Lisa: (00:02)
Welcome to the Building and Life Legacy Podcast. My name is Lisa Gregoriew and I am so glad you're here 

Lisa: (00:13)
For 30 years. I was a elementary school PE teacher and yes, we had a blast. I had a great time with all my kids and it was super fun to see those kids grow up and then become the parents of my next generation kids before I retired. It was awesome, but I had a class size of ranging from about 60 to about 110 and when we'd be all spread out in the gym, we were in rows and calms with about six feet apart, which was great for doing activities, jumping rope, exercising and all that, the regular PE classes. But when I had to really have them listen and I would explain something, I would bring them up close to me and I'd usually sit down on a bucket or a chair in front of them. And the kids loved it. They called it story time. 

Lisa: (01:07)
And so that was our special time. And sometimes I just told stories about something silly that happened, the we over the weekend or the night before, or I would tell something about health. I would teach a lesson or I would let allow them to share, or I would explain what was coming up next in our PE class. So if I said, Okay, come on up for story time, the kids would scoot in and they'd sit on their seats and they'd look at me and kind of quiet down and be ready to listen. So friends, it's story time, Come on up. Hey, welcome back. Guess what? This is episode three. I'm so excited that you're here with me and I wanna give a shout out and a big thank you to the over 150 people who have listened so far. And I hope you're back for more. And I hope you go ahead and tell your friends. If you wanna give me a comment or anything, I would love that. You can subscribe and you can check us out on Instagram, Building a Life legacy. Here we go. 

Lisa: (02:35)
Set another place at the table, make up another bedroom. Does that sound weird to most of people? Probably. But I feel like that's the way that lived my life with in the past. Growing up as a kid, we always welcomed people to stay in our home. Um, pastors, especially back in the seventies and eighties, they, a lot of times if somebody came to visit the church, then they would stay at the pastor's home, which means my parents were the hospitality duo again. And my brother and I were moved out of our rooms for a few days or a week or whatever to make way, make room for somebody else, a guest. And it was great because we were always learning about new places and new cultures and meeting new people. And it was normal to just set another place at the table and make up another bed for somebody. 

Lisa: (03:33)
So fast forward to my adult life, I was pretty newly married and I had, Brittany was little bitty, and Mac was just born, I'm gonna th say he was maybe a year. So this was probably early 2001. And my mom called me and she said, Hey, I have um, an opportunity for you. And I thought, Okay, great. What is it? She said, a cousin that I never knew called, I guess one of her cousins, an older cousin, called and said that her granddaughter was going to be doing an internship in our area and if mom or dad knew anyone that had a room that they could rent or a room that they could board, she could board for the summer during this internship. So mom immediately thought of me and we did have a spare room and I was like, Wow, that'd be really cool. 

Lisa: (04:37)
Sure, bring it on. So this college, young college girl, she was gonna, she was in her junior year, gonna go back for her senior year. After that she, I met her on the phone basically, uh, this was before FaceTime and all of that. So we talked and I said, Yeah, absolutely we'd love to have you. And then about a week or two later she says, Hey, she called me back and she said, Hey, one of my best friends got the same internship opportunity and would it be okay if two of us lived there? And I was like, Okay. So we scrambled and moved out a double bed and moved in two single twin beds into the guest bedroom for these two college girls that I've never met. And here we go. And they moved in in their college stuff. Both of 'em brought their cars and all their college things and all their, it was like setting up a dorm room and I had to come up with an extra closet so the closet under the stairs belonged to the girls and, and all that. 

Lisa: (05:47)
It was crazy. So, uh, Michelle and Kelly lived with us starting in 2001 and my kids instantly thought that they had big sisters and it was great. And these college girls would go to their internship job and it was with a Woman of faith conference. So it was, there was a lot of travel on the weekends, but they would usually have one or two nights off during the week and we'd be heading to bed about nine o'clock and these girls would emerge from their room and start getting ready to go out in the evening at 10 o'clock at night. I'm like, Wow, I'm old. And I was not even old back then, so it was hilarious. But we had a great summer, it was super fun. The girls were gone a lot of the times traveling with this, um, their internship and then school time came around and there was some tears shed by all of us as they headed back to school and it was great. 

Lisa: (06:45)
So we kept in touch with the, with the girls through their senior year. And then pretty soon in the spring I get a call from Michelle and she says, Hey, I've been offered a full-time job and um, so I'm gonna come down there and look for an apartment. Is there any way I can stay there, uh, for just a little bit until I get an apartment? Sure, absolutely. We'd love to have you. Okay, so planning on her coming down, you know, it was college time, so it would be like the middle of May that year. And so it'd been be like 2002 ish. So about the beginning of May I get a call from Michelle again and she says, Okay, there's been a little bit of a change. And I was like, Okay, no problem. I guess we will see you soon. She goes, No, no, no, I'm coming, but I already have an apartment, but my boyfriend also got a job at this place. 

Lisa: (07:42)
And I was like, Okay. And she says, But we're not really ready to live together or anything. Do you think it'll be okay if he stayed at your house? ? So, so we're looked to each other. I was like, Yeah, sure, why not? So we'll just kind of boyish up this room that was kind of girly set for these girls and here comes Jim is his name. And so he came, he contacted me and he was very polite on the phone. He had played football for the University of Miami, Ohio. And so I'm envisioning this big guy, so I, you know, bought extra food at Walmart and you know, made sure the refrigerator was stocked. And he said, Okay, I'll be there sometime in the morning time cuz I'm driving straight through on whatever day. So then I get a call from my neighbor the next morning early. 

Lisa: (08:39)
She says, um, don't wanna alarm you but do I need to call the police because there's a man sleeping on your sidewalk. I'm like, What? So I go out and sure enough there's Jim and he was in his sleeping bag because he didn't wanna ring the doorbell at five o'clock in the morning, so he just got out of his little car and parked his sleeping bag right on the front lawn. Nothing like that's our first time to meet this guy. So , it was quite comical. So that was Jim and he shows up fresh outta college and I mean like this Greek god kind of a guy, really big football player, but the kind that you instantly get that good feeling of this is a good guy. My son Mack was about two and a half just turning three at that time when Buddy Jim arrived on our front lawn and when he woke up and they got to meet, they instantly there was an amazing bond. 

Lisa: (09:48)
It was like they were instant brothers and buddy Jim has Mac started calling him. So he's forever known as Buddy Jim to us became this, you know, his playmate. And many times I'd be upstairs in my room getting ready or what, at cleaning up or folding laundry or whatever. And I would hear this complete ruckus downstairs and I would come and look over the edge. I'm like, What are you guys doing? And they both are sweating and come to the view, uh, over the side of the roads, nothing why. And I was like, maybe y'all should tone it down. And then I get down there and there is pillows everywhere and just like there had been mayhem, I'm like, um, boys take it outside and they would load everything and take it outside. And this was Mac who was about three and buddy Jim who was this big dude that just graduated from college and it was awesome. 

Lisa: (10:49)
So, uh, we had a year with uh, Buddy Jim living with us, but he was only there about two days a week because of his job cuz he traveled for his job. And then pretty soon after about a year he moved, um, to some apartments and him and Michelle were still together. They lived in different apartments after a while they broke up and whatever and buddy Jim ended up moving away, but we, he still keep in touch. He comes and checks on us. He is now happily married and has two wonderful little boys and it's just great because him and my son still have this cool relationship that was built after he showed up literally on our front lawn in a sleeping bag a couple years after Buddy Jim moved out, the um, secret service called me and I was like, what in the world? 

Lisa: (11:44)
And Jim had told me that he was applying with the Secret service and uh, stuff like that. And he said he'd probably, I'd probably get a call because they had to check in to the place where he last lived with a roommate or a family and that was us. So they sent a, I don't know, an agent or whatever, somebody, I don't, I doubt it was a agent, but somebody that worked for the Secret Service came out to uh, interview us about Jim and it was hilarious because they kept calling him James. And I was like, Okay sir, I know that this is all formal and everything, but in this house, his name is Buddy Jim and , the guy wrote down little notes and he's like, Okay, so when James was here and I'm like, okay, he's not getting it but I guess you know, this is how we have to be formal with the Secret service. 

Lisa: (12:40)
And then one of the questions was, would you trust him with uh, children? I'm like, you mean to not break the furniture or trust him that he would keep my children safe? Yeah, he would definitely keep my children safe. I would not trust him on my furniture though. I don't think that that's uh, secret service guy really liked my humor. But that's the way we loved Buddy Jim. So he is still part of our family. He's just not, uh, in our state right now and shout out to you buddy Jim and your family, we love you so much. So soon after that, the spare room was empty for probably 27 minutes. When a friend of mine who is another PE teacher, she gave me a call and she said, Hey, I am not going to renew my contract, but we have, you know, five months here at the end of the year and I really don't wanna pay the exorbitant amount to do a month to month lease. 

Lisa: (13:46)
Do you have that spare room that, because I knew that um, your guest had moved out. And I said, Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. So come on. So in walks Beth and she, it was a PE teacher with me, so she worked at a different school across the way and she was great. Um, she was coaching, so she was gone a lot, but she had a place to lay her head in the evenings and every once in a while, usually with when a football game was on or something like that, she was, uh, sitting at the table with us and eating and it was fun to have Beth around that that time. And she wasn't here very long, but it, she was a part of our family too. Then along about somewhere in that neighborhood came another friend, um, and this is one who started off awesome and then made me realize that there is some things that I'm not gonna put up with. 

Lisa: (14:44)
I am not gonna put up with somebody that's slob and that doesn't, uh, the rules of the house basically, and you've gotta take care of our stuff. He was kind to my kids, everything was fine there, but you know, I realized that not everybody can be welcome in this family all the time. So some people come in your life for a reason. He came in our life for a reason, super creative guy, I mean ridiculously creative, very talented, but just didn't mesh with our family. And he lasted for about six months and then he moved on his way after he left. I ripped the carpet out of that room because uh, there was a mess and I was just about getting that room cleaned up when our brother from another mother as we like to call him, entered back into our lives. So that was Allen way back. 

Lisa: (15:46)
Uh, I was finishing college, my brother was in college, we all worked at church camp in South Texas Act in LaGrange, Texas. Yes, like the Zizi top song and it was Luther Hill was our camp and we were camp directors, camp counselors, all of that. And one summer we met Allen and we were at our, um, training thing and that in like about 15 seconds we, my brother and I realized that oh, Alan was the other part of our family that's been missing. He's kind of like our brother from another mother. So after camp we, you know, he was with us for a while at camp and you know how camp goes and you go back to school and do your life and then you come back the next summer and he was there one or two summers and it was awesome. And then we kind of went our own ways, kept in touch randomly. 

Lisa: (16:43)
That was before FaceTime and text messaging. So we'd call each other or run into each other at certain times and Christmas cards and so forth. So he got married to wonderful gal named Maria and they had two sons. And then about 2006, Maria and Allen decided that they needed to have a little bit better opportunity for their boys because they were living in a very small town and the hill country. So they decided they wanted to move up and try McKinney. They had a new, the boys were big into sports and they wanted to try something bigger and more opportunities for the kids and themselves. So Alan called me and said, um, I hear that you have space maybe do you think that I could send Rhea up with the boys and she move in for a couple of weeks until I get there that they can be there when school starts and practices football and stuff starts for the our the the older son Todd. 

Lisa: (17:57)
And I said, Yeah, sure, that'd be awesome. Well I had never met r and per person, so this was a little bit, little bit nerve wracking. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna make up this room and then I'm gonna throw these two boys in with my kids and they were stair stacked. So Todd is the oldest and then three years later there's Britney my oldest, and then two years later there's rht their youngest, and then two years later there's Mac my youngest. So we had like these stairstep of four kids. So we had a ninth grade and then fifth grade, third grade, first grade. So it was kind of a wide variety. But then all of these kids, and here they come and hot summer of 2006 and about three weeks later Alan showed up and it was awesome. It was like our family just expanded and everything worked. 

Lisa: (18:58)
And let me tell you, it didn't work smoothly at first, but it wasn't terrible. It was just, we had to figure out a routine re and I would get up super early in the morning, I'd get a workout in and then we would go to Walmart, which is right around the corner and we'd get, start the lunches, we'd one for one day of the week, we would go get groceries and then we would prep all of the lunches every morning and then send everybody off. And she would go, she's a hair stylist, she would go do hair and I would go to school and then Alan came in and it was, it was crazy and it was awesome. And we had this giant family, Beth was still living there at the time, so there was nine of us under one roof. Luckily we had three bathrooms, so there was like a rotating thing. 

Lisa: (19:44)
All the four, the kids had one bathroom and r and Allen and Beth shared the downstairs and I had, I was married at that time and had, um, upstairs and the laundry just went nonstop and it was basically R and Allen and I and Beth would just rotate laundry and then every uniform was washed, every, there was a uniform set of laundry every day. It was amazing how much laundry there was so much laughter, very loud. So at our first Halloween, I love Halloween, we decided that we were gonna call us the crazy house because liturgy literally, it was crazy. It was like five cars in the driveway and parking lot and it was like a parking lot and just people coming in at all hours of the, the day and night coming and going. So we became the Pirates of the crazy house and we decorated our whole house as a pirate ship and we were all the pirates of the crazy house. 

Lisa: (20:50)
And then that's the way that came to be and forever and always that will be the crazy house. So re and Allen and the boys, they bought a house. Um, they were with us about a year and they bought a house in a neighborhood not too far away. And we got him all moved in and everything was awesome and now our house is kind of quiet. And then my ex-husband at the time was coaching gymnastics and tumbling and trampoline to be exact. And he had an opportunity to get two new athletes that were elite level athletes to come and join his team. Well in the gymnastics world, when you're an elite, at the elite level for Team usa, you usually go and live with somebody, maybe another gymnast family or they, the gym will help put up for an apartment or whatever. Or you live with the coach and the coach's family a lot of times. 

Lisa: (21:52)
So I was like, okay, bring 'em on. So enter Neo and Amy and both of them were wonderful people from different backgrounds. And so now we have two elite gymnast living in the family in under the roof with the kids. And my kids learned more about dedication, hard work, determination, goal setting, um, drive organization, so much stuff, so much things that that I couldn't teach 'em. I mean sure I could tell them about it and I had my ways of doing those things, but for them to watch and live with somebody that's at that level and that's their entire goal is, um, competing at world championships. It was unbelievable. So Neo then got hurt or decided to retire from the sport and so he moved on and it was, it was fine. Everything was was good in in his life moving on and aim stayed on. 

Lisa: (23:07)
Well during that time, um, I was going through the marriage issues. So we were going through a divorce and Amy was still around. So I say lovingly that I may have gotten a divorce, but I got to keep Amy in that whole thing. Even though he came in, she came in with him, she's stuck with us now everybody's on good terms so don't be weirded out or anything and that's the way that went. But stay tuned, there's more of Amy. Meanwhile, during one of those summers our had um, a baseball team that was in the city, the McKinney Marshalls and it was a collegiate summer league team. So it had had, I dunno, it was the Texas Collegiate League or something like that. And it was college players that came to the area and had, there was a league of different teams and so they would travel around all summer and play all summer. 

Lisa: (24:09)
It was a great way for scouts to see them play besides just in their college. So they needed places to stay. So sure enough we signed up for that. And one summer we had a couple of um, baseball players, college baseball players that rolled through our house. And so that made the summer exciting for the kids. We went to a lot of baseball games and it was super cool. It, we had a rainy streak. I remember it rained for like a week in June at the, towards the end of June and these players were upstairs playing video games and I went up there and checked on 'em or walked through or something and they were all stopped playing video games and they were just standing staring out the window at the rain. And I was like, Are you guys okay? No, we really just wanted to play. 

Lisa: (25:01)
So it was like they were eight years old and they really wanted to play ball and these are, you know, 20 year old college kids. But it was super, super cute. They were super passionate about playing and it was fun, um, to see for the summer. I hope those guys are out there doing a great job and living their lives. Somewhere in about 2010 I had a new kid that needed to stay, have a place to stay and he was a budding filmmaker and one of my brother's former students and he had worked with uh, my brother and I for a while and he was a very creative, talented kid that just needed a break. So Cole came to live with us and we immediately started calling him Coley and Coley became another big brother to Britney and Mack and it was a hoot and Coley worked odd jobs and worked weird hours. 

Lisa: (25:59)
Usually he was gone in the evenings and stuff, but he was around in the weekends and liked to hang out with m Macker and Brittany and came to their games and would do stuff with us and it was just a hoot. There was this one time that Mack was always late, running late and then I'm not always on time so I'm running upstairs and I'm trying to get ready and we're getting ready to go somewhere and I had a feeling it was probably a Saturday morning or something cuz Mack was eating breakfast and I kept yelling down, Okay, Mac, 10 more minutes. Okay, Mac, five more minutes. Okay Ack, we have to go. And Mack is over there at the table and Coley is sitting at the end of the table and Mack is eating french toast sticks and he is doing the stinky leg, the thing with your leg, you know the little dance, YouTube dance back then. 

Lisa: (26:59)
And I'm like, Macker, we have to go. And Macker looked at me deadpan, he goes, Mom, you know you can't get mad at me when I'm doing the stinky leg. Collie, spit his food everywhere. All three of us died laughing. I'm like burro, get in the Jeep. We have got to go. So that will forever be our one of our favorite funny moments in the kitchen at the house with Mac and Coley and just that's the way things rolled. We shot videos, um, parts of a movie, parts of commercials at that house during that time. Um, it music videos, uh, we showed lots of new music videos, new commercials, new projects that they worked, uh, had showings on the TV and had kids family over all the time at that house. So we had to have a sign-in board cuz I was like, I don't even know if there's an emergency. 

Lisa: (28:05)
I don't know who's here and if everyone is safe and got out of the house. So we had a sign in board and you had to write your name on it when you came in and then you crossed your name off when you left cuz there was always somebody else that needed to stay for a weekend or whatever during that time. And it was a great time, great season in our life while a lot of us were going through some things. Those things we'll get to on another podcast, maybe, maybe not. So then Colie had moved on and he, you know, celebrated. Amy lived with us for a while on and off between uh, while she was still training and then worked for USA Gymnastics, um, during that time. So it was, it was a great season. While Britney was new in high school and Mack was in middle school, it was a great time in our life. 

Lisa: (28:58)
Then we lost my dad in 2011 and that was rough. It was during that time. So it was good to have people around. Then my mom, it was a got to be a little bit difficult for her to live by herself. So we contemplated for about a year what were we gonna do? So both of us sold our houses and then we bought the big house on the hill is what we call it. So we went from the crazy house to the big house on the hill and at that point Ria and Allen decided they were gonna join us too. So we had looked for a house big enough to suit our needs and we found one. So we all moved in there and so we were back living with the big family. So it was mom and she had her own little suite with her own, she was in charge of her uh, heat and air conditioning and it was great. 

Lisa: (29:51)
She had a suite, she had her own um, washer and dryer and everything in her suite there and we all dispersed in other places and was, so it was R and Allen and it was me and Britney and Mack and Ret was still there. Todd had already moved on, but he came back for a while and, and Amy then came with us. So it was great that house had a pool. We had a a great time. We never worried about locking the door because if anybody was casing that house, they would have no idea what time anybody came and left cuz Alan coached early in the morning. I coached and worked out early in the morning. We were running around this, that and the other grandma was usually there, which was great because the kids would come home and they would sit and hang out with grandma after school for a little bit and talk about their day and had a really great relationship with uh, mom. 

Lisa: (30:46)
And it was awesome. And every night we had this great big round table. I still have it seats six to eight people and it was in the middle of the kitchen, which kind of bled into the hallway and the um, living room and that was the round table. And every night, depending on what time you got home, we all sat down at the round table. Sometimes people were eating a second dinner. Remember I had a bunch of athletes in this house, so we ate all the time and sometimes people came in and it was after a game, so they were in their first dinner and mom would come out, she would walk or walk her out and sit with us or we'd play dominoes or cards or just laugh and talk about the day. But almost every night we spent some time around that table and that was incredible. 

Lisa: (31:40)
And I looked back and I wouldn't change those minutes for, for anything. And we end up staying there for quite some time. And r and Allen moved on to their place. The boys were gone and Britney moved out and Mack was graduated from high school and he went to college. So he went and played soccer for a year and that's when I decided that I was gonna buy my own house when, cuz it was just mom and I. So we didn't need that great big house. So I bought the house and moved up here. But as I look back, all of those fun times again, around a table or at a house with moving somebody just grabbing another seat and coming in or making another bedroom for somebody else, made our small family big. I can't even think about how many sandwiches were made in the kitchen, how many loads of sweaty sports laundry were done in the laundry room and how many modifications were done to bedrooms during all those years that we all lived together. But it was so worth it every minute, Every minute because our family just grew. It wasn't our blood family, but it was the family we chose. I wouldn't trade that for anything. I can't wait to talk to you again for episode four. Check us out on Instagram, building a life legacy or you can follow me. Lisa Gregoriew. Can't wait to talk to you next time. Go build your legacy.