Q & A Episode 75 - Mental Health, Money, & the Power of Real Talk: Trapper Roderick Gets Raw About Life in the Trades
Episode #75 | Q&A with Mark D. Williams | Mental Health, Money, & the Power of Real Talk
In this episode, Mark Williams and Trapper Roderick chat about what made 2025 special for them and what they’re excited about in 2026—from cool new branding ideas for their job sites to sharing some real talk about mental health and the ups and downs of being a contractor. There’s plenty of humor, honest moments about family and faith, and even some creative marketing tips (plus some dumpster talk!). It's all about appreciating the wins, learning from the tough moments, and staying hopeful for what's next.
About The Curious Builder
The host of the Curious Builder Posdast is Mark D. Williams, the founder of Mark D. Williams Custom Homes Inc. They are an award-winning Twin Cities-based home builder, creating quality custom homes and remodels — one-of-a-kind dream homes of all styles and scopes. Whether you’re looking to reimagine your current space or start fresh with a new construction, we build homes that reflect how you live your everyday life.
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Mark D. Williams 00:00
We're happy to announce that on March 20, sauna camp will be coming back to Minnesota for its second annual event. We're going to have three panelists talking about wellness. We've got a Mount Everest summiter. We've got two Iron Man athletes and the inventor of hostage tape. In addition, we're going to have, of course, two hours of sauna and cold plunge with some Himalayan chocolate. In between, we'll have themed saunas. We'll have story sauna, silent sauna, community sauna for different topics. And then we'll end with an amazing wood fired meal from fumo. All the details are on the curious builder podcast.com I'm
Mark D. Williams 00:40
just really thankful to have an opportunity to meet so many amazing people and have really authentic, real conversations, like the ones that are real, like, especially in light of you know that last contractor coalition hearing about people's real suffering, people considering very dark and difficult things and knowing that they just need to talk about it like, I can do that. I could, I can be a help there. Welcome
Mark D. Williams 01:09
to cures. Builder podcast is Mark Williams, your host, I've got a returning guest. I've got Trapper Roderick on from Roderick builders. And what's up? Trapper, not much. Man, it's good to see it. Yeah, long time. No See All right, so I thought we do. I just I always get a little thoughtful and hopeful around this time of year, the close of one year, the beginning of another. So let's talk about it. What were you what are some things that you were thankful for in 25 and what are some things that you're hopeful for in 26 both professionally and personally? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm going to start with some things that sound a little cliche, because I think we all feel like we're supposed to say these things, but I genuinely am. That's my family, right? Like,
Trapper Roderick 01:47
I think being the wife and the kids of a contractor, whether you're organized or unorganized, we are those projects weigh on you. Your clients weigh on you, and sometimes you bring that home, and so the fact that they're willing to do those weekend drives with you and go check on a job site when you could have been doing a lot of other fun things. So I'm most thankful for my family for putting up with me. And number two, God, I know there's a lot of people on your channel that are faith driven, but I know I wouldn't be here today in any capacity, whether that be alive or just in the in the in the career that I'm in, if it wasn't for, you know, some higher being so I'm very blessed, for sure, with those two right out of the gate. Those are pretty powerful ones. I agree with you. It reminds me of that first Friday night with that where we met at contractor coalition. Oh yeah, why don't you share with the audience? Because some of them have not heard that story on this channel, but you know, as an icebreaker, we did an open mic that we'd never done that before, and we've talked about it. Now it's actually going to be called the Ron Jensen Memorial open mic night. We had a friend of ours from Utah, from St George, who took his own life, and it was the Friday night that we had that open mic that he that happened, and we didn't find out about till Monday or Tuesday of the next week, and took a week or so to follow up. And I only bring that up for the contents. For the audience. We've been speaking a lot about mental health on the podcast, and, you know, we had our friend Teddy seiple on a few weeks ago, and from when this airs, and you know, it was a $2.3 billion lawsuit. If you haven't listened to it, go back a couple episodes. Check it out. It is the wildest story you will ever hear. And we, I aired that the week of Christmas, deliberately because I told Teddy I want your story out there for people to hear. Because he basically said that, that he had three options, the bottom, the bottom of a barrel. So like drinking the bottom of a barrel, like a gun committing suicide, or like getting out of it and going through it. And he said, I chose the last one. And I just thought, like, this time of year, it's so powerful where people feel alone. They feel like they don't know where to go, they don't know what to do. And I just feel like, again, sharing these stories, talking about it, gets rid of that taboo and gets rid of that. It's not that we don't we can do it. We just can't. Usually can't do it alone. We need God, we need our family. We need our friends. We need other people in our community. And so anyway, without preface, what was your, I mean, that was your first night. You hadn't met almost anyone there, Contractor coalition, when you, when you when that open mic, you know, Nick and I started with some pretty pathetic ones in retrospect, because after that, things got real.
Trapper Roderick 04:21
Well, the funny thing is, is, while some of those really, real stories were being told, and I think the one about God, particularly, Teddy was telling me the story, so I wasn't even paying attention to anyone, because he's, like, sitting next to me telling me the whole story. I'm like, Dude, you have to share this with everybody. But yeah, it was, it was an amazing night. You definitely should continue doing it, and couldn't be even any better being that named after Ron. He's such an amazing guy. And so I, I was kind of laughing later that night, because there's a few other guys that were at the contractors coalition that are most of them are from Arizona, but they're LDS, just like Ian. So I was like, you know, it's like a fast and testimony meeting.
Trapper Roderick 05:00
Ian and Les Church, which is the first Sunday of every month, but it's for contractors, is where everyone gets up and tells all their stories. They're not really telling us their testimony. They're just telling us their stories, of their failures and successes and but I loved it, because it helped everybody for the rest of the week connect. And really, how do you connect with someone without being kind of stripped down and not being embarrassed. Because, I mean, here we are. We're all like, we're all great at what we do. In our markets, there's some really heavy hitters in that room, and there's some guys doing nothing, but it really brought us all down onto the same level. Because it's nice to know that some of your really big mistakes, somebody else has made something even worse, and yet they're still succeeding today, or they've been to the exact same thing. I mean, think all those stories, except for maybe a few, we can all really relate to,
Mark D. Williams 05:45
yeah, and then, and I think even the ones you can't relate to, at least knowing that people think that they're people that are friends that we wouldn't even know, that might think like that, and just to be available. I was mentioning something the other day. I said, You're an amazing listener, one of my best friends and and I just said, Your warmth of character, the way you treat people, I don't know how to describe it like it's a gift, and your the ability to connect to people as a gift. And so I we all have that gift to varying degrees. Of course, some people have it like any gift. They have a deeper, you know, manifestation of it, or a deeper control of it, but we can all give someone some time, and we can all listen. I know, actually, this is sort of funny, making fun of myself. I told my wife three years ago I was gonna start a podcast her, literally, her first thing she said was, you have to listen to people, right?
Mark D. Williams 06:37
Because she knows I tend to be a bit of a motor mouth. It is true, and I I've become a marginally better listener, but I'm still not that great. I just have a lot there's just a lot inside of me just bubbling up. Can't help react to it. Well, you can call me anytime you're driving.
Mark D. Williams 06:49
It's pretty funny. What? Okay, so thank you. Had mentioned some things you were thankful for. What are some things that you're looking forward to? You know, next year, you mentioned before, in a previous podcast that you are rebranding. Does that excite you? Terrify you, concern you
Trapper Roderick 07:05
like it's really exciting. Here, I'll share one of the like, little things that we're doing, and I think go like this. So most of our job site signs have a picture of what the house is going to look like. It's got a QR code with the project name, so like, the inspector, or whoever is visiting the site can actually pull up the plans, and, you know, have all the information they need. But really, it doesn't really matter. And so because I can never use that same sign again, and you know, you've seen the picture of the house, and cool, that's what the house is gonna look like. Just keep on driving by, right? So I have a series of like, four signs that are going to be going out on all of our job sites, and we'll probably rotate them. So like a lot of our customers, homes, we're going to put it's just this big, giant, four by eight sheet black sign. It's almost all black. There's barely anything on it, and it will say in white, words, some homes are built fast. This isn't one of them.
Trapper Roderick 07:57
And then I'll have our logo on the bottom right, left and then a QR code to probably one of our social media platforms in the bottom right. That's it. Nothing more. And then, like our spec homes will put the name the brand or spec home, which ours is going to be lumen, and is that the one that's going to be done in March? Yeah, you got to come see it. Yeah. We'll definitely talk about that. And then, because it's an under it's an unassuming house that you wouldn't know it's got everything that it has in it, and so that sign will be you'll understand once it's finished, and that's the only words on it, right, with the same branding. So, you know, kind of Apple ask, right? Like, leads you to want a little bit more. So yeah, I'm really excited about the brand refresh. I'm most excited about getting involved. I've always wanted to help other contractors, because I've seen so many fail because they didn't care about the business, didn't care about the numbers, they didn't care about the marketing side of it. So I'm really, really excited to do more within my community and across the nation with other builders and other architects and designers, and just sharing my experiences, because I'm in a unique position. I've been involved in homes that cost $3,200 a square foot to build, like, that's just crazy, you know, and some that are 302 $100 a square foot to build. And we built, you know, 500 tiny homes, and we built 600 modular saunas. And we've done all these, like, really cool, weird things that not a lot of people have had a lot of experience doing. So I want to get out there and share it and help others, because I think if we can help each other, it only makes contractors better. Contractors have such a bad rap for the industry, you know, of not getting back to each other and not communicating all this stuff, right?
Mark D. Williams 09:31
Well, and you think, I think the next I'm just this is guessing. I think we're gonna about a 10 to 15 year, I think a boom for us, meaning like we're already here. We've already a proven track record. We have relationships with all the subs. I think it's gonna take 15 to 20 years for people to catch up. Meaning, like, I do think we're starting to see people come into the trades. I think people are waking up like, you can make six figures pretty quickly in construction. Honestly, I think building is pretty complicated, a lot of risk. I think if I could go back and, let's say I had a son, well, I have two sons.
Mark D. Williams 10:00
Business. But let's say they're interested in owning a business. Honestly, I would tell them to be an electrician. Yeah, I think that's the one I would pick. I told my brother and I would do mainly because I would also dovetail with AV and audio visual, so that, you know, there's so much markup in that stuff, but also, like, you're always gonna need an electrician. An electrician will never, I mean, where you could, at least, if you had to roll up your sleeves and do some stuff. I can roll up my sleeves, and that's all I got. I can do.
Mark D. Williams 10:29
It's called the schmedium but, but I always give Nick schifror A lot of crap for his biceps he's got. But anyway, where I was going with this is, oh, just that. I think we're gonna see. We're just gonna We're at that. We're another, a great position for where our economy is, where AI is, and obviously we need to leverage it. You're one of the, you know, a handful of people that are that I've met at contractor coalition. I mean, Morgan Molitor, and you, you guys are like so far beyond everywhere else. And in terms of your AI adoption, it's super impressive. And as you leverage that, you'll continue to make huge inroads. And I do think, as you know, you had mentioned, you know, modular building and things like that, like we're gonna with the lack of workers, the lack of people in this country that can do we're gonna have to get way more efficient than we already are. And I'm excited for it. I'm sure it'll be painful, but it's an opportunity, and for those that are willing to sort of exercise that opportunity, I think there's going to be a lot of great rewards for it. Oh, totally Yeah. And alongside that, since we're talking about things, we're thankful for it, as long as we can continually breed and make other great employees within our companies, like who I'm so grateful for. I couldn't do any of it without them. Yeah, the sky is really the limit. But it's exciting to see young people that are excited to be in the industry. You know? I mean, the people say they aren't, but there are so many people that are excited and want to and now it's just a matter of us teaching them our craft. You know, I want to go back to your sign thing, because I'm a marketer. I love marketing. What you just told me about those signs. Like it a lot. I like it so much. Like, I'm, like, can I remake all my signs to do the same thing, because it's that, it's like, I'm, you know how, like, you never, sometimes understand, like, where the ideas come from, but they you're being hit all the time, and all since something comes up. Like, for me, it was Misa, who's like, yeah, yeah, this is well, and that's what started my venture on it. Like crap, I haven't, like, I used to brand on my homes, like, this one's called the Getty house. It's next to the Getty. Like, it was meant to be a part of the Getty, but like, just kind of the easy to name, like, how do I start branding these other ones? So I started kind of going down the venture of branding the other which turned into rebranding everything. It's a slippery slope. When you get into that, because you want to be intentional, it takes a lot of thought. I think what people don't realize with the branding convention, like in naming, is like, it takes a lot of dedication, a lot of thought. It's really hard to make something super meaningful fast. In fact, I'd argue you almost can't like it, just a lot goes into it. But what really left an impression with me, and you would know this because it's in Utah, I don't think it was you. Maybe it was you that told me the one star ratings in up the little camp. Yeah, I think it was you. And when I hear you, tell me about those signs, that's, that's what, that's what I hear. It's like. And so for the audience that doesn't know it, why don't you share the genius behind the one star reviews? Because I think that's the best sign. Yeah, it's the best. And you got to look it up, because there's so many of them. But like, there's one right at the mouth of big comic candy, which leads to Brighton and solitude, but it's an advertisement for Snowbird, which is the next Canyon up, which is by far the better mountain Snowbird. Now that there's hands down, you're not getting better skiing, better powder. And so it, they started advertising all the one star reviews that people had left on Snowbird. And it was, the powder was too deep, the hills were too steep. One star review, you know, like, and it's just like, oh, well, of course, of course. It was too deep. That's what we want, you know. And it was just so genius. I mean, I
Trapper Roderick 13:47
I wish I could bring that same like, if I ever get a one star review, I hope it's that so I can advertise it. I mean, you've heard about that. There's actually a strategy where people will actually do it for each other on purpose. I
Mark D. Williams 14:04
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Mark D. Williams 14:42
there's a real thing where you could actually, like, I could go on Robert builders, and I could be like, You know what? Trapper was so detailed, it really got overwhelming, just how detailed he actually was. And he really slowed me down, because all he cared about was quality and perfection, and then, like, that'd be so.
Mark D. Williams 15:00
That's a but, I mean, that's, but that's in companies actually do. It's like, actually a marketing strategy now that people will actually do that, I struggle with being authentic and honest and also doing that. But there's also, for me, there's part of it that would be like legendary, but there's a part of it that's that's also a little bit of, like a nod to, like people that you should do some research and some looking into it, like, if you can't read between the lines and some of these things. And I know for myself, know for myself, you know, a lot of us, our reputation, you know, is our armor. Like we care a lot about it. We put a lot into it, rightly so. But like, there's this old adage, and forget who told it to me, but like, the people that care don't matter, and the people that matter don't care. And the point was, if we go around thinking about, if we're worried about everything that someone says about us, like, we're not gonna get very far in life. I'm not saying you don't care about what people say, but like, you can't let other people's attitude affect your altitude, like you got to take care of that yourself. And what I love about the one star is almost like a little nod and a wink to like a little bit, just like being a little coy and playful about it. So tell you what after this, I'm gonna go on, I'll go on your I'll go give you, if you want a one star review, I'll give you a one star too. I'm tempted I only have, like, three reviews ever. Okay, you should get a few more. But the point is, is, like, I think the whole point of it, right, was like, people would respond and realize, because most people, like, you know you have 50 or 60 year hovering reviews you have, they go to the one that's like, the one like, I'm at, I just looked at, just happened across my path this morning. I'm like, at 4.8 and the person that the person that gave us the one star isn't even anybody I know or anyone I've worked for. I suspect I knew who it was. It's, it's actually, I think, somebody who knew someone who didn't like us, and they were actually legally not allowed to comment on us, so I think they got one of their friends to give but it makes no sense. And so my response was, I'm sorry that you have a negative review of our company. I actually don't know who you are. I don't know how I can help you. Could you please remove your one star review? And I used to bother me, and now, after hearing this, I'm like, that's great, because I gave a, I gave a very, you know, normal response to somebody you would have no idea to and like anyone's like, oh, that's why they have a four point on it. Well, like, Okay, we'll send them. What does that matter? So anyway, I love the one star, but your sign that would start all this is your black signs of like, what was the phrase you use that not? Some songs happen fast, and this is, send them to you. You're gonna like them. I'll send you all of them. But the spec almost it says the brand name of the house, right? And then you'll understand, once it's finished, then the customer homes will be some homes are built fast. This isn't one of them. And then we'll have a probably a couple other but this one is, this isn't a project, it's a future memory. Oh, that's a watch out. Hallmark trappers coming for you. That's a good one. You can use them just
Mark D. Williams 17:39
here and then use them. That is a good one. I am. Did you see, do you happen to see on our socials the sign that I made for misos, the timber sign with, like, the Swedish colors? Oh, yeah, that's, again, partially, what inspired a lot of this, yeah? So it's like, well, it's not that. I mean, yours that one is way cool. I'm not that smart. Mine is more like, tries to hit the heartstrings. But that one is just like, I'd be like, dang, I'm that's mic drop material. What you got there that's amazing. Well, Ian, it's, like, a lot of these neighborhoods we're building, and we're not allowed to put like, signs out in the front, yeah, because they're like, HOAs and stuff like that. So we'll stick it right as you walk in the front door. People are walking in these houses, whether we want them to or not, right? Funny, yeah, we're just gonna stick it in there. It's so funny you say that before, because, like, when you said four bay. Ian like, yeah, no sign ordinance in Minnesota is gonna let me put a four. Gonna let me put a four by eight. That's why I did the hopefully the city doesn't listen to this episode. So, like, I have my nice, beautiful sign with my company name on it, but then that's what came to the miso, who's thing, right? So the timber with, like, the arrows, like hiking a trail and and so I already have my excuse if somebody calls it in which I can't imagine why you would. It's so beautiful. It's not, I mean, just people need to go get a different job in their life if they have an issue with this stuff, and so anyway, but if they do, I this. I'm going to it. I'm gonna say that's not a sign that's, that's a that's art piece, that's sculpture, that's, you know, what is there? Is, do you have an art is there an art ordinance I need to to adhere to. I really do hate it when people take your creative ideas and then they try to put it in a box. And so hopefully it doesn't become an issue, but if it is, I will make a big stink of it. Is now an art sculpture, yeah, so it's gonna be loud, annoying, but it's I want to, I want to track the QR code. QR code clicks, so we'll see, see what happens with it. But I'm excited for it. I think that'd be pretty good. I've always wanted to do. I know Brad does it down and, you know, they do the wire fences around everything, and then they do banners. But we don't really protect our job sites like that. A, it's expensive, and B, it's doesn't seem to be necessary where we are and but the one advantage of is, I think that screening, I actually looked into the same because you imagine me putting that same script all around their house. Yeah, amazing. I mean, that would be worth it. It'd cost you. So the metal fence, I don't know how big your property is, but let's say the metal fence costs you. Assume you can rent it. So you could probably spend five, eight grand on that, and then the printing is gonna be a little more expensive. You could reuse it. That's probably gonna cost you 1015, grand, but I would spend that in a heartbeat, because how.
Mark D. Williams 20:00
Active it is, but what I would love to do with it is, I looked into buying my own dumpsters because then the same thing. So, dude, we need, we need to hang out more. The problem is we're going to cost each other a lot of money, because we'll both say yes, but my, here's my, this is where I stopped. Is the problem with the dumpster is, if I have five jobs, that's five dumpsters. I actually need double the amount, maybe a little bit more, because, you know, you're switching them in and out, and so they need a dumpster to roll off to go get the other dumpster. I have a solution. Okay, what's the solution?
Trapper Roderick 20:33
Okay, so you use the same dumpster guy, right? Yeah, 10 years, yeah, all right. So you're gonna buy a giant magnet, and you're gonna tell him that you're putting it on the side every time, but you always need it, and you're willing to pay him a little bit more if he always has his dumpsters freshly painted and clean the ones that you get. So that way they're always clean pristine, and you just have a big four by eight magnet slaps right on the side every time he swaps it out.
Mark D. Williams 20:58
Why does it have to be out of curiosity? Like, well, sure, I like it to be nice and clean,
Trapper Roderick 21:02
because it needs to be on brand. His dumpster needs to be on Yeah, but
Mark D. Williams 21:06
if your magnet is big enough, okay, I see I was thinking, because I actually thought about this of getting, like, clips in a big fat like, I would wrap every dumpster. So the other way is, rather than buying, let's say I need 10 dumpsters, I would buy five wraps, and then I would just wrap all the dumpsters, but I have to take them on and off every time I change the dumpster, which is a bit of a pain for the PM. I also don't like if they blow and things like that. So I think actually having my own dumpster would be what I really want. But yeah, now just talking about it out loud makes me want it even more. Now it's
Trapper Roderick 21:40
so funny. I've had this conversation a dozen times with my dumpster guy. How can we have nicer dumpsters that are branded
Mark D. Williams 21:46
just us? One, my other thing is, by the way, this podcast has completely gone off the roof. Yeah. We went from like, what are you thankful for? What do you want for next year, to, like, branding, 101, which is like fire, because I love branding. But the porta potties is like, for years, the PMs would always put the Porta Potty, or whoever it was dropping off the Porta pot, next to my job sign. And I was like, I don't care where the Porta Potty goes. The only place it can't go on my job site is next to my sign, because, like, I don't want the sign being connotated with the Biffy a it smells bad if anyone goes by it. But anyway, on our Mesa, whose project I know you follow our stuff, so you probably saw this too. I had this really high end Alaskan cedar left over from another job that took six months to get delivered, and we because we ordered extra. And so I actually vertically orientated it and wrapped my dumpster in a permanent like wood structure with this beautiful stained Alaskan cedar. I mean, I don't even know what the cost would be. To buy it. It was left over. And so I'm gonna do that on all my dumpsters, I'm sorry, on all my porta potties going forward. And I've had so many people comment on the wrap. Some people can't even find the Porta Potty anymore because they're like, What is that wood structure over there? Is that a sauna? I'm like, Oh no, it's not Asana.
Trapper Roderick 23:03
We're actually required in a lot of our communities to wrap the porta potties and match the house.
Mark D. Williams 23:08
I'm all for it real quick, yeah,
Trapper Roderick 23:10
what are you I mean, we didn't get on all the subjects here, but what about you? I mean, you hear so much from us. What are you most thankful for this time here? Oh, wow.
Mark D. Williams 23:20
I mean, the list is sort of endless. I think, from the from this standpoint, just the opportunity to meet so many amazing people, you know, having this conversation, having conversations like this, twice a week for 52 weeks, I love, I love that I get to do this as, like a, kind of like a side hustle. And it's more than a side hustle. It's like, a huge part of who I am. I just didn't I just needed a microphone to help get it going. And like, I just love connecting with people, so I'm just really thankful to have an opportunity to meet so many amazing people and have really authentic, real conversations. I think the thing that I've decided that I like the least is like, fluffy bunny, no substance conversations. I just not interested. And like, if someone is that's okay. I can, I can deal with it for an hour or two or whatever. But like, the ones that are real, like, especially in light of, you know that last contractor coalition hearing about people's real suffering, people considering very dark and difficult things and knowing that they just need to talk about it. Like, I can do that. I could, I can be a help there. And like, you know, I definitely believe God puts us on this planet with different skills and different things. And I don't know, I feel like, at least at this time and in this place, like this is something that I can do to help other people and help myself as well. I mean, I feel great doing it on top. I feel like it's a cheat code, like I come out of these conversations and interactions with people just on your high on life, and I just feel like, Man, this is like, Man, this is just the best ever. And on top of it, you get to help people and like, I don't know. I feel like I'm cheating. I feel like it's a cheat code. I don't know what's happening. So I'm very thankful for that opportunity, the people that have helped, people that listen. Ian people. I mean, honestly, even if nobody listened, I probably still do it because it feels so good for me and for the guest. But I don't know that's that's from a business thankfulness. Honestly, seeing people's like health taken away is always really sobering. I'm I've been very fortunate, naturally from a health standpoint, but like, minor thing, like, the last four months, I've been dealing with this pesky plantar fasciitis thing from running too much last year, and it's like, just walking is painful, and running now it's getting a lot better. Now I'm rehabbing a lot, but like, I think just the mortal reminder that we're not made to last forever, like life is a lot more than the moment we're in. I mean, I've learned that lesson probably 1000s of times, and I'll probably need to learn it 1000 more. I think it's the human condition. And so just thankful for people that remind us that this life is not all about the here and now, and thankful that there's other things in our life, our children, our, you know, our faith and love and and I think the thing that I'm always reminded of, one of my things that I love the most, is that love begets love, and I love talking about love I don't talk a lot about in the podcast, because this isn't a preaching podcast, although I guess it could be. And my kids, someone asked me the other day, one of my kids actually, they said, Who do you love the most? And so it was, and my first thought was actually what Jesus said when he put the children front of the disciples, and He said, You know the child and I and I said, it's a it's a great question. And I said, the answer is, I love all of you the most. And I think what's so beautiful about love, and the more we understand it, is that, you know, the more I love Simon, the more I'll love Tate, and the more I love Tate, the more I'll love may like loving another child or another person does not take away any love from anyone else, if anything. Again, it's a force multiplier. It adds to the love. The more you love, the more I love, the more I have to love. And so I, I think I'm just really thankful for that continued lesson of people in your life that that remind you that there's so much happiness and so much joy, and especially in a world where every morning I read the paper, I'm like, why am I reading the paper? It's so negative. And I I'm not someone who says you should ignore everything, but at the same time, it's like, man, if you, if you just lived your life, newspaper and social media posts at a time, and the negative ones, like, there's so much good and joy out there. Like, focus on that. And so I guess I'm, I'm just thankful to to know that and to to focus on love. So I guess that's the thing I'm the most thankful for.
Trapper Roderick 27:23
That's awesome. I think I actually tagged you on Friday. I said it was something where the daughter says, Daddy, why do you love mommy so much? And he says, Well, your mom believed in me when I had nothing, your mom believed in me when I was a mess. Your mom believed in me when dot, dot, dot. And she still loves me, even though she maybe shouldn't some days.
Mark D. Williams 27:43
No, it's a powerful thing. I think can be different people. I mean, it could be your spouse, it could be your children. There's something that's really powerful about a child's love that's so so unconditional. And I'm not saying that our spouses can't do that, but it's like there's something pretty special about a child's love. I know sometimes Tate my little one, he's five and a half, he's just a firecracker, but he loves me more than anything on this planet. My wife goes, she goes, I don't know what you did to earn that amount of love. It must feel nice, and it does. And so I think, yeah, it's hard to be, it's hard to be more thankful than than a child's love. And then to, you know, to share it, actually something that's been really special lately is Tuesday nights. My daughter has gymnastics and so, something that, and so my wife takes her, and so I have the two boys. So Simon is seven, Tate's five and a half. And I'm just super extroverted. My wife is very introverted, so which leads to some conflicts in marriage, as you can imagine. But Tuesday nights is like, I call it a free range chicken boys night. And so I just, I line up people to go have dinner with, and, like, whoever I want, and but I bring my kids with me. So like, I'll go do like, a guy's hangout with like, a 50 year old or a six year old, or my running buddies, or, like, my 20 year olds or whoever. And I, I didn't mean it to do this, but, like, I thought, like, how cool is like, I have several friends that don't have children and don't have don't plan on it. How cool is it that they get to spend time with my little kids, and like, the joy, like, as a dad, like, who doesn't want to share their kids with someone else, so that's cool. And the second thing is, like, my kids get to learn from like, adults, and like, hanging around adults, so like, their maturity level, like, you know, shaking, looking people in the eyes, like all the little things that we would want to learn, like, and so now it's funny, like, if Tuesday night, if we don't do something, like, the boys are kind of bummed out, or, like, I'll ask them, like, Hey guys, where do you want to go Tuesday night, and who do you want to hang out with? And so, like, it kind of, I get them sort of involved with it. And so that's only happened the last two months. And I'm like, I think that's one of my my goals for 26 is, regardless of May has gymnastics on Tuesday nights, going forward, I told my wife, like, this has become something that's really important to me. And like, I really want to keep doing this tradition, because I think it's, it's good for me mentally, but I think it's actually really good for the boys, just to get out there, just the three of us, and just some dad Sun time. And it's just, it's been a really special thing
Trapper Roderick 29:51
that is really special. I I'm jealous of it, and I'm gonna steal it.
Mark D. Williams 29:55
Do it. I'll steal the signs, you steal the kids. Oh, stealing kids. I. It All right. Well, I'll see you in a couple
Trapper Roderick 30:02
weeks. Thank you. Thanks for
Mark D. Williams 30:05
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