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Speaker 1: Hello, feline friends, Welcome to Cata Tune. I'm your show host,

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Michelle Fern. Today we have an author with us who

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has written the most amazing book about a very special

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cat and his journey to bring the cat home my pen.

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It's an incredible book. Stay tuned. I don't want you

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to miss this. We'll be right back.

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Speaker 3: Talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone. I would like to welcome Brad Bayer.

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He is the author of Slope, a true story of

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Love and Resilience. Welcome Brad.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, Michelle, How are you.

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Speaker 1: I'm great. How are you doing.

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Speaker 4: I'm doing wonderful. Thank you, and thank you for the

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opportunity to speak with you today.

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Speaker 1: It's my honor to have you on my show. Thank

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you for your service to this country.

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Speaker 4: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate that so much, and as do I'm shore

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all of my listeners. So this is a really unique book.

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I've never read anything quite like this because it talks

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about your life in this service, but also when you

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rescued this kitten in another country and your journey back.

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But there's a lot of backstory. What motivated you to

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write SLOPI well.

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Speaker 4: And really I owe it to my wonderful and beautiful life.

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It was a couple of years ago we were actually

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cleaning out our basement after Christmas. It usually gives you

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that time of the year where you want to fin

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things out, and I remember going through our storage rooms

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and trying to empty some toats and make some spaces

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in some space in our home, and I stumbled across

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a box of my old memories and I popped the

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box open, and inside I found some of my army memorabilia,

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had from the Army, some medals and one of those

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things I found was a picture, and a picture was

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a little black and white kitten laying on a foot

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locker among the stars and stripes newspaper. And I held

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it up for my wife to see, and she looked,

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and just as only wives can do, she went, oh,

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you know what, you really need to sit down and

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write her story. The country could use a story like

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hers right about now. So I sat down and I

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just started writing about how I found this kid, and

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this kitten stumbled into my life and in many ways

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changed my life and I changed her life.

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Speaker 1: It's a great story. I'm trying to go to the

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picture that I have.

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Speaker 4: That was the picture I pulled up for her to

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see at that point.

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Speaker 1: Beautiful tuxedo. Would you call her tixedo?

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Speaker 4: I think I would. It was yeah, yeah, she had

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the most beautiful coloring. What was beautiful about her as

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the white that went up her nose and then was

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kind of complimented by her little pink nose at the end.

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So really I kind of gave her an inquisitive look.

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Speaker 1: Molly is a black and white and she has a mustache,

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so she looks half French. It's only halfway.

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Speaker 4: It's amazing amazing what God does with coloring for our animals.

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Speaker 1: Yep, and her nose, Molly's nose is black. So okay,

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it's very amazing the things that happened. So let's talk

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about your background. So you had an interesting background. You

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went into the service and it seemed like from what

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I read, it was kind of well, I don't know

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if I'm going to do this or that, let me

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go here. So what made you decide to go into

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the service.

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Speaker 4: Well, I grew up in a city just outside of

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Philadelphia called Naharastown. It's about it. It's a city about

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thirty five thousand people, blue collar town, just good salt

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of the earth people. And both my parents grew up poor.

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They met each other, not surprisingly, they struggled with money

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for a good period of their life, and when I

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was a teenager, they went through a devastating bankruptcy and

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parents pulled my younger brother and I side and said, hey, listen,

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we have no money left. That was kind of devastating

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to hear. I always knew my parents would take care

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of me, but certainly devastating to hear, hey, we have

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no money left, but we'll always love you. And at

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that point, as a teenager, I kind of I made

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the decision that I was never going to struggle like

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my parents did. But at that point I had no

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idea how I was going to do that. And coming

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from a blue collar town, especially in the late eighties

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at least where I was, a lot of kids didn't

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go to college there. I was one of five children

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at that point. None of my siblings had ever gone

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to a four year university. Mostly the parents in our

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town didn't go to universities and things like that, so

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there was no college tours, and I knew I didn't

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want to go to any more schooling at that point. Actually,

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I was quite terrified of the thought of going to college.

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So I decided, hey, I wanted to serve my country.

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I had a great deal of patriotism then I do now,

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So I said, hey, I came home from school one

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day and I told my parents, Hey, I'm joining the army.

