Hello! Welcome to episode 92 of I’d Rather Stay In. This week, we’re launching a new series and learning what it’s like to parent in America. Our first guest is Ashley Mizell, who is sharing her experiences of being a disabled parent following the loss of her vision.

Quick links:

• Follow Ashley on Instagram and TikTok
• My Dad Wrote a Porno podcast
• In the Dark Netflix series

Episode transcript

Unknown Speaker
Welcome to I’d rather stay in with your host Megan Myers and Stephie Predmore. This week Stephie interviews Ashley Mizell for our new series on parenting in America. Stay tuned.

Stephie
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Hello, hello, right away, you guys are gonna notice that this is a little bit of a different episode in that Megan is not here recording with us tonight. She wasn’t feeling super great this evening. So it’s just going to be me and our lovely guests tonight. So to that end, we are going to hop right into the interview. This week, we’re launching a series called parenting in America. I was taking a road trip not too long ago spent several hours in the car by myself thinking about life as one does. And I was thinking about how, even though it is 2021 A lot of times when we think of parents and parent teen our first thought is of a heterosexual able bodied, neurotypical married couple parenting their biological, able bodied, neurotypical kids. But that doesn’t leave a lot of room for all of the many, many people who fall outside of that box. And so in this series, we’re going to talk to parents who fall outside of that description about their experience of being parents in this country. So to kick off the series, we’re welcoming Ashley Mizell. She’s a mom of three and she’s going to talk about what it’s like to be a disabled parent. Welcome, Ashley.

Unknown Speaker
Hello. And thank you so much for having me.

Stephie
Oh, we’re so happy to have you here. I’m so excited for this interview. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Unknown Speaker
So I’m a mom of three little boys. I used to be a photographer. And now I share my story on social media about how sarcoidosis took over my vision.

Stephie
You were a mom before you lost your vision. Can you tell us a little bit about becoming a parent and the early years of parenting for you.

Unknown Speaker
So when I became a mom, it was about a year after I got married. I was so scared. I was 22 When I first got pregnant, I had no idea and still don’t know what I’m doing.

Stephie
I think that’s the key about parenting. Is that you you never really know.

Unknown Speaker
Yes. Yes, pretty much. Yes, absolutely. In in those early years, that’s when I changed my whole perspective and understanding on my parents love. I always loved and appreciated my mom and dad. But I didn’t really understand their love until the birth of my own. I had two boys before I lost my vision. They’re 14 months apart. We used to go everywhere together, we’d have like mommy and son dates. We go on random car rides driving around or just going around the lake and singing

Stephie
when you got sick and you lost your sight, which was pretty sudden if I’m if I am remembering correctly, right, yeah. So you know, all of this happened very suddenly you got sick. You develop scar tissue, and your eyes, you lost your vision. And two of your boys again, were old enough to kind of be aware of what was happening maybe not to the degree of being able to like fully comprehend everything, but they knew like mommy’s sick. And so can you talk about what it was like explaining to them? You know that you were sick? And now you have this completely life changing disability life changing? Not just you know, for you, but for your whole family?

Unknown Speaker
Yes, so I didn’t really explain it at first. My boys were the ones that witnessed it all firsthand when I was driving them to kindergarten and pre K. But now when we talk about it, they understand it’s a disability, but it doesn’t define who their mom is. Joey on the other hand, he’s my three year old he doesn’t fully understand as much and he’s a little crazy.

Stephie
I mean, like all toddler parents, a parent and toddler I say they’re all they’re all a little crazy.

Unknown Speaker
Oh my gosh. He can play tricks on me too. He’s like, Oh, I know my mom can’t see so I’m just gonna draw all over the wall right here and she’s never gonna notice until dad walks in and sees it or oh my gosh, want to turn that Favorite is, he’ll be having a conversation with me. And last week he got into peanut butter and spread it everywhere while he was having a normal conversation with me. And I’m like, How did I not hear you doing this?

