Sometimes the best reminders about love, come from the sweetest people ~ Meet Sam
Hey y’all, welcome to More Lovin, the podcast that brings more laughter, light, and love into everyday life. I’m your host LeAnn Austin, and together we’ll rediscover the beauty of connection. To your body, your mind, your spirit, and the people you love.
Today’s episode #228: Conversations with Sam
I love observing and connecting with people who bring more lovin into their lives and relationships. It is so inspiring to see how each person does it in their own way.
I’m blessed to have lots of conversations with an incredible young man, Sam. Here’s some details about him from his cute mama: Sam is 27 years old and was diagnosed with a stroke prior to being born. He has multiple physical disabilities, which include hydrocephalus, seizures, cerebral palsy, and is intellectually disabled as well.
Sam’s life has been spent in many doctor and therapy offices, and he has had multiple surgeries. Sam has always been a happy go lucky kid and has never met a stranger. He loves to talk to anyone and everyone he meets, and he loves to chat on the phone. A little side note here, Sam calls me often and our conversations and the pictures and videos he sends me brighten my day.
Sam currently has been blessed with two caretakers who treat him like their own, and they take him into the community to serve those in need. Sam brings joy wherever he goes. Take a listen to our conversation.
We have the incredible Sam sharing some beautiful love and relationship insights with us today. Alright Sam, tell us a little bit about you. Well, I’m an uncle and I got two more nephews on the way. Wow. I work on the Price is Right. For a long time, we’ve been on for 54 years. Oh my goodness, that’s a lot. I know, it’s crazy.
And I got a sister, two dogs, Frankie and Millie. Millie’s is 12. But you know Millie. Millie is, yeah, she is a cutie. She’s a little… Oh geez, how can I put this? But Frankie’s crazy ’cause she escapes and drives my mom nuts. Dogs can do that. They can drive us nuts, can’t they? Yeah. My, oh my. Like my cousin’s cat does.
Do you love having animals in your family Sam? Oh yeah. My uncle, my nephew has a dog. And you’re gonna think, you’re gonna laugh with this. He likes, you know what? He likes to eat. What? Okay. I gotta think of a good clue. Hmm. Okay. It’s a breakfast food, but you have to heat it, you have to use hot water. Hmm, I’m not sure, you’re gonna have to help me. I don’t know. And except it’s not cereal, but it has oats. Oh, oatmeal. Yeah. That’s awesome. So he likes oatmeal, huh? I love it.
Well Sam, tell us, I have a question for you. How do you bring more lovin into your life? I wanna hear how you do that. Just take care of the kids. Yes, you take care of the kids. What else do you do? And let’s see, read to ’em. And I’m seeing that my other niece and nephews tomorrow. Nice.
You go and help a lot of people too, don’t you? Yep. Sorry, I had this… What do you do with that? Tell us a little about that. I used to do bingo. You did? Yep. Fun. And I found out, I don’t know if you heard this about Chuck Norris. I already heard about that. Mmm, tell me. He didn’t make it. Oh, shoot.
All right. Well, anything else you do to bring more love into your world? I work on the Price is Right to help out. Yeah, I bet that helps. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And on Jeopardy and Johnny Gilbert’s still working, sheesh. Well, tell us Sam, what’s something that you love about you? What do you love about yourself and why? Being an uncle. Being an uncle? Yes. What do they call you, remind us what they call you? Oh my Davey, Hardy, Johnson, Renn, Charlie, uhhuh. What do they call you? Uncle Sammy. Uncle Sammy. I love that. They hate it when I leave. Mmm, how come? It just gets sad. Yeah. They miss you, huh? Oh, yeah.
Well, so you love that you’re an uncle. Anything else you’d love about you? Taking care of Frankie and Millie, and chasing Millie. Oh wait, Millie’s too old for that. And we got an owl house in our yard. Wow. That’s cool. That’s really cool. So you kind of take care of birds too? No, my mom is the one that does that. She does? Okay. Dad scared Millie with a gun. Uh oh. Oh no. He’s in big trouble.
Well, tell me about what does connection mean to you, or what’s your favorite way to connect with people? Whatever you think. Any thoughts about that?
Calling people? Ah, yes. You are so good at that. Calling people, uhhuh. And like my grandpa, I’m seeing him in May. Nice. He told me something really weird. Yeah. How can I put this? He had this truck since I was little, and it has 232,000 miles on that thing. That is a lot of miles on a truck, oh my goodness. He’s not gonna sell it.
Are you gonna drive it when you go see him? I can’t drive. But I mean, like ride with him. Are you gonna ride with him? Oh, I get you. But the old one takes a while to warm up. Mmm. Okay. But he has another one and he has a horse. I named the baby. Aw, that’s awesome. It’s named after Colonel Potter’s Horse. It it? Well, that’s cool.
And I work in a mash unit and I have to deal with a dumb surgeon all the time. You do? Mmm, I bet that’s a lot. Yeah, Frank Burns is just a dumbbell. Oh no.
Well, tell me is there any other way that you like to connect with people? So you call, I know you are really good at texting too. Yeah. I’m a faster texter than my mom. I bet, you guys are pretty quick at texting. Yeah. Quick. Faster than her. You know how to move those fingers fast, huh? Duh. Any other ways you like to connect Sam, but it’s not funny. Well, it kind of is. I think it’s not. I think it’s cool that the younger people are so good at texting. Yeah.
And oh, I almost forgot, I got a sister, Abby, uhhuh. Tell us a little bit about Abby. She’s getting her master’s. Wow. And she’s got a cat. She does, hmm. You know what he does every time when I go downstairs. Hmm, what? He follows me. He does. He likes to connect with you Sam. We have to keep our doors closed at our house when he’s here. And Frankie and Millie get along with him. Yeah, well that’s great. But my cousin’s cat gives me lots of trouble. Really? Sometimes animals do that, don’t they? I found out yesterday she scratched the carpet. Oh my goodness. That’s crazy. I don’t know what to do with her. Uh, it’s hard to know what to do with animals sometimes. Yeah. So that’s why I’m going to Utah to deal with her. She doesn’t like people. Okay. Or me. Oh, she doesn’t, huh? Hmm.
Well tell us, is there anything else you wanna share? Man, I gotta think of this. And I also work on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Nice. What do you do there? I’m his co-host and I met him. You did? That’s cool. Yeah, he made me an official co-host, but I do not do Triple G. You don’t? Okay. Because he makes up these ridiculous games all the time. Mmm, okay.
All right, anything else? Nope. And I gotta hurry, I’m tired. Okay, one more question. Is there any other question or quote about love that you like? Anything about love? Taking care of Millie. Yeah. And Sam, I love that you are so kind to people and you’re so helpful.
Oh, and telling jokes I almost forgot. Yes. And you’re so good at telling jokes too, so that’s awesome. Do we know when Steve’s coming back yet? I am not sure, but let’s wrap up this podcast and then you can tell me. So thanks for sharing your insights, and Sam, I just love everything you put out into the world. No problem. You are awesome.
All right here’s to connection and more lovin. Have a good one y’all.
Thanks for tuning in. If you’re ready to take what we talk about here and make it personal, let’s work together one-on-one. I’ll help you calm your nervous system, strengthen your relationships, and create more lovin, laughter and calm in your life. You can find all the details leannaustin.com
Until next time. Keep choosing fun, connection, and a whole lot more lovin. Have a good one y’all.