Welcome To The Family, Lenny | 022

Welcome back to another episode of Resilient AF with

Blair and Alana and Lenny.

Lenny, the goo goo. Who? Okay. So if you're

not watching this, you need to, like, go watch this on YouTube,

if you're listening to this. But, we have a new family member.

His name is Lenny. He is my

dad's namesake or our dad's namesake.

Lenny is okay. Let me tell you the story about Lenny.

Yeah. Lenny. Lenny. Lenny's Lenny has had

quite the journey. So for about six, seven months

now, I've decided I wanted, a second

cat because, Molly has

interacted with other cats before, and I think it brings out a

youthful side in her. She's getting old, and

two cats are more fun. So I

had decided that when I'm back from, like,

grief week and stuff, I'll start looking. I had been looking for a

while, but, like, no one was really calling out to me. And

then there was this little kitten on this breeder's

Instagram. And so I had inquired about that

kitten. And if you're watching right now, you can see

Lenny has the Zoomies. That

kitten was not available. She said, I have this

this cat who is a young adult male,

who I recently neutered because he's no longer

breeding. And she sent me a picture, and immediately,

I was like, yep. Wait. Let's not just say, like, you're looking for a specific

type of breed. Okay. Yeah. I was looking for

either a British shorthair cat or a ragdoll.

Ragdoll is what Frey, Blair's

Blair's, parent cat is.

So this is a British shorthair. And

I as the week went on, like, I had I had already committed. I had

learned a little bit more about Lenny. So Lenny,

his real name Wait. Hold on. Hold on. Get ready,

everyone, because this isn't just any cat.

Oh, no. No. No. No. No. Lenny Lenny is holding up to his

namesake with every aspect of him.

Yeah. Okay. So background.

Lenny is originally from Turkey,

the country. He was brought over

at five months to breed. Over to where?

To Winnipeg or outside of Winnipeg, to

this cattery, because that's what breeders are called, cattery.

And I'm hearing him now. I think he's one of the washroom.

So not only is he from Turkey,

he his birth name is

Grand Palace Milan.

And so let me tell you about why his name is

Lenny. I wanted to name a cat Lenny after

my dad. I'm not sure if I'm gonna have kids. But

if I did, realistically, I

would name them after my mom. So

Lenny and my dad have very have a lot of

similarities. Lenny is

a Leo. He is born

Aryeh, which means lion.

Lenny was a breeding cat, which means he has litters

of kids running around and

probably so does my dad because we did find someone. Oh, side quest.

Remind me to come back to that because I have a story about another DNA

match. Okay. And oh, now the cats are

hissing at each other. And then what were the other

similarities? Oh. Goo. Goo. Okay.

So why he's called Goo? When I first got him, he

his eyes were goopy. So he

had a little bit of pink eye and upper respiratory infection,

and my dad lived with COPD and lung cancer, so he

also had to live on a chronic respiratory ward for the last parts

of his life. So Lenny really is

living up to his name, and him and Molly are

coexisting. Lenny struggles with boundaries,

and doesn't really take a hint where You have a TikTok, though, and it's

so cute. Yeah. I did. Lenny Gu.

He's very cute. But, yeah, he doesn't know

boundaries. So when I hear hissing, it's probably him going

into Molly's face to Molly being like, absolutely not.

And he's like, but let's play. Like, he I literally have caught him standing

on his back two feet going like, do do do do. I'm trying to play

with her, and she's just like, get out of my face. So

Lenny has now been with me for almost three weeks.

I love that. I wish you do you have in front of you, like, what

his parents' names are and his grandparents' names?

I could run and Okay. Alana, you go run and okay. So I

I might actually have a picture on my phone. Okay. Let me So Alana Alana's

cat is fancy. Like, he was he's like a specific type

of British shorthair, like, I don't know, orange or gold or

whatever. Gold ticked or whatever. And I guess, like, it's a sought after breed. And

so this cat came with a whole family tree and, like, DNA results,

like, this whole, like, package. And when Alana told

me all not only his, like, actual name, like, whatever it was, whatever it does,

Milan, she told me who his parents were and grandparents were, and I

just couldn't even believe the names. I mean, like He

also has a passport. Oh, he has a passport.

So, like, I'm not I'm not really familiar with the world of cat breeding.

Sometimes I come across, like, cat TikToks where they're, like, at

cat shows and, like, the guy is like, this is the perfect floof in the

whatever. But I just, like, when Alana told me that this cat

came with all this stuff, I just, like, thought it was so funny. And, like,

getting to know Lenny through Alana has been

hilarious. And, like, I'll I'll be in Winnipeg for Passover. I'm

so excited to meet him, and he'll be all over my social media too. But,

you know, he's just he seems so precious and cuddly, and it's just

it's perfect. Did you find the the So I didn't find so I

found something different. So I found his, like, certificate of registration.

People who, like, like, fancy cats really like fancy cats.

I just wanted a cute cat, and I love the fact that he was, like,

a breeding cat and not quite a kitten. Like, a non a not that you,

like, non rescue rescued him. Yeah. Yeah. I I now

he gets to live in retirement. So his actual real

name is Golden Dream Palace Milan.

He is a chocolate golden shaded British

shorthair. His sire, so his mom, I believe,

is Cezaline

Cuba. His dam, so his dad, I think,

is Noble Teddy House Tea Olympia.

Like, I don't think our cats have enough names.

Like, free free menibles should actually be, like, sir,

fluff and tooth, fray

the the best or something. You know

what I mean? Like, our cats are like, why are we just like, in Turkey,

are they just better at naming cats? Like, are we just being really lazy

at naming our cats? Or is that like a breeding?

I don't know. But, like, maybe we need to think about how we name our

cats here in Canada. Yeah. Is Molly the

moon not enough and Lenny the goo not enough? Moon

goo. It's so funny. So, like, when when Lenny was, like, getting gooey

and bef like, I just started to call him goo.

And it's funny because Alana calls Molly Moo. I was actually thinking

about, like, Frey and, like, all the nicknames I had for Frey when, like, you

were naming Lenny, and I always start to call him goo. Because,

because, like, I call Frey Fratel. Sometimes I call him

Froodle or Strudel, and then sometimes it goes to Fru.

Duff is And Duff is like Duffy is Duff. Mostly

Duff or a Duff. Molly is mostly

Molly, the moo, moo, shmoo, and shmooly.

Like, it's, like, your Hebrew, Yiddish name. I love that. Well, welcome to the family.

Lenny Gu. If you are a QTALK, you should follow Lenny Gu.

I'm a proud auntie. I can't wait to meet him. He is

going to cuddle my little heart out. And he's gonna play

hard as he's doing in the background. Right? Did you wanna hear the DNA story?

Yeah. It's, like, not as exciting as the other one. So let's do a quick

recap for everyone listening. Alana and I have some some

family members that we didn't know about. We've talked about it on,

our old podcast, Radical Resilience, which still exists. I've

been featured in the media because of this. Mhmm. So

years ago so before the pandemic, I got a call from family in

Seattle saying that there was a family mystery that I

can help solve. And I was like, oh, family mystery. Like, what could it

be? I have no idea. But long story short, our cousin in

Seattle did a DNA test and got connected to,

got connected to someone in Alberta. And we don't

have any family in Alberta. And long story short, this

person, was potentially my brother. So I got connected

to his wife, and we went back and forth. And long story

short, this person was born in the in

'76 and was looking for his birth family just to, like, learn about

the genetics because he had kids has kids. And,

so the wife and I were talking, and she was sending pictures. And I

was like, oh my god. This person looks exactly like Leonard and my it

looks more like Alana than I do. Same thumbs,

you know, same bendy thumbs, pigeon toe, just like all of us,

Kaplan. Like, just very similar. So I I asked my

dad about it. And, basically, long story short,

my dad got someone pregnant, and she

didn't tell him. And she had this baby.

So my dad didn't know about him. Anyways, I did the DNA test, and it

confirmed that we do indeed have a half brother named Jeff.

Jeff and I actually met, and it was really lovely. We stay

in touch on social media. Like, we don't really have, like, a huge, like,

relationship, but, like, we know who each other are. And, like, it was really

cool. He never met dad. He never met he hasn't met Alana. His wife

is connected with everyone on social. His wife is like me and, like, he is

like Alana. She's an extrovert and he's an introvert. So and

then, recently, we had someone reach out thinking that they maybe were our sibling as

well because we do know that there is a sibling out there most

likely. I have a memory. I have a I have a memory of it being

a child. And, like, our dad had a girlfriend who was pregnant, and then I

remember being in the hospital meeting the baby. But, unfortunately, our dad and and

his girlfriend weren't well enough to be parents. So I don't know

where this child went. Like, I was really little. I was eight, maybe

nine. I think I was eight. So, anyways, so we had someone reach out. And

first my first thought was, is this the child? But, after

doing some DNA testing and investigations, we wanted that

this person is actually our cousin, which is great.

So those are two, like, things that we're sort of public

about. But in January, I was speaking at this event

in Manitoba for Jewish college kids, and I was sitting at a

table with them. And one person there was telling me that they were, like, obsessed

with their DNA. Like, they're doing, like, their DNA tests and, like, uploading it to

all these things and, like, looking at the analytics. And then we I told them

the story about our brother, Jeff, and, like, how we did DNA tests.

And, anyway, so that was January. Now we're at the almost the March

recording this. Last week, someone reached out to me.

Long story short, one of the kids that was sitting at that table

did his DNA test, and he reached out. He's like, hey. Remember we were talking

about DNA? Like, I was at that event. I'm like, yeah. Sure. What what's up?

He's like, we're cousins. Oh my gosh. Very

distant. Like, it's, like, sixth or seventh cousins, but it was just really funny because

we were talking about it. And he got I'm like and he got

connected to me. Like, it was just, like, very serendipitous. So You'll have to tell

me who it is after. Yeah. I'm gonna have to relook. I think his name

is Ian. But, yeah, I just thought

it was really funny. And, like, I also saw that, like, if you do your

DNA test with 23 andMe, like, there's they're going bankrupt and, like, everyone's

like, delete your data. I'm like, I don't know. Like, my my so much of

my data is out there. Like, I'm pretty sure that everyone in the world knows

more about me than I even know about me. Yeah. It's fine.

Okay. So that was my little DNA update. So we got a goo. We got

a DNA. Mhmm. A new DNA match.

And, you know, it's actually cool. Like, back to back to our cousin, like, our

our cousin that you know about that we thought maybe was our sibling, that was

actually kind of a fun, like, little investigative project, figuring out trying to figure out

who because he wanted to know who his birth dad was. He thought someone

was his dad, and he did a DNA test and learned that person he thought

was his dad wasn't. He didn't even know he was Jewish. So it was kind

of a it was a cool experience to kind of, like, narrow it down and

point him into the right direction of, like, what part of our family it could

potentially be. So okay. So what else

is going on? Well, first of all, Lenny is very cute, and I'm very distracted

by you and your wand. Could you Sorry. I'll put it down. My ADHD

can't handle that. I apologize just when Lenny

like, I just play a lot with Lenny because he has a lot

of energy, but I will put it down and he'll maybe play on his own.

Let's do a little health check-in. I've

been going and hiking a lot, and one of the

biggest issues with my health, besides my endo

Mhmm. Is my feet. I am flat footed and

I'm pigeon toed. And as I've gotten older, I've

developed really bad plantar fasciitis, and it is so fucking

excruciating. Like, I went and bought I bought

these, like, special, like, sandals that are, like, my indoor shoes, which you'll

see soon when I come visit Atlanta because I have to wear shoes inside. Like,

not even slippers, but, like, they're, like, just, like, squishy, like,

slip ons. They're not super expensive. I got them on Amazon.

And then I went I got a pair of Hokas, like, really good cushiony, you

know, runners, which I absolutely love. They've they've been a saving grace. And when

I hike, I wear these very expensive hiking boots that were fitted for my

feet. But ever since I've been back from Costa Rica, I've had this huge flare

up that, like, I have trouble, like, getting rid of.

And yesterday, before, like, bed, I I worked late for

a client because of the a time zone thing. My my

pain was so bad, and I just, like, couldn't get it under

control. Like, it was almost blinding. Mhmm. It was like

a foot migraine. Anyways, if you're listening to this and you have plantar fasciitis, like,

please help. Like, what what I just wanna get rid of it and have it

never come back. And so, like, hey. There's all these exercises. Like, when I'm off

this call, I'm gonna and it's for you know, we started this at

6AM my time, eight AM Alana's time. I'm gonna have to go and do my

stretches and, like, it's just I can't live like this, especially because my

favorite thing to do is hike and walk. Mhmm. So that's, like, a little

health update. Other than that, my mental health is great. Days are

longer. I just realized I got through the entire

winter without getting sick. Even when Shane got COVID

really bad, like, I made it but this is the first time I think ever

that I maybe COVID because I didn't leave the house. But, like, I not COVID.

Like, getting COVID. During COVID, I didn't get sick except for when I left the

house. But I left the house and went on lots of airplanes, and I

I think this is a sign of, like, a, I'm really, like, good and up

on my vitamins. I use certain things as preventative measures, very careful

when I travel. And, also, it's a sign that my nervous system is in a

place of rest and digest, and I feel, like, really proud of myself for getting

through the winter without getting sick. So round of applause.

Alana found a magic nose spray, which is discontinued. I

have the last bottle that ever is to exist. And so I'm sad

because it's almost over, and I'm gonna have to buy the, like, next best thing.

And it's been okay, the next best thing. Okay. I'm gonna buy the next best

thing. I wanna gatekeep it because I don't want people to Yeah. We're not telling

you what it is. You want it, you have to pay for access. Yeah.

Power of proximity. You wanna know? You gotta pay us. Yeah. It's really

good. It's almost like we should buy all of it and sell it on our

website, like, rebrand it, like Resilient Toast Spray. When I saw it when I

saw that, one of the Shoppers Drug Marts had it, and I

drove to that Shoppers Drug Mart, I my plan was to

buy them all and, like Like, I think that's, like, the main

reason I didn't get sick. Yeah. It's really good stuff. Okay. So

what's your health update?

Well, I continue to have endometriosis flares.

I Really bad flares. Really bad flares. I was so good on our

trip. I have, like, this prescription, like,

anti nausea stuff because I get quite nauseous. So, like,

I thought I was in the clear. Like, my last time was January

1. I had a flare. But then last

week so Gu and Moo were

isolated from each other because Gu had his little eye infection.

So he was in the bedroom my sister stays in. So one night, I was

like, hey. I'll just stay with him one night, give him the, like,

satisfaction of having me for a night.

And I got really sick in the middle of the night. Like and I was

like, oh, it's probably, like, food poisoning or stomach flu. Like, I

had made myself from scratch a meal, which doesn't

ever happen, but it was on my bingo card, and I needed to do it.

And I felt motivated because I made a turkey loaf in honor of

Gu being from Turkey.

And I was very sick. And I was like, okay. It's probably, like, food poisoning,

whatever, or the stomach flu. And I was like, I'll deal with

it. I took a sick day. I was not feeling well. Alana was

really sick. Like Like, very, very sick. Do you guys remember the

train story? It was like that. But out of all the things?

All the things. And I, like, passed out on my bathroom floor from, like

really sick. It and so I was like,

okay. Probably a flu. Nope. Turns out it

was an endometriosis flare. My body started to show

other signs that I usually get, which is, like, lower back pain and bleeding

and abdomen pain. So my endometriosis

continues to be my suspected endometriosis.

I'm just calling it that right now. I'm hoping it is, but if it's not,

I'm hoping there's an answer to what it is. Because I have no medical degree.

I can't diagnose you, but it's it's it's endo. Yeah.

It's I'm on the list for surgery. I asked to be

on the cancellation list for surgery, and I have an appointment actually with my

doctor this morning just to fill out some forms. So

but aside from that, I'm okay. Like That's

great. Yeah. I mean mental health check-in. Yeah. Mental

health, I'm doing okay. Like, gotta love meds

and gotta love therapy. But,

like, aside from the flare, like, I'm my health

has been pretty decent, which is good. The flares are just,

like, like, very, very bad when they come. Like, some

people have, like, debilitating pain, and they can't do things, and that

sucks. And I don't want that either. But for me, it's like, I

could be fine. And then when it hits, it's just Like a projectile.

Mhmm. And, like, the the, like, exit. The the whole

the it keeps adding whole different holes.

I know. Oh my gosh. Imagine if you were in public and that happened.

I don't know what I would have done. Well, I would have just had to

do it. Like God. I've never I don't

know. I hope I know. Oh my god. I feel so bad for you. That's

just, like, terrible. Okay. So we got we got goo. We have

an endo endo your it's like your endo is just getting worse.

It feels like the like, it's not necessarily the frequency is worse,

but the flares are worse. Yeah. Right. And I know, I

just looked at the time, and we have to wrap up in, like, a few

minutes. So I just wanna touch on a couple things.

Happy birthday to us. We are officially six years old.

