Gena Jones

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This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce and Modern Moments wedding and event venue and produced by Sleepy Time Studios. All right, here we go. Today's guest is a beautiful powerhouse, a CPA and attorney dedicated to protecting taxpayers, a classically trained chef, and a devoted wife. Mother of six and grandmother of three. Growing up in south side of Chicago, she learned resilience early. At 15 years old, she became a mother, and that changed everything. Instilling a deep sense of responsibility and purpose. She and her husband Gerald, are on a mission to see the world with their family while building a legacy together. She is full of wisdom, and her journey has provided her with lessons and insights. Let's dive in. Please welcome Gina Jones.

Thank you.

Gina is in the house. All right, all right.

In the house. Outside.

That's right. Welcome.

I actually love Chicago. I can't wait to talk to you about that, too.

Okay. Awesome.

Chi town. Okay, well, let's start with what we call rapid fire.

Here we go. Would you rather travel to the past or to the future?

To the future.

What is your hidden talent?

I don't have any hidden talents.

They're all exposed.

They're all exposed. Okay. It's all out here.

All right, good.

Would you rather attend a hip hop or a rock concert?

Hip hop.

Have you ever lived abroad?

No.

What is your go to snack these days?

After speaking to my doctor, it can no longer be ribs with barbecue sauce. Yeah. So now it is grapes.

Grapes.

Yeah. I know, right? Grapes and pistachio nuts. Okay.

Okay. Well, there are a lot of types of grapes.

Good choices.

Red.

Red seedless.

Okay. Red seedless.

We're gonna quiz Ben on his grape colors later.

It's like a crayon box. Okay. What makes you hopeful?

Just my family, my children. And just seeing them develop and see them do things and say things that I do and just wanna, like, strangle them, but it's, like, my fault. So.

Are you more of a thinker or a doer?

Thinker and doer.

Yeah, I was gonna say, I can't call that one on you. I think you could be both.

At the same time.

At the same time?

Yeah.

Wow. Well, then if someone were to play you in a movie, who would you want it to be?

I would have to say Angela Bassett. Wait, why?

And why her?

Because she has beautiful arms and she clearly does go to the gym while I am just dreaming gym and doing like push ups and stuff in my sleep.

Okay, yeah, well, and your sleep counts. At least you do that.

Sleep is everything. Everything happens in my sleep.

What is your favorite pastime or hobby?

I like to eat.

Okay.

And I like to drink cocktails. And yeah, also grapes. Also grapes.

Pistachios.

Wine's a form of grape.

I don't drink wine. I drink martinis.

Oh, okay.

Wine tastes gross. But yeah, I like to eat. Honestly, that's what I like to eat.

So I have two glasses. One's half full, one's half empty. Which one are you gonna take?

I'm gonna pour the half empty one into the half full one and I'm gonna have a whole glass.

There we go.

I love that.

Whole glass of grapes. There we go.

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Well, we have so much to explore with you, and we would love to start at childhood in Chicago. What did childhood look like for you?

It was awesome. You know, just a kid outside on my bike, walking around the neighborhood at my grandmother's house. Pretty much was my life.

Were you an only child?

No, I have two brothers and two sisters.

Okay.

So, you know, they're much older than me, so I'm the youngest. Okay.

A baby.

Yep. I'm the baby. So totally spoiled. Which I love. Sometimes I tell people I'm an only child, so, you know, it is.

What's the separation from you and the next. How many years?

Like, I don't know, 15.

Oh, yeah. That's a lot.

Yeah, 15 or so. In my house I should know, but I don't.

Yeah.

In my family, we called my sister the oops. Cause she was like 10 years later. I thought that you're the oops, but there is.

I have an oops. Oh, you have an oops? Yeah, she's 10.

Oh, yeah.

I tell my husband we were so close.

Oops.

Yep, here we are.

That's awesome. All right, so you talk a little bit about your grandmother. Obviously, she had a huge influence on your life, so.

