Hello and welcome back to Raising Men.

This is my son Lake, and you know him if
you have ~

if you've watched or listened to the
podcast before,

the week of Father's Day, we aired a
little bit of an interview with him.

He has been asking me to come back on the
show,

and so we're gonna do a little reprieve of
of that.

We're gonna ask each other ~ a couple of
questions.

And so this time.

He's gonna be in the interviewer set a
little bit.

Lake, are you ready? Uh-huh. Say hi to
everybody.

Hi. All right. Okay, so the first question

is what was y what is your favorite
subject in school?

Math. Okay. ~ w what do you like about
math?

I'm just really good at it. Yeah?

I'm in I'm only in second grade.

I know fractions, division,
multiplication.

Addition and subtraction. That's really
impressive.

That are you ~ do you do you have other
kids in your class that are as good

as is math as you, or are you the best,

or how does that work out? ~

~ You think so? All right. That sounds
maybe maybe there's a way

to do a competition, a math competition.

Okay. All right. That makes sense.

w you wanna ask me?

What w what was your favorite subject in
school?

My favorite subject ~ was called physics.

physics is a is a kind of a it's a science
and it's the way that we know

how things kinda operate in space or on
the planet.

So how they move around or you know So
like space?

So space is definitely part of I mean,

there's a there's a whole discipline of
physics called astrophysics,

which is how ~ massive bodies interact in
space.

But it describes everything about how not
only just in space,

but how things operate here on Earth as
well and and on the other planets.

And so it's it's just a really useful ~
it's kind of like math.

But it's applied to actual real life
things.

Make sense? Yeah.

All right. Second question is what

was the worst thing that has ever happened
to you in your entire life?

~

You don't know what the worst thing was
that ever happened to you?

I can't remember.

I think I might have an answer for you.

One day, about a week ago, you wanted a
Slurpee.

And I didn't get you a Slurpee.

And you said to me in that moment,

you said, This is the worst day in my
whole life.

You think that was true?

Do you wanna you wanna ask me that same
question?

Worst thing Yeah, the worst thing that
ever happened to me was the day

my mom passed away. It was a very sad day
for me and ~

what the worst day of my life was.

Okay. When our dog penguin passed.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good answer.

That's a good answer. Penguin was a
delightful dog,

wasn't she? Yeah. Then she wasn't
aggressive like chicken.

She wasn't aggressive like chicken is.

that's a good that's a good point.

Alright, so what was the best thing that
has ever happened to you?

Me get bored.

Yeah. You know what? I think that's a
really good answer.

I think you getting born is probably is
probably the best thing that ever happened

to you. Or maybe I also have a second
answer.

Alright, what's the second answer?

When I came out of the hospital.

And snow fell on my head. Yeah,

I think you probably I think I think snow
did fall on your head.

We was and it was very cold.

We were right in the middle of something
called a polar vortex and that

was twenty degrees below zero.

And I ~ and you l actually loved being
outside,

even though it was that cold. You were

Cold frozen little baby. I'm a frozen
baby.

Alright, so what

is your earliest memory?

been all I've always been

To this place that was really big.

Hmm. What do you think it was?

I don't.

You don't know what this really big place
was?

How old do you think you were for this
memory?

But you remember being with your mom?

I think I was like three years old.

Okay. Wait, I ha I have a picture of like
Josh Josh went

there with us. is that right? Is that the
is that your memory?

Is your memory with Joshy? And Mo was
there.

She was a

Tiny little baby. Mo was there.

She would have been a really she would
have been a a tiny baby at that time.

Yeah. But you don't remember where it was.

Was it Legoland? She was like that big.

Yeah. No, it was it was mostly pink.

Mostly pink. Okay. Or magenta.

Pinkish purplish. Okay.

My earliest memory is

Probably I feel like I have this memory of
going to preschool.

And I ~ but I I also have

a picture of going to preschool and I'm
not sure whether or

not I actually remember going to preschool
or whether or not I have manufactured

the memory from seeing the picture of me
going to preschool.

Can I see the picture of you?

