On July, 6th 2016, I drove to my guy's house to pick him up for a baseball game while he was in town visiting from Florida. When he let me into his house that afternoon, It took me all of two seconds to realize that we weren't going to a baseball game that night.
When we first started this podcast, there was one person at the top of my list to have on.
So, on Episode TWENTY-NINE (HA!), I give to you, my surrogate little brother, Eric Conley.
*Cue the Ultimate Warrior’s entrance music.
(There’s a reason we waited this long, jerkoffs.)
Anyway, growing up with two sisters, I was always good at finding surrogate brothers. But, it wasn’t until high school that I got stuck with a little punk kid wannabe baller named Eric as my “little brother”.
In all seriousness, I met Eric when he was little as his sister and I were… ya’ know… close friends. I remember always saying, “Eric, go outside and hide and I’ll come out and seek ya” so I could get him out of the house and make out with his sis.
Kid would fall for it every time.
In fact, if anyone was playing hide-and-seek.. it was usually me seeking her in high school and into college…
And lemme tell ya’, she hid pretty fucking well. Not “restraining-order-well”… but well enough to move a couple of towns away and into a different county.
And on goes the story of that lengthy saga.
He and I always stayed close. I tried my hardest to be a “role model” for him, and at times that responsibility felt pretty good.
However, before I was able to commit to a life of sobriety, I was anything but a role model to him.
“Hey Eric, don’t fuck around with pills.”
Meanwhile I was telling him this with a bottle-and-a-half of whiskey in me and about 8 lines of coke.
Nice fucking role model, eh? At least back then.
You guys, this episode is the most powerful episode we have done yet.
July 15th, 2020 (this past Wednesday) was the ten year anniversary of the death Eric’s mother, Diane. And since the birth of this little show, Eric and I had this week earmarked as his recording week, to honor his late mother.
Spending as much time in her home as I did when I was a kid (she would always call me Eddie, as in Eddie Haskell), I had a firsthand view of how much she loved Eric. Eazy was her baby boy, no matter how much it would piss his sisters off.
And Diane, well she was a warrior. Period. She battled multiple rounds of cancer and never gave up. No matter how f***ing sick she was.
But it took a toll on Eazy. It did. And he couldn’t cope.
Well, he “coped” I guess.
We all handle things differently… we all grieve differently… and unfortunately… a lot of us self-medicate.
As Eric puts it in this episode, he had “a pocket full of lent” and once last chance to get sober at the end of his ride.
So tune in, and hear his story.
I bet you’ll cry… I think you’ll laugh a little… and I know that you’ll wrap up with a renowned sense of hope and a big ole’ fucking smile.
Eric – Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your incredible fucking journey, brother. And thank you for doing what you do in your line of work today. You are helping save lives and you sit right in the pit with people like us. Oh, we'll makeup that ball game soon too, my man! Promise! You can buy the fucking hot dogs.
Your mother is so fucking proud of you.
I even loved you back when I was dunking on your ass and that John guy from Champs in your parents drive-way.
