An Introvert in an Extended Household: An Interview with Emma Firestone
The Firestone Files: Letters to My Grandchildren — Dr. Chris L. Firestone
March 23, 2026 · Episode 32 · 45:41
https://drchrisfirestone.com/episode/an-introvert-in-an-extended-household-an-interview-with-emma-firestone/

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

So, you don't think it's kind of weird that you can see our whole bodies in frame and not just the upper half. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Firestone Files. I am Dr. Chris Firestone. Today I've got something super special for you. I have an interview with my middle child, Emma Firestone. Super excited to have her here. If you're interested in learning more about her with my initial introduction of her, go back to episode one where I introduce the Firestone Files and I introduce all five of my kids. But in this uh podcast, we're going to get to meet her in person and I'll ask her similar questions that to the ones I ask my other kids.

And if you're watching along, you'll be able to see and the overlap between the kids and the disconnects and the connects and all of that. So super excited to bring to you Emma Firestone in interview on the Firestone Files. I hope you enjoy. Welcome to the show. Thanks, Dad. So good to have you here. We are she's she's so kind to come on out here to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where I am the lead professor and kind of on-site director of Turning Point Education's uh new preparative out here. And you were kind enough to come out here and help me with some lesson planning since you're have a degree in education.

Yes, it has been quite the week. Yeah, she's come out for a week and uh just help me to organize my thoughts a little bit and just what a superstar with this stuff she is. I got a lot of good ideas, but sometimes I need some help organizing them and uh you've been really helpful with that. So, thank you. Sure. Well, I wanted to get you here on the show because a I've interviewed your siblings and b um you know, just to hear from you about Firestone family history from your perspective and a little bit about your life and so forth. Are you okay with that?

Yes. I'm not entirely sure what I've gotten myself into, but I'm ready. Okay. Very good. Well, you're more than I am then. Okay. Well, um you know, I typically start out with uh have you have you heard um the analysis that I did with regards to the five elements and which one you fell into and I heard it briefly around the dinner table. I don't think I got the full picture. Okay. Well, we won't start there then because you know that I feel like you should listen to that first podcast and uh you know we can talk about that more later. What do you just do you have any general thoughts about what it means to be a Firestone?

What it means to be a Firestone? Yes. Uh well, I think it says something that you're making a whole podcast based on it. Okay. Um it's a good point. Must be something there. I suppose what it means to be a Firestone. I suppose I haven't explicitly thought about it. It's just that feeling of belonging to a a larger family unit and community. Okay. Yeah. Very good. Now, in the Firestone family tree, we we had five kids. Two of them were born in Scotland, and you were the first American born. Yes. Yes. Up in the northern suburbs of Chicago. I always felt very left out as a child because be being born in Scotland was something interesting.

Yes. It's not as exciting to say. You were born in the north side of Chicago. Yeah. Okay. Well, fair enough. I've come to terms with it though. Very good. Well, you were you were the first born there, but all your uh the next two were also born there and we lived in a small house on the corner of um I guess it was Chestnut and Williams Avenue. if you want to get specific for the audience. Yes. Okay. Right. And um I I guess I just want to throw it out there. I mean, I have some memories. I mean, you weren't, how would I put it?

You weren't the easiest baby, but you weren't the toughest either. Uh okay, I'll take it. I used to march around the living room in the kitchen with you just to try to get you to sleep at night. But sooner or later, you became awake of your and aware of your surroundings. Any memories from Williams that stick out? Uh, well, not that early. Not baby toddler years. Um, my strongest memories would be growing up as one of five. Um, mostly the hours outside of homeschooling. So, mom homeschooled all five of us.

I have some memory of of doing school, individual work, group work, but what stands out to me thinking back are the times I spent with my siblings and the daycare kids we essentially grew up with as well. I see. So we even then we had three bedrooms, one bathroom, no basement, no attic really. Had a small attic. Um, did you feel like it was small when you were small or was it sort of a happier place than than being so tight? I It felt busy and crowded. Looking back, I'm glad I wasn't a tween or a teenager growing up in such close quarters. I'm interested what Hannah's perspective on that period is. Um, but from what I can remember, I was young enough that was just that was life. That was normal.

