10 years ago I interviewed a WWII veteran named Bob.
Bob is one of thousands of individuals that I have interviewed over the years, and no one has impacted my life like he has. He lived alone, was a widower, had macular degeneration, and was nearing his 90th birthday when I first met him.
At this time in my life, I was struggling in survival mode and racing towards the exit of an emotionally abusive marriage with a narcissist. In fact, I was at my lowest low when I walked into Bob’s home that day. The first thing Bob said to me was, “When you get to be my age, everyone thinks you’re senile, I say ‘Mess With People!'”
Bob shared with me his life story, including his adventures during WWII as a spy and his subsequent career as a pioneer of medical photography. He was interesting and funny. In fact, he was the first happy old man I’d ever encountered because most older men are curmudgeons due to some health issue. For reasons I could not comprehend, I asked Bob if I could return the following week to read him my rough draft.
On my next visit, Bob was quiet and reserved. We sat in silence for a long time before he spoke, and when he did speak, what he said changed my life forever. He broke our silence with, “I missed out on marrying the love of my life, I don’t know if she is dead or alive, but I need to find her and ask her for forgiveness.”
I asked him, “What did you do?”
He replied, “I never asked her to marry me.”
Bob had not spoken of her in 67 years. Her name is Joy.
This moment complete altered the trajectory of my life.
If you follow me on social media, you will see photos of Bob, me, and Joy, whom he was able to ask a question that took him 67 years to articulate. She said yes.
My memoir – which you can sign up on my website to receive updates on its release — is titled “Finding Joy”. So naturally, I named my initial podcast, “Finding Joy with Kara“.
My first 2 seasons feature inspiring individuals with amazing stories. I started my podcast because after writing thousands of human interest stories, listening to stories shared with someone’s own voice is powerful.
Each episode features people who have all found joy in their own lives, and are making the world a better place in their own unique way. The last episode of season 2 of “Finding Joy with Kara” dropped just before tragedy struck in my life.
When something unexpected happens in our lives, just like in the movies, everyone and everything seems to freeze, and the background soundtrack abruptly stops — with the sound of a needle across vinyl.
A record scratch.
My record scratch moment was when my son Jake died in a car accident on February 19, 2022. He was 16.
It’s been over a year since that fateful day which completely disrupted my life and it’s taken me up to now to rediscovered my voice.
All of us will inevitably experience “record scratch” moments in our lifetime. These big, disruptive moments require an immense amount of resiliency to move our lives forward. We are never the same.
Recovery from trauma is not a D-I-Y situation. I am surrounded by incredibly loving and supportive humans who have helped me tremendously since losing my son Jake.
So the pivot to rebranding season 3 of my podcast to “Record Scratch” feels more natural for where I am in my life. Yes, I found Joy — in the full double entendre meaning — and now I honor those disruptive events in our lives and how we move forward. My guests explore their record scratch moments and are not only inspirational, we share resources and tools to help you along your own healing journey.
Authenticity is greatly important to me — so those featured in my podcast are people who walk their talk.
Trauma encompasses a vast spectrum. There’s no competition and no judgment as we speak about varying topics including generational trauma, grief, PTSD, and what we can do to heal our wounds and be better humans.
Please follow me on social media and subscribe to this podcast. New episodes will drop weekly.
Thank you for listening to “Record Scratch“.