My grandmother was awesome. But she did, like, often, like, have stray people in the house. Like, you know, you just come in like, okay, who is that? Oh, well, you know, that's such and such. And, you know, and she's cooking dinner for. I'm like, these people. Where are you getting them from, anyway?

Where did she get them from?

I don't know. She, like, picked up straight people, and then they became part of the family. And it's just. It was so confusing. Like, where did this person come from? But anyway. And it was multiple people, but this.

Is a different time.

She was just blessing people and cooking for people and, you know, letting people live in her basement. It was interesting.

What's the one food you think of that she made that you were like, oh, Grandma.

So, so much. When I think about my grandmother and her little tiny kitchen that she, like, cooked dinner for 20 and 30 of us every holiday, and it's like, now, you know, we have to have the double countertops and the triple ovens and the da, da, da, da, da that we don't use. Well, I use them.

Oh, that's good.

But I'm just saying, I need them to cook for, like, six people.

Yeah, okay.

She had this one little stove, this one little oven, and in a kitchen as big as my bathroom and made magic. And so I just don't know how that happened. But anyway, that's aside. So. No, she used to do things. Like, she had. You know, we used to grow fruit and veggies in her garden. She used to freeze grapes. You know, do things that just really don't make sense. But, hey, you know, she did them. She had a pantry full of food. She was a child of the depression, so, like, afraid of starving. So it's like food everywhere and stuff everywhere, just in case. So I think that's why I like to eat. Cause she just fed me all day.

That's her love language.

And then I talked to my daughter the other day, because I came in from Chicago and my throat was a little scratchy. So when my daughter picked me up from the airport, she had this bag of, like, vitamin C and basil stuff and blah, blah, blah. She's like, take all this. Yeah, all this. And I'm like, well, where'd you get this from? She was like, well, you know, when I used to be in Nana's house, I just used to eat vitamin C. Cause I thought it was candy. And I'm like, oh, I don't know if that was safe. I know. Too late. Everything worked out, so here you are.

Yeah.

You can kind of do anything. At my grandmother's house.

Who brought the barbecue into your world? That's what I want. Cause that's, like, usually a young. You get instilled in it.

Yeah, that was my grandmother, too. Oh, yeah. Grilling and cooking barbecue in the oven. And I think it's more the barbecue sauce.

Yes, it is.

You know, it's all about the sauce.

Yeah.

He's from Kansas City and in Chicago.

Yeah. So. Yeah. So in Chicago, like, we have a lot of really great barbecue, but obviously it's like, Texas style or Carolina style.

Yeah.

You know, Kansas City. And our family has done, like, barbecue tours and pizza tours, like, in the country, to say, you know, where we want to go to get the best pizza or whatever.

So has your family always been in Chicago or did.

Yeah, okay. Always.

That's where we started.

Okay. Born and raised. Yeah.

So while I'm. I want to get to how you got to Arizona, but first I want to. I want to tell you that in your interview, you shared something that your grandfather used to do for you and for me. It was exactly what I needed to see. When I was reading this, I don't know why it struck me. It gave me goosebumps immediately. And so you said that your grandfather lived in Atlanta.

Yes.

And that he used to write you letters to telling you how great you were. And I just, like. I don't know why. It just struck me as, like, just a wave of peace over my heart that he would take the time to do that and reminds me a lot of my own grandfather. And was this on a different side? So not the same grandma that was in Chicago?

No, this was my grandmother in Chicago. This is her husband, her ex husband. So my grandfather. I don't know if he was born in Chicago, but anyway, he's from Chicago, but then he moved to Atlanta. So in Chicago, he was a dancer.

Okay.

And he actually. Now I just learned this. Okay. He was actually, like, in the war, and he led, like. Like a battalion of women soldiers.

Okay.

