As always the Soul Cafe Podcast begins as we reflect with Della Mae’s song about how we might all be in need of a Rude Awakening or just any old awakening will do. So who do you ask to be a guest on the Soul Cafe Podcast when you and your wife are celebrating your 40th Wedding Anniversary? Invite wife Jill to join you of course and invite None other than author of the intriguing book…How to be Married…Jo Piazza. Jo is also author of some great fiction…Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win…co author with Lucy Sykes of Fitness Junkie and the Knockoff….and her newest fiction co author with Christine Pride…the great work entitled..We Are Not Like Them. Throw in a couple Nonfiction books…If Nuns Ruled the world: Ten Sisters on a Mission and Celebrity, Inc.: How Famous People Make Money….and of course near to my heart as a Podcaster..her acclaimed Podcast…Under the Influence and Committed….are we lucky and honored today to have Jo Piazza…welcome Jo Piazza to the Soul Cafe. jopiazza.com
As always the Soul Cafe Podcast begins as we reflect with Della Mae’s song about how we might all be in need of a Rude Awakening or just any old awakening will do.
So who do you ask to be a guest on the Soul Cafe Podcast when you and your wife are celebrating your 40th Wedding Anniversary? Invite wife Jill to join you of course and invite None other than author of the intriguing book…How to be Married…Jo Piazza. Jo is also author of some great fiction…Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win…co author with Lucy Sykes of Fitness Junkie and the Knockoff….and her newest fiction co author with Christine Pride…the great work entitled..We Are Not Like Them. Throw in a couple Nonfiction books…If Nuns Ruled the world: Ten Sisters on a Mission and Celebrity, Inc.: How Famous People Make Money….and of course near to my heart as a Podcaster..her acclaimed Podcast…Under the Influence and Committed….are we lucky and honored today to have Jo Piazza…welcome Jo Piazza to the Soul Cafe.
jopiazza.com
Now since this is the Soul Cafe Podcast 40th Wedding Anniversary/Love edition
Today we are going to focus primarily on Jo’s book…How to be Married. Now How to be..came out in 2017…no doubt a few things have changed with Jo and marriage since then..more on that later. The book starts with a note from the author that tells us…”after many years spent wandering the world for both work and pleasure, I well know that you can’t witness the truth of any country or culture in a single visit , or even in many. I’m a traveler and a journalist, not an anthropologist, psychologist, or historian “…..my words….she just wanted to know…how to be married. Jo also says upfront that her goal in writing How to be Married is to start a dialogue about partnership, sex, love, marriage, fidelity, monogamy, polygamy, money, power, equality, kids, men and women, and how all these things fit together in a world that’s changing faster than most of us ever thought possible”…Oh my……..So Jo…
What did you learn in 5 minutes or less…what still applies?
Ok…now on to my favorite chapter that my wife and laughed hard for at least a day after reading…chapter 4..Maine…Were a Team? No way better I suppose to learn about How to be Married than heading up to Sunday River, Maine for The Wife Carrying Championship……..please tell is a little about what was learned that day at Sunday River."?.and of course she will be telling it from the perspective of the one being carried…..
Tell it Jo
So…this is the Soul Cafe…where life is served up freshly brewed….and you are talking to some guy who went to Divinity school or seminary or cemetery as some call it….I could not help but notice that in addition to degrees in economics and journalism you also have one in religious studies…..
Now what was that about?
So, I promised that we would come back to the obvious question…well obvious coming from someone who has been married for 40 years…and coming from someone that very often starts the day with those words from Thomas Merton..”My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me….”
It has been 7 plus years since writing..How to be Married…..what still applies…and what now seems like fools talk?
So…Jo this has been amazing….thanks so much for taking the risk to talk with us today….I will send you the link to this episode soon…..please post on all your social media and help out a person who after 40 is still learning and growing.
Peace. (You can mute and exit)
This love—this relationship we are talking encompass so much more than even marriage—as Author and Activist Valerie Kaur says:
Love is more than a rush of feeling. Love is sweet labor: fierce, bloody, imperfect, and life giving—a choice we make again and again. Love is not any one emotion. love is All our emotions: Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger is what we harness to protect that which we love.
Revolutionary Love is the choice to labor for others, for opponents, and for ourselves—to transform the world around us, and within us.”
I am a lucky man…to have shared life and love with my best friend for 40 years…been blessed with 3 of the coolest children anywhere and 2 super cool grandchildren and a dog named River…and of course to be able to interview such a person as Jo Piazza…get all of her books soon. jopiazza.com
Next month on the Soul Cafe Podcast I will be having somewhat of a wilderness/Lenten theme…with a National Endowment of the Arts Fellow and author of many books….Paula Huston..focusing in on her brand new book..The Hermits of Big Sur…so be ready for some wilderness conversation.
And in April…drum roll..I will be taking with Jo Piazza’s co author Christine Pride about their brand new book..WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM.
And that book reminds of the depth of love—we are talking even more than marital love—as Desmond Tuta said, “our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other”
Remember…the table is huge….all are welcome at the Soul Cafe where life is served-up freshly brewed.
Wrap up
Today since it is a special 40th anniversary love episode I will leave you with a super love song with the permission of Drew and Ellie Holcomb…..(Drew Holcomb and NEIGHBORS)
“It’s in the wine we drink, dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and the lights go out till the sun comes up; we are not alone. It’s in the miles we drive, never having to say goodbye to the things we tell each other without saying a word.
You are the one thing that I know.”
Thanks for joining us to today at the Soul Cafe.