Growing Up the Youngest Firestone

If I remember correctly, I didn't even think about the stairs. I was like, I can't go down the elevator. What do I do? 10, 15 minutes of banging on the door, crying later, I like I remember I was like I stop crying. I look around and I and I hear people down the hall. Yes. From their room. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Firestone Files. I'm Dr. Chris Firestone. Today we have a little something different for you. An interview, an interview with somebody close and near and dear to my heart. His name is Andrew Firestone. Andrew is the youngest of my five children.

and uh just going to talk with him about what it means to be a Firestone and any of his memories that he wants to shake out there and tell us about and get to know him a little bit here. Uh we've already if you want to go back and look at episode one, I introduced the kids and now we're getting a chance to meet them and I'll ask them about some of the things I said about them just to see if they think it was accurate. But that's it for you today. Interview with Andrew Firestone next on the Firestone Files. Enjoy. Okay. Well, welcome to the Firestone Files. What a uh what a moment here.

Andrew Firestone, my youngest son. Welcome to the Firestone Files. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, as as you probably know, uh we've been at this for some time now. And uh I wanted to interview all the main characters in the Firestone Files. And well, when I say character, I really I really mean Andrew Firestone for sure. Uh, good to have you here. Um, you got by now, you've you've seen my little my little blurb about you guys. I couldn't tell the whole story. I just introduced you in brief. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did. Uh, could have been better, but I I thought it was pretty solid.

I thought it was pretty solid for all the kids. Okay. All right. Thought the kids. So, I introduced uh you and then Rebecca and then Emma and then uh Matthew and then Hannah just in brief and um I used a Greek uh philosophy, the elements to introduce you guys and it was an insight I had many moons ago that maybe maybe the fire stones are, you know, representative of the five elements. Now, for you, I used water. I don't know if you recall what I said about that. And did it what how'd you react when you heard your dad introducing you as as water?

I thought I thought it was pretty spot-on. Um there were some things I can't distinctly recall, but I remember being like, "Oh man, that was mostly pretty solid." Yes. Um, so um, but most of it was, uh, most of it was pretty good. I I think that the the flexibility aspect of the personality of the um just being able to like chameleon your way in with all the other siblings with a bunch of different people I think fits me pretty well. Yes. Well, you know, it's hard to actually put any one person in any one category. of course. And none of them were like super spot-on, but the general vibe and the, you know, overarching theme I thought was there.

Yes. Yeah. Well, yeah. Thank you. That's good cuz I I thought it was too. And some were maybe a little more obvious than others, but I really think, you know, you're the youngest in the group at the time of taping here, 18 years old. And uh but the water element of being flexible, being intuitive, learning new things. Um, I'm getting to know that more about you over time because I know some of these traits just kind of started coming up in the last few years. And so I thought water was a pretty pretty good example of that.

Um, well, one of the things we want to do in the Firestone Files, at least in this interview, I'm sure there'll be more down the road as life happens to all of us, but uh, one of the things we want to do is just get to know you a little bit in terms of your upbringing and how you fit into the big Firestone scheme of things. Um, you were the the youngest.

As I think of the Fire Stones, we had two of our children born in Scotland and then three were born here in the United States. After I finished my PhD or came back to the States and started at Trinity, we had three that were born here. Emma was born first, then Rebecca, and then you. And uh and so that was um that was pretty, you know, that's always marked you in the family, you know, from from that standpoint. Um, maybe I just want to tease out at the beginning here some general thoughts about the Fire Stones. What does it mean to you to be uh part of the Firestone family?

I mean, I can get into the details with regards to upbringing and the stories and stuff. Oh, yeah. I'm sure we will. I'm sure we will even today. Um, man, that's a tough question. Um, should we come back to it like at the end? I mean, that's another that's another possibility. Um maybe maybe I'll give my super intuitive raw thoughts now and then we'll revisit it at the end. Okay. Does that sound good? That sounds great. Perfect. Well, I don't know how good these are going to be because that's a very deep question to start off.

You know, I'm a philosopher. I knew I'd throw you in the deep end. Oh yeah. 18 years. You are water after all. That's true. That's true. We're we're about to find out whether it's deep or shallow water. But um uh let's see. I think that as a Firestone um I I always think of ourselves as like first and foremost just like super independent like self starters for the most part. Yes. Um, and then but also we have like our family side of it is super like deep. Like we have great relationships with each other and I think that's what really defines it. We're all super independent.

Like going down the list like from Hannah all the way to me, I think we're all Yes. very independent. Um, but when we come back together like at Thanksgiving or Christmas, it's always a blast. Yes. And we click so well. Yeah. So, I think that's kind of what I've thought of our family as like individuals, but when you come together, it's like like I don't think when I'm at college, I'm defined by other members of the family. But when I'm back home, it's like one melting pot of like Yes. personalities and No, that's a good way of putting I That's actually pretty good start.

Pretty good. Um that's the person that I think that really was brought into sharp relief for me when we moved down here to Hot Springs on a couple of different levels. Well, you met I met a family is actually the president of a current school I teach at the Capaci family and they're a communal family. Yeah. You know, they're I would they're individuals, but they don't live life individually. Whereas the Firestones are kind of everywhere across the country. They've kind of moved out and done their thing, but we have a kindredness with the Capacities because we're just as tight as they are, even though we're separated by some.

That's actually a really interesting that's a really interesting comparison that I hadn't thought of. The Capacies, they like they don't live together, but at some points it can seem like that. Like they're always together. They're always doing things together. They they all live here, right? None of them are they're all in hot springs and they're all here live pretty close to each other for the most part and they're always together and they have this lunch after church like the whole family gets together. Eric talks about all the time. So, but with our family, Hannah's all the way in California, Emma's all the way in Illinois. Matthew and I are doing our own thing and we're in Nashville together, but we don't like see each other all the time, right? A couple times a semester. He's in the armed forces. You're in the We're an hour and a half away, right?

And Becca Becca's out in middle of nowhere, Indiana. Yes. Yes. So, but you guys always make an intentional effort. Yes. To get together holidays or even surprise events. I mean, I've heard of some things. Maybe you can tell me about one. I I heard you guys all saying, "Hey, let's meet at Was it Nashville?" Yeah. How did that happen? You know, this is just a starter here. What? So, I believe Emma and Becca had been talking about for a while. Emma roadtpping to Nashville, picking up Becca on the way cuz that's not She's not out of the way really. Um, that had been in the talks a long time.

Easy for Emma and Becca to do. They've been wanting to do like a road trip together. Yes. Matthew and I are in Nashville. Yes. Hannah hears about this. You know Hannah, she's she's not going to be left out of all the four other siblings. So, she gets a plane ticket. So, she gets a plane ticket. Yes. And I had a three-day weekend. Uh, so they got in late Friday. I guess I didn't really get to utilize the Friday that I had off, but got in late Friday, picked me up, we all drove back to Clarksville, learned how to swing dance. That was when we all learned how to swing dance for the first time. That's when Matthew taught us.