I think they just made a movie about this. So he was the one who led the band, I guess. See, I'm gonna mess up the whole story. I know I am. But anyway, he. He led this whole band. And my aunt has a picture, a black and white picture from above of this whole, you know, like, procession of drum majors and army People and, you know, all of that in Europe. U.S. troops in Europe having this amazing parade or whatever.

And he's the drum major up front.

He's the leader up front. So anyway, I came back to Chicago after his, you know, you know, serving for the country. And like I said, he was a dancer. He realized that there was no opportunity for the girls in his community, so he opened a dance school. Mayfair Academy is in business. 60 years shut down by Covid. So I say that to say he's from Chicago. That's what he did in Chicago. Then he went to Atlanta and, you know, started doing his thing there.

Okay. So what I love is that he naturally empowered women. This is pretty cool.

I didn't make that connection, but now that you say it. And he had two daughters, so, you know. Yeah. But he did take the time. He wrote me letters all the time, and I have some framed at my house, and so it was really impactful.

Yeah. Thank you for sharing that with us. When I read that, I just thought, that just reminds me of where I came from, too.

Now, in a couple letters, he did say, now, last time I saw you, you were gaining weight. So I need you to, you know, do a little more dancing or something.

I count on grandparents, to be honest, man.

I was like, z. Okay. Truth is the truth. That's it.

That's right.

And the truth is you've got some dancing genetics in you then.

I do. I do. I mean, in our family, you danced, period, like, from the time you're three till adult. So I was in my last dance recital probably in 2020. No, no, in 2019.

Really?

Because the school actually closed in 2020.

And I'm so sad that the school closed.

I'm so sad. Everybody's sad, because now my daughter has no rhythm. It's like, what are we about to do now? What? Show her the ways.

You're gonna have to show her the ways, man.

Maybe you need to open one here in Gilbert.

Something needs to happen, because it's ridiculous.

We could talk about that.

We should talk about that, because this is serious. It's about to be an epidemic, and I don't know what to do.

Oh, that's funny. All right, so tell me how you get from Chicago to Arizona.

So Chicago to Arizona. We had been wanting to make a move, but, you know, obviously, kids are in school. It's never the right time, blah, blah, blah. But the pandemic, because our kids were obviously at home learning, gave us that opportunity, that window to move to Arizona. Now, the reason that we moved To Arizona. Two things. My daughter went to Scottsdale culinary Institute in 2007. When she graduated, she said, I'm not coming home. I'm like, oh, okay. But because she came here for college, and they didn't have, like, dorms, so she had her apartment. I obviously had to come here every other month to look and see what was going on. So it's like, I was kind of like a resident of Scottsdale. So I'm, like, there, like, religiously every other month.

Every other month, I think, is exercising restraint. I feel like my son's getting ready to go to college, and I feel like once a month, I'm going to have to go see what's going on.

Well, I did have the other kids at home, so it's kind of like.

I forgot about the other one.

Yeah, yeah. I forget about them too, sometimes, but, you know, whatever. So I made sure that I was here every other month for a week just to kind of make sure her grades, make sure. Look at her apartment, make sure everything was cool. And so, you know, when you go from 2007 and, you know, and I just didn't stop because she never came home, and she never has been at a point where she didn't need supervision. So, you know, here I am. I'm like, hey, let's just go.

Oh, my God. So how did the kids. So the other kids were in school in Chicago. How did they take this?

They didn't really care.

Okay.

You know, awesome. At that point, they were just being schooled at home, so it's not like they were going to school every day to see their friends or, you know, making. Yeah, so it's doing Covid. So it's like, whatever. I'm on the laptop here. I'm on a laptop there.

Yeah.

You know, let's go see Arizona. Had they been here? They brought them here. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The whole family usually would come. Like, we would actually stay here, like, in the summer months over spring break. You know, this was like our go to vacation spot and also keep an eye on my daughter, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What do you miss about home?

The food. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely the food. Not the weather.

I was gonna say. I was gonna say. I don't have to ask what you don't miss. I'm sure snow can stay.