Yay. Happy birthday to us.

Happy birthday to us. It's early

Happy birthday. Birthday to the Global Resilience Project.

Happy birthday to us. Skip around the room.

Skip around the room. I can't. My plantar fasciitis doesn't want me to skip around

the room. So what's really cool is that, like,

we have some big plans this year, and, you know, we're in talks

with some people about, you know, really cool opportunity that I really hope I

mean, it will happen. I hope it happens specifically with this person.

Mhmm. This this what this has been the most promising so far and the

furthest the conversation has gotten, leave it at that. Could

be really cool. Actually, it will be really cool. We're gonna be launching a

community membership where anyone can join, and it'll there'll be access

access to mental health resources, workshops, prerecorded sessions, our authors.

We have two books that we're launching, so we're filling two books right now, Resilient

AF, Skin Deep Stories. So if you have a tattoo and a

story of resilience behind it, we're almost half full of that book.

And, we have also Resilient AF Stories of Resilience

volume three. And, by the time you hear

this episode, we're gonna launch the new covers, which is very exciting.

Yeah. And our clothing line, like, our Resilient AF shirts have just, like they're

so popular that we're gonna probably launch more things with Resilient

AF on them. In fact, I just booked a tattoo appointment. I'm gonna get

Resilient AF, like, inner branding tattooed on me. Oh.

From one of our authors, actually, which I love. And,

yeah. And I'm just doing more speaking. I'm co facilitating, some grief

retreats. I have one coming up in Bali. If you want to be a part

of a grief retreat in a really cool location, November, we're going to Australia. It's

a two week grief retreat that I'm co facilitating with Rachel,

in Australia, which is like a bucket list place. So

that's super rad. And what else oh, and we've, we're gonna be at the

Emmy's Gifting Lounge in September. So that's gonna be really, really exciting.

So there's lots of ways to get involved with the Global Resilience Project.

And I think did I miss

anything, or is that it? I think that might be it. I mean,

is it ever it? I know. And, like, it isn't like it's like

there's a lot that you should. Yeah. Yeah. So

Anyways, so we just wanted to give you guys a quick update on what's going

on in our lives. Basically, Alana has a new family. Well, we have a

new family member. Alana has a new child. Mhmm. My plantar

fasciitis sucks. Alana's endometriosis sucks. We have

another DNA mat well, we have lots of DNA matches, but this one is funny

because it was just a conversation. Yeah. And we are

six years old. Woo hoo. We're

in kindergarten. I know we have to wrap up, but should we do a quick

lightning round of which is worse? Yeah. Okay.

Which is worse, vomiting and

diarrhea at the same time or mom dying? Mom dying.

Which is worse, having plantar fasciitis

and not being able to walk or mom dying? Mom dying.

Which is worse. Your new cat, who's a fancy

breeder gooing all over your face and thinking that you may also get cat pink

eye or mom dying? Mom dying.

Do you have any more?

I'm pretty sharper at 6AM, me or you? You know what?

You are. And, like, it's crazy because, like, I was you were

in bed until, like I was. I'm in my robe because well, I

never, like, missed meetings, but I worked really late, and my flare up was so

bad for my my foot that, like, I didn't move all night.

I I took an Advil, and then, like, I woke up, and it was

today. And usually, like, I don't know. I I must have

forgot when I set my alarm because I was just like, I have to go

to bed. I need this pain to end. Yeah. Where and, like,

Okay. Yeah. I am I'm not sharp in the

mornings anymore. Yeah. I am. And that's not my my ADHD pill hasn't

even kicked in yet. So Yeah. Lucky ducky

from Kentucky. Okay. So, well, on that note,

thank you for tuning in to another episode of Resilience AF with Blair and

Alana and Lenny Gu. We appreciate you. We

appreciate you so much. You know, we do this every week. New

show every Tuesday. It's Alana and me and a guest

or just us two or just me and a guest, but we're here to bring

you these conversations to empower you to strengthen your resilience muscle.

It's completely okay to not be okay. It's okay to have

plantar fasciitis and not be able to walk or to have an endo flare up

and pass out of the bathroom floor, but

you should probably go to the doctor if that keeps happening. And,

you know, life is hard. Life is beautiful. You don't have to go through it

alone. We are here to hold your hand. We are here to be that

lighthouse in the storm. And friends, just remember, you

are resilient AF.