Okay. Because here's how I remember. Uh, I believe it was I think Friday night I was at Matthew's house in Clarksville. Yes. And this is actually a genius move from him. Great foresight. He was like teaching them how to swing dance the three girls when they get here. So much easier if you know. So actually how I learned was Matthew moved that table. Yes. Pulled up the rug and taught me how to swing dance. Yes. Right there on Friday night. Just the two of us. He followed while I led him to dance together for like 40 45 minutes. Wow. Great, great foresight from him because we get swing dancing the next day.

We get to swing dancing so much better because I I mean I'm not good at it, but I know the basic step and I can lead them. Yes. So that struck me for a couple of reasons. One, it was the first time I can recall that the five of you independently said, "We're going to make something happen." And the parents, well, they don't even know about it. and they're not invited anyway. Yeah. Did Did when did you guys figure out? Did you know before somebody gave me a heads up like something was happening in Nashville? I go, "Huh? Let me start inquiring around us." So, I started snipping around. I go, "Son of a gun. They're all getting together without us."

Yeah. Well, you know me. I'm not the planner. I'm not the planner. Emma sometimes. Matthew and Becca, also Hannah, right? They're the planners. I also I just heard like, "Oh, we're all going to be in town like two weeks from now." And I was like, "Oh, sick." That's great. Yeah, that's great. But I'm that You're right. That is the first time that a significant portion of the siblings have been together without the parents, right? More than two. And those combin I mean when you guys had that shared experience of swing dancing cuz Matthew's kind of a instructor of swing and he's got a partner and he's got a studio and you guys were all taking advantage of that.

you were in then able to break off into different combinations in different locations. So, you all have this shared experience at that point. Yeah. Um the having two guys and three girls, two leads and three follows very helpful for swing dances. Couldn't have worked out better with five people. So, uh but you're right. There's something about like dancing just like in general. I'm sure we'll get into swing dancing later, right? But like there's something about swing dancing that like you get to know the other person really quickly. Yeah.

And really efficiently with time spent like well this is as you know and not that we needed that as the sibl as siblings but like well with me directing the honors program here at champion and also interim director at turning point uh USA prep year. Um, I saw through you guys the way in which this kind of thing is there's a hunger for young people cuz we, you know, through co and through the internet and us all being disconnected that when you put together stuff like this, you get a comfortability and it's kind of it's kind of contagious. Oh yeah. I'm sure that if in your prep year you get Matthew down there for a weekend, right, teach swing.

Yeah. To a group of what, 34 students? Yes. somewhat evenly split among leads and follows. I'm I guarantee you it will spill over into following following days and weeks. Yes. Well, it will. It's fascinating that we started here because it wasn't my intention to start here. I was thinking chronologically, but you know, when you start talking about the nature of the firestone family, I think it's a good example of being able to do your own thing, but also bringing something to the table that maybe the others didn't know, but you guys get along so well that you learn it and like you're better because of it because all of you are participating in in whatever that thing is.

So, that's that's pretty cool. Um, so yeah. Well, that's kind of a foreshadowing really of where we kind of want to go cuz I want to talk a little bit about your upbringing. Now, in the big scheme of the Firestone story, some of you who've been listening to the podcast probably know a little bit of this, but my wife and I, Beth and I, your mom and I were um out overseas. We lived in Hong Kong and then we lived in Edinburgh. Two of the kids were born in Edinburgh and then three were born here.

But there was this long period where we were living on a a place called Williams Avenue about 2 miles two and a half miles from Trinity where I taught and that's really the what I would call the millennial era because that's the Hannah and Matthew era homeschool. And now you were there, you were born there, but you didn't stay long and don't remember that much of it. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I came into consciousness right about when we moved. My earliest memories are uh building that room add-on, the garage in the Williams house. Oh, okay. Super early with Brandon Love, I think. Yes. Yeah.

And um and TF Gford, I think. Don't remember him. I think Brandon Love, it solidified cuz he came in later. He came in all the time. All the time after that, but I also remember bringing stuff across the train tracks. Yes. When moving, like mattresses and stuff. I remember standing in the new house yard. Yes. And watching like you and Brandon hustle across Walk Heaggan with a mattress. But yeah, this is one neat part of that story that I probably haven't told at this point is that when the when we had the downturn of the economy, 2008, 2009, houses big a bigger house became available to us at a price we could just stretch and afford.

But it was right across the train tracks. You could literally see you can see the houses right each other couple hundred yards maybe I don't really know how far but there was a walkway across the train there and so we were able to move a lot of our stuff that way and the nearest crossing was like half a mile down it was Greenwood so it's like a mile and a quarter drive right it's actually faster to walk yeah you just walk across the tracks now while we were living in the new house they closed that track but we were able to move prior to They're closing it for safety reasons. They closed the metro, closed the little walkway we had between the houses. But all this to say, your era was more in the chapel house, which was a bigger home.

You even you had do you have your own room right away? No, no, no. I had I shared a room with Matthew. Okay. Cuz Hannah was still there. Okay. We had three kid bedrooms. Uh and then the spare. Okay. So, the eldest child always got their own room. So Hannah got her own room. Emma and Becca shared and me and Matthew shared. All right. And we had an extra room. It was kind of a play room up there. Storage room. Called it the playroom, but no one played in there. I see. And so you kind of graduated into the single room. Yeah. And when Hannah moved out, when Hannah moved out, Yeah.

Matthew moved in. And I remember Becca throwing a fit because I mean we're we're I'm eight. I'm eight. She's 11. So this is a long time ago. But Becca threw a fit because I got my own room as the youngest. Yes. Just because of genders. Yes. And Emma and Becca still had the share cuz Matthew got the single room. Yes. And then I got my own room. And I remember And that's the nicest room up there other than other than the master bedroom. Our room was the biggest other than the master. So the youngest child got the biggest room.

Yeah, I do remember that. Yeah. But I remember mom when Becca threw a fit one day like she was like, you know, based on your logic, Emma would get her own room and you would have to share with Andrew. Yes. She quieted down after that. She didn't she didn't want that. I wouldn't wish that on her anyway, but yeah. Wow, that's pretty cool. Now, um, so you get your own room eventually. Um, and Matthew moves in the other one. Uh let me just let me as as they come to my mind, let me mention three things and you tell me which of them you thought was formative or interesting or something that you remember.

