What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Sometimes, you see a phone call coming in and you just know that something bad has happened.I remember back several years ago, when my dad was still alive. He was in pretty poor health. He could still walk around, sort of, but it was with a walker, and it was very slowly. I’m the oldest of three sons, and of the three, I live the closest. It’s only about a 5 or 6 minute drive for me to get to my parents’ place, so if something happened, I’d be the one to get that call. Lots of times my phone would ring, and it would be my mom calling, quite upset and worried, because my dad had fallen and she couldn’t get him up. And you know, when a call comes in the middle of the night, it’s almost never going to be good news. We’ve had a few of those as well.For my guest today, Bill, life was good. He and his wife had two children – David, in high school, and Kristin, who had just graduated from college and was about to start a career. But then, Bill got a phone call. It was from a woman who identified herself as a police detective.The phone call was about Bill’s daughter.Bill’s book, WHEN DATING HURTS https://www.amazon.com/WHEN-DATING-HURTS-violence-daughters/dp/1734253703/ref=sr_1_1Bill’s website: https://www.whendatinghurts.com/Bill’s podcast: https://www.whendatinghurts.com/podcast.htmlResources:National Domestic Violence Hotline – TheHotline.org - 800-799-7233LoveIsRespect.org – 866-331-9474RAINN (Rape Abuse Incest National Network) – RAINN.org – 800-656-4673 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I believe that people, for the most part, are good. When a tragedy happens, we want to help.That’s really the whole basis for the GoFundMe website. You can read about someone who’s in some kind of desperate situation, whether it’s from an accident, or a critical illness, or something else – and you can literally help them.And when something really devastating happens, and it affects a whole city, we see an immediate result – the psychology of community. This is what happened in New York City right after 9/11. On any other day, people are out and doing what they need to do, going from one place to another, mostly preoccupied with what they have to do that day. But in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack, that completely changed. Suddenly, New York City wasn’t millions of individuals. It was a group; a community. Everyone’s to-do list went out the window, and the immediate priority was to help those who needed it.And it wasn’t just the people in that city – all around the country, people donated money, there were long lines to donate blood for the injured, and some who were qualified literally went to dig through the rubble and find survivors. And one of the interesting effects of that tragedy was a surge in young people enlisting in the military. Our country had been attacked, and many people felt that signing up for the military was a way to perhaps prevent future attacks.My guest today is Michael, but he goes by the nickname CQ. He lived in New York City when 9/11 happened, and he was one of those young men who decided to join the military and help defend our country.But then something happened that brought his military career to an unexpected early end.CQ’s weekly live show – Pop Culture Warrior http://wtfnationradio.com/shows/popculturewarrior/This episode is sponsored by the LOL with Kim Gravel podcast – find it on any podcast player, or at LOLKim.com.Also mentioned in this episode is the School of Podcasting – that’s where you go to launch, grow, and even monetize your podcast. Go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/what and use the coupon code WHAT to get 20% off either a monthly or yearly membership. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As human beings, one of the things we crave is community. We need social interaction, and we want to feel like we belong in a group. Whether it’s family, or co-workers, or a church, or a local club – it seems like we need to be with other people.But for some people, there are times when we like being alone. I ride my bike every morning, and it’s something I really look forward to – just being out there for an hour, just me and my own thoughts. And maybe a podcast or two of course.For some reason, in our modern society, there’s sometimes kind of a stigma with doing things by yourself. I know some people who would feel a bit awkward going to see a movie alone. That doesn’t bother me at all though. If there’s a movie that comes out that looks really good to me, it might be something that my wife wouldn’t want to see – so I don’t mind just going to see it by myself.My guest today, Karen, lives in South Africa, and she’s the same way. She always kind of liked being by herself, especially in the outdoors, with no other people around. One afternoon she was out on a solo trail hike, really enjoying the solitude and being surrounded by nature, with no one else around. But she wasn’t the only one on the trail that day.Karen’s Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Karen-Runge/e/B00TK1Z1CWInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenrungewritesThis episode is sponsored by Babbel US. Get 6 months of language learning for the price of 3 – visit Babbel.com and use the promo code WHAT.The service I use for my website is Siteground and you can get your website hosting for as little as $5 per month. Use my affiliate link: WhatWasThatLike.com/hosting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The subway system in New York City is pretty impressive.It opened in 1904 so it’s one of the oldest subway systems in the world. And it is definitely the largest, with 472 stations. And