Stephie
Oh my goodness. Yeah, you’re gonna have to watch out for that one. Yeah, absolutely. I feel I mean, I feel like that’s often the case with the youngest when there’s like three in the family. I feel like the youngest is always a little bit of a wild child. But you’re really? Yeah. Keep keep keep a close leash on him. Oh, my gosh. Oh, yeah. So you talk a lot on your social platforms, about your disability, and you talk a lot of just about disability awareness, and all that kind of stuff. And you’ve mentioned on your social platforms that people didn’t think you could be an active mom after becoming blind. So I’d love for you to talk about that. And how you responded to those people both in the early days of losing your sight. And now.

Unknown Speaker
So there’s so many people that have said, I shouldn’t be a mom anymore, or I can’t be a mom because of my disability. At first, I actually believe these people, I was telling myself the same thing. I started feeling sorry for myself, down and out. And then one day just hit me. I’m still a mom. And I’m a really good one. So now I just tell her those people when they make those comments, just go follow my tic tock page, y’all like your you’ll see you’re wrong. I might not be able to do everything the way I used to do it. But I can still do things. I just had to learn to do it in a different way. Yeah, technically, the only thing I can do is drive.

Stephie
Right? Like there’s still so much that you can do you know, it’s interesting. I so I recently benched all of called the midwife, or everything that was on Netflix, and there’s an episode in one of the later seasons, where they you know, one of the one of the pregnant mothers is blind and she has everyone around her except for the midwives really like telling her well, you can’t keep this baby, you can’t be a parent. And which, even as watching while I was watching it, I was like this is to a completely bananas, like I understand. It’s just, you know, the show takes place in the 60s at this point. And you know, everything was very different back then. But even then, there I’m watching the show thinking with as these fictional characters, they get this has been added, it’s like, she can totally learn how to be a parent, she can totally still parent, even though she can’t see like, she can figure it out. And you know, they can figure out accommodations for her and all these things. So the very fact that you had people.

Unknown Speaker
Like it’s all the time, yes,

Stephie
it’s so hard for me to fathom that, you know, you are a parent, you have these little boys, you are married, you have a great support system, and you still have people telling you like, you shouldn’t be parenting anymore. Yes,

Unknown Speaker
it’s, it’s ridiculous. And I’m always just like, it’s mind blowing to me, but that’s why I try and share my story and bring awareness to this because a lot of people I feel like are just ignorant to this, you know, because before I lost my vision, I didn’t really know what, what it was, like, you know, like, I wouldn’t have paid attention, like when you walk out of a store before you get to the, to the very end to where you walk into the parking lot, those little bumps right there. That’s for us to know, like, hey, we hit those. So we know we don’t run into the street, I wouldn’t have known that before I lost my vision. Right? So it’s little things like that.

Stephie
Yeah. And I mean, I think you know, and we’ll, I’m sure we’ll talk about this again in a moment. But you know, ableism is just so endemic to our society. Like we live in an ableist society. And like, Guys, if you are telling a disabled person that they shouldn’t be a parent, I really need you to go check yourself. Yes, I need you to just go fucking check yourself. Because that is absolutely absurd.

Unknown Speaker
It’s bullshit is what it is. It’s not it’s just not it’s not

Stephie
real life. No, it’s not. So you know, I mean, and that’s not to say that you didn’t face challenges and you don’t still face challenges, you know, as you were learning how to navigate you know, both just navigate the world as a blind person as a disabled person, and also learning how to parent and so what are some of the biggest challenges that you face as a disabled parent here in America?

Unknown Speaker
Some of the biggest challenges I face as a disabled parent is basically just the lack of respect from other parents and people. I get talked down to entreated most of the time, like a freakin child. It is so frustrating. I just wish people would sit back and watch how I do things and take tips versus critical sizing. Why am I even trying? Like, yeah, I’m just trying to put in the effort for stuff and these people. There’s just a lot of rude people out there.

Stephie
Yeah. Yeah. There. There’s a lot of assholes. A lot of households in the world. So, you know, I think that we all need to remember that that disabled people are not like their people, you’re they’re adults, their parents, they have jobs, they lead a wonderful, fulfilled lives. So everybody needs to shut their faces. Your boys are in school now at this point. So I know that you’ve talked a little bit on your platforms about sort of some of the some of the interesting parts of navigating the American education system as a disabled parent. I mean, it is it is a wild ride for any parent. But I imagine as a disabled parent is especially wild. Tell me a little bit about that.

