What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Los Angeles is at a turning point. We are living in a defining moment. What happens next is up to us. Over the past few years, problems and challenges have shaken this city -- and tremendous opportunities for change have presented themselves. How do we rise to this moment and emerge a better place to live? What will it take to create a more just and a more equitable community? Working together, how are we going to create a stronger, forward-thinking Los Angeles? Mike Bonin, writer, teacher, progressive activist and former City Councilmember, looks at the issues and problems facing Los Angeles, examines ideas, and talks with the people who will lead us to a brighter future.
Produced in partnership with LA Forward.
What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Happy Father's Day - with Congressman Jimmy Gomez
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In a special Father's Day episode of What's Next, Los Angeles, Mike talks with Los Angeles area Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who this year formed a Congressional Dads Caucus to focus on pushing legislation that helps working families. A first-time Dad, Gomez gained attention when young Hodge accompanied him onto the House floor for January's prolonged vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives. Jimmy and Mike talk about the joys of fatherhood, and balancing parenting with politics. And Mike shares a few thoughts about the amazing Dads in his life.
Happy Father's Day!
What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.
Hey everyone, it's Mike Vaughn, and thank you for joining me. To all the fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, godfathers, and surrogate fathers out there, happy Father's Day. Today, our discussion is going to be a little lighter and a little warmer than usual. In honor of Father's Day, I spent some time talking with Congressman Jimmy Gomez. He's the Los Angeles area representative, who earlier this year founded the Congressional Dad's Caucus, part of an effort to pursue a legislative agenda that benefits families and children. Congressman Gomez became a first-time dad last year when his wife, Mary Hodge, gave birth to their son named Hodge Gomez. With both parents working demanding schedules, Mary was then a deputy mayor to Mayor Eric Garcetti. Sometimes mom or dad needed to take their son to work. And for Jimmy, that sometimes meant carrying his son to community events or changing diapers in the congressional cloakroom. Jimmy's whole family, including Baby Hodge, attended this year's swearing-in ceremony in Washington. But when Republicans took several days to choose a new speaker, and Mary had to return to work in LA, Hodge, strapped to dad, made an appearance in the well of the House. When Jimmy cast his vote for Hakeem Jeffries, Hodge was right there in a baby carrier on his congressman dad's chest. There are a lot of parents in Congress, but suddenly Jimmy's status as a new dad was in the spotlight, and he decided it gave him a unique opportunity to advance policies helping families. Jimmy Gomez represents California's 34th district, which includes the communities of Boyle Heights and Chinatown, downtown Los Angeles, Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Glasshow Park, Highland Park, Koreatown, Lincoln Heights, Pico Union, and Westlake. He's a former assemblyman and he was first elected to Congress in 2017. He was actually in the House Gallery during the January 6th insurrection. He currently serves as Assistant Whip of the Democratic Caucus and Deputy Whip for the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And today he is my guest. Congressman Jimmy Gomez, welcome to What's Next Los Angeles.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for having me. Good to see you.
SPEAKER_00Happy Father's Day.
SPEAKER_01Happy Father's Day. That's kind of weird because it's my first Father's Day, so I tend to forget. I have no idea. I think for well, for me, it's just being at home, chilling, hanging out with Hodge and Mary, and just kind of going to have a good time. So I don't have any big plans. But what I'm looking forward to is just being at, since I travel so much back and forth, it's just really just kind of chilling. And in some respects, every day is Father's Day, right? When I get to hang out with uh Hodge, it's been an amazing experience. And I don't know. I I should have done it sooner. I guess that's what a lot of parents say.
SPEAKER_00So I waited late too. I was 46 uh when when I became a dad, while an elected official, and it's a a wild ride.
SPEAKER_0147. So I turned 48 after he was born. But yeah. No, so I so you get it.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep, yep. Yeah. So uh uh we we should form a uh late in life dad's caucus.
SPEAKER_01We can ask uh Senator Hickenlooper since he's 70 and had a uh a baby by surrogate.
