Daughter-Father Dance Podcast
Episode 14: The Final Countdown
TRANSCRIPT

SHOW INTRO

[00:00:00] Jenée Arthur: Hey everybody. Welcome back. We're getting toward the end and some days I don't know how I feel about. I still have so much to say and to share with you. And we still have that Catholic church piece to finally run, which I can't tell you how often I cogitate that uber complex topic in my life. I will come through with that episode once my internal process I'm dealing with comes around and allows me to hit the publish button.

I'm also kind of waiting to hear from that guy over in Rome, too, you know. Well, we'll see.

There are a lot of things brewing in my world and in many people's lives. 2021 is coming to an end. How in the hell is next week Christmas?

This week, Dad and I share what we are taking away from this experience together. Dad also does his best to circle back to that double-edged sword comment. He made that I interrupted several episodes ago, but I think he still has fever anyway.

[00:01:00] Jenée Arthur: So I was thinking today— I told our listeners that we would talk about our takeaway from doing this project together. And I kind of want to get into like the things we loved, the things we hated, the things we learned, or

[00:01:15] Gene Arthur: I would say what comes to my mind is the fact that when you began this project, I was thinking about the different audiences that might be part of this and not realizing that we have a very solid family of grandchildren, significant others. We have our Happy Half Dozen.

[00:01:41] Jenée Arthur [VOICEOVER]: If you don't already know, The Happy Half Dozen was the CB handle my dad gave to our family during our summer road trips to Colorado or Texas. The Happy Half Dozen consists of Dad, Mom, me, my sister, Julie, and my brothers, Jerrod and Jason. There's six of us. We are all happy. Therefore—well, you get the picture.

[00:02:06] Gene Arthur: The fact that my family was able to hear and be a part of the podcast that was a source of great joy because of the fact that your children and your grandchildren love you. They say, they love you. They give you cards. They say complementary things to you, they hug you when they see you and kiss you and say things that make you feel good.

But the podcast, I think, dove into a more subconscious appreciation of insights that were revealed. They are long remembered after we're put in the ground and actually gone from our grandchildren. And children. Those little memories are in your subconscious to where you remember how Aunt Jenée and Grandpa, they made this podcast and they really talked about some issues that were not really easy for a lot of families to talk about.

I reflect on my own upbringing, my friends in the orphanage. I think about the nuns and I have been praying for people that I have never prayed for.

[00:03:24] Jenée Arthur [VOICEOVER]: When I mentioned early in the episodes that Dad probably had room on his hour and a half prayer list he prayed before getting out of bed every morning, a lot of people contacted me and took me up on that. Dad actually loved it.

[00:03:39] Gene Arthur: Things that were revealed through this podcast. I, uh, I'm just thankful to God . My thankfulness is gratitude for the life I've lived and the opportunity and the situations that I've been in. It's been a real source of making me aware of more than what I am or who I am or what or where I've been and what I've done.

It's like a, wow, this is a wonderful avenue of communication. In your face talk and, you know, just being mindful and respectful of where each of us and others are.

[00:04:32] Jenée Arthur: Oh, that's great, Dad. It's a beautiful reflection.

[00:04:36] Gene Arthur: That's the way I personally feel about it, Pooh.

[00:04:38] Jenée Arthur [VOICEOVER]: I know it's not the first time you've heard him say it, but ‘Pooh’ is what Dad called me when I was at a little girl, and of course, Née. Née Winnie Pooh Bear, to be exact.

[00:04:43] Jenée Arthur: I love that it not only has a nostalgic piece for you that, you know, the remembering, like you said, and just seeing how you've evolved in life. For me, it's also very much what you said. I feel like the piece about the grandkids and us kids—it's part of that sort of legacy project. Now we have the, in the very least,16 episodes of you and I conversing and that'll be, you know, in perpetuity, I mean, podcasts don't go away.They just, you know, get kind of buried underneath the millions of others that go on top of. But I'm grateful for that because you know, amidst this, you know, when we first thought of the idea, I presented it to you, we said, yes, we took several months to actually get going because life, you know, kind of got in the way.

But once we did, I was so grateful for the opportunity. To get this all recorded because in that time we've had a few scares things have happened. You know, you lost your mind that day cause you're using those toxic chemicals— or I don't know what the reason was. You've been sick these last 14 days…

As a child of a 79 year old father, I, and we, you know, we worry about your mortality and not that we're worried you’ll keel over or anything like that, but those kinds of things come into our minds. Not that this replaces your life, but I'm so grateful that I have these moments with you documented because this is something I'll forever be able to go back to.