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And that started it and I ended up about eight

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months after that I joined. I was enlisted and sent

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to Fort Benning, Georgia, which is the home of the

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US Army Infantry, and that started my career. I went

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in thinking, well, I'll just retire from the military. I

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come to realize it wasn't necessarily a good fit for me,

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but that's how I decided to go. It was really

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just that sense of patriotism and knowing I wanted to

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serve and definitely didn't want to go to college.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so not what I said earlier, But it's interesting

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college terrified you, yet serving your country and all that

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entailed did not.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you have to wonder about the intelligence of somebody. Right,

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You find a US army a lot less scary than college.

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But yes, that's the that's the way it started for me.

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Speaker 1: I think you need a lot more hood spot. I

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don't know God's to just say I'm going to serve

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my country rather college. To me, that's a lot easier.

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Speaker 4: You would think. But to me, I chose the military first.

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Speaker 1: So well, thank you again for your service. I might

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keep saying that do there, but I really do respect

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all the people that serve our country. I don't think

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they get enough appreciation at times.

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Speaker 4: So well, we have that in common. I agree.

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Speaker 1: In the book, you give a good background of what

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it's actually like to be in the army, and you know,

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most of us as civilians, only know by you know,

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what's in TV, what's in movies. Maybe some of us

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have read other military books, but do you really talk

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about it in detail? What was your purpose in doing

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this to set up what happened later in the book?

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Speaker 4: Well, I kind of think not only did it talk

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about service and what my journey was to finding Slope,

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but I think it kind of explained how I got

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there and what I realized going in the military. It

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was it's a hard life, especially going through infantry school

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and things like that, where your whole job is really

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learned to how to kill other people and to break

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their equipment, and that's really what it comes down to.

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And as I was going through this, there was times

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I'd questioned myself and my faith, like it would God

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be okay if I had to beg and met another

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human being. And through all of that you realized a

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how much you miss home, b how much you care

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about the people that you serve with. But at the

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same time you also realize that it can become very

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self focused and really focused just on yourself and how

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miserable you are and how homesick you are. And it

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wasn't really until I found Silopi that she helped to

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bring that maturity out in me, that hey, the world

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is bigger than just you and your own problems, and

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you have to learn to care about others as much

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as you do yourself. And in this case, a little

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tiny kitten that I found out in the desert.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you about that. How did you

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find her so out in the desert? I mean, a

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little kitten surviving in the desert.

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Speaker 4: It was just after the time when I went in.

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It was just at the end of the Cold War.

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So I was stationed in Berlin, Germany, which was an

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interesting time to be there because a couple months before

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I got there, the Berlin Walls just began to fall.

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But right at that time we went into Operation Desert

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Shield that sam Hussein invaded Iraq, and luckily that war

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went relatively quickly. But my unit, being that I was

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in Berlin, we didn't take part in that. But immediately

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after we had what we called Operation Provide Comfort. And

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if you can recall back then, a lot of the

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Kurdish refugees were fleeing Iraq, Northern Iraq, and what our

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unit was supposed to do is to help rescue those

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Kurdish refugees, help to provide them safe transport into Turkey.

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So that was what my unit was there for, along

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with a number of other countries that formed the Operation

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Provide Comfort Coalition. And it was one day we were

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out in so SILOPI, to give you an idea, is

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about a mile north of Iraq and about two miles

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from Syria, so it is right there, really in the

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middle of the desert, and it's about one hundred and

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twenty five degrees every day, just beating heat, very dry.

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But we had a giant tent set up that's where

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we had our chowel haul and walked. I went in

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one day and I sat down and there's picnic tables

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within the tent, and because it was so crowded that

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particular day, I threw my hat on the floor next

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to my feet. And as we're sitting there eating the meat,

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I just hear this little chirping. This just kind of

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beat me. I'm looking around. Nobody else seemed to hear it,

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and I looked down and inside my hat curled up

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is this little black and white kitten. And I looked

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at it and I said, guys, there's a cat in

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my hat. So upon hearing that, I kind of realized, Hey,

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doctor Seuss may have written the book, but I lived

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the story, you know. So I had this little black

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and white kitten in my hat and I picked her

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up and we all just sat there looking at it,

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and she's looking back at us, probably thinking, you know

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what are these alien creatures staring at me? And somebody

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came up with the idea at that point of Hey,

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let's take her back to our tent and we'll make

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her a pet. And that's kind of where our journey

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with Silopie started.

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Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, we're going to take a short break. We'll

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be break back.

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Speaker 5: Molly.

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Speaker 1: Here's your dinner, SEUs, that's not your food.

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R E E t r a y dot com.

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Speaker 3: Let's talk past it.

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Speaker 1: Let's dunk Petal Headline.

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Speaker 7: Radio, pet Light radio dot com.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone, we're talking to you Brad Byer. He

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is the author of Slope, a Story of Love and Resilience.

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So we're at the point. So you just found Slope,

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you decided to make her pet. Do you think that

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Slope provided some support to you while you were there?

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And I know you said the Army makes you very

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self focused, So besides that, do you think she provided

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other support other than, you know, caring for something else?

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And I guess the love that comes.

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Speaker 4: With that, right, Oh? Absolutely? And I would say I

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don't think necessarily the army makes you self focused, But

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being a nineteen year old, twenty year old young man

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who's miserable and just wants to get home, you know,

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I think the age and the homesickness tend to make

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me a little more self focused. And finding her, we

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really kind of are unit and when I say our unit,

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there was probably about fifteen twenty people in our tent,

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and she kind of became our little mascot. And what

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was interesting about her is here I am it was

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a unit. At that time. There were next to no

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women in this employment, so it was a bunch of us, dusky, dirty,

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smelly men, and in all of this dry, arid earth

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and dirt and heat, she became this little piece of

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sweetness in my life. That was something that was really

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at the end of the day, after working in one

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hundred and twenty five degree heat and working around ammunitions

253
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and all of these other men, I would come back

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and find her curled up on my cot and it

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was for me a little sense of sweetness, a little brightness.

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It was almost as if God kind of said, hey,

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this is a little creature that you need to look for,

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you need to care after. And it was just a

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little bright spot that she brought every day, I think,

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to not only need, but really everybody in the tent.

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Speaker 1: Did your peers in the tent, did they help hid

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her well?

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Speaker 4: It was interesting because at first everybody was on board,

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and we took her back to the tent and got

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her kind of all cleaned up, and so that the

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very first night, I put her in a box with

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a little towel and just thought, hey, you know, I

268
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made her a litter box. I had no experiences with

269
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cats whatsoever, but somebody suggested, hey, let's create a litter box.

270
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So I made her a litter box. She immediately went

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to the bathroom in a litter box, which I thought

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was this. Hey, she's the smartest creature I've ever met.

273
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You know. I didn't realize that was pure instinct. But

274
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that evening I put her in a box and she

275
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went to sleep. It was just like having a little baby,

276
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and I thought, all, this is great, until about two

277
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o'clock in the morning she decided to wake up and

278
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did a Helen Ready, I am woman. Hear me roar rendition,

279
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screaming at the top of her lungs, and our lieutenant,

280
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who was in the bunk directly across from me, suggested,

281
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very forcefully, buy her get that cat out of this tent.

282
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So I tipped the box over and she ran out

283
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and skid it out of the tent. That was the

284
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end of my great cat experiment, I thought, anyway, But

285
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until the next morning I woke up and I felt

286
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something tickling the top of my head, and I thought

287
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one of the guys was messing with me, so I

288
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reached up to slap their hand away, and I grabbed

289
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a handful of fur. And then what I realized is

290
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she had gone out in the middle of the night

291
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and somewhere during the evening, came back, took residents on

292
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my pillow, and was now licking the top of my head.

293
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So in two days, this little kitten had found me twice.

294
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And it was at that point that I realized, you know,

295
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she's not a ten mascot. She belongs to me at

296
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this point. And that's when I realized, Hey, I've got

297
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this other life that I need to look after, I

298
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need to take care of.

299
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Speaker 1: Well, thank you for sharing that. When you brought Slope

300
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back to the US. You had to go through I

301
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mean you were on I think it was two or

302
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three flights, and you had to sneak her in, but

303
00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,279
it all seemed to work. That like another sign.