Um I'm thinking of, you know, some of the story times that we had. Okay. You know, where I would often come in and tell these off-the cuff stories. We would have kids standing over and they're all sitting in your room uh hearing some crazy story I invented or something we're reading out of the book. I don't know if you remember the book of virtue that we used to read from all the time. Um, so that's that's one sort of thing that comes to my mind. Um, you know, when you're your your upbringing, you just homeschool, which was for the Fire Stones homeschool all the way through 8th grade. Yep. And then the high school's only I don't know, it's like just over half couple blocks away, just over half a mile.

Okay. And so we just thought for two reasons. One because it's so close. and two because you guys need to get into the world sooner or later. We build a good foundation and then you go to high school. So that's that's another thing that comes to mind, the homeschool to high school thing. Um and um I don't know, maybe maybe youth group and and and and church related activities. You know, we were that was our socialization for the first Oh, yeah. Uh you know, through 8th grade, you know, youth group and church and other activities that were associated with that. any of those things come to your mind in terms of being helpful, formative, interesting?

I think the most formative was like personally homeschooling, but I think that's obvious. That's eight years of like life transforming. Tell us tell us a little about your experiences there. I mean, what was unique about it? I know there were other people in the house often. I think the most unique thing was that we weren't like typical homeschoolers in like I got a comment when I went to high school. I think sophomore year um I got a comment from someone like you know you say you're homeschooled and I can see that but you don't seem like a super like not socialized person right? Like you can tell because I said it, but like he wouldn't have like like went out on a limb and said, "Oh yeah, you're not socialized." And I think that's because in homeschooling, mom had all the daycare kids there.

So, there were always between like 10 and 13 kids running around my age. Some of them my age, some of them a little younger, but there are always people there. And it felt like a daycare, right, rather than like a school. Yeah. Um, so I would do all my work and this is a great skill I now have. I can work anywhere under any noise cuz I did it all of elementary and middle school. Um, but I think that's the biggest thing for me was actually the homeschooling in conjunction with mom's daycare. Yes. and Shar and Shaya also being there. Um, Shar and Shaina were kids my age and Becca's age.

Yes, I believe. Two girls who homeschooled with us. So, it wasn't just the Firestones and younger daycare kids. There were two other kids who were also there. So, there's enough there's enough and aby was there for a year at one point and others. I don't really remember Aby as much being there, right? But there was enough personnel as is where I there was a social nature in and of the school that like I could be socialized in. Yes. Because there were so many people just running around. Well, it was always from my vantage point coming home and and and seeing the controlled chaos uh was fascinating to me. But your mother was so um I don't know organized, you know, with okay, here's here's what your your assignments are. Here's the rhythm of the day. I hear that bell go off. You know, the Pavlov's dog, you know, it's time for lunch.

Yep. Yep. She had that bell she'd ring at 8:15 a. m. every single day. We'd go have Bible time for 20 25 minutes and then we'd have we'd go work until we had a break at 9:15 for 10 or 15 minutes and then we'd work again at 9:30 until lunch. All right. Oftentimes we could get all of our work done then. Yes. But sometimes it'd go later and then you'd work after lunch until you finished. Okay. So it was always structured. I had the times ingrained in my mind. The lunch was always at 11:30 or noon. Okay. One of those two.

Yeah. And you know and then you're kind of the beauty of homeschool is you can get all your work done in half a day. Exactly. Best thing about homeschooling as well. Well, best thing best thing like for me now that you the value system and the learning is another thing. But the best thing for me like selfishly was that I could go at my own pace and get my work done fast. Yes. Get up early, play with all the other kids, right? Because you go to high school, there's so much dead time where like, yeah, I'll do homework, I guess, but like so much dead time. Like for me, PE. Yeah, like I'm a cross country athlete. Like give me a break. Don't make me go through PE. That just wastes an hour, right?

And it's a valuable hour. Didn't have to do that at home. Our PE was playing with the other kids. Yeah. You're wrestling and kind of locked into a schedule and you have to go with the eb and flow of whatever the day holds for you. Whereas you could be really productive in homeschool and kind of get your work done. And I there was a there definitely was a a uh correlation between how much oversight we had from mom and how fast our work got done because when mom was standing there, you got your work done so fast, man. There's a lesson in there somewhere, you know, accountability or something.

Yeah. I always used to whenever like I had in my mind, I got to get my work done. either I had something I really wanted to play with or something I really wanted to do. I'd always sit near mom. Yes. And it wouldn't even like she wouldn't help us. But she would always just like her being there just made it so much faster. Wow. Okay. Well, um that's pretty cool. I mean that the homeschool piece is something that unites all the kids. Oh, yeah. And uh everybody kind of did the same thing. I think Becca is going to be an interesting interview here down the road because um you know she took a hiatus for a year then went off to the grade school for a year and then she came screaming back.

She did not like that experience. Well actually I can't speak for I've never actually talked to her about it but well it seemed like well yeah she saw the value in the home school education. Yeah. I also think it's tough to go like fourth grade. She went for fourth grade. I believe it's right right in the middle of like it's not a new school, it's not a new environment. All the kids are already settled in. Yeah. And they kind of know each other and they have all those hurdles to cross. So yeah, you guys didn't have to face that until becoming fresh. Going into high school for me though was so easy.

Was it co Oh co were you a first year freshman year co freshman year co so much fun. It actually had some advantages as I call so much advantage. Yeah, just put co put me ahead of the curve compared to everyone else cuz nothing changed for me like I just like kept working from home and then I went to school or I went to cross country freshman year we didn't go to school but I went to cross country that's where everyone made friends that's why the cross country team my year was like so it was tight it was tight compared to other compared to other years and other sports because that was our friend group from freshman year. It was the cross country team.

Yeah. So, but that so that no one had any friends when I got in. So, it leveled the playing field. I was on equal footing. Wow. Yeah. I And what? Tell me if I'm remembering this correctly, but it also redshifted with soccer. So, you were able to participate in both that first year. Yes. Um, Becca, I had played soccer from second grade all the way through 8th. I wasn't very good, but I wanted to keep doing it. Well, according to your dad, you were the best on the team, but you know, I could Yeah, he kept saying that and it kept not happening. Well, you were defense.

It's hard to calibrate, you know. Yeah. Okay. Anyways, I really wanted to play soccer. Becca had gotten into cross country her sophomore year, so one year prior, right? Um she convinced me cross country is going to do great things for your fitness and track. So I was like, "Okay, I'll try it." That's why I did cross country. Like I didn't want to do cross country if you recall that convinced me. And it ended up being great because I got all my friends there and that was the friend group, right? And soccer got shifted and it ended up that I could do cross country soccer and track even though normally soccer and cross country overlap.

Okay. So you were able to experiment your freshman year because of this. Yeah. They started like making all the sports separated and and time slots and you were able to handle all that. I don't fully understand why they did that, but it worked great for me cuz I got to do all I might never have discovered cross country if soccer consumed. I wouldn't have I wouldn't have cuz I would have done soccer instead of cross country. Those two coincide and track is just not the same thing, right? And if I had gone into track saying, "Hey, look, I'm motivated and I want to be fit for soccer and I'll try and I'll work really hard."