Yes. Well, you bring up Hannah, the oldest, and of course, Matthew's the next oldest. But when I'm interviewing all of you guys individually, and nobody's getting to see the other person's interview, so that's kind of cool. It will be interesting to see, you know, when we finally hear from Hannah what her perspective was. So, you were still pretty small throughout the Williams time. Is there anything that we I know on on on our Facebook page, we have this picture. I think it's a Thanksgiving. I'm not totally sure. All the chaos going on in the in the kitchen there and all these things, you know, all the this meal that's pretty much all over the table.

Um, anything anything that you remember that's particularly I mean, what what types of things did you enjoy doing or from a family perspective or from just around the neighborhood perspective? Well, like I said, it was the time spent with siblings and the daycare kids that that stand out most strongly in my memory. Okay. You know, sort of running wild on our on our block, in our front and backyards, in the garage, in the attic. um a lot of makebelieve games that I cherish the memory of because they were very formative and very good memories to look back on.

Yes, we Well, I can't even remember what it was back in the day. I know. I was collecting baseball cards and stuff. Was there a particular sort of game or was it Playmobil or Legos or GI Joe's? I guess it wouldn't be GI Joes. What is it? We had we had a lot. We had um Legoland, which was our Lego world. We had our own set. We never kept the boxes together. We would always take them apart and or you would have and remake it. Yep. Yep. Uh same with Playmobil. We'd never keep the sets together. We'd mix it all together and then divide amongst ourselves.

I see. Um, also a classic which I'm sure will come up is Little Box Car on the Prairie. Yes. Which was the combo Little Box Car Children and Little House on the Prairie game we played in the big pine tree out front. Oh my goodness. Yes. The big tree in the corner. Yes. So all all those things were memorable activities but I think uh the connecting theme is that we being homeschooled and being at home and having just each other were allowed to create our own worlds and stories and learn to be very resourceful with those materials. So, it sounds like you had plenty of free time and time to explore and to do make believe games and so forth.

In terms of the schooling, did you ever go to You didn't go to school really. Becca was the only one who ventured into school in the early years for a year. Becca was the only one. Um, I was also homeschooled through 8th grade. And how many kids were in your room at the most? Was it in the Williams house? Yes, it well Hannah, Becca, and I shared, so it was three girls in a room and the two boys had a room. What was that? A bunk beds and then some kind of other bed. Yes, Hannah had a loft bed and Becca and I had I had a shared a bunk bed.

I see. It's a little different depending on how many kids were around. So yeah, I we but those were my memories in the 200 I don't remember what it was, five, six, seven range. We were starting to feel pretty tight in there. Um yes. Still having a lot of fun though. Do you remember anything that we did outside the house? Was it extracurriculars or like u any trips that we took? I think I was young enough I don't remember specific moments unless they were tradition. So things like going to pick out the Christmas tree at Home Depot, that was always fun. The siblings and I, we always had a a great game of tag or combo with hideand-seek in there.

Yes. Um church activities because those were uh habit stand out. That was I'm very thankful we had that community being homeschooled. Uh, now I seem to recall we went to Arkansas sometimes. Yes, we went I think we went to the east coast once. I forgot what the name of that town was. Uh, colonial Virginia, Williamsburg. That would have been that would have been post the post Williams. Post Williams. Yes. And uh, Walt Disney World. Is that Post Williams? Yes. Okay. Wow. Do we do it? What about the Grand Canyon? We go there. We did. I was too young to remember though. Oh, okay. Yeah, there's a classic that your mother tells about that.

I've heard many times I was not impressed with the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon. Yeah, that's that goes down in family history for sure. Um Okay. And so, um now do you recall there being a classroom in the garage? I do remember the classroom in the garage. I don't think it was always a classroom. You used it to teach us art. Yes. I still don't know what qualified you to teach us art, but I en I enjoyed the class. What can I say? I enjoyed I enjoyed the class.