SPEAKER_00So well, I I I ain't doing anything when I'm 70, that's for sure. Exactly. Uh so uh earlier this year you formed the Congressional Dad's Caucus.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. The dad's caucus, uh, you know, the idea came was from some people on Twitter and then and a friend of mine, after they saw all the tension that I got with my son Hodge for bringing him onto the House floor, they said uh some people just said it, hey, you should start a dad's caucus. And then a friend of mine who I worked on paid family leave here at the federal level, um, she sent me a text and said, hey, start a dad's caucus. We tried to do a bipartisan, bicameral uh dad's caucus for um for years, but the Republicans would always like pull out of joining. And I said, Great idea, but I'm only gonna do it with Democrats first. Because I, you know, Republicans and Democrats have a fundamentally different view of government and and how and how big it should be, how involved it should be. So I can always see the Republicans backpedaling on it until it uh um you know, paid fam leave or any of these b uh bills that um or legislation that has such a profound impact on kids finally gets implemented. I think a lot of them are gonna backpedal and not be involved. So instead of waiting and having them be the you know, have veto power on the formation of dad's caucus, we decided I decided to go ahead with um Democrats. We started off with six or seven founding members, um, and it's now up to 30. Um and the the goal, the it's it's a basic idea. One, we have to push back on a lot of these outdated notions of fatherhood and and parenthood and and try to strive to be more equitable partners, um, especially as elected officials. You know, we're we're often our time is consumed um by our work. Um, you know, if we wanted to be scheduled, as you know, 24 hours a day, we could find some we could go and find a community cleanup at three in the morning if we wanted. So um we wanted to say, hey, we're we're gonna, dad should do more at home, but also in the halls of Congress to pass um policies that are gonna help kids and families, paid family leave, the enhanced child tax credit, as well as affordable child care. And um the response has been overwhelming. Um and and we call out the double standard at the same time that dads get a lot of props for doing the same thing that women do, um, or and are often criticized for doing, um, especially if it takes away their focus from quote unquote their job. So this is um this is something that's been an amazing experience, but uh, we want to use that platform to get real um policy change because that's what it what matters. If you can change policy, um you can change people's lives. What's the the highest priority policy for the dad's caucus? Um well it's those three pillars. I think those are um one, the the child tax credit, it proved. We made two simple changes under the Affordable Care Act, the Democrats. Um, one, we made it fully refundable, means that you don't need to owe taxes in order to get the child tax credit. Then we divided it into payments per month and made what they call made it advanceable. So you don't have to wait until you apply uh fill out your tax returns to get the child's tax credit. Those simple changes change, cut child poverty in this country from 40 to 60 percent, depending on the community you live in. That is huge. Raising like one two policy changes of an existing program. And we always say we want to be um folks want to use the money of government even more efficiently and effectively. Well, keeping these these two changes permanent would transform families. I it can, you know, you've you look at a family of four, that's anywhere from a thousand to twelve hundred dollars a month directly into their pockets. So that that's a big deal. So we're we we want to um that we want to push on that. We just endorsed that bill. First, one of our first bills to endorse the dad's caucus. Um over, I think we had 25 out of 30 members had it already co-sponsored it, so it was an easy um lift to endorse. Then we also um endorsed the momnibus bill, maternity uh maternal mortality bill. Um, you know, there's a big disparity between black women, Latina women, and white women when it comes to basically surviving childbirth, right? Surviving um after childbirth. So we we endorse that bill. But the other two pillars are um are paid family leave. We know that uh if both parents take family leave, the children are better off. They get to bond with their uh they get uh parents get to bond with their child, and it helps reduce postpartum depression in both men and women. Um so paid family leave is like we're the one of the wealthiest, well, if not the wealthiest country on earth. We and we don't have a national paid family leave program. That's that's kind of sad and pathetic. So we gotta we gotta get that done. And the other thing that's a big deal that's becoming bigger and bigger is child care. Child care is um unaffordable. Um and when there's not affordable childcare and it's and you don't even have a slot for your child, um, oftentimes the person that has to um step out of work are women because they you know, for a variety of reasons, structural racism, sexism, they get paid less. So when families are making their decision of who gets paid less, who can afford to take time, step away from the job, it often falls on women. And that means that women don't pay into Social Security, don't pay into Medicare, don't pay into 401ks, don't pay into retirement. So, and then they lose those four years, five years, and um in the workforce, so their their um wage history is impacted, means that the and then their income on the on um for the rest of their life will be impacted. So um child care is a big deal, but it's also for an economic reason. Um childcare is one of the two main fundamental drivers that will help um that will hurt families, build wealth, build financial security, um, and um really impact our GDP in the long term. Um so those are kind of the things that we're working on, but we're we're open to other ideas if members come forward and and and pitch us. But the the those three pillars plus the mom and the bus are our priorities at the moment.