They would have put me they would have put me in either mid distance or short distance because that's like what I probably should have been doing for soccer training. But you kind of enjoyed the soccer experience. It was at least it was socially but also the fitness side of it. It was like it was like a done deal at that point. So yeah, I doing cross country got me into long distance and track and I think I enjoy soccer more than I do running. Right. But here's the thing. That soccer team at DHS my year was so bad.

All right. And not just like skill-wise. Skill-wise, we were pretty good. I say we, I was on the bench, but skill-wise the team was pretty good. But the that was like the only real like high school experience where I had that like super negative, like socially negative, right? Soccer practices, did not like going, hated the team, right? Not everyone on the team. I have I made some good friends and I still have some good friends from that team, but like did not like it. Right. And I don't think I realized that freshman year because I did soccer sophomore year. Yes. Oh, right. You were still in soccer for I didn't do cross country sophomore year.

Oh, I didn't know that. Or I probably knew it but forgot it. Yeah. Almost. Well, I did soccer and then I was like, man, that's not sustainable, right? Like I don't want to go. I'm not going to get better even though I like it. Yes. I'd much rather do something I don't like with all my friends, right? Rather than something Yeah. because you're spending so much time in preparation with these guys and you're feeding off of each other. But if you don't have that in the soccer world, what's the point?

And also like the cross country team is terrible at making plans cuz the social time is during practice running, right? So I would never get to see them cuz they never make plans. It's always just practice, right? So, I was isolated from the team and my friends also through that time, which was not fun. I made it back to track in the spring sophomore year and I was like, I got good all of a sudden that one season and I was like, well, now now I'm well, I got decent and I was like, well, I'm way better at this and I'm starting to enjoy it, right?

And all my friends are here. It's a it was a no-brainer. So, your junior year, no more soccer. No more soccer. Cross country. They're all in on the so the the soccer I mean the track and cross country. Um so how did just to finish that story how did that all wrap up for you your junior and senior year? Did you continue in college at all or what or is that I think there's a reversal in there. This this is getting into more like life story junior and senior year, right? Like it was super formative because junior year lots happened. Like junior year was probably the most formative year of my recent life, right?

Um, and a large part of it was the, well, a large part of it, I gained a lot of confidence from cross country because I went from nobody to running on the state team all junior year of cross country. Like in the in like two months and I went from 1730 to 1619 in like three races right at the end of the season.

Yes. Made the state made the state. So, not going in super in-depth about the junior year yet, but like that and then I went to track. It wasn't like a phenomenal season, but it was like an encouraging season and I still got another year. Was that that year where I was witnessing you break the five minute mile? Was that that was the summer? That was the end of the sophomore year. Yeah, that's when I was like summer almost at that point. Yeah. Yeah. It was actually after the season, right? And I had ran 503 in the last race. We have time trials afterwards. I ran the first time trial.

I ran 5. 02, right? Or something. Terrible. Fisher, who was pacing me, felt so bad cuz he dropped out at halfway through. Yes. And he's way better than I was. He could have kept going, right? And he was like, "I'm so sorry, dude. I should have kept pacing you cuz my slowest lap was the third lap." So, I'm pretty sure that the second time trial was mostly for me afterwards. And they paced me. He paced me for three laps and I ran 458. And so the coach was really he recognized the significance for your growth of of helping you get absolutely cuz I mean I'm not going to train or run the mile, right?

Junior year cross country. It's going to be a full another year, junior year track. I see. When I would break five. So it was a significant development for me running wise breaking five before the cross country season. Yes. I don't know if I break if I don't break five, I don't know how good my cross country season is. But it solidified your thinking that you're making the right transition. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I saw steady growth, right? And I broke five, which is a big deal, right? I mean, sophomore breaking five. It's not like earthshattering. Most of my friends had you're in your right zone. Yeah. Most of my friends had done it, but also they've been training.

This was my like I was I just come back from soccer. like I was completely like not fit. It was like one season, break five. Okay. And now this junior year obviously super important. There's a lot of stuff going on there. Um senior year is that you're now getting ready for college. It was very testing for cross country because I was super fit that summer. Right after junior year, I had a decent track season. I think I ran 204 and 800, which is my main event. Not great, but if I can break two senior year, very doable.

Very good. I have a shot at state. So, I'm super fit that summer. Take the twoe break or no, we went to GLXC running camp. Then we took a two week break. Yes. GLXC I placed top five at the camp. So, I have a little medal. Yeah. Um, that was a big deal. And took took the two week or maybe it was one one and a half week break something. And then I started running again. started running um went to the Czech Republic at that point too. I see. So this is where the church stuff comes in. Yeah. This is Yeah, the church stuff has been going on all throughout junior year.

That was another another prong of like the formation of junior year. But started training again super fit like I was running I thought I thought I was running very well very well for a summer and then I ran the first race of the season 1625 6 seconds off of a PR. Not much in the three mile. Yes. First race start first race of the season and it was a terrible race. Like coach was like Andrew, you can you're you're low 16s right now. Like like terrible race. So I'm super high right now. Like great fitness, great signs. I feel like the the hammer's going to drop here. What? Where?

Got sick, injured, and then sick. All cons. I was out for like a month. Oh no. Out for a month. So, I come back. I actually ran a race while sick cuz I was like I was like, I'm I'm done. I want to keep running. I ran like 1645. Not bad for being sick. I'm like I still got a shot at making the state team. So, I come back. I start training again. And I think I was I say so fit. It's all relative. For me, I was really fit at the beginning of the season. I was so fit at the beginning of the season that I was still running decent times, right?

And I was still close to a state getting on the state top seven, right? Getting varsity. So I remember it was at church. I was at youth group playing soccer and Oh, I think I recall this now. I got tackled. I got tackled. Soccer tackled. I got Is this a toe issue? Yep. My toenail got ripped off. My big toenail got ripped off. This is two weeks before conference and the state series is right after that. Starts with regionals. So I'm out for a week. Out for a week. I come back on one week of training. I run a insane race at JV Conference cuz I was in JV. I was top 14 but not like not top seven, right?

So I ran JV conference. I got third and it was against the big school Nutrier. First time in like 12 years that they didn't get top five. Like one, two, three, four, five. First time that their 15 point streak had been broken and I broke it. I was third. It was a career. One, two, four, five. I got third. So that actually got me into regionals. Coach put me in regionals. Ran a crap race at regionals and I got pulled for sectionals and state. Okay. Wow. So I was the alternate at sectionals and state. Okay. That was rough. Yeah, that was rough. I I do recall walking through those with you thinking, "Oh my goodness, he's one off."

