Hi, my name is Louise Buck and I live in San Diego and I'm a great grandmother. As you said to Colin and tell you how much I like the season and I loved it. I love StoryCorps. I look forward to it. I think it's something that holds everybody in the country together and God knows we need it. So thanks and have a great weekend. Bye.
Hey listeners, we're hard at work on new stories right now, but this week we have a little surprise for you. This past season at the end of every episode, we asked you a question and invited you to share your answers by calling 702-706-TALK. And wow, a lot of you called in. So this week we're going to step outside the booth and hand the mic to you, our listeners. I'm Jasmine Morris and this is the StoryCorps podcast from NPR. Now let me just hit play here on our voicemail.
You've reached the voicemail for the StoryCorps podcast. We're so glad you called. Our most recent episode was about Nick Tucci, who has a little boy in 1964 ran away to the New York World's Fair and lived there for 11 days. We asked you what's a family legend you thought was too good to be true. Hi, my name is Tyler Johnson and I am from Tucson, Arizona. My great grandmother and great grandfather.
They were ranchers in southern New Mexico and they lived their entire lives out near the town of Los Crucets. They told us that in 1945 they had gotten the family car and driven to a town near the border of Arizona and they had to stop for the night. They couldn't get a hotel so they slept in their car on the side of the road. Early the next morning they were awoken by a bright flash and that bright flash turned out to be the Trinity test.
The first atomic bomb ever tested at white sand and it just happens to witness it in their car. To this day, I don't know if it was true or not, but my great grandparents were very wonderful people and they experienced a lot in their lives. So I wouldn't put it past them to a witness delivery for a atomic bomb. Thank you stories before we're all here to do and I wish you a good day. My name is Jennifer Centin. I'm calling from Westerville, Ohio.
My dad was a really interesting character and had a lot of tall tales. One story that was my ultimate favorite is that he got a job as an iron worker and I guess back in the day that was an incredibly well-paying job. But he was in high school and rather than quit the job, he decided to pay some 21 year olds that he had met at a bar to go playing the part of my father at the school.
And so I guess this was going well for the school year until one day the adult was caught cheating on a test and pulled into the principal's office. And when my dad's dad came in to pick him up and see what was going on, my grandfather was like, that's not my son. And that's a story of how my dad got a GED rather than a high school diploma and how much of it's true I would really love to know. I feel like it could be 50-50 to be honest with you.
Another episode this season was about how he Gordon, a retired porn star talking to his son Bobby about how his greatest role was as a father. And after that episode we asked, what was your birds in the bees talk like? Hi, my name is Anita Mitchell and from Westfield, Massachusetts, when I, I don't know, maybe 12 or 14, my father called me in the living room and handed me two books. They were from his time in the army and they were entitled, Father Talks to Son.
Well, the books were filled with horrific pictures of various venereal diseases. Maybe to say I did not ask any questions afterwards. It's a wonder I ever had sex and had children because I was so mortified by the pictures in the book.
Nonetheless, I did grow up to be pretty open about sex and my son always says that if any of his friends at school had questions about different sex related issues, he'd say just ask me a question that I'll go home and ask my mom because she'll be sure to give me the answer. Hi, story. My name is Molly Clark. I am calling from Hope and Lake Michigan. So I am a family nurse practitioner, which is ironic for how simple my birds in the bees talk when I was in high school.
My mom came to me and said, you know, Molly, the women in our family, including you have really good plumbing. So if you have sex and don't use a condom or use birth control, you will get pregnant. And that was a lot of these things. But thanks for having this line open for listeners to share. Here's this. Our episode, Nothing Left To Say, told the story of Jackie Miller, who decided to end her life on her own terms. So we asked, what's the hardest thing you had to do for someone you loved?
Hi there. My name is George O. LaPare. My grandma died. And it was a very slow but very beautiful death. She was surrounded by all six of her children, one of them being my mom. Losing her was very difficult, but the hardest part was watching my mom go through it. You have to watch her parents turn into a child. Suddenly they're not your mom anymore. You can't do anything but love and support throughout that grief. I think that's probably the hardest thing I've had to do for a loved one.
Thank you so much for everything that you are and do. In Peter in the Wolf, we told you about a man who was incredibly close with a wolf. We wanted to know who is your Peter, the animal you were closest to. My name is Jorge Abrayu and I'm born from Littleburn, Georgia, near Atlanta. I just heard the podcast about Peter the Wolf made me think of my dog, Lupita. Lupita was a blue healer, a Australian cattle dog. My wife and I rescued her from a family that was on the way to take her to the town.
She was just a great presence in our lives. She was just everybody's friends. I'm a Peter lived 11 years and I just enjoyed her so much. Thank you. I'm sharing George your podcast. My name is Tyler Andrew Brasier. I'm calling from jail in Kent Washington. My Peter the Wolf was the family shelter that was my best friend when I was recovering after getting attacked on the summer street. Thank you. Have a great day. I love you guys' stories. The caller has hung up.
My name is Luanne Parmaly. I'm calling from West Palm Beach, Florida. I had a Peter but he was named Rebel. He was my horse. And this was in the 70s. I grew up in a household that wasn't very happy. We lived out in the country and I took care of all the horses. We did not have much money. That made things worse at home. My parents did not know how to express love. Some of them said there was abuse there. I always wanted a horse. I was about 13 when I got Rebel.
I spent a long time with it. My roading through trails got away from the house. It was not a happy place. Rebel was my saving grace. I had Rebel for about three years. I turned 16. All of a sudden my dad said, Fatlima, we're giving him away. I went, what? Nothing was said. No explanation. I had to ride him several miles to a meeting place to give him up. I was just heartbroken. I'm getting curious. I'm thinking about it. I think it's hurt me for life.
I figured out later in life that he owed a bill to my doctor he couldn't pay. He traded the horse. He didn't give away his horse. As I got older, I was driving through town looking for him. I was still worth something to do so that I wasn't sure it was Rebel. I didn't know what to do. I hope that Rebel had a long life and died being loved. But to this day, you know, I keep thinking it sounds silly. I wonder if I'll ever see it in heaven. That's all for this special episode.
Thanks to everybody who called in. We got so many voice mails that we couldn't share them all in one episode. But we do listen to every message and we appreciate each one. So please keep them coming. Leave a voice mail for us anytime at 702706 Talk. And what's a conversation you wish you could have with someone? What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you? Or just, is there anything you really want to tell us? The number again is 702706-TALK.
This episode was produced by Max Young Rice. Judd Este Kendall is our senior producer. Our technical director is Jared Floyd. Amy Drosdowska is our executive producer. The art for this season was created by Liz McCarty. I'm Jasmine Morris. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.
Support for this podcast comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.