throughout its history, the subway has offered service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week almost continuously. The exceptions are usually emergencies and disasters, such as 9/11.You want to take a guess as to how many people ride the subway, on an average weekday? Go ahead, think of a number. Okay, it’s 5.6 million people. Per day!The subway system can be a little scary sometimes, but most of the time it’s safe. It’s just a large crowd of individual people, each one needing to get from one location to another location. Many of them will have ear buds in, or be engrossed in a book or newspaper, mostly unaware of what’s going on around them.What you’ll hear today is my conversation with Danny. Back when this happened, he lived in New York City with his partner, Pete. In fact, they still live there. Danny was one of those people on the subway. Head down, in a hurry because he was running late, just wanted to get off the train and up to the street. But on this day, he happened to notice something on the floor near the stairs.It was a baby.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This episode is sponsored by StoryWorth. Preserve your loved one’s memories in a keepsake book, and get 10% off your first order at StoryWorth.com/WHAT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the morning of April 19, 1995, a former US Army soldier parked a rented Ryder truck in front of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building, located in downtown Oklahoma City.Inside the truck was everything he needed to carry out his plan of terrorism and mass murder. He had a large bomb, which he created using agricultural fertilizer and some chemicals, including diesel fuel. After parking the car, he got out and walked toward his getaway car, a yellow Mercury Marquis.He ignited a timed fuse, and a second fuse as backup.Inside the building, in one of the office conference rooms, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board had just begun a 9 am meeting when the bomb exploded.The blast effect was equivalent to over 5000 pounds of TNT, and could be heard and felt 55 miles away. The blast either destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a 4-block radius. 86 cars were either burned or destroyed, and a large section of the Federal building had been reduced to rubble. News crews were shocked when they first viewed the damage from their helicopter.Inside the building, 163 people were killed. Additional casualties were one person in the nearby Athenian building, one woman in a parking lot across the street, two people in the Oklahoma Water Resources building, and a rescue worker who was struck on the head by falling debris. In total, 168 people died that day. 19 of those were children. Almost 700 other people were injured.My guest today, Amy, was in the Federal Building that morning. She worked on the third floor, at the Federal Employees Credit Union. In this episode, you’ll hear her talk about what happened to her that day. But just as amazing is what has happened to her SINCE that day.Amy’s website: AmyDowns.orgAmy’s book: Hope is a Verb: My Journey of Impossible TransformationAmy’s TEDx talk: How Hope Can Change Your LifeThis episode is sponsored by the Sleep Meditation for Women podcast – listen to help you fall asleep and stay asleep.Also mentioned in this episode is the School of Podcasting – that’s where you go to launch, grow, and even monetize your podcast. Go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/what and use the coupon code WHAT to get 20% off either a monthly or yearly membership. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As I walk or bike through my neighborhood, one of the saddest things I often see is a flyer stuck to a telephone pole or electric pole, telling about a lost dog.We have a couple of little dogs, Lilly and Fenway. They’re both Yorkies. And believe me, they are family. I can’t imagine the stress and anxiety and sadness if we suddenly discovered one of them were missing.So that’s what I think about when I see one of those flyers. Some family, in a neighborhood near to where I live, is living with the fact that they don’t know where their dog is. Or where their cat is. And they don’t know if their family pet will ever come home again.So I think we can all agree, losing a dog is traumatic. But what if your dog didn’t just escape and get lost… What if your dog was actually stolen? That’s what Barbie suspected when her dog, Scooby, went missing.If your dog gets away: ·     Drive slowly around the neighborhood. Your dog might hear and recognize the sound of your car or your voice, and might be close by. ·     Put a sign in your yard. Include a photo of your pet, along with your phone number. The sign will be seen by pizza deliveries, the mail carrier, and the kids in the neighborhood. ·     Leave unwashed clothing outside, near your house. ·     Hang flyers around the neighborhood and go door to door to let everyone know. Also, post online in local groups such as Next Door. ·     Visit local shelters regularly. Don’t just call – go there in person.This episode is sponsored by the Sleep Meditation for Women podcast – listen to help you fall asleep and stay asleep.