The Achievements of an Oldest Sibling
The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren — Dr. Chris L. Firestone
May 4, 2026 · Episode 38 · 55:17
https://drchrisfirestone.com/episode/the-achievements-of-an-oldest-sibling/

Transcript is auto-generated from YouTube captions and lightly formatted; it may contain errors.

Hey everybody, welcome to the Firestone Files. I am Dr. Chris Firestone and today I have a very special guest, my oldest daughter, Hannah Elizabeth Firestone. That's coming at you today on the Firestone Files. All right. Well, we are getting started here with an interview I have been after for months now. Uh Hannah, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here with you. Well, it's uh a real honor to have you here. Not only because you're the oldest and you've been around the Fire Stones the longest among the siblings, but uh because you live in California, it's really hard to uh to to get you uh on in person like this.

I don't know that your viewers will notice because probably it'll just be released with the That's true. Well, we're we you know, full disclosure, we are here in Minnesota. Obviously, a new setup uh because it is New Year's Eve here in uh I'm not exactly sure when this is going to release, but uh only time we've had to be together in quite a while. That's right. It's been over six months probably. Okay. Wow. That's uh pretty amazing. Now, those of you who've been watching the Firestorm Files probably know that on this very trip was my birthday, and you came along and came early and worked with your four uh siblings to surprise me for my 60th birthday. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about that and and how you're here now. Well, if you have been watching the show, you have seen the Firestone 5 takeover, which was dad's 60th birthday episode. I think it was episode 19.

19. Um, we conspired to do that takeover a few months in advance. Went our separate ways, did some planning of content very loosely. Um, and I ultimately we decided that what was necessary was for the five of us to be in person, which as you mentioned does not happen very often. So, this trip was the only time that we had. and I hopped on an earlier flight than you were expecting me to be on in order to get here, sneak into an aunt and uncle's house, film the Firestone 5 takeover, and get it posted the next day thanks to our producer. Yeah, I honestly I I did not have any idea, which surprises me because usually I have an inkling of these sort of things.

That's not true, but okay. Well, okay. I'm not that observant, but I, you know, I, you know, a little little bit surprised when I saw the trailer uh on my birthday and then I saw the uh the release and uh I have to say it brought a tear to my eye as a guy who has a December birthday. I'm not used to I mean, when I was little, I didn't like December birthdays. It seemed like I never get any presents or at least I never felt like they were as good as everybody else's. But you guys really knocked it out of the park. So, thank you for that. What an honor that was. Yeah, no problem. Um, yeah. Well, I am uh I am intrigued to have all of the kids, you know, talk a little bit about growing up as a Firestone. That's really my primary objective in this first conversation.

I would love down the road to get something more vocational, something about what you're doing today. We might get to that point, but I don't think we're going to be able to do a deep dive into what you're currently doing. But, uh, I just wanted to begin this first interview with, uh, you know, looking back a little bit. You are the oldest. There are things that your siblings can't really address that you maybe can. And, uh, probably even in more detail, maybe, I'm hoping, because you're a little older at every stage of the Firestone journey. And so that's that's my primary objective is to talk to you a little bit about that.

Yeah. Um so let me start off by just asking you about now there's there's five siblings. You're the oldest. You and Matthew were born in Scotland. Correct. And the other three were born in the United States. Do you remember any of that? Does that feed into your selfidentity at all? How does how do you uh how do you process that as a Firestone? As a kid, I think it did. I was so proud to have been born in another country. I love traveling and I thought it was just the coolest thing ever.

As an adult, having encountered many more people from many more places, I now realize that it's not particularly unique to be in this country, but having been born somewhere else. However, in our family, it still is. and it was a big part of your journey getting the PhD which is really cool. Um and so it's really fun to have the early stories of time with you and mom there. Um in terms of actual memories, I think I was there until only one and a half or two. Is that right? I mean or I guess two maybe if if Matthew was also born there. So, I don't know that I have any real memories.

I do have some some type of recollection of Matthew being born and gifting him the shells that you and I had collected from beach, but I don't know whether that's fabricated based on pictures and stories or real memory. But I do have that. It's in there. Yeah. Um, but that was more about the birth of my brother than the location that I was in. Now, you you uh you weren't conscious really of all the happenings in Scotland, right? Um, but uh you probably have heard a few stories. It's legendary stories about Hannah having collic when she was a baby and uh really I guess crying for about six months or something like that.