Yeah. And the only. The only person that's really still in Chicago is my mother.

Yeah.

Like, she is a city girl, like an urban dweller, and she's like, I am not coming out to that country.

So I'm like, okay, well, it's very, very different worlds, I will say.

Yeah, it's a different world. But one of the reasons, the first reason was my daughter. But then when my grandmother passed away at 96, and nobody had a plan for her and nobody thought about, okay, so what happens when Nana can't live alone? Right. Nobody in the whole family even considered this conversation. And I felt like it was really my place to do that, even though I wasn't. But I felt like I should have, but. Because I didn't even think about it. What happened is she had to go into a nursing facility. And even though we did hire additional 24 hour care for her in the facility, we could have done a lot better.

Yeah.

And so at that point, I sat my mother and my aunt down and I said, I'm not going through this again. We're gonna have a plan right now. So if you can't live alone. Cause they both had two story homes. If you can't live alone, what's the plan?

Right.

So they got it together and they said, my aunt said, well, I'd like to move to Arizona. So I said, well, let's go get a house, because I'm not playing with y'. All. I'm not. You're not going to disrupt my life because we haven't had this conversation.

Well, in this. So at this point, were you practicing your estate planning? I mean, how.

I wasn't focused on estate planning. My end to the whole tax and legal piece was through tax controversy because my father was a musician who was in tax trouble. And I saw the way that played out. And I saw that my mother didn't want to put money in the bank and she had all these envelopes of cash. And I'm like, what are you doing? But it was, you know, because the IRS had levied them before and because they had done all these things. And so at that point I said, I don't like this and I don't want taxpayers to have to experience this. So that was my whole end game into the whole career. But then I said, well, I could be a CPA and I could do the numbers, but I need to go to court to be able to advocate. So that's kind of how both ends came in.

Yeah.

In together.

Yeah. Okay, so what about. What time frame in your life was that?

That was when I was a kid. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's fascinating.

Yeah.

Okay. So I guess we, we jumped ahead.

We did. We missed the whole educational journey.

Dang.

Let's talk about, Talk about high School, College. Let's go back.

Yeah, those are blurry. You know, it just kind of happened. I graduated from college in three years because, first of all, I'm an introvert. I don't like to talk to people. And so I'm like, what am I doing here?

Like, yeah, we're on a podcast. This is a good thing.

It's therapy. Yeah. But, yeah, no, high school was awesome. My mother was actually a substitute teacher. And so this is another thing, like, in my life, my mother was a substitute teacher, My father was a musician. Like, nobody ever got up in the morning and went to work.

Yeah.

So I was just like, okay, this is how we do it.

How come I have to go to school? What's happening?

Yeah, well, I was okay with going to school, but as an adult, like, getting a job and working for someone. Well, I did. I had plenty of jobs. But at some point I was just like, why am I doing this? This is not what I've seen at my house. So, anyway, just a sidebar, but, yeah, so that's. My high school journey was great. So my mother was a sub. So I always would text her, like, okay, I'm leaving school. It's lunchtime. I'm going out to this restaurant or that restaurant. I'm not coming back. Just so that when she got the alert that I wasn't in school, she already knew.

Yeah. And so now your kids do that, I'm sure. And.

And you gotta respond, no, no. My son is a hanger out in the bathroom. Well, he graduated from high school last year, but he was a bathroom hanger outer.

Oh, yeah.

And a nurse's office hanger out.

Oh, yeah.

Bathroom and nurses bathroom and nurse's office. Yeah. Sometimes the library.

Yeah. My daughter in elementary school was a. The nurse was her best friend.

Yeah. Yeah. So I was starting to look at him like, well, do you like vets? What is vets? Meaning older women. Like, are you liking the nurse? What are you doing? But anyway, so. So he wasn't in class either, but other goals there.

Yeah. Okay. So college, where did you go?

College? I went to Illinois Institute of Technology and I started out as a chemical engineer.

