Real Talk with Tina and Ann
Tina and Ann met as journalists covering a capital murder trial, 15 years ago. Tina has been a tv and radio personality and has three children. Ann has a master's in counseling and has worked in the jail system, was a director of a battered woman's shelter/rape crisis center, worked as an assistant director at a school for children with autism, worked with abused kids and is currently raising her three children who have autism. She also is autistic and was told would not graduate high school, but as you can see, she has accomplished so much more. The duo share their stories of overcoming and interview people who are making it, despite what has happened. This is more than just two moms sharing their lives. This is two women who have overcome some of life's hardest obstacles. Join us every Wednesday as we go through life's journey together. There is purpose in the pain and hope in the journey.
Real Talk with Tina and Ann
November 25, 1975: 50 years after the loss of my Dad
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving can feel ordinary—until it isn’t. Fifty years ago, a dad kissed his child goodbye and didn’t come home, and that single day rewrote every holiday that followed. We open the door to that memory and walk through its rooms: the neighbor who showed up at swim practice, the crowded living room where silence said more than words, the TV playing Happy Days, the rain that made it seem like the sky understood. This is a story of grief stitched into a season built for gratitude—and a real, workable way to hold both.
We talk about how anniversaries tether themselves to the senses, why funeral planning beside a turkey feels so surreal, and how military honors can slip through cracks on a holiday weekend. From there, the lens widens: raising five kids, grandkids underfoot, three children on the spectrum, and careers in mental health and education that turned pain into purpose. The throughline is a simple practice—“even here.” Even here, with an empty chair or a thinner wallet. Even here, when the weather matches your heart. Even here, when the calendar drags you back to a day you never wanted to relive.
What emerges isn’t a neat bow but a true map: gratitude as a method, not a mood. We share small rituals for remembrance, the choice to let the good in without pushing pain out, and the stubborn hope that shows up when you name both. If your holiday table looks different this year—or if the number on the calendar echoes louder than you’d like—you’ll find language, company, and practical comfort in these pages of memory.
If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help others find us. Tell us: what small good are you letting in this week?
Today's November twenty-fifth. Two thousand and twenty-five. A Tuesday. A Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Two days before Thanksgiving. In nineteen seventy-five. On November twenty-fifth, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, my dad died. It was fifty years ago. Was the last time I saw my dad. The last time that I saw my dad walk out the door, kiss me goodbye, and go to work. And that was it. Fifty years. Now, of course, I'm telling my age a little bit, but I was pretty young when it happened. I'm in here waiting for my kids to come out from an appointment. And you know, we we've talked about like what it what are we gonna do. I mean, you know, every November 25th, since he has died, I remember him. And it's a it's a thing because it changed my life forever in so many ways. I was never the same again. Now, with that said, you know, in some ways, as I've aged, those lessons have carried me into stronger parts of me, for sure. I'm different, I'm stronger, I've taken those lessons and I've become who I am today. Um, I've definitely had some rough patches, some absolute rough patches that I chose to go down not so good. But, you know, going into this Thanksgiving, we Tina and I, in our podcast, we often talk about uh being thankful and grateful in no matter what situation that we're in. And most, a lot of times, not most, a lot of times, those situations it can be hard to be thankful and to find something to be thankful for. This year we decided to do our Thanksgiving episode and call it even here we are thankful, even here we are blessed, you know, even here. And both of our tables look a little different than they have in the past, and and I would say that a lot of people are like that in the world, whether it be that you're missing a person, or you're missing somebody that or you know, or something, you're missing something, or you're missing maybe you have less money, maybe you have a loss of a job, maybe you aren't able to put the food on the table like you could before because of the way our country is going in the economy. Um, you know, everybody's table in this last year, we all are different. I think we're all different, and that's why Tina and I wanted to do this podcast. Even here, I am thankful. Whatever it is, where wherever it is in your life, I pray that you are thankful in some capacity, because even if it's just a little bit, those are the places where we can find hope. And you know, I just cannot believe that it's been 50 years with that. I mean, I I can't fathom that amount of time. I mean, I know in my head that I was a pretty little kid when he walked out that door, and nobody knew that he wasn't coming home that day. It was very sudden. My kids were like, oh, how how do you want to remember him? What was his favorite drink? Maybe we could, you know, pour it into the ground and give it to him. And it's kind of funny that, you know, they're nine and twelve, um, my two boys that wanted to that said that, and I was like, Oh, I mean, that his favorite drink was a beer, and uh that would be kind of fun to do that. Um, but I don't know, you know, everybody remembers their person different. This one was so surreal to me because it's a Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Exactly 50 years. It was a Tuesday before Thanksgiving that day. And it's funny because you know, I'm really gonna be telling my years now because I was watching, well, I had I was at swim practice and they came. My parents, neither one of my parents came to get me at swim practice. They were both, you know, not able to, obviously. And so a neighbor came in. That was the strangest thing in the world. I was just I came out from getting dressed from swim practice, and my neighbor was there, and I'm just like, Well, what are you doing here? And so then I they went past my house when they took me home and went to their house, and it just the whole night was just so strange. And they said that my dad had been in the hospital because he was sick, and um that was it, you know, no more detail than that. And so I was watching Happy Days at their house. We were just kind of hanging out. Um this kid who really didn't I knew them, but I didn't feel comfortable. I was already quiet to begin with. I, you know, everybody on here pretty much knows that I was an autistic, I am autistic, you know. The kid in me was very quiet and um didn't feel comfortable in different situations, and this was very different. So we just sat and watched Happy Days, and at the end the phone rang. It was right before Laverne and Charlie came on, that which was right next, you know, the next show that was gonna be on, and so then um they said, you know, oh it's it's okay, we can go take you home now. And so I get there, but there were all these cars parked at my house. It was so strange. And I walked in and I was all these people were just staring at me. They were all around our living room. I can't even tell you how many people were there, and it was just like a sea of people, and I said, Um, you know, what's going on? And I remember that my mom was sitting on the couch and she said, Your dad. And I said, What? And she was crying, and then she said, I said, Well, is I said, is he sick? And she said, mm-hmm. And I said, Well, could he die? And she went, mm-hmm. And I said, by reading the room. I said, did he? And then she said, Yeah. And so I just remember I don't remember, actually. They told me that I threw a book. I threw a book. I have no memory of it, so I must have blacked out right after it happened. I'm sure I did, because the next memory I have is of me in my bedroom by myself with the door closed, which that was the place that I was often sent by my parents to get out of the way by my mom. And that was always also the place where I would just hang out, and most of the time I was not bothered, they did not normally come in. So I was in there, and then you know, I have a couple blips of memory after that, and then it like fast forwards to Thanksgiving. But what and what I remember about Thanksgiving is sitting on the couch while they were planning a funeral making a Thanksgiving meal, and I always thought that that was the absolute strangest thing. I I just was like, you know, you're talking about dead things while you're making our Thanksgiving meal. I had gotten up the day before the day before Thanksgiving to go to school. It was a Wednesday, and we did have school. I had gotten up to go to school. I do remember that. And my aunts, who were still there from the night before, they must have stayed the night. I have no idea. But they looked at me and said, What are you doing? And I I was dressed, and they I said, I'm going to school. And they said, No, you're not. Your dad just died. And so I was like, Okay, I don't remember what happened after that. But then the next thing I do remember is watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade on the Thursday, Thanksgiving. I do remember um rain. And it's raining today. One of them, but it was definitely at the top. And I don't know. I thought, you know what? 50 years, 50 years, and it would be just about now that he started having his heart problems because he came home from work early. And this is just what I was told, um, because I wasn't there, and they said, you know, that he uh was having problems with he had come home from work with chest pains, went to the hospital, they did tests, and apparently, I mean, he had had like a mild heart attack at that point, and they were going to wheel him into a room. Um, that's all I know. I don't know what kind of room it was, if it was ICU, if it was a regular room or what, I don't know. They were wheeling him into a regular or to excuse me, to a room, and um on the way he had a massive heart attack, and that was it. So I mean it's it's just crazy to me. I never even really every year has felt like oh, okay, yeah, I mean, this is the anniversary, but fifty years all day today, all day, even last night, even yesterday, I was like 50 years ago today. I still had my dad. 50 years ago today, I just this is the day. This was his last morning where he kissed me goodbye and walked out the door. 50 years ago today, he was at work. Now he would have been going on his way to the hospital because it was right about this time, and I found out about 8:30 to 845 that he had died. So, you know, it it's really interesting what we do with anniversaries, and anniversaries that happen on holidays, and we just knew somebody else who just lost somebody too, um, just a couple days ago, and they're dealing with it all Thanksgiving week. Um, and it was the same thing, you know. I mean, during a death for a holiday is really difficult to make plans, and even my dad was a naval officer, and they did not get to play taps for his funeral because they um couldn't gather the people to do it for a holiday weekend, and it was like the weekend after Thanksgiving. Um, so I mean that was really strange. Um, I still feel like he should have had that honor, or that maybe at some point we should have given that him that honor. Um but it rained the day of his funeral. It it um seemed to rain for days. It was like when I woke up this morning and I looked outside and it was raining, and I had the same thoughts that I did back then when we were standing under the tent of the funeral during the funeral, and I thought God is crying, and that's how I felt this morning when I looked out fifty freaking years ago. Who would have thought that 50 years ago or 50 years later that I would be here where I am today? And it's a great life. I'm very blessed, I'm very thankful each and every single day, even for the smallest of things. I've got great kids, a mama of five, and a grandma of five, and I'm I'm n oh my gosh, he would have been very proud of me. He would have, you know, my media career, my writing, my um mental health with my uh all the jobs that I have worked in the mental health field that were very intentional, that have brought me to where I am now, um, from the jail system to being the director of a better woman's shelter, and also being the assistant director at a school for kids with autism, being an autistic individual that really was beneficial to me and my three kids with autism. You know, I'm just so grateful 50 years later. Fifty years later. I can't say that enough. That number has gone through my head all day long. All day. But it really does, and I am a numbers person, I always look at the meaning of numbers for some reason. I don't know what that means for me, but like certain numbers always come up, um, and 50 is not normally a number that comes up for me, but all day long 50 has been going through my head. Maybe I should play it for the lottery or something. But it's good, it's good, and even here I am thankful. Even here I am blessed. I am grateful, even for the small things, for each and every single one of my kids and my grandkids and the podcast and my really, really close friends. My family, of course, every single one of them, and even for the hard times, because the hard times brought me to the good times and they got me through, and they were stepping stones to where I am now. I'm grateful for every single well, there are a couple things I would have erased, I would love to erase because I'm much smarter now than I was back then when I first when I had some of those things happen. Some to me, and some were my choice. Um but you know, we can all grow from the really, really hard times, and I grew over these last 50 years since I last saw my dad. I've grown so much, and he wouldn't even believe that I'm able to do all the things that I can do. He wouldn't even believe it because I was a pretty quiet, autistic kid with a so many learning disabilities, where they said, you know, my chances of really going that far academically were pretty low, and I had the determination and the will to do whatever it took. So yeah, he would be super proud of me. So even here, I am thankful. Even here, I'm blessed. I love you, Dad. Fifty years later. I hope everybody here has a really great Thanksgiving. You know, it really affected me for me not to have a good Thanksgiving for many years. I allowed my the loss of my dad to affect my Thanksgiving and I kept it out. I said, nope, I'm not going to let the good in, especially during this time. I kept it at a distance. But this year I've been thankful and I've been letting it in. Tina and I put out some a really, really great podcast about even here. I am thankful. And it has really allowed me to be able to let it in, to let the good in, even though you can hold the pain and the good at the same time. You really can. Even here. I am thankful. I love all of you. Have a good Thanksgiving.
