Beyond The Neighborhood with Therese & Gen

Therese

The goal of this podcast is to share how you can live a life so much bigger than your circumstances. Gen: and your neighborhood! T: and your neighborhood! Gen: Join us as we talk a little about friendships, people that have impacted us, our crazy adventures in travel, and how giving is important; especially in today's world!

Episodes

  1. 11/19/2021

    5. Giving

    Gen and I are both givers but surprise surprise in very different ways. Gen thinks I give to everyone, don’t ask enough questions, and falls for every scam. I am just a much warmer person. Gen is the cold one but I think she takes cold too far. Keep moving, we don't even know them!!!??? Gen says she is not exaggerating (she is 100% exaggerating) and tells a story about how she stayed at my condo with her son Winston and took call after call from solicitors that I apparently had given a donation to in the past. You will not believe what she did. I’m still shaking my head over it years later. Random acts of kindness are super important and we love when people rally around a cause. GoFundMe was a great idea...it’s just too bad people abuse it. Gen is a softy when it comes to kids. Gen has taught her son Winston to give...he has some great stories of some of the random acts of kindness Gen dreamt up. Gen’s side job at Charityair where they assist patients in need of an air ambulance but don’t have the resources is one of the best things she has ever been involved in. Time can be more valuable than money.  People are always rushed and exhausted. How many times this week have you complained about how tired you are? Exactly. Time is a very valuable commodity. My mom has been helping a family friend that has dementia. Trying to give the caretaker a break is wonderful but it's also the hardest thing she has ever done. You can't put a price tag on the giving of your time. P.S. I do not fall for every scam and there was no cry for help P.P.S If you need someone to pull the plug? Gen is your girl P.P.P.S. We all need to hold Gen accountable--she has to sponsor a child! Beyond the Neighborhood with T & Gen The goal of this podcast is to share how you can live a life so much bigger than your circumstances and your neighborhood! We talk about our friendship, people that have impacted us, our crazy adventures in travel, and how giving is important, especially in today's world. Share more of our story by following us on Instagram: @tgenpod @tslusher @jennybythereseslusher Original Logo Art by John K Schneider @angeleyesartjks www.charityairambulance.com www.worldvision.org

    28 min

  2. 11/19/2021

    4. Travel Adventures

    I love lists. I love to plan. Gen is the opposite. Can you really call not planning things spontaneous? Wait, that actually is the definition of spontaneous. I have to figure out another way to explain it. Can you put someone in danger and just call it experience? Join us for our trip to Mardi Gras circa 1990 something. Gen had assured me she would “take care of it.” The planning of the trip. Call me crazy but I think getting a hotel is one of the things that are included in “taking care of it.” Gen disagrees. Let's discuss why Gen had a knife and fork tucked away on her person as weapons. She tried to give me a fork to defend myself in case we got attacked. Could you fork someone? I could not. She says I'm soft. We slept in a park.  Gen thinks this trip was a win?! Throw in almost getting arrested in California. Gen pee’d in her pants laughing at the police officer. He was not amused. The fight in Tijuana over the watch. Gen and I went  South Side on some guys who tried to take the watch from Gen. If they thought they were going to get physical with some girls and we wouldn't fight back--they were in for a big surprise. A Big SouthSide Surprise. We could fight. Thank you to the tow truck driver who helped us out. We will never forget you! This is why I have to air quote every time I say “adventure” in relation to Gen. Grown people get hotel rooms. Gen has a son. 30 years later and we still don’t have hotel rooms booked. Why do I still go on trips with her?! P.S. Sleeping in a park does not make for a successful trip P.P.S. I stand by the fact that you can not properly defend yourself with cutlery P.P.P.S.  DO NOT JAYWALK IN CALIFORNIA Beyond the Neighborhood with T & Gen The goal of this podcast is to share how you can live a life so much bigger than your circumstances and your neighborhood! We talk about our friendship, people that have impacted us, our crazy adventures in travel, and how giving is important, especially in today's world.  Share more of our story by following us on Instagram: @tgenpod @tslusher @jennybythereseslusher  Original Log Art by John K Schneider @angeleyesartjks

    28 min

  3. 11/19/2021

    3. The Little Things or alternatively KINDNESS

    This episode is dedicated to Evan Brown--who is going to be REALLY SURPRISED by this mention! Surprise Evan! This is a tougher episode. Gen talks about her difficult childhood and her alcoholic father. I wasn't sure she would or should share--I just got some of the details myself thirty years later, but she thought it was important to share...this is one of the reasons we called the Podcast Beyond the Neighborhood. No matter where you come from you can still make your life matter. You can be anyone you want to be. So it's Homecoming weekend. We went to an all girls school called Lourdes. It was maybe 300 kids. We would take the CTA bus to and from school. We didn't put on makeup until we were on our way home in case we saw boys. That Friday--Gen never showed up for school and never called. Turns out she was removed from her home that weekend and moved to some place called Barrington. It was 32 miles from Chicago. To me?  It felt like she had moved to outer space. From Friday to Monday her whole life changed. My whole life changed. My best friend was gone. Her new school was huge. 1400 students! The parking lot was filled with porsche and mercedes. High end cars. That students were driving. WE did not have cars in the neighborhood. Like that. Or for our use. They were our parents' cars and they were usually station wagons. They called Gen by her full name Genevieve --and they tended to say it with a french accent. Can you imagine? I would have paid money to see her face the first time it happened. Our gym class was basically bouncing a ball around. Gym in Barrington...gymnastics...like, real gymnastics. Golf. Swimming. This is not something as inner city kids we were familiar with. Neighborhood things:  Garage BBQ’s Going under the “pump”  Don’t know what that is? Ask me about it. Viaducts Youz guys CTA Rich people things: Circular drives Catering 10,000 square foot homes Clinique compacts Barrington Hills The takeaway from this episode. Kindness doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. It can be a little thing that impacts someone in a grand way. Also, never underestimate the power of self encouragement. If you keep telling yourself you can do it--you may actually do it! P.S. Evan did not get to be her best friend. It’s still me P.P.S. Gen is still not a sports person. I blame Barrington High School. Beyond the Neighborhood with T & Gen The goal of this podcast is to share how you can live a life so much bigger than your circumstances and your neighborhood! We talk about our friendship, people that have impacted us, our crazy adventures in travel, and how giving is important, especially in today's world.  Share more of our story by following us on Instagram: @tgenpod @tslusher @jennybythereseslusher  Original Logo Art by John K Schneider @angeleyesartjks

    29 min

  4. 11/19/2021

    2. The Origin Story Part Two

    The real story. Or as Gen calls it; my version. There are not two sides-there is the truth and there is the lie. Gen says do not trust me--my memory has been bad since I was young--it's not an age thing--and that is a fair point. Gen and I met freshman year of highschool. I looked over at this tiny blonde next to me who was staring at the test on her desk and in real distress. I tried to let her see my test but she didn't have her glasses on. So I waited for the teacher to look away and then I literally swapped the tests out and did it for her. Tests were easy for me as I was a very good student. Gen interjects that for someone who doesn't lie I sure had no issues with cheating. I hate when she does that. Gen and I are very different but one of the things we have in common is we always champion the underdog. Always. So at that moment I felt like cheating was the right thing to do. I think the CIA calls that situational thinking. I could have been a spy. I have no problem breaking rules when it makes sense to me. I blame my mom. She is a rule breaker and since Gen has never met a rule she wouldn't break, she's not a good example. Gen had a father who was a crook and stole things for a living. She lost her mom to cancer at a young age. That she even tried in school is a testimony to her character. P.S. If you are a young person listening to this--we do not condone cheating. Even if we did it. We had good reasons. You probably do not. P.P.S. Same for lying. Other than the origin story Gen is not a liar and neither am I! P.P.P.S. Santa is a lie though and no offense to Ohio. Ohio is a perfectly nice state. Beyond the Neighborhood with T & Gen The goal of this podcast is to share how you can live a life so much bigger than your circumstances and your neighborhood! We talk about our friendship, people that have impacted us, our crazy adventures in travel, and how giving is important, especially in today's world.  Share more of our story by following us on Instagram: @tgenpod @tslusher @jennybythereseslusher  Original Log Art by John K Schneider @angeleyesartjks

    17 min

  5. 11/19/2021

    1. The Origin Story Part One

    There are two sides to every story. This story begins at Christ Hospital on a snowy day in Chicago… Gen and I have known each other since the day our parents met in the hospital on the south side prior to us being born. The Slusher’s, Dennie and Shirley were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their second child -Gen insisted on saying second child so my sister Donna wouldn't be offended. What about my brother? The Proczek’s, John & Alice were also at the hospital. Shirl and Alice recognized each other on the tour and realized they both worked at the Amphitheater on Halsted. Alice was a coat check girl and Shirley worked at the concession stand. That's how it all started. They became friends. So we became friends. From birth.   Except, that's just Gen’s version of the story. And it's not really true! Even if she claims to have photographic evidence (see the Instagram post @tgenpod) P.S. Gen-you can't make something true just by repeating it. P.P.S.  If you live in the suburbs you are NOT from Chicago. P.P.P.S. EVERYONE looks in other people's medicine cabinets. Beyond the Neighborhood with T & Gen The goal of this podcast is to share how you can live a life so much bigger than your circumstances and your neighborhood! We talk about our friendship, people that have impacted us, our crazy adventures in travel, and how giving is important, especially in today's world.  Share more of our story by following us on Instagram: @tgenpod @tslusher @jennybythereseslusher  Original Logo Art by John K Schneider @angeleyesartjks

    19 min
  • 5 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

The goal of this podcast is to share how you can live a life so much bigger than your circumstances. Gen: and your neighborhood! T: and your neighborhood! Gen: Join us as we talk a little about friendships, people that have impacted us, our crazy adventures in travel, and how giving is important; especially in today's world!

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