Okay. And then I remember we used it quite a bit as our playroom particularly for Legos or as a venue for watching movies. Let's see. Now, there was a fellow named TF Gford who helped redo my floor in the kitchen. He helped me build a shed outside. He also helped me build that office or classroom. We call it the Gford lecture hall. I don't know if you remember that name that we Okay, that's because he helped me build that thing. Um, and I did teach art lessons in there. So, so maybe I was the homeschool teacher, too. Maybe that's the way that you nothing to say about that.

I I wasn't as much as involved as your mother was, that's for sure. Anyway, not quite. Okay. Not in the homeschooling. Now, how old were you when we made that shift over to the we basically what happened, you may recall this, but there was this downturn in the economy. Well, not that part, right? In the housing market. I don't want to say it crashed, but it came way down and we were able to entertain buying a slightly bigger house and um by God's grace, we were able to get that house. I would love to tell that story at some point. Um different podcast though, but uh then we made a move over there. Now, how old about were you? Do you remember when we shifted or 200?

It was 2010. Uh, I was nine that summer. So, it's a nice way to remember it for me. It split my childhood years neatly in half in a way if you consider pre- 18. I see. Kind of. So, by the time you went to college, you pretty much had halftime in both places. Yes. Okay. And what happened there? I mean, you got your you get your own room. How did you Oh, I felt a little sad about moving cuz I we enjoyed living at Williams. Uh so I felt nostalgic for it and it was a nice I know easy to run over there and bike over there and it's all I knew.

Right. But it was um we were besides beside ourselves the five kids when we saw the huge yard and the fact that we had a staircase in the house and it was two stories. Yes. Um and it had a basement too. So all these new things to us Yes. were it felt very exciting. So I felt a little unsettled at the time. But then, yes, we got our own space. Uh, Becca and I shared a room. The two boys still shared a room. Hannah got her own room. Okay. Now, um, and we got more bathrooms, which was a game changer. Yes. Well, there was a a lady at church, lovely lady, very close friend of the family named Barb, who moved with us over there and helped us establish that home. We had five bedrooms upstairs and that's where the Firestones were.

And Miss Barb, we created an in-law suite on the what was what used to be a very large living room. We made it put a bathroom in there and made that an in-law suite. Put a door on that side of the house and she joined us. So that began a new phase for us because at the Williams house, we really couldn't have guests. Not very easily because we only had three bedrooms with seven of us. Yes. But now we have Miss Barb living in the house with us as well as what would turn out to be other people and homeschool kids and everything else. What do you remember about that?

Or I mean was that a good thing, bad thing? All the all the community that we fostered there as we started gaining more more household members. Um I have mixed feelings u thinking back on those memories. It was very exciting. Uh even even during that time, it felt special to be able to have all these extra friends, these daycare kids, to have these family friends, you know, move in or or befriend uh certain renters who who moved in as well. Um the eras get very mixed up for me. I can never keep straight who was there when. Um, what was the most you remember like kids in the house while mom was doing daycare and doing homeschool?

The most probably would be over 10, but I would say eight or under was more typical. Okay. So, somewhere between seven and eight. Sometimes it would pile in because people she she got to be known. Yes. For watching kids or being a backup plan for people and so forth. It was always a mix because, you know, she'd have regulars that were on a set schedule and then sometimes maybe for a week or two or just a couple days someone would ask her Yes. to to take theirs. Um so it it did fluctuate. I see. And you this was homeschooled. This was daycare. This was kind of uh community living.

How did that impact your life? Well, as I said, it felt special at the time because it was fun and exciting to have that life in the house. But also it was when I was becoming a pre-teen, tween, teenager and becoming more aware of, oh, I might want my own space and my own time and a little more privacy. Yes. As you got older, it became clear and clear that you were more introverted than extroverted. Is that right? Yes. And so you needed downtime. It wasn't easy to find that. Yes. Okay. And it it didn't have anything to do with, you know, who was in the household. It was just simply the fact that there there was always someone around.