And he was all primed and ready, but a number of uh roadblocks and as soon as he put Jonesy, Ryan Jones, he put him in front of me um at sectionals and state. Great decision. He ran amazing. So, I definitely shouldn't have been there. It was just because Do you remember? No, you weren't there at JB Conference, but it was like this much water. Yeah. And it was so state the year earlier was it was like state. It was like state except at the Vernon Hills track and it was terrible.

That played incredibly to my favor cuz when the conditions get bad at the high school level the dice get rolled and the the position like the taller guy has advantages there. You got Yeah. Cuz it's suction. It's like I get my knees up. Yeah. And just keep moving. And the water like we were literally going through like Right. You have to hit literally less number of steps to run the race. Exactly. Like my stride length I noticed in that race. Yes. I remember I was running alone with like half a mile to go. Couldn't catch the first two. They were way out in front. But I had just passed the guy right behind me.

He was now in fourth. I was in third. I just passed him. And so I had like a stretch all to myself straight away. I was like, "My stride length is so long right now." I remember thinking that. I was like, "Why is my stride length so like long?" And looking back on it, it's probably because every step was terrible, right? And reducing those is probably It's like you're running on lily pads or something. This one to the next. Exactly. Well, that it sounds like um that sports were pretty formative for you, like a metaphor for your life, growth, um your socialization, um accomplishment, you know, and uh that that didn't continue in college.

You you decided not to go for the athletic or at least the the track and the cross country, but you went a different direction kind of interestingly back. Yeah. So I so senior year I trained that winter after cross country and I was doing pretty good. Um you know I'd say it was an average winter but going into track senior year I lost all motivation for it. I'm sure it had something to do with missing state like so barely. Uh, lights, please.

My apologies. Um, all right. Well, sorry, I didn't mean Yeah. Where was I? Oh, cross country. I trained that winter. Um, there was I'd say it was pretty decent training. Like not like great. Not like the summer before senior year, but it was good. But I lost all motivation to run. And I'm sure it had something to do with the cross country collapse. Yes, I think that's pretty good. The cross country collapse could be a chapter title. It could it could. No, that's if I ever write a book, I'm sure that'll be in there. You're also have graduation coming. You're starting to think about a future.

You you you you didn't have the fall that you wanted to have. Exactly. And um but you finished out. Yeah. I remember going to some of those races. I didn't I track senior year. You didn't quit track senior year. Is that right? Yeah. I started lifting instead. Okay. So, you make this transition. Is this now the new college mindset? I'm getting ready for the future. So, I knew already, you remember, I had inklings like, "Oh, maybe I want to run in college." Yes. Maybe I could run at like a D3 school or something. Yeah.

But by the time it had been Geneva versus Lipkcom. Yes. I was like, I'm not running at either of these places. Lip scum's D1. Geneva way too hilly. And also I it's just not the sports vibe. Right. Right. It's an academic school. Right. So I knew I wasn't running already. And after that cross country collapse, it was just okay. I was just done with running. I did I had no motivation left. I remember one of like it was like a mental breakdown. I remember it was the morning I went got my license for the first time. I came back and there was a mock meet, not even a real meet, a mock meet that night just to like open the track season.

I was still running on on the team, right? And I was like, I I don't want to do this. Like, I hate that. I hate the thought of going there and like racing. Yes. So, I emailed my coach and I'm like, I'm off the team until further notice. And I never came back. Wow. Okay. So, that that was a I wouldn't I wouldn't have ran in college. I already knew that. That's why that's one of the reasons why I maybe lost motivation. Yes. That in conjunction with cross country and everything. So, but also at that point I had a lot of classes with my friends. So, the social aspect didn't really take a hit. I was hanging out with Dane and Edwin.

Okay. So, those friends were solidified at that. Yeah. Because at that point, we were in highlevel math and then AP physics together, right? So, all my good friends I was in all the like STEM. Well, I noticed that even when you go back to this day, you you sometimes run with these guys or other Yeah. Like I'll go back and I run with I ran with Edwin when I went back. Unfortunately, Dane and Jonesy were in San Diego, but I got to see Edwin again. And if they had been there, I would have ran with them, too. So, you end up at Lipkcom University. You're now in your sophomore year.

Um, and you're taking up not running, but soccer. Soccer. Soccer. Yeah. So, this is like a surprise to turn back to your original full circle. Well, here's the thing. I started lifting the spring that I quit track senior year, right? So, I completely dropped running. I started trying to gain, right? So, you're out of I was 145, right, when I was running. So, you're seeing So, as soon as I don't have an excuse to be like this thin, you got to gain a little bit of weight, right? So I started lifting and eating and completely dropped running. And also without the friends there, the social aspect, there wasn't as much of an incentive.

So you can continue working on yourself, but not you don't have I don't have to do running. And I think I realized that and I much more enjoy lifting. I'll still go for a run occasionally. I still do love it, but it's not like something I want to be doing constantly or competitively. Or competitively. No. So, I get to college and I'm like, "Okay, I'm lifting. I'm not running." And I didn't do soccer that whole first semester. Um, but second semester, I have I have a good friend named James. He's not in my friend group, but he's in my engineering cohort. He's an E. He's a double E. So, we had all the same classes together.

We walked from class to class together. Yeah, he's from South Africa. He was in the soccer club. He was like, "You should come out." Right. So, I went out at the beginning of second semester and I was like, "Man, this is so much fun." I was like, cuz I still do. I love I love playing soccer. And how would you compare the social stuff with freshman in high school? Oh, it's so much better. Okay. It's James and his friend group, right? And even though I don't know all of them super well, I know that I got to know them and they're good people who I like playing soccer with.

Um, and it was also helpful as another outlet cuz I my friend group is a lot of people, 15, 18 people, right? And I think having another set of people, not like great friends, but like people who I hang out with during soccer was very helpful because I didn't really have like another friend group outside of that. Okay. Well, that I think we've pretty much handled the the significance of the athletic part of it. Now, now it's become a a a a sort of tag on to your college education, but it's still part of who you are. Um, now let's go let's go back a little bit because that um, you know, I'm thinking more about the family life and uh and so forth.

Um lot of highlights in your journey to Oh yeah. through the through the sports world, but inside the family um is there a trip or is there a a joint experience or what anything memorable uh that that you know would prompt you to think, man, I I'll never forget that man. uh like in terms of the family. Yeah. I think the the two big trips we took to DC and we took to Disney World. Okay. Disney World. Um I think because they were so different. Like we always went to Arkansas. We always went to Minnesota, right?

Those were every single trip that we went to one of those two places were basically the same. Yes. Like when we went to Arkansas, it was always crystal mining, mountain biking, hanging out with grandpa, swimming. Yes. When we went to Minnesota, it was always cousins, cousins, more cousins, and and a a few aunts and uncles. A few aunts and uncles. So, but we went to DC, we went to Disney World, and those were so different to any trip we took before. Oh, and the DC. I know we're thinking of the same thing. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about the DC trip. Now, just to set the stage, we went out.

There's colon. It's kind of a colonial trip. Yeah. We went to We went to Virginia, right? More We were more Virginia. Yeah. Not as much DC. DC was like a day trip, right? Yeah. DC was more a day trip. More day tripping. Yeah. And we were more in Colonial. We did Yorktown and, you know, a few of the other places there, but we were Where were we staying? We were staying at a uh at a basically a hotel-like place, but I think it was through maybe it was through somebody's um time share. Yeah, as I recall, somebody gifted us a time share from church.

I remember that. It was a good family that did that for us. Um so we took advantage of that as every homeschool family would. We got a we got a very nice place out there in Williamsburg and uh we arrived taking our minivan. And it's a big family trip to a place no one none of us had been to before. And you've never been to DC before that? I was at DC, but we stopped in Williamsburg. That was the area that I had I hadn't been there. And so we saw some, you know, really saw some pretty cool things. That picture of me, you and Matthew in the armor on the mantle in the new house.

Oh, I forgot about So they had the old immortalized from that trip, colonial towns and stuff that we visited. And so that was formative. But one thing that the family folklore always talks about, family folklore, this is family folklore is about you had a pension for uh I used to sleepwalk sometimes. Yeah. Uh it wasn't super It wasn't super regular, right? Like I wouldn't know, but I remember it was as early as like it seemed like it happened every once in a while, every few months or something. Every few months. And it was always when I'm super tired, right?

I remember that. I remember whenever I'm super tired, there's always a chance of sleepwalking. Yeah. So, this trip was brutal. Constant walking. Yeah. Constant like we're up. We're up a lot. And we're homeschoolers. We always go to bed at 8. Get up at like 7. We always get 11 hours of sleep. Me, I'm on like 8 hours. This is This is new territory. I'm dead tired. And I remember I still remember the dream. I'm dreaming and I'm dreaming that I'm playing with Emma and she had a key card and we walked out of the door. Yes. The hotel room. Yes. The door shuts and I wake up like the door is like loud and I like jump and Emma's gone.

Disappear. Emma disappears. I had been sleepwalking. Yeah. I'm eight. Yeah. Eight. Something like that. You're young. Young. Maybe younger. Maybe younger than that. super young. I'm super young. Seven, somewhere around there. I'd just start crying, just balling and banging on the door every and no one could hear you because in this time share we had there were two inner doors that separated two separate units. You had walked through two of them to get out and locked yourself out.

Mhm. No key card, no nothing. And I remember I used to have a fear of elevators when I go in them alone. All right. So I didn't use the elevator and I was too scared to go down the stairs. I don't even think I like and if I remember correctly I didn't even think about the stairs. I was like I can't go down the elevator. What do I do? 10 15 minutes of banging on the door crying later. I like I remember I was like I stop crying. I look around and I and I hear people down the hall. Yes. From their room. So I walk down the hall and I find the door and I can hear people in there doing stuff.

I don't know what it is talking. It wasn't like super loud. It wasn't like music blaring. It was like just people talking. Yes. So, I knock on the door and looking back on it, it was at 2:00 a. m. Probably not a good idea to knock on people's doors who are still up at 2 a. m. Um, but there I was and the guy later told us he was like, "Yeah, I looked at the peepphole and there's no one there cuz I'm too short." So, he opened the door. Thankfully, it was a very nice man. He took me down. I was like, "Yeah, that's my room." So, got the number, went down.

Yes. Went to the front desk and they called you. Yes. You didn't pick up. Your room didn't pick up. You woke up, right? I I vaguely recall getting up, but I don't remember how we got up. Yeah. I think they might have rang the phone in the room. No, they did. No, they did because I remember I remember he was like, "Man, they didn't wake up to that. That thing's loud." So, uh, we were all zked, obviously. Everyone was out. Everyone was out. Um we he was like you're sure that's the room number the attendant I was like yeah that's the room number.

So we go up there and with his with a card and he opens the door he opens the door again and there you are. You had gotten up. Yes. And maybe we had like knocked on the door and then you had heard it cuz you were already up from the phone, right? You opened the door in your underwear and I remember you looking just completely like huh? Like dude's like dead dead tired. Like you're not awake. And you're like, Andrew. I was terrified to go back to sleep. So I slept with a key card in my pocket and it was fine after that. Didn't sleepwalk. Well, that's pretty cool.

I remember it was later revealed later revealed Matthew cuz me and Matthew were sleeping in the living room area. Yes. Matthew had gotten up when I was up and he was like, "Andrew, are you okay? Go back to bed." And then he went back to bed and I walked out of the room. Do you remember that? I don't. Yeah. Matthew had gotten up and known he didn't know I was sleepwalking. It's just like, uh, but like he had gotten up and was like, "Andrew, go back to sleep." Yeah. Wow. So, well, he got a lot of crap from me after that. Well, a lot of things happen when you take journeys together.

It's unexpected stuff. I don't recall anything quite like that on the Disney World. I mean, the Firestone family has only once gone to Disney World. Seemed like an American tradition. And uh I don't even remember how we saved for that cuz it's obviously quite expensive. But it we went and uh I mean you mentioned it. Is there anything about I'm just trying that was a long drive as I was Chicago to Orlando in one in one go. Like 16 hours. Yeah, 16 hours. And we went through the night got there in the morning the next day.

I don't remember a ton. We had a lot of fun, but I can't We had a lot of fun, but there wasn't any like super moments, right? Um, if I remember, my favorite was not Magic King, Epcot. Yeah, my favorite was Epcot. I think there's a lot of our favorites cuz, you know, that's the one with all the different places around the world, right? That's right. Around the lake. Yeah. Yeah. That that was our that was our favorite. I remember because everyone loved one of the oldest ones there, but it's still we weren't very well traveled. Well, not the kids. So, we we had a lot of fun going around all these different countries.

Yeah. Oh, that's super cool. Um, so we had some of those trips and uh Yeah. Um, just you know um what what else is there anything what would you consider? Let me ask you this question.

Do you consider mom and dad like real hands-on sort of what they call helicopter parents or do you consider mom and dad more what they call free range kind of let you guys do your own thing somewhere in the middleange who why why hold on a sec I guess to consider myself free range mom really like that I mean okay well here's the thing I think um it differed a lot from kid to kid I'm sure you were helicopter parents for him you now there's some truth to that I think.

Yeah. So, and it got less and less and less. Yes. And by the time I was in seventh, eighth grade. Yeah. It had all but disappeared. And then mom stopped doing daycare. Yes. So, there's no kids, she didn't give a care in the world to what I was doing from seventh and eighth grade. So, it was a lot less structured. It was a lot less structured.