304
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Speaker 4: Well, and that's the biggest The first one is to

305
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,360
get her out of Turkey, because after you know, after

306
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three months of really hiding her from everybody else in

307
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the camp, at one point the military police came through

308
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because there were stray dogs in the area that people

309
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were making pets. And the military police came through and said,

310
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we have to exterminate all the pets or all these

311
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animals for fear of rabies. So I had to hide

312
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her from the military police. And then it was time

313
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to leave the deployment, and I'm thinking, I can't leave

314
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her behind. You know, I've been feeding her this long.

315
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She's gonna starve to death. So at nineteen twenty years old,

316
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I figured out I have to get her out of

317
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the country. But how do you sneak a kitten out

318
00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,000
of the country of Turkey? And we had to go

319
00:16:17,039 --> 00:16:20,080
through inspections and looking at our persons. So I had

320
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,919
to secret her out of Turkey until I got her

321
00:16:22,919 --> 00:16:26,039
back to our unit in Berlin, and then I had

322
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to hide her from the rest of the unit in Berlin.

323
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And then it finally came time to bring her home

324
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to Pennsylvania, back to the Philadelphia area, at which point

325
00:16:33,919 --> 00:16:35,919
that was the next big thing. My mother, who has

326
00:16:36,159 --> 00:16:41,519
is a voracious cleaner and a neat freak and really

327
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,279
had no pets growing up to speak of. I had

328
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,159
to convince her, hey, can I bring this cat home. Well,

329
00:16:47,159 --> 00:16:49,799
of course, she couldn't picture what a Turkish cat looked like.

330
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I think she thought I was bringing home a Bengal

331
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tiger or something like that. So so yeah, I basically

332
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had to bring this a little tiny kitten across continents

333
00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,200
so I could finally bring her back to my family

334
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home in the Philadelphia area.

335
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Speaker 1: I think it's a miracle you made it back with her, you.

336
00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:08,559
Speaker 4: Know, Michelle, it's twenty My wife and my mother in

337
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law and my son and I just flew down to

338
00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,079
Florida a couple weeks ago and we took our dog.

339
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It was a little lap dog. I was stressing out

340
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with her on the flight. My wife said, how did

341
00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,759
you ever do this with Silopi? And I really think,

342
00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:23,839
and we had paid for a seat for the dog.

343
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I really think it was just kind of divine intervention that,

344
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you know, God brought Silopi into my life and she

345
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changed my life. I changed her life, and the rest

346
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:34,559
is history.

347
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right. Okay, so we're not going

348
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to give away all of the story. But at one point,

349
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once you're home and you're you know, you're at your parents.

350
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Out of your commitment for the service, you went to school,

351
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things change, and at one point you decided to make

352
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the decision to leave SILOPI like, let her stay where

353
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she was rather than move with her.

354
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Speaker 4: Well, and that actually wasn't my decision. That was my mother's.

355
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And it's interesting because she was very hesitant to have

356
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a pet, and very hesitant to have this Bengal tiger

357
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,240
that she thought I was bringing home. But it came

358
00:18:11,319 --> 00:18:13,440
time to move on to my life and start my

359
00:18:13,559 --> 00:18:16,839
professional career, which required me to move out of state.

360
00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:19,559
And so I went and I mentioned to my mother, Hey,

361
00:18:19,599 --> 00:18:22,440
I've got this new job opportunity in the Detroit area

362
00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:24,119
and she said, well, what are you going to do

363
00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,559
with Silope? And I said, well, she's mine. She's going

364
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to come with me. And she said, well is that

365
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really fair to her. You're going to be working odd hours,

366
00:18:31,279 --> 00:18:33,880
she's going to be home alone a lot, and wouldn't

367
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:35,759
it make more sense to leave her here? And that's

368
00:18:35,759 --> 00:18:38,960
when I realized that this neat freak with obsessive compulsive

369
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tendencies who always wanted her house spotlessly clean kind of

370
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had fallen in love with this cat just as much

371
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as I did. And well, she was happy for me

372
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and willing to let her son go. At that point,

373
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she really wasn't willing to let her grandkitten go. So

374
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I left Slope behind with my parents and at that

375
00:18:57,440 --> 00:18:58,839
point she became their cat.

376
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Speaker 1: So do you think that when we make these decisions

377
00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:06,400
it's I mean, it's not always the easiest to do,

378
00:19:06,519 --> 00:19:09,759
but sometimes you have to come to decision of what's

379
00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,000
right for my fur kid. You know, what's the right

380
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,680
thing for them, whether it's either relocating or deciding to

381
00:19:16,759 --> 00:19:19,799
adopt and thinking about if you're going to change your

382
00:19:19,799 --> 00:19:21,599
lifestyle or not, or can.

383
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,079
Speaker 4: You absolutely I think it comes to the form just

384
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,920
like regular kids, whether they have fur or not. Right,

385
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,480
sometimes you have to make decisions not based on what

386
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:31,960
you want, but based on what's best for them. And

387
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,799
at that point I realized that she had become so

388
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,799
attached to my mother. She especially became attached to my father,

389
00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,079
who was just always just an animal lover and a

390
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,200
sweet human being. And yeah, like I said, they were

391
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:48,039
happy for my ability to move on with my life.

392
00:19:48,079 --> 00:19:50,160
They just weren't quite ready to give her up yet,

393
00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:52,720
and they didn't. I think it was the right decision

394
00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:54,319
for both Silopia and my parents.

395
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:56,200
Speaker 1: I think you're right, what about for.

396
00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:01,200
Speaker 4: You that there was guilt feelings about that. But sometimes

397
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,039
the love you have for other people and for other

398
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:09,200
creatures sometimes supplant what you might feel about yourself. So difficult,

399
00:20:09,279 --> 00:20:11,799
and I wrote in the book that was a difficult

400
00:20:11,839 --> 00:20:15,599
situation as I backed out of my driveway for the

401
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,200
last time and saw her sitting in the window looking

402
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:22,920
at me, And that was very emotional time in the book,

403
00:20:23,039 --> 00:20:25,200
very emotional time in my life. Here I am turning

404
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,240
this page and I'm really leaving kind of the sweetest

405
00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:30,720
bookmark of that page behind me.

406
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,920
Speaker 1: So I think that was very It was very thoughtful

407
00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:34,160
of you.

408
00:20:34,519 --> 00:20:36,400
Speaker 4: Thank you. Not easy, but thank you.

409
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,319
Speaker 1: You know about your parents, You thought about your cat Selope,

410
00:20:39,519 --> 00:20:42,000
they were, you know, with her all the time. I

411
00:20:42,039 --> 00:20:45,359
do believe when you adopt, you know your furbabes can

412
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,960
acclimate to your lifestyle. My first adoption was two dogs

413
00:20:50,039 --> 00:20:54,240
at different times, and I was working, but I had,

414
00:20:54,319 --> 00:20:56,359
you know, at times, I had a pet sitter come

415
00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,319
during the day, or we adjusted my lifestyle. Some times

416
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:02,559
you have to do that. But then there's also the

417
00:21:02,599 --> 00:21:04,920
other side of coin, where your lifestyle is not going

418
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,559
to work, and maybe it's there's a better place for

419
00:21:08,599 --> 00:21:13,599
this furbabe. Well, it's sacrifice, right, sacrifice exactly either way.

420
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,079
Speaker 4: Well, and as you can see in the book and

421
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:17,920
as you hear in the book and it comes out

422
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,480
of the pages at you, Yeah, there was not a

423
00:21:20,519 --> 00:21:23,599
doubt in my mind that she knew she was being

424
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:27,000
rescued and saved and being given it a better life.

425
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:32,079
And she did everything she could to make sure I

426
00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:34,400
stayed safe and getting her out of the country and

427
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,000
back home. That it was kind of a no brainer

428
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,119
as far as doing what was right for her when

429
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:40,680
it was my time to sacrifice.

430
00:21:41,079 --> 00:21:44,559
Speaker 1: What is your opinion on this, Because when you adopted Slope,

431
00:21:44,599 --> 00:21:47,640
it wasn't optimal time. It was difficult, it was I mean,

432
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:49,559
you're in this service and then you have to, as

433
00:21:49,599 --> 00:21:51,880
you said, go through, you know, over a continent to

434
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:56,599
bring this little kitten back. So wasn't optimal time. And

435
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,880
sometimes you know, us as humans, we never really have

436
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,799
an optimal time in our life when we're considering, you know,

437
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,039
should I adopt a cat? Should I not? Is it

438
00:22:06,079 --> 00:22:08,359
a good time? And by the way, two is always

439
00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:11,359
better than one. They keep each other company. So two

440
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,400
cats adopt two at one time, it's much better. So

441
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,519
But what do you say to those that say, well,

442
00:22:16,519 --> 00:22:18,519
it might not be a right time. I don't know.

443
00:22:18,599 --> 00:22:21,480
It could be difficult, because I have my opinion on that,

444
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:23,359
of course, But what do you think you know?

445
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,480
Speaker 4: I would agree with you, and I don't care if

446
00:22:25,519 --> 00:22:29,200
it's a cat, a dog, a child. If you wait

447
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,640
for the perfect time for anything in life, you're going

448
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,200
to constantly be left waiting. And I think the joy

449
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,839
and the love that you miss out on. I always

450
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,640
like to say life is what happens while you're busy

451
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:45,759
making plans, and sometimes there's never going to be a

452
00:22:45,839 --> 00:22:48,640
right time to do anything. But certainly when it comes

453
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,119
to bringing love into your home in the form of

454
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,160
a pet, sometimes there's always that leap of faith. And

455
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,279
I certainly did it with Sillopi, and it sounds like

456
00:22:57,319 --> 00:22:59,480
you've done it with your cats and then your dogs

457
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,000
in the past. Their ability to worm their way into

458
00:23:03,039 --> 00:23:05,920
your heart is crystal clear in reading my book, but

459
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,519
it's crystal clear for anybody who's had a pet before.

460
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,559
And if you just wait for that perfect time, I

461
00:23:11,559 --> 00:23:13,119
don't think you're ever going to get there. I think

462
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,319
it's love always takes a leap of faith.

463
00:23:15,839 --> 00:23:18,920
Speaker 1: I think You're absolutely right. Because when I moved across

464
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,880
the country and I was deciding should I adopt or

465
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,079
should I not adopt? It took me a while and

466
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,400
I actually worked for a year and thought, let me

467
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:30,960
think about this, because I work a lot, is it fair?

468
00:23:31,279 --> 00:23:33,519
And I finally decided, you know what, I'm doing this

469
00:23:33,759 --> 00:23:36,680
because I'll make my life work. I'll make it work.

470
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,559
And one of my best decisions. So my dogs I adopted.

471
00:23:40,599 --> 00:23:44,400
My cats all adopted me. So that's you could just

472
00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:47,839
I'm in South Florida, so it's warm here most of

473
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:49,920
the just about all the year except if we get

474
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:54,279
this lone cold fronts, so cats are always around, especially kittens.

475
00:23:54,279 --> 00:23:58,240
So's I could have been adopted by probably eleven. I'd

476
00:23:58,279 --> 00:23:59,480
had five at one time.

477
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,880
Speaker 4: I do find you, that's for sure. Certainly testament.

478
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 1: They find you, especially during kitten season. They find you.

479
00:24:06,319 --> 00:24:07,039
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.

480
00:24:07,559 --> 00:24:11,039
Speaker 1: Also, I would like to mention that you did not

481
00:24:11,279 --> 00:24:13,240
let your fear of college stop you.

482
00:24:13,799 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 4: I did not. That changes something about the military and

483
00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,039
laying in the forest and getting rained on and snowed on,

484
00:24:21,319 --> 00:24:25,039
and you know, toxic or cs gas thrown at you,

485
00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:27,720
and you become real quick. Yeah, I think I'm ready

486
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,160
for college now, So that's a great way of finding

487
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:32,559
what you desire in life.

488
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,079
Speaker 1: Can you share your degrees? Because I thought it was

489
00:24:35,599 --> 00:24:38,839
incredible from having a fear of college too, I should

490
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:39,640
call you doctor.

491
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's yeah for this young kid from Narstown

492
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,880
who had no interest and was terribly afraid of going

493
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,319
to college and it ended up. You know, I ended

494
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:52,519
up with a bachelor's degree, to master's degrees and a PhD.

495
00:24:52,839 --> 00:24:55,200
So that's kind of one of those things you never

496
00:24:55,279 --> 00:24:58,759
say never. And I think that gets to that part

497
00:24:58,759 --> 00:25:01,839
of resilience in the book of you know, even when

498
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,599
things are difficult, you just keep pushing through, and you

499
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,720
just keep trying to succeed one step at a time,

500
00:25:07,759 --> 00:25:09,839
and literally you just never say never.

501
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,920
Speaker 1: I was asking about resilience and defining it, but you

502
00:25:13,039 --> 00:25:15,920
pretty much said it. Never say never. I mean persevere.

503
00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,799
I think we all have challenges thrown at us, whether

504
00:25:19,279 --> 00:25:23,079
you know, we grow up with certain situations, or whether

505
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:27,200
we have physical limits or financial limits, or there's a

506
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,519
lot of kinds of limits. But the big thing is

507
00:25:29,559 --> 00:25:31,599
to just persevere or just do it.

508
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 4: Michelle, I agree with you wholeheartedly, and you know I

509
00:25:34,759 --> 00:25:37,319
have one of my sons is in college right now,

510
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,480
and I think many things we've done wrong in our

511
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,799
society is trying to take that fear of failure or

512
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:48,039
trying to take difficulty away from our children. Because really, ultimately,

513
00:25:48,079 --> 00:25:51,200
in life, whether you're successful or not depends on whether

514
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,119
you just keep going. And I keep telling my current

515
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,559
college student is you know, it may not be fun,

516
00:25:56,599 --> 00:25:59,359
but life isn't always fun. But the difference between people

517
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:01,839
who succeed and don't is the ones who just keep

518
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,839
going and not stopping are the ones that ultimately succeed exactly.

519
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,759
Speaker 1: And how many times have you heard that it's okay

520
00:26:09,799 --> 00:26:12,359
to fail, just don't do the same thing more than once.

521
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 4: For sure, that's a great way of putting it. Yes,

522
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:16,119
I'll be using that from now on.

523
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 1: I don't know where I heard that, but no, you

524
00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:21,039
know what it is. It's okay to make mistakes, just

525
00:26:21,079 --> 00:26:24,119
don't make the same mistake twice. The same thing with failure.

526
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,799
I mean, that's a mistake, right, and you're going.

527
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 4: To fail, And what you have to realize is you

528
00:26:29,039 --> 00:26:31,039
just keep going, so you have to keep going.

529
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I love your book. It's Slope,

530
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,880
a story of love and resilience and the name. Actually,

531
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,440
if you're doing author search, Bradford J. Bayer, Brad where

532
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:42,599
can people find your book?

533
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,319
Speaker 4: You can find it on anywhere you get books, Amazon,

534
00:26:45,839 --> 00:26:48,319
Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, things like that.

535
00:26:48,559 --> 00:26:50,119
Speaker 1: I know I'm doing it again, but I have so

536
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,119
much respect for our service people, So thank you again

537
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,839
for our service. Thank you for coming Oncatitude. I so

538
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,119
appreciate it, and thank you for sharing your story with us.

539
00:26:59,519 --> 00:27:01,440
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Michelle, It's been a great honor.

540
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:02,200
I appreciate it.

541
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,440
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. I hope you all enjoyed this book again.

542
00:27:05,519 --> 00:27:08,480
It's called Slope. It's a true story of love and

543
00:27:08,519 --> 00:27:13,119
resilience by Bradford Bayer. It's really a wonderful book. I

544
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,119
couldn't put it down. I loved it. I want to

545
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,359
thank Brad Bayer for coming on Catitude and sharing his story.

546
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,319
Thank you so much. I want to thank my cat crew, Dennis,

547
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,079
Charlotte and Molly who taught me what it is to

548
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,000
love a cat, So thank you. And of course a

549
00:27:28,079 --> 00:27:31,160
huge thank you to my producer, Mark Winter for working

550
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,920
his magic on my show and making it sound amazing

551
00:27:35,079 --> 00:27:38,799
for everybody listening. And a huge, huge Thank you to

552
00:27:39,079 --> 00:27:42,559
my listening audience. Thank you so much for listening to Catitude.

553
00:27:42,599 --> 00:27:47,240
I so appreciate it. And hey, remember lose the attitude,

554
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:48,319
have catitude.

555
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:54,039
Speaker 5: Let's Talk pets every week on demand only on petlight

556
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:59,559
radio dot com.

557
00:28:00,759 --> 00:28:05,279
Speaker 2: Don't e