And when God forbid you're off the planet, be able to remember.

The reason I wanted to do this, one of the reasons is because it, and I alluded to this last week that I had these conversations with you all my life and that, you know, they started at a very young age. When you take me to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Conversations of curiosity or not understanding something, or just simply asking a question, be it I ask you, or you ask me, turned into these beautiful, profound conversations. Many of which still affect me and the decisions I make in life. You know, I'm just so grateful to have that come back in adult fashion, where we're, we're able to still have the conversations, albeit they're different now. They're not you with a 6 7, 8, 9 year old little girl. It's you and your sometimes argumentative adult daughter, but they're still as precious, you know, they're still, if not more so, and I'm so grateful to you, Papa.

[00:07:11] Gene Arthur: Well, I think I've been young at heart most of my life and actually bringing that up now. I think. Wow. The older I get my attitude or my outlook needs to change a little bit.

You have wonderful creative juices and your ability to come up with ideas that are really just, wow. Your Heroes program with children. I've always taught that man, if that thing could ever have. Hit off, right? With the endorsements of us, just certain celebrities that you were soliciting your creative ability to tell a story and reveal the fun of just every day, getting along with each other and people and this spear business with these clients now that you work in a.

All the objects against your operation with this virus, you've, uh, you persevered and you’ve just been faith filled with your gift that God's given you— and you appreciate it, that's very evident. You're not inhibited by disappointment or hard work.

[00:08:29] Jenée Arthur [VOICEOVER]: Dad continued to tell me how proud he is of me, but it got to be a conversation that should remain between a father and his daughter, rather than one to share with thousands of people.

[00:08:40] Jenée Arthur: Let me ask you, what did you, if anything, learn during this process with me?

[00:08:44] Gene Arthur: When we made each other mad, that was not anything that I learned.

[00:08:47] Jenée Arthur: We've gotten pretty good at that, but, but the cool thing, if I may interject about the getting mad at each other. I think that's kind of the point that you and I are demonstrating that we can have a level of volatility in conversation and still we're connected and love each other.

Doesn't mean that you don't make me mad or I don't make you mad, or, you know, I want to throw my hands up and walk away, but we don't. Stick it out and we come back and ultimately for lack of a better way to put it, we agree to disagree or we see something new or we decide our relationship's more important than this disagreement. So let's, let's halt it. And I just wish more people were willing to do that , Dad.

So is, was there anything about this process that you hated.

[00:09:45] Gene Arthur: No, I can't think of anything in this process that I actually didn't like, or I hated because I enjoy seeing your face and hearing your voice. I enjoyed us being able to talk freely and.Get things off our chest and just being present to someone out there that may need what we're doing. So, no, I can't think of a thing that I didn't like about the podcast.

Well, I do take a one. It's sometimes like when I really had something else to do and I made a commitment to you that we would podcast. So I would say that's the only negative thing I can think of that I had to put it off for awhile or do it a later date or time, but that's about it.

[00:10:37] Jenée Arthur: Unbeknownst to me, you're wanting to be somewhere else. I appreciate that,Dad. You showing up and just being so wholeheartedly in, you know, you, you said yes, and you maintained that yes throughout the entire process. And, um, and we've even recorded six other episodes people haven't even heard yet, you know, for our own reasons to not release them into the world yet, or at all. And so the it's been such a gratifying experience for me, just because it's one more point on a line of you, you follow through with things you're, uh, you've demonstrated that to us kids, you know, our whole life.

And that I'm grateful that I was part of a project like this, where. You continue to exhibit showing up. And as you said earlier, getting her done, you know, if you recall, I've given you lots of outs, like if you've got stuff to do, we can do it tomorrow. And you're just always, I don't think you've ever taken me up on that.

You've always been like, Nope. I said I would do it and I'm going to do it. And I'm sort of framing it as if sometimes you were under duress because I, but I don't think that's the case. I think you've always been willing. Is that accurate?

[00:11:07] Gene Arthur: Yeah, I've enjoyed it.

[00:11:08] Jenée Arthur: Well, that's good, Dad, if nothing else, if not only one person listened to this or just our immediate family listened to this, that's worth it to me.

Cause I I've loved this experience. And if it's also, like I said earlier, reminded me of sitting in the pew with my inquisitive little. Constantly the cogs going and wondering, and you know, just full of questions about life and you were the guy always there to not just answer them, but to make me think about what I think the answer to that question is that's made an immense difference in who I am as a human being and a person.

