Christina Geist, BUDDY'S NEW BUDDY (Growing with Buddy)

2022-07-12  ·  26:51  ·  Christina Geist  ·  Podcast Audio

Audio

Clip this, please

[0:02]Hi, I'm Zivi Owens, the creator and host of the award-winning podcast that you're listening to right now.
[0:07]Thank you so much. Called moms don't have time to read books.
[0:10]It is a daily podcast, 365 days a year, and each day we talk to an author about all of the things related to their career,
[0:18]their book, their life, and more in 30 minutes or less because who has time?
[0:22]I am now an author myself, although I wasn't when I started this podcast, and you can get my new memoir,
[0:28]bookends, a memoir of love, loss, and literature, wherever books are sold starting July 1st, and my children's book prints is charming.
[0:36]You can learn more about me at Zivi Owens.com, but really you're here to learn more about the authors and that is what we're going to do.
[0:43]Also, be sure to check out all the other podcasts in the Z cast podcast network.
[0:48]You can learn more at zcastnetwork.com and definitely check out those shows as well.
[0:58]Christina Geist is the author of Buddy's New Buddy.
[1:01]Christina believes your life is measured in your relationships, not your accomplishments.
[1:05]She's been married to her high school sweetheart Sunday, today, and morning Joe host Willie Geist for 19 years.
[1:11]The couple met in sixth grade in their hometown of Ridgwood, New Jersey, and currently live in Westchester County, New York, with their two children, Lucy and George.
[1:18]Their parents, siblings, and 10 nieces and nephews are all close by.
[1:21]She's also the author of Buddy's Bedtime Battery, and sorry grown-ups, you can't go to school.
[1:26]Welcome, Christina. Thanks for coming back on mom's don't have time to read books to discuss buddy's new buddy.
[1:33]Thank you, Zivi. It's so good to be back.
[1:35]This is so great because I feel like when I interviewed you years ago for sorry grown-ups, you can't go to school.
[1:42]I didn't know you. You walked into my apartment. We had this like major bonding moment. I'm like, oh my gosh, I have so much in common.
[1:50]I'm like her so much. And now we've had all these experiences before.
[1:54]The next one came out from lunches to joint events to like, it's just so nice.
[1:58]It's like the greatest thing that's happened from this podcast is meeting amazing people. Honestly, like you.
[2:04]Well, I feel the same way. Thank you, first of all. It was three years ago when sorry grown-ups came out.
[2:09]And the one fun part about how long it takes me to get a picture of a run,
[2:15]and you script to publication is that you do have time to kind of like build all these relationships in the meantime.
[2:22]And it does give me a chance every three years to sort of reflect on what's happened since the last book.
[2:29]And it's been three years and oh my gosh, what are three years it's been since 2019 to 2022.
[2:35]And you know, I always say this phase in my life, this kind of whirlwind of my 40s has just made my world so much wider.
[2:43]And I feel like we have that in common and I look at all that you've done with the podcast and with your business and with your own books and your world just gets wider and wider.
[2:55]And sometimes I wonder, well, she still remember me because I'm talking about, well, you're just, I mean, your world is so wide and the number of authors you're chatting with and friends that you're with all the time.
[3:09]I'm just kind of in awe of you and the number of people and relationships that you're managing on top of your family, which is, you know, number one.
[3:20]So cheers to you.
[3:22]Thank you, that's very kind, but it doesn't work like that of like nothing can do my memories and relationships because more relationships come, you know, I mean, like there's there's plenty of space in there for everybody, you know, I'm glad to hear it, I'm glad to hear it and that's the spirit of this new sweet.
[3:42]But he's new body, I didn't even intend for that segue, but there it is there was that was a brilliant segue.
[3:47]And I love buddies new buddy and it was so awesome to get a preview of this book a few weeks ago, but tell listeners, so this is the third and tell tell it in case this is the first time people are meeting you talk about the whole series and how it came to be and how this installment is so meaningful.