Unknown Speaker
So with the boys being in school, it’s actually not as difficult as I thought it was going to be least we have great communication with our school. And they’ve really went above and beyond to make sure I can still be involved. I even just set up a photo booth for one of my son’s fall parties. And I got to take the photos, I have the students on one end of my cane, and then I drop it down and click.

Stephie
Oh my gosh, I love that.

Unknown Speaker
Yes. Because that’s what I did before I got sick. And I would always be involved and go take pictures for everyone. And luckily, the teachers still include me and make me feel so good. Like, it’s awesome. I put a video together of all the kids voices. And I sent it to the parents and a lot of them were in complete shock. They were like, How can you even do this? And I’m like, inside just laughing like y’all, I used to be a photographer, like photography was my passion. I don’t want to miss out on this stuff. Just because I got sick and lost my vision.

Stephie
Right? Yeah, I mean, that totally makes sense. You know, I also you so you use puffy paint to write and like take notes and stuff, which I think is so cool. I think that’s a great just thing that you’ve, you know, started doing because obviously you so you know, you got sick in 2019 It’s just a few years ago, like, it’s, it’s not like you grew up reading braille or anything like that. Right? Like, Braille is a whole ass language people.

Unknown Speaker
Well, yeah,

Stephie
that shit is hard. Right? Like, this is not like, you’re just gonna be like, I’m just gonna figure it out. So you, you know, you had to figure out what was going to work for you. And so puffy paint is like your BFF. So, like, how, you know, when you’re like sitting there taking notes in your with your puffy paint? Like, what are what are those some of those conversations that you have with teachers in the beginning of the year to say like, Hey, you’re gonna see me doing some stuff, just roll with it.

Unknown Speaker
So my third grader, he’s in a different school, and I don’t really know the teachers over there or anything. And his teacher this year, she basically had no idea I felt like how to handle somebody blind or whatever. Well, then she just, like started watching me and paying close attention and just asking questions, and she was like, What can I do to help you, you know, like, help you and your son be successful. And we started working together as a team. And it’s, it’s working, like, I’m surprised that it’s really working the school is they’re great with communicating, and they’re very helpful with me, some of the parents, they’re like, we’ll be in a meeting, and I’ll have my puffy paint, and you can definitely I can fill the eyes on me, you know, right. But yeah, puffy paint is my number one fan. Like, my thing is, sometimes I forget that I have to let it dry. So when I go to write or whatever, I’ll be in school, and it’ll just like smear on my arm. And I’m like, Oh, great.

Stephie
Hope I didn’t wear a new sweater today.

Unknown Speaker
Yeah, pretty much.

Stephie
Well, I think I think that there’s a really great sort of nugget in what you just said, For if we have, you know, any teachers that we have listening, like, you know, your son’s teacher, she just said, What can I do to help you, um, and you know, that they, your, your kids, teachers have included you and made you feel like, you know, seeing what you can do to be a part of class parties and all of these things. And so I think, you know, a great takeaway for anyone, any educators listening would be to ask, like, don’t just assume, yeah, if you have a disabled parent in your classroom that they can’t help find, ask and find out. Yes, so

Unknown Speaker
my son, he had his fall party, and like I said, I don’t know Anybody from his school or anything? So of course, I’m like asking to sign up and stuff. And I don’t hear anything back. And I was assuming it’s just because she knows I, she doesn’t want me in charge of it, you know what I mean? And well, then she sent an email asking for helpers. And I’m like me, I want to help, you know, like, Sign me up. And I was just sitting here thinking like, Man, I don’t feel like she picked me first, because of my disability, you know what I mean? So I went in, and I showed her what I could do. And at first, she was like, constantly watching over me seeing what I was doing. But I finally was just like, I could do this. I am just like, the other moms here. I can take care of my station. And I did you know, like, it’s just got to communicate with these people and tell them like, and show them I basically, once I can show them that I can do it. They don’t care. You know what I mean? They right, deleting alone.

