Hi, everybody.

I know that you all are really loyal listeners of this podcast,

and I truly can't thank you enough for listening and supporting me

and listening to all these great authors and all of our conversations.

And I'm so thrilled that so many of you have become fans and gotten to know me on

Instagram and Facebook and all the rest.

For those of you who have been following me on Instagram, you probably know all this already.

But I just want to share with you all directly that personal losses I've been going through

right now just so that you all know, because I feel like I share

so much of myself on the podcast in dribs and drabs, and it's such a personal show for me,

even though I'm getting to know other authors and delving into books and all of that fun stuff

as well. In July, my husband Kyle's grandmother, who we call Nini, her name's Marie Felice, went into the hospital with some, actually this might have been in June, with some difficulty breathing.

She had a pre-existing lung condition and kidney condition, and she was 90.

When she went into the hospital, she caught COVID.

And before we knew that, she unwittingly gave it to her daughter, Kyle's mom, Susan,

who is 63.

This all happened very quickly, and Nini ended up going home and going back and going home to the hospital and eventually

passing away on July 21st, 2020, which was really, really awful and sad because Nini

had lived with Susan for years and they were super close.

Nini is the warmest, cutest, cutest lady, and I got to know her really well five years ago because we all

started a crumb cake business together based on Nini's recipe. So Nini and Susan and Susan's daughter

Stephanie and my husband, Kyle, and I collaborated and launched this business, and it was fantastic,

...