Patrice is lucky. You might not expect me to to describe any of our guests as “lucky”, especially one who came on to talk about the devastation of losing the two most important people in her world. That part of her story genuinely sucked. The losses left her in a deep depression. It was a pain that disrupted her life in ways that I’ve never experienced and never want to experience. The grief was too much, at least until she decided it was time to get it together.

So why am I calling her lucky? Well, it’s because these women were in her life in the first place. The first best friend she ever had was her grandmother. Patrice was her shadow from the time she was four. She spent all her time with her grandmother and was lucky to see first-hand how she built a community and took care of those around her. I wish she was still around so I could sit down with a cup of (spiked) hot chocolate and listen. 

Her grandmother was in her 80s when she passed and had already lived a purposeful life. It hurt, but maybe it was easier to bounce back from because nobody could suggest she didn’t live an incredible life. Seven years later she lost her next best friend — her mom. If that wasn’t bad enough, her stepfather had his leg amputated around this time so she was stretched to her limit. She fell into a deep depression after her mom’s passing, and it took years for her to recover. 

So all of that sucks, right? Sure, I’ll give you that. That’s not the only perspective though. Patrice said the two most important people in her life were her mom and grandmother, and not everyone gets that. I’m sure many of our Terrible Listeners don’t have that. She’s incredibly lucky to come from a Decent Fucking Family if you ask me. You don’t have to ask me though — you can always press play and decide for yourself.