[4:04]Yeah, I'm happy to so you know my background, much like yours to be is in more kind of the marketing and branding world of writing and I always coming up in my career about 90% of my job in corporate America was always dependent on writing.
[4:21]So I had very kind of creative ways to express myself, even though it was through the lens of my job and my work all the way up until I had my kids.
[4:30]And then when they were three in one I waved to the white flag and quit my job in the design office at Johnson and Johnson, which was kind of a dream job as a strategist in the consumer marketing world, but I just couldn't make it all work.
[4:45]And then I was home with my two kids who were three and one, and my whole life was the playground and preschool and bedtime and friendships and all of these transitions you go through as a parent and you know through the lens of really seeing into their world, and my mind almost just opened up and had creative space to start to think about writing in this way in children's story.
[5:13]And characters, lady and buddy, a brother and sister started to kind of dance around in my head is the best way for me to describe it when I was, you know, raising my kids when they were five and seven or I'm sorry, when they were three and five.
[5:29]years later, when they were finally getting dropped off at the same school at the same time every morning, which I'm sure many moms out there can relate to that moment of oh my gosh, I just dropped off at the same location.
[5:43]I've never actually done that I've never had all kids dropped off at the same look unless I send them to their dad I am dropping them and all sorts of other places.
[5:52]Right, well, I guess that's that's the difference between you and me because I only have to.
[5:56]So one of my friends said, you know, God gave me what I can handle I have two children you have for you can clearly handle more than me that's not really true, but thank you for that.
[6:07]So yeah, so I was dropping them and I decided to just kind of commit the time to writing these stories down the year, you know, they were in preschool and.
[6:16]And I wrote 10 manuscripts in a kind of like creative sprint and that was 10 years ago.
[6:24]It took me two years to get a meeting at ultimately at random house where I felt like, you know, the biggest case of imposter syndrome you can ever have is kind of like walking into random house headquarters in New York City with your pile of word doc manuscripts and just sort of wondering is there anything here, you know, and I had hope to have coffee with the lowest person on the totem pole.
[6:50]I was asking to have like coffee with an intern in the children's department and asked a friend to help me with that and that friend who's very bold ended up emailing my material to the president of the children's division, Barbara Marcus.
[7:05]Here I was that meeting with Maria Mundino who's on her team in editorial and thinking, oh my gosh, this was the coffee I was supposed to be having with an intern and here I am now I'm Maria's office.
[7:16]And I sold book that day and that was buddy spent time battery which was published in 2016 three years later sorry grown up so you can't go to school was published, which was also very close to the original manuscript I had written several years earlier.
[7:31]I found buddy in the first book at about three and a half years old struggling with his bedtime routine as many of us can relate to.
[7:39]And then a couple years later going off to school and experiencing that transition in, you know, my own kind of unique way, which is very different from a lot of the off to school books which tend to be kind of sad shy scared.
[7:53]I'm sorry grown up is all about empowerment and pushing the grown up's away and only kids and teachers only kids and teachers can can go to school in this new story we find buddy a little older he ages a bit in each book and now he's in my imagination he's in about first or second brain and his best buddy has just moved all the way across town.
[8:14]And that might as well be you know all the way across the world when you're a little person I wrote this story in 2019 before COVID in the fall of 2019.
[8:24]As I mentioned it takes me about three years to get a book into the publisher and then have all the illustrations done and be getting into the production cycle and all the things that happened on the publication side.
[8:35]In that three years the whole world has turned upside down and so many of us have either moved or had people close to us move or experience loss in other ways that are even more profound than someone moving away.
[8:50]And so we find buddy on page one kind of feeling sad which is different you know most books don't open with someone feeling sad but kind of here he is looking out the window at the moving van across the street as his best buddy moves all the way across and.
[9:10]Oh, there he is, but don't worry it has a happy ending.
[9:16]Perhaps buddy makes a new friend.
[9:19]He does yeah so you know the premise of the book is who will do all of his things with him now all the things that he's used to doing and so much of being young is routine and so many of our little people have had their routines completely turned upside down and then reinvented.