It was hard to unless you're in your room. Hard to find a quiet space. I see. Well, anyone who was around the Fire Stones during that period of time knows that you roommed with Becca for a while. Yes. Did you ever get into the the exit room, like the Hannah room, uh Matthew room? I did junior year of high school. Okay. So, you moved as they moved out, you moved in. Well, here's a story and I think the siblings know this. When Hannah went to college, mom offered me that room first. Even though Matthew was older than I was, I think because I was the next oldest girl, I was offered the single bedroom.

Okay. first and I said no because yeah Becca and I have a special relationship. Okay. Uh sharing a room for so many years, we were the best of friends. We were the worst of en enemies. It really depended on the on the period. Uh but I said no so that we could have two extra years living together and sort of retain that that close closeness. Okay. Now I don't I don't know if I really should go this far, but I will anyway. And that is you're in the same room. You for a while at least moved into the closet.

That's true. Now the closet was just big enough for you to get your bed laid out in there. I had some sleeping bags on the ground. I had some posters on the wall. It just put us in the mind of Emma Firestone as to how how that's superior than being out in the bigger room. An introvert at her best. I just I I just wanted a a space to close the door. I see. And so you had it pretty well decked out as I recall. Posters and other things in there. It was like a it it was an odd place to sleep, but it was essentially like a little fort that I could live in.

I did a lot of reading. I watched some movies. It's pretty cool. Now, when I think of the five Firestone kids, I typically think of them as Hannah and Matthew, Andrew, and Becca, and Emma's the pivot in the middle. Now, I've asked the other kids as well, how do you think of the five kids? Um, because I'm I get different answers from different people. Do you think of them that way or do you think of them in different combinations? I don't think there's a set combo. I do think of them in different combinations. Hannah and Matthew is kind of the OG Firestone kids. Becca and Andrew as the youngest. Um but then they can go different ways as well. Hannah and Andrew Yes.

are are pretty tight. Okay. Um, I would say Becca and Matthew are pretty similar in many ways. Um, but no, I don't think I don't think I I heard you say you and Becca are a thing. I mean, sometimes. Oh, sure. Hot and cold. Sure. Yeah. I I think there's there's a closeness there, but happily I mean, as adults, we all get along. So it's kind of interconnected. There's no real clicks as far as you can see. No, there may have been during different eras of childhood. Okay. I think there were certainly alliances formed. Yes. But I think in adulthood it you can pair them off based on relationships or similarities.

But I I don't tend to think of us as being paired in certain ways. Now you you get done with homeschool. Thank you for those answers. That's great. I'm I'm very curious to hear how the different kids answer those questions. Okay. Um you you get done with homeschool and now we we're living on in the new house, believe it or not. It's only 100 yards from the old house, but it's across the railroad tracks. Yes. Um and it's but it's much closer to the high school. So we're like two long blocks from the high school. Um that's a different era. You have four years at Deerfield High School.

Yes. thoughts about that? I mean, I have a couple of things in mind. One one of the things is I've asked the other kids at least in part about their athletics and so forth. And everyone always thought that Emma's one of the most athletic firestone not the most athletic, but you didn't get involved in anything in high school. I didn't and I know it's a sore point for you. And I wouldn't say a sore point. I I just curious more than anything else. Recreationally, I did a couple things. I did archery. I forget if like um ice skating bled into high school a little bit from junior high.

Okay. But no, I wasn't training as an athlete or a part of a team. Okay. And so what was your thing in high school? What if you if you had to put your finger on what what did you enjoy or where did the energy come from? Um, high school was tough. High school was tough. I can't say I enjoyed it. Okay. I think as as an introvert, it was a tough transition to go from homeschooling and being home and having maybe some extra free time to being at school 7 hours a day. I see. Surrounded by people all the time. And it's well known Deerfield High School is a pretty tough high school. Did you feel like it was oppressively tough or just, you know, kind of in the middle or did you find it easy?

Academically it was tough. Academically it was tough and I did feel like I was playing catchup in a lot of ways already. Just, you know, never having been in a locker room before, right? Had a locker, gone to the cafeteria. My first homework assignment was annotations. I didn't know what those were because I had never been assigned them before. Okay. Yeah. I I was I think I was I was just the art teacher, so Oh, come on. I'm not saying that.

I was I was academically capable, but it's all those little it's all those little things that if you don't know how to do them and yet are expected to do them, they add up and it just takes extra energy on top of the typical high school increase of academic difficulty. I see. But you were close there. You were able to come home pretty quickly and Yes. 10-minute walk. Okay. And uh that period of time goes by and now we're starting to do the college tours. We're flying. Yeah. Yeah. And so because I worked at Trinity, we had some we basically had a a deal with sister schools to Trinity, you might say. And so, but it was a pretty big list like I don't know 100 200 schools we could look at. And we started doing a few places, you know, touring a few, visiting a few. You went to a few on your own. I think you went with your friend, uh, Aya.

Yes. Tell me a little bit about that experience and how you landed. Well, um, I uh, high school. I don't know if we named it. I don't know if we can. Are we getting specific with with places? Yeah, sure. Okay. DHS, Deerfield Public High School, did prepare you well for the college process. They were very much on top of that. So the steps were laid out pretty clearly as to visiting essays, applying etc. Yes. Okay. So I felt that I had a good road map and then you handed me that list of this is where you can apply for the tuition waiver or tuition exchange.

Yes. Uh, and that's what I worked with. Okay. Um, what kind of schools did you visit? I don't even remember. Mostly southern California people, right? Places where we knew people, places that were a little bit warmer. Okay. And places with education programs. The big one who wanted to go with better weather. I'm remembering now the categories. Okay. Education programs. That's right. uh near people that we know. I didn't want to go anywhere and kind of not have uncle is your grandfather. Yes. Uh maybe your brother or something like that. Okay.

Sure. And then I did want to be someplace warmer. Those were the top three. That gave you kind of criteria. Those vent diagram. So you're looking for the spot in the middle there. Yep. Off that list you gave me. And I can't remember all the places we visited. Okay. I think I applied. I didn't apply to that many. I think I applied to three. We visited maybe five or six and I only applied to three. I believe you it came down to two. I think one in California. Yes. One in California and then one in one in Arkansas. Kansas and Yes. How tell us about that process.

I I remember the day we were down in Arkansas and you said you wanted to visit. Did I go with I did go with you. Uh, did you did I I think was it was just Aya and I. Okay. Yeah, that's right. You went with Aya and you also went up to John Brown University. You did the Arkansas ones by yourself and uh but I do remember come when you came back from OBU. You kind of had a glow about you. Kind of surprised me because I just thought that was a I didn't really heard of it. Um, tell us about that. Well, I I think the other places that we visited either felt like high school or felt I don't know what was off, but had a lot of thing. I was drawn to a lot of different aspects.

Um, it had an education program that I was very much interested in. Okay. It seemed to be a good community onampus community. Um, and it felt like from what I my perception was that the faculty were people that would have your back. So, small campus, people looking out for you, uh, good education program and in Arkansas, which was exciting to me. Well, you you were I mean, I was pleasantly surprised because I I was hoping that something in Arkansas would be running, but I didn't think you'd come back kind of glowing over a place, but that place seemed to be to connect all the dots for you.

And uh you probably know, but I was happy to know that somebody one of the kids was landing closer to grandpa. So that keep an eye on that because that was a period of time. You were there four years, right? Plus a fifth year. Four. Yes. Teaching afterwards. Yes. But uh there wasn't a lot of activity down there. We typically took a lot of trips, but everyone was beginning to get busy. Mhm. But you landed down there and how was it being so close to grandpa? It was great. It was great because I had some space from parental figures and adults as a as a just in college young adult. Um, but I also had a home to go back to is a 45minute drive. I could go spend the weekend with grandpa. Um, and we watched a lot of British crime shows and ate a lot of frozen food and that was really nice.

He he loved those time. He talks about them all the time and anytime you're about to come over, he can see him getting crimin proper again because Emma's coming over. A so yeah, that was great. So you graduated there with a degree in education and then you taught there at a school. I can't remember the name of the school. I taught at Fountain Lake. Fountain Lake. Okay. Elementary. A year there and year and a half. Yes. That was kind of a culminating moment of your education, your first real job, you know, after college. And I I guess you didn't feel like it was the best fit for it.

Is that right? That is correct. Okay. Yes. It was a tough year and a half. And so right around that time you're in school. I am making my move to try to find a new job. Yes. And I'm looking down in Hot Springs. Yes. And as people watching the show knows and probably know that I landed at Champion Christian College, which is really close to my uh my father, your grandfather, also close to OBU. And uh right when we're about to go there, you decide when your teaching's enough, you want to go back to Chicago. Tell me a little bit about how that happened.

Well, it the decision, my decision was made, I think, independently of yours. It wasn't, oh, mom and dad are coming. Best get out of town. Okay. Um I I decided not to pursue another teaching position after leaving Fountain Lake. And so the directional force I had was no longer there. I was really going to, you know, my plan had been to sort of follow the the teaching jobs. I see. Um so I didn't have that anymore. And so it's sort of a it I didn't really have a lot of direction and an opportunity came up in Chicago. Yes. To room with my childhood best friend and it sounded like an adventure.

Yes. To be near the city. Um and also reconnect with with some friends and community back in Illinois. After those five years away, you went back, reconnected with friends, situated yourself with your best friend in an apartment in Chicago, and now you're exploring um vocational opportunities there. Yes. Yes, I am still working with kids. So, um majority of my hours I work are nanning or babysitting. Okay. Uh but I'm also open and looking for, you know, the next the next calling. Yes. Yes. Well, um so do you have any thoughts about where you're headed?

Where I'm headed? Not a ton. Okay. Not a ton. I think I'm very happy with the dayto-day of nannying. I love working with kids. Um, I don't think I was in love with teaching, which despite any other circumstances that impacted my decision to leave education, I think that's at the heart of it. I see. There's not I don't think it's not something you can do or it's not something you can do well without loving it. I see. Um, so the dayto-day I'm I'm very happy working with kids. Uh, it doesn't feel like a long-term career plan. It doesn't feel like a launching pad to anything else.

So, yes, I'm considering going back to school. I'm doing some creative writing. I'm just perusing my options. See, that sounds somewhat familiar. I think I was in the 26 to 30 range. I was looking at different possibilities in the in the educational sphere. doing education myself, pursuing a masters and PhD, but also trying teaching and other things like that throughout that period. Um, so makes perfect sense. Um, guess I'm uh curious about some of your new endeavors. I know that you're running now. Is that right?

Yes. And what is your goal? You have a race coming up of some kind. I h I'm running a half marathon mid October. I see. And uh your brother uh Matthew is a country swing dancer. I heard that you that he's taught you some things and you got go out and do some of that now and then. I enjoy um sort of tagging along with people who do do sports and activities for real if if that makes sense. So Becca's a runner. Yes. at university. She got me into it and and I go to her for any questions or minor injuries I have. I see. I I do as well.

So, Matthew's very much into swing dancing. So, if he's going out and I have and we happen to both be around, I'll tag along with him. Uh and he teaches he teaches me what he can. not I'm not a quick steady when it comes to dance, but I think I'm I'm getting along. So, it's yeah, it's just about learning from the best, I guess, in the pursuit of having fun, hanging out with friends and family, and also taking care of myself, being active. Well, um I'm thinking are there any any stories that or anything about your life that you'd want to tell? I've got one or two on my mind that family history type stories involve you.

Do I have any stories about my own life? Well, maybe I can give you a couple give me a couple suggestions. I'm sure I do that. I just can't think of them. as well known in the Firestone family history is uh when we went out to Denny's for dinner. Oh, sure. Yeah. What's your angle on that story? What happened there? I have no angle. Um we had finished the whole family was out at Denny's. We'd finished dinner. How old about were you at this? I don't actually remember. It was in the second house, the new house, a chapel. 10 maybe 12. I was probably 10, 10 or 11.

I think we'd probably just moved um or close to it. Um I think we were just, you know, getting ourselves together. A couple people went to the bathroom and I was one of them. And um when I came out, there was no family left. They You guys had gotten in the car and drove away. Yeah. I think we made it home. Well, is that right? I can't remember. I I'm not sure how far you got, but what I do remember is that we had run into some family friends also eating out. Okay. Um, and they were still there thankfully. I think this would have been a more distressing experience if they hadn't been because I would have had to approach a stranger, you know, one of the staff to ask to use a phone.

I see. Um, and that that would have made me anxious. Okay. But the family friends were there and they said, "We're pretty sure your family's left." So, we piled in their van. The mom had to go without a seat or a seat belt sat in the back. Um, and we called you on the way. Yes. And I could hear on the phone, I don't remember what the exact discussion was. They just said, "Hey, you forgot Emma. She's with us. We'll bring her home." And I could hear on the phone you guys realize I wasn't there. What? Emma's not here and sort of mayhem in the background.

So, I don't know how far you'd gotten, but you hadn't yet realized that I wasn't there. That's That's pretty good. I think that's pretty accurate from what I can tell. Um, what another one that sometimes makes the family laugh uh is is our secret handshake. Truth be told, Emma and I had a secret handshake and we would use it all the time. I don't know if you want to try it right now. No, that's okay. Okay. Should I tell the story? You want to tell it because I don't know which one. You You tell. I I actually I have a different memory of it than everyone else because I think everyone else was much more aware of the progression of what was happening.

Yes. And I all I remember from that night is sort of realizing that our secret handshake was not so secret. And you're spinning it right now that it was with me first and then it sort of Well, I think you would like me to think that it was with me first. I'm not convinced though. I um Yeah, we had a secret handshake. But what happened was we were in the kitchen and then Hannah I think Hannah's sitting there at the table or something and we Yeah, it was somebody else comes in. Was it Andrew or Becca? And somehow we give the secret handshake. It's the same one.

Another kid comes in. Secret handshake. It's the same one. And then Hannah realizes the secret handshake's the same kid. That's my secret handshake. Emma comes to light bulb goes off in Emma's head that uh maybe this isn't such a secret eggshake after all. My memory was that there were slight variances and it really was a secret handshake that was unique, but I might have not unique enough. Okay. U there any other stories? It was brilliant until it all came crashing down. I'll give you that. A secret handshake. You only have to memorize one.

As long as it remains secret, it's perfect. Um, but yeah, I was I was uh outed on that one for sure. Um, any any other stories that like that or things that you recall that were particularly memorable? Any other memorable stories? I mean, not s not super nothing nothing explosive like the secret handshake or forgetting a child at a restaurant. Okay. But I mean there are certainly little gems that in the moment were fun. One year our Christmas tree fell over because we had decorated it unevenly. Yeah. Too many heavy items on one side or something. The Christmas tree falling, dumpster diving with you behind strip malls.

Well, I don't That was a good time. You know, we used to have teams of kids in the back seat and I would Team A would be in like the middle row and team B would be in the back row. We'd pull up to a dumpster behind some building Target or one of the other stores and I'd hit the button and side door would open. I'd go TB go. The TB would jump out of the back seat, jump into the dumpsters, report back, report back if there's anything worth all of us coming out for. Those were some good times. We went behind bookstores, got some big books.

Uh that was fun. Various other fun items that we came up with through those years. Um garbage picking, we did that as well. Don't usually tell those stories, but Emma is remember some of those. It's a good time. Yeah. Unique memories, I think. Yeah, those were good. Well, uh well, thank you so much for taking the time to join. you know, as the Firestone Files go go along, I'm sure there'll be other topics, other opportunities down the road. We'll check in with you maybe in your Okay. next vocational endeavor or some other life memory and uh you know, we'll check in again down the road.

But thank you so much for joining us here on the Firestone Files. Sure. Thank you. Well, that's it for today. This was Emma Firestone and I am Dr. Chris Firestone. And that's uh that's all we have for you today. Hope you enjoyed the show on the Firestone Files. Bye for now. 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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