Why did you go that route?

I like math and science. I was very interested in strategies and formulas and all of those things. But then when I failed physics, I was like, ah, this might not be it. This might not be it. I could still do numbers and accounting. So let me do that. Cause this is not working out. So then I just transferred to the business school, and then I got my Bachelor's then I, you know, had no aspirations in life. I just finished my degree and I just wanted to kind of chill at home. But then all of my friends were going to law school, and so I was like. And so they were studying for the lsat, so I was like, well, you know, I don't really have anything to do. I'll, you know, study with you guys. I'll take the test. And so I had gotten a high score on the lsat. So colleges, law schools were sending me letters like, come here, come here. So because I went to the Illinois Institute of Technology, I had always wanted to have a black experience at a, at a college, like a hbcu. So Howard University sent me a letter and they said, come to our law school. We're going to give you a free ride. Everything is going to be paid for. I was like, oh, this is my chance. This is so awesome. So I went down there, you know, got my apartment, blah, blah, blah. I was so excited to be able to have this experience. And then they sent me a letter, said, well, you know, I called because I hadn't gotten any correspondence. So then when I called, they said, well, you know what? We lost your financial aid for the moment, but we know it's here.

Oh.

So if you just come, I'm sure we'll find it. So I was like, that's not going to work. I have a whole daughter. Like, we can't just, you know, fly by our pants. Fly by the seat of our pants. So I said, no, that's okay. And so I ended up going to Chicago Kent Law School, you know, right there at home. So it was just easy. But that's the only reason I was in law school. Had no desire. Matter of fact, I specifically said out of my mouth multiple times, I don't want to be a lawyer.

And yet.

And yet.

So do you remember, was there anyone in particular in that period of time that really pushed you towards it and encouraged you, or was this really just self motivation to do this even though you kept telling yourself you didn't want to do it?

Well, my mother is a interesting person. And so she always would say, just in taught in passing, like, I always wanted to be a lawyer. I always wanted to be a lawyer. And I'm like, oh, okay, you missed the boat. But she would be a. Anyway, so her listening to that and then really wanting to be this advocate and being able to go all the way for somebody is kind of why I was like, okay, let's, you know, get the legal piece. Because As a cpa, I could only do so much, but when I'm an attorney, I can go in front of the judge and make it happen.

Yeah, it's a great pairing.

Yeah, I love it.

Okay, so tell me then, because you're also a trained chef, how does that. Where does this come into play?

You know, I just like to eat. Again, it's a common theme. But I also like to entertain. So I always would have, you know, parties at the house and dinners at the house. I was like, you know what? I might as well just make it official, you know, how do I make this Philo Doe? I want to learn how to do this. So I just was like, I'll just go to Colorado.

So what strikes me is that you have, like, tenacity to learn. Like, you seek out opportunities and answers and you seek to understand, which, I mean, clearly you have. You have tackled some things in life that most people would be like, eh, I don't know how you make that feeling to, like, pass onto the next thing and you're digging deep on things.

Yeah, I do like to dig deeper. So after my law degree and I had already decided I was going to be a tax attorney, I went ahead and got my LLM in taxation. And so then a couple of years ago, I said, you know, this crypto thing, this. This whole, you know, thing just seems like it's not going anywhere. So I took a program at Penn State. Like, okay, I got to know more. So, you know, that's why I said I'm a thinker and a doer, because, like, if I think it and I want to know more, I want to just do it. You're not wrong, and I'm not really.

You know, okay, so let's talk about crypto then. You want to tell us what we need to know?

Yeah. What do we need to know about this crypto thing?

It's not going anywhere. For people like me who are not techies, who can't write code and things like that. You just need to know that you should. Well, I'm not going to say I should. You should. I suggest that people put money in or invest in some type of crypto. Whatever you feel comfortable with, because, you know, if you lose your small investment, so what? But what if it blows up and you're like, man, I should have got that Bitcoin at 1:66. You know what I mean?