SPEAKER_00And there's a congressional mama's caucus. How closely do you work together?
SPEAKER_01Uh very closely. So I joined the Mama's Caucus last year when it was launched by Rashida Talib. I was myself and Andy Levin were the only two two men that joined, but for me that's not something new. I've I've been working on paid family leave issues um since my days in the legislature. Um I've also always pushed for um gender um equity, and then I realized that the disparity in healthcare when it comes to black mothers, Latina mothers, and white women is just so extreme. So I joined them last year, and then um Rashid Talid joined our group this year when we launched the the dad's caucus. So we're working hand in hand. We're trying to like they they pushed, they're co-sponsors of um the mom the bus bill, um, and that is something that I'm proud of. So we're we're we're working, and then I whatever events they're having, I I go to and they they come to the events that that the dad's caucus. But Rashida Talib is is part of the the mom the dad's caucus. I want to see if more women get on board um and uh and more men get on board on the mama's caucus uh as well, just because I think we built we build those two up, um, it's gonna be a a powerful thing.
SPEAKER_00I'm I'm curious. Uh you you talked about how there's been sort of a a through line that the issues that you're working on as part of the dad's caucus are issues that you worked on even before you were a dad in in the state assembly, issues like child care, family leave. Uh has being a dad changed uh or or strengthened any of uh your legislative priorities?
SPEAKER_01I think um I would say strengthened um for sure. Um paid family leave is I worked on it just because um I come from working parents, I work work in family. And one of the main reasons I got into politics is just how fundamentally um different people of means and the people um without um are treated. You know, when I was uh I tell the story of when I was about seven years old, I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, and my parents worked four to five jobs a week to make ends meet. So they worked all the time. But they did it when I was sick. They didn't want to leave me in the hospital alone. So one of them would they would always alternate. Somebody would always be there during the day and during the evening. Um, but that caused shift of for them to miss shifts from work. And those shifts from work means that they had we had less income, less income plus the hospital bills back in the day means uh financial stress. We almost like when I say we almost bankrupted my family, is that they had to kind of cut corners and uh and save it uh and reduce costs. And how do I know that? Because my siblings blame me for not having Christmas presents that year for Christmas because I was in the hospital during the summer. So it was something that was always there. And and like, how do you make life easier for families, for kids? How do you make especially the working working class and and and um so that's why I always cared about these issues? But becoming a dad made me kind of look at it from a different perspective. Like it's um everything is more meaningful, but less. And and and people don't like don't understand what it means. Like it means that I always thought, like, I know my role as a legislator and as an an advocate and somebody that wants to create a better future, but in the end, everything is is still the most important thing, is if I raise a good human, right? Yep. Like so it's kind of like, and if you ask me, it was like I always thought I would have this fear of missing out on things if I had a kid, couldn't go to something. But now it's like I would prefer like to stay home and hang out with Hodge. And uh and getting me to leave is the the the the tough part, right?
SPEAKER_00I I I hear you, man. I before we became dads, I I couldn't imagine how I would have found time to be a dad and do the job. Um but it works out, you know, and I think being a dad made it it improved my outlook and my perspective and my emotional balance, and it just made doing the job easier.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's exactly it. And so you get it, and so now I know what we like, yeah, I understand that my situation, you know, I'm privileged, right? I have I have a good paying job, my wife, my spouse had a good paying job, we have health insurance, we have a nice house. Um, Hodge has stuff that I never had, right? I didn't even have health insurance for most of my life. So I recognize that and I realize that even more so that if we can give kids those those opportunities, right, to live up to their God-given potential, no matter what it is, right, they're gonna do better. But our policies have to reflect that. So I I'll uh yeah, I'm definitely more committed than ever, but it's now with a deeper understanding of of fatherhood, of parentalhood, being being a partner, and then also what it means for for the kids.