Stephie
And what a great lesson for the kids to see you in there. And to see like, disabled people are people like, she’s just like the other moms, like when your kids get older, and they have friends over to their house, like, their friends are gonna see you that you parent just like their parents do, and so many different ways. And I mean, I think that these are the things that are going to help change our perspectives and our kids perspectives as they grow and help them see like, oh, like, I do have a lot of like, just in all this ableism around me, and how can I be a better ally to disabled people and see them as people?

Unknown Speaker
Yes, absolutely. I actually got an email earlier today, because when I was at the party, I went in the hallway on and I was trying to walk back to the room and there was this girl down below, on the floor, and she was stacking up cups while I didn’t see her there. And my cane accidentally hit all her cups over and they fell over. And I was just like, I am so sorry, I didn’t see you there. And I get down there. And I’m helping her and everything. Well, I got an email today from a mom. And she was like, I was just standing over in the corner watching you and that happen. And I couldn’t believe that you were actually down there trying to find the stuff and put it back together for her. And I’m like, isn’t that what you would do to like? Yeah, if you knock something over somebody when you fix it,

Stephie
right? You don’t just say like, oh, sorry, sucks to be you.

Unknown Speaker
Pretty much.

Stephie
Right? Um, like I said, like I said, so I think sometimes adults are the worst ones, right? Like kiss. Kids go with the flow and kids until they have learned otherwise, from their parents. I think that kids just really are just inherently curious about the world. And they are just so open. And so

Unknown Speaker
when I go in, and I share my story to the kids classes each year, in the first year I did it is when Bentley was in kindergarten, and maybe it was all of his class, somebody in the class goes. Does your mom walk around with the pool stick? Oh my gosh, y’all, I could not stop laughing but it’s just like, that’s the innocence of a child right there. You know, like, it was perfect.

Stephie
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Unknown Speaker
Yes.

Stephie
What do you wish people knew about Disabled Parents?

Unknown Speaker
Basically, like, we still want to take our kids places, and we can still play with our kids. Like, every day I play catch with my boys. I’m on the trampoline, and I throw the ball by the sound of their voices. And then they throw the football back onto the trampoline. It’s great. Like, we figured out a way to still play catch. But unfortunately to a lot of people, someone like myself should just be like locked in their house. I’ve had so many people come up to me and say like, I can’t believe you go places with your kids by yourself. And I just want to be like, oh my goodness, y’all like I was gonna say the same thing to you. I can’t believe you’re out and about with your kids at a slab Park. Like, what the hell? What is going on? People seriously.

Stephie
Right? Because when because if you said that back to them, they would be like what? Yes. But they don’t even they say say don’t even think about how weird it would be to say it back right like you don’t want to spend all of your life locked in your house never never leaving your house again. And you know there are certain people certainly people who have you know, mobility issues and leaving the house is really tough for them. But like that doesn’t mean that that’s they should only be locked in their house. Like we’ve got to we’ve got to create a world where people feel like they can come out and yes, play with their kids and figure out a way how they can jump on the trampoline Wanna play catch with their kids and like, all of this stuff, but

Unknown Speaker
there this summer, I was stuck at home basically through quarantine the whole time because we did Homeschooling with our boys. So we are 17 months here. And I, I miss driving, I miss going places. And I’m like, What can I do with my boys. So I’m trying to Google what’s around here in there just so happened to be a splash park in a park that’s like, it’s a little ways of a walk, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still doable. And I can do it on my own with my kids. And that’s like, that’s huge independence. But when I go there, I’ve had so many people seriously, just come up to me and say, Are you sure you should be here alone? And I’m like, Are you serious? Like, why can’t I be here alone with my three kids?

Stephie
Right? Right. And I mean, I’m sure again, like your kids are old enough, that I’m sure that they know, like, okay, like, I can’t, I can’t just like wave at mom, she’s not gonna know that I’m waving at her, I have to say where I am, or, you know, like, they’re, they’re not, you’re not letting you know, you’re, you know, 18 month old run off without like, out of your, you know, arms

Unknown Speaker
race. And everyone’s always just like, how do you do it? Like, how do you know your kids are doing what they’re supposed to be doing? And I just have to trust that my husband and I did, my husband and I did, we worked really hard to raise our kids to be really good kids and to grow up to be great men. And before I got sick, my kids, like they still knew right from wrong. So after I lost my vision, I wasn’t really a scared, because I knew everything we installed in our kids already that I knew that they already knew right from wrong. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s not as scary as people make it seem like, like, I can’t believe you walk by yourself with them. And I’m like, it’s not like they’re gonna run off from me like they know not to.

