Electronic Walkabout. No one should have to walk through life alone. We share the good times, the bad times, and the best times. Everyone needs a little direction now and again. And TC and Maddog are here to show you the way. A podcast where we talk about the important things in life. Come journey with us, the Electronic Walkabout. Well, good afternoon, Maddog, and to our listeners around the world, it's time for another informative, an exciting episode of Electronic Walkabout. During this journey, you might say that we are on a bit of a quest. A quest to discover our innocence again. There is nothing so precious as a person's innocence, and yet it seems it is always taken for granted. As parents or grandparents, we want to let our kids know at times it's a mean and cruel world. But as soon as we do, their innocence begins to slip away. Join us as we explore this and perhaps come up with a way to embrace that innocence again. But first, as always, a thought for the day. When our kids are on the way to being adults, we have a choice. Let them become adults or keep them as kids. Who would you rather have as a friend?

Is that a statement or a question?

Kind of both, really. Call that maybe a rhetorical question?

I think of too much of one thing is maybe not the best. So I think you enjoy, you know, the innocence of your kids when they're in their youth, but then they grow up and they're becoming, become adults and they can be your friends then too.

So when we talk about losing our innocence and I just kind of reflect on, on this, this time I've had this planet then wouldn't it be nice just to put on those rainbow colored glasses and live life like that forever?

For a long time for sure. But I think you would have less stress and less things that kind of maybe pull you down if you have that kind of innocent approach. So it's always, yeah, I don't, I.

Don'T know, I guess when. And again I'll get back to. Of course, I always mention we do extensive research for this podcast, but when we talk about losing our innocence, like, what does that mean to you, Maddog?

I think it's kind of twofold. Like, the one thing I can reflect on is that I've always loved coaching kids. And when kids get something that you're teaching them, you know, they get genuinely excited because. And to me, that's where the innocence comes in because they're not worried about how people are looking at them and how they're reacting. They can just, you know, be kids and act as such. And then I think as we get older and you get different influences and jades, you. I think that's where the innocence starts to get lost is probably school, I would say, you know, is a big contributor to that with your peer groups and stuff. And that's how most kids learn about Santa and all that sort of stuff is that their friends usually say something and the parents have to pick up the pieces when the kids come home all shattered that what they thought was something wasn't. So.

Yeah, that kind of makes sense. And I want to go back to that word that you use, the word being jaded or jaded or whatever it is. But when it comes to. I think the best way to put it is getting a little taste of the world and summing up somehow having to figure that out, that maybe the world isn't as pleasant as we were led on to believe it was.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's. That's the beauty of. Of kids is that they haven't experienced that yet. So their. Their emotion is what it is. Their excitement is actually that they're not putting on a. A facade or a play for anybody. That's actually how they feel. And then to your point, as life goes on and they get older and, you know, but you don't see too many people that carry that quote, unquote, innocence through to adulthood.

It's funny, I'm just thinking here, I'm thinking that my sister might fall under that category, and she's got a year on me. And sometimes I say to myself, I wish I lived like that a little bit more.

Yeah. I don't know if that. Is that something that comes natural or do you need to focus on staying in that vein? I'd be interested to know.

Yeah. Or maybe it's something you can buy off the shelf and kind of consume it.

My Amazon cart would be full if that was a kiss.

Yeah. Technically speaking, loss of innocent refers to the transition from a state of nativity or childhood to a more complex understanding of reality, often marked by the realization of a harsh truth about life. Just think about that for a second and I'm. And here's the tough question. So what was that harsh truth about life in your situation that kind of made you realize, well, maybe it is not such a nice world out there.

Um, I think if I were to try and pinpoint one thing, like, I think I was pretty happy. Go lucky. But my parents split up in the mid-80s, which wasn't really a big thing back then, so that kind of, you know, I had none of my friends, parents had split up. So it was one of those things where you go from this, you know, structured household to all of a sudden not. And you, you know, I had heard about people getting divorced and stuff affected the family structure. So that kind of, I'm not going to say jaded me, but that I think might have been the start of it because I had great childhood. All of the, the normal innocent stuff that you believe or follow as a, as a kid. But yeah, I think it's it, it would probably if I were to coin it to teenage years, because that's where kids get angst and all that sort of stuff and they start finding peer groups that maybe aren't necessarily the, the ones that your parents would want you to hang out with. But I'd say it would be somewhere in the teenage years where that would probably be affected the most.

Where, where that I'll see that, say, significant innocence might be on the table as the loss. And you already kind of mentioned Santa Claus and then the Easter Bunny and all those. And Ollie, Ollie, throw the, the Tooth Fairy into that category where we somehow encourage that instance and make our kids believe that these magical people exist in their world.

Yeah. And it was really cool to watch them wholeheartedly, whether they found that money under their pillow or, you know, coming down at Christmas just. And excitement. And that's that innocence that we're talking about.