And you're and I remember there's one t there's one time we didn't do this much but there was one time I was out with the cross country kids late and I came back at like 11 and mom was like oh hey Andrew where'd you go and I was like oh I was just out with the cross country kids and she was like okay like 11 that sounds a lot more like my upbringing more than what you would expect from a homeschool family. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. at at that point from like seventh grade on, right? It was all broken cuz mom that the the um structuredness was broken, right? Mom did not have did not care 13 kids in the house. Did not care about structuring anything anymore. She was completely done with that. Then she got the job at church. So she actually had things to do, stuff on her mind, but it wasn't us or wasn't me for once.

Okay. So, and you have never been a helicopter parent ever. So, well, I can't say you're wrong about that. I didn't know that. I didn't know what that was until I met some people in church. So, I saw, oh, that's a very different way of raising your kids. Yeah, that that kid is super disciplined. Oh my goodness. Okay. Well, yeah. I I I got to agree with you that Hannah and Matthew definitely had more regimen, you know, in their daily uh structures and then it seemed like with every kid that began to slip away a little bit. Yeah. And I think the the home the not homeschooling, the uh daycare got a lot bigger when Hannah and Matthew left.

So there was still structure, but mom had a lot less focus on us, right? There's a lot less focus on us. So it started going down even before mom I see eliminated the daycare cuz there was so many kids that she just like now how do you I mean this is a little more philosophical question but how h how does that make you different or than your other siblings I mean you know you got Hannah and Matthew we have one who's you know at you know running an institute out in the west coast we had another one who's a green beret now your path is not yet set.

You're still in college and stuff. Um, do you see any any differences in how those upbringings have played themselves out in your life? I don't I don't know if it's it's not easy to put your finger on one specific thing. Um, but if I had to, I guess it would just be like Hen and Matthew always seem to have a plan, right? Like for their life even, right? Like Matthew, you know, he's got he's got a plan for like 5 years down the road at least. If he's if there's a superhero, he's like Batman. It's like he's always got something. Yep. Yep. He's always he's always got the next steps in mind, right?

I'm not like that at all. And I don't know if Hannah's a little bit more of like a free spirit, but even she plans she's a firstborn. She's she's she plans much more than I do. Right. like my day like I just I have in my head what I want to get done, right? And I try to get everything done by the end of the day, but it doesn't always happen. I don't ever write it down. I don't ever have times for anything. And even beyond that to something bigger like college, do you remember how I accepted Lip Scum's offer?

Oh, yes. Yes. This is where I do not care where I went to college. Well, this was this is worth at least giving a couple of minutes here to because we went on the typical Firestone family tour of colleges. You know, I was a professor at Trinity and we had access to a variety of good schools that might consider giving you a free tuition waiver, that kind of thing because of my 25 years of service. And it really boiled down to two schools. In the end, it was two schools. It was I had mentioned this before, Geneva and Lipson. Yes. Um, and they were very different, but they both had everything or they both had stuff I wanted, right?

They had the they had the engineering. They both had the engineering school and they both had people who were close to your life living locally. Yeah. Matthew was in Nashville near Lipkcom. The Pierces were out in um Pit, Clinton, Pennsylvania. Like way nearer to school than Matthew is to me now. That's right. um like half an hour. So they were like 30 minutes from Geneva College and your and Matthew was kind of an hour. So different the schools. Geneva was a small school, super engineering focused, super academic, kind of communal communal very right on the river, small town.

Lipkcom is a little bit bigger. I mean it's not a big school, right? It's like 3,000 students, right? Um but it's a little bit bigger in the center. in the city. Yeah. Well, not in the center of the city, but it's right it's like in city boundaries, right? And it's still communal cuz it's like private Christian, but it's less communal. There's outside influence, right? You're integrated with the local community out of necessity. It's a big city there. Exactly. And so you, as I recall, you got good packages from both of them and it was a similar financial, right?

the arrangement the finances were a wash in terms of what they would mean to you ultimately but um we visited both had great experiences at both and you know if you could be in two places at once you might have done that I I liked both um I really did from an academic and loved honestly the pierces being near Geneva yes was a huge of us. That is really the only reason that gives me hesitation right now because Matthew, he's so much more busy, right? And he's further away, right? And it gives me a lot more independence. I still see him a couple times a semester, but it still gives me a lot more independence, but but you're on your own.

Yeah, I'm on my own at Lip Scum, more so. And now here's the point of decisions fascinating. So you're you're in both. You're having a little bit of cognitive dissonance about the whole thing cuz I keep your mother and I and others keep asking you what which one you going to choose and you're like I don't care. I really didn't care. Like this is the this goes back to the water thing. But it's also like I can do good in both. I really don't care. Wherever I go I'm going to Yeah. I I was confident in both that like if I go there I'll have a positive experience.

Positive experience. So, one of them, and this might be a lesson for us who are in academia. Yeah. They said, "Look, we gave you a deadline. We're going to hold you to it." No, she she we call she called us. She's like, "Today's the deadline." Oh. For the offer or something like that. The offer The offer snuck up on us somehow. I forget if we called and she was like, "My adviser is she and she was like, "Yeah, the deadline is like tomorrow." or if I forget if she called me. Yes. But somehow we figured out the deadline is like the next day and I believe I said I asked her, "Can I get a day extension?

Can we get till tomorrow?" Yes. And she was like, "Yes." So you went into Yeah. I went into I didn't even like I didn't think about it the next day at all any like I knew that the deadline may have been your subconscious processing but you weren't consciously thinking about I really still wasn't thinking about it. I was like I don't right it was such looking back on it I really should have been a lot more like invested in where I go to college but I really wasn't. Well, that's very different than you and uh and Hannah and Matthew. That's because they were I'm sure had a lot more Yeah.

They had they were laying out fleece and they were really trying to grapple with where they should be in life, but you were more like, "Oh, doesn't doesn't I don't have a plan and I'll do great in both places." So, so they held your feet to the fire and I remember you basically saying I I remember I remember you told me, Andrew, you should accept this. You have two days to go back on it. Call her and you can say, "I slept on it. It didn't didn't sit right." Right. Just I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take back my my Yeah. There was a And you told me that and I was like, "That's a great idea. more non-committal. So, I committed to Lip Scum.

The committed non-committed uh Yeah. Yeah. I accepted Lipkcom's offer and I didn't think about it again. And it sat okay with him. It sat okay. It sat okay. And I was like, I think your idea was like, you know, if he accepts it and he doesn't, it sits well with him, just make an make an existential decision. Yes. And take the leap. So I ended up accepting Lipkcom's offer, declining to Did you have any buyer rem not buyers remorse, but regret of losing the other one? No. Cuz it wasn't a it was a non-reality until you took it anyway. Exactly. Exactly. It was like I really didn't.