Stephie
Right. Right. They know, they know better than that. They know, like, Okay, here’s what I have to do to help mom know where I

Unknown Speaker
am. Yes, they had to grow up faster, I guess you could say.

Stephie
Yeah, I mean, I think that that is I think that’s true for a lot of kids in a lot of different situations. And you know, as much as you I’m sure you wish that that wasn’t the case. You have figured out how to deal, you know, yeah, adaptive cards that life dealt you. Yes. So what are some things that sighted people can do for you, just in general,

Unknown Speaker
my main thing is basically, y’all just treat us equal. I feel like if we got treated like any other parent, or just person in the world, our life would go so much smoother. Like, it’s already hard enough having a disability. We don’t want to feel more excluded. So if there’s ever a blind person out and about by themselves, and they look like they need some help, like, help them, I’m actually flying across country for the first time by myself. And I’m really excited. But I know there’s a lot of people out there like there’s a girl flying across country. She’s blind. She’s from Kansas, y’all. But it’s like, I know, I can do this. I did it before I lost my vision. And I refuse to let my disease control my life. But I’m depending on the people like at the airport, or wherever, like, if you see somebody like myself standing there looking lost, come up and help us. Yeah, like, I’m hoping I’m going to get help when I’m off by myself. I’m like, oh, boy, can you imagine being in a whole nother state? Like, blind? Like, I am kind of nervous. So it’s like, okay, people out there like, listen, learn.

Stephie
Yeah, for sure. For sure. And, and I’m sure like, if someone were to ask you if you needed help, and you didn’t need it, I’m sure you would not bite their head off. Oh, no, I don’t need help. Sure. You just be like, No, I’m good. Thank you. So

Unknown Speaker
yes, my only thing that drives me crazy is like, I’ve had this happen a couple times a stranger has just come up and they’ll just like grabbed my arm and they’re like, Oh, are you needed to go this way? And I’m like, No, I’m not like who are you?

Stephie
Let’s let’s just like not touch people that we like, let’s not do that. I think I think maybe we’ve we’ve learned hopefully COVID has like, gotten some of that out of us. But people don’t touch people that you don’t know. Don’t do that.

Unknown Speaker
I know I just sent my husband’s all the time. He’s just like they don’t know how you react Ashley because he knows do not grab her like that because she will just like snap back and I’m like, yeah, not everyone’s like you Mike like they don’t see that crazy side of me.

Stephie
I mean, to be fair, if someone just like comes up to me it is like like, grabs my arm. I’m also not going to react well. Yeah. I can see them? So, you know, I don’t blame you for not not liking that very much. Oh, yeah. Oh my goodness. So you know, I mean, our we have so many systems in America that just need some help. I think that I think that we all know this, especially if you’re a listener to this podcast, you know how we feel about that? What are some ways that able bodied people can support Disabled Parents in America? Like how? What are things that we can vote for? What are things that we can do on an individual level, just to like, make your life better?

Unknown Speaker
So my thing is, is bringing awareness even to the white cane or service dog? I have been so many places, and so many people don’t know what a white cane is in it just It shocks me because I’m like, You see somebody walking with a white cane Shouldn’t you know, to get out of their way. But there’s so many people out there that have no idea. So I just wish people would talk about it more, because when people don’t talk about it, it makes experiences for my kids and I so much harder. We went to Worlds of Fun. A few weeks ago in Ken, when I walked up, this person was like, Okay, go to 14. And I’m like, what you know, and they’re like, go over to 14, I’m like, I’m blind. And they’re like, oh, what? And I’m like, I have my three year old son with me. And they had no idea what to do with me. Like, they treated me like an animal. I was like, No, Okay, nevermind. Like, yeah, it’s not gonna work for me. So I contacted the company, I was like, can I come and talk to your employees? Like, we just need to educate people like, talking about this is going to make people’s life like myself a lot easier.

