For my second October Re-Release, I'm sharing my episode with Paula, a Transformational Speaker, Author, and Grief and Relationship Coach. This interview blew me away when we spoke and even more so once I was able to digest it. Paula is an incredible person and speaking with her was a joy for me, I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

You can visit her website here and purchase her book, Intentional Intimacy, here.

CW: this show does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

Visit us at Our Last Meal or at [email protected]; you can also find us at ourlastmealpod on Instagram, YouTube or TikTok.  If you're interested in being on the show, reach out via Share Your Story. If you like what you hear, please consider subscribing, sharing with your friends & family or leaving a rating & review.

For the first October Re-Release, I'm sharing my episode with Ty of the Whiskeylodeon podcast. Ty is funny, heartfelt, kind and engaging - he's also got great taste in food & drink. I enjoyed our talk about grieving a sense of self, friendship and adjusting to the change that is parenthood. Go check out the new season of Whiskeylodeon that just started back on October 2nd.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] - Content warning, this show does touch on sensitive topics such as death so please be mindful as you listen.

I think sometimes about the saying “God never gives us more than we can handle.” I’m not religious but I do find some solace in this saying. There’s something reassuring that an all-mighty creator would take time out of her day (yes, I said her - suck an egg if you’ve got a problem with it) - take time out of her day to bully us. But only bully us because it’s not too much.  There’s something comforting about the inherent silliness of this. And whether it’s the ability to tell ourselves these things or to get through tragedy, humans are resilient in a way that we really are capable of handling almost anything that comes our way. 

My guest this week has no pretense about what she’s been through - tragedies that could have derailed her. She doesn’t shy away from her grieving process and the journey she and her children have been on to heal and we are all lucky that she is willing to share her story.

Learn more about Kenra through her Instagram or Facebook or at her https://calmingchaos.support/https://calmingchaos.support/.

CW: this show does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] 

Marie Scott is an author, speaker, functional medicine health coach and the creator & founder of Happy & Healthy After Widowhood. She joins us this week to talk about the loss of her first husband, how she found strength through cooking and how she helps other widows and widowers on the path to grieving, healing and finding love again.

Learn more about Marie through her Instagram or Facebook or at her Linktree.

CW: this show does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] - Content warning, this show does touch on sensitive topics such as death so please be mindful as you listen.

A long time ago before I was a husband, a father and a responsible adult, I did standup comedy. When I tell people this now, the first question is always: “were you any good?” The fact that I’m not still doing that should be proof enough that I wasn’t. I found out that I’m capable of being the funny guy in the office but not the funny guy you pay money to see and I’ve come to terms with that. Standup comedy was a very cathartic thing for me, something I did that helped me scratch a creative itch as well as work out different things I was going through in my life in a way that gave me some sense of control and understanding.

Podcasting has been similar in that regard. It’s helped me process in a way that makes sense to me. It’s helped connect me to people from all over the world to allow them to share their stories. My guest this week has a similar story: finding a way to process through his podcast: things like parenthood, a later in life autism diagnosis and grief. 

CW: this show does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

You can learn more about Carter and the Touched Out Podcast by checking out his Linktree or listening here.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] - Content warning, this show does touch on sensitive topics such as death so please be mindful as you listen.

There are a lot of ways to grieve someone and it should come as no surprise to anyone who has listened to this podcast for any amount of time that I find food to be one of the most powerful ways. I have regularly had guests tell me that they had never thought of food as part of grief until they came on the show. Honestly, I’ve heard this sentiment more often than not. So imagine how excited I was to find that there is someone else who has made this same connection between food and grieving loved ones - and not only made that same connection but is sharing it with the world and honoring the memories of not just her loved ones but people across the country who have passed away.

I’ve spoken about this before but this week it’s worth repeating - social media can be such a powerful tool for connecting us. My guest this week does an amazing job of reaching across states, generations, families to celebrate people. 

TW: this show does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

You can learn more about Rosie by checking out her TikTok, Instagram or Linktree.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] - Content warning, this show does touch on sensitive topics such as death so please be mindful as you listen.

When my wife and I bought our home a few years ago, there were certain things that were really important to us - things that were non-negotiables. Things like good schools and manageable commutes to work were obviously important. There were other things we considered too - some were more serious like being close to emergency services. There were some things we’d say with a chuckle and a wink - kind of joking but honestly, I was serious about. A big one was being close to different restaurants, good restaurants. I’ve said for a long time, only half joking, that it’s important to be within driving distance of a good Mexican restaurant, a good Chinese restaurant and a great pizza place and that last one is especially important to me. 

Pizza was my favorite food for a long time - most of my childhood and in to early adulthood. Even as I’ve gotten older and broadened my culinary horizons, I still love pizza. All different styles, all different toppings, I love it. And when I was looking for a good pizza place near our new home, I wasn’t talking about a chain - I wanted a pizzeria. One owned by a member of the community - someone who didn’t just love money but also loved pizza. A place where care, time and effort were put in to every step of the process - the crust, the sauce, the cheese, the toppings. Look - everyone has had pizza: good pizza, bad pizza but when you have great pizza, you understand what I’m saying. Great pizza can make a bad day pretty good - it makes Friday night in to pizza night. Great pizza is just perfect. 

And great pizza is made by great people. People who have dedicated themselves to perfecting their recipe. People like Anthony and Carrie Lepoma who founded Lepoma’s Pizzeria.

Talking to Carrie was a great joy and an honor - she has an incredible amount of love, strength and resiliency. I hope you will enjoy our conversation.

Trigger Warning: this show does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

You can learn more about Lepoma's Pizzeria at their website - if you're in the Atlanta area, I highly encourage you to visit them.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] - Content warning, this show does touch on sensitive topics such as death so please be mindful as you listen.

I talked during the last episode about the idea that pain can be turned in to art. I still love this concept but this week I’m going in a different direction with it. Instead of pain being turned in to art, my guest this week - Dr. Christine Malone - talks with us about how she turned pain in to helping others. About how she took unimaginable, immeasurable pain and not only did she heal from it, she turned it in to a calling that has now cascaded and branched out in to helping so many others. Christine has taken tragedy and used it as fuel to dedicate herself to others and I am so grateful that she was willing to share that story with us this week.

Trigger Warning: this show does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] - Content warning, this show does touch on sensitive topics such as death so please be mindful as you listen.

The French painter, Georges Braque said “art is a wound turned into light”. I love that quote because art - regardless of medium - can be such a great way to heal. Healing takes many forms for many people and my guest this week - author Michelle Malon has released two books of poetry inspired by the passing of her mother.

Michelle was kind enough to share so much with me about her story, her pain, laughs, joy and her art. You’ll hear some of her poems throughout the episode as well as responses she wrote to them. I appreciate the courage to not only write these words but share them on this platform.

TW: This episode does talk about death so please be mindful as you listen.

Like so many people, I use my phone as a means of escape and distraction when I’ve had a long day, I’m tired or I just want to shut my brain off for a few minutes. A growing interest over the last year has been TikTok - I really enjoy the freedom it gives individuals to make content that’s funny, creative, interesting - or delicious. TikTok has removed the barrier of entry for home chefs to share their food with the world and I’m honestly here for it. Food is more than fuel for so many people - it’s passion, comfort…an act of love so I love that so many people use TikTok to share recipes, tips and skills.

My algorithm is pretty food heavy so I will regularly have new chefs pop up and a while back I saw one named Your Barefoot Neighbor, real name Matthew, when his freestyle recipe for Salisbury steaks popped up. His husband told him that he was craving, and I quote “really nice salisbury steaks” and boy did he provide. I immediately saved the video and planned to make them the next week. It was a disaster and I really screwed it up - that’s my fault, not his. But I had more of Your Barefoot Neighbor pop up on my feed so I followed him. I ended up making a pork & orzo dish for my wife and daughter that we all loved. Matthew quickly became one of our favorite TikTokers

A little while back Matthew posted a different kind of video - one talking about the struggles he faced when coming out to his family as a gay man. I won’t pretend to understand what this is like but it really struck me because it proved a point I’ve wanted to make since starting this podcast - grief is not just around death. Most of my episodes have dealt with the passing of a loved one but grief can result from any kind of loss - death, sense of self or a close relationship with your family. I reached out to Matthew and he was gracious enough to join me on today’s episode. Before I get in to the interview, I want to call out that June is pride month and there is a lot of hate going on in the world right now. I’m a firm believer in love is love and y’all means all. I shared with Matthew that I didn’t want to come off as performative - that’s a big fear of mine as I want to be authentic and to me, authenticity is to treat everyone with decency and kindness. 

Find Matthew online at TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. You can buy his book here. Please also consider a donation to The Trevor Project or supporting Elijah's Closet (which serves families with children in foster care in Mississippi) through a donation or by grabbing Your Barefoot Neighbor merch here.

If you enjoy today’s episode, please consider subscribing, rating & reviewing and following on social media at Ourlastmealpod or you can reach out at [email protected] - Content warning, this show does touch on sensitive topics such as death so please be mindful as you listen.