[9:40]And I feel like this back to school 2022 will feel hopefully for many of us and for our kids a real sort of return to routine in a way that they crave and I know we all do too.
[9:55]And for buddy that really feels for him like who will I do.
[10:00]these things with now. And his very helpful big sister, Lady, who is kind of omnipresent in all
[10:07]of my stories as this gentle hand. They have a very loving sibling relationship. I think we can
[10:13]all aspire to. But, Lady, who's a couple of years older is kind of just a few steps ahead of
[10:19]Buddy. And so she suggests to him, you know, how about making a new friend? And all you have to do
[10:26]is find the things you have in common. And so what she does is she sketches out on her little
[10:33]easel in a line drawing, all the things that Buddy might have in common with someone, even his
[10:40]favorite cookies, or karate, or the game that he likes to play, which is called robo-chargers,
[10:46]in my mind, robo-chargers is like a version of chess, but it's with little robot pieces. So the
[10:52]little robots can do different things. Some can jump, some can go backwards, etc. So who will he play
[10:57]robo-chargers with now? And she just kind of sketches out for him. You just have to find something you
[11:02]have in common. And of course, the next day he doesn't find anything and she says it's okay.
[11:07]Tomorrow is a new day, which is something we say in my family. Tomorrow is a new day. And sure enough,
[11:15]tomorrow, a new girl comes to school. And her name is Allison, which is my sister's name.
[11:22]And Mr. Teacher introduces her to the class and says, please welcome Allison. She just moved your
[11:28]all the way from across town. And she says to him, oh, my real official name is Allison,
[11:35]but nobody really calls me that. Everybody just calls me sunny. And Buddy can't believe his
[11:42]ears. This is my favorite page. Because Buddy has a real official name too. And nobody calls
[11:48]him that either. The illustrations are so amazing. So if you're listening,
[11:52]he's just sitting there with his eyes basically popping out of his head, gripping his desk, being
[11:57]like, oh, like, overjoyed. Like, hold on. I have a real official name too. And nobody calls me that
[12:04]either. Everybody just calls him Buddy. And he's never met anyone else with two names before.
[12:10]And so there begins this friendship between Buddy and Sunny, where they discover all of the things
[12:19]that they, in fact, have in common. And it's fun to read with my little people because so many of
[12:26]them have real official names. And nobody calls them that either. Right? So maybe they're a William
[12:30]and they go, buddy. Yeah, they're like, you know, Elizabeth and they're Zippy or they're
[12:36]William and they go by Liam or Olivia goes by Livy. So hands kind of shoot up. And all of a sudden,
[12:42]we have something in common to talk about as we're reading the story, which when you write picture
[12:48]books, they're really just a golden ticket to go see little people and spend time with them.
[12:53]So I'm always looking for those connection points in the story as well when I read it aloud,
[12:59]because that's the whole point, right? I'm writing a picture book. I love that. I love that so much.
[13:04]By the way, I did not like, I don't know how Buddy's going to feel when he gets a little bit older
[13:09]or how Sunny's going to feel. But I did not like having a nickname and having to go through that
[13:13]on the first day of school all the time. And so I made a point to name all four of my kids
[13:17]something that they would not have to always say, my name says, but I go by this. So
[13:23]well, you know, I think Zippy's pretty awesome. So I don't know how much I'm going to
[13:28]sympathize with you on that one. It was a pain for every school year. I was like, no, no, it's
[13:34]what's your name? I don't know. It was just a pain for me. It's now it's nice. You know, great,
[13:38]I'm 45 years old, things have changed. But like as a kid, it's sort of a pain to have to keep going
[13:42]through that every year. Yeah. And it's true. And so for and for Buddy, he has on his desk,
[13:49]he has crossed out his name and written buddy. And Tim Bowers just captures my illustrator now
[13:56]three books together. He captures those little details so brilliantly. So at Buddy's desk,
[14:02]you know, you can see his little name tag is scratched out. And he's written buddy. And the behind
[14:07]him is Brily. And that's one of Tim's granddaughters. So we always sneak little things into each book
[14:13]as a kind of winking nod to our families or friends or even to readers who have been with me for
[14:21]the previous two books, like they'll recognize that the robo chargers that he's playing with
[14:27]have similar little robot designs to the robots he was playing with in his bedroom,
[14:33]in Buddy's bedtime battery when he was just a toddler. So you kind of get to grow up with him
[14:38]on each new adventure. And there's Lady always in the background cheering for him as he makes a new
[14:45]friend. How far are we going to go with this series? Is Lady going to go to college?