Such a foreign concept.

It is foreign. But get comfortable with it because it's not going anywhere.

So you heavily invested into it then?

Not heavily, carefully Carefully.

Okay. That's what I was looking for. That's what I was looking for.

Very carefully.

All right, let's talk family.

Family.

Let's talk about your babies and what they're up to.

Oh, my God, these people drive me nuts.

Yep, that's family. All right.

You know how people. Well, okay, so you know how parents. And maybe it was not all parents, but some parents are like, man, my baby is two. When they get to be five, I'm going to be able to blah, blah, blah. And then when they get to be 8, you know what I mean?

Those are called dreams.

It's dreams, but it's really not real because as they get older, their lives just become more complex, and that makes your life more complex. So when they're two and all they could do is sit there and run around and throw things.

You control their world.

You control their world, and it's awesome.

Yeah.

Yep. Sorry you broke that window, but it could be replaced.

Physically demanding, but emotionally, so much easier.

So much easier. So anyway, parenting never ends and it gets more complex, but I think it's awesome. It's, I believe, my single biggest ability to impact the future. And so that's really what I'm focused on now. So my youngest daughter, Bailey, she's 10. She cries when she is making a purchase and they add tax. And I have to explain to her, that's not going anywhere, babe. Gotta just be okay with it. She's like, but I didn't tell anybody I wanted to pay this. And I'm like, I'm sorry. Me neither. Nobody wants to. And then she should be a lobbyist. Oh, well, she might be, I don't know. But she talks non stop. So she's very vocal. She's got a good people person. Yep. And then I have. My next one is Barack. So he is the guy with all the answers, knows everything.

Teenager.

He isn't 18.

18, okay.

Yeah. Just graduated from high school. Has a story for everything. Will try to talk you out of your pockets, your pants, your backpack, your everything. He's an interesting guy, but he is also a great guy.

Yeah.

Then there is my. I get confused sometimes. My daughter, Princess, she is a she. Everybody says she should be a model. She is so beautiful. And she doesn't know what she wants to do in life. She started as a business major, then she was a Spanish major, then a ballet major. Now she is a criminal justice major who just decided she wants to go into nursing.

Okay, so here we go.

You know what?

This is the time to explore.

Figure it Out, I'm telling you. And I keep telling her, you know, just. Just figure it out and. But figure it out, you know, soon. But, you know, is she going to.

School locally here or back in Chicago?

Yeah, no, she's in Maricopa.

Okay.

Okay. Yeah, that's what I'm like. Well, just figure it out in Maricopa so we could, you know, then decide what we want to do moving forward. And then after her, there is my son, Prince. He is a super duper senior at North Carolina A T, so he's a marketing major. Okay. One day he'll graduate and tuition will stop, but that hasn't happened yet. But I'm just grateful. Yeah, you know, I'm telling. I'm saying things about each of them, but I'm grateful.

Yeah.

Because they're all healthy. They're all, you know, I would say pursuing, saying, yeah, but, you know, whatever.

Well, and they sound independent and.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seeking opportunity out just like you.

Y. And then our son Jordan, he's. He does like, custom boats and custom cars in Las Vegas. And then my oldest daughter, Lori, she is a powerhouse. She gave me a run for my money. But at the end of the day, she is a great daughter, a great mother and a great wife. And she is. She graduated from Scottsdale Culinary for a degree in hospitality, but then she manages a legal department at a tech firm. So listen, I'm just here. I just work here. That's all. That's all. So everybody's doing well.

It sounds like you did your job well. Sounds like great kids.

Yeah.

Sounds like when you all get together, there's amazing food being produced with all this culinary backgrounds, hospitality.

Yeah, yeah. And my son Barack always says how, you know, how proud of us he is because he taught us how to cook.

He taught you how to cook?

I'm not understanding the numbers. But listen, listen, I just. I'm not asking questions. I just work here.