Yes. And I, I, I think I was like five or six years old and I confronted my mom and dad about the Easter Bunny. And I said, I know. I said, I believe you guys are the Easter Bunny. And guess what? They said, you're right. And I was his crush. I didn't realize what I said. Posted, lied to me. Yeah. But I was, I was on to them because it was kind of funny afterwards because they bought this one chocolate chicken they put up in the cupboard and you know, those little chocolate eggs. So they had my brothers and sisters convinced that this chocolate chicken was laying chocolate eggs. And they pack it every day. Of course they'd be popping up because they just keep putting more eggs up there. You're going, wow, that's so cool. Yeah.

The golden rabbit that never stopped.

Yeah. Yeah. Just like Jack and the Beanstalk and the like golden eggs.

Yeah. And I think it's probably harder nowadays for maintaining innocence with the access to information, be it true or not, at the, the touch of a cell phone. I think that because, you know, kids can do just that. They can. Google is such and such real is does this such and such happen? And, yeah, too much information is not a good thing.

And. And then just when we kind of. And I'll say kick it up a few notches as far as losing that innocence. And we. We already talked about grief on a previous episode when we lose that first person in our lives and realize that, yeah, it really is a mean and cruel world and somehow have to deal with that loss. And, and we've, like I say, we've talked about it and there's no easy way to do that. But you're certainly not the same after that, that's for sure.

No, no, because that. That cuts pretty deep and it hits every single emotion that you have. So. And you know that I think emotion to that depth isn't felt on the regular. So when it does appear, it's terrible. Terrible. Like, it just. It wrecks you to your core. So, yeah, I think it's hard to come out of those experiences unaffected or. Yeah. Slightly jaded.

Yeah, that word jaded again. But. But there's ways that we can somehow. And it's fair to say, and I'm going to speak for myself, and I'm allowing you to speak for yourself, but my innocence was. Is probably long gone at my age. But it doesn't mean that somehow I want to kind of get some of that back, because I think there's some value, there's some happiness can be found in that innocence.

I would agree.

Question of how we do it.

I think now I know I get my exposure to that through my grandkids, you know, because it goes back to the time when they're young and, you know, you get to watch them, and I always, like, surprise them. And for me, like, innocence is like raw and pure reaction to something that you either like or believe in. And there was nothing that I loved more than surprising the grandkids, you know, on a visit, and all of a sudden, they just show up at a theater somewhere and they lose their mind. To me, it's that innocent way where they can express, oh, my, I'm so excited to see you. And then as they get older, it's like, oh, hey, you know. You know, I think that's part of the magic of having grandkids is that you get to experience or witness that innocence again.

It's funny, you know, when. When I was thinking about this as well, it's the. The. The grandkids, they popped up as well because there's. There's so much, you know, well, I'll just call them gifts because they truly Are they'll. Until of course, they start losing their innocence too. No more innocent parents preference. Yeah, certainly that with, with the kids. But you can also cultivate this by engaging in activities like meditation and mindfulness. We already said spending time with children, spending time with animals as well. And you've kind of talked about this before. Finding moments of awe in nature. Now question for you. Have you had an opportunity to kind of look at some of that nature in that new country you're in right now?

A little bit. Like we, as the weather warms up, we have some pretty big plans and a long list of, of places in south Utah to tour with. You know, Moab and the Arches and you know, Bryce Canyon and stuff. We've been, we've only been really been here for about three, four weeks. So we've been out to Antelope island and. Absolutely. And it is quite hilarious because the first thing everyone says, oh, if you love the outdoors, you're going to love it here. And I'm like, do you know where I came from? You're not going to be able to trump that in any easy way. But absolutely. It's definitely, it's beautiful here and it's not lost on us. And, and one thing that we've mandated ourselves to do is every Saturday go on an adventure day where we get in the car and just go and explore. And this Saturday we're going to find some natural hot springs because apparently they're in abundance here. So. But yeah, just being, you know, tourists in your own town and that creates the awe factor because you see things that, you know, you're not used to. Like I think that living in, in in B.C. i'm not gonna say take it for granted but you know, you see the big beautiful mountains every day with all the trees and the rivers and so you can understand how people, when they come to visit and they've never seen that before, how awe inspiring it is. So yeah, you do have to find it and want to have a willingness to experience it.

Absolutely. And just down the road I never, I never have taken the time to do it. But there's some beautiful, beautiful waterfalls around here. Then you talk about being in awe, but in standing there watching waterfalls and there's really, maybe it's the sound of it too, that helps to calm you and kind of bring you back to wherever you need to be center wise. And that's very helpful.

But I think that you should go to Bridal Falls very soon, sir, because it is, it does provide that feeling because we the only Reason we went is because we took our granddaughter, because it was like, well, what kind of fun things can we do? And then. But we all loved it. She was the excuse to go. So.

So, I mean, this almost sounds like a rhetorical question right now, but it's almost seeming like we're getting that innocence back by vicariously living through those. Those children, those grandchildren.