So there are a couple of things that I want to make sure we go back to listeners and give them that we didn't give before. And one is, which is, you mentioned a concept about a double edge sword. And I said, in that episode, I want to come back to that. But first, and then I went a different direction. I want to kind of clear up any of those sort of left and done conversations because I think it's only respected.

[00:12:50] Gene Arthur: The double-edged sword that comes from scripture as you might well expect, expect free will is probably what I would say is the sharpening stone of the double-edged sword, because with your free will, you can sharpen that sword for good. And you can sharpen that short for something other than good. So when I say the double-edged sword, it actually is from the new tests.

[00:13:24] Jenée Arthur: So let me, may I summarize just so I know I'm understanding it correctly. So the double-edged sword being, you mentioned that the freewill was the sharpening of that sword. So as the double edge that freewill, you can either choose light or dark. You can choose good or bad. You could choose the sword is essentially the choice.

[00:13:49] Gene Arthur: Right that double-edged sword. You could use it in the hand of a skillful surgeon to eliminate certain cancers or, and then at the same time, you can use that same sword to create something marvelous, like the chisel of what's his name?

[00:14:09] Jenée Arthur: Michelangelo.

[00:14:10] Gene Arthur: Yeah. The chisel of Michelangelo or the,

[00:14:13] Jenée Arthur: Dad goes on to explain more ways to use the good bladed side of this.But then he jumps quickly to something that has frustrated him for awhile. So we just went with it.

[00:14:25] Gene Arthur: I really get pissed off with all the bad that happens, but yet Jesus said, you know, the sun shines on and the rain falls upon the wheat and the weeds together. We grow and in God's optimal. The weed could surrender and become wheat.

[00:14:50] Jenée Arthur [VOICEOVER]: Yeah. I'm not sure there's any real science to a weed becoming wheat, but I think he still has fever.

[00:14:59] Gene Arthur: You understand what I'm trying to say there?

[00:15:01] Jenée Arthur [VOICEOVER]: Um, do you understand what you're trying to say there?

Well, it CA I feel like it kind of describes double-edged sword again, you know, it's almost like a dichotomy, like a double-edged sword is the, the opposites good and bad light dark.

[00:15:15] Gene Arthur: Well, see, when, when you bring that up, it's been recorded that Jesus said I have come. To bring division. And I have come to bring mother against daughter, father against son, brother against sister. They have a deeper meaning because he was trying to illustrate that because of him. There's going to be. And there's going to be sides taken.So because I'm not a scripture scholar. And if I had scripture in front of me right now, and I could read that passage.

[00:15:54] Jenée Arthur [VOICEOVER]: Thank dear God he didn't. I think we've all had enough scripture for one season. Dad goes on to talk about forming out this double-edged sword piece. It's a little disjointed, but I think the whole, even weed and wheat. He's trying to say that the good and the bad are always going to exist together. It's duality, it's dichotomy, it's light and dark. It's kind of the way the world works.

[00:16:24] Gene Arthur: I'm thankful that you brought up this time to recall the fund that we're having and the hard work that you're putting into. And the people that gotta be bored out of their gourd, listening to your dad talking about a variety of stuff that, uh, some people don't even give a rat's ass about .

[00:16:47] Jenée Arthur: On the contrary, You're kind of the hit.

I don't get feedback that there's anything I'm doing. That's great. It's “Your Dad's a legend.”

Now I have to say on the other side of that car coin, talk about double-edged sword. I have friends that want to kill you sometimes, and that have to like stop listening to certain of the podcast. I even have people that have texted me, like I can't even make it through episode two 'cause they're like your dad's too much. Cause you gotta, you've got to admit, you've got that fire and brimstone thing about the whole homosexuality piece, but for the most part, dad, you're, you've been the star and that's, that's awesome because I wanted this to be an open book about who my dad is. I don't think anybody's bored out of their gourd, as you said, like I said,

[00:17:35] Gene Arthur: the only original thought I ever had in my mind is when I picked my confirmation name, John, because I knew somewhere along the line, I've found out that John was a disciple that Jesus loved.And I wanted that to be my name

[00:17:53] Jenée Arthur: That says so much about you, Dad. I'm glad you're feeling better. You sound way different than last week's recording.

[00:18:01] Gene Arthur: Now, I'm going to put my jeans on and my boots, and I'm going to go out and get my seven foot ladder and come home and hang Santa Claus in the tree.

[00:18:11] Jenée Arthur: I too am off to get some of my own Christmas preparation done.

[00:18:16] When you hear Dad and I next time we will be seated across from each other, having a conversation in person just two days before Christmas. And we have something planned for you! We'll see if we can actually pull it off —and we'll let you be the judge of that.

See you next time.

Division is Optional