He was your taste tester. He was telling you it was good or not good, and that's how he helped you.

Right. Well, that's not his story, but. Okay, but we'll go with it.

I also have an 18 year old and they, yeah, they just see the world a little differently. Their history is a little different than ours for the time being. Very different.

Yeah.

Life will bring some perspective, I hope.

Yeah, we'll see. Listen, time will tell. My daughter Lori just. I mean, as she grew more mature, she just made a 180 turn. So I'm like 30. Thank you, God.

Yeah. But that is the journey I think if you knew everything, you know now when you were 18, you wouldn't have been able to fathom it.

Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. Look, I'm here for the journey.

Yeah.

And then hopefully part of the journey, we'll be able to see the world together. Because I think that that is a. That is something that a lot of people don't do, and a lot of people don't. I don't want to say they don't value it, but they don't prioritize it. And, you know, it just. It just creates a different type of person.

What is your. Because I know that's important to your family. Is there a particular experience that really stands out to you?

Well, one of the things that does stand out is when we were in Singapore last year, we were, you know, out at all the markets and things. And so they had this. They have this produce. It's called Dorian, and it's a fruit, but it tastes like garlic and onion.

Oh, interesting.

And I couldn't understand why people would eat that, but everybody's. Every culture is different.

But you did say you would try grapes that taste like barbecue.

Because I like barbecue. You know, I mean, I like garlic and onions, but not in a fruit form.

Maybe you need to make a fruit salad of the barbecue.

I'm going to say no.

Okay.

I'm gonna say no. But the kids were like, okay, I'll try it.

Okay.

And, you know, they cut it and they tried it. Now, of course, you know, they spit it out and, you know, some. But my granddaughter, Honesty, she said, you know, this is not that bad. I never would have even, like, thought about touching it. Like, I didn't want to smell it. But as an adult, you just have created more limitations for yourself than a child who is pretty much open.

Yeah.

And so while they're open, you know, pour all that stuff in there. Yeah, that's right. You know, mix it up.

And so your grand. Your grandkids travel with you, too. I love that.

Yeah, we all go together.

What is on your bucket list? Something that you want to do?

Well, still on my bucket list is Greece. We had a fully planned trip, tickets purchased, everything. We were leaving on March 20, March 20, 2020, obviously. But I think this year. And one of the things we were going to do over in Greece, because my thing is once we take that long flight, we're doing everything. So the idea was to go to Greece, Israel, Jordan, all those things. So hopefully this year we'll get to Greece, we'll see what happens with The Israel Peace. We might have to make two trips to do that, but that's something that has been on. On the table for a while and just unable to really get there.

How many trips have you guys been able to take?

Well, last year was our first official trip, and we went to Asia. We went to several countries over there. This year we were scheduled to go back to Europe because the kid. The grandkids had not been to Europe yet. So we were gonna do this European tour. But my daughter is in a program where it's like a legal program where you don't have to go to law school, but you can practice law to some degree. And so she has her exam this summer, so she's not able to go. I'm like you, just busting up the trip, busting up the whole schedule. So we'll probably do that the following summer.

I love that when you think about. You've shared a lot today about the influence your parents and grandparents had on you. When you think about your kids, what is the legacy that you hope they think of when they think of you?

I just want them to know and just remember. And hopefully what I'm demonstrating is that there are no limits. If you see it, you can do it. And even if you don't see it, but you think it, you can do it. If you dream it, you can do it. So, you know, don't let anybody, you know, proofread your vision, because it's not their vision. They can't see it.

Yeah. And I love that you said that. Yeah.

Yeah.

And I just think you're fearless. I think fear is what stops so many people from exploring, asking questions. And you are fearless.

Yeah, I don't. Because when you think about fear, when you think my whole thing is, what's the worst thing that can happen?

Yeah.

If I fail, I fail.

Where do you think that comes from in you?

