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Well, right at the start here, you're noticing it sounds a little bit different for this episode of Desolate Dating.
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No guest.
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No deep questions where I put somebody else on the spot.
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It's me that is on the spot in this episode of Desolate Dating.
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And you're gonna hear it.
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It is significantly more uncomfortable for me to talk about me than asking other people deeply personal questions.
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But before we keep on building this community together, I realize that there are a few things that you deserve to know.
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Why this podcast exists, why loneliness is something that I do care so deeply about, and a little bit about the life that brought me here.
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Not all of it, this is not a tell-all, but it's enough that when you listen to the conversations that we're having on Desolate Dating, you're gonna understand the person that's on this side of the microphone.
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So pull up a stool.
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This one is personal.
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Thank you to our presenting partners, Arneson Contracting and Glasgow Dental Clinic.
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Their support is helping me have conversations like these.
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It's the Desolate Dating Podcast hosted by Haley Ship.
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Hey friends, it's Haley.
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Um awkward podcast today, because it's going to be just me.
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We're not going to do a lot of these, but it is a heart to computer, a heart to your earbuds, a heart to your speakers, uh, wherever you're listening today.
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I wanted to expose a little bit more about the why behind this podcast, some of what you can expect as well, and then make sure that I am driving home the intentions of what we're trying to do here.
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And so um this is really uncomfortable.
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I have been in the radio and the media industry now for 20 years, and I interview people, I tell other people's stories.
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I don't talk about myself.
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And uh so please give me a little grace in that.
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But um, this is not going to be a cry all, tell all, rip the band-aids off deal, but uh sort of like a cliff's notes of my diary so you can kind of know who your host is for those of you who don't know me, and even those who do know me that maybe haven't connected all of the dots on why this project is coming to be.
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So with that, what do we do at the start?
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We take a shot.
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All right, now it's time for the shot, and um there's some edits in this because I don't want to be the person crying on a podcast, and the things I'm talking about are sad things.
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And so the shot is fireball, as I will take whenever my uh stomach, my mind allows.
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Because let's face it, fireball is not for all times.
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Um, but it's it's in memory of my brother.
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Here's to Destiny.
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So Fireball was his shot of choice.
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Um among many alcoholists.
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He wasn't an elitist.
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He wasn't a my brother was a really, really good guy.
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And he died a suicide in 2021.
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Anyone that's been around that kind of death knows that it's not just one thing that causes that action.
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It's a lot of different things.
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It's compounded.
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And I know that with his death and with what he left us with upon that action, that he was lonely.
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Um he was 39, he wasn't married, no kids, worked on the railroad, so he had a a job that made a lot of that tricky.
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Um and we're not diving into his story here today, but he is my why behind the desolate dating podcast.
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Because bottom line, I want people to feel less alone in their loneliness, and what I'm creating here is I want to create messages and content that are what I would have hoped he would have been able to hear had he still been with us and in that mental state.
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So that's my why.
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And I have been in business and um been a professional for years, and I've always struggled to find my why in the different um capacities that I've been in, you know, wherever I worked, and I've never had such a guttural why as I do in creating this podcast for Dusty.
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And so for anybody who um that resonates with, perfect.
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That's what we're here for.
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Cutting in to acknowledge how heavy all of that is and was, and I I wanted to add that if you are struggling, if you're in a dark place, please call someone.
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Friends are great, family is great, but I know that that's an uncomfortable conversation too.
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So you can always call or text 988.
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That is the suicide and crisis lifeline.
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Again, you can text it as well, 988.
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It's open anytime, day or night.
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It's free, it's confidential, and someone will listen.
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Therapy always an option, not because something is wrong with you, but because everyone deserves someone in their corner who is trained to help to carry that weight.
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I'm not a therapist, I'm not a mental health expert.
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I'm just somebody who has lived this that wants you to be okay.
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All right, I've cried.
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Now let's move on.
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Um, another aspect of creating this or another aspect of my story that I think is really important is that I chose at age 37 to conceive a child using a donor.
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Oof, had the fireball.
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We're gonna crack the bushlights.
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I chose to conceive a child using a donor and uh was successful.
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It was, it was fast.
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It was only on two tries.
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It was amazing.
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And um, now I'm blessed with a little boy.
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And, you know, at that age 37, I had come out of uh a number of different relationships and they had never resulted in that child that I knew I wanted to have.
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And so I just took the bull by the horns and decided I was gonna do it myself.
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And uh, it was a great decision.
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And it's a decision that I think sort of showcases some of the thought processes that maybe happen in small towns when people realize that it is just too hard to find that person.
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And so instead, you're going to create the life you want and figure out what happens along the way.
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And so that's what I was able to do.
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Um, single mom, but a single mom on purpose.
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I chose what I was doing.
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And so I think that that's an important element of this as well.
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So, like I said, it's a cliffs notes of my diary.
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I'm not going to be like spewing all of the information, but um a redacted dating history.
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Very redacted.
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So if you're my ex and you're listening to this, you're fine.
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Nothing's coming out.