Stephie
You know, I think that we, as a society, we like talk about disability in hushed tones. Yes. Like, it’s where we whisper about it. We don’t we don’t speak about it loudly. They might know. And then people might know that, yes, people exist in this world, like, so I think about you make a great point. Like when we just talk about things. It makes them less foreign to us.

Unknown Speaker
Yes, we just need to normalize it. And that’s what I’m always saying about with my kids and their friends and stuff. Like if somebody is asking a question like, hey, what’s mom? Like? What’s your mom doing? Like, what is that, that she’s holding? You know, like, Let’s go have a conversation with them. Like, let’s educate them. Because the more people that are educated, it’s going to be so much smoother.

Stephie
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, I think I think you know, you see this of like, because again, like we said, little kids have this just innate, like curiosity, and they just they asked these funniest questions. You know, I’m sure you’ve probably had kids, you know, see you in the grocery store and like, say very loudly to their mom, Mom, why is that? Like the, you know, I’m sure the parents horrified or like she,

Unknown Speaker
yes. So many times, though, I actually stop and get down to their level and I will just explain it because I know that that parent probably isn’t going to because they want it to be hush hush because they are embarrassed or they’re embarrassed because their kids didn’t know and they spoke out like I’m glad their kids spoke out and said Hey, Mom, Dad, what’s that lady walking around for why she just run into a wall like

Stephie
Right? Because if they if they say oh, she don’t ask questions that kids never gonna learn.

Unknown Speaker
Exactly. So I always feel more comfortable just when that happens. And I hear somebody I just stopped what I’m doing get down to lower level and explain it.

Stephie
Yeah, I think that’s I think that’s great. So if our listeners have you know, they really connected with you they want to learn more about their story they want to follow with you how can they do that?

Unknown Speaker
Y’all can come follow my tic tock page blind underscore mom of boys, my Instagram as well. In y’all can see my everyday life, just how I live. And if I’m going in for a second stem cell treatment, to hopefully get some more vision back.

Stephie
I am so excited for you. i My fingers are crossed. And you know, I love following you. I’ve I’ve learned so much from you. I appreciate everything that you share. I appreciate you coming on and talking to us about you know, what it’s like to parent as a disabled person and how that is changed for you. Since you lost your vision. So thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

Unknown Speaker
Yes, thank you so much for having me. I am all about bringing awareness to the blind and visually impaired.

What’s bringing us joy?

Stephie
We we love it. We love it. We love We’re big on awareness around here. So you know you Week we end out with something that’s bringing us joy. So Ashley, what’s bringing you joy this week?

Unknown Speaker
Who would ever think someone could get joy from work, but I am, like y’all, I have teamed up with some amazing companies, and one of them is orcam. And this past week, I reached more people than I normally do. And I got to show them how the org can has helped people like myself for the blind or visually impaired. I’ve been able to show them how you can read your favorite books, enjoy the morning paper, recognize loved ones, shop independently and so much more in knowing I’m helping other blind, visually impaired people gain more independence, because they may not have known about this device brings me so much joy and happiness because I know where I was when I first got sick. I was in that chair and the doctor was like, sorry, there’s nothing else we can do for you. And I’m over here like, hey, I want to still read books to my kids. Like, I still want to be involved, I still want to check the mail, I still want to read the paper. And now I can and because of this company, it’s just this company has done a lot for me. And I’m very appreciative for them being so helpful to the blind or visually impaired. So that’s why I have so much joy in my life right now.

Stephie
I love that. That’s amazing. Yeah, guys, if you go follow Ashley on her platform, she talks a lot about the orcam, and you can see her using it. And it’s really cool. And I love that technology has done like it’s just technology is cool. It is

Unknown Speaker
like who would have thought that there could be a device out there that when somebody walks by it could name who it is, like you can program in my kids spaces. And sometimes it’s funny because it’ll get them and they all look alike. Sometimes.

