#116. Deanna Dick on Midwifery, Home Birth, and Humboldt’s Changing Birth Landscape

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, boys and girls, and all those out to sea, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast, located here in Humboldt County, today with my new best friend, Deanna Dick.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Deanna.

Deanna Dick: Hi, Scott.

Scott Hammond: How's your day?

Deanna Dick: It's great now that I have a new best friend.

Scott Hammond: Oh, no, I-

Deanna Dick: It's even better

Scott Hammond: … well, we're already old friends, but-

Scott Hammond: … n- new best old friend.

Deanna Dick: Yes, yes. I'll take it.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, glad to have you on the show.

Deanna Dick: Thank you for having me.

Scott Hammond: Here to talk about birth, and home birth, and Humboldt, and, uh, chocolate, and bluegrass,

Scott Hammond: and how it's true that women that little- really cool guys often have way cooler wives.

Deanna Dick: Oh, it's totally true.

Scott Hammond: Is that true-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in your experience?

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yeah, for sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, so tell us the Deanna story. How did you, uh… H- h- who are you, and what, how'd you get here?

Deanna Dick: Hmm. Wow.

Deanna Dick: So many-

Scott Hammond: In my car.

Deanna Dick: I did wander down that mysterious driveway over there. Uh, how did I get here? That's, like… I'll give you the… I should probably give you the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, where were you born?

Deanna Dick: … the-

Scott Hammond: Where'd you go to school?

Deanna Dick: … the cut version.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Okay. Grew up in Lake Tahoe, in Tahoe City.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Deanna Dick: So that place is close to my heart.

Scott Hammond: Is that North Shore?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And in the mountains-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … and skiing and just doing nice, nice childhood things

Deanna Dick: like that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Um, and then I found myself in Humboldt for university.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: That's where… I came up here for school originally.

Scott Hammond: Humboldt State University.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yep, back in the day.

Scott Hammond: When it's not Cal Poly.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yeah, Humboldt State.

Scott Hammond: Recur- recurring theme.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And Adam was going here, too. We kind of… We didn't totally plan on it, but we, um, serendipitously ended up here, I guess.

Deanna Dick: Um-

Scott Hammond: Did you guys already know each other pre, pre-Humboldt?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Deanna Dick: Just for a year beforehand.

Scott Hammond: Oh, weird.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Deanna Dick: We went backpacking the summer before-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Deanna Dick: … when we were in high school. Isn't that funny?

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And then we both ended up going to school here, so that was kinda nice.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Deanna Dick: And-

Scott Hammond: What'd you study?

Deanna Dick: My degree's in Spanish.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Deanna Dick: And my-

Scott Hammond: Mucho gusto.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, mucho gusto.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Me llamo Escocés.

Deanna Dick: Escocés?

Scott Hammond: People go, "Is that how you say Scott in Spanish?" You go-

Deanna Dick: I know

Scott Hammond: … "It's not Escotrés.

Scott Hammond: Escocés." ¿Cómo se dice?

Deanna Dick: Cómo se dice?

Deanna Dick: I don't-

Scott Hammond: I don't know

Deanna Dick: … I don't even know.

Scott Hammond: No sé. No sé, escé.

Deanna Dick: I don't even know how to s- to interpret that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. S- a lot, a lot of, uh, Hispanic folks are just, "Scott, Scott."

Deanna Dick: Escot.

Scott Hammond: Sc- Escot.

Deanna Dick: Escot.

Scott Hammond: Escot.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: I go, "Okay, whatever."

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Anyway. So, uh, grew up in Tahoe. That'd be fun.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. It was fun.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: It was great to grow up in Tahoe.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Where'd you go to school? There's a high school in, like, in Tahoe City?

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah, North Tahoe High School.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: A distinguished… California distinguished school.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I bet.

Deanna Dick: Yep. F- like, home of maybe 350 high schoolers.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Huge.

Deanna Dick: Very, very special.

Scott Hammond: So this is, um-

Scott Hammond: … home of mountain biking and skiing-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and snowboarding and backpacking.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And cold in the winter.

Deanna Dick: And the 1960s Olympics.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's right.

Deanna Dick: Don't forget that.

Scott Hammond: Squaw Valley.

Deanna Dick: Yes. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Or not… Well, it's over across the… Well, it was everywhere. It was-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. It was everywhere. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, Joanie and I stay at her brother's on West Lake-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and have seen the cross-country-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … giant part of the campground on… I don't know why I'm doing this-

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … and talking slow.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

Scott Hammond: But you know what I'm talking about on the West Lake?

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. When you do that with your hand, I, I know exactly what you're talking

Deanna Dick: about.

Scott Hammond: The biathlon area.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. That's perfect.

Scott Hammond: No, it's got signage- … and you go, "This is cool."

Deanna Dick: I'm there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: I'm there with you.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It was fun growing up there.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I bet. Such a fun place.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: When, when I wake up and I'm looking at the lake and, and you could see across the lake to… Where would I be looking at with the ski, uh, is that Heavenly?

Deanna Dick: If you're on West Shore?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's Heavenly Valley?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, I mean… Yeah, you'd be looking at He- at S- at South Shore, yeah, Heavenly-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … I think. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Magic.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Fun place.

Deanna Dick: Magic. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So came to Humboldt.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, came to Humboldt for school.

Scott Hammond: Who did…

Deanna Dick: Did the thing and, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, this is where I use the prop. You're gonna love this.

Deanna Dick: Oh. Oh, good.

Scott Hammond: So this is my, uh, new prop.

Deanna Dick: It's… Oh.

Scott Hammond: A little gift that somebody got me. And this is, uh, the map.

Deanna Dick: Oh, I like that.

Scott Hammond: Dick, zoo- zoom on the map.

Deanna Dick: Mm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So I think we're in Eureka.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And Humboldt State is up here.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And Tahoe's way over here.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah. Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's-

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Oh, it's like here, over here

Scott Hammond: … it's around the planet over there somewhere.

Deanna Dick: In the corner of the curtain.

Scott Hammond: But yeah, we're right in there. So, hey, the- … gotta get the prop in.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. I like that a lot.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, my little laser.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Don't point it in your eye.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I remember, what's the Christmas story that with, he, it used to be-

Deanna Dick: You gotta shoot your eye out, kid

Scott Hammond: … you gotta shoot your eye out.

Deanna Dick: Shoot your eye out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So no, uh, no lasers and-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … no BB guns for us.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So what'd you… Studied Spanish.

Deanna Dick: Studied Spanish and psychology.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You-

Deanna Dick: Part of that time I lived in Chile also, Santiago, and I went to university there.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Deanna Dick: That was great. Lived with a whole family.

Scott Hammond: S- s- sprakens some Spa- Spanish t- there too, I bet.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is it standard Spanish, not Portuguese? That's Brazil.

Deanna Dick: No, it's Spanish. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It's-

Scott Hammond: I bet Chile was fun.

Deanna Dick: Chile was really fun. Yeah. It was great.

Scott Hammond: Is that Patagonia or is that Argentina?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Patagonia is in Chi… It's in both, in the very southern tip of Chile and Argentina, but

Deanna Dick: yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: That's why I'm doing this with my hand. It's the southern part.

Scott Hammond: I'm seeing it now.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Deanna Dick: But Chile was, yeah, Santiago is, is in Chile. And then I just, I didn't have that much school to go to.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: So I just traveled a lot and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Deanna Dick: … explored a lot. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Just solo?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Rad.

Deanna Dick: I was tr- I went there with a program, like a, a study abroad program-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … and made some friends within that. But yeah, afterwards, I stayed for probably two months and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Deanna Dick: … up and down the, the whole country.

Deanna Dick: Went to-

Scott Hammond: Heard-

Deanna Dick: … spend some time in Peru and Bolivia and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that'd be fun.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Machu Pichu Pichu? Is that how you say it?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, Machu Picchu.

Scott Hammond: Machu Picchu.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I bet that's glorious.

Deanna Dick: It was glorious. Yeah, it was incredible.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it's really truly a wonder.

Scott Hammond: And the food's quite good there, all over.

Deanna Dick: In Chile? Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: It's great. It's, uh, it's like they don't like spice there, so it's just-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … um, like, my memory is, like, white bread and cheese, actually.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: And instant coffee. That's like-

Scott Hammond: And it's stable

Deanna Dick: … the staple. Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Deanna Dick: It was not, the food was not why I went.

Scott Hammond: I always think of Argentina and the beef.

Deanna Dick: Oh, Argentina's probably amazing, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. They, yeah, they would have great barbecues.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.Yeah

Scott Hammond: Cool. So is part, were you into midwifery at this point?

Deanna Dick: Mm-mm.

Scott Hammond: No.

Deanna Dick: Not at all.

Scott Hammond: How did that happen?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you came back to the States?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And were you and Adam at all connected at that point?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, we were dating.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So we dated our first, my first three years of college, and that trip to Chile, that, that, um, half a year was, like, my third year of college.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: And then I came back here to the States. Um, then we were not together. This is the season I refer to as, like, the dark years.

Scott Hammond: We were not.

Deanna Dick: The dark a- the dark-

Scott Hammond: We were not together

Deanna Dick: … the dark years. We had some figuring out to do. We were really young when we got together.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: And we had some figuring out to do.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Um, but so I came back, and one of my roommates in college was studying to be a nurse, um, a nurse midwife.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Deanna Dick: And it was just so fascinating to me, actually. Like, her books, her videos, her-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … like, I would have so much rather been studying her stuff, but I was kind of, like, you know, three, almost four years into this degree so I, I-

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … kept with it. Um, but in the back of my mind, it was just stirring. It was, like, always this, like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … interest that I had.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Um, and so it wasn't till… So I actually graduated,

Deanna Dick: moved back to Tahoe.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: No, wait. Sorry. I'm forgetting my own life. I, I actually moved to, um, Canada.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Deanna Dick: And I did a… I started my career with YWAM.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: That's Youth With A Mission.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Deanna Dick: And I did my first, my discipleship training school with them.

Scott Hammond: In Vancouver, or where?

Deanna Dick: In, um, it, just south of Banff-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … in Alberta.

Scott Hammond: Ooh, rad.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, yeah, south of Calgary.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Nice.

Deanna Dick: So we got some, like, good hockey games in and, you know.

Scott Hammond: That'd be fun.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Um, so started that, and then we went to Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and it was, like, war-torn. It was actually kind of nuts. It was like, it was the kind- time in the country where my mom was saving all of the newspaper articles about-

Scott Hammond: Oh, no

Deanna Dick: … how, how dangerous-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Really?

Deanna Dick: … it was there, and I'm like, "I'm going there, Mom."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So she just saved those articles, just in case I, like, maybe never made it home. Or I'm, I'm not sure why, but-

Scott Hammond: Just had them on hand.

Deanna Dick: As a memento.

Scott Hammond: I thought she'd be mailing them to you, right?

Deanna Dick: Maybe it was more like, "This is what you put me through. This is all I heard, and you…" Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So-

Scott Hammond: So what'd the team-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … do in Myanmar?

Deanna Dick: We did a lot of tr- uh, a lot of traveling.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Deanna Dick: You know, we had to be pretty underground-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … um, as, like, as m- mission-minded people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: We were pretty underground. So we did a lot of relationship building, encouraging people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: People who had faith but couldn't really seek it out or express it-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … or anything. It was-

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like mission-minded. That's a really cool way to say that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Mission-minded, mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, 'cause that means a lot of, I think, a lot of good things in my brain.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Went to a country to encourage people-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … who are probably pretty broken and-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … like, war-torn and all the crazy-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. And, and, like, church was illegal.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And meetings, like, like, Christian meetings were kind of illegal.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: So it was all pretty underground.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So they had to be pretty discreet about their faith.

Scott Hammond: What did Myanmar used to be?

Deanna Dick: Um, Burma.

Scott Hammond: It's Burma, okay.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It was Burma. Now it's Myanmar.

Scott Hammond: So it's not Indonesia. It's up in towards-

Deanna Dick: Oh, um, it's all Asia.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: It's South- Southeast Asia.

Scott Hammond: South Southeast.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How long were you there?

Deanna Dick: Maybe six weeks.

Scott Hammond: Rad.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. We had… Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah, so that was one of my-

Scott Hammond: This is not Canada

Deanna Dick: … this is not Canada anymore, folks.

Scott Hammond: Sorry.

Deanna Dick: Sorry.

Scott Hammond: Sorry.

Deanna Dick: But we went in as Canadians. That was very helpful, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … 'cause yeah, sometimes traveling as an American, it's not, like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … so favorable.

Scott Hammond: Don't, don't you know?

Deanna Dick: Hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So we all-

Scott Hammond: So it's-

Deanna Dick: We proudly wore our maple leaf flag kind of things-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Smart

Deanna Dick: … on our backpacks.

Scott Hammond: Go, uh, what's the team in, uh, C- uh, Winnipeg? Is that what you said? I'm thinking of the hockey team up there.

Deanna Dick: Oh, you're thinking of the Flames?

Scott Hammond: Calga- the Calgary Flames.

Deanna Dick: Calgary Flames.

Scott Hammond: Calgary Flames.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Go Flames.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, go Flames.

Scott Hammond: You were a big, a big

Deanna Dick: That's the only hockey t- hockey game I've ever been to.

Scott Hammond: Wait, it's really hot here. Why is she wearing a giant hockey, hockey jersey?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Sorry.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Do what you can do.

Scott Hammond: Don't you know? We were, um… Where were we? We were talking to somebody recently, and they said, "You know, where, where we traveled, it's just better to not be, come off as an

Scott Hammond: American."

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Just be cool about the American thing and-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … you know.

Deanna Dick: I, I always try to pretend I'm someone else probably when I'm traveling.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's good. I think they pulled it off 'cause they, they pulled it off as they were Canadian.

Scott Hammond: Um-

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It's brilliant

Scott Hammond: … it was kind of a funny story. It was… I'm going, "Oh, okay." What I discovered when we were in Netherlands the last three summers-

Deanna Dick: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … is that everybody, including, you know, um, um, locals and travelers, love the New York Yankees.

Deanna Dick: Hmm.

Scott Hammond: Who's got a Yankee hat? I go-

Deanna Dick: Oh

Scott Hammond: … "I hate the Yankees." "They suck," you know? They buy their championships.

Scott Hammond: Uh-

Deanna Dick: Oh

Scott Hammond: … love you Yankee fans, but sorry, just being real.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, but yeah, that was interesting to see that American symbol, uh, flown with great fashion-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and grooviness.

Deanna Dick: I had no idea-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … to think about that.

Scott Hammond: So you travel a lot. That's cool.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It sounds like you really… So did you midwife travel then after that?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: After midwifery. So you-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … I'm ahead of your story. So you came back-

Deanna Dick: I know

Scott Hammond: … from, uh, came back to Canada.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, I came back from Canada, back from Asia, back from Canada, then I, uh, didn't think I would be in Tahoe.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: But I did. I did land myself in Tahoe. I came back to visit my family, and I ended up got, I ended up getting a teaching job actually for the whole year.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: And I was, like, very reluctant. I got hired the day school started.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: At a private school in Truckee and… 'Cause my friend was teaching at that school, and he was like-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … "We really need a Spanish teacher," and I was like, "Okay.

Deanna Dick: I-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … sure, okay," just for, just for half the year. I literally was so terrified of staying. I just, I was, like, just ready to go in the world.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And my plan actually was to go to Afghanistan and teach English.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: And just all these things kept stopping me, so I started to pay attention to that.Um, anyway, so got this job teaching, and I did end up staying the whole school year. But it was, it was fantastic. I, I was the Spanish teacher, and then they were like, "Can you, uh, what h- what science did you do?"

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And I was like, "Oh, I took, like, biology and stuff in college."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: They're like, "Great. Great. You'll teach biology."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: And they're like, "How's your math?" I'm like, "I mean, I took, like, algebra 2 in high school." They're like, "Good enough. Great." So I was teach- all of a sudden, I'm teaching math, science, uh, Spanish 1 and 2, biology. It was crazy.

Scott Hammond: Everything.

Deanna Dick: I wasn't even old enough to drive the kids to the, uh, field trips.

Deanna Dick: I was 23.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: And so I would have to, like, s- go in the vans with the parents and the kids-

Scott Hammond: Hilarious

Deanna Dick: … 'cause I wasn't old enough to drive them myself. I was just like…

Scott Hammond: No liability driving the giant bus.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah, just thrown into it. So that was, like, this, like, kind of odd year in between college and then when I started my midwi- midwifery school, which was the following year in Australia.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. So that's where I did my school.

Scott Hammond: You're, like, the most traveled person I think I know.

Scott Hammond: Or you were. Now we're just going back and forth from Eureka.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yep. Eureka, Arcata.

Scott Hammond: It's good. Could be worse.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: A lot of worse places to live-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I think.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you tr- so how does that add up then? Do the math. So you've traveled the-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … I wanna go back to Australia in a minute.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: You've g- you've gone to here, you've gone there, you went over there.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: What… How do we add up to… How does Eureka and Humboldt stack up to the world-

Deanna Dick: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … in general?

Deanna Dick: Hmm. That's an interesting question.

Deanna Dick: I-

Scott Hammond: It's pretty vague, so you could however you wanna answer it.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. I think, to be honest, I love Humboldt, and there's aspects of Humboldt that are very precious. But I think that Humboldt, if you stay too long, sometimes I think you can lose your sight of what, of what the world is.

Scott Hammond: Hmm. That's good.

Deanna Dick: Can, can, can get a little bit small minded here-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … is what I've experienced-

Scott Hammond: It's good

Deanna Dick: … I think.

Scott Hammond: I think it's a-

Deanna Dick: If I could say that. Is that okay?

Scott Hammond: Totally. It's honest.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's critical-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and it's good. I think there's small-mindedness abounding here.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: There's obstructionists, there's-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and they come in all colors and all-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … political parties of just narrow.

Deanna Dick: Just kinda get a little trapped here behind that redwood curtain-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … and, and f- forgetting that, like, the world is so big and accessible-

Scott Hammond: So big

Deanna Dick: … and… Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So big.

Deanna Dick: So big. So big.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. S- and I said-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you're very kind and diplomatic, and I've said

Scott Hammond: narrow. Why are y- why are we so narrow? That's true. Whenever we get out, like we just got back from-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … Sonoma County bike race-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and Joni rode 68 miles.

Deanna Dick: Oh. She's incredible.

Scott Hammond: She did. Ran into her brother randomly, rando, in-

Deanna Dick: Really?

Scott Hammond: … in Windsor.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: At the beer counter. I go, "Hey, that looks like Uncle Scott."

Deanna Dick: No kidding, really?

Scott Hammond: It's her brother. She goes, "No. Uh, the guy looks exactly like him." And I go, "'Cause it is him." "He was." And they didn't know each other were racing.

Deanna Dick: Oh, that's crazy.

Scott Hammond: And we just hit it off, and they live… They have the place at Tahoe, but they live in El Dorado.

Deanna Dick: Wow. Hi- her brother's name is Scott?

Scott Hammond: Scott Hansen.

Deanna Dick: And her husband's name is Scott Hammond?

Scott Hammond: Hammond.

Deanna Dick: Joni.

Scott Hammond: She married her brother. Wait. We're, we're also follicly challenged. Now, he's one of my… I, I like to copy Jason Shea's line. He's one of my favorite humans.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: He's just a-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … he's just a great… And Valerie, his wife, so substantiating.

Deanna Dick: Mm.

Scott Hammond: A nice guy who's backed by a magical wife-

Deanna Dick: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … who's, uh, one of the first elders in their church at Lakeside Church-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … in Folsom, and just a h- heavy heart, big heart for women's ministry and, and-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … g- and gals and young, young women and-

Deanna Dick: Oh, that's cool

Scott Hammond: … and, uh, mission-minded.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Mission-minded.

Scott Hammond: So, yeah, I like that.

Deanna Dick: Very cool.

Scott Hammond: So we're back to Australia. Australia.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, Australia. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And we're not gonna be narrow-minded anymore.

Deanna Dick: No.

Scott Hammond: Right? Right, everybody?

Deanna Dick: That's a big country.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so what happened in Australia?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. So I was in Perth on the western side-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … which is the most isolated city in the world.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Deanna Dick: Just fun fact.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: The closest next big city to Perth is in Indonesia.

Scott Hammond: Crazy.

Deanna Dick: Isn't that crazy? That's how far out it is.

Scott Hammond: Is that desert side and Aboriginal over there?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it's wild. It's just-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Deanna Dick: … there's just nothing in the, in the middle. There's nothing in the middle.

Scott Hammond: Is it a port?

Deanna Dick: Um, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Deanna Dick: America's Cup was there. That's their big claim to fame is that they hosted maybe even the first America's Cup or many of them.

Scott Hammond: This is the yachting event.

Deanna Dick: Yes. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Those guys are hardcore.

Deanna Dick: They are hardcore. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Right, Nick? I'm breaking the fifth wall with Nick here.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Is, is he saying yes?

Deanna Dick: Nick's over there nodding.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: He's saying yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yes, hardcore.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'd like to mention Nick, Nick Flores, Growing Pains.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Other giant podcaster in Humboldt.

Deanna Dick: Love that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. He's got 7,000 episodes.

Scott Hammond: No.

Deanna Dick: So not… He's hitting buttons. Is he muting you?

Scott Hammond: No, I don't know. Scott's saying different things now.

Deanna Dick: Stop.

Scott Hammond: It's weird.

Deanna Dick: Stop.

Scott Hammond: Um, so how long were you in Perth?

Deanna Dick: Okay, I was in Perth, oh, how long ago?

Scott Hammond: No, how long were you there?

Deanna Dick: Oh, I was there… So I was based out of there for two years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: We would do s- the school was one year. It was like a 20– It was a two-year school condensed into 12 months. Like eat, sleeve, sleep, breathe everything midwifery-

Scott Hammond: Crazy. Wow

Deanna Dick: … training and, and, um, delivering. So it was, like, high intensity kinda thing. So we were in, in Perth for about three or four months, um, studying with, like, nurses and doctors and midwives.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And then we did a field assignment, and that would be, like, nine months of the year. So that was kinda the structure of the school. Three months in Australia-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … nine months abroad.

Scott Hammond: Go do it.

Deanna Dick: And we went to Nigeria, was our assignment.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Deanna Dick: Knew nothing about Nigeria before going.

Scott Hammond: So you didn't go to the Outback. You went to the-

Deanna Dick: Yes

Scott Hammond: … African Outback.

Deanna Dick: We went to the African Outback. Yes. Very, very teeny, tiny town.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: We worked at a hospital that had no running water or electricity in the beginning.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Wow.

Deanna Dick: And it was like, "Oh, here we are." S- walked to our job-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … this tiny hospital.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Wow.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. So that was my school. I was a student on that school, and that was all, like, World Health Organization standards. So, um, yeah, we did that. We, we found that there actually weren't enough births happening in that little, tiny village, um, but they actually lied about it. They lied about the number of births to get us to go there.

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: Yeah. So-

Scott Hammond: So they, they deflated the number?

Deanna Dick: Mm. No, they inflated. They were like-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … "Oh yeah, we have probably, like, 50 a month."

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: And we were like, "Mm, it's more like four or-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … five." So we were like, "That's not enough to get us trained." So we ended up moving to Port Harcourt, which is a port town south, south of there

Deanna Dick: in Nigeria.

Scott Hammond: Ni- Nigeria too?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Little bit more developed. Yeah. We worked at, like, a maternity hospital-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Deanna Dick: … a government hospital. We worked at a lot of different places to get the training and-

Scott Hammond: I love it. I just discovered a really cool mission-minded group called Water For

Scott Hammond: Good.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: And Water For Good, my fellow State Farm agent, uh, his name's actually Jake, which is- … kinda funny. Jake Stewart, what's up? Um, and they have 92% of their wells are still functioning-

Deanna Dick: Oh, that's amazing

Scott Hammond: … versus 50 within the first year of failures of others.

Scott Hammond: So they're-

Deanna Dick: Okay. Water For Good

Scott Hammond: … And, and water has such a trickle-down effect.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: See what I did with that?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Um, because, um, it's just so important, as you would know-

Deanna Dick: It's so important

Scott Hammond: … having been there.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Um, the kids-

Deanna Dick: It-

Scott Hammond: … kids are not getting sick anymore.

Deanna Dick: Mm.

Scott Hammond: People are st- girls are staying in school.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Guys are staying in school-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … getting graduated, and just what a, a, a

Scott Hammond: cool, wonderful blessing it is-

Deanna Dick: Mm

Scott Hammond: … to be part of bringing water.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I leave the w- my son leaves the water on.

Scott Hammond: Hey, man.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. I know. We're so lucky.

Scott Hammond: Turn the water-

Deanna Dick: We don't even think about it.

Scott Hammond: Why are you-

Deanna Dick: My children don't even know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … to worry about water at all.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: They have grown up s- in such a fortunate situation as far as that

Deanna Dick: goes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It's, it's such a issue. It's such a real issue. People are dying of dysentery and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … um, not clean water, can't wash your hands.

Scott Hammond: And they, these guys do a whole education, 'cause a lot of people put their dishes in the dirt where-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … there's fecal matter-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … to dry the dishes or-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … whatever, and it's like, "Whoa, no, no. We don't do that."

Deanna Dick: Badness. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Or people have to schlep water for miles-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … with a big two-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … th- on the back. And-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. We saw that. We lived in that village, like, just-

Scott Hammond: You were right there.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: We were in it.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that's how they, they work, right?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: They gotta go get water.

Deanna Dick: Yep. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Man. Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It's really, it's really important. So when we weren't doing direct maternal child

Deanna Dick: healthcare-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … we were doing, um, clinics on just basic sani- sanitization or, like, just hygiene-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … really basic hygiene-

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … which is, like, lifesaving.

Scott Hammond: That's-

Deanna Dick: So we-

Scott Hammond: … 101, right?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yep. We ran a lot of clinics. We would do… We did a lot of AIDS and HIV awareness. We did a lot of, like, just, just hygiene awareness.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Um, malaria is huge there. Malaria is, like-

Scott Hammond: Is that still true?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: HIV is probably reduced, right, some way?

Deanna Dick: I hope so. So this was, like, tw- this was over 20 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So I-

Scott Hammond: It was a raging problem

Deanna Dick: … I have a feeling that it's probably a lot better now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Um, and I think that malaria is maybe a bit better-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … probably.

Scott Hammond: I know Uganda was heavy AIDS, HIV.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, tough.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, we kind of forget about-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … stuff and-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … go, "Hey, what's for dinner?"

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um-

Deanna Dick: I know

Scott Hammond: … "Gee, I have too many channels to watch tonight.

Scott Hammond: What am I-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what are we gonna do?" And get mad 'cause there's nothing on.

Deanna Dick: I know. First world problems.

Scott Hammond: I know.

Deanna Dick: Right.

Scott Hammond: The bless-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … the cursing of the blessing.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, so.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, I have to, like, pinch myself every once in a while and, and, like, remind myself of where I've lived and, like, how life is-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … outside of-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … um, here.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: It's, it's, um, it's a struggle-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … like a real struggle for-

Scott Hammond: I actually had dental-

Deanna Dick: … a lot of people

Scott Hammond: … help today.

Deanna Dick: You did?

Scott Hammond: Dr. Russell Jones-

Deanna Dick: Amazing

Scott Hammond: … worked on my teeth.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … oh, that's, that's a blessing.

Deanna Dick: That's a huge blessing.

Scott Hammond: You know?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: A dentist might come through a African village once a year-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … or two, five year. Who knows?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: The things that we get to worry about here are sometimes privileges. We-

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you graduated the program.

Deanna Dick: Graduated the program.

Scott Hammond: Congrats.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And then I stayed on another year, and I-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … was a supervisor.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So then I was, like, the teacher for the next round of students.

Scott Hammond: In Perth?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, in Perth. Um, in Perth for three months, and then we… That year's assignment was in India and Nepal.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: So we spent, spent about six months in Hyderabad, such a huge city in India-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … in the middle of India. And-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … yeah, and, and chaotic and busy. We worked at the busiest, uh, hospital in Asia-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … for deliveries.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So there's, like, 30 births a day in this one hospital.

Scott Hammond: So how many births have you attended, do you think, if you just, like, ballpark?

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Thousands?

Deanna Dick: I know I get asked this. Hundred- It's in the hundreds.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: It's, like, more than 700, probably less than 1,000. I'm figuring it's, like, somewhere in, like, 800 and, I don't know-

Scott Hammond: It's such a raw-

Deanna Dick: … somewhere in there.

Scott Hammond: I mean, I've done nine of these.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Have I done nine? I've not done any of them.

Deanna Dick: Nine.

Scott Hammond: I've attended nine.

Deanna Dick: Of your own?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: That's very-

Scott Hammond: Is that true? Did I-

Deanna Dick: … very significant

Scott Hammond: … I think I fell asleep a little bit- … with Kalea. Sorry, Kalea.

Deanna Dick: Shh. I do not think you're supposed to say this on air.

Scott Hammond: I think I nodded just for a minute. Joni will correct me. Or, or bust me.

Deanna Dick: Or bust. You're gonna be busted.

Scott Hammond: It's, and it's such a, um… It's intense.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It's, like, the most raw thing.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Other than maybe, like, a really radical fistfight.

Deanna Dick: Mm. I've never-

Scott Hammond: I don't know why-

Deanna Dick: I've never done that personally.

Scott Hammond: A fistfight?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good. Maybe, maybe you resist that.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: May that not come into your world.

Deanna Dick: Maybe I don't need to.

Scott Hammond: No. By- bypass by all means.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, but it's, like, exhausting no matter how smooth or-

Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh

Deanna Dick: … good or whatever. It's, like, emotionally draining on, on a very deep level.

Scott Hammond: And the ebbs and flows.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Here it co- oh, here comes the contractions. Oh, it's go time.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and no, maybe not. Err.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Wah, wah, wah.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Uh-oh. And then we ramp up again.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then the joy. And then-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … oh, look, who's, here's our new best friend.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Our new best friend. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Kalea, what's up?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. The joy for the parents, usually for us, that moment of birth is the most intense. It's where when we're holding… We're all holding our breaths.

Scott Hammond: Are you saying as a midwife or as a birth-

Deanna Dick: As a midwife

Scott Hammond: … birthing mother?

Deanna Dick: As a midwife.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, 'cause you have four daughters?

Deanna Dick: I have three daughters.

Scott Hammond: Three daughters.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: As a midwife, I don't breathe until everybody's okay.

Scott Hammond: So you're totally vested.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And present.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: No matter how many hours you've been up-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … ahead of time.

Scott Hammond: You probably know this. We had, uh, Brianna at home. She was only five pounds.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Oh.

Scott Hammond: She was six-

Deanna Dick: I didn't know that part

Scott Hammond: … six weeks early.

Deanna Dick: Ooh.

Scott Hammond: Dr. what's-his-name in West Haven said, "Yeah, go for it."

Deanna Dick: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: Um, it was attended by midwives.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And we… And she was great. She was about-

Deanna Dick: Aw

Scott Hammond: … you know, like a little kitty.

Deanna Dick: Little, tiny… Wow.

Scott Hammond: She was really teeny-tiny, and now she's a major force in the universe-

Deanna Dick: Wow

Scott Hammond: … with three sons, and kind of a badass.

Deanna Dick: Wow. Wow.

Scott Hammond: A terrific daughter, and mom-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and wife. Hi, Bri.

Deanna Dick: That's awesome.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's funny how that goes, and-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and if we had to do that over, I'd go, "Hmm."

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: "That was high-risk s- activity there."

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Six weeks early is too early for us nowadays.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, pretty early.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: We'll do three weeks early.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: That's the cutoff. Three weeks early, two weeks late, that's your window.

Scott Hammond: So I wanna get to Ina May and talk about Rosa Dixon-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … who you might know, and some of the ladies that-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … we'll get there. In the meantime, if you're just joining us-

Deanna Dick: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … it's me, your, uh, new best friend, Scott Hammond, and the 100% Humboldt. You can look right up here, too.

Deanna Dick: Oh, gosh.

Scott Hammond: You can wave.

Deanna Dick: We're being filmed?

Scott Hammond: We are.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: All the way through.

Deanna Dick: I did not realize that.

Scott Hammond: No, it's great. You're doing good. With my new best friend, Deanna Dick. And, um, so you came back from that mission, birth mission field-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … how many years were you gone there?

Deanna Dick: That was two total.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, two years total. Um, yeah.

Scott Hammond: You came back and met this guy, Ad- Adam.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Re- remet him.

Deanna Dick: Well, we already knew. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Remet him.

Scott Hammond: Remet. 'Cause-

Deanna Dick: We were, like, talking, I guess you would say. The teenagers would say that. Um-

Scott Hammond: Still talking

Deanna Dick: … we were kind of talking through that whole phase-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … but I was just so… I was so gone, in such remote parts of the world, so it didn't… I mean, it's not like we were really talking.

Scott Hammond: It's like you joined the service.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: You were out of here.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, and it-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … and also remember that I am old enough to where this was, like, 20… This was over 20 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: This was 20, like, five years ago.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: 23 years ago. So, like, email was, like, barely a thing.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Kind of a thing, but definitely not in Nigeria.

Scott Hammond: Calling was crazy money.

Deanna Dick: Calling, yeah, was crazy money, so the way… Nobody had cell phones, really.

Scott Hammond: A satellite phone was cr- you couldn't do that.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, we didn't have a cell phone. I… So I really just wasn't in touch with anyone.

Deanna Dick: I did… This was sad, but I, um, I had prepared for this, but I n- my grandma passed away when I was living in Nigeria-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … in that little village, and I got the news, um, via… So my mom had emailed it to some random email thing that we got ahead of time.

Deanna Dick: It got, got to this office, got printed out, got given to a kid, it got given to another guy, it got given to another guy, who drove it on his motorcycle. I received it, like, two weeks later-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … as a printed out piece of paper, like, kind of a letter that, like, mopsie had passed away.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So I was like-

Scott Hammond: That's not that long ago, and now it would be a-

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Now it would-

Scott Hammond: … a three-second text

Deanna Dick: … exactly.

Scott Hammond: That would-

Deanna Dick: We're so connected

Scott Hammond: … it'd bounce off a satellite-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and it would be there.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Weird, huh?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's what's weird. You know?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I could be driving and, and get… I don't even watch the news, and I'll get the news.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Hey, we just went to war."

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Or, you know, whatever.

Deanna Dick: Totally. Yeah, we're so connected. Like, the world has, um, shrunken in that way.

Scott Hammond: That's kind of crazy.

Deanna Dick: It is big, but it, now it's small, kind of.

Scott Hammond: It's shrunk.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: So you got back home.

Deanna Dick: Got back home. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And now you're certifi- certifiable. You're a certified midwife.

Deanna Dick: Certifiable crazy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Uh, yeah. Yeah, so I got… Uh, so all of that that I did was a ton of experience, tons of births-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … tons of hands-on everything, um, including C-sections, assisting-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … in surgery and everything like that.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Things that I've, like, not even done here.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: Um, but the school was not accredited with, um, California Medical Board or whatever in the US.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So, um, I, so I ha- so in order to get licensed here, I thought, I thought I was gonna have to go to nursing school. I really didn't want to, 'cause it's, I just really was interested in the midwifery

Deanna Dick: part.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: So, um, at the time, the licensure for California, they were giv- they were opting for a challenge,

Deanna Dick: a… What is it called? It was called a, um-

Scott Hammond: You petition it or whatever?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It was called a portfolio process challenge.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Deanna Dick: So you could put together your entire portfolio of all your experience and

Deanna Dick: everything-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … and then still work with a licensed midwife.

Deanna Dick: And-

Scott Hammond: And then they can bless you with the-

Deanna Dick: They could… Yeah, they could see that, like, yes, she's not lying about these

Deanna Dick: skills-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … or whatever, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … whatever, and sign you off on certain things. Then you'd, like, hire someone to do a skills assessment. It was like a five-hour as-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … they'd watch you do all the things.

Scott Hammond: It's a whole process.

Deanna Dick: A whole process, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Deanna Dick: And then I sat for, there's an eight-hour exam-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … that I sat for, and that licensed me for Northern California. So that's… I mean, um, Northern America.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: North America.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: Canada, US, Mexico.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Deanna Dick: So then once you've got that license-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Deanna Dick: … then you can apply for your state license.

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay.

Deanna Dick: Which in California, of course, they're like, "Oh, we would like extra money, and you have to take-

Scott Hammond: Of course

Deanna Dick: … an extra test," so…

Scott Hammond: Wait. W- we like to tax in California?

Deanna Dick: I know, it's weird. It's just, it's brand new.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Deanna Dick: I think. I, I think they just…

Scott Hammond: Oh, everything. Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Everything's got a fee.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: There will be, there will be fees.

Deanna Dick: There would be fees.

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Deanna Dick: There would be fees. So there was extra fees to be, uh, licensed in California, but, um, that is part of the Medical Board of California.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: So, like, the same certifying process does midwives.

Scott Hammond: So what did you love about the proce- about the, uh, the whole training, the, the world tr-

Deanna Dick: My training overseas?

Scott Hammond: All of it. What, what top three things you loved about it?

Deanna Dick: Oh. Um, exposure probably. I could hit everything. I did everything, and I just jumped in. Um, and nobody was like, "You're maybe not good at that."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: They'd just be like, "You're here, so you could probably d- do that."

Scott Hammond: Can you… You're helpful.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And I was, like, up for everything, so I got tons of exposure.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I bet.

Deanna Dick: Tons of experience. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: IVs, shots, suturing, s- even assi- yeah, like assisting in, in surgery. Like, that's not a thing you would do here.

Scott Hammond: Crazy stories, yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Um, I really loved being in different cultures.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: I think that's just, like, a part of my heart-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … and my, like, personhood.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, so living, like, amongst people, liv- eating the food they eat-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … dressing how they dress.

Scott Hammond: That's beautiful. I love it.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Caring for people, love it on them.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Just like, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's goodThat's kind of a Jesus thing. We'll say the J word on-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … on-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … live here on the podcast.

Deanna Dick: Live on air.

Scott Hammond: Almost live.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah

Scott Hammond: No, I mean, you know, go and do likewise.

Deanna Dick: Totally.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: I do think that, I think that what Jesus would have us do is to understand people and who they are-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … in their context. So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … that was… It's, it's really, really hard to offer anything to somebody if you're not willing to, like, see them and live like them, I think.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Deanna Dick: So to come in as, like, a foreigner.

Scott Hammond: And kind of the most intimate life experience-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … to share that is kind of earn respect. I mean, there's-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … a whole lot of levels to that, that-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … relationship that are wonderful.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, good for you.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Says a lot.

Deanna Dick: That was-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty rad.

Deanna Dick: And that was the YWAM way. Like, YWAM taught us that, you know? That was… YWAM was definitely like, we're not here to change

Deanna Dick: cultures-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … or to change p- people, but we're here to present something. If, if anybody wants something that we have-

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … we're here to, like, share a good story.

Scott Hammond: We're hanging out.

Deanna Dick: Good news.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And, um, felt needs first.

Deanna Dick: So-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … in that, in the communities that we were in, there was so much, um, need for healthcare, basic healthcare-

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … and then midwifery care, prenatal care, care for…

Deanna Dick: just care.

Scott Hammond: Gonna go serve.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna take a stab at YWAM.

Scott Hammond: YWAM-

Deanna Dick: YWAM

Scott Hammond: … Youth With A Mission, founded in 1948 by Dr. Loren somebody.

Deanna Dick: Cunningham.

Scott Hammond: Cunningham. Is that who it is?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I almost got it, man.

Deanna Dick: Good job, Scott. I mean-

Scott Hammond: No, I almost-

Deanna Dick: I didn't know the year

Scott Hammond: … almost nailed it.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. That's really good.

Scott Hammond: I lied, I don't know what year it was. But I knew it was Dr. Loren Cunningham-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … when you said Cunningham.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. They're, they're still around, right?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Youth With A Mission. Some people think it's Young Women After Men-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … or Youth-

Scott Hammond: Oh, man

Deanna Dick: … Without Any Money, but it is in, it is true-

Scott Hammond: Could be… Are all those true?

Deanna Dick: … Youth With A Mission. No.

Scott Hammond: The others are true too.

Deanna Dick: Well, kind of.

Scott Hammond: We don't know.

Deanna Dick: Maybe.

Scott Hammond: Could be.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: No, I know they have the big base at Kona in the Big Island-

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … in the Kai- what's the name? Is it… It's not…

Scott Hammond: Well, the-

Deanna Dick: It's in Kona

Scott Hammond: … what's the town?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Kailua.

Deanna Dick: It's-

Scott Hammond: Kailua-Kona.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, Kailua-Kona. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, there's a big base there. The Perth is a really big base.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Deanna Dick: Um, yeah. And there's lots of branches of healthcare within it now. They do lots of-

Scott Hammond: So your faith really has fueled a lot of your love for midwifery and the people in

Scott Hammond: it.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Deanna Dick: Originally, it's what led me to that school, for sure.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: That it was YWAM, it was accessible, and it was like, I… You know, I had been traveling, like we mentioned before. Like, had been traveling a lot in the world and just was kinda…

Deanna Dick: felt like, oh, wouldn't it be nice to, like, offer something? I didn't feel like I had anything to offer.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: So… And I didn't wanna just keep, like, going to these places and just kinda travel for travel's sake or-

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … travel to explore that place or whatever it felt like.

Scott Hammond: Now you got a skill set.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It was kinda like, what can I give back? And I didn't… At that point, I didn't feel like I had anything.

Deanna Dick: I thought-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … I think I need to be medically trained in order to be actual help, a helpful person.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: So-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … that's how it started, and then it did end up coming back here with all that.

Scott Hammond: I love it. Helpful person. That's my mission.

Deanna Dick: Just to be helpful.

Scott Hammond: I wanna be a helpful person. No, it's good. It's-

Deanna Dick: How can I help?

Scott Hammond: … the basic-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … 101.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you came back and re-met at, this guy named Adam Dick.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Yep, re-met him.

Scott Hammond: Is he, is he still around?

Deanna Dick: He's around.

Scott Hammond: Is he?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's up, Adam?

Deanna Dick: What's up, Adam?

Scott Hammond: His name is on this chocolate bar.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah. Yep.

Scott Hammond: What? Oh.

Deanna Dick: He sent us with goodies-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … today.

Scott Hammond: Thank you, Adam.

Deanna Dick: Thank you, Adam.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Um, and so kind of a cool story. So it's kind of a cool love story that you guys-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … remet and you went away in, in service and-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … served your other countries.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Served God and served everybody and helped.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Helped, like you said.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then came back, and you guys kind of rekindled-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … your life together.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yep.

Scott Hammond: That's a cool story.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah, it definitely took me a bit to, like, figure it out, but yeah, I, I came back, and then within a year of coming back… It took me a while. I was swirling around, you know, like, lots of cultural

Deanna Dick: –

Scott Hammond: Detox

Deanna Dick: … detox and just-

Scott Hammond: PTSD

Deanna Dick: … what do you call it when it's, um, the opposite, like, culture shock, but like reverse culture shock?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: I think I was having that, of like, "I'm supposed to be American."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: "This is supposed to be normal, and I can't figure this out."

Scott Hammond: This is weird.

Deanna Dick: Like, why are there 17,000 kinds of toothpaste?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Deanna Dick: It was freaking me out, actually.

Scott Hammond: Look at all the cereal on the shelf.

Deanna Dick: Uh, shampoo. The first time I went to a grocery store and I came back, I, I, I had to walk out. I was only there to buy shampoo and conditioner, and I

Deanna Dick: couldn't-

Scott Hammond: You're in shock

Deanna Dick: … make a decision. I was like, "I don't… What, what do I do? There's too many."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's weird, right?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it took me a while, so…

Scott Hammond: Where'd you live? Did you… Back in Tahoe or here?

Deanna Dick: Um, I came back here, actually.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Deanna Dick: Came back here to Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is Adam still here?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, he was here. I came back here to figure things out with him.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, that was, like, the intention.

Scott Hammond: Was he making chocolate then, or he was just a-

Deanna Dick: Oh, no

Scott Hammond: … carpenter?

Deanna Dick: No, it wasn't even a… He didn't even eat chocolate back then.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Deanna Dick: He was a carpenter.

Scott Hammond: It's out. It's out, folks. The chocolate maker.

Deanna Dick: It's out. He was eating Skittles all day long.

Scott Hammond: Skittles.

Deanna Dick: Oh, wait, he still does.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You're outing Adam left and right.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, I know I am.

Scott Hammond: It's so funny.

Deanna Dick: I know.

Scott Hammond: Poor Adam.

Deanna Dick: I know.

Scott Hammond: Sorry.

Deanna Dick: No.

Scott Hammond: Sorry, bro.

Deanna Dick: No, he knows. He would say that to anyone.

Deanna Dick: He's, he's-

Scott Hammond: Maybe they'll do a Skittles, uh, flavor of the month for him.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah, like on the back of the bar.

Scott Hammond: What's it called? It's their… your flavor of the month.

Deanna Dick: The microbatch.

Scott Hammond: Microbatch.

Deanna Dick: Could do a, like, pouch-

Scott Hammond: Skittles

Deanna Dick: … of Skittles. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Joni was drinking wine once down at… We were having a tasting.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And we… She took a sip of the wine, and she goes, and she… He goes, "What are you getting?" And she goes,

Scott Hammond: "Skittles."

Deanna Dick: Oh. Oh.

Scott Hammond: And the guy, the guy brightened up. He goes, "You know, we get that once in a while."

Deanna Dick: Oh, really?

Scott Hammond: I go, "Oh."

Deanna Dick: That's the, that's the flavor profile.

Scott Hammond: It was some zin. It was, kinda had some sweetness and who knows?

Deanna Dick: I love that. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So let's talk about Humboldt for a minute.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, so you… Actually, we'll do that in a second. So I just wanted to wrap your story. So you came back-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … rekindled with Adam.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Got married within, like, a year later, basically-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Deanna Dick: … after coming back.

Scott Hammond: And then he was a builder for a minute.

Deanna Dick: He was a builder. Mm-hmm. Still-

Scott Hammond: Were you still doing midwifery or just-

Deanna Dick: So I was, like, trying to figure it out 'cause, um, like, my school didn't transfer over, so then I was trying to figure out. Then IRe- got a job at, uh, Full Circle Center for Integrative Medicine.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So I was kind of a OB-ish kind of person, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … it was trying to f- I was just trying to sort it out, like-

Scott Hammond: Are they still here?

Deanna Dick: Uh, yeah. Yeah, Connie Bash.

Deanna Dick: Dr. Bash.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's Dr. Bash. Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: She- hi, Connie.

Deanna Dick: Hi, Connie.

Scott Hammond: She's great.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah, so we're-

Scott Hammond: She helped Joni in.

Deanna Dick: She took me in, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah. She's an amazing doctor. So, um, yeah, I was just sorting through it all. It just, it didn't-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Deanna Dick: … totally, it wasn't straightforward for me because I went the back road, and there was only, like, one or two midwifery schools in the

Deanna Dick: US-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Deanna Dick: … at that time.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So that's when I s- figured out I could do that portfolio process, then I s- got approached by somebody and said, "Hey, do you wanna start a midwifery practice with me?"

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: And I was like, "Uh, while I work on my licensing, I… Sure, I guess."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: So then, yeah, so then it kind of basically was like fast-forwarded my track to-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … having a practice, getting licensed.

Scott Hammond: What was that called?

Deanna Dick: It was ca- that first one was called Serenade Midwifery.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And then, um, and then that morphed into a different practice with, um, one of my very original partners, Brandy Perez, and that we've started Wellspring Family Midwifery.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So that was just a couple years after I got back.

Scott Hammond: And now you're at Moonstone?

Deanna Dick: Now I'm at Moonstone, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And they're, are, they, did they rebuild or, or move the building?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They were in Valley East Boulevard.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, Valley East, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And where are they now?

Deanna Dick: They're, um, on Harrison, right across from the hospital.

Scott Hammond: I'm almost gonna do the map, but-

Deanna Dick: Do the map.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: If you show the hospital entrance-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … right across the street pretty much is, is our birth center now.

Scott Hammond: Oh, perfect.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, perfectly.

Deanna Dick: So, yeah, fun fact about that was that that Wellspring Family Midwifery, we, uh, Brandy and I started that, and then we had Laura Doyle come

Deanna Dick: in as a, um… She was an apprentice first, and then got licensed- … um, with us in our practice.

Scott Hammond: I know her name from somewhere.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Well, she is now my boss.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Laura.

Deanna Dick: So sh- so, hey, Laura.

Scott Hammond: That's why.

Deanna Dick: She owns, along with Calista Young, they both own Moonstone Midwives.

Scott Hammond: And I voted for them best of Humboldt North Coast Journal-

Deanna Dick: Yes

Scott Hammond: … for many years in a row.

Deanna Dick: That's very kind of you.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, our daughter, Brianna, had a baby there.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Had a baby. I should probably know that it was Dax. I, I really don't know the-

Deanna Dick: Some, some baby.

Scott Hammond: Was Davis Brecken? I f-

Deanna Dick: One of, one of the babies

Scott Hammond: … or they attended. Maybe they attend- Would they have attended, uh, a birth at Mad River when they were doing births?

Deanna Dick: No. They-

Scott Hammond: They would do it, they would do it in their tank or at their-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … facility.

Deanna Dick: In their tank, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: They, they would either do a home birth or a birth in their facility.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah.

Deanna Dick: If they're at Mad River, then it's, means that they had to go there for some reason.

Scott Hammond: I'm a huge fan. Our first baby, Jesse, who's 40 now in-

Deanna Dick: Aw

Scott Hammond: … Seoul, South Korea, doctorate in-

Deanna Dick: Oh, wow

Scott Hammond: … poli sci from Davis, uh, born at home in, um-

Deanna Dick: Wow

Scott Hammond: … in Bayside.

Deanna Dick: Wow.

Scott Hammond: We called Dr. Marty Smuckler.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: We paged him.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "It's 9:30. Joni's going into labor."

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: He's there at 10:00. Had to pull him out of the movies, and he had to go to Fieldbrook and get his gear and come back with his- … his wife. And at 10:30, Jesse was born.

Deanna Dick: Oh, wow. Wow.

Scott Hammond: And we had some newts. Remember the newts in natural juice?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: From co-op?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Chugged some juice, went to bed, and it's like, "Oh, right as rain.

Scott Hammond: This is-"

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Is this how it's supposed to go?"

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Yeah. Isn't there supposed to be some hullabaloo or-

Deanna Dick: Wow

Scott Hammond: … some lights or nurses or freak out?" Nope.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: This is it.

Deanna Dick: Nobody freaked out?

Scott Hammond: This is it, man. And she was a-

Deanna Dick: Amazing

Scott Hammond: … champion birther.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Well, that was her first baby. That sounds like a-

Scott Hammond: Second

Deanna Dick: … very smooth.

Scott Hammond: Second.

Deanna Dick: Oh, second, okay. Okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, we did two more after that. Abby and Bree were both at home.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I caught Bree. Or did I catch Abby?

Deanna Dick: Did you?

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna catch-

Deanna Dick: You should not be saying these things on-

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna catch a lotta, lotta heck is what I'm gonna catch

Deanna Dick: … you should not say these out loud on air when people can record you.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's okay.

Deanna Dick: Your children are listening.

Scott Hammond: Dad, don't you remember, man?

Deanna Dick: Don't you remember every detail?

Scott Hammond: You fell asleep at my birth. Killing me, Dad.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah, it's really special. I love it when the dads, like, wanna get in there and-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … catch their babies. It's so special.

Scott Hammond: Amazing. And Dr. Scott Gavin at, um, at Mad River,

Scott Hammond: um, did a, um… What's it, your butts first? Not your head?

Deanna Dick: Breach.

Scott Hammond: Did a breach with Mikayla.

Deanna Dick: Awesome. That is so good.

Scott Hammond: Vaginal breach.

Deanna Dick: Good.

Scott Hammond: Pretty rad.

Deanna Dick: That is so good.

Scott Hammond: What a nice man he was.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: A sweetheart.

Deanna Dick: That's hard to get someone to agree to do that here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, not, not anymore. So, uh, Mad River's no longer doing births.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So let's talk about births-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … as it relates to Humboldt.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Uh, what are we… What's the picture?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's the scoop?

Deanna Dick: The scoop is there used to be three hospitals delivering.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: So that was Mad River in Arcata-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … Fortuna, Redwood Memorial in Fortuna, and then St. Joe's in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: So four.

Deanna Dick: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Three

Deanna Dick: … I'm, I meant three, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Three. And so the only one still delivering is St. Joe's, Providence.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Not Redwood Memorial. You gotta be-

Deanna Dick: Not Redwood Memorial and not Mad River.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: And then Garberville also is not delivering.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Crescent City, do they have babies there?

Deanna Dick: Nope. Well, I actually really don't know what's going on in Crescent City. We get, we get people coming down-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … from Crescent City-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … to deliver with us, but-

Scott Hammond: A lot of that, yeah

Deanna Dick: … it might be like if you can't… I'm not really sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: I shouldn't speak to that 'cause I don't know exactly, but I don't think they have a

Deanna Dick: specific OB-

Scott Hammond: They may go to Medford or whatever

Deanna Dick: … department. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: They might go, or Brookings or something.

Scott Hammond: Brookings.

Deanna Dick: They either come down or go up is what I understand.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: And so, so your options now used to be, like, hospital or home birth.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Now the options are hospital at Providence-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … or birth center with Moonstone-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … right across the way.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Um, and, and maybe if you're lucky, you might find an occasional home birth midwife that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … that is… There's, there's just, like, not a lot. Seems like the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … the huge group of midwives back, um, a couple decades ago, there was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … like 15 or 16. It just seemed like there were so many.

Scott Hammond: Did you know, did you know Jan and Barbara and-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and Celine?

Deanna Dick: I sat at Jan's feet and just was, you know, I was a student of hers. I had to, I had to figure out how to undo a lot of the stuff I learned overseas-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … uh, and translate it to California births.

Scott Hammond: They were a trip, but I really learned a lot from-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … from them, and they were sweet.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Got to dance with Joni while she was in labor and-

Deanna Dick: Aw

Scott Hammond: … all the things, and it's like-

Deanna Dick: So sweet

Scott Hammond: … and she shared with you, she goes, "I tithe, actually. I don't go to church. I'm not really a God sort of person."

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: "But I give 10% of my income away."

Deanna Dick: Mm. Is that Jan?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I go-What a great principle-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you're mastering there.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good for you.

Deanna Dick: She is a really amazing human.

Scott Hammond: By the way, God showed you that probably.

Deanna Dick: Mm.

Scott Hammond: Just for the record. Yeah, she's a sweetheart. And Barbara's still around, I think, right?

Deanna Dick: I think so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Haven't seen.

Scott Hammond: And Celine works for something, Joni told me. Anyway, who knows?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know all the things that I don't remember about…

Deanna Dick: Yeah. But the good things you do remember.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: My kids'-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … births.

Deanna Dick: But you remember exactly.

Scott Hammond: I know their names. I barely know birthdays, so.

Deanna Dick: It's real- the names are a really good start. That's very good.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: That's a good, like… That's pretty good.

Scott Hammond: The thing is, like, with Mike and Aaron, we have to, like, call them, like, four

Scott Hammond: other guy names, their brothers.

Deanna Dick: Before it.

Scott Hammond: Aaron, Joan, me, Ryan, Jesse, Jacob. Oh, you're Aaron. Aaron, come here. It's like, stop doing that.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So hey, quiz time. You… Uh, we can't go by without a quiz.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: You ready?

Deanna Dick: A quiz?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Deanna Dick: Oh, pressure's on. Okay.

Scott Hammond: So this is, uh, the quiz that we do on the show, and-

Deanna Dick: Okay

Scott Hammond: … for you, no exception.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Are you ready?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It's for all the money, by the way.

Deanna Dick: Oof.

Scott Hammond: No pressure.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Looks like you're kind of pressured by this.

Deanna Dick: I really like to do well in school, so, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, one of those competitive overachiever-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … control freak people.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How do I know that? What I-

Deanna Dick: No idea.

Scott Hammond: I know I do.

Deanna Dick: Doesn't show at all.

Scott Hammond: No. I don't care. I'm letting it go, man. I… Uh. Just a podcast. We're having fun.

Scott Hammond: Um, if you got the day off and you could do anything you could in Humboldt County-

Deanna Dick: Ooh, in Humboldt

Scott Hammond: … which is in California.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: What would you do, Deanna Dick? What would you, what, what would you go-

Deanna Dick: If I had the whole day off, I-

Scott Hammond: And money's not a problem, but you gotta stay in the county.

Deanna Dick: Okay. Okay. Gotta stay in the county.

Deanna Dick: I would, um-

Scott Hammond: Ideal day

Deanna Dick: … ideal day. I'd go for a big hike, like, in one of the beautiful forests. Maybe I'd, maybe I'd hike all the way up to the top of, uh,

Deanna Dick: Headwaters.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Deanna Dick: You know? It's like-

Scott Hammond: Oh, Joni's done that.

Deanna Dick: It's like six or seven miles up there.

Scott Hammond: It's a ways when you get-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … back.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And then have a delicious meal somewhere.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Maybe on the rooftop. That's a great little place in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Oh, the sushi?

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. They, uh, they have other things than sushi.

Deanna Dick: They do, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's great.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. And it's gotta be sunny-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … if I, if we're doing this.

Scott Hammond: You can sit outside.

Deanna Dick: It has… The sun has to be out, and it has to be at least, like, 68. Please. Maybe 70.

Scott Hammond: All four, all four days of the year that we get that.

Deanna Dick: Yes. So I'll take one of those days-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … for this ideal day.

Scott Hammond: Just for the record, don't come to Humboldt. It always rains, and it's just terrible, and it's always 40 degrees and foggy.

Deanna Dick: It's kinda-

Scott Hammond: Just for the record

Deanna Dick: … it's gray a lot.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It is gray. Like today.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, yeah. And I'd end it, maybe I'd end it with, like, a picnic dinner-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … with probably some wine and chocolate-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … and food.

Scott Hammond: Does that mean out-

Deanna Dick: On the beach

Scott Hammond: … outdoor? Okay.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that'd be fun.

Deanna Dick: That'd be fun.

Scott Hammond: On a warm day, that would be perfect.

Deanna Dick: That… It'll be warm, 'cause-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … that's the day that I'm choosing. One of those four.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So one of the things that we do with, uh- … with Dick Taylor-

Deanna Dick: Oh

Scott Hammond: … Chocolate is we talk about them, but we, uh, Joni and I go up to, um, to Scenic Drive between north of Moonstone, pull the van over, and have a little picnic.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And what's cool is even when it's 63- … and the sun's setting off the ocean-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … the refraction makes it 75, and I, I jump-

Deanna Dick: Oh

Scott Hammond: … right into my Speedo. And it's like-

Deanna Dick: I knew it. I knew you were a Speedo guy.

Scott Hammond: No, I'm not. Go, "Okay, now he's making it weird." Um, so… And it's just the ideal date night. We discovered-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it during COVID.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I'm going, "Why would we… Why, why would we leave Humboldt?"

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, this is five minutes away, cheap date.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Super fun.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Talk to people, and-

Deanna Dick: Beautiful

Scott Hammond: … it's sunny, and the… Sometimes you see whales, sometimes you see-

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … tons of surfers.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it… There's always kind of something going… We saw a guy do a, like, a base jump with a-

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … with a glider-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … parachute thing.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He did it, like, five times in a row.

Deanna Dick: Oh, that's cool.

Scott Hammond: He's gonna die.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Oh, I'm just a guy from Ashland." Okay, good.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: We're giving you way to go, bro.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Never got hurt. He flew.

Deanna Dick: I need to find the secret spot where it's 75 degrees.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We'd tell you, but we'd have to-

Deanna Dick: Oof.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Ooh.

Scott Hammond: No, we'll tell you.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Tell… It's, it's north of here.

Deanna Dick: Off air.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no.

Deanna Dick: Off air.

Scott Hammond: Let me, let me point at it.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It's right over there. So now, question number two.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: What's soul-crushing for you?

Deanna Dick: Mm.

Scott Hammond: And what's life-giving for you?

Deanna Dick: Mm. Soul-crushing is when somebody says they're gonna do something, and then they don't do it.

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Deanna Dick: That's hard for me.

Scott Hammond: Lies. All lies.

Deanna Dick: Just expectations.

Scott Hammond: House of Lies.

Deanna Dick: That's soul-crushing.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Deanna Dick: Uh,

Deanna Dick: soul-giving is, uh, sunshine.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Deanna Dick: People showing up in, like, small or big ways.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: Um, um, yeah. Like surprises, like good surprises.

Scott Hammond: Good surprises.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Like…

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: I like getting out of town too. Like, that's, that lifts… That, like, gets my head out of the fog.

Scott Hammond: Select to travel.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you have a kid at UCSD, right?

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: So San Diego-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … is no bad place to travel.

Deanna Dick: That's not a terrible place to go.

Scott Hammond: You could do a lot worse.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Home- hometown.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. That's your hometown?

Scott Hammond: Homeboy.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: National City. OTNC.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: I know. That's a, it's not a terrible place.

Scott Hammond: We go for the tacos, dude. El Tac-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: What's it? Uh, El Gordo Tacos.

Deanna Dick: Yeah?

Scott Hammond: Oh, mucho-

Deanna Dick: So good

Scott Hammond: … muy bueno.

Deanna Dick: Oh. Hi.

Scott Hammond: I think I live…

Scott Hammond: Oy. I think why don't we go down there to live on tacos?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's just, like, it's the taco capital.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: It's beer. I mean, the beer in Portland and Bend and San Diego is-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … world-class, but-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … sorry, um-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it's, there's a, there's a l- some Mexican food here that's… But it's not.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it's not-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … San Diego Mexican.

Scott Hammond: It ain't that.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, question number three. For all the money.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: What are you proud of?

Deanna Dick: Ooh.

Deanna Dick: Um, that's a good question.

Deanna Dick: I,

Deanna Dick: um-That's a good question. I'm proud of the, I'm proud of the way that I am trying to, to be a community person.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: Um-

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. It's not always perfect, obviously, but I think that I, I have a real heart to kinda help people, like, find their wings-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … or whatever.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And so I think I'm proud of the way I can do that sometimes.

Scott Hammond: Wow. I like that. No, it's that mentor idea.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Concierging people around.

Deanna Dick: Concierge.

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna help you.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Or walk with you.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like that.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And Catalyst Church is a little like that.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: A, a lot like that probably-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … by virtue of its leadership.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um,

Scott Hammond: yeah-

Deanna Dick: They-

Scott Hammond: Just to walk with people

Deanna Dick: … yeah, they give a lot of people their wings.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Maybe you get your wings today.

Deanna Dick: Get your wings.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I can fly.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then there's this boot in the butt where you're flying out of the nest.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah. Right.

Scott Hammond: No.

Deanna Dick: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Deanna Dick: I know.

Scott Hammond: Look at, look at you soar.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Gosh.

Deanna Dick: I'm, like, in this midlife crisis or midlife reset phase of

Deanna Dick: life-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Deanna Dick: … where I'm, like, trying to figure out, I'm trying to find my own wings again kind of thing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: And it's like, oh yeah, okay.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Deanna Dick: Okay, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Deanna Dick: So.

Scott Hammond: I like it. Who, who isn't, right?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the reinven-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … the reinvention.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And it's inter- it's an interesting… Talk about that for a sec. It's an interesting process. By the way, you won the prize.

Deanna Dick: I won?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, oh, of course you did.

Deanna Dick: Yes. Okay. S- oh, it's that?

Scott Hammond: No, it's-

Deanna Dick: Well, you can keep-

Scott Hammond: It's the… No, it's not that. Here.

Deanna Dick: Oh, it's a chocolate bar.

Scott Hammond: Would you like one of your own chocolate bars?

Deanna Dick: I'm just kidding.

Deanna Dick: I do love-

Scott Hammond: You won the pointer

Deanna Dick: … I do love Dick Taylor chocolate. I am not, um, dissing on that chocolate bit.

Scott Hammond: Do you like… Do you eat Dick Taylor?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah. All the time.

Scott Hammond: What's your favorite?

Deanna Dick: Chocolate bar is the peanut butter bar.

Scott Hammond: You know, I really like the peanut butter a lot.

Deanna Dick: Love the peanut butter bar. I can g- like, lay down, I can lay down a whole bar of that.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Deanna Dick: Or a half a bar in one sitting.

Scott Hammond: It's, calorically, it's not that bad.

Deanna Dick: It's not so bad. It's still, like, kinda dark chocolate.

Scott Hammond: And it, and it's-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I like, I think I like the, the, the fig.

Deanna Dick: Yeah?

Scott Hammond: Joni likes that V one with the Valero. Va- Vanua- Vanuatu.

Deanna Dick: Vanuatu. Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: She likes that one? Oh, that's cool.

Scott Hammond: It always comes with a postcard. She reads it every time.

Deanna Dick: Yes. Oh, that one's so special.

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna, I was gonna bring one and read it with you, but I won't.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: You probably already got it.

Deanna Dick: I didn't bring those.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Well, I probably actually… I'm not sure I've read that actual postcard, but I know the guy who grew those beans.

Scott Hammond: So I love the reinvention because you've already invented because you've been part of a team-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … that's created a family.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Joni. Good job, honey. And part of a team that's created this legendary business, like-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … part of a team that has a band, so you're probably helped along the way there and-

Deanna Dick: Oh, like car-

Scott Hammond: … served

Deanna Dick: … I carried an instrument or two

Scott Hammond: You schlepped a lot of stuff

Deanna Dick: I can't say that I contributed too much to the band, honestly.

Scott Hammond: But still, you were there, and so-

Deanna Dick: I took care of the kids every time they had practice

Scott Hammond: … I'm telling you, it's all-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: You, you drove the getaway car.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yes.

Scott Hammond: It's something.

Deanna Dick: Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: You, you would go to jail, too.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So you get credit and, and blame. So I, I think all those things, I think it's really good. And, and I know there's a point where kinda you're not that far from empty nesting, right?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know?

Deanna Dick: Well, I have a seventh grader, but yes, it's, it's-

Scott Hammond: Dude, when you're my age-

Deanna Dick: … five

Scott Hammond: … that's a five-year plan. That's gonna be-

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it's a five-year plan

Scott Hammond: … like, next Christmas.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It goes that quick.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it's true.

Scott Hammond: It's crazy.

Deanna Dick: It's true.

Scott Hammond: My dad said that. He goes, "You know, Scott…" Called me Rob, my middle name.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: "You know, Rob," he goes, "Life really goes quick, dude." And I, and especially as you get older. That was the point.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It's like a rheostat. It just goes-

Deanna Dick: Mm

Scott Hammond: … off the charts. And I go, "Yeah, you're just… Yeah, yeah, I know, Dad, you're old. You're just an old guy." And now I'm that-ish.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I'm going, "Oh, shoot."

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Doggone it. It's, like, flying by, and so, um,

Scott Hammond: you know-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … FOMO and YOLO and all the OLOs and-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: … and the reinvent-Os. Let's reinvent this thing and-

Deanna Dick: Let's reinvent them

Scott Hammond: … and I like, um… So what's your process of reinventing yourself? What do you… How, how does that look for you?

Deanna Dick: Hmm. Well, it, it all started with I ha- well, I had to… It's been a lot of figuring out of, like, what is working-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … and what's not working.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: And so, um, it involved me, like, resigning from my position at the, at my husband's business.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Deanna Dick: You know? Yeah, so I j- I just needed to like-

Scott Hammond: Often does, right?

Deanna Dick: Yeah, I just needed to back away from that.

Deanna Dick: That was-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … it, like, had gotten to a point where they were good.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And they, I felt like they didn't necessarily need, um, need me or, you know, like, what, what I was… I, I wasn't bringing something so specific to the table-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … that they couldn't replace. Do you know what I mean?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: And it's, and let's be honest, HR was like, I had to learn that for that business. It's not like I came with knowledge-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … of HR. I just like-

Scott Hammond: Which is-

Deanna Dick: … humans in general, and they were like, "This is great. You can take, you can take all the humans-

Scott Hammond: Here, have this

Deanna Dick: … and talk to them."

Scott Hammond: Which is the hardest part of the job.

Deanna Dick: So… Well, for me, not. You know, I like, I like humans, turns out.

Deanna Dick: So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … I was-

Scott Hammond: Like, HR's brutal 'cause you can't-

Deanna Dick: HR is brutal, yeah

Scott Hammond: … how do you read people?

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm amazing. I'm groovy. Oh, did you know that I'm a criminal? No, I didn't know that.

Deanna Dick: Uh, yeah. Well, it was just less that and just more that, like, I think that they had gotten to a point where-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Deanna Dick: … like, it, it was fine. So, so for me personally, it was, it was a good move to, like, kinda back away from that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … and let Adam do his thing there-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … and then refigure out what my thing is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: 'Cause that was kind of, in my mind, was always, I was, like, filling in. I was just filling in to get them to, like, a certain spot.

Scott Hammond: So there's work involved in re- the reinvention.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's so hard.

Deanna Dick: So, and it was like a big wilderness. Like, I, I pulled away from that, and then-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … it was like, did a lot of pottery, did a lot of, like,

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … walking-

Scott Hammond: Right

Deanna Dick: … with friends. I call it the wilderness.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And then out of that phase actually came… So I was probably there for a year and a half or so-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Deanna Dick: … just kinda wondering and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … doing different things, putting, trying my hand at different things. I taught a class, uh, at, through Humboldt at, through OLLI.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: It was kinda fun. So, you know-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Deanna Dick: … little things.

Scott Hammond: Pottery?

Deanna Dick: No, uh, a chocolate, like-Chocolate 101

Scott Hammond: Perfect

Deanna Dick: … whatever

Scott Hammond: Yeah, OLLI's cool

Deanna Dick: For, for retired people. It was so fun.

Scott Hammond: Shout out for OLLI. OLLI-

Deanna Dick: Shout out for OLLI

Scott Hammond: … HSU. The Oschlager Institute.

Deanna Dick: Uh, Osher-

Scott Hammond: Osher

Deanna Dick: … Lifelong Learning Institute.

Scott Hammond: Pretty cool. There's not very many of them.

Deanna Dick: It's very cool.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: It's very cool.

Scott Hammond: They go to this-

Deanna Dick: Like, I aspire to.

Scott Hammond: They go on field trips that are cool.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, field trips.

Scott Hammond: I wanna go.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wolf Creek.

Deanna Dick: Just sign up. It's-

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna do it

Deanna Dick: … it's all people that wanna be there. It was the most amazing classroom setting.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. So just little things. That's what I'm saying.

Scott Hammond: So you had to get curious-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and go do some stuff-

Deanna Dick: Yeah, I got curious

Scott Hammond: … out of your comfort zone.

Deanna Dick: I was kinda, did a lot-

Scott Hammond: I like it

Deanna Dick: … lot of walking, a lot of wondering, a lot of, like, refiguring out, a lot of therapy. It's j- it was great. And then through that season came this offer to work back with Moonstone.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Deanna Dick: And I think that if I hadn't have done all that and hadn't

Deanna Dick: prepared-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … in that sense, then I wouldn't have been ready to say yes to them.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Deanna Dick: So that was a year ago that-

Scott Hammond: That's a lot of work, though.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it was a lot of work.

Scott Hammond: The work i- and it's disappointing work sometimes. You go, "Oh, what, who-"

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So Joni's dad, who's legendary, Tom f- the, uh, athlete-

Deanna Dick: Okay

Scott Hammond: … alcoholic, amazing Tom.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: In the moment. Great, you'd have loved him. Um, you'll get to meet him one day.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Um, so he's, um, he would ask two questions: Who are you?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And what do you want?

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, the setup is there, and here comes the questions.

Deanna Dick: Oh, no.

Scott Hammond: So you've done the work, so you should, this should be easy.

Deanna Dick: It should be easy.

Scott Hammond: The two hardest questions are, who are, who are you?

Deanna Dick: Who are you?

Scott Hammond: Deanna?

Deanna Dick: Uh,

Deanna Dick: I am, I am a person who… Oh, this is a, this is a hard question, actually.

Scott Hammond: It's not easy. It, it's like-

Deanna Dick: 'Cause I could list all the things I do.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: But I don't, that's not-

Scott Hammond: That's not who you are

Deanna Dick: … necessarily who we are, right?

Scott Hammond: It's not your identity.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, it's not my identity. Um, I'm a person who, um, I'm a team player.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: That's a part of who I am. I, it's really important for me to be a part of a team who's doing good things.

Scott Hammond: That's awesome.

Deanna Dick: Um-

Scott Hammond: Standalone, that's beautiful and good.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Deanna Dick: So if nothing else, I'm a team player.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. That's good. No, that's part of who you are.

Deanna Dick: Does that work? Is that enough?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So what do you want?

Deanna Dick: What do I want?

Scott Hammond: What do you wanna see happen around here?

Deanna Dick: I wanna feel like what I do and h- the, the time I spend makes-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … a difference to people, like, makes people's worlds a little bit better, a little bit brighter.

Scott Hammond: Love it. Yeah.

Deanna Dick: Um-

Scott Hammond: We'll get to the legacy question here in a minute.

Deanna Dick: And I do also wanna be in the sun.

Deanna Dick: I want-

Scott Hammond: You want more sun?

Deanna Dick: I want sunshine-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … on my skin.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Time, time for Willow Creek, Adam. Get the cabin.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Buy, buy that cabin, bro.

Deanna Dick: Let's just get that little hut in Costa Rica.

Scott Hammond: Can, can I share my journey really quick?

Deanna Dick: Yes, please.

Scott Hammond: So finding meaning for me has been really tough, 'cause I've worked for

Scott Hammond: 45 years-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and nose to the grindstone. Faithful guy, team player-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … all the things. Loyal.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, not perfect, but… And just kind of, "Hey, is it pickleball?" "I don't know. I, I don't play now."

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: "Must not be." "Is it guita-" "No, I'm not doing that."

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: "Is it, um,

Scott Hammond: um, oh, that other thing?" So I finally found something.

Deanna Dick: Mm. Mm.

Scott Hammond: And Nick's gonna laugh 'cause I was bringing Nick a record.

Deanna Dick: What?

Scott Hammond: So I found, I found Johnny Mathis. No, no, I'm kidding.

Deanna Dick: What?

Scott Hammond: So I'm really into Johnny… No, I'm not.

Scott Hammond: I, um-

Deanna Dick: I have no idea where this is going.

Scott Hammond: It's just a prop

Deanna Dick: This is so fun.

Scott Hammond: It's just a record. Here, Jon.

Deanna Dick: It's just a prop.

Scott Hammond: What's that?

Deanna Dick: Oh, it's Johnny Mathis.

Scott Hammond: Pretty sick. He's quite a, quite… He's actually a beautiful singer, but this is not my, my p- my bigger point. Cracking up here. My bigger point is that Matt, my son-in-law, and all the

Scott Hammond: kids-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … and Joni got me a really cool stereo- … for my birthday, January 2nd.

Deanna Dick: Yes. Yes.

Scott Hammond: And it started with Dark Side of the Moon.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And the addiction has branched out to-

Deanna Dick: Is it a record player?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, I collect vinyl now.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: I'm a vinyl guy.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: A vi-

Deanna Dick: That's who you are

Scott Hammond: … and I'm s- Well, it's part of who I am.

Deanna Dick: Okay. Part of who you are.

Scott Hammond: But-

Deanna Dick: Sure

Scott Hammond: … music is, has that-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … ubiquitous language, and-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it's fun, and Nick gets a record every time I walk in the studio.

Deanna Dick: Ooh.

Scott Hammond: Today you got-

Deanna Dick: You got one today, Nick?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, show that off.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Johnny Cash's Christmas album.

Deanna Dick: Ooh.

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Deanna Dick: That is special.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's-

Deanna Dick: Like that

Scott Hammond: … I know. Johnny Cash-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … at Christmas-

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … with the, with the Cash family.

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: June Cash. June Carter Cash.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, so-

Deanna Dick: Like that

Scott Hammond: … it's been fun.

Deanna Dick: That's fun.

Scott Hammond: Just collecting and, and-

Deanna Dick: So that's a part of who you are now-

Scott Hammond: I'm curating-

Deanna Dick: … is a vinyl collector

Scott Hammond: … I'm, I'm curating a killer collection.

Deanna Dick: Yes. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Have I heard all of it? No. Some of it's still in plastic wrap.

Deanna Dick: Nice.

Scott Hammond: That's how weird this addiction's been.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? I th-

Deanna Dick: Yes

Scott Hammond: … I thought it was chocolate.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Or a p- pickleball.

Deanna Dick: That's really great.

Scott Hammond: And it ain't.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But I can-

Deanna Dick: The vinyl's really cool, isn't it?

Scott Hammond: Oh, vinyl's cool.

Deanna Dick: It's like a touch back to, um… It kind of feel… It's old school, right? So it's like-

Scott Hammond: It is old school

Deanna Dick: … touching the-

Scott Hammond: I've upgraded the tur- turntable already.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Got a preamp.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Oh, The Lumineers never sounded so cool.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm, and I'm hip, man. I got s-

Deanna Dick: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and all the old grindy s-

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … rock and roll stuff. I-

Deanna Dick: That's-

Scott Hammond: … Foghat, I, you know, Joni gets kinda mad. Um, not mad, but just irritated. "Turn that down." I'm going-

Deanna Dick: "Turn that record-"

Scott Hammond: … "This is great, man. Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Let's do this."

Deanna Dick: Do you tell her if you're, if it's too loud, you're too old? Do you say those words?

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Hmm. Joni, did you hear that?

Deanna Dick: To, I did not say that, Joni. I didn't suggest that.

Scott Hammond: She didn't mean it.

Deanna Dick: One, uh, I got paid for a berth in a record player recently.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Deanna Dick: A couple years ago. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Deanna Dick: Yeah, somebody-

Scott Hammond: Turntable and all?

Deanna Dick: Uh-huh, turntable.

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. So now we are also vinyl collectors.

Scott Hammond: Do you have any vinyl?

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What do you like?

Deanna Dick: Fff, I, I, I like all kinds of things.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Deanna Dick: But, um-

Scott Hammond: So your prize today-

Deanna Dick: Oh

Scott Hammond: … I don't have it with me-

Scott Hammond: … is vinyl. I'm gonna get you some vinyl.

Deanna Dick: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Maybe Sunday play your pleasure.

Deanna Dick: Wow. Okay.

Scott Hammond: S- so real fast before we go.

Deanna Dick: Okay.

Scott Hammond: What's your legacy? What would you l- like your legacy to be in terms of your tombstone, your celebration of life?

Deanna Dick: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: What would, what would you hope that folks might say?

Deanna Dick: Um, I'd hope that people would say that e- even though, like, I didn't always get it right, my kids would say this for sure. "If, even though she didn't get it right all the time, she at least tried to make it right," or,

Deanna Dick: like-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Deanna Dick: … tried to, tried to redeem the bumpy areas and, um-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Deanna Dick: … maybe tried to,

Deanna Dick: um, leave it a little better or something, or at least that I was open to change and vulnerability. I th- I think I'm a transparent person.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Deanna Dick: And so when I recognize there's a bump,

Deanna Dick: I try.

Scott Hammond: Try to work through it.

Deanna Dick: Try.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Deanna Dick: I hope.

Scott Hammond: As opposed to-

Deanna Dick: I hope that's what people feel.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I love that.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Let's work through it.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Let's get, let's get past it.

Deanna Dick: But it's, but it's bumpy sometimes-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, as opposed to sweeping or- …

Scott Hammond: getting mad,

Scott Hammond: flaming, to-

Deanna Dick: Well, there's all that. I mean-

Scott Hammond: You're the bumpy part.

Deanna Dick: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Great.

Deanna Dick: That is all there, for sure. But I'm saying, like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Deanna Dick: … I guess when I recognize it that –

Scott Hammond: I love that. That's a great answer

Deanna Dick: … hopefully, hopefully.

Scott Hammond: Well, thanks for coming.

Scott Hammond: Gr-

Deanna Dick: Thanks for having me.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate it.

Deanna Dick: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I, I always know it's a great show when it goes by quick.

Deanna Dick: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like that's a, that's a quick hour right there.

Deanna Dick: That was a quick hour.

Scott Hammond: So, hey, uh, thanks for joining us, everybody. Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt podcast, and, um, uh, like us, love us, uh, write us, make notes, give positive reviews. We're on all the platforms. Did you know on TV, on Hum-

Deanna Dick: What?

Scott Hammond: … Humboldt Access TV?

Deanna Dick: Seriously?

Scott Hammond: We're on YouTube.

Deanna Dick: Oh, my gosh.

Scott Hammond: It is a YouTube channel.

Deanna Dick: Oh.

Scott Hammond: 100, 100% the, the letters with the percentage. We're on, uh, he, Nick's put together a killer website-

Deanna Dick: Amazing

Scott Hammond: … 100% Humboldt, and also all the podcast platforms, of which there are dozens, including-

Deanna Dick: Wow

Scott Hammond: … Apple and Spotify and a whole bunch of others.

Scott Hammond: So, um-

Deanna Dick: Wow

Scott Hammond: … love us, like us, join us, and, uh, we'll be back next time. Appreciate you being here.

Deanna Dick: So impressed. Thanks, Scott.

Scott Hammond: Thank you.

Deanna Dick: Thanks for having me.