Welcome to all there is. Wherever you are in the world and in your grief, I'm glad you're here.

My guest on the podcast today is Dax Shepard, host of the podcast Armchair Expert. He's also an actor and a writer.

I spoke with Dax a couple weeks ago in New Orleans at Book Fest, which is an annual event at Tulane University where dozens of authors come and speak.

I'm still going through boxes of things in my basement that belonged to my mom and my dad and my brother. And the other

day I came across some grainy pictures of me on a trip to Norlands with my dad. There was one taken

in a photo store on or near Bourbon Street, one of those places where you dress up in costumes.

All the others are from a cheap, insomatic camera I had. That's why the pictures are so grainy.

But seeing them brought back the memory of that trip, wandering around the French Quarter and an old

cemetery with its above-ground tombs. I remembered the way my dad made me feel.

I remember his love and the way he treated me

as a person worth listening to and worth including in on everything.

I hope that's how I can make my boys feel.

The photos on the back all have the date that they were processed, July 1977,

which means I had just turned 10 on that trip, and in less than six months, my dad would be dead.

When Dax and I sat down in front of an audience at Bookfest, I talked with him about his dad,

who died in 2012, and also about his friend Eric Dane, the actor,

who died last month after a 10-month battle with ALS.

We'll have that conversation in a moment.

Welcome back.

As I mentioned, I spoke with Dax Shepherd a couple weeks ago

at Tulane University during Norland's Book Fest.

It was a moving and at times funny conversation and I wanted you to hear it.

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