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Um, but I have had in my lifetime four really big relationships and learned important things in every single one of those.
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You know, how I want to be treated, what I'm looking for in a significant other, what I really enjoy that maybe I wasn't expecting to enjoy, like football, for instance.
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I like watching football.
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I don't like football, but I like watching.
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I like the the events around football.
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So um, and I also learned that I can be really shitty in relationships.
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Like I can be a really bad person and can get into my head and do some things that aren't the nicest too.
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And uh now in my 40s, I can reflect on a lot of that and bring that into the mix of what I'm presenting to you in this podcast.
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And so, yeah, three relationships that were, you know, four to six years, one that's been longer, and uh one engagement.
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And here I am, 41 years old and still single, very single, very, very single.
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However, that is not the intent of this podcast to find me a man.
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Oh my God, please don't show up in my DMs.
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I'm not out shopping right now.
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I'm trying to build a podcast, raise a son, and keep a ranch going.
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So geography.
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I I try not to just like drop a thing of like, here, this is where I'm from, because there's a lot of creeps out there.
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I did just invest in a home security system that I'm putting in because people have been a little bit improper in the messages.
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Um, but I live in a town of 2700 or so.
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I live 20 miles out of town, um, raised here, went off to college, and went off to my young professional career and came back.
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Um, there's just not a lot of people.
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And it is what it is.
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I there are still some really great people here that are single.
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And then I find that, you know, either um my relationship with their past significant others is so strong, I don't want to, you know, broach that, you know, that decision or that agreement to not be with each other's exes.
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A very non-formal agreement, but like that's just not what you do.
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And then, you know, a lot of them are really good friends.
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And I don't want to create something with a good friend.
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I've done that where all of a sudden they're not in your life anymore.
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And that sucks too.
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So, like, single is is where I'm at right now, and and that's okay.
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So, why I'm building this podcast now.
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Um, I have been married to career for a very long time.
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And uh a few years back, my dad got really sick, and I was a newly single mom, and I had a job and a contract job and a store that I owned.
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And basically I was in extreme burnout, just trying to make sure nothing fell through the cracks too incredibly and doing what I needed to survive.
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Since that, my dad has been doing tremendously well, and I've gotten some room to breathe.
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And I've realized that I'm just gonna, you know what?
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I'm not gonna throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I'm throwing the damn bathwater out and these professional hats and all of these things.
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And I'm gonna start doing something for myself and uh, you know, kind of piece it back together.
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And so as of May, that's what I did.
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And then this podcast has gotten to sort of be that new career.
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Who I'm hoping this podcast is for.
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So I am hoping this podcast is for anybody else who might feel alone.
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I also am purely aware that this is for spectators of people who are single because hey, we watch reality TV.
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Dating shows are all the rage.
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Like there is definitely an entertainment value along with it.
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And so um, that's part of it too.
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Another pocket of people that I think that this message is really important for is the families or the loved ones of people who are single who maybe don't understand what it's like to be single in rural spaces.
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You know, you always have um, it seems like a lot of our parents, and maybe this is just looking with a very narrow scope, but a lot of our parents, you know, they met when they were young.
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They haven't had to be out here in the dating atmosphere uh for a long time.
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And it might be hard for them to understand why their son or why their daughter can't find someone.
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And so I want to kind of shed a light on some of that as well.
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So it's a short, it's a sweet episode.
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I cried, I had to cut some.
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I'm sorry.
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I'm not sorry.
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I'm not sorry at all because that is the real rawness of this and of what I want to produce.
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I also want to mention this that I really, really, really want to make sure that this is not a man bashing or a woman bashing or a relationship bashing type of a podcast.
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Like this is for everyone.
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This is for my brother who was lonely.
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This is for me who made the choice to just move ahead with my life and have a child on my own.
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And this is for anybody in between, all the outliers, everybody in the middle, anybody that just kind of feels that ache.
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And you know what?
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If you're not single and you find some value in this, all the better.
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So thanks for pulling up a stool.
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I don't even think I took a drink of this beer.
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I appreciate you being here.
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And it's gonna be a fun ride.
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So that's the why, that's the who.
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That's me.
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If you've made it this far, thank you for sitting with me through the messy parts, the fireball, the tears, the redacted history, and all.
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This podcast is for Dusty.
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It's for anyone who ever felt like the ache of being alone was too big to say out loud, and it's for anyone who ever just made the leap and built the life that they wanted anyway.
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I don't have this all figured out.
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Nobody does, but I'm glad you're here for it.
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Before I go, this podcast wouldn't exist without the people who believed in it before it was even a real thing.
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So a huge thank you to our founding sponsors, Arneson Contracting, Glasgow Dental Clinic, Booshiny Fabrics, Cherry Creek Aesthetics, Busted Knuckle Brewery, End of the Road Vacation Rental, and Dr.
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Kristen Strom at Rooted in Wellness.
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All right, that's it for today.
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I'll see you next time.
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Cheers.
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Thanks for listening.
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If you enjoyed the show, give us a like, follow, and a five star review and tell a friend.