Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - wife interviews husband

Episode Date: May 9, 2026

Today’s episode gets VERY honest 😅I put my husband in the hot seat and asked him every question in the book. Let us know if you enjoyed this and we'll do a part 2! Love you guys!Sign up and get 10% off at https://BetterHelp.com/EASTFAM. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 50% and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! Go to https://HomeChef.com/EASTFAM.If it takes research to buy it, let Dupe do it for you. Stop wasting time comparing options. Just go to https://dupe.com and tell it what you’re looking for to finally feel confident about what to buy.https://thecouragetocommit.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to a couple things. With Sean and Andrew. Today's going to be a little different. I just sprung this on Andrew. And as you all are well aware, sometimes topics get sprung on me. And though I can be a little spicy with my response. It is just how I am, guys. I'm going to spring it on Andrew today. And I said, how about I interview you?

You want to interview me? I do. I about a lot of things. Okay. I feel like for the past, how old am I, 34? Yeah. 22 years since I was 12. The world has gotten, for better or worse, a look inside of my story.

Okay. My biography, everything about me, what's my favorite color? But there's a lot about you, I feel like people don't understand or no. And I think they should. Wow, I appreciate that, Ben. You're going to be a tough interview. I'll tell you that right now. You also might notice that we're in a whole new setting.

We're going to try this out today, see how it goes. We have a couple new settings. We've got a couple new settings. We also, what's really throwing me off is our seating arrangement here. You know what? I think I've gotten a kink in my neck from the past eight years. I think it's time we switch sides. We've been doing the podcast in that arrangement for a long time.

Yeah, I'm not kidding. I have had an issue with the right side of my night for the past six months. Wow, I'm sorry. And I wonder if it's because I do this. It's the first time I'm hearing about it. I got to make things symmetrical again, okay? But this feels like a good podcast setting, so it does.

It does. Also, like the white shirt, the Navy, I mean, as the generation would say, it's giving. If you guys only listen to the audio version of this, I hope you know that there is also video on YouTube and Spotify. I'm not recommending that. you know, I have a face for radio, as they say. No, you don't. You are smoke show.

I appreciate that, babe. Also, if you guys don't know, we wrote a book, and we have poured a heart and soul into it for the past four years, and it's finally here. Down in the show notes, you can order it. We are very excited. If you would like to bring some peace and calm to your life, some order and intention, we have had the point. pleasure of seeking the ways and the answers to do that for the past 10 years of our marriage from some of the wisest people in the world. We consolidated it down and wrote it into a book for you all. That's right. It's called The Courage to Commit. Embrace the radical power of sticking

with something. And we're really proud of it. So I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah. Because we're on the home stretch of the pre-order sales. And pre-orders mean a lot, turns out, in the world of publishing. Okay, babe. All right. Andrew Dean East. Are you ready for your interview? Bring it on, baby. When were you born? September 17th, 1991. That makes you 34 years old. That's right. What kind of kid were you? I was the middle of five kids. We had four boys, one girl, and my family. And I loved my upbringing. My dad was adventurous. My two older brothers were adventurous, so naturally found ourselves doing a lot of things like we did Boy Scouts growing up so we'd go out and we'd climb mountains 14ers as I say

Pike's Peak was one we went to Durango, Colorado and did a bunch of stuff out there spent a lot of time outside love going to the lake I love snowboarding I loved watching Lord of the Rings and practicing archery we had a dog Dodger was his name. We had another one, Jazz. I don't know. I tried to be a good student, and I feel like I was until college, so mission accomplished there.

I loved football. That's all I wanted to do. As soon as I found out, my dad played college football, and I started playing when I was eight years old. I was like, this is what I'm going to do. I would draw pictures of football guys. Sounds familiar. Our four-year-old draws pictures of motorcycle guys.

That's pretty fun how it goes full circle. But yeah, I love, like, I would say my identity, the thing I'm, like, most proud of is being the younger brother. It's a guy in JD. My dad was a legend in Indiana, and he always used to take us to his job sites that he was working on. So we'd learn a bunch of about a bunch of things through him. He was always teaching something. So what kind of kid was I? I was just along for the ride, is how I'd say.

Which I feel like I'm still just along for the ride. If you were to give each of your siblings, including you, one descriptive word for, like, how they were as children. What would it be? Shout out Sibs. Love them all. It's been fun to grow up with them. Oh, let's see. Guy's my oldest brother.

I guess he's four years older. he was an instigator that's all right it feels consistent with today too that's got yeah that's guy's adjective JD is I'd say he's the most

polished of us all okay um gregarious charismatic those are words for JD what

I said one why bad JD and I were always in cahoots. For whatever reason, him and I were the only ones that went to the school that we did, North Central High School. Shout out Panthers. And so we were always hanging out. His friends were like my friends.

I always wanted to hang out with his group of friends. Not to yes that. But my sister, she was always just patient, is the word I would use for her. She had to put up with a lot of our stuff. because there was like a gap. So as Guy, Jady, and I are all two years apart just about. And then there was like a four-year gap between my sister and I. And so she was kind of just like dragged along everywhere.

And then Grant, you know what? Grant's adjective is caring. Karen? Carrying. Caring. Caring. Caring. And what about for you?

My adjective? Yeah. Chill. It's mine. Okay. How do you feel about that? What adjective would you use for you? For me?

Yeah. As a child, introspective. Wow. It was such a quiet kid. Really? Oh, gosh. The little sides that

we see come out and drew those moments where she gets so internal and she's just watching everybody and she wants to be close to you and she wants to partake but she's that was like my whole childhood really yeah um if you were to name in one sentence a statement a motto whatever however you would put it but we interviewed someone who talked about this. Like, what are the voices? What are the lies that your brain sticks, that sticks in your brain as a kid? As a child in your upbringing,

maybe, I don't know if you remember when it was or what it was, but what was the lie that you felt like you had to battle growing up? Okay, quick question. Have you ever felt like you're waiting to feel 100% sure before you make a big decision? And then months go by and you're still in the exact same place? Because same. That tension is actually what led us to write the book The Courage to Commit. We started realizing that clarity doesn't come before commitment.

It comes after you choose something and stay with it long enough to understand it. Which means if you feel stuck in your marriage, your career, parenting, faith, health, whatever, it may not be because you chose wrong. It may be because you haven't gone all in anywhere long enough to build momentum. This book is packed with super practical frameworks for making hard decisions, for staying when things get boring, and for figuring out when it's actually time to pivot. You can pre-order it right now at the courage to commit.com and get access to all of the pre-order bonuses as well. We can't wait to hear. We can't wait to hear what you guys think of this book. We poured our heart and soul into it and we're really, really

proud of how it turned out. Pre-orders go a long way. They mean a lot as far as getting this book out into the world. So if you could do that, that'd be huge. And if you don't know what a pre-order is, it just means you order it now and it gets shipped to you the second week of June. That's right. Please do it. Check it out. Dang. This feels like an adult dating game show kind of. It's actually kind of fun. I'll have to do one for you. No one wants this one. Everyone wants that one. Don't deflect. The lie? I don't know.

Like, this was the whole thing when we did the Special Forces show is like, what trauma have you gone through? I don't, like, I don't have trauma or some crazy, thank goodness, some crazy insecurity. Like, do I have, do I think that the people in my family, including my siblings and my dad and my mom and you and my kids, all cooler than me. Yeah, but does that mean I'm like insecure or sad about that? No, it just means like I'm freaking honored to be here, dude. It's just fun. I love the people that I get

to call my family. Let me rephrase it because I feel like you're getting defensive over misinterpreting my question. I'm not asking what lie you feel like you're battling now. And I'm not even saying or alluding to the idea that you believed the lie. growing up. Okay. You have a beautiful optimism towards life where even if something is bothering you, you believe it's fleeting, it's temporary,

it's not the overarching picture, which is a gift, that is an absolute gift. But it doesn't take away the fact that you're human in battle voices, just like everyone else. To say that you don't, we don't even talk about that, is not accurate. As a child,

and you could say, that's elementary, that's middle school, that's high school, that's college, in whatever space, what was your lie, your voice in your head,

whether quiet or screaming, that you were, that was there on your shoulder at some point? I would rather you answer this question for me. Here's the thing. No, because I think,

You need to reflect on. This type of therapy, what does it do? Like, freaking, I don't know. What, I feel like there's such thing as overthinking things, you know, and I'm not trying to deflect or avoid. I'm just like, I've always been content, happy with where I'm at, and I don't need to, like, try to rewrite the story of, I'm not freaking, I'm not that pensive of a guy.

I'm not sitting here thinking about, what's wrong with life. And I'm saying you were. And I'm not saying it's something that you need to bask in or be a victim to. Being able to name things at any point in history, I think, is actually powerful. Being able to say that was the phase that I felt a little bit more uncomfortable and this was the phase where I got my confidence. And that doesn't change how you feel now. I can tell you about the phase that I went through.

I was like chubby kid. Interesting. Until 12. It's interesting that you're fine in the context of saying, oh, I can name it. That's fine. But I don't need. Andrew doesn't like to live in an emotion.

Okay, so the phases. What was a phase that you remember that in the back of your mind may be bothered you? I'll do my best to answer this, but I'm also grateful that I have like a memory like a goldfish. So that has helped us out with our marital arguments and conflicts. And it's also helped me out with not being crippled by whatever. Okay, the phases, the phases, the phases. I was like chubby at one point.

So, you know, we wear T-shirts around the pool. And then you're like, I think everyone's chubby in this phase from age nine to 12. We're all kind of chubby. Why do you feel like that bothered you? it was just like the first awareness of the body where you're like what I don't know and then um I mean in football in school I always felt like I was I mean all the way through college put put in positions that I was not qualified for imposter syndrome but it's like great oh that's fine imposter syndrome is like a motivation to freaking step up and try not to be an imposter anymore and that's

Thankfully, I've always had mentors who have taught me that where it's like, hey, yeah, you got a great opportunity here. Could it have gone to anybody else? Yeah, it could have. Are you going to make the most of it? Let's see. So it's like game on. And I think for the most part, I've been able to step up into that. And I, yeah, I enjoy playing ball with the big kids, you know.

I feel like that's what I've tried to do. my whole life is like I got way more to learn here so that was a phase and in high school because JD was was going to school there and he was like the man freaking great at football great at school and he was getting recruited by all these colleges to play football and I was always like I always felt like I was behind because I saw us as boys but he was two years older So then it, I think, motivated me to work harder to try to be where he is, even though I was two years younger. And I got to college, and I felt like I didn't belong there, because the way I got there was, like, through this crazy story of Rajan Bennett getting, like, tragically murdered. And then I get a scholarship.

And you're like, man, I don't know if I belong here. I better make the most of it. And I feel like I did. And then the same thing in the NFL. I feel like the NFL was the only, the rookie year was the only time I really like, you're right, buddy? I really ruminated too much. And I was thinking about, oh, shoot, what are we going to do?

So what would you say, though? What would I say? Yeah. You know what's great is this is not an interview about me. That's great. But to answer your question, I would say a phase of my life that I feel like was a defining moment was my most insecure phase was probably in elementary where I remember just desperately wanting to fit in to blend. And it felt like no matter how I tried and what angle I approached I never did.

And I remember having a conversation with my mom where like I wanted to change my name because I thought it like made me stand out more. It wasn't just like Elizabeth or Mary. It was more unique. And I remember her saying, God made you exactly how you are. He chose your name and put it in my heart. And he built you to be different. Everybody should be different.

And I remember that was like the first turning point in my life where I felt that nagging voice throughout my life in different phases saying, I just want to fit in. I just want to be normal. And then it would be, there would be the other voice saying, no, this is actually how you were supposed to be. Like God put you here.

How long did it take you to embrace that voice? I think the voice gets stronger as you get older. I think you have good days and bad days. Or the, you don't belong here? Of the God put you here. Yeah. I think I gained strength in that voice with every day. and every year that passes.

I think that's part of maturing and understanding God and faith. And I think that's part of childhood is trying to find your place in the world and find God's voice in your heart and understand what that means and the magnitude of it. And I feel very lucky that I found that. What would you say God means to you? All right. I need to start this with a confession because... I just got burned with an online purchase.

This is becoming a pattern, honestly. It really is. I bought this, quote-un-un-co, high-quality outdoor chair for the backyard. Looked amazing online. Tons of reviews. I thought I did everything right. It shows up.

I'm not kidding. It felt like it was going to collapse if I leaned back on it too hard. This is why I need to shop more. Like fully decorative, not functional? That's right. I mean fully decorative. And now I'm stuck dealing with return,

shipping, all of it. And that's the worst part about shopping online right now. It's not that there aren't any good options. It's that it's way too easy to pick the wrong one. Which is why we've been using dup.com. This is why I told you about it, babe. And I am so obsessed with it. I wish we had this before the chair situation,

which we did because I told you probably a year ago. Yeah, we did. We did have it. So anyway, Duke has this research for me tool. And it's honestly a game changer. Instead of guessing or trusting random reviews, you just type in what you're looking for. Like I literally typed in comfortable couch under $2,000 when we're looking at options.

And it walks you through everything. No ads, no weird sponsored picks. Just what's actually good. What's not worth it? And why? It even tells you what not to buy, which is my favorite part because that's where we usually mess up. Yes. And it pulls from real sources people trust.

Breaks down features, pricing, all of it. It just makes you feel way more confident before you hit buy. If it takes research to buy it, let Doop do it for you. Stop wasting time comparing options. Just go to D-U-P-E.com and tell it what you're looking to buy. That's D-U-P-E.com to finally feel confident about what to buy. That's changed over the years, I feel like. How?

I mean, my parents raised me to always be praying, which was nice. We always went to church, and then we'd go to my dad's job sites. That's what our Sundays consisted of, which was great, because we were all together. together. I got forgotten at church a couple of times. That's another defining characteristic of my childhood as being the middle kid. It was like, I'm pretty sure Andrew's here, but we're not entirely sure. I was actually, I was always under the radar, which maybe, I don't know. Elusive. Yeah. Not necessarily by choice. It was their choice for. No, but so it was, I think it was, I went to church and I went to all these Young Life camps.

Shout out Young Life. Like Timberwolf and Castaway and then Frontier. And it was always like community. It was kind of how I felt like it was how I defined God young. That's how I related to it. It's like anytime we would do God-related stuff, it would be with this group of people that would be like my best friend Justin. Brian, my cousin was always there.

So it was always like good times. We'd always be clowning during church too. And my dad, you know, tried to shut it down, but we were rascals. So it wasn't like this uptight environment. But then deeper I got into football, it was like God is my ticket to success, felt like in some ways. What do you mean? It's like, boy, I better be,

dialing my prayers and reading the Bible and doing the like FCA stuff. You thought you could earn your way. Earn my way to football success, not to heaven. I was worried about football, to be honest. And then, yeah, my rookie year in the NFL, we had some coaches who had different religious beliefs. We would have these fascinating conversations. There was a first time where I was like, oh, I'm pretty sure God is like different.

I never really, this is silly, but I never really thought about how God can be, people interpret God to be different. I think the way that God has talked about in the Bible is not up for interpretation. So like we shouldn't be creating our own God in that sense because it's laid out pretty clear. But it was my first time realizing that some people do kind of create their own version, which is interesting. And it was like sent me on this whole

exploratory path of like finding out about all the different religions and then thinking about is mine the right one? And then now I think about the idea that God is love

all the time. So it's been really fun to be a dad and to try to think about how I can love our kids in a way that God loves us, which is really fun. I think my dad displayed that very well for us. So God, to me, is abounding in love and graciousness, forgiving.

He's just. He's beautiful and creative. And he knows me. Do you think... I want you to answer that question, too. Well, when you interview me, I will. Do you think God makes mistakes? No.

You think God has a plan for each of us. I think redemption and resurrection are real. Does that make sense? No. I think God has a point, yeah. Okay. And you don't think he makes mistakes. Correct.

We do. Okay. Do you think, do you believe in coincidence? No. Why? I think all things work together for the good. Does that make sense? Interesting.

Do you believe in coincidence? I don't. Okay. Do you believe in luck? With the definition of luck is where preparation meets opportunity, yes. Happenstance. I think opportunities is what I believe in. Interesting.

So I am not the doctor here. You're about to therapist me right now? Yeah. It's not something new that I see and it's something that I know about you. I think shown in the interview. Shown over the course of the past, how many years have we known each other? 13. I think something so beautiful about you is the way you articulate and process in your brain,

this idea of imposter syndrome, that maybe in some places of your life that you've, like, you've dealt with it. How, as you explained in school following JD, you didn't feel like you had a place or that you deserve to be there. Yeah. Fast forward to college, because of how it planned, like, panned out. You didn't feel like you belonged there. You feel like you kept being put into opportunities and places that were above you to a certain extent.

Yeah. Okay. But I liked it. That contradicts everything you believe in your God. and what's so beautiful to me is you were handpicked just like everyone is in their life and place and time you're handpicked to be there though tragic absolutely horrifically tragic and sad the way that rayjon bennett passed and his spot became open you cannot say with a shadow of a doubt that that wasn't God's hand. And I'm not saying God's hand and, you know, his passing, but the whole

strings at play show of it is not. You were never put anywhere because you weren't ready. It's because God believed drastically in the opposite. I think both things can exist. I think I can equally feel like the opportunity outpaces my preparation. for where I'm at, i.e. imposter syndrome, I feel like I can be like, oh, I am not prepared currently for this opportunity. No, that's like a, it's like a step up to the plate. And it's, I think, I think it's a fun responsibility and a challenge. And so I feel like, though I've been, I mean, yeah, I feel like it's a, it's a gift. that I feel undeserving to receive,

yet I'm trying to prepare myself to be... I think both things in is this. I don't need to be sad about feeling like an imposter. Like, you can have imposter syndrome and step up to the plate and deal with it that way. No, but you can also, in the moment, say, you know what? Though I feel way out of my...

Yes. range depth here there is a reason I was put here and I feel like that's actually how more of and as you're a spicy wife you better start talking like that

do I not communicate like that because that's how I feel how you said it is how I feel there's a reason I'm here and I better use it well you talk about my husband in a way that he is not prepared capable deserving

or earning of the spot he's in yet no you know that clip from believe that yes i think that i think that yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i think that's super real though i don't think that's like it's like this idea no it's like this idea i think optimism pessimism pessimism pessimism i think you're the way you look at your abilities and your resume and your talent and where you are in this world is i've been put here and i'm not ready and i'm not supposed to be but i'll figure it out. Yeah. And I actually think it's the opposite. I think it's because you are ready

that you are put there. Skills and like, if you were put in a financial advising situation right now and you have to have a license for it and you don't have, like, yeah, you have to go get that skill, but it has nothing to do with you not being prepared because God would not put you there if it weren't where you were supposed to be. I agree with you. Well, just talk better about my husband. But it's like you can be put places and still need to immerse yourself. and learn the ropes, which I feel like... What was your definition of coincidence? No, luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

No, what was your definition of coincidence? I forget. Everything comes together for good. Yes. But it's almost like a partnership with God. Hey, buddy, you get to be put in whatever position you're in in life. But you can't just show up like a vegetable. You got a freaking...

You got to engage. with a thing. Okay. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it's honestly a good reminder that whatever you're carrying right now, you don't have to carry it by yourself. Yeah, life just has seasons and some feel light and easy and some feel really heavy. And I think for me lately, it's just been the mental load of everything, work, family,

trying to show up well and all of it. And sometimes that's the stuff that keeps me up at night. Same. I feel like I can get stuck in my own head trying to solve everything on my own. and it's like no one actually has all the answers, that's why having someone to talk to can make such a difference. Totally. Therapy can just be a space where you can process things with someone who's there to listen and support you without any judgment. And if you've been feeling overwhelmed or anxious or just unsure where you're at, you're definitely not alone in that. BetterHelp makes it easy to get started. They'll match you with a licensed therapist based on what you're looking for.

And if it's not the right fit, you can switch any time. They have helped millions of people and there are thousands of therapists on the platform. platform. It's just one of those things where having someone with you in the process can really change how you move through things. You don't have to be alone on this journey. Find support and have someone with you in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash eastfam. That's betterhelp.com slash east fam. So this is what I feel like the show of special forces was they were trying to dial it in something about me having an imposter syndrome or shame. And I do, I feel like the only time I did not do a great job with that, that was my first two or three years in the NFL where I was like, I didn't, I had a wonderful opportunity. I didn't step up to it.

No, it was showcased perfectly on special forces. Okay. Because it showcases you step up physically and like mentally for everybody around you. Thank you. And have, you have an inability to ever acknowledge the fact that that that was. you. No, I can be the vibes coordinator. I'm talking about in the interviews, in the in the dark room. When I sit. Oh, I know. I'm fully aware. I also know that in those dark rooms, that is a huge accumulation of like everything that we've done before. And you don't think

in the seven-hour interview you did with all of the producers and all of those amazing humans who really got to know you picked up on that? You can pick up on it in this interview. You are absolutely freaking amazing. I appreciate that. Stop. No, why? Receive it. Receive it. Yeah, I receive it.

I'm good. I'm great. I, no, I'm freaking, I give credit where credits do. I don't need to freaking height myself up. I feel so good about where life has ended up. I'm getting. Received. Receive.

Receive. Thank you. Bro. I feel like I've stepped up to the plate. I've also. feel like the opportunity is not mine to take credit for. You know what I'm saying? This is an interesting conversation about an imposter's.

The humility is. It teeters on too much. You just want to hammer this subject home. And I'm like, I don't. What did you want to be when you were a kid? You kind of mentioned it. Actually, funny enough, you used to always draw pictures of football guys and then Blue Angels airplanes and chalk on the driveway.

And I thought it'd be a race car driver. I wanted a lot of career. I think you are a race car driver. We did have a big week of driving. I wanted a lot of careers. I was pumped. I'm still pumped about life, dude. Freaking, what a thing to be alive.

I mean, the opportunities that you could do and pursue, freaking, it's awesome. I feel like, dude, it never gets bored. That's how my dad was. We would show up. Yeah, your dad was hyped on life, which is such a beautiful thing. Everything was, like, incredible. And I am fortunate to feel like I get equally excited. What did you go to college for?

I went to study civil engineering at Vandy. Shout outdoors. I thought I was going to be building houses first because that's what my dad did. And he also told me, like, if you want the best bet at a job, engineering is going to be the best school. So he actually, my dad was awesome. He set me up. We sat down before my freshman year and he mapped out what classes I should take to graduate early from Vandy each semester of my four years there. We did it. We planned it all out. He was almost like my counselor, my academic counselor. We also did that type of planning when we would do Boy Scout camps.

You'd be like, all right, we're getting 13 merit badges this week. And he'd just like crank out. Okay, we're going to show up here at seven. We're going to be a little bit late for this, 815, that's where I get my punctuality from. It's like you gotta. You mean your lack of? You line it up real tight. But I thought I'd be building houses. And then when my brother became a full-time missionary,

I thought I'd be building the wells in a third-word country. And then you and I met when I was in business school, I think. So I graduated. Well, you were doing your three, too. So you had technically started. Yeah. I ended up graduating early, according to my dad's plan, despite having legitimately failed.

You didn't. I legitimately failed at least three classes in college. I went from like a stellar. You didn't fail graduation. You still graduated. I failed classes. That's fine. So do people.

Abysmal GPA in undergrad. Still graduated early. Yeah, you still got into business school. Thank goodness. And then. And graduated with honors. And then I got, yeah. I got my MBA.

That's when Sean and I met. And then I thought I was going to be playing football for 15 years. And then that didn't pan out. So I'm just along for the ride, baby. List five jobs you've had since college. My dad always had us on the job site. We would be either planning things out, like job site, like measuring whatever from a young age or cleaning it up. That was a lot of my summer jobs.

Then I worked at Ingram Content for summer, which was good. It's like a local Nashville business that does all the Amazon book fulfillment. They print on demand, which is crazy to see the factory and stuff. Like if you order our book, shout out. Shout out to our book. It's not printed yet. But then... Will it print their ingram?

There's a high likelihood. They print the majority. Yeah. So then you'd send the order in, then they'd send it to the printing presses, which is crazy. So there's no like warehousing. Do you remember some of the stuff you had to do at Ingram? Because I do vividly. I remember you were given the job to make...

Easier to do business was our initiative. Uh-huh. At the cost of some people's jobs. You basically wanted, they wanted you to make it all more efficient. And you did a great job with that. Well, I was just doing as I was told. I met some good friends there. Shout out, Hank.

I worked for the Kingston group here in Nashville. They remodeled homes, and I was kind of like a project manager. I don't know if I told you about that. Maybe that's when we met. I worked at the YMCA camp. That's when we met. You also worked with Eggleston. Carmody's Capital was like my first big boy job, kind of doing investing.

That's what got me pumped about. the VC investment world. And you've gone full circle and you've been back in that world now for how long? Been blast. How long have you been back in that world? I guess.

I mean? Two years? No, actually we've been doing that now for like five years, which is fun. I signed up to me an Uber driver after my first time getting released from a team.

Currently, as Thomas Wright and I talked about, I thought it'd be interesting just to go through the process of getting my real estate license. and then YouTuber. So those are a couple of the jobs. Okay.

I won't keep you much longer. Okay. This is part one of mini-series because I love this. Actually getting you to sit down and talk about yourself is a lot harder than you would think. I'll talk about myself all day. I'll talk about the, okay. The people that are in my life. I'll talk about the people that are in my life all day.

What do you think is your good? greatest attribute? Optimism. It is. Beautiful quality about you. And not, I think, has the side effects of, I'm not that afraid to make mistakes or fail.

Okay. I have three more already. Describe yourself as a friend. I feel like my friends are better to me than I am to them. I feel like I am, I like to be the, like, peak adventure buddy. So like, hey, if you have some ridiculous task or thing you're doing and you need a tag along, sign me up.

That's changed since we have kids. I can tag along less now because we have more obligations. Thank goodness. But I also would hope. that they would say I'm encouraging. They would. Describe yourself as a father. That's a freak out.

I haven't really thought about that. Mother's Day is coming up. This interview is so ill-timed. I feel like you should be getting interviewed. I want it to be describe myself as a father. Present. helpful

um loving caring patient I don't these are all aspirational I don't know if they're actually descriptive that's what I want to me

thoughtful fun playful curious uh co-partner at times a guide at others yeah

there's a couple adjectives okay Last question. What are three qualities you aspire to have that your dad had? Shout out pops. My dad was, people always used to say that he's like a cat with nine lives. Everything, everything. He got himself with some Pidge.

Oh my gosh. And the craziest bad things would happen. that would end up working out well in the end for him. How many times did he get struck by lightning? He had lightning incidences, I think, three times. He was a legend. My dad was faithful in several definitions of that term. That would be one way I would want to describe myself as a father,

faithful to my mom. He was faithful to think, I feel like his calling and faithful to God. Honestly, he was unnecessary, but in the best ways. Like, he was extra, as they would say now. He had a buddy Antonio who ended up going to jail several times. So my dad worked in construction. and he would interact with people who, you know, it's not rare that we would have people over for dinner who were subcontractors who had been to jail and had just, you know, some tough upbringings.

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per month on groceries. It just takes the stress out of the week. Your fridge is stocked, you're not scrambling for dinner, and you're actually eating well. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering our listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box plus free dessert for life. Go to homechef.com slash EastFam. That's HomeChef.com slash EastFam for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com slash e-spam must be an active subscriber to receive pre-desert. He likes to give everybody a second chance. He worked really closely with the prison and jail system.

Yeah. Maybe two, like it was, you were challenged by looking at how he was treating these people time after time after time they would get arrested and you're like, I think you got to stop giving them grace. Then you're like, I don't know. Maybe not though. So that was like a beautiful quality he had. But he would show up to, he was unnecessary.

very um and extra in the sense that like he would work really hard but money was not like the reason he would work he viewed work as a way to interact with people which was awesome like his clients who he was building houses for but also the people who were building the house he just freaking loved his work he loved building houses that's why you would take us to the job sites all the time but he would like show up to the court cases and be the he would like yell from the balconies in support of these people. And he would block off, like, a pretty large portion of his schedule would go to advocating for these people

who had no other advocates, which I thought was beautiful. And, again, at times you're like, you can't keep doing this. Like, they're not taking their own responsibility, yada, yada. But then you're like, dagone it. It's pretty loyal and beautiful of you. So whatever that quality is. And then fully engaged, he would, he filmed every single one of my football games. High school and college.

If you look at my senior day photos, I was a coin flip. It was Vanney versus Tennessee. I look over as a ref on this SEC, like this is primetime college football. SEC football refs giving me the coin to flip. and I see my dad there on the camera. I was like, how the heck did he get there? He was like a shyster, but in the harmless way. Yeah.

He ended up on the field, but he like was fully engaged and everything that his kids were doing and he had five kids is a lot. Fully engaged with his work, not just like going through the motions, fully engaged with his wife and his friends. Like, dude was a legend. I got a lot to learn.

So did that, was that sufficient there? It was sufficient. Thank you for your time today, Andrew. Thank you for coming on this show. This is a way different format than we usually do, but thank you for your question. You feel a little uncomfy. Are you a little uncomfy? Yeah, it's okay, though.

I love you so much. I love you too. You're absolutely incredible. This did feel like a date, like get to know each other a date. I got to learn stuff about you. Thank you. Can I interview you next? If that's what you'd like.

Okay. Sorry y'all. I'll get to interview again. We'll see where life... Do you think I've changed much over the years? I think...