Catching Up, Missing W.G., and Life Updates

Announcer [: 00:00:01

This is the Tri State Time Machine brought to you by Alex r White, p l l c at sue distract a driver dot com. Each week, your host, Vanessa Hankins, and her guests share memories and stories about the past, the present, and the future of the Tri State area. That's West Virginia, Kentucky, and the Ohio areas. If you used to live here or you currently live here, you're gonna catch yourself saying out loud, wow, I remember that. Now here's Vanessa.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:00:31

Hey, guys. It's your girl Vanessa, and I'm back. I know it's been a while. I had a little bit of a, oh, what do we even take it to call it? I just had a break. I've had a lot going on. I I spoke pretty candidly before about my battling depression and losing my mom and then losing w g so soon after. And I've just really been going through it, which I know a lot of my listeners are, big lovers of WG, so I know that you feel it too, and I know that it's not easy for any of us. But, I guess I'll start by saying, like, my love of the podcasting has not gone away.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:01:19

It's still there. It just it's it's been kind of a struggle. I've been looking for a podcast cohost, and it's a little bit more difficult than what I imagined it to be. I think because there's such big shoes to fill. And and maybe I can do this by myself. I don't know. I'm I miss the banter. I miss having someone to go back and forth with.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:01:42

I'm I miss having someone making me laugh. W g was so good at that, and he brought so much joy to my life. So I I guess that's what I'm looking for. And, again, it's just very big shoes to sell. So wish me luck with that. Maybe I'll just keep on keeping on, and what's meant to be, we'll find a way. But for right now, I'm kinda entertaining a few people and interviewing per se, doing some recordings, and seeing how they go maybe I'll make a big mix tape or Do people even say mix tapes anymore? Is that even a thing? Anyways, maybe I'll make like a combination, sound bite of all the nonsense that I've been getting into with these random people and you'll see where my hesitation on some of these people comes from. It's really hard to find someone that you just vibe with.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:02:38

I was so lucky that W. G. Found this creative outlet and later invited me to be part of it. He was so amazing at bringing in the crowds and making people laugh and really slowing down as the listener while he was participating as the host. So, that's something I'm working on. I don't know that I'll ever master it, but he thought of things that I never think of and he made witty comments that I don't always think to say until five minutes down the road. But yeah, so that's what's been going on. I've been battling a little bit of my depression and really missing my mom.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:03:24

And Mother's Day just happened, so that was pretty hard. I think the older that I get, and I think a lot of my listeners are gonna relate to this, the older that I get, the more I realize how selfless my mom really was. Even when it comes down to emptying your bank account on payday because there's a dance this weekend and you know you've got all the things. You've got the nails, you've got the hair, you've got the tan, you've got the dress, the shoes, the meals, the photos. You've got all of the things. And it adds up so quickly. And by no means am I complaining because I'm not. I'm so thankful to be able to be this presence in my daughter's life and to give her these things and be there for her.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:04:13

But as a child, you don't realize those things when you're going through it and your parents are footing the bill. It's just a lot of reality lately and I think that hasn't really helped my depression. So, I don't know. I'm excited to get back on here and talk to you guys I'm excited about work I had Wayne County, I wanted to share a fun little story with you guys I've had Wayne County the whole beginning of this year, of 2025, which is crazy. 2025, can you believe it? Like, it's mind blowing to me. But anyways, had a little girl from Way O. W. So for all of you non Wayne people, that's Out Wayne.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:04:54

And we're talking like Way Way Out Wayne. We're talking like maybe I think there was 13 people in their second grade class. That's how small a school is. But anyways, they came to Safety Town and for their field trip. We had such a great morning with the learning portion, and we get out to the driving portion, and they are just terrible at it. They are so bad at staying on the right side of the road, at following the arrows, running stop signs. Like they just weren't getting in. But these are country kids.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:05:22

You have to think of that. Like these are country kids that don't have crosswalks. They don't have stop signs for the most part. They live out hollers, gravel roads. It's kind of a free for all once you live so far out. It's like you're almost forgotten by the State Department and the Highways Department. And I don't even know if that's the right words, but you know what I mean. You get forgotten.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:05:46

So you don't have all the, road signs and warnings and signals and, you know, you definitely don't have red lights and stop lights. I'm doubling what I'm saying here, but you guys get the drift. So anyways, if you remember a few years back, there was a, I think it was Chamillionaire. I could be wrong about that. I'm gonna Google it because now I'm curious if I remembered it correctly. But there was this song called Ridin' Dirty. And it, was a banger. Like, I've never even said that before, but, yeah, it was a banger.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:06:21

And we loved it. And by we, I mean me and my husband. Anytime we went to the club and, yes, we had clubs in Huntington, when I was in college, but when we would go to the club, this song came on. We were, like, over the moon. Like, it was a great jam. So anyways and I was right. It is about Chameleonaire, and it came out in 02/2005. So that's the year after I graduated high school.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:06:42

So imagine my surprise when this little bitty girl comes around the corner with her one hand on the wheel, laid back, and just completely, like, for lack of a better word, jeed out. And she says, They see me rollin', they hatin', and I lost it. Like, when I tell you I almost peed my pants, like, I barely made it to the bathroom. I have never laughed so hard in my life because that song has not been popular for years now. I mean, that was 02/2005. It's 2025. Again, wow, 2025. But that was twenty years ago.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:07:21

How she knew it is beyond me, but it was so funny. Work brings me so much joy, and I'm so glad I get to share some of the stuff with you guys. But, yeah, that's my little funny I wanted to share with you guys about work. I'm kinda giving you an all inclusive update here. So I'm gonna go over a little bit of everything that I've got going on. I've really been thinking heavy about social media. I don't know if you guys ever do, but, social media has become kind of like a pain in my ass. As much as I love it and I love seeing photos of other people's children, like people I grew up with, and seeing how they're doing, it's almost become like this place that everyone likes to go to complain rather than celebrate greatness or accomplishments or I don't know.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:08:14

It it just doesn't bring me as much joy lately. So I've been, I've been there. I've been I've been on social media. I've been active. But it doesn't it hasn't brought me joy the way it has in the past and the way that I know that it's capable of being. So working to be better on that. I need to do better on the, podcast social media as well. I would love if you guys would interact with me more.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:08:37

I think that's a big deal that creates, like, this wall for me when it comes to the podcast, social media. It's like I'm talking to myself, which ironically, I am talking to myself. So you guys get the humor in that. Anyways, I'm cracking myself up. Oh, I'm such a nerd. Anyways, I am getting on my nerves by saying anyways, so hopefully I'm not getting on your nerves as much as I am my own. I'll try to do better. I am working on a podcast collab with, the wonderful Alisa and Samantha from the Watch for Deer podcast.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:09:20

If you've never listened to it, go find it anywhere you listen to podcasts. Again, that's Watch for Deer. And basically, Watch for Dear is like I love you in West Virginian. So I love the name of their podcast. I love that they are having so much success. Again, if you haven't listened, please go do, they do a little bit of true crime mixed with comedy and just your basic housewife stuff. So like some of you guys might not be into it as much as the girls, but I love it. They bring a lot of humor to the table and we have a good time and I love their accents.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:09:59

I've worked really hard to, I guess, dumb, well not dumb, to I can't even think of the words. I've worked really hard to drown my accent and sound like less of a hillbilly. And these girls do not try to and I don't mean hillbilly in a bad way, but these girls, they don't try to hide it. And it just feels like it feels like home. It it feels like I'm hanging out with my cousins on my mom's front porch and we're just shooting the shit. You know? So, go go give them a listen and, let me know what you think about it. But I'm gonna be on their podcast this weekend, and I'll, share it on our page to let you guys hear it. We're we're talking about some pretty cool stuff, so I'm excited for it.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:10:44

Anyways, in other news, the city is doing amazing things. The new mayor is, in my opinion, phenomenal. I mean, he's he's not talking about change. He is making change. And you can see it all across our community, and you can see the togetherness. And I just think it's a beautiful thing. So that's pretty cool. So if you're not home, or you haven't been in a while, and you come to visit probably for a Marshall game, something like that, I think you're gonna be really surprised to see the changes that have occurred here in Downtown Huntington and across the city of Huntington.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:11:23

We're fixing things that are huge. We're getting a new sewer plant. That alone is gigantic. I mean, that's huge. I'm down here in Westmoreland. That's where the, sewer plant is. And, yeah, it's gonna complete overhaul. I mean, we, it's very old.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:11:46

I don't know the dates or anything like that, but it's very, very old and it definitely needed revamped, let alone, you know, a brand new one. So I'm pretty excited about that. I think that's pretty awesome. Some other exciting stuff is, my sister moved back home to West Virginia. And those of you that know us know that my sister is my best friend. And I have missed her so much. So it has been wonderful having her here, with us in West Virginia. And, it's funny because, and again this is a getting older thing I think, my sister looks just like my mom.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:12:25

And she has my mom's mannerisms and she absolutely has my mom's laugh. I've I've thought that I had my mom's laugh. I know that like the craziness of my laugh is for my mom, but my sister has the exact laugh. And it has been such a joy to hear her laughter because it's like having a part of my mom back even for just a few moments when it happens. So that's been, I don't, I'm tearing up even talking about it. I, it's just been a joy and I'm I've never been more thankful to to have her back home. She moved off to the big North Carolina for several years and, I miss her so much. So it's it's really great to have her back home.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:13:12

Friendships. I have been really focusing on what it means to be a friend because I'm not that I don't care to have acquaintances. I don't care to have acquaintances. But I I prefer counting my friends on one hand that I literally do not have to think twice about any trauma dumps or sounding ridiculous or just sounding downright stupid when I talk to people. So I've been really focusing on what it means to be a good friend and what it means to have those great friends. And maybe, again, this is an aging thing. I don't know. But, I can I can count my best friends probably on both my hands? I lied when I said just one.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:14:00

But I I can count them on both hands. And it's such a blessing to have people that love you for you, for one. Love your spouse, because that one's huge, because how hard is it to like another couple? God, it's so hard. It's so, so hard to like a whole couple. So, that's been nice. And then they love our children as much as we love our children, and we love theirs as much as they love them, and we treat them like our own. So it's been kind of a beautiful thing to really focus on that and, give a little bit more than I think I was giving prior in life. So that's pretty cool.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:14:41

Trying to think of what else has all gone on. If you follow me on any social media or for friends on social media, I accidentally ended up being a volleyball coach for my daughter's volleyball team. And it is at the STK War Memorial Community Center. And it has been the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. Volleyball has so many rules and so many exceptions to the rules and so many exceptions to those exceptions. And I feel like a complete moron. Thankfully, all the girls that are on my team are fantastic. They're really good at the game.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:15:20

They have a lot of experience. We have a handful that are newcomers, but they've picked it right up. And the parents have been phenomenal. Like, they have helped me through it all from the beginning. And then I got my daughter in some lessons with her, old elementary school teacher. Turns out she loves volleyball and it's her life. And Carly does so well listening to her, and she's growing every lesson that we have, and I think that's pretty cool. But volleyball has also been just really fun to watch these girls grow and learn and just be themselves and look up to me and trust me to guide them in the right way.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:15:59

And I guess at the end of the day, that's all coaching is about. Of course you always wanna win, but with the league that we're playing in, it's more about practice and, education and experience, more than it is about winning. So I'm hoping that my daughter tries out for the middle school team. I think that would be pretty cool because I would love to be the mom in the bleachers that's going crazy, even though I have no idea what's going on. She's not really got into anything, so it's pretty exciting for her to be into something. Her dad and I are we're extremely proud of her, and we're also just really excited for, what the future might be with this sport because she's she's really took to it and she's she's just naturally good at it. So I think it's pretty cool. Talking about podcasts again, we have been and by we, I mean, myself and mister Jason Arthur, the, podcast hosts for the Chairman's Club.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:16:55

And Jason, and I think everybody else will get a big funny out of this. I was writing down my notes for the episode, and I was like, okay, I have to talk about the Chairman's Club. I have to talk about the Small Town Big Talk. I've gotta talk about what's going on with them because they've kind of been at a standstill too. But instead of writing the chairman's club, I wrote the gentleman's club and I was like, Wait, hold on. That's not right. What that's a whole different kind of club. That is not what we're talking about.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:17:22

That's still, I thought that was pretty funny. And again, I'm making myself laugh. I guess that's the kind of day that it's been. I think, I think that his podcast has a lot of promise. It's interesting and it it does something that this podcast doesn't for the area. And also Jason is such a nerd when it comes to history, and I love that. I love anyone that is a nerd about anything because they're just this big ball of information that they can just share with you and you can learn and pick their brain. And there's something so beautiful about that.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:18:01

And I think that's a big reason why I value my friendship with Jason, is he is always teaching me and I grow with him around. My horizons are expanded. And I think that's awesome. And I think that that's the most you could ever ask out of a friendship, like we have. So I think that's pretty cool, but Chairman's Club is coming back. We've had a new episode planned for quite a while, but, it has kind of been at a standstill because they, they the goat. The goat. The goat.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:18:39

I was gonna say the ghost and then I said the goat. Oh goodness gracious. I am losing my mind. Anyways, the guest has had a lot going on and I don't wanna tell you who the guest is because it's a surprise, but it's gonna be a good one. And, I'm just really excited about that. On to the other podcast, the one that I started, it was kind of like a mom's podcast, Small Town, Big Talk. It was something I really tweet around with doing. It was a project I was really excited about.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:19:06

I started it. My sister-in-law was part of it. It did well. It was successful, but we just couldn't get things aligned to make it work. So I think we're gonna say farewell to small town big talk. Maybe it'll get rekindled sometime. I don't know. I just wanted something that was a little bit more like this with me giving you guys updates.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:19:27

I mean, obviously, I wanna have subject matter too, but I wanna be able to do this too. So I don't know. Maybe maybe this podcast takes a little turn. Maybe every so often this is what you get instead of a podcast about a time machine, like a throwback or something like that. So I don't know. Give me your feedback. You guys text me, email me, Facebook message me, Instagram message, all the things. Social media message me in any way, and let me know, like, is this something that you guys like, or is it, like, annoying as fuck and you don't wanna hear about this stuff? You know? Be honest.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:20:07

Let me know, because I I don't know unless someone tells me. So, With that being said, oh man, I think, I think I'm ready to jump back in. I'm excited to jump back in. This is is this has become first of all, it's become really annoying that I keep saying, but it has also become Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry. My sister just texted me and said she chopped her hair off. Oh, God. Anyways, girls, what the they were crazy.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:20:52

We literally are crazy. Like, we do irrational things, like chop our fucking hair off for absolutely no apparent reason other than we needed a trim. But we take a trim and we go too far. It's what we do. I'm texting her back. I said, oh my god, with a laughing emoji face. How does it look? So funny. Anyways Yeah.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:21:17

So that's what's been going on with me. And I think it's I think it's exciting to jump back in. I think trying to make a few changes here and there will keep me interested to a point where I can keep the steady shows coming. Hopefully you guys like this. Hopefully it's the update you've been waiting for. I don't know if anyone wanted to hear all about my drama with my depression and missing everybody, but all the other stuff is always fun. And again, go give Watch for Dear a listen. That podcast is really fun.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:21:55

And, if you're out and about this weekend, I know, there's going to be Ninth Street live comes back and we've got Brad Goodall for the first Friday night. So that's pretty cool. So if you're in town or you live in town, come down and see him. If you are traveling into town, don't forget if you're in town on a Friday night, we have the Ninth Street live. And it's been pretty awesome. We have POTA. You can drink downtown. You can take your alcohol from the different locations that you're, the establishments that you're going to and like SIP, Boots, MU Cafe.

Vanessa Hankins [: 00:22:29

I mean, there's so many of them. I I I feel bad that I can't name them all, but there's so many downtown. I guess that's it. Twenty two minutes in and I think I've given you every update that I can. I love you guys and I'm so thankful for you and I will be back hopefully next week with a new episode of Tri State Time Machine.

Announcer [: 00:22:54

Thanks for listening to the Tri State Time Machine brought to you by Alex r White, p l l c at sue distracted driver dot com. If you have a memory you want Vanessa to talk more about, just send her an email at tstm@mail.com or post a comment on the Tri State Time Machine Facebook page. Did you like the episode? Be sure to share it with friends and family. It's the only way we can continue this fun work that we do. You can find a link in the show notes that you can use to share it. And be sure to let our sponsors know you like the podcast as well. Their contact information can be found in this episode's show notes.