Um, sorry about that. I'm not sure what to add. Yeah. Well, I'll just tell people who are watching that it's in fact true. And the the only way to get you settled when you were that young was to take you outside. You were I don't know if that says something about your current personality. When you're on the run, you're more comfortable or something. But as soon as mom would I would get home, mom would put you in the front pouch facing outward and we would start walking the streets of Edinburgh because it's the only way to get you to calm down. uh the wind would hit you in the face and you would just stop crying and just start enjoying the sights and sounds of uh Edinburgh walking around with your dad for much of the evening actually until mom got home.

Yeah. Um and so that was that was a really a key memory for us for sure. Uh I think there's probably four or five couples out there who delayed having children because of your exploits in that age. Anyway, not that that was one of my fun facts growing up that I would tell people I was birth control for so and so and so variety of couples. Yes, for those first years. Anybody who babysat you is for sure. But uh I think I always process that as if we make it through here Lord she is going to be a special person. That's the way I always process that because we get through this.

I mean there must be some reason for this. It's very optimistic. Well, I I think there's a certain amount of truth to it actually. Okay. So, we move from Scotland. I'm doing a PhD. We were there from 90 end of 96 all the way to 1999. You make it back to the States. We get a house on uh on Williams Avenue in Deerfield, Illinois. And I guess that's kind of where we could pick up the story. Uh any earliest memories that uh are significant to you from the period Williams? Gosh. Um well, I remember bunking with Matthew and being very upset about having to transition rooms.

We had a little It was a three-bedroom ultimately for five kids at one point. And so having to move away from my best friend because of gender dynamics when the girls were born was a bummer for me or when Andrew was born rather. Okay. So early on you and Matthew were in one room. We used the other one as a guest room. Mom and I had a room but you remember Emma coming along and well the girls shared the other room until Andrew was born and then the three girls had to move in.

I see. And the boys were in the other room. I do remember. And Matthew and I were real buddies back then. We still are. But it was a kind of a partner in crime situation. Yeah. Well, you had uh you had bunk beds plus this raised bed that you had the loft. The loft bed. Three of you in a fairly small bedroom. Mhm. Um there was a point at which we were because of finances and because Deerfield was a fairly expensive place that we were resigned to stay there. Um how would that have changed things if we had to stay there? Uh we didn't move for a number of years and you were there with three of them in that bedroom.

Yeah. I had carved out my private space as the oldest with seniority by kind of having the loft bed where I could read at night um and sneak in snacks and stuff like that. Um I had most of the closet I think to myself. So, I I think it probably would have been more detrimental for the others such as Emma who cares a lot about personal space and um but getting my own room when we moved was great too. I'm not sure I can really talk hypotheticals on this one. Yeah, but I have another early memory and this is my earliest public memory which came up in a class in college I think.

What's your earliest public memory? What's the earliest memory you have of being a part of something bigger than just yourself type of idea. I'm not sure what the significance is, but it's interesting to think back to. For a lot of people that are maybe a little older than me, it's 9/11 and it's being a kid, you recognize that going on. Um, but for me, it was the White Socks victory parade.

Oh my god. Ingot was that 04 or '05? It's 2005. 2005. Yes, we marched or we attended the White Socks Victory Parade and that was my first memory of realizing, whoa, all these other people are in the fandom with us. Well, we were Yeah. You and Matthew went with me on the train downtown. Yeah. Matthew didn't mention that, but I still think it was formative for him in some ways. I carried with me one of those uh wooden three ladders that I carried with me downtown. Right. We got off the train and uh we walked in the largest crowd either one of us I think have ever been in.

Um that was a a million, two million. I'm not sure how many. But we were right up near the front by the podium. We made the Chicago Tribune if I'm not mistaken. We had these little these little uh banners, I guess, these triangular uh uh pennants that we had made. Yeah. And at a key moment when the crowd was pushing so tightly, I stood on that three step ladder and I held you two guys in my arms. Yeah. And um you guys were waving the flags. Yeah. And we saw those flags in the tribune the next day. Um I don't know if we could really make ourselves out, but we could definitely make those those penants out. Yeah. So yeah, that was super cool. I must have footage of that somewhere. I'm going to bring that out one of these days if I ever find it. If you have time before this podcast airs, maybe maybe I'll show a little bit of it.