[14:50]I can't answer that question. But in my heart, I feel like I don't want him to grow up anymore from
[14:57]him. And so I don't know. I have written so many stories about them, but I don't know if the next one
[15:06]will be Lady and Buddy or if I may move in a different direction. I feel like I always want to get
[15:12]the story out into the world and take a deep breath after waiting for three years and really
[15:18]enjoy its moment before I start to like think about the next thing. I should probably do that
[15:25]differently because then I would tee things up. But I don't know. I like to sort of give them
[15:30]their moment and give them some time. And I think he's going to stay right here where he is. I don't
[15:35]think he'll get older. How nice to have that option. I know as my old kid, my own kids,
[15:42]so as I mentioned, I had this first sprint of writing these stories when they were five and three
[15:48]and they are just turning 15 and 13 right now this summer. And so that feels a little bit
[15:56]mind-bending. They're both taller than me. I now have the smallest feet in the family.
[16:01]But these stories stay young. So that's pretty special. That's another good title, the smallest
[16:08]feet in the family. Either from, you can write that essay. You should write an essay about it
[16:15]what it feels like. You know what? That's a great idea. I will do that. Thank you.
[16:20]You can publish it on mom's don't have time to you. Our new content site,
[16:23]which is launching very soon. So I'm going to do it. I will do it. Thank you for that idea.
[16:29]Gosh, you're good. Oh, well, I know it is crazy. Sometimes I'm like, how could they get like my
[16:37]son is so big and strong and like, he's like a man. I'm like, how is this even possible? Like,
[16:43]if that was in a sexual body in my house, it's like a friend. It's like you,
[16:49]I know this is the sounds ridiculous, but it doesn't. He's just a baby. He was just like this tiny
[16:55]little thing. And now all of a sudden, it's like I have a house guest all the time. My house guest,
[16:59]you know what I mean? It's like a full-on person. And you know it's coming. Like you know that
[17:05]inevitability of it all. But then I think for some reason with my daughter, who's 15,
[17:12]it wasn't as shocking because I'm a female. I'm a woman and I went through the same transition
[17:18]that she's going through. So it wasn't as shocking to me. But with my son, there's something
[17:23]about it. That is, and he's 13 and he's like just on, you know, the edge of all of this
[17:31]really significant change. And, you know, some of his friends, their voices have changed already.
[17:36]And like, you know, you're seeing these little guys who you've known since they were toddlers,
[17:41]and you're now sort of looking up to them. And, you know, I think as a parent, I always just
[17:47]take a minute and say, all right, I'm glad I exerted my authority in toddlerhood and that we like
[17:51]got that done because it's very hard when you're looking up to someone to, you know, have that
[17:59]same influence as a parent. You know, there is something physical about it that just feels
[18:04]yeah, different. Totally. When he can pick me up and I can't pick him up.
[18:11]Well, I have to say, buddy, somebody comes at such a good time because we've been going through
[18:14]all of this as my kids have started different camps this summer and everything. And, you know,
[18:19]they're like, well, do you think people are going to like me a camp? Do you think I'll have friends?
[18:22]And I'm like, do you know that every kid who goes to camp is saying that and thinking that? And if
[18:26]they're not articulating it, they're feeling that. And then it's such a normal thing to say. And
[18:30]then it was so great because my daughter came home after her second day. She