Emily Yinger is my person. She has been my best friend for... shit... has it been 12 years already? Dayummm.
I met Emily in 2008, the year my best friend Lindsey died. When Emily met me, I was in the throws of grief. I never imagined I would have another best friend because it felt like Lindsey was irreplaceable. Turns out, Lindsey IS irreplaceable. But that didn't stop me from opening up my heart to allow myself to have another best friend.
Emily & I have been through a LOT together. Like so much, I could write a book about just that.
But I digress...
Last night, We flip-flopped between having a phone call or recording a podcast, but either way, I knew my Bestie needed to talk about her grief. So we recorded our convo anyway, and I decided, I'm just going to publish it as is, No Editing, because we like to keep shit real...as real as can be.
Emily's younger brother, Joseph, died by suicide when he was 26. Today, August 23rd, the day I publish this episode, would have been his 30th birthday.
Drop some eaves on our best friend talk, complete with sarcasm, profanity, tenderness, substances, stupidly funny jokes, annoying cackling (from myself), and an abrupt ending because Anchor cut us off.
Our talk is a long one (so you can listen to it in spurts if you choose) about grieving in partnership, and during a pandemic, as well as our current perspectives on suicide, and the unfair pressures that are placed upon the bereaved. But we also throw in a little Portlandia reference.
Earlier in the day, our phone call birthed a now-ongoing sarcastic joke about how much we love our lives, how blessed we feel to be where we're at, and happy we are...because the truth is, we feel the furthest from that and it frustrates the shit out of us to hear others say that, only because we're super envious.
Anyways, I won't give away everything...
Listen in, but beware, there's some extra noises, like dog panting and possibly even a fart.
We're pretty damn ridiculous, and at some point, I think we both forget we're recording a podcast.
Oh well.
YOU'RE WELCOME, WORLD.
Join us as we "cacao" our way through grief (that's a Portlandia joke)