SPEAKER_00Yep. I I found that when when I became a dad, it it intensified my my my impatience and particularly on on climate. Right? I I all of a sudden it wasn't theoretical. It was like, you know, shit, what am I leaving my kid? What is he gonna be growing up in in 20 years? And I got really sort of rabid about the the the need to get off of fossil fuels immediately. Yeah. Is uh the Congressional Dad's Caucus doing uh any work or talking at all about climate change?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're we're um we're talking some about climate change, but we're also talking about um, and that's because um we know what it means for our kids to grow up in an environment that they can breathe in, right? That they can um um thrive in, and then that there is a future. I mean, uh the fires here on the East Coast, I've never experienced anything like that in my life. Where and I don't think they have either, a lot of the members who are members on the East Coast, where you like you literally will cough because you're outside. And maybe during the times of the when we're in the 80s, right, in California, where we had that kind of that that smog, maybe it's something similar to that, but it's something um different. So we're having those discussions, but we're also having discussions on gun control.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Like all of us are fathers that some um some kids go to private school, some kids go to public school, but the fear that your kid will be gunned down is something that these fathers all talk about. Um so gun control is something that we we're trying to um tackle. But it it is harder because we're we're so diverse. But I think there's a lot of alignment amongst the Democrats on these issues. Um, but we gotta kind of see what policies um we can get um so I would say not only a majority of the dad's caucus support, but you know, two-thirds. Like I said, those the bills that we introduced, we co-sponsored the one on Rosa Delores Child Tax Credit Bill as well as the Mama Novis bill. We had about 25 to 30 member, uh 25 to 28 members of the 30-member dad's caucus co-sponsor those. So that's what we're trying to do is every any issue we get involved in, trying to get them a lot of these dad caucus members to sign on those bills and then push forward. If um, good example, if um there is a um background check bill, right? If we can get the dads caucus to sign on to that, we want to kind of get them to, then we can move to endorse. But we're um we're building. We're building. So, but yeah, climate change is something that um people talk about and and trying to figure out what else we can do to lend our voices.
SPEAKER_00Um when when you're an elected official, for a lot of people, it's very easy to sort of get caught up in in the perks, wrapped up in the the ego. You get people briefing you on stuff, opening the door for you. Uh it's uh it's easy to get taken down from that and get get humbled a bit when in the middle of all this stuff, you you you gotta change diapers, right? Um I I was uh in a parade once when Jacob was really young, and it was before he was potty trained, and he had to go to the bathroom. And we're on afloat, right? So there's there's nowhere to go. Uh and I had to sort of get down on my knees and wrap my jacket around him and have him pee in a bottle. Yeah. Uh what sort of awkward parenting situations have you found yourself in while trying to juggle?
SPEAKER_01You know, it's interesting. Um maybe because I'm like I'm older or I just don't care. Like I I always thought I would be embarrassed more, and I'm just not. Like, um a good example. Um, and it's different from awkward, but um, you know, on the plane, he's flown cross-country with me a few times, and he would cry, and um I was just kind of like, whatever. Like, he's a baby, babies cry, right? Babies are babies throw up, they pee, they poop, they do all of it. That's just nature, and you have to like that's what you have to embrace. And and but there were some awkward moments here. Like I was when I flew back by myself after Mary um went home because she had to go back to work and I was still here for the vote. I had Hodge in a in a baby carrier on the plane, and I fell asleep, and then I fill a tap, and the and I look, and Hodge was sprawled out over onto the over onto the uh onto the uh to the guy in the middle seat. So I kind of that was that was funny. That was weird. And then um, you know, just kind of uh yeah, so that was weird, but I would say that was the most awkward. Um, you know, you gotta change the kid, you gotta change the kid. And and but you know what made me kind of realize that we often don't think about parents and how to make things more accessible, right? Like, like you know, you you were on a float that's different, and I was like, and uh um, but now that you mentioned that, it's like, oh yeah, like as the in some respects, if the kid is actually in a diaper, it's easier because you can just throw them on the ground, change them real quick. But if they're a toddler and they're standing up, you can't and they're already potty trained, you can't do that. So it's like now I have to think about that. So um I haven't thought about that because I haven't been in that situation.
