What do you know? Like, really know-know? The answer may change daily, or even hourly, but it’s a good question to ask yourself, and a good place to start a conversation with someone else. In this episode, Cynthia and Susan talk about the question itself, and share some of their own answers to it.

Episode Summary:

  • The podcast’s opening question, tell me what you know, comes from Susan’s aunt Lillie. Lillie didn’t fit any of the cultural norms that all the rest of the women in Susan’s life seemed to live. She told Susan, “Never let them (men) get your jewels.” To Lillie, women were in charge. Men were not to come first. Lillie used the question “Tell me what you know” with the people that came into her store.
  • Cynthia: With less than 24 hours notice, Cynthia and her husband picked up their 5 day old adopted son. The idea came to her “Life is fragile”. Every relationship you will have in life could be so fragile. We need to handle relationships with care, like glasses in a box. This bleeds into different things in life: mental health is fragile, health is fragile, etc. Working at the Encircle House showed Cynthia how fragile life can be. 
  • Susan: People are messy. Families are messy, even the best ones. Susan didn’t realize this until later in life (40’s) when she realized there were certain things in her life that were messy or less buttoned up than she thought they were. That opened her eyes up to the people around her—they didn’t know everything about Susan and even things about themselves. We are all like icebergs. There is much, much more to the story than we can ever understand. It allows us to have more empathy and grace toward others.
  • Cynthia’s friend’s husband was out picking weeds out of the grass…”I have known the weeds were out here for weeks and I didn’t do anything about it and now it is overwhelming.” Talking about more serious things in his life manifesting itself.
  • Susan “the perfect family” laying the sod at Susan’s house before a storm. They seemed perfect, but later went through a horrible divorce. Hard challenges happen to everyone regardless of how perfect they may seem on the outside.
  • “Impossible standards are okay not to live up to.” We need to destroy some of those standards!
  • Cynthia: There are worse things than being wrong. Being unkind is worse than being wrong. Being selfish is worse. Being unkind is worse. Damaging relationships is worse. As LDS women, we are good at being right and getting the answers of what we know is right. But it is okay if we get things wrong. It’s okay if we don’t have it all figured out right now. It’s okay to make u-turns in life. The answer is always compassion and love.
  • “If we err, let us err on the side of mercy.” —Pres. Hinckley
  • Even though Aunt Lillie never joined the church, she did good things. She helped Susan so much. Susan can’t imagine Lillie will be judged harshly for never joining the church. Mercy has to be extended to Lillie, regardless of whatever kept her from joining the church.
  • Any day, even a Friday, can be improved with cake. CAKE FOOD STORAGE!!