Preschool? Yeah, I'll see if I can dig it
up and I'll I'll show it.

We'll we'll put it on the screen.

~ you know what? ~ I'll I'll tell you how
you can see what I looked like when

I was a little kid. You look at that
screen right there.

You see that guy on the left side of the
screen?

I looked exactly like that guy.

I looked exactly like you, man.

We look so much alike. I'm a many you.

You kind of are. You kind of are.

It's like seeing your little cell.

Yeah, yeah, it kind of is. And that's
actually one of Just you have darker hair.

I have darker But when I was your age,

my hair was very blonde. Maybe even
blonde,

more blonde than your hair.

It is. It is possible. I'll I'll I'll see
if I can track down a picture

and show you. All right. So we had one
last question,

and this was a question that you say has
you've been wondering about

for a really long time that you wanted to
ask me.

So what is that question? Why did you
decide to have kids?

Okay.

Well, when ~ when your mom and I got
together ~ initially,

we didn't plan on having kids at all.

I I thought that,

you know, maybe I was a little bit too old
to have kids and and she wasn't

all that interested. And we just kind of
wanted to have a life with each other.

And

We I did ~ she came to me one time after
we got married and said,

I think I've changed my mind about wanting
to have kids and and I

I think what happens is you kinda end up
getting married and

you have a lot more stability in your life
and and you have things just feel

like i i they're easier.

And so you before you're married,

you can't really imagine having kids.

But then ~ I mean some people can,

but it for for me it wasn't. But then once
once your mom and I were together,

it felt like we were in a in a in a
different,

more stable place. And and so

she she told me that that she thought she
wanted to have kids.

And we ~ she was in law school.

at the time and we kind of figured out
that if we timed it right,

you would be able to be born. She would be
able to graduate law school

a little bit early. And you would be able
to be born and she would have lots

of time, about six months, just to be your
mom before she had to start

her law job. And and

so I asked all sorts of people in my life

About, you know, how they felt about
whether they had kids and how they felt
about

that decision. And ~ at the time I was
doing a

lot of traveling and I was doing ~ so I
was sitting on a lot of airplanes

and I was sitting next to people and I
would ask everybody I met,

and everybody I talked to told

me that having kids was the best part of
their life.

And they and they and actually everybody I
talked to was pretty happy with whatever

decision they made. But the people who had
kids were happy in this sort

of fundamental way that it just felt like
they were more

fulfilled. And ~ and then one one person
said to me,

Yeah, we were sitting at it's house and ~
he and his

his wife was playing with their boy,

their three year old boy at the time.

And ~ and they were playing with their dog
in the yard and and he said to me,

He says, You know, I love my wife.

My wife's great. We've got a great
relationship because he goes,

That boy's my soulmate. And

That's I I realized in that moment that
that that I wanted that.

I wanted to have a soulmate like he did.

And I basically and I'd pretty much made
up my mind by then.

But ~

that's what that's what I decided to do.

And that's what I got. Your your mom and I
decided to have you and ~

and it worked out perfectly. The timing
was great.

And now you're my soul mate.

Yeah. How old ~ is your friend's son right
now?

He's about four years older than you,

so he's eleven. Is he my friend?

You guys have never met. Maybe we should
get you together one these days.

Wait, so you decided to have kids because
you were

a little lonely? I wouldn't say that.

I I actually was really happy and I was
not lonely at all.

I had a an amazing life with your mom.

But we wanted it just felt like the right
thing to do.

It felt like we wanted more. And and you
know,

I I've I've never felt about anybody the
way that I feel about you

and the closest that we have and and and I
don't think it's possible to.

I think that

your relationship with your son is the
deepest relationship you

can have with somebody. Or your or your
daughter.

It's it's it's the same. It's different
but it's the same.

I mean it's similar.

Does that make sense?

All right. Well I love you, buddy.

Thank you for coming on ~ the show with me
today.

You're welcome. You wanna say goodbye to
everybody?

Goodbye. Thank you for listening.

This is raising men, and you are a great
parent.