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Hello, and good morning everybody.
Hi, good morning the Flicy Heath.

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How are you doing. I'm good, how are you? Absolutely fantastic.

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Been waiting to talk with you because
hummingbirds are such a powerful total animal that

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it's like, oh, I cannot
wait to really dig into this story.

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Thank you, thanks for having me. What is your connection to the hummingbird

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and to have the spirit of a
hummingbird? Well, the hummingbird represents and

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symbolizes, you know, joy and
tenacity and just getting through hard times with

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that positive outlook. I think midway
through the book you definitely get an idea

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of where the title came from.
Yeah. Absolutely, And it's one of

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those where I want listeners to really
participate with this story and go into it

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with an open heart, because you
really do invite them to not only enjoy

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the story, but maybe to search
their own hearts as well. For sure.

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Definitely what kind of other books do
you find yourself putting out there in

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the way of you know, we're
to have a continuation, because this is

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one of those stories where you go, I want more, I want I

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want more. And I think it's
because I'm a binge watcher when it comes

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to television. Well, you know
when I when I go over my reviews

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and some of the feedback, it
does sound like people want more, more

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of the second half of the story
of the adulthood and maybe more of the

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healing process. So I would consider
that certainly the one of the things that

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you put in here. I mean, you've got such a real world here

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in the way of trauma, betrayal, fear, helplessness, and yet and

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yet this is this is the fun
part. There's a healing and that to

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me is that that's the victory at
the end. Yes, I think a

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lot of it was almost a coping
mechanism at the time, like a lot

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of positive self talk in order to
get through it, and that carried through

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into my adult life. And it's
actually you know done me well. Being

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from from Vietnam or having those connections
to Vietnam. I work with a gentleman

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that is from there and the stories
he shares with me. In fact,

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we even have neighbors that would love
to move there. For you to bring

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these stories forward like this, this
really gives people an identity to have like,

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hey, this is about my culture
as well. Yes, you know,

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I've been back to visit a couple
of times, and I brought as

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much as I could from the imagery
and the feelings the culture into the book

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where it was relevant. And there's
been so many people that I meet during

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book signings that have a connection one
way or the other and it really resonates

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with them. One of the things
I mean, it had to have been

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an open heart that you held in
your hands, because we don't know a

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person until we experience their story.
And that's what you put your you know,

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you put your breath, your heart
beat, everything into this. Yes,

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I wanted to give my readers the
most authentic version of the story I

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possibly could, so I relived all
of those experiences and the emotions not only

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for my audience but for myself as
a healing process. Was it was therapy.

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Did you journal during this, because
that's one of the things that I

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do as a writer is that when
I when I start building a book,

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I have a separate journal that explains
why I did this, the emotions I

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went through, so that I can
identify because as writers, you know how

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we are, sometimes we can get
kind of crazy with our emotions. Definitely,

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I didn't necessarily journal, but I
guess you could consider it. I

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did. I dedicated some time,
you know, if this was all during

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COVID where I wrote for a few
hours, like once or twice a week,

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and then I put those passages together. So I think you could consider

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journaling in a way. And I
also outlined a lot of stuff. It's

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it takes work, actually to make
sense of things that happened in the past

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through the eyes of a child.
And isn't it really weird how the things

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that we go through later on in
life, it becomes tools. Yes,

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when you reassess them with a mature
mind. There are so many more layers

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and appreciation for what you've been through. When you spend your early life on

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the run like you did, how
do you slow down to enjoy life?

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How do you how do you get
into your presence of what is right now?

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Yeah, So it's interesting because I've
been working on this, you know,

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I'm so used to this fast paced, highly chaotic and although it's not

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the same as it was in my
past where it was negative, it's all

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positive stuff. I do have to
be mindful about not taking on too much

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so that I can stay present.
It definitely helps to have kids to slow

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life down because you know, they
grow so fast, so you really just

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have to live in the moment and
slow it down because before you know it,

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you'll miss it all. See.
That's why I always try to convince

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listeners that, you know, if
you're looking to slow down life, go

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locate boredom, and when you sit
in boredom, all of a sudden times

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basically stand still for a moment.
Mm hmm definitely. But when it comes

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to reading a book, don't you
like trans that energy of knowing that our

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imaginations are going someplace. I like
that before this, this this meta quest

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that was out where we can just
you know, put these goggles on our

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head and we go into this world
writing. Go read a book. Go

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for that advantage. Oh, I
know. I think it's just as effective

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as any kind of you know,
VR video game that you play to just

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open your mind up and let the
story take over. Now, one of

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the things that I can relate with
in this story because I did not get

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to really have a relationship with my
father. Well, look a look at

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this here. Does does your father
have a place in your future? Right

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now? It doesn't look like it. There was a possibility, and we've

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had our interactions here and there,
but it just didn't feel real and genuine.

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And he was also very against the
book being published. Oh wow,

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Yeah, I've been on the Barnes
and Noble tour with other writers and boy,

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we've we've talked about things like that, like because it's so easy to

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silence someone who's holding a writing instrument
or their fingers are on a keyboard.

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Mm hmmm. So we haven't spoken
since the book's been published. Wow,

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how do you deal with that creatively? Because I mean, like I said,

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what you know, we as creative
people. It comes from the universe

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and it moves right through us into
the into the hearts and eyes of those

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that are going to read it.
I think it's okay. You know,

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we have this expectation in our heads
what a father should be like, and

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it's not always that black and white
and easy, and not every relationships the

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same and some some don't serve you, you know, positively at all.

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And it's not something we have to
hold on to just because it's some society's

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you know, image or expectation of
a father's role. Do you have a

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favorite writing place? So when I
wrote this, I was I was in

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an airbnb studio in Philadelphia all by
myself. But I write it just in

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my office, a little corner office
in my in my house. Yeah.

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Well, you see, a lot
of people don't understand that because it's like

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my writing place is different from where
I come in to do, you know,

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do do a broadcast, And they're
two completely different personalities. People don't

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realize that writers and other things that
we do in our life, those are

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just different transitions. Mm hmmm.
Yeah. So my space that I use

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for you know, work, is
not the same space that I use to

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be creative. Yeah, and you
have to learn how to respect it,

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don't you. Definitely? What what
are your writing times? I'm a very

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early morning person. Yeah. With
my kind of schedule, you know,

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I a lot of the writing,
the creative part or the crew is already

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happening in my mind and then I
have to literally schedule, you know,

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dedicated protected time. I would say, usually in the evening after the kids

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go down with the glass of wine. I hear that a lot with moms

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and stuff. Now, speaking of
the glass of wine, I'll bring this

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up many times. I'll ask somebody, did you have a wine glass moment

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where you went into your story after
a couple of SIPs and said, all

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right, I've got the confidence I'm
going to change this, just to see

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how I'm going to write myself out
of it. I can't specifically remember a

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moment of doing that, but I
did drink you know, wine the entire

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time I wrote it. See that's
like one of my books. What I

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did was I was drinking wine and
I went in and I actually took out

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a character. And then and I
challenged myself to you know, okay,

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now, what are you gonna do
with the story? You just took out

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one of the big characters. And
I told myself, figure it out.

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Figure it out. Oh wow.
And because I just writers in general just

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inspire me so much, because of
because of the chances that we take.

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Just by putting words on a page, you're taking a chance. Oh yeah.

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And just even with the stories I
decided to include in a memoir,

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I think I was taking a chance. Is it weird to call it a

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memoir? Because I mean, as
readers, we have to remind ourselves that

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it is about you. I don't
think it's weird. I mean I mean

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it's it's like in the way of
like, okay, because easily this could

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have been a story and that was
just you know put you know, like

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nonfiction. Oh yeah, yeah,
I guess so. I think the memoir

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part comes because I try to write
it through the eyes of me being very

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young. Yeah, so you know
there you have to fill in some of

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the gaps and be creative and make
something very painful into art. You know.

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One of the things that I've learned
in talking with actors and even songwriters

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and stuff. If you don't share
your story, the future doesn't receive it.

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And that's what's great about you putting
this book together because I want listeners

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to read this and I want them
to understand that even their story needs to

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belong to the future. Oh if
it's just by me writing it, it

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just leaves, it leaves. I
don't know, a story for my kids.

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The pages, the physical pages are
left, you know, long after

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I'm gone. It's just so meaningful
to me. And yeah, absolutely,

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we really should, you know,
embrace our stories because if you change your

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perspective and you share your story,
you'll eventually find power in it. Absolutely.

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Where can people go to find out
more about you, to discover you

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and to support you? So you
can find me on Instagram. I am

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Felicia Keith Underscore MD. I also
have a blog called Mixed Feelings Mama dot

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com and my book is available as
an audiobook as well as paperback on all

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platforms Amazon, Barnes, and Noble. Is it your voice? Yes,

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I narrate the whole thing. See
that's beautiful. You totally get it.

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You totally get it. It's a
memoir, so I couldn't use anybody else's

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voice. Please come back to the
show anytime in the future. The door

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is always going to be open for
you. Thank you so much. Appreciate

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that. Will you'd be brilliant today? Okay, you too,