Episode 56: Joanna Athey & June Caldwell
Joanna Athey: I was strong. I was getting very strong emotionally and physically because of how hard my life was and just trying to be a very independent person.
Josh Caldwell: Atypical daydreamers, welcome to the show. Today I have two special guests for you. One is my daughter when she was four years old, which is one of my favorite ages because four-year-olds have a lot to say, but they still have banana brains, which is so fun. So stick around for her. My first guest is my old family friend and the closest thing I have to an aunt, Joanna Athey. Now, Joanna has known me since I was a very, very tiny dude. She's always been a really strong example to me of what it looks like to follow that voice within. When I was young, I remember hearing a story about her taking a trip to Europe when she was 16 with no parents. And at the time, I was like, you can do that? Today, Joanna shows us what it means to stand firm in who you are. Wherever that takes you.
Joanna Athey: One of my first memories was from a church that I went to on Christmas Eve in Feltham, a small village where we lived outside Bognor Regis in the south of England. I remember the Christmas tree and I remember singing Away in a Manger. On the Christmas tree there were all these little gifts, like maybe a car or a truck or a little broom and a little tray to pick up crumbs from the floor. And I really wanted the truck. And I knew that the presents were there for us. And I didn't get the truck. I got the broom and the little brush. And it was a first awareness for me about the difference of being male and female.
I was getting very strong emotionally and physically because of how hard my life was and just trying to be a very independent person. Out of lack of money, having to be independent, I was bought a bicycle so I could ride to school. Other kids were taken in their car to school. So I was riding my bike to school right through junior high school. And just before I went to high school, I bought my own car because I'd had a job. I was an incredibly responsible person. And people saw that. The teachers at my school saw that. They even provided me with little jobs like taking the basketball money at the door and giving me fifty cents after the first thirty minutes. And then I was put in the lunchroom cafeteria. And by the final year I was there, I was actually getting a paycheck from the Houston Independent School District for twelve dollars and ten cents every two weeks. By the time I left junior high school, I had the money to buy my first car for $150. So I was a little independent person, just doing my life and off by myself cycling all over Houston.
Joanna Athey: On Saturdays, put my backpack on, throw in some kippers, have some crackers. Just a little feral kid running off doing life and nobody really telling me what to do. I was totally unleashed.
As I look back on my life and I compare it with my brother, my one sibling, I kept wondering why he thought his life was so great, and I kept thinking, my life sucks. What is the matter with me? And as I started to address these issues, probably in my mid-twenties and thirties, and see that everything wasn't just the way I wanted it, I started looking back at my childhood and realized it was trauma for me. It was trauma from the day I was conceived. I have been searching all my life to figure out, why am I like I am? What has happened? It's extraordinary. It's unusual.
And then as I grew into teenage years, I kept trying to get back to England. My first trip back to the UK was when I was fifteen years old. I paid for my ticket, and my parents were like, you can't go by yourself. And I'm like, sure I can. I've got all my relatives over there. I'll stay with them. It'll be fine. No, no, no, you need to go with your brother. Well, he didn't have the money. They lent it to him and he came with me. So we spent two and a half months in Europe and England when I was fifteen, celebrating my sixteenth birthday there with my relatives.
Joanna Athey: There were two kind of totally different trips. One was me coming over to stay with my aunt, who had a dairy farm, and she had four boys and three of them were still at the farm. I got to know them intimately well. I got to do all the stuff guys would get to do. Ride the tractor, drive the tractor. I was able to be who I wanted to be, not this little girl in dresses that they were all trying to make me. And I loved it. Having had four boys, she treated me like another boy. And I loved that.
The other thing that was very prominent for me on that trip was that when we went to Europe, my brother and my cousin David were a couple. They had each other. And in youth hostels back then, they went to the men's dorm and I went to the women's dorm. I had nobody. There was a lot of that trip where I was still by myself when I wasn't with the family. When I got to Europe, I found a whole different situation.
I was so upset with my mother because she didn't prepare me for this. She, as a boarding school student, had been to France. She must have noticed that there were things that were different about toilets. Somebody should have educated me about toilets when I crossed the world. I mean, it was just mind boggling. There were some holes in the ground with two ceramic footprints there. How do I do this? And I can't talk to my brother about these things. There's just nobody there. So I was just astounded at how different the world was. But I was also so in love with how different everything was and the expansiveness of different cultures. And we got all the way to almost Istanbul. We traveled by train for three weeks. We stayed in youth hostels.
All during that time, I was sold. I was sold on the experience of looking at a better world. And the best thing that anybody could do would be to experience these cultures because it's so isolating to only know your own culture. It's so boring to only know your own culture.
Josh Caldwell: Hey, it's Josh. Hope you're enjoying the podcast. And if so, are you wanting more road stories? Well, good news. I've got you covered. Consider becoming a patron. You'll have access to loads of great bonus stories that there just wasn't time for. And you'll be supporting a truly independent podcast. Find the link in the show notes and thanks. Now back to the show.
My next guest is my daughter, June. And today she has two very short stories for you. Not exactly road stories, but entertaining nonetheless. She's ten now, but when I recorded her, she was four. The setup was simple. I show her a picture or something, and then I'd say, tell me a story about it. For the first story, I had shown her a painting of the wild and crazy actor Klaus Kinski, dressed as a conquistador, and a clown mask I had lying around. Here's the story that follows.
June Caldwell: This is a story about Klaus and Mr. Happy Face. Okay, so once upon a time, two boys met each other. One was a clown, one was a grumpy guy. And they met at the river. And they had a super fun time. And the mask said, hey, I don't have a body, but I can't fly. Cause I don't have a body. And a flying mask. And they brought a picnic and they only brought hot dogs and juice. It was good. And they ate it all. And like the clown was showing funny tricks. Like juggling and like flowing over. Acrobating and dancing silly. Doing a flip. And Klaus loved that. The end.
Josh Caldwell: The next story came from me showing her a picture of the TV personality Dr. Phil with his big mustache and a photo of his odd and tacky house that he was selling at the time, which included machine guns mounted on the dining room wall. Enjoy.
June Caldwell: Let me tell you a story about the time I went to Dr. Phil and Chelsea with my friends. And guess what? There's a lot of booby traps there. So watch out. There was flying birds that picked on your face. And also some flying mustaches that tickle you. And also some, that was probably it about the booby traps. And also he fed us very yucky food. It was little snacks and egg on human baby sandwiches with baby inside and also some yummy yummy yummy yummy yucky. He tried and tried and tried to make me eat weather snacks before we go. I just went away. I just liked opened the door before he closed it and then I jumped out. I had to walk home and it was a play walk. There were pretty trees, it was winter. I think that's about it. My name is Junjo Ling called Long Dang for listening.
Josh Caldwell: I want to thank Joanna and June for sharing their experience. So, do you listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Wherever you listen, can you take a second and follow or subscribe? Or take a minute and rate and review the show. Thanks for the support. This podcast is created and produced by me, Josh Caldwell. Music by Visual Aid, my side music project. General support and copywriting by Miranda Caldwell. And if you know someone who you think might enjoy this show, send them this episode. Thank you for listening, and I hope you come back next time.