Stephie
It mixes them up a little bit. Yes. And

Unknown Speaker
it’s so funny. So when Bentley had long hair that was like the only time it was like get it all correct. And then when they all three shaved their heads when my sister in law got diagnosed with cancer and my mom, the orcam just kept saying, like the kid’s name like getting them all mixed up. I was like, Yeah, you guys are triplets. But I just wonder like, does Joey look like my other kids though? You know, cuz I never I I’ve never seen what Joey looks like now. So when the orcam does that I always get a little giddy inside because I know what Bentley and Ollie looked like at the age of three. So

Stephie
yeah, I mean, it’s like it is a little bit of like helping you cope in healing. It is giving you like a small piece of like vision back in that it’s, it’s sort of showing you like, oh, yeah, he does look like me. And I know what they look like, like, that’s really cool.

Unknown Speaker
You have no idea. That’s one of my top things on that device. Because that feature, it just makes me feel a little giddy inside because I can picture their little faces in my head.

Stephie
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it makes me want to cry. Um, that’s amazing. My My joy is a whole lot less wholesome. So, Megan, and I took a road trip this last week to North Carolina. And one of our former guests brandy suggested we listen to a podcast called My Dad Wrote A Porno. And it is it is a guy is a British guy whose dad wrote an erotic novella. And every episode, he reads a chapter and he’s joined by two of his friends and it is so hilarious because they’re just like, interjecting the whole time. It is like one of the like, worst pieces of literature ever to grace the planet. It is so hilarious. And they’re all British. So like the accents are amazing. And I there were multiple times where I thought we might wreck the car. We were laughing so hard. It was so it is excellent. So if you’re looking for like, if you’re looking for like some goods, yes, listen to when the kids are around, girl.

Unknown Speaker
I am all about that. You guys have no idea on that social media. People listen to the end of my videos. They’re like, so what’s that swing for really in your room? Or in the living room? And at the end of it? I’m just like, the adult swinging like what are you talking about? But no, that’s just where we like swing our three year old we put a swing in there and he swings and watches TV.

Stephie
Right? You’re like guys, it’s like totally normal. But if you want to make it be weird, I’ll make it.

Unknown Speaker
Yes, pretty much.

Stephie
Oh my gosh, I love it. Yeah. So you know if you’re looking for something very easily bingeable Because the step is those are pretty short. They’re like 30 minute episodes because they’re short chapters. But oh my gosh, they are so so funny. So you should

Unknown Speaker
check out in the dark. It’s about a blind girl. It’s on Netflix. There’s three series, it is so good. Like, I can’t even describe it. And you guys can get more of like, and then when you listen to it, y’all can feel more of how someone like myself lives. And when I listened to it was so powerful. I did not feel alone. And it I love it. I love how Netflix came out with it and put a blind girl on there.

Stephie
Oh my gosh, I love that. I just like I just googled and it says, And it describes the main character as an irreverent blind woman in her 20s Yes, she is the Reverend character. This great, I will definitely check this out. I’m always looking for something new to watch. So be

Unknown Speaker
addicted. Like we just finished season three. And I’m like, I’m not a TV person. Because you know, I can’t watch the TV anymore. So my husband actually went out and got us a TV that you like, just hit a button and it speaks it to you. So it’s like, the lady is walking into the room and sitting down at the table. And then the The story goes on. I’m like, so I can I can listen to TV a little bit now.

Stephie
Yeah, I mean, and that way it becomes a little bit like listening to an audiobook or something. Yes, absolutely. That’s great. Oh my gosh, I love that so much. Well, thank you so much, Ashley. It’s been a joy to have you here. Yes.

Unknown Speaker
Thank you. Seriously, this was so much fun. I missed you, Megan. Um, yeah, but I really enjoyed this conversation.

Next week’s episode

Stephie
Oh, thank you. Well, Thanksgiving is around the corner. And we are so ready. So next week, we’ll be sharing all of our best tips and tricks when it comes to cooking your Thanksgiving dinner. In the meantime, leave us a review on Apple podcasts and listen to us on your favorite platform. You can also follow us on social media at IRSIpodcast or send us an email at Idratherstayinpodcast@gmail.com We’d love to hear from our listeners. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai