There's a phrase within the Mormon culture described as "breaking the shelf." It comes from the idea that when you unearth some aspect of church practice, doctrine, or history that you find troubling, you are encouraged you to shelf it (metaphorically). Put it away, doubt your doubts, have faith that God will make all things known in the end. 

My next three episodes with my dear friend Daniel, during which he unloads the shelf. Over the next three episodes, we explore, what it means (at least for Daniel) to be Mormon and why, after many years, Daniel ultimately decided to take a different path, outside of the Mormon faith. Join me on this powerful, enlightening, heartwarming, heartbreaking journey with the brave and wonderful Daniel.

In this final installment of this three-part series, I continue my discussion with my dear friend, Amy. Amy is a formidable mother of two children with special needs. In this last episode, we focus on her eldest child, Ian, who lives in a group residential home in Maryland. Ian is a wonderfully special teenager who loves nature, Winnie the Pooh (who doesn't?) and his mom. Unfortunately, Amy's and Ian's experiences with finding an appropriate facility capable of taking care of Ian has been a major challenge and we explore what it truly means to have the training, tools and equipment necessary to properly care for an individual with special needs. Finally, if you take nothing else from this riveting three-part series, take this: people with special needs are human beings, too. They love. They dream. They want and need love just like everyone else. Be kind.

In the second episode of this very special three-part episode, we continue our discussion with the lovely Amy Couch and discuss her "going back in to the closet", eventual marriage and eventually having a son (she has two) with special needs. Ian, a human unlike any other, has a genetic mutation (DEAF1), that manifests itself as autism, intellectual  and physical challenges and emotional issues. We do a deep dive on what it like for her to raise a child with certain challenges, the love, the light, the triumphs and tribulations. Join me as I discover what "the thing" is in this very special episode of "So...Here's the thing...".

In this episode, I sit down with my dear and queer friend, Amy and discuss her upbringing in an "evangelical", religious household and coming out as a lesbian woman to her far-right family. Among other things, we discuss her upbringing in a well-off , far-right, Southern Baptist family (she had a "Mammy" in rural Arkansas). We also discuss what it was like for her to start thinking/feeling for herself, questioning her faith and how she took charge of her life as young adult and ultimately came in to her full identity.