I think it's a good way to put it. Absolutely. Because I think that. I don't think it's undesirable. But, you know, if. If that ship has sailed for you as you get older. Yeah. To that point, if you can be around either grandkids or whatever, that you can witness that, I think that kind of maybe stokes the old. At, you know, how you might have looked at things previously.

And I. I think you have to really be aware of that, that you need to stoke that fire now and again, and especially when the. When the kids aren't around. I mean, you. You talk about those empty nesters, and I guess you're kind of in that cat.

That is exactly what.

Correct. So, I mean, it's. It's a question of how you kind of somehow regain that innocence with. Maybe with a little hindsight, I'll put it that way.

Yeah. I don't know if you can hear that. My apologies, if you can. It's the fighter jets flying over the house.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. No, you can't. Can't hear it. Maybe it'll pick it up. I guess that's fine. So maybe there is something to be saying. I never want to grow up. And every once in a while, I will say that I never want to grow up because maybe I realized the value of that innocence and how it's such a special world to live in when you have it. But it's. But it's not reality either. No.

And actually, now that you say that, I have had that conversation a couple times with some friends where it's like, do you remember when we were kids and we just drove around on our bikes and tried to find people to play street hockey with or went for a Slurpee when things were much simpler? You start thinking back and realizing, you know, kind of how fun it was because there wasn't the normal adult pressures that we have now?

So on that note, and just. It's a nice segue, but have you ever tried to protect innocence of your own children as they were growing up? Or did you just let life kind of. I'll say it this way, hit them in the face and then kind of guide them through that.

Yeah, no, I, I've never been one for sheltering or protecting my kids for stuff because it might provide a bit of a false sense as to what life is really like. Obviously nothing, you know, detrimental to them, but I was always a big believer where if they were walking a certain way and looking the wrong way and they were going to walk into a pole, well, that was their adventure to disc. So they learn quickly to walk with their eyes forward. So, but, but no, I, I can't say that I've, I've actively, like, we tried to, you know, maintain the Santa thing for as long as possible and all those other things just because, yeah, they're fun while they last and you know that at some point that they're going to find out.

So.

Yeah, no, I can't say that I protected them. What about on your side?

Yeah, I think it's about, about the same. But, but keeping in mind that we're following our mom and dad's lead too, and there was, there was no protection, that's for sure.

It's much different.

Yeah. The difference is in our case, and I think it's fair to say for you too, and not that I'm speaking for you, but I might be speaking for you right now, but it's really an opportunity when they, when you see them begin that, that losing their innocence, to have that maybe one on one and just kind of get their feelings and, and, and allows them to share their emotions and give them a sense of, hey, this is the way life is, it's okay and accept this stuff and we're here to support you kind of.

For sure. For sure. And that's part of the experience. Right. And it isn't always pleasant, you know, especially with, you know, relationship challenges and stuff like that, though those are hard to watch your kids go through because it's a raw emotion and it hurts. But it is part, unfortunately, of the process of growing up. So. So, yeah, so. But I would definitely agree from the, the era of our parents that were a little rougher around the edges with regards to coddling or, you know, protecting the kids. Yeah, I wouldn't say we were overly rough on the kids, but we definitely didn't shelter them either.

I guess that's where the expression came from, suck it up, buttercup.

Yeah, that's. I've heard much worse variations of that.

What we're really trying to do for kids even, even if we look at it from our own perspective, we're trying to balance that mean and cruel world with Kindness and compassion find somehow find a happy medium with that.

Yeah. And I think maybe it's like a bit of a boomerang effect where you would, you know, your innocence and then, you know, launch the boomerang into, you know, teenage years or into your own twenties where you might get a little jaded and angry. But then I think as you get older, you start realizing how you want to live your life. Maybe not as angry or, or whatnot. So you start embracing some of those feelings and then that boomerang kind of might come back a little bit. But yeah, I think it's a cycle for sure where I don't think you should be jaded your whole life, I don't think you should be innocent your whole life. But you're going to feel bits and pieces of all of it as you go and it's up to you to kind of steer your ship in the direction that you want it to go.

Well, yes. And unfortunately that music is telling us that this episode has come to an end. And that's the other thing too. When we were little, the time was endless. And losing our innocence, we realized time is quite night but sometimes hard to handle.

I learned that with CBC had the wild wild wide world of Disney. And then when the credits came up at the end, you know, it was bedtime. So that was the start of being jaded.

So what I'm going to leave the listeners with is a lyrics from a song by Leanne Womack. I hope you dance and I'll just go right away. I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger. May you never take one single breath for granted. God forbid love ever leave you empty handed. I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean. Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens. Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance. And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.

I like that. It's very positive and well wishing.

Yeah. And the bottom line, that listeners haven't figured it out. But as much as we lose our, I think there's some value in somehow trying to grab at that.

I agree. A little bit of positivity and just that overall good feeling which everybody needs to have.

So remember to take advantage of the moment before the moment takes advantage of you. To learn more about E Walkabout, please visit us at ewalkabout.ca. "End Scene"