I don't know. I think that when I was a teenager and I was pregnant, my biggest fear, and I remember being in the doctor's office and what I said to my mother is, don't tell dad. So obviously, as a little girl, all you want to do is make your dad happy. That wasn't going to make him happy. So through the whole thing, the whole pregnancy, the whole everything he said, not a word about it. All he had was encouragement. All he had was normal conversation. There was nothing to say, well, how did you do that? Why did none of that. We just all moved forward. He said nothing.

I love that.

And so to me, that was like, oh, My God, what the heck did I just do? But, you know, it was nothing to him, so it was nothing to me. So at that point, I had conquered the worst thing that could ever happen. So it was like, okay, let's do this.

Yeah. And now you're unstoppable.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's nothing that anybody can do to me. Yeah, anything. There's nothing nobody can take from me. So what am I waiting for?

Yeah. It's a lot of curiosity, too. That's what I like about it.

We'll see what happens. It's all an adventure.

Well, I have loved the way you have fully embraced this community. You have jumped right in and you've made a name for yourself and built relationships, and I'm just grateful to have you in our world here.

Yeah. Glad to be here. And so the end of that story with my mother and my aunt is, you know, we gotta go buy a house. So we ended up buying a house in Gilbert. Yeah. And we still have it. My aunt decided just to move here. She's like, you know, I'm not even gonna wait. I'm just coming now. And so we just waiting on my mom to come over. And, you know, once the city girl gets here, it's a wrap.

It's a big party.

See? It's a big party. So we'll see. But, yeah, no, I love this community.

We could have a ribbon cutting for your mom's arrival.

Listen, don't get her started.

We'll have barbecue. It'll be great.

Do not do it. Yeah, no, don't encourage her. Don't encourage her with the ribbon cutting.

We would be great.

Listen, I don't. Listen, I don't want the neighbors to come like, what is going on here?

Well, yeah, you've just. You. I mean, just being here, even through the chamber, you have been so gracious in imparting wisdom on others and sharing your experiences and knowledge. I'm just grateful for you.

Yeah, I'm grateful. And I just, you know, my whole thing is I have so much information, but I feel like I'm just the steward of the information. It's not for me. It's for me to give to everybody. So I'm looking for ways to say, don't do this, do that. Have the conversation with your family now, don't wait until Grandma can't walk. You know, don't pay more tax than you need to. You know, my whole thing is, don't do this. Help. Don't, you know, don't do this, because you don't have to. You know, I've seen it. I've done it. I don't want you to have to do it, too.

If there was one place that you think people could start, if there was one thing that they could do immediately to make the process easier, what would that be?

The process of, of estate planning or.

Planning for the future for your, your parents or your family.

Have the conversation.

I was just gonna say that.

Have the conversation. Kind of think, see where everybody is. Like, like I said, just with my mom, it's not as easy as saying, okay, this is what you're going to do. No, it's like, what would you like to do?

I was going to say asking for a friend. What if that conversation is shut down every time you open that door?

It's okay. Yeah, it's okay. Take notes. Just keep bringing it up and bringing it up and bringing it up because at the end of the day, it's really your life that's going to be disrupted by anything that isn't planned out. Great perspective. Yeah. Even if they don't want to do it now, they'll come around. But it's like, you know, when I, when I think about going to the gym, I know I need to go to the gym, but until the doctor says you need to go to the gym, I'm not going.

Right. I mean, it's gonna happen Sunday. I'm not going next week. I'm gonna go. I'm sure.

Yeah. So I'm just saying sometimes things need to get a little bit perplexed for people to take action. But that doesn't mean you don't have your plan in your back pocket to say, oh, okay, this is what I was thinking. I got it all planned out.

Okay.

You know, good.

I appreciate that.

Yep.

Well, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here today.

Glad to be here.

Yeah. This has been a great conversation.

Glad to meet you guys.

Yep.

Yep. So looking forward to doing more stuff in Gilbert.

Abso freaking lutely. That sounds good having you. Yes.

Awesome.

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