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few things are scarier than being attacked by a shark.Australian Mick Fanning was in a professional surfing competition, which was being broadcast live around the world. Viewers watched as a shark approached him and he was quickly rescued by nearby safety crews – the only damage was the leash that connected him to his surfboard had been chewed through.In 1963, Rodney Fox was competing in a spearfishing tournament. A great white shark attacked and bit him around his midsection, puncturing his diaphragm, crushing his rib cage, and leaving many of his organs exposed. He survived with surgery and around 400 stitches.One summer on the Jersey Shore, five shark attacks happened in 10 days, resulting in four deaths. That period is often thought to be the inspiration for the classic movie, Jaws.As scary as it sounds, the reality is that shark attacks are quite rare. In fact, your odds of being attacked by a shark are around 1 in 11 million. Of course, that’s not much comfort if you’re one of the unlucky people to actually experience a violent attack by a shark.Just ask Brook.If you would like to help Brook with her ongoing recovery, here is her GoFundMe account.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This episode is sponsored by StoryWorth. Preserve your loved one’s memories in a keepsake book, and get 10% off your first order at StoryWorth.com/WHAT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve lived in places where the winter is really cold. Personally, I can say I prefer to live here in Florida, where it’s usually relatively warm. I don’t miss shoveling snow, or driving on roads that are icy, and it’s been a long time since my fingers and toes felt numb from the cold temperatures. I know some people prefer a colder climate, and I’m fine with that. The world is more interesting because we are all different.But when you live in an area where there’s cold weather and lots of snow, one of the things that makes it more bearable, and even fun, is to ride on a snowmobile. These things are a blast. For an avid snowmobiler, there is nothing better than a sunny day and a wide open field of fresh snow.And my guest today, Andrew, definitely falls into that category – he is a huge fan of snowmobiles. He goes out riding every time he gets a chance. And he’s one of those guys that sees a hill, and he knows that with enough speed, he can get his machine to go airborne. That’s his thrill, and he’s been doing it for years.But there was this one day, he went flying up a hill and caught air, without realizing that there was someone on the other side of that hill. Someone on a snowmobile, coming TOWARD Andrew, who also was about to fly through the air, at the exact same time.And in that split second, while they were both in the air, Andrew realized that the other driver was someone he knew very well.This episode is sponsored by the Disturbed: True Horror Stories podcast. Get it on any podcast app, or at DisturbedPodcast.com.This podcast is sponsored by Better Help online counseling – get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a bonus episode of What Was That Like.If this were a regular episode, you’d be hearing someone telling a story of how they survived a mass shooting, or when they got attacked by a grizzly bear, or that time they won $100,000 on Wheel of Fortune. We have guests on with all kinds of crazy stories, and they tell exactly what happened, first hand.But this episode is different. A while back, I asked my listeners to send in their stories about a specific topic: childbirth. What happened, what went right, and in some cases, what went wrong. This is real life, and not every story has a happy ending.I really enjoyed hearing these stories, and to those who sent one in, thank you. And if you have a story about something unusual that’s happened to you, not necessarily related to childbirth, but anything unusual or interesting, hang around and at the end I’ll tell you how we might be able to use that here on the podcast in a future episode.Here is Sylvia’s story about her experience with Postpartum Psychosis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We live in a pretty amazing time. Private citizens are going to outer space, cars are able to drive themselves to places without a human, all kinds of crazy things that our grandparents would never have imagined. I love hearing about the advances in science and technology.And what we’re talking about today might seem like it’s always been around, but it’s actually fairly new. We’re talking about the idea of surrogacy. Being a surrogate mother means you carry someone else’s baby for them. And the first surrogate pregnancy just happened in 1985. Scientists and doctors just figured this out recently, during my lifetime!We’re talking today with Emily. She lives in Canada, and she was a surrogate. I could tell when we first spoke that she was kind of an upbeat, positive person. I wanted to know how surrogacy works, why she wanted to do it, if she got paid for it, all those things. She answered my initial questions, then we got into her story.So today, we’re going to chat with Emily as she takes us on this journey of when she decided to be a surrogate mother for a young couple there in Canada. She had never done this before, but she had some basic expectations of how it was supposed to work. But what actually happened was not what she expected at all.Emily on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyf_27/ Emily email - emilyf_27@hotmail.comResources:Surrogacy.ca (Canada) Surrogate.com (US) PAIL Network - https://pailnetwork.sunnybrook.ca/BabyStepsFoundation.orgOctober – International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month October 15 – Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness DayThis podcast is sponsored by Better Help online counseling – get 10% off your first month by visiting BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.This podcast is sponsored by the LOL with Kim Gravel podcast – inspiring, uplifting conversations with intelligent people. Find it on any podcast app, or at LOLKim.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices