In this episode, Dr. Brad Ryan and Grandma Joy share their inspiring journey of reconnecting through adventures in national parks, overcoming personal struggles, and embracing the healing power of nature and family bonds. In this episode, Brad, Janet, and Dr. Alice explore the transformative power of vulnerability, intergenerational connection, and embracing joy at any age. They share personal stories, insights on societal norms, and practical advice for living a fulfilling life across generations.
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All footage is owned by SLA Video Productions.
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National Parks Are Being Loved to Death | SOP ep. 128 Dr. Brad Ryan & Grandma Joy
Dr. Alice Jeromin (00:00.674)
Hey everyone, welcome to the show. I’ve been waiting for this episode for so long. As y’all know, I’m a reader, and guess what? My new favorite book. And we’re lucky enough to have the author, Dr. Brad Ryan and Grandma Joy, with us today. It is, I’m not gonna fan gush too much, Brad. It’s a lovely book. It’s touching, it’s fun. I love Brad’s writing style. I felt like I was there.
seeing some of the animals and thankfully not rolling down the dunes, but anyway, welcome to you both. I’m so excited to see you. And I do have to say one thing. My producer Joann and I were at the book signing in Bath, Ohio on Saturday. You two have the most dedicated fans. We were all talking amongst ourselves. We were people that had never met each other before and it was like a big collective love in.
Brad & Grandma Joy (01:02.092)
Yeah, we never worry about people getting along in line. It seems to we seem to draw a very joyful crowd, which is you know, and I think people that are all sort of gravitating to the story for the reasons that I intended, which was to create connection and hope. Hope that we can find our way back to each other in this in this crazy divided world that we find ourselves in.
Janet King (01:27.489)
That’s great.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (01:27.552)
Janet, I have to ask this question. Grandma Joy, when he called you, after you hadn’t talked to him in so many years, did you say, Who is this? Or did you know right away it was Brad?
Brad & Grandma Joy (01:39.214)
Ah well, he’s the only grandson I’ve got, so it had to be him.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (01:46.455)
Ha ha ha
Janet King (01:47.031)
So Brad and Grandma Joy, I have to share, I am a huge National Parks fan. My family and I just did the Grand Circle trip last September, where you start in Vegas and you go to, I even kept my list, here’s our itinerary. So we did, well we didn’t do the Hoover Dam, we did Grand Canyon, Antelope, Horseshoe Bend, Canyonland, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce, and Zion. And I have to say.
Brad & Grandma Joy (01:58.765)
Yeah, when not what’s on the list.
boring. I just I know, it’s stunning, right?
Janet King (02:13.965)
I was nervous because our longest route one day was three hours. Yeah, it was like three hours. thought, my God, we’re gonna have five people, we’re gonna be bored, but the natural splendor is so magnificent that you are just stunned around every single bend.
Brad & Grandma Joy (02:31.542)
Yeah, the whole state of Utah could be a national park. It’s not everything in between is glorious. Like you said. Yeah.
Janet King (02:37.023)
It’s amazing. Did you do the river the walk with the boots?
Dr. Alice Jeromin (02:37.27)
Yes.
Brad & Grandma Joy (02:42.638)
No, we you know, most of the parks we I mean we did hike and we did kayak and whitewater raft and do a lot of things that you wouldn’t expect. I tell people all the time this is not Driving Miss Daisy. This one you know, Grandma Joy was really she wasn’t just a passive passenger. She was really out there experiencing it experiencing everything that we could, but there were still limits because we started when she was eighty five.
I wish that we could do that. There are a lot of parks that I have unfinished business in and she wants me to go back and and get out you know, put a backpack on and head out into the great unknown. But we didn’t get to do that.
Janet King (03:18.017)
We didn’t do it at the Narrows because there was a storm coming in in an hour, so there could be a flash flood and there was bacteria and the five of us looked at each other and went, mm-mm. You know, it just didn’t feel safe, but you know, people were doing it.
Brad & Grandma Joy (03:24.463)
yeah.
Well, at least you listen to your instinct because people are getting hurt and killed every week in our national parks because they they don’t prepare. They have let their ego get in the way and Mother Nature will have the ultimate say in how prepared you really are. Yeah, but they don’t follow the rules. That’s the problem. They don’t, they’re right there. And one thing I got the parks magazine today and it shows that th
Janet King (03:45.441)
And I think people don’t.
Grandma Joy?
Brad & Grandma Joy (03:59.531)
all the flowers in Death Valley, the whole place is a mass I’d love to see it. It’s beautiful. And they haven’t a problem because the president has ordered all these signs taken out of the parks, you know, that shows where theIndians did so and and all the different things.
It’s you’re having a terrible time. I thank the National Park Rangers first and foremost in the acknowledgments because they’re just they’ve never been under more pressure and they’ve never been spread more thinly than they are right now. And yeah, we all need to give them a big hug and a big smile when we go into our national parks. I say the same when you go into your vet office, but yeah.
Janet King (04:28.991)
It’s altered history.
Janet King (04:34.145)
Amen.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (04:50.408)
Yay. Brad, what were you telling me at the book signing in Bath the other day about the funding? Remember we were talking about the funding for national parks? Would you talk about that?
Brad & Grandma Joy (05:02.462)
Yeah, I mean so everybody loves the the most people once you get a taste of it you become obsessed with visiting the national parks and rightfully so. those are our public lands and that’s where we can all recharge and and get back to what’s really important in life and meet people and see the best in each other, all of that.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (05:04.168)
People don’t know about that.
Janet King (05:05.773)
We’re in.
Brad & Grandma Joy (05:26.494)
Ideally, you know, in the Instagram world where there’s no there are no hidden gems anymore, everything is known, everything is popular. But there are still these parks that are being loved to death because they get this national park moniker. I call them the capital N, Capital P national parks, as opposed to the national monuments and the national lake shores, and the national battlefields and the national seashores and so forth. Because there are a lot of different national park units, but people become very hyper-focused.
On the national parks. I’m not one to throw stones. Clearly, we did the same thing. But let’s take Indiana Dunes, for example. That was a lake shore, a national lake shore, for a very long time, and then it became Indiana Dunes National Park a few years ago. And Indiana Dunes National Park received more visitors over that first summer after the name change than they typically get in the entire season, the entire year. And did that come with a
an adequate increase in funding and staffing to support that increase in tourism, it did not. And so they’ve seen a lot of damage
occurring within the park to the fragile dune plants and it’s just, you know, we really, really have that problem everywhere though. Because now this and that was before all the mass firings and the budget cuts and so forth. So now we really, you know, there just aren’t enough rangers and there are and and they’ve never been more popular, the parks. So we’ve got all these people coming in and and it’s it’s pretty scary, you know, I say love to death because I don’t think people intend
to go in there and hurt the park, but it’s just it’s just too many.
Janet King (07:07.957)
All those cuts happened the year before we were going on our trip and we sat down as a group, there were five of us, and we said, you know what, we’re going to go because we want to support the Rangers. And honestly, there were no issues. The only thing was, if you get to the park early, a lot of times there’s no one in the booth. You can just drive in. They’re not checking. This is like a godsend, right? The National Parks. I call it my geezer pass, Grandma Joy.
Brad & Grandma Joy (07:34.542)
She has one. You know she has one.
Janet King (07:36.512)
Yeah, it lets your whole car in and it’s $80 for a lifetime.
Brad & Grandma Joy (07:41.293)
Yes.
Janet King (07:42.434)
I think you have to be 62 or 65, I can’t remember, but it’s amazing. It’s an amazing gift from the country to have this. But we did go to support the parks and people are pretty cool about respecting nature, except if you haven’t been to a big national park like the Grand Canyon, as Grandma Joy said, there are no restrictions. Like you read the rules when you come in, but there’s no fencing. You could walk right off of there if you wanted to. So you have to be careful.
Brad & Grandma Joy (08:06.294)
No. And people do all the time because they’re looking at their selfie screen and not where they’re standing. And people walk up to the elk. We saw what happened to the gentleman with the bison in Yellowstone about a week and a half ago. there were also two women that were caught a few days later walking across the Grand Prismatic Spring, which would be a heck of a way to die. Hundred and eighty-eight degree acidic wate
Dr. Alice Jeromin (08:36.408)
And I love Grandma Joy at the book signing was and I didn’t mean to over hear, but Grandma Joy was saying you need to leave it as you found it. And that’s so profound in just that sentence, right, Grandma Joy? You need to leave the national park the way you found it. Don’t leave a trace that you were there.
Brad & Grandma Joy (08:56.748)
Right. And just like that lady we saw pull the flowers up and take a picture with them and then throw them in the trash. You know, she had no business doing it. If you want to take a picture with the flowers, stoop down where they are. Take a picture with it.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (09:12.446)
Exactly. No, you’re right. That’s exactly what Brad, what you’re saying about, you know, the gentleman that was thrown by the bison. Why do people always have to want to go up to touch an animal? That there’s no respect there. You know, and then they teach the kid, can I pet it? No, this is a wild animal.
Brad & Grandma Joy (09:31.861)
Year years ago, when I was an intern at the Cincinnati Zoo, I remember I was walking around at lunch and I know we’re talking about national parks and I’ll get back to that, but yeah, I was walking this guy had his three-year-old dangling by her legs into the pit where the bongo antelope was. The bongo you know, you’ve seen their horns.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (09:40.673)
Right, right.
Brad & Grandma Joy (09:54.635)
And I just lost faith in parents back then then I think and then I saw somebody with their toddler on their shoulders running towards a black bear at Cade’s coat. Listen, I’ve seen it all. But if you see bad behavior, I hope that you call it out. We’ve had to do that many times.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (09:59.085)
Right.
Well and just to get off the track, but still on the veterinary track, I love Brad as a vet when I call it out and I get told, It’s none of your business and guess what I say? But it is my business
Brad & Grandma Joy (10:18.626)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Of course it is. It’s your park. Well listen, I mean it’s people are
just not like you said, they’re just not respectful. That really the joy should come from being a passive observer and sitting back and watching how these animals behave without our presence, right? Without us causing stress for them. And that’s what it is, that people don’t even –I wish that the rules were more strict.
People need to be mindful of the fact that this really does have a physiological stress response for these animals and and if they and if something goes wrong and we’re injured, it’s usually the animal that gets euthanized. And so no, I think I think we absolutely have to call out improper behavior around wildlife especially.
Yeah, they need more agents to watch over the animals instead of devouring them. Well there are and I shall say that we we don’t champion our volunteers enough either. There are a lot of them especially now, a lot of wonderful people that come out in communities that neighbor these parks and they they’re just they’re there to just help, especially during this current era. So
Dr. Alice Jeromin (11:34.444)
I’ll volunteer for that.
True.
You know, Brad, I have to tell you, since I retired and you know, we spent six months in Venice, Florida, I’ve met so many retirees from various professions. They volunteer at different places every day. I’m like, wow, this is like a full time job you’re doing. I mean, I volunteer at Animal Rescue, but I mean they volunteer in the theater, at the park, and so it’s refreshing because it’s something they’re passionate about.
Brad & Grandma Joy (12:17.934)
And they and I’m sure a lot of them have waited their whole lives to be able to do that. And so it’s at that point it’s not about money and benefits anymore. It’s about how do I show up for my life every day? And do I feel and do I feel good about it? Yeah. Right. And give them a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (12:38.102)
You know you’re right, Grandma Joy. You are right. And I have to tell you, is Brad hard to keep up with? And I also want to know, did you sleep in a tent every night or did he treat you to a hotel sometimes?
Brad & Grandma Joy (12:47.822)
the first trip we went on I was in the the tent every night. I’m like good at taking it down to help putting it up.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (12:55.244)
I know when I read that about the teeth.
Brad & Grandma Joy(13:01.772)
That was the the saving grace of going viral is that we went from twenty nine parks in a tent to a Hyatt sponsorship. We’re like, someone’s gotta stop this guy. Like we’ve gotta get this ninety year old woman in a bed.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (13:09.312)
Yay.
Janet King (13:10.101)
Yay!
Dr. Alice Jeromin (13:17.238)
Were they reporting you to AARP? You were having charges brought against you.
Brad & Grandma Joy(13:21.582)
It’s like I feed her, I swear.
Janet King (13:26.829)
Tell us, tell our listeners your story in a nutshell, how this all started. I know it’s not a nutshell!
Brad & Grandma Joy (13:31.821)
Yeah.
Well yeah, I mean and it was so hard because when the like I said, when the story went viral in twenty nineteen we were halfway through this this personal journey and I don’t even know and the media would you know, they wanted me to tell them this
synopsis in five minutes and it was really hard to do because there were there were many different layers to it. And I say you can start when I’m in my fourth year of vet school at Ohio State or you can start when I was a little boy. And I think it’s easier to just start when I was a little boy and just say that you know we are lucky in Southeast Ohio that we had the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and we had hills to climb and streams that were very pristine at the time that we could we could
could get in and take our shoes off, she would help me look for for crawdads and I had a little goldfish net and I would catch minnows. Sometimes they’re fast. Yay for Goldfish nets. Yeah. And I had a little core container. And I had I would just collect my menagerie and I just was full of wonder. I from that that three, four years of age, I remember that. And I say that that was certainly those were seeds that were planted early on
that I took throughout my entire life. I mean that’s how I worked at The Wilds. I couldn’t wait to work there. I couldn’t wait to get old to be old enough to drive out there and and work as a tour guide. And then I was scooping rhino poo in the barn and on and on we go. And then that that led to the Cincinnati Zoo, that led to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, that led to the University of Pretoria in South Africa, all from this little town in in Southeast Ohio. But she started it. And then we had this really
complex family dynamic that was happening over the years, unspoken generational trauma. Her youngest son was addicted to drugs, and that caused a lot of friction in the family and a lot of safety issues that
it created a wedge between my father and my grandparents and I just saw a lot of fighting and there was and then there were periods of estrangement that happened along the way. And then I got into undergraduate school, my parents got divorced and it was a very acrimonious divorce and there was a big fight that happened and I cut off the paternal side of my family, including Grandma Joy. And that that lasted almost a decade.
And so I had this really fortunate, beautiful experience of being able to hike in the Appalachian Mountains for six months. I threw hiked from Georgia to Maine in 2009. And that was a time period when I was 27 years old, going on 28, very lost, still very much fixated on the the past.
And the demons, the bullies and my father and all of that. And I had also I wanted to be a veterinarian more than anything. And I couldn’t pass physics. And I took it twice and I had to drop out both times after a couple exams just didn’t go my way and I just sobbed and but I’d given it I’d given it up and luckily I was in the
the mountains for six months and I saw myself in a new light. I saw my potential differently and I was like, if I can do this, I can do it! I’ll take it at a community college. I’ll get through this. I’m gonna go. I’m gonna go for it. But I also thought a lot about, you know, because I would camp by these streams and it would just take me back to those early days.
And I was like, I think nobody in my family has ever said I forgive you. Nobody in my family has ever taken the high road. And I think that I need to try this. I need to I need to try to reach out to her and see what happens. And so we, I did. And we went back to Blue Rock State Park, the same park that she took me as a little boy. And it was a simple conversation about what it was like hiking in the
woods for six months, and she told me that she regretted that she never got to see a mountain in her life. And that I think it might have broken a lot of people’s hearts, but I’m not sure how many people actually would have done something about it. And I thought I’ll take her on one camping trip. I’ll take her on what we’ll go, we’ll go down to the Smokies and we’ll see the mountains. But I got into grad school, a second graduate program in veterinary public health, and then right into my DVM program. So it was five years later.
that that I finally took that road trip with her, but not to gloss over what those years in vet school were like for me, because academic success was always my sense of that like that’s where I got my sense of self-worth. I wasn’t athletic really. I know I head from Georgia to Maine, but I wasn’t a classic athlete in that sense and I wasn’t artistic or so I didn’t think I was a great writer. But I didn’t I’d left that behind.
And so I just lost myself. I don’t know how else to say it. I was not performing to my typical standards, and I underestimated how important that was to my sense of self-worth and self-esteem. And I was very, very depressed and very suicidal for years. And I mean, it was my daily prayer to have enough strength to take my own life. And
During my fourth year of vet school, things were starting to get better. I was doing my clinical rotations at zoos and wildlife rehab centers and so forth. And then in the fall, I showed up for my radiology rotation and a second year veterinary student named David Hilton committed suicide at our campus. And that was my moment of reckoning. It was, you know, I looked I just went to the bathroom and I looked in the mirror and I after looking at his smiling face on his Facebook profile.
And I just realized that there is a very thin line that exists between
wishing that for yourself, wishing that you could do that and maybe the the right circumstances come together or the wrong circumstances come together that actually tip the scale in that direction that makes you do it. All the data on suicide shows that that it’s typically a very spontaneous decision. There’s not a lot of time that happens between I’m gonna do it and actually executing on that on that thought. And so I just thought to myself,
This is it, Brad. Like you have to decide, like, are you gonna take control of your life again? And remember that that this is not the be-all end-all of life. This is you’re working towards a career. This is but there’s you lived in the woods for six months, you know you love life. You know that you feel just that you can feel profound joy. And so I just decided that I’m gonna call her. I’m gonna see
If she wants to go on a road trip this weekend, let’s get that first. She’s 85 now. We don’t have all the time in the world to keep playing Russian roulette with another day and another day. So let’s let’s see if she’ll go. And I just it’s funny. I joke every night that I do these author events that because I’m usually in bookstores, and I’m like, find the self-help book that tells me to take an 85-year-old woman camping to pull myself out of a mental health crisis. You know? It seems so absurd
I know. Now we have it. But that’s what I that’s what I thought I needed to do in that moment was to be with somebody who knew me from the very beginning. Because I was I think I was subconsciously trying to get as far away from that teaching hospital as I could physically, but also in a temporal sense. I wanted to be I wanted to recapture the magic of my youth and the innocence of my youth and the carefree days of my youth. And so that’s how it that’s how it started. And clearly I got carried away.
Janet King (21:42.989)
Well, I have to say I’m jealous because my parents were really old when they had me. They were 45 and 48. was a mistake on the lake, aka Lake Erie. And I never had grandparents.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (21:58.112)
No, I didn’t either. And Janet and I are six years apart. so Grandma Joy, you need to adopt us ’cause we’ve we never had a grandma. Our parents were so old that when Janet was somewhere with my dad, they’d say, You and your grandpa can come in, you know.
Brad & Grandma Joy (22:01.698)
Wow
Janet King (22:12.791)
So we’d say, I would say, no, this is my lover. It was the bald 80 year old dude, you know, and people would kind of go, and I was like, cause I was sick of it. Everyone assumed he was my grandfather and.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (22:15.584)
Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (22:16.034)
Ha ha ha.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (22:19.352)
Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (22:23.085)
Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (22:23.126)
Well and that’s why Janet and I talk very loud because we were always around old people, older people that couldn’t hear. And so people will like I sometimes I feel badly ’cause people turn around like and I’m like, my gosh, I’m talking loud again. But my parents’ friends were all elderly. So like we’re old souls, Janet, you and I. Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (22:32.142)
Yeah, I get it.
Janet King (22:32.3)
Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (22:39.702)
It makes sense.
Janet King (22:43.167)
I hung out with the old people, honestly, as a kid. We really are. And we had the opportunity to be with our elders and then our age and younger people. I feel really blessed that we had that, but I never knew what a grandparent relationship was like. So this is so heartwarming. Yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (22:58.806)
Right. So you two are lucky.
Brad & Grandma Joy (23:01.26)
Well, I think so too. And I I’ve heard that from a lot of people. I lost both of my grandfathers the same week in nineteen ninety-four. My paternal and my maternal grandfather died the same week in ninety-four. And yet both of my grandmothers are still alive. I have an eighty-nine-year-old grandmother and I have a ninety-six-year-old grandmother. And for the people that come up to me in the line and and say that exact thing, I always encourage them to really consider because I there’s so much magic
to find in an intergenerational friendship so much wisdom and humor and perspective. That’s what I got. I think that’s what I needed more than anything at that time in my life, in that moment of darkness. I just needed perspective and some hope. And she had lived through a lot of hard stuff.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (23:50.07)
And I love the humor part because my at the beginning of the book, Janet, which Janet, I had him sign a book for you. When you come in September I have it for you. Yeah. But my favorite I I actually laughed out loud, Brad. The first night you slept in the tent, he couldn’t sleep because he was worried she was gonna swallow her teeth. ‘Cause they didn’t bring the efferent cup. not to get too personal, Grandma Joy. Okay.
Brad & Grandma Joy (23:52.558)
Yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (24:15.244)
But those are the things that Janet and I worried about with our parents. And you know, like when when my mom was living locally here, because where she lived, the crime wasn’t that good. So my husband and I bought a little house close to my office here, which is three miles away. And we’d go and I’d knock on the door and she never locked the door. And I’d make my husband I’d say, my gosh, go in and see because she was sleeping so soundly I was worried she had passed away. And I’d say to Mike, go in there. And he’s like, You go in there, it’s your mother.
Brad & Grandma Joy (24:40.844)
Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (24:44.64)
So anyway, you have to have humor in this.
Janet King (24:47.469)
I used to go in, wait, I used to go into mom’s house and be like, is her chest going up and down? I did the same thing with daddy when he was in the hospital. Yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (24:52.12)
I know. But that’s for any of us.
Brad (24:56.962)
Yeah, she stopped snoring on that first night of camping and I was like, no. And then I jabbed her between the shoulders and she screamed. Sorry, Grandma, I thought you were dead. Go continue. Just go.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (24:59.704)
I know you mentioned that. Yeah.
Yeah. Wait, wait. As the three stooges used to say, Wake up and go to sleep.
Brad (25:17.26)
Yeah, exactly.
Janet King (25:17.847)
Okay, I’m going to ask the dreaded question, do you have a favorite park? That’s so hard.
Brad & Grandma Joy (25:21.826)
Well, everybody, it’s the most common question that we get and sometimes we just make up a different park. And sometimes we have our canned answer and we say catmai because it was so glorious to see thirty-three brown bears during the salmon run. they were all there at this we counted them at the at the peak we saw thirty-three at once. And so and it was just such an experience Alaska in general is just so magical.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (25:52.736)
And it was hot there. Grandma Joy was saying it was like eighty degrees, right? Grandma Joy– in Alaska was hot.
Brad & Grandma Joy (25:58.989)
In the Arctic Circle, yeah. There he would with all those winter clothes. Here he goes and thing boots and man we’re ready. And it was sandy to boot. Holy cow. There’s sand dunes in the Arctic Circle in Kobak Valley National Park, one of the least visited national parks.
Which I think is the right answer, which is that how do you really how do you say Glacier is better than Zion when they’re so radically different and both so spectacular? And I mean the grandeur there is and and Big Bend is another one. But very few people go to Big Bend, which it’s beautiful. Yeah, it has all the grandeur of Yellowstone, not so hard to find a parking space, which is nice.
But yeah, and then Acadia and Hawaii volcanoes and I mean they’re just so different. Like I think we just have to appreciate where we are while we’re there for what’s there. Even if it’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which gets a lot of crap because it, you know, I’m sorry, we don’t have mountains in Ohio, but you know, everything is like you can’t find what’s at Cuyahoga Valley National Park out west either. So, you know, why I don’t know I don’t I don’t really get the comparison game.
Janet King (27:12.941)
Well, I have to say, our two sons who are 31 and 33, that was a year ago September, and we went to the Grand Canyon, I had been once in the winter and my husband had been, and to see them at the rim, and they were starstruck. it was a moment. I mean, both my husband and I like welled up and we looked at each other and we’re like.
Brad & Grandma Joy (27:21.571)
Yeah.
You were watching them watch the
Dr. Alice Jeromin (27:29.644)
Yeah.
Janet King (27:34.882)
Whoa, really, both of them were just so in awe. And it was really cool. I actually met a guy a couple weekends ago and we were talking and said, you what’s the most breathtaking place that’s just taken him? And he looked at me, he goes to Grand Canyon. I go, my God, me too. He actually stayed at Phantom Ranch.
Brad & Grandma Joy (27:53.976)
Wow. my gosh.
Janet King (27:54.72)
And he said they serve beef stew all you can eat. That’s the only thing you can eat there. And he said, I was almost sick to my stomach because I ate so much beef.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (28:06.07)
I was gonna ask you about the food. Was the food unique to where to the places you visited or was it all fast food?
Brad & Grandma Joy (28:13.9)
We tried not to eat fast food. We had a cooler and so we would do I mean, but there were like I said, this was I mean, we were on a very tight budget.
We did that weekend camping trip in the Smokies. And then the next trip that happened a year and a half later was a 28-day camping trip around the continental US that lasted that we had yeah, we hit 21 national parks in 28 days. And so there, you know, and I was and I actually did a GoFundMe to see if I could get some gas money to help make this happen for for her.
And that was but other but it was ramen noodles with a little s gas stove
Dr. Alice Jeromin (28:51.383)
Yeah.
So you took a lot of your own food is what you’re saying. Yeah. Yeah.
Janet King (28:56.172)
Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (28:57.078)
Yeah, we did but I mean a lot of ramen noodles, a lot of mandarin oranges, a lot of gas station fried chicken, things like that. It wasn’t
luxurious by any stretch of the imagination. So but we never went hungry. We didn’t go hungry and we saw a lot of beautiful stuff. And I think, you know, because we had that archive like we were really serious about this mission. And we were out we were doing the best we could in the tent. And one of my one of my vet school classmates, Dr. Adam Jason, who works up in Cleveland, he gave us his tent. And we just we just had a lot of love. A lot of people that were supporting us in this quest to try to go to
Many national parks as we could. And so by the time the story went viral in 2019, there was this beautiful archive of photos on Instagram of us in Glacier and Zion and Joshua Tree. And on and on we go. And I and I just and we had, yeah, we went to the Everglades, we went to
Cuyahoga Valley National Park was actually our 23rd park, I think. We just did a day trip up there and back. But I was committed to it. And we were trying to just see how much juice we could squeeze out of an orange starting at age 85.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (30:00.97)
Mm.
Right, right. Did you keep a journal from the very beginning or when you started traveling you thought, Hey, I should write this down where and when we’ve been at places?
Brad & Grandma Joy (30:22.156)
I wish that I had journal. I journaled every day on the AT and it’s so beautiful. And 99% of it you don’t remember. And so you’re so glad that you wrote it down. And I wish that I had, but I was driving the whole time and we were putting in really long days and by the time you get your tent site, it didn’t happen, but she did keep a journal.
And I recorded a lot, a video, took a lot of photos, and then as time went on, I learned if she’s gonna tell a story, you better make sure you’re recording it. And so that’s what makes the dialogue so rich in the book is because it really was what she said most of the time. And so I had a lot of great sources to pull from. And yeah, and we only shared a fraction of it in the book.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (31:04.226)
I also love that you wrote the book yourself. You wrote it, you know, no ghostwriter. And I love that ’cause it’s so lovely, it’s lovely written and I’m sure that’s incorrect English, but it’s lovely written and it also you know you really expose so much of yourself and I appreciated that but yet I was almost I almost felt like I was invading and you know, but yet I appreciated that you did that because
There were some chapters that I was teary eyed at the end of of those chapters and then you would tell a cute story about Grandma Joy and the teeth and you know, and then I’d be laughing. So it’s very endearing.
Brad & Grandma Joy (31:45.997)
Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, I mean the darkest chapter comes right after we were in Six Flags riding roller coasters, you know. So there it’s like, it’s just what life is, right? It’s all the different emotions and all the different all the different eras of life. You know the darkness bleeds into the light most of the time and it’s can we let the light
overpower that darkness. Can we can we hold our grief and our anguish and our regret in one hand and then make all this space in our lives for joy and presence and humor and let that tip the scale and not feel guilty about it. And reconnecting. Yeah, and so I’m sure the parts that you’re you’re talking about where you felt maybe a little voyeuristic in my psyche. that was all
Dr. Alice Jeromin (32:29.44)
And reconnecting. Yes.
Brad & Grandma Joy (32:43.788)
Those were the hardest things to write, and yet I knew that that these were the things that had been weighing me down my whole life and that they were shame-based. And I’ve read enough Brene Brown books to know that shame dies in the light. And so yeah, I collapsed on my keyboard after I wrote it all. And I wrote everything chronologically up until the scene in the desert where we talk about our past histories with abusers. And then
I went straight in from that part into part three, which you know is the journey that we did not expect to take, after I got some news about my father. And so I was like, I can’t I can’t write about white water rafting in Alaska and all I can’t do it right now. I was already in this really because I don’t know how to explain it, other than
you have to, you have to embody that era of your life you have to embody that version of yourself at that point in time to be able to write it emotionally and viscerally and to make it really land the way it needs to land. And so once I was in once I already felt like I was my guts were ripped out, I was like we just have to we just have to stay here and ride this out till it’s all written down. And then
Dr. Alice Jeromin (33:56.322)
And then you have to climb out, which is what you did.
Janet King (33:58.167)
Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (34:00.15)
I felt a vast amount of relief when it was all written because I felt healed by and I and although I do say healing is a journey, not a destination, okay, because I’m always gonna be grappling with some memory of my past, but no, I felt that with the writing of the book with
those parts of my life processing it in that way really has allowed me to set myself free. because I was on a hamster wheel just reliving the past over and over again, re-traumatizing myself over and over and over again. I think a lot of people do that. And now I’m so happy it’s in a book that I can lay down on the table and I can walk out the door and go have, you know, the joyful
experiences in my life that I want to make and just know that I’m not defined by the worst things that happened to me and the handful of cruel people that I encountered along the way. It affected me for a long time. But we’ve overcome a lot.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (35:04.93)
And that goes for the two of you. And the other thing if you listen today to this w when it’s over, the one word here that I keep hearing is joy. Whether it’s Grandma joy or joyfulness, I mean it’s just rampant. And I think that there isn’t a nicer word than that? I don’t think so.
Janet King (35:16.033)
Mm-hmm.
Brad & Grandma Joy (35:25.683)
No, and it’s different than, it’s distinct from happiness. Because I when I think of joy I think of
I think of spontaneity too.
Yeah. Yeah, it’s it is. There’s a freedom to it. There’s a oneness, I think, to the life force, whatever you want to call it. It’s living life, I think, with an appreciation for the miracle of it all. And and
Janet King (35:35.437)
think joy is deeper than happiness.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (35:42.902)
Yes. And when
absolutely. Yes. Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (35:54.615)
And whether that’s looking up at the stars or or just like with her, it’s appreciating the pattern on a bug shell or how many different colors of lichen are on that fallen tree that I was just speeding by on my way to the summit for the last ten years. And then I had to walk at her pace
And I realized it wasn’t so bad after all. You know, it’s so but all these people are an outside magazine because they’re scaling these massive mountains and the Himalayas and so forth and and yet they give us a they give us some attention too and I think that’s wonderful because we all are getting older and I think every single person wants to believe that they can crush it in their nineties
If she can do it then I can manifest that for myself, hopefully. Genetics are real, all that stuff is real, but whatever it is. I mean, just to get out of the house and keep connecting, keep living, keep putting dates on the calendar, keep making memories. Yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (36:42.06)
Love that.
Yep. It keeps you going. And Grandma Joy, I really want to know how much crocheting are you doing if any if any?
Brad & Grandma Joy (36:59.854)
Mm. I put it away. I got time to get it out.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (37:02.092)
Good.
Janet King (37:05.421)
question for Grandma Joy, what advice do you have for older people who maybe they want to adopt a pet or maybe they want to go on an adventure? What is your advice? Or adopt a grandson? What is your What is your advice?
Dr. Alice Jeromin (37:16.598)
Or adopt a grandson. Or us. Adopt us.
Brad & Grandma Joy (37:24.3)
Your advice to older generations for that when they start to say I I might be too old for that. No. Don’t ever give up. That’s for darn sure. Don’t ever say that. And when your family says you’re too old to do that, tell to go jump in the river. That’s all you have to do, that’s for darn sure. You know, there’s more to life than that one little corner where you are.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (37:31.724)
Yeah.
Ha ha ha.
Janet King (37:53.697)
Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (37:53.985)
And you need to have the courage to jump and try something different. Even if it doesn’t work out, try it again. You’ll never know just sitting there and not trying whether you can do it or not. So you’ve got to think positive and say, Okay, I’m gonna give it a whirl and we’ll see if it works.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (38:08.386)
That’s true.
Janet King (38:15.437)
You know, a long time ago, I worked for Esprit and the woman who ran Esprit said, it’s an attitude, not an age.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (38:22.848)
Yeah. It’s all about attitude. Absolutely. Yeah.
Janet King (38:24.555)
Right? And you choose that every day you get out of bed.
Brad & Grandma Joy (38:29.014)
look up when when this is over and for the people who are listening, by the time this airs, maybe he’ll already be finished. But there’s a ninety one year old man who’s about to finish an Appalachian Trail through hike. And he and he had the record at eighty two, I think, and some eighty three year old beat him and so he waited
Janet King (38:39.893)
Yes! He was following him. Yes.
Brad & Grandma Joy (38:47.306)
Eight years to say, I’m gonna make sure nobody can do it again. So he set off and he’s almost finished. And he’s just and he walks into a hostel. And I used to be limping when I would walk into a hostel at the end of a 18-mile hiking day. I couldn’t even get across the room without hobbling. And this guy’s just dancing and just loving life and I just think, yes, it it’s all
We let that get in our heads too much. But society doesn’t help. And yet we have complete control over I mean, we could choose to never even look at the calendar and count the days and just
let life happen and and just ride the ride the roller coaster, ride the waves as they come. And yes, if you have to slow down, that’s fine. But I will say, I think most people would assume that at age 85 when we started this journey, that that I got her right at the very peak. Like she was never gonna get healthier than that. She was never gonna get more coordinated. Her balance was never gonna be better. It’s and so forth, but it was the opposite. When she actually was out there hiking
And thinking about where to put her feet and how to balance herself as she stepped over this rock and make sure that, you know, if it’s a little bit slippery that I hold on to something, as she was using all these different parts of her brain and moving in a new way, her balance improved, her coordination improved, and she smiled more. And her cardiovascular strength improved, and then then she’s hiking more and doing even longer trails and meeting wonderful people from around the world, you know, at an age when
if people are lucky enough to live to be 96, in most cases they’ve outlived their entire social group. And now she has friends from that are teenagers all the way up to her age. And four years old up. Yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (40:41.974)
Brad, I don’t remember what scientist said this, but I always remember energy breeds energy. It does. And and Grandma Joy, I bet you’re in the best shape you’ve ever been in. And who cares about the chronological age?
Janet King (40:47.521)
Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (40:55.244)
Yeah. Right. you know, as they keep saying over and over age is just a number. And don’t concentrate on that part.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (41:02.934)
Yeah, right.
And can I tell you something else? You have great hair. You really do.
Brad (41:10.836)
I feel like I’ve lost it one day.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (41:14.792)
No, look how thick your hair is. Brad, isn’t your hair determining if you get bald or not, isn’t that from the mother’s side of the family or something? I can’t remember.
Janet King (41:24.919)
Yeah, eternal. Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (41:26.38)
Yes, which is why I’m not. Yeah. So you got Yeah, my grandfather lived to be a hundred. And he had all this hair and he had this curl come down over his forehead that was there when he passed away. So yeah.
Janet King (41:29.493)
And Brad, why my boys are. My boys are and they’ll never forgive me because it’s all for daddy. But you know what? You’re talking about society. And I
Well, we talked about society when they see the gray hair. I’m telling you, I’m immediately dismissed and I’m only 66. And I’ll be like, hey, wait a minute. I got something to say. It does get to you when it…
Brad (41:57.506)
I believe that.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (42:03.062)
No, Brad, you’re right, because even since I’ve been retired now nine years as a veterinary dermatologist, and I used to be speaking and lecturing and consulting and stuff. Once you are not in the mainstream, you know nothing. You see what I’m saying? And it’s sad because you have to make your own. That’s one of the reasons Janet and I started the podcast. Because after I retired, I would have clients calling me saying, Hey, I read about doing this. I’m like, Where did you read that? I said to Janet,
We have got to get evidence based information out to these people ’cause there’s so many myths and misinformation that could harm pets that’s on the internet. And you know, Brad what I’m talking about.
Brad (42:41.623)
No.
We suffer in so many ways when we don’t understand that there is value in every generation. I mean it with the pen they could go the other extreme as well. And we need everyone. We need all, we need all the more diverse perspectives that we have, the more likely it is that we’re gonna end up with the optimal solution, I think.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (43:05.676)
We need the young minds combined with the older minds. And I meantI would be at some of the dermatology meetings sitting with a colleague of mine of my same age and someone across the table, a new grad, would be saying, this great idea and I’d whisper to my friend, I’d say, Remember we did that ten years ago and it didn’t work. So let’s not reinvent the wheel. Let’s talk together and combine our knowledge.
Janet King (43:26.711)
Mm-hmm.
Brad & Grandma Joy (43:29.644)
Yes. And I my call to action in that is I think that’s in the book in a in my own way, you know, but it’s broadly applicable. You can look you can say this idea of intergenerational connection unlocking the power of that, that that we can apply that in a lot of different ways. And I just think that
We just we know that what we’re doing is not working. And now we’ve got a lot of because you just have to take it back to basic in my opinion, just basic anthropology. For the vast majority of our evolution as a species, we’ve been diverse
in nature and we had communities where we survived because of intergenerational society social units and family units. And I talk about it in it’s a chapter called The Rooms We Left Behind, which is when we’re in Mesa Verde National Park, which is a very unique U.S. national park that shows the the cave dwellers that lived in in that region of Colorado, the Pueblains.
And I just felt this energy of the the ghosts of these grandparents and grandchildren laughing down in the in the caves under those you know those overhangs while the parents were obviously out getting the food. And what stories were being shared and obviously stories that that actually sometimes meant
life or death for those family units. So yeah, I mean we’ve just lost our way. The fact that we accept generational segregation as a social norm that’s acceptable in this country is so wrong. And we should connect the dots between that reality that we’re facing that’s relatively new for us as a species
versus then think about the litany of mental health problems that people have and and on and on we go and and maybe if we got back to something that our DNA recognizes as familiar and safe and cup filling, maybe we would do better.
And so I hope I hope that people get that. And I think it I’m not saying this book has the power to change, even if it sells as many copies as Eat Pray Love, which would a miracle. I don’t know that it would have the ability to really transform society, but I hope that on an individual level, that when people read this, they think, you know what? Sixty percent of nursing home residents don’t get a single visitor. Let me I can go make a new friend.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (46:18.846)
Right. Yeah, absolutely. And you know what? They hunger for that. You know, you bring a therapy dog in and it’s the hit of their day. I look at it as something almost spiritual. I really do. Grandma Joy, how proud are you of him?
Brad (46:40.014)
I got yeah. Yep, indeed. I got one of a kind, I tell you that right now. And everybody loves him when they talk to him. They tell him things they wouldn’t tell anybody else. And he listens politely. And if he has something serious to tell them, he tells them in that way.
Janet King (46:43.309)
I have a question for both of you. You certainly do.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (46:50.312)
Awww.
You know, you’re right. Right.
Brad (47:09.499)
And they walk away feeling better. I know they do.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (47:13.052)
They do. I saw that at the book signings. They do. It’s he’s so and not to fan gush, okay, Brad, but he looks no, I don’t. And I’m telling you something, it’s so one on one with you both. It’s it really is. I have to encourage people if look up their book tour because it’s a lovely experience and the people that are there to see them, it’s like a big love fest. I’m not kidding you.
Brad & Grandma Joy(47:41.975)
It’s important to me that people I I know what it’s like to feel invisible. There’s no there’s no worse feeling. I’ve had it happen many times in my life where even if even in vet school, right, where I was part of this major like 152 students, it was a huge class. But people weren’t it wasn’t in the culture to be vulnerable. It wasn’t in the culture to say, I’m feeling a little unsure about myself to do this procedure
forgot that basic piece of information. I keep struggling with this basic concept that everybody else seems to have down like to show that there’s so much shame in just being human and vulnerable. And that’s and I think that’s changing, thankfully.
But it’s there’s still a lot of people who struggle with that. And I also know what it was like to be invisible at when I was through hiking the AT, we got up in in the South, you’re a like a rock star if you’re a through hiker. When you get up to Kent, Connecticut, you’re a dirty, smelly bum. And they’re like, Don’t come into our restaurant, you know. And I remember the people walking by and just and I already had a I I’d already gone through grad school at that point and I was just planning the next stage of my life and wanted to have an adventure, but they were it was just like I was invisible. And to and then
you know that that changed the way I interact with homeless people and when I walk out I don’t give them money necessarily but I say hello just just so that you know you don’t we can’t dehumanize people like that or I don’t, I can’t do it anymore. And so yeah, when people come if people drove out to meet us and buy a book and sign it, I wanna know who you are and I wanna know a little bit of your story without holding up the line too much.
if there is a line, but if there’s not I’ll talk all day, you know, because that’s why I wrote the book. Because I was longing for connection.
Janet King (49:31.617)
So Grandma Joy, what is one word that describes your adventure together?
Brad & Grandma Joy (49:37.258)
boy. You can give a few if you can’t think of one. If you could sum up our adventure in a word, what word would come to your mind? Very enlightening.
Janet King (49:49.161)
that’s a good one. That’s a good one.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (49:49.21)
excellent. Excellent.
Brad & Grandma Joy(49:52.023)
You don’t know all these people out there that keep things to themselves but you don’t know what a pleasant smile and a handshake can do to make them feel better. So you don’t have to do a lot. Sometimes I somebody has a beautiful dress on or the hair looks beautiful. I’ll say, You have the most beautiful dress on. thank you, she said. Well
I’m probably the only one that talked to her maybe that day. But she made her feel better about herself.
Janet King (50:25.101)
That’s right.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (50:29.272)
Think how good that makes you feel when someone gives you a compliment. I love your shirt today. You know, I really and you didn’t even think about it when you put it on that morning. You’re like, Wow, that’s so nice that someone A would notice and B compliment me. Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (50:41.794)
Right.
Yeah, and it’s probably gotten worse. Or I know it’s gotten worse because most people are just head and screen. And so yeah, I think but once again, we need to feel it. I think maybe it’s this book tour and maybe it’s just having spent so much time in the national parks where we don’t have enough bars on our phone to be on our phones. But I do think that people are realizing that the status quo is not working. we’re not we’re not we’re
living our lives in a way that is in alignment with what our spirit really wants. And it’s basic stuff. It is and yes we’ve got to make we’ve got to pay the bills and we’ve got to do all those things. But we have to create a space in our lives for joy. And it may not be it may not be 63 US national parks. It might
you know, volunteering, it might be it might be I never got to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But a lot of people have these unrealized dreams that haven’t come to fruition yet. And it’s never it’s never too late. And I think, especially for somebody of the younger generation, who has maybe the ability to bring somebody along for the ride, I don’t know. It’s I don’t know if they really think about
How much life, how much how much joy and fulfillment that it brings to your life when you do that. The two loneliest groups, statistically speaking, Vivek Murphy, our former US Surgeon General, did a whole Surgeon General’s report on the epidemic of loneliness and social isolation in America. And the two loneliest groups are the elderly and people in their 20s, particularly men.
Brad (52:35.522)
And you gotta wonder, you know, I know these are people that are liking Facebook posts all day long and but it’s not a proxy for connection. It’s just not.
Alice
No, it’s not. Mm mm. I think too, communication. You know, if you want to go somewhere, fine. but speak to someone. Talk to someone. How are you today? Or what did you do today? You know, I walk Hinckley Lake every morning and I know these people’s first names that I’ve been seeing for forty years. I don’t know their last names. I don’t know what they do. But we all kind of watch out for one another. Hey, how are you today? Have a good weekend.
Janet King (52:46.829)
Wow.
Yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (53:13.354)
It just kinda boosts your spirit. Yeah.
Brad & Grandma Joy (53:15.31)
little moments. But it yeah, but it has a big impact. Yeah, because it it’s because most of us are in our own inner world and we’re probably hyper focusing on the to-do list and all these stressors and then someone just brings you out of your trance and says something nice to you and then you’re like, yeah, okay, yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (53:23.99)
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Janet King (53:36.302)
also think it has to do with our Midwest upbringing. I do. think people in the Midwest are much more friendly. I’ve lived on both. And when I lived in Manhattan, I lived in New York in the 80s, and people would say to me, you’re not from here, are you? I cannot tell you all the time. Well, and the funny story was…
Brad & Grandma Joy (53:41.432)
Okay. You’re right. You’re right.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (53:43.574)
We are. I agree with you.
Brad & Grandma Joy (53:52.238)
Why are you smiling?
Dr. Alice Jeromin (53:52.268)
Yeah.
Yes. Why are you saying hello to me, right?
Janet King (53:58.018)
Every day I’d walk past 79th and Broadway and I see this very tall gentleman with the hat I saw him every morning with a coffee and a New York Times and I would go morning and he’d go morning So one day I was walking with my now husband then boyfriend. we were walking together and I go good morning and my then boyfriend my now husband Donald goes, you know James Taylor
He looked familiar. thought I knew him. So every morning I was saying, how you doing morning? And every day you do that. And I’m like, no, I didn’t know that was him. But I was also, think it was the Midwestern give you, y give your shirt off your back. Yesterday I was at Target and this dad had an Ohio State t-shirt on it. I’m in Connecticut. Nobody wears Ohio State here. So I go over and I go, and he’s like
And the daughter was with him. goes, said, sir, you have on an Ohio State t-shirt. You need to know what to do. And my husband is like hiding. And I said, when someone says, H, you say, he goes, he goes, well, we went on a visit there and she didn’t go there. But was hysterical. It’s terrible. But I talk to people. What can I say
Brad (55:12.119)
Ha ha
Brad & Grandma Joy (55:16.738)
Yeah, and it’s I’ve felt that at different stages of my life where I’ve been very gregarious with somebody at the airport or whatever and somebody that I’m with who’s not from I have I went to grad school with a woman from Kansas
when I lived in South Africa, we were the only two Americans, so we hung out, but we were very different people in that way. And she would just be like, She just wanted to crawl under a rock and I’m just like, Well, why wouldn’t I get to know this person? And she was just couldn’t even make eye contact. So it’s interesting. But I don’t think that, you know, that that’s a part of our culture I think we should try to preserve. Th ’cause that like we were talking about, like that that can really
We don’t know what someone else is going through. And if you annoy somebody, so be it. But if it actually gives somebody a little bit of brings a little bit of warmth to their heart, then it goes a long way. Yeah. I can remember going with my mom out and she spoke to somebody in the parking lot in the elevator or whatever. And I find myself doing it. I thought, I’m taking after my mom. I’m talking to everybody.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (56:27.298)
Well, I say that to Janet for bad reasons. You you’re acting just like mother. Okay, but not for the pessimistic, not for the optimistic.
Janet King (56:30.701)
Well you talk to everybody too.
This has been such a joy.
Brad & Grandma Joy (56:38.848)
Yeah, because sometimes just a smile makes somebody day. They’re feeling down and depth and well, I guess maybe somebody sees me after all. Well just because I feel guilty because we haven’t taught we haven’t talked too much about veterinary stuff, what do you think about how do we like what should we do about this this intergenerational divide?
There’s obviously we need we need the wisdom of our retired doctors, right? Yeah.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (57:09.836)
Uh-huh.
We need a lot of mentorship and we need a lot of expelling the fear in young graduates that I’m seeing an eye ulcer, I’m afraid of what I might do wrong. Well, maybe you’re gonna do right, you know? And I just think I think the book learning is great, but I think the mentorship, I think you really start to learn the day you started the first day in practice. Absolutely.
Brad & Grandma Joy (57:37.473)
One hundred percent.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (57:39.612)
And just we have to give a shout out, Brad and I both have to give a shout out to Sarah Sklenka, one of our favorite people, and also Rusty Moore, whom we both know as well. So yeah. Without embarrassing them too much.
Brad & Grandma Joy (57:44.887)
Yeah.
Janet King (57:52.67)
I think a lot of the younger generation isn’t going into medicine in general, whether it’s human or veterinary, because if you think about it, you know, become a doctor, it’s eight years. And we are in such a fast society. Think of scrolling. And when you tell a young person, you know, that’s eight years, they sort of go, that’s a to bite off that that instantaneous satisfaction doesn’t get you the eight years, you know.
Brad & Grandma Joy (58:06.284)
I know. It’s the gratification.
Yeah. Well I hope I agree. I think but we have some big challenges but some big opportunities and we need to make it cool. We really do. I mean we should look at that as an untapped pool for mental health resilience wiz obviously skill building clinical reasoning
Dr. Alice Jeromin (58:42.722)
Absolutely.
Brad & Grandma Joy (58:48.992)
All of it. I mean we just need it. And then I think, yeah, inevitably when we when we do that enough, then we also find that the younger generations are bringing something to the table too that maybe we wish that we would have known about thirty years ago too. So it’s bi-directional, it’s always bi-directional. And we need to have the right mindset about it. And it’s you said, it could be like what do these young people know? What are these, you know, what are these old school vets know? I’ve seen it
I’ve seen that cut both ways and it’s not helpful. If we have mutual respect then we have then that’s when the magic happens. So I hope it will. Okay.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (59:22.85)
Yeah. We’ve gotta combine. We’ve gotta combine our generations to really do it right. Yeah. Well, Janet
Brad & Grandma Joy (59:29.208)
Yeah, I think that’s the takeaway.
Janet King (59:32.085)
You guys are going, wait, they’re going to the Harvard Bookstore on the 13th. Whoa, rubbing elbows.
Brad (59:35.362)
Yeah.
Listen. And I got that one on my own. Yeah, my publicist did not arrange it. I reached out to them and I was like, I think, yeah. Why not? Let’s just try. I have such a thing about rejection, but I was like, I’m gonna just knock on Harvard’s door and see what happens and I got in. So
Dr. Alice Jeromin (59:40.352)
I love Boston. I love
Hey, listen, Brad, when you and Grandma Joy go, make sure you go on the Duck boat. Janet and I went to a dermatology, veterinary dermatology meeting for the podcast. And No, she’s not a vet. And she got to drive the duck boat. So I’m sure Grandma Joy will get to drive the duck boat.
Janet King (01:00:02.614)
in Boston.
That, by the way.
Brad & Grandma Joy (01:00:15.675)
Lord.
Janet King (01:00:19.053)
It was fun. I went over a few weeks ago. I don’t know if you saw that. they could handle it. They’ve been to 60.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (01:00:20.736)
It was fun. It was so cool. Yeah.
Yeah, I know, don’t say that. That doesn’t happen.
Brad & Grandma Joy (01:00:25.09)
She’s done class three rapids in Alaska. We can can do a duckboat.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (01:00:31.91)
yeah, that’s right.
Yes.
Janet King (01:00:35.309)
Well, thank you so much. this is so inspiring. And I can’t wait to get my copy. And safe travels on your book tour. And thanks for being a part of our show. We truly appreciate you and your liveliness. You’re inspiring. Thank you. Thank you.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (01:00:41.175)
Yes.
I’m in love. I just have to say I’m in love with the two of you.
Brad & Grandma Joy (01:00:53.878)
Well thanks. I just thank you so much for having us.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (01:00:57.208)
you’re welcome. It’s such a pleasure. Such a pleasure. So Janet, why don’t you close it out? You’re good at this.
Janet King (01:00:58.176)
Our pleasure.
We’re going to wrap up. Thank you for listening. Thanks for sharing. We love to hear from you. Don’t forget to email us your questions and concerns to SOPpodcast.com. That’s two P’s in there. And we appreciate you tuning in. Share with a friend. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for listening.
Dr. Alice Jeromin (01:01:19.03)
Bye everyone.
Important Links
- https://alumnimagazine.osu.edu/story/grandma-joy-brad-ryan-advice
- https://www.instagram.com/grandmajoysroadtrip/?hl=en
- https://www.facebook.com/GrandmaJoysRoadTrip/
- https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/the-untold-story-of-grandma-joy-and-brad-ryan/
- https://www.afar.com/magazine/grandma-joy-and-brad-ryan-are-on-their-way-around-the-world
- neoccj.com Country Critter Journal
About Dr. Brad Ryan, MSc, DVM, MPH
Simon & Schuster Author • Currently traveling to all 50 states on the “Healing Across America” book tour celebrating the release of “Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing, One National Park at a Time