SPEAKER_00But it's um you learn to improvise.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but it it is uh so in some respects that's different, but it is thinking about like parent, like when I get into those situations now, I have to think about it. Good example, my wife, we went out for Mother's Day for for brunch. We had Hodge with us, we had to go in, I had to, he had to be changed. I went into the um um into the men's restroom, there's no changing table. Then so I went back and said, hey, there's no changing table. I assumed that there would be a changing table in the women's bathroom. So Mary went in to the women's bathroom, and there was no changing table on there either. So she had to change them on the floor. So it's like in a bathroom, in a public setting, which is probably not the cleanest thing. So that's kind of like we can do better when it comes to um uh helping families become comfortable and avoid those awkward situations. Um, but yeah, no, the you know, I guess one of the closest awkward is when I I I hand Did hodge over to um to the vice president Kamalan at the White House. And he grabs her by the sides of the face as he's looking at her, and it was all a sweet moment. Then he grabs her hair and pulls.
SPEAKER_00Well, that was awkward. Well, at least the Secret Service didn't jump him.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. I gotta ask, you know, you're a very visible dad. You know, there was a lot of coverage of you bringing Hodge to uh the beginning of the congressional session during the speakership vote. Uh I was often by necessity, because we didn't have child care, a very visible dad. Uh and in a very notorious incident, my son got caught up in one of the more ugly incidents in Los Angeles politics with Nuri Martinez and and Kevin DeLeon and all. Um any reticence about uh uh being such in the spotlight with Hodge?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, now first um that was uh disgusting and shameful that was on the on the tapes. Um nobody should say anything racist, but uh especially about somebody's child. Yeah. Um so and your outrage was correct, right? I think any dad would be pissed off. Um so um, yeah, you know, bringing them, bringing kids everything I do about politics is part based on personal experience. Um it's based on l lived experience, right? And not everybody has that. You don't need that to be a good advocate, but but it helps. And being a dad, I'm I'm proud of Hodge. I'm proud that he's with us. Um and I have to think about, and I like to I just like having them around, number one, but at the same time, there's situations where you just can't help, right? But you don't have child care every every moment of the day, you can't have it every moment of the day. Our la are as elected, as you know, it's 24-7, seven days a week. So you're gonna have to take them out into public. Um and and especially if you're a working-class elected official like us. This is not a like, you know, we don't have enough money to have weekday nannies and weekend nannies and 24-7 care. Um, and I think it also helps people see that we are our dads, that we're taking our kids with us. We're we're we're involved. Um and my cons uh right now I'm not as concerned because he's so little. Yeah. Like he's not gonna um notice it um if anything, um if anybody says anything. Um but in in the future I think I I have to be more cognizant of the situation. But we we kind of are, right? We're what we want. But uh in some respects, I actually was trying to raise him uh to be comfortable around people. Yeah. Um and you know, from the moment he was born, when people would come over, I'd say, you know, sanitize your hands, put on a face mask, you can hold Hodge, you know, sanitize uh your hands, wear a face mask, here you go. Because I wanted him to not be afraid of people. I wanted him to kind of embrace humanity and to see uh and to um be part of it. Because um, in the end, like my I always I tell this, I say, I always thought my legacy would be in it would be being elected, passing major pieces of legislation, either from climate change in the state legislature or a major trade deal here or whatever, right? I always thought that would be my legacy. Then you realize your legacy is your child. Yeah. And I realized that how I raise Hodge to see kind of like humanity in everybody, and then wanting to make life better for people, is my biggest, I think, contribution I can make is that if I educate Hodge and train Hodge to carry off where we we left off, like you and I, you know, we're not gonna live forever. We're we're not gonna be around forever, but if you train your son, and I train my son, and other electeds train their kids with that kind of mentality, they're gonna be able to do more than we ever had dreamt of. So um I kind of see it as my my my duty um to hopefully uh uh instill in Hodge these these lessons. If he becomes a hip-hop dancer, so be it. I'll support that. But uh hopefully it'll be a socially conscious hip-hop dancer.
SPEAKER_00Uh I wanted to ask uh you you you brought Hodge to to work. Uh you work in, you know, by by some standards, the most toxic workplace in the world. Um it was a room in which you your life was was threatened. You were there for the January 6th insurrection. At the same time, you you were in that chamber with the love of your life strapped to your chest. How did you feel that sort of the mixed emotion of that? I mean, it must be triggering to go in there, but then you're feeling the joy of being there with your son.
SPEAKER_01Great question. I I definitely had, you know, I was one of the members that was stuck in the gallery. Yeah. Laying on my belly with the police with the guns drawn above us, the shot herd that um killed uh Alicia Babbitt, the one that was trying the insurrection was trying to break in. So it was a real like a real situation where um like I ended up with PTSD for a for a good, I would say I'm more or less okay now, but it's been over like, but I still have those moments. Like if I get too much in my own head about what happened, I can like uh I can get triggered where uh like it's it's getting triggered is a weird thing. It becomes cloudy, uh, you're you get some tunnel vision, you get hot, um, you get emotional. So it's um it's still there. Um but also understanding that I had to you know get back into that chamber, right? That we kind of let that stop me uh or us. And I was there when we certified the the Electoral College vote at two or three in the morning. Um I sat in the gallery um in 20, I can't remember what year it was, but I finally sat in the gallery. The first time I'd been up there. So taking my son Hodge, I kind of onto the floor was I was also kind of reclaiming, hey, this is not this is the people's house, this is the future generation's house. This is and we can't allow people to bully us or intimidate us and not into um serving. And I did feel that I wanted to bring Hodge because I was just proud of him. You know, when you like when you're a member, like when you you probably took uh your son to the chamber. Um and it just because you want to share that that moment and that and hopefully one day he'll look at photos saying, Hey, I was there with my with my dad and be proud of that. Um and at the same time, you know, Hodge and your son are the inheritors of the American dream. Yeah. Um and they have a role to play. So um, and it's kind of like pushing forward uh despite, you know, these incidents that we've all kind of uh lived through. Um but yeah, I uh uh for me it's like claiming Hodge has to claim his his birthright, which is this country.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Well, the one of the best parts about being a dad is is you can see in the eyes of your kid uh the best of the future every single day. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Kids are amazing. So uh thank I I appreciate the the time to talk to you about it. Um, but yeah, if I had no idea uh how it just changed everything.
SPEAKER_00Well, happy Father's Day to you. Uh best of the family.
SPEAKER_01Happy Father's Day to you. I uh, you know, it's uh as a new dad, um, I've learned a lot. Um, but I and hopefully I can share some of that that I've learned with other people. But um I want to just say thank you, Mike, for everything you've you've done as a city council member and you're doing now as as an as an advocate and activist. Because our our our our job, I tell people, is like if our job as electeds come and go, but if our hearts in the right place, our activism will remain for the rest of our lives.
SPEAKER_00So damn right. I left office, but I haven't left the fights.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Thank you for doing what you do.
SPEAKER_00You bet, man. Take care. All right, all right, thanks, Mike. Yep, bye. A couple personal notes on this Father's Day. I know this can be a tough day for a lot of people, and I'm holding special thoughts today for everyone who has ever lost or who has never known their father, and for every father who's lost a child. I'm wishing you today peace and love. I personally am really blessed to still have my father with me. Ed Bonin, eighty years old and still going strong. He is a remarkable and a loving husband, an incredible dad, and an amazing grandfather. He grew up in an era when so many fathers were stern and stoic, but that's not who he is or who he has been. There is never a day that my siblings and I doubted that he loved us. Thank you, Dad. My father-in-law, Dave Arian, is no longer with us on this plane, but he is with us in every other way. A passionate man who loved his family, his union, and social justice, Dave Spirit guides me personally and politically, and he reminds our family always to keep up the fight and keep the fight alive. And, you know, not to take anything away from my father or my father-in-law, but my husband Sean is, for my money, the world's number one dad. He is patient and thoughtful and loving. With his every thought and every deed, he is making life better, warmer, and more secure for our young son. He is the world's best papa. And my husband, on top of that. I love you, Sean. And I cannot acknowledge Father's Day without thinking of the person who made me a dad. My beautiful, smart, joyful, empathetic, funny, and charismatic son, Jacob. He has changed my life and made every single day better. I have said it before. He is my role model. I want to live life like he does with joy. I love you, Jacob. And on that note, it is time for me to say thank you to you for listening, and thank you to Brian Holmes for editing and producing this podcast. Until next time, take care, peace, and again to all the fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, godfathers, and started fathers. Happy Father's Day.