Work Life Play podcast with Aaron McHugh

A couple weeks ago, Aaron McHugh reached out to me to see if I would be willing to do his Work Life Play podcast. His podcast has a unique format where he does “micro-adventures” with his guests, and ours was to ride a surrey around Newport Beach. Here is how Aaron described the day:

I had this nutty idea of asking Kristen Howerton if she would be willing to do a podcast interview while riding in a Surrey with the Fringe on Top (picture a four-wheeled carriage with each person peddling) on the Newport Beach, CA boardwalk. She said, YES. Boom. Game On.  In this episode, we got real…I mean really real. We covered a big range of topics as we bounced through conversations about…

The pressure of perfectionism, the pretty veneer of social media, social justice, realistic expectations about life and parenting, vulnerability, the political election, LGBT community and religion, white privilege, Multi-racial families, adoption and being a big-deal blogger.

A powerful moment occurred when we were talking about people coming out gay in the Christian church. My son Holden came out gay in ninth grade and I didn’t handle it well. Since he was helping drive the Surrey, I asked if he would be willing to comment about what that was like for him and what effect that had on his identity, relationships with us, with God and himself. It’s really good. Kristen and I figured out that we grew up about thirty miles from each other in Missouri. My wife Leith has followed Kristen’s blog for years and would read me articles in the kitchen. Turns out Kristen wrote about our family I’ve become a fan myself and love her lovingly heretical non-conformist go-for-it style. My wife reminded me that Kristen first posted about our family in 1998-99 early in our journey with our daughter’s special needs and the loss of hope and heart we were wrestling through. She posted again about our family in 2011 after the loss of our daughter Hadley.  

Click here to listen to this episode of Work Life Play.