it right, it right here, right now.
Speaker 4:But the thing is, as a human being and as dads, we're all the same. We're all going through the same struggles and I started the community because I know that community is everything and it takes a village right. There's a crazy stat out there that I heard the other day about how, in today's world, that most people don't know their neighbor's name and it's just wild. So I know how important it is to have people in your life that you can go through a shared experience with, and there's a lot of groups out there for men in general. You have great men's groups, you have different communities for fitness and entrepreneurship and finance this and that, whatever it is. But I noticed a glaring gap in communities for dads and it honestly started just completely random. I knew I wanted to start a community at some point and bring people together, because that's one of my superpowers is just connecting other people, hence why I'm in recruiting, and I didn't know what type of community, specifically who, it was for.
Speaker 4:I always wanted to help dads, but I didn't want to come across as like some parenting expert or you know some relationship expert, cause, like, I don't consider myself an expert and I just kind of did it. One day it was a random post where I'm doing pushups and I had a few dads comment that said, hey, I do pushups every day. That's awesome. And I said, hey, it sounds like we should do get a group of dads together, do a million pushups. And someone said I'm in the early adopters, antonio Mills. I said, let's do it, come on. So now we have, as a group, over 100 dads participated since March 1st from five different countries and we have over 430,000 pushups completed.
Speaker 4:We host regular virtual meetups where it's just dad's talking about real dad life. So that's the whole point. Real is an acronym resilient, engaged, authentic, loving, and we, we I want to empower dads to just, you know, cut out the traditional hashtag dad life. Right when we're on the couch drinking beers, we're on the sidelines just talking about sports and stuff. Dads need other dads in their lives to lift them up, and we need to do something to empower ourselves to just get those daily wins. Build consistency in our lives, because with consistency we get confidence, With confidence we get energy, and with energy we can pour it back into those that matter most, and that's our family. So that's the concept behind the pushups, and there's a lot more that's to come with the community. I'm really excited, so follow me on LinkedIn. We'll get all of it. I have a website that's in the make. It's live, but it totally stinks right now. It's the real dad lifecom. If you go on it now, it's very bare, but I promise there are updates coming soon.
Speaker 2:Love it, man. Uh, I love, I love. I love just when stories are or or or like or or ideas that are organic and then they just turn into the avalanche. And so congrats to you and your success. And I love that we have passion for creating better fathers around the world and, like I mentioned earlier, everybody we're getting therapy out of this too. So I don't mean that to joke, I mean that with all sincerity and truth that I, every episode I talk to somebody, it just slows me down to realize what is something I can do a little bit better today to become a better dad tomorrow, to set a better example for my son and daughter. You know, I think everybody kind of slowed down to take that mindset, man, it'd be crazy the impact it would have on the world.
Speaker 2:Um, all right, it's now time to go on lightning round, which I show you all the negative hits of taking too many hits in college Not bong hits, but football hits. And my job, your job, is to answer them as quickly as you can. My job is to try to get a giggle out of you. Okay, let's do it. Okay, true or false, when you do your pushup contest, you do them one armed False. Okay, um, steelers or uh, eagles, steelers come on. Steel, steel, steel, we go. Favorite Steelers player of all time is Jerome Bettis uh, true or false. I was in Detroit to watch the Steelers beat the Seahawks in 06. True, true, sucked, okay, true, true or false. I wore a Troy Palomaro uh wig in a bar with a bunch of Steelers fans around me. Sounds true, true, yeah, that happened. If I was going to your phone right now, what would be the one song that would shock the dad community that you listen to?
Speaker 4:Andy Grammer, Keep your Head Up. I've been playing that every day for like two weeks.
Speaker 2:Okay, if there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title Courageously Vulnerable Boom Love that Okay. Now Courageously Vulnerable is crushing it. Everybody's reading it. Their airports are sold out. No one can get copies. Amazon's like run out of ink printing so many copies. And now Netflix is going to make a movie about it and I didn't know who was going to star you. Now that you're the casting director of Courageously Vulnerable Justin Timber, didn't know who was going to star you.
Speaker 2:Uh, now that you're the casting director of courageously vulnerable justin timberlake, he's the man. Dude, I'm a huge timberlake fan. I've you've seen him in concert? No, I haven't. I just love unreal me, we and my probably about your age. I saw him in vegas and he went for like two hours and 45 minutes straight, no breaks. It was insane. It's awesome. It was he. Funny, I'm terrible. Like, if you're listening, bro, we could be buddies. Like I love the golf, I love to laugh. Uh, you're better dancer than me. Um, probably can sing better than me, but I think he, I think maybe you'd like Angela to the three of us, let's get together, play some golf Sounds fun to me.
Speaker 4:Let's be real. I'll send it to him.
Speaker 2:Okay, and then last question.
Speaker 4:Tell me two words that would describe your wife Beautiful and funny there we go Lighting round's over.
Speaker 2:I think I giggled at more of my own jokes or puns, so I think I'm going to give you the dub.
Speaker 4:You got a couple of jokes there, you go.
Speaker 2:You laughed at me. This has been a blast talking to you, a blast learning more about you and again, I love that we had zero script. I had a few frameworks where I was going to take the conversation, but I let you guide us and you were courageously vulnerable today and it's a fantastic conversation. I feel jacked up, ready for the day and I'll make sure everybody can connect with Angelo. We'll make sure all of his links are connected in the show notes and as a reminder. I want to thank our sponsors who continue to support us. I want to thank all the dads who continue to listen. If you're a dad and this is your first time listening, make sure you forward the episode, take time to leave a review and if you don't know about Angelo's work, go follow him. Join the Real Dad Life, be a part of his community. But I Um, but I just want to say thanks again so much for spending time with me today. It was an absolute blast. Thanks so much, brother.
Speaker 4:Yeah, thank you, it was an awesome time.