Okay. Well, it you know when you when I'm looking at life planning and I see they are pretty divergent and other similar educations and some different one's a community focused more intense kind of module format or cohort kind of format and this one's much more open city. Yeah, I think that one Geneva would have been a lot more like you find internships through your professors, through the people you know, through like through the local community local community. Lip scum's a lot more like oh man, you got to find internships everywhere. You just got to start applying, right?

Yeah. All over the country. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, Pennsylvania is a little more insulated as a as a place and then Nashville is a little more international. So we uh you you you had a reasonably good time at Lipkcom. Yeah, I had a great time at Lipcom. Uh you know there were the points at the beginning where before I found my friend group it got rough but after that it was great experience so far. Okay. Well that's cool. So you're uh you and Becca are college people. Emma graduated from Aita Baptist and we'll hear from her later on and Hannah graduated from uh Amherst.

Um Matthew went a different route. He went in the military. Um but he's been working on his degree de facto through the military which is almost done, isn't he? I think he's close. He's very close. Yeah, almost done. Maybe he's done even. You never know with that guy. Yeah, you never know. So, um so yeah, all that's all that's really cool. Um what uh I don't know in terms of parting thoughts. Uh do you have um any uh your other siblings? You know, any thoughts about your other siblings and how you fit into that? You there?

They're going I'm going to ask them the same question. Okay. Uhuh. about you and about their other siblings, but you know, how do you how do you process being fifthborn and how they, you know, we talked about it earlier. Maybe this is kind of our last, you know, question for you, but as you place yourself among them, you know what? Let me give you one example. I have a template and the template is I've got a girl boy combination and a girl boy combination at the beginning and at the end.

And then you got Emma in the middle and she doesn't have a compliment the way those two and the older ones they're I I don't know if they're the millennials or what you know they were they were born pre 2000 and you guys were born post 2000 and we have fun thinking about that. How do you is there a template you process? Absolutely. And it's different from yours. Yeah. Emma and Becca are best friends. I think of them together. Yes. And myself is more of the lone. right with Hannah and Matthew as that's interesting old people. That's how I think about it. Um because like Emma and Becca have a much better well not better but like a much more like much they're much more bonded than me and Becca are.

So like their personalities blend. Yeah. And they're both girls. They're the only siblings who are the same gender right next to each other, right? And the Do you remember at Hannah's wedding when the photographer was taking pictures of us four? Matthew wasn't there cuz he was in the military, but he uh he was like, "Look at your favorite sibling." Immediately me and Hannah looked at each other and Emma and Becca looked at each other. And I think a lot of the times that's not how I think about I think that's that is how I think about the family where me and Hannah are best friends, Emma and Becca are best friends and then Matthew's sort of on his own, right?

But then when I think about like in terms of age and in terms of like chronological order and Matthew, Emma and Becca and then and then you interesting. Funny. It took me interviewing you to actually hear that and uh process that a little bit. Um does that work itself out in your life in any kind of significant way, do you think? Or is it I mean are you more independent or are you you know? Yeah, I think that like when I was a kid there was a there were no other boys.

It was Shira and Shaina. Yes. And then Emma and Becca. Oh, right. So there was an aspect where like I am on my own. Yeah, I see. But like and I think that contributed it to it too as well. Yes. Like contributed to the feeling of like me well being the fifth more and they they start disappearing from the house and you end up being by yourself. Hannah and Matthew I don't remember Hannah particularly. I don't remember much about when she was living with us and yet you still feel relatively close to her. Yeah because she She made the most exerted effort to include you in the mix.

Yeah. And I think also she didn't have to deal with me. So, man, nobody she was out of the house. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Um, but I remember those photo shoots she used to do with me and her. She used We used to do photo shoots together. Me and her. Yeah. Well, that's pretty cool. I just as a sort of as we wrap up here, u you know, there's a lot more we can talk about and I try to mark these things down and revisit them later and I'm sure we'll have a chance down the road cuz it'll be fascinating 10 years from now if we do this again. The podcast's still going, you know, who knows interview and and and part two and see where where your journey has taken you. Um but uh you know, I think of things like I would never have become a soccer referee if it wasn't for your involvement in soccer.

You were barely a soccer referee. I I had to go through the training because the problem was you had to forfeit if you didn't have a parent who was trained to be a referee if the referees didn't show up. So, strange rule, but I can see why they do it. But I did the class and I got the forum and I went and I refereed a couple of games. I No, I was Do you remember Do you remember you getting into that really big argument with the other coach? Yes. That's That's what's got me down that pathway. Um because it was technically an away game.

Yes. Away game. So they they had to supply the ref. If the refs didn't show up, the refs didn't show up and the guy the other coach threw a hissy fit. Yes. And you didn't help the situation. You escalated it. You started yelling at him like, "You need to be the ref." And you were right. But like you guys had like a yelling match and I remember the kids were just like, "My apologies." You know, Brickyards, you know, Brickyards like up on that little hill there where the benches were. Yeah. We were all the kids were just up there like climbing trees. Well, you and the coach were like were going at it and the parents were on the other side of the soccer field just like, "What's going on?"

Yeah. Eventually, you were like, Eventually, he was like, he was like, "Yeah, I'm wrong. I'll ref." And I don't know, was he a qualified ref? Probably not. Probably not. He probably just I don't believe he was because he wouldn't. Yeah, cuz he would he would have taken it a lot better. Yeah. If he was, but yeah, that that you say that and that's the memory that comes to mind. Wow. We could go with these prompts all day long. But um story after story. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming. You know, I know you're on your way, uh, out of town here soon.

So, um, so I wanted to get this interview in while I still had you around and, uh, and, uh, hopefully we get to interview your other siblings and then people can, uh, kind of share, yeah, share their own, uh, comparisons and thoughts about how that all relates to each other. I don't know how many of these I'm going to listen to cuz I probably heard all of them before, but I'm definitely listening to the siblings interviews for sure. Yes, cuz I have a feeling they're going to get even more interesting. You better not give them any of your details because you want them to be off guard.

Well, okay. Well, thank you so much for coming and uh we're going to draw to a close this interview of Andrew Firestone on the Firestone Files. Thanks for coming and bye for now. See you guys next time. Thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me here on the Firestone Files. I hope today's reflections offered you some new insights and perspective on life. If you enjoyed the episode or found it valuable, I'd appreciate it if you'd take a moment to like, subscribe, and share it with someone you care about. I'd also love to hear your thoughts. What resonated with you? What challenged you? Or what would you like to hear more about in future episodes? Drop a comment below or send in your suggestions to the email in the description. Your input helps shape where we go next. This has been Dr. Chris Firestone. Until next time, keep asking the big questions. And remember, the kingdom journey is always best with your friends. Further up and further in. Bye for now.

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