Yeah. Roll clip one. White songs victory parade. Yeah. Well, it um it was on tape and yeah, it's not digitized. Yeah, it could take some doing to find it. But anyway, uh yeah, that was that was pretty amazing. Now, thinking also about Williams, um I tell a story in one of the Firestone files about a uh about a do we have a garage sale. Yeah. In which we sold a bike. Yes. Do you remember that story? No, I do not. But I remember listening to it on the podcast as well as you telling it many, many times over the years that I was very proud the bike had been sourced from the garbage and I told a customer that.

Right. And do you remember the uh what do we call those runs? The uh what do we call them? Dumpster diving. Dumpster diving. Of course. Of course. That was a huge part of all of our childhoods, I think. Okay. All right. We would we knew which day. It was not just I think we talked on the fire student files about on the fire student 5 takeover about going behind the jewelosco and raiding actual large dumpsters. Yes. Which usually looked like sending the oldest two or three kids out to hop inside and dig around and come back. Jewelco. In fact, I tried to avoid the grocery stores cuz they can Well, behind the Jewelco was the halfp price books. Oh yeah.

Dumpster. It would be the same strip mall. Not grocery. Yeah. Not grocery store, right? Okay. Yeah. There were like a furniture. A Target I think actually was a great one. Yeah. Yeah. We found a few things that would go in our garage sales. But what we also would do is, you know, when garbage day is for the wealthy neighborhood surrounding us. That's right. And we would go out on garbage night in a particular area and find stuff to Yeah. pick up to sell or to keep. Exactly. Yeah. That those were fun times. Those are family times. And I think actual thrift stores was a relatively later development and maybe more a part of the youngest kids experience.

Yeah. I think we were the dumpster diving likened me to the fact that you could make money on some of this stuff and of course we started thrifting and uh I started collecting stuff. I don't know if you remember baseball cards and all the way to Legos to Yes. golf clubs. Yeah. I think I had a baseball card collection of my own at some point along the way. Yeah. Yeah. So those were some of the things we were doing in your earliest days. I don't know if there's anything else from that period that strikes you. Well, we were homeschooling, so a lot of that for me actually happened at Williams because I was already in middle school by the time we moved.

Did we have a lot of other kids at that point or was it primarily just a couple of hours? No, I grew up during all the kids, nine or 10 a day because there I would be by far the oldest. And then mom wasn't homeschooling anyone else at the time besides the five of us, but the younger kids would be there would be a bunch of younger kids in daycare at the time. So I see that's a pretty small living room to be daycaring that many kids. Yeah, there it was a large yard, you know. Okay. All right. Well, nine if you have nine or 10 kids including the five of us, that's four or five extras, right?

So, we had a schooling area with desks in the dining room. So, is this a traumatic experience or this formative in a positive way? How do you how do you process that? Oh, no. I think it's great. Um, I think what was nice about homeschooling with a daycare on the side is that you've got a lot of kids all around you. So, home homeschooling situations in which there's only one or two kids and you're by yourself, you need to look for that outside. Um, but in our situation, I definitely fine-tuned my babysitting skills, which partially put me through college. Um, that does remind me and through and through a bunch of summer summer gigs. So, I think that was great for me ultimately. Now, you weren't doing that in Williams. Is that right? Because 2010 we moved to Chapel.

Um, how old were you in that transition? Uh, you know, what what grade were you? Well, home school. I was I think I was going into eighth grade, so I only had one more year of homeschooling. I did start babysitting before that. And a key part of this is that Angel moved in next door to our Williams house. Oh, right. My best friend to this day is the girl next door. She moved into the house beside us. I met her. We had this is sounds like a fairy tale, but you know, we had a fence post that opened up. We'd used it with the previous neighbor kids there before, but we could just run right through the fence and be in each other's backyard.

Yeah. So, you're sparking memories now. I I remember in the fall when they moved in. I said, you know, there's a girl next door is about your age. Yeah. But winter hit and you really didn't kind of connect and it never really happened. Then I don't know. Do you remember when you first met or how that happened? I do remember going over and knocking on the door to meet her and she came in and this is a joke between us to this day because I thought I thought she was goth because she was wearing all black. She liked to wear black and red at the time, but she's the furthest thing from that as we now know.

Um, but I think it just really it it was a slow buildup. I don't know. We just started seeing each other more and more often. Early on, we watched one of the American Girl movies in the bunk bed. Um, it turned out that we really appreciated things about each other's f she was an only child, so I loved going over to the quiet. She had a lot more freedom in terms of she's allowed to get snacks, you know, from the kitchen. I I didn't think that was a thing. So, I loved going over there for kind of the freedom and the privacy. She loved being around the siblings and hanging out with them and the hustle and bustle of our home. Um, it was a match made in heaven there because she's an only child. She's an only child.

You had more than enough siblings and other people around. And you relished the solitude and privacy. She relished the uh It was perfect. And in the summer, she went to she wasn't homeschooled, so she went to school, but in the summers we spent 24/7 together. Um, their family is Indian, so I would pack up Indian food from her mom to eat over here. and she wanted, you know, more American food from mom. So, we would do vice we it would just be whose house are we eating dinner at today, you know. Um, but any all that to say, we also went around town with babysitting flyers and would go together so that once the kids went to bed, we could hang out.

And also, we were relatively young, so it's nice to have two people. You're a little more confident in the ability of two people to manage your kids. So, we did start babysitting more and more often. I see. Before the move, too. I see. Now, the move um happens. You're finishing up homeschooling. You're moving to this new house, which isn't all that far. In fact, it's a stones throw bit across the railroad tracks. Um you remember thinking, is this opportunity? Is this trauma? I'm trying to figure out how does how does uh someone of your cuz you're older than most of the other kids who made that transition. Um how are you thinking that through? High school is coming and it's on it was a little closer to high school. Um there was one major pro and one major con. The major pro was getting my own room.

Huge for me. I was thrilled. Sounds important. Yeah. Very important. The major con was moving away from Angel. Yes. Although to be fair, it was approximately one block away, but you did have to cross the train tracks and then jaywalk across a major street for the most direct path. Yeah. Which was a bummer. Um I think the pro probably outweighed the con considering how low cost the con actually was. Yes. Um so you were you you you you made that move. you're okay with. There's a tradeoff and positive tradeoff in the end. And you've got one more year to finish up with homeschooling. And you see that high school is like a block or two blocks away at that point.

How does moving from homeschooling to high school uh hit you? You're the first person to do that. Um, well, I think this isn't something I want to go into too deeply, but I think I was kind of the classic teenage girl in the sense that mom and I were clashing a lot at the time. So, the distance makes the heart grow fonder thing was really appealing. Like, I need a little I need a little bit of space, a little bit of my own um circles to be in by then. Um because yeah, the peers that I had were really all just from church.

Um and so I don't remember the feelings that I had, how nervous I was or anything like that, but I was really I like to be organized. So I was really excited to balance all the different classes and decide what I wanted to take. And now we hadn't talked about this in your earlier Williams period, but were you done by the time you got to chapel with acting and radio and doing some of those types of things? Because I of all the kids, you were the most sort of out there in your youth.

I know. I think so. I think I was hitting a more self-conscious stage, unfortunately. I think we kind of realized that a lot of work had gone in and that industry is not very easy to break into as a complete outsider. Yes. I'd had fun with it. I was making a ton of money babysitting. So, the financial aspect didn't really appeal anymore. I see. And there were just so many other avenues that were possible that But in your it wasn't going to be in your youth, it was an opportunity for you and me Yeah. to hang out a lot.

Um because you would go to acting lessons, you would have a few gigs here and there, you know, I remember you did one TV commercial, I recall, and you did some radio spots, you know, we were working on head shots and others, try to get more of that. But I think what I remember about it was just I get to go with my daughter all sorts of places um and watch her perform. And you Deanna Green Gables um did the Firestone 5 takeover uh spark this in your memory a little bit because I did talk about this. You did? Okay. No, I I'm just Yeah, it definitely sparked something in my memory regarding Yeah. the time in the car. Hours upon hours upon hours, I think. We spent a lot of time going to those various various things, but I thought it was the only time really that you and I hung out a lot, but it was really good for that.

Well, I also was taking classes at Trinity throughout that time. So, we had that. I think because I was homeschooled, I would go in to work with you a lot, organize your office. So, I see that there. There was also stuff closer to home that we would do. I forgot about the Trinity connection here. you were more kind of robustly involved with Trinity than your siblings and that had to do in part as I recall with a tuition waiver that you had. You were being homeschooled. You were able to uh take classes for free essentially at Trinity. So we you were relatively young like 11 12 years old and you took like logic and English.

Spanish. Yeah. English, Spanish and logic I think. Yeah. So that that uh that was impressive in itself to be able to be that young going to college and uh were those for credit? I guess those were for credit. Um not that you Yeah, those were for credit. Yeah, those Yeah. All right. Well, that that period takes us into the uh into that uh chapel court. Much bigger house. We went from three bed, one bath. The house morphed over time. It ended up being seven bedrooms and five bathrooms, although we only had five and three, I think, when we started. Um, but we like to build.

So, I don't Do you uh You had your own room upstairs. All the Firestones were upstairs and we had various borders downstairs. What's Not so much when I was living there, actually. Is that right? Yeah. The the um Pierces moved in after I left for college. Is that right? So, a lot of the time was just the family. Now, you had Barb with Barb included, of course. Okay. So, we had us and Barb and a lot of kids. A lot of daycare kids. Yeah. Okay. Mom homeschooling and you being glad to get out to high school and do your own thing out there. Yeah, I think so.

Learning to drive. Not that there was much to drive to in Deerfield and babysitting a ton. you characterize some of those, you know, high school years in terms of being a Firestone in high school. I mean, what does that that mean to you? I don't know. Uh I know you were finding your own way in high school. I don't know if you when did it click that you kind of figured out what you wanted to do. Uh oh, I didn't figure that out until college. I hadn't taken economics until college. Um, but yeah, I don't know if you're going to like this answer, but I think it's Firestone Files. We like all I think being a Firestone in high school, and I think this is true for most of us, is the process of isolating yourself from the family until you kind of, you know, come into your own and realize the benefits of spending time with family.

which takes different amount of times for each of us. I think that's natural to some extent. I mean, teenagers are just like this. But the oldest kid in that house would get the room to themsel, the one room that was kind of the solo room. So, when I left for college, Matthew got it and then he left and Emma got it. And I think for all of us, the pattern of just spending a ton of time in that room by ourselves is probably the most realistic and true answer. Um, well, but I will say, you know, that I also think there was a turning point for each of us.

You like a return like a prodical son return to the family kind of. For me, it was when mom came into my room and said, "You know, the kids you you babysit for are going to miss you more than your siblings at this point." And I was like, "Whoa, that's kind of sad." I do somewhat recall that where you made a I don't know it was a conscious turn back toward your siblings and it made a huge difference in the family the dynamics and that has carried on all the way to the Firestone 5 takeover frankly. Um and what a joy that has been to see see that over the years. Um that kind of intentionality from the older kids you and Matthew in particular uh has made a huge difference in the family. I mentioned that. I don't know what you think about this comparison, but in other Firestone Files, the Capaci family has five kids.

Yes. They end up all together in ministry, living in the same block, you know, for the most part, but the Fire Stones are a little more nomadic. And I think I'm hearing in your story part of that nomadic nature, but also the return uh to family as well. So, yeah, I did notice you. I did notice you chatting with Eric about that and and mentioning that with kind of the green eyes, the greeneyed monster of jealousy a little bit coming from your end of the I don't know of the podcast. I kind of like the fact you guys blaze your own trail.

Um, no, I think um, you know, not saying this isn't true for the capacities, but um, having strong attachment and a strong foundation and base to come back to starting from a very very young age of toddlers and stuff, you know, I think there's a good amount of research to show that that actually enables more risk-taking, autonomy in the world and independence of thought and action. Um, so I do think that having the core Firestone household to be proud of and come back to and share our adventures with is part of what enables us to each do what we do and and be okay. Well, that that has a spillover effect. I saw some of that here on the Christmas vacation when we had all the cousins over.

We had this great bash over at the uh church that Tim and Helen uh your aunt and uncle bought and uh that was great. But to see you interacting, see all the fires interacting with their cousins that spillover has been incredible to watch. I mean, how how do you look at that? you know, with the cousins. You've been proactive for a long time with them. I know you guys used to when we got together, you would do plays and you would do songs and you would do activities and games. Cousin show. The cousin shows. Yeah. Cousin shows. Yes. Yeah. And uh all of that's been incredible to watch.

I think a real blessing to your grandparents especially to get to see them as well. Um okay, so we have this period. And I don't want to leave high school too fast. You weren't an athlete like some of your brothers and sisters were correct. What what what was it in high school that was it the academics itself or was it something else that you were thinking of doing that that Well, I worked a lot. I babysat almost every weekend, night and day, to the point that I had to start give I had to start recommending friends to the point that someone told me I should just start a business and so I did.

Yeah. So, actually a lot of high school was Suburban Sitters, which was my babysitting company LLC that I created. Yes. Your friend Floren, I believe, was with you. Yes, we started it together. Um, and it was basically a middleman for connecting babysitters with families. Yes. Um, and how many babysitters did you have under your umbrella? Well, maybe a dozen. Okay. Maybe a dozen. And I'm not sure how many families. Um, the families would have to register and you'd have your Yeah, they'd register. They'd sign some form. We had no legal counsel for this. So, luckily nothing went up in flames, but they would pay suburban sitters for the babysitting and then we would take a cut.

So, I think this I shut it down in the middle of college at some point um just because it was too much to manage from afar. But I think we were grossing around 30k annually which is a which is gross. And then I think we maybe took 30%. So it was a non-negligible source of income for me let alone my own babysitting. How long was that part of your resume as it were as you were going forward? Yeah. When did I take that off? Um probably after my treasury internship.

So it was through college. Yeah. that was, you know, junior summer or something. That's an impressive thing, I think, on any resume to have such an early um, you know, job record and but also to have your own business, entrepreneurial. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, that was that was quite quite interesting. So, you graduate college. I remember the process of you looking for next steps at the end of your high school career. Yeah. And um you know, we had never done it before as parents because you're the first kid. We had some options open to you because I was a professor at Trinity.

So we were looking at a slew of those schools that that uh are in network as it were, but you were also stretching your wings looking at other opportunities. And um I think what was impressive to me about the time is that part, you know, part of uh the process of of applying is writing these essays for each of these schools that you hope to get into and you were writing like a fresh essay for each one. I thought I remember Matthew doing it I don't know a year or two later. He'd write one essay and he'd give it to all the schools. Uh but you were like I got to tailor every one of these essays.

I don't remember that but I'm not surprised. Okay. the high school offered a class for writing. So, I would write it and um yeah, I would I would write it and and get feedback and and stuff like that. And I and I I lived off of positive feedback. I still do actually. That's one of my character traits flaws. Um, but yeah, I remember just I knew that an essay was ready when when Buffy, my senior English teacher, would say, "This is damn good." Okay. Well, you know, I don't want to leave high school too quickly, but I do want to get over to college. Anything else in the high school years that you remember that, you know, the uh chapel coordin you got some acceptances.

What what was the process and where did you land? I being the first didn't know much about available colleges. So my list was created by my AP US history teacher chatting with me in the hallway and saying Hannah I think you'd be happy at a smaller liberal arts school such as he listed off five or six. I wrote them down real quick and applied to those along with the Ivy's, none of which I got into. Um, and some of the Christian CCCU schools where I'd get free tuition.

And the best school, the highest ranked school that I got into was Ammerst College. That was something as I recall of a of a fleece for you like you were finding clarity and you had a short list of your top tier schools and that was the one that came through and that was the most Yeah, that's right. There were a number of schools that were ranked a lot lower than Ammerst that I didn't get into. Um, so I yeah, a a fleece or a fluke. Either way, it was pretty clear. Okay. That chapter. Yeah, exactly. And now that becomes really formative for you in a variety of ways.

I think I'd like to hear at least two of them come to mind. One is vocationally, you know, what that trajectory looked like, but the relation that trajectory looked like. So, let's start with the vocation. how you know you're going along you get what what major did you have as a freshman you didn't have to declare so I didn't have one okay but my very first semester I took econ 101 and I realized that the whole world made sense mathematically okay so I decided I should become an econ major because I love that class so much now it turns out that econ 101 is very basic and there's a lot more elements of the world that that uh can't necessarily be contained within that.

But um it continued to be interesting enough for me that I continued on that path um and I'm still working in um the economics research world now. Um I also majored in Spanish partially because at Ammeris College it it was an open curriculum. So, no gen eds, pretty easy to do double, sometimes even triple majors. And also, Spanish had been such a big part of my high school and pre high school studies. I wanted to study abroad, which I ultimately did in Spain, which was awesome. Um, and then because of the open curriculum, I also studied Arabic for a couple of years, which was really fun.

Language studying is just really fun for me. It's a different side of the brain that I really enjoy. I've used none of it since then, but I'm actually still studying languages for fun now. That was I found it fascinating. I mean, your your abilities in Spanish were well known, but then taking the Arabic, that was very interesting. And then when your brother ended up in the military, he ends up taking I was so jealous. He got access to the best language school in the country. Is that right? For intensive immersive language study for a number of months paid.

Wow. Okay. I would jump at that opportunity. Who would have thought that your lives would converge in a language like Arabic? I know. It was fascinating. He had a number of different what they call I I guess companies he could have gotten into, but they put him in the fifth company, right, which meant Middle East, which meant Arabic. I couldn't believe my ears. And to be clear, I speak neither Arabic nor Spanish now. Really? Very modest. I'd like to I'd like to brush up, but yeah. Okay. Well, so you took econ, you took Spanish, you even took some Arabic there.

And um that was there any person in the economics world there in Amherst or that you know you studied with or that pointed you to further studies or um you know or did you just kind of get the degree done? Yeah. Um all of my econ professors I would say I know and would go back and visit. um and even some of Econ professors that I didn't actually have as a teacher because Amoris is such a small school with really low class ratios. Part of the benefit is great relationships with your professors. But I had one professor who was actually new to the school. He's since gotten tenure, but Brian Basa um who had me both as a student and then later as a TA and really encouraged me.

Um, I think he had some keen insights into who I was as a student, such as, you know, he he said, you know, Hannah, you're the type of person that doesn't work very hard. You don't do well in problem sets, but then you ace the test and get an A anyway. I mean, he just kind of knew how I worked and how I um performed. And he's the one that suggested research and economics as a possibility, which Ammeris is not a research school, so you wouldn't necessarily think about that track, but um he said, you know, if you really want to go deeper into this and like it and aren't done learning, you should consider a research assistantship and then a PhD.

Yes. Well, that certainly paid dividends for you because you did end up moving in that. Yes. Um, was it during this time that you also did internships or other things like in summers? You know, what kind of experiences did you have there that doveetailed with your interest? There is one summer in college that I can't account for for some reason. I just can't remember what I did. But the other two I interned at a global services company near home. That might have been the first summer. That was pretty fun. Dundee Ro.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um that was a fun way to just be home. Um and then the other one I did was a Department of the Treasury interning in kind of the economic research portion of their portfolio. Um, and that was really fun because what I did there was not particularly rigorous necessarily, but it did give me a taste as to what the economists there were doing. And it also walking into Department of the Treasury every day gives you a sense of importance. And just being in DC is really all inspiring. Um, seeing where decisions are happening that impact the dayto-day of everyone.

seem to recall you coming home or maybe on the phone saying, "Hey, I'm seeing people doing what I would think I would like to do." Yeah. Yeah, it could have been that that could have been at the Federal Reserve, too, which is what I did after college. Um, but yeah, definitely at Treasury it was it was cool to see them. Um, so I would like to sort of carry on with that, but before I do, let's look at the relational side. Well, I did meet my husband in college, which was great.

Um, I mean, other than meeting Matthew, who's my husband, um, the cool thing about Ammeris is that it's a place with students from every walk of life, a lot of international students, even among the Christian fellowship, which I was a part of, people from really different backgrounds and faith traditions. And so it's really a worldview expanding experience. And I'd done some travel, so I knew that, you know, not everyone thinks the way I do, but it's cool to be in a space where there's a lot of really, really smart, driven people that don't think the way you do and can kind of challenge you. Not even directly, but it just makes you think about, oh, you know, if I'd had those experiences, maybe I I do recall having the honor of coming out there and visiting you and having a few coffee house conversations with some of your friends who were intrigued by your dad being a philosopher.

Yes, I have a number of friends that are interested in philosophy. Okay. Well, I remember a few times going out there, meeting them, just being impressed by the quality of the questions and the people that you have access to out there. Yeah. So, definitely met my best friends in college. Um there's a handful of them that I'm still that were all in my wedding and um are still really close friends. So, um that was huge. And then I met my husband. So, my friend turned best friend turned boyfriend turned fiance turned husband. Yes. I I have a pretty clear memory of this because you approached me at one point.

I remember where that probably probably after you graduated, you got married and you asked me to perform the wedding and I tried to talk you out of it as I recall. I said, "What what about your pastor back in Deerfield?" He said, "No, I want you." I'm like, "Oh, Lord, help me." That is partially accurate. We did ask Tim to do it. But it was a Sunday morning, so he said, "I took too many of those off already." And we said, "Okay, you know, this probably works out for the best because we get to have dad."

That was that was uh No, this is co uh during your wedding, isn't that right? Yeah, it was 2021, so it was a little bit a little bit later, but it was still in the period of Yes. things going on. You decided to do it outdoors and I forgot the name of that. Grove. The Grove in Glen View. Glen View. Yeah. And uh I what was so impressive other you hired some kind of company to stream it so that could be done in Taiwan and both in people who couldn't make it and a smaller guest list because of the 35 people present. um about you know 250 online.

Yeah. I'm going to I don't know if I can do this online but I'd like to get permission use that as a firestone file some my wedding ceremony. It's such it's so much fun. It was great. You did a great job. And I have to go to some strange website to see it still. And you held it together. Yeah. Until the daddy daughter dance. Yeah. Well, I get emotional sometimes. What can I say? We did have Alex as a backup. You know, in case dad falls apart up there, you're going to have to come up and take over the script. Um, but you but you were on. You were on.

That was so that was so much fun. Okay. So, you you're done with college. You're now married. I'm trying to remember when you made the you must have had some vocational options but then you decided to pursue uh post-graduate studies or um how did that come about in that now that takes you to where you are today really correct that's out in Palo Alto Stanford yeah what what what was that move like and uh you know what are you doing today we moved to California immediately after the wedding. Actually, did a long road trip over there because I'd gotten into a PhD program at Stanford and Matthew was working for Google, which is headquartered right next door.

That's right. So, you have these two great opportunities really close to each other. Right. Okay. Right. Um, and that came about after being at the Federal Reserve for a couple of years as a research assistant, really liking what I was doing and wanting to pursue research. Um, very soon into that program, I realized that I did not actually want to pursue research as a career. And so I mastered out and am now the staff director of the research lab I was working in as a PhD student. So I'm doing everything but the research to move forward our agenda on international economics and finance.

Um, and I am really happy with being able to support the econ world in a capacity that's not directly doing research, but is kind of a communications, operations, finance, people manager role that really interests me and is fun. So, yeah. And so I seem to recall that being a pretty uh I won't say dramatic but positive change for you. You know getting out of the research track and getting into the working world in economics. Yeah, it was night and day. I was um really unhappy doing something that I knew wasn't what I ultimately wanted.

And then um I was really happy having a dayto-day that I enjoyed. Yes. Yes. And so how long have you been doing that now? and and your husband's working at Google. You're really close to each other. That's been a couple years now. It's been almost two years. Yeah. Maybe two years by the time this episode airs. Okay. And that sort of brings us full circle here. You're you're still working there and still seem to be happy and healthy and uh you guys are uh able to do things. Come here. Yeah. Spend a spend some time here for the holidays. Um, so what's next for Hannah Job?

Good question. Um, nothing really new actually. We're going to be cruising at this stage of life for hopefully a while. Um, open to new opportunities always, but you know, focused on developing myself in this role for now. Um, we are near my in-laws side of the family, which makes California continue to be a really great place for us. Um, so we don't see our location changing, barring, you know, an act of God. I see. We really have some community there. It's been 5 years since we've been in California. So, yeah. Well, we're as the Firestones, we're trying to sort out where Firestone Central is. Is is it Hot Springs, Arkansas, where mom and dad live? Is it Nashville, where two of your brothers live? Is it uh Stanford or, you know, PaloAlto area where you guys are and your your in-laws? I think Nashville is currently winning.

It's possibility if Becca and Emma end up down there, they will win. I know. Um, but we have deep roots at Hot Springs. We have Harry still there, of course, and uh we still get you guys to come now and then to visit and uh so we'll see. I guess we'll see which we're the hub of the Firestone Wheel. I guess I guess we will. Um have I missed anything um over this? This again, this is kind of a 20,000 foot panoramic view. Uh it's very similar to what I was asking your siblings about.

I would love to do a deeper dive with you sometime into economics the um into your own journey at church for example and in life generally to get wisdom from the oldest of the Firestone kids. Um is that something you're willing to do? Yeah, maybe next time. In the meantime, if you want to educate yourself, you can look up the global capital allocation project which is my lab. Okay. Okay, we have a newsletter you can sign up for. I would love to sign up for that. Thank you for telling me. I'm sure some of your siblings already have, but I've somehow missed that one. So, super cool. Well, I think that's going to be it for now, unless you have something else to add. Nothing to add. It's been a pleasure.

Wow, this is so good. Well, that's it for the Firestone Files and my oldest uh uh child, Hannah Elizabeth Firestone. So good to have you here. and thank you for coming. Thanks, Dave. That's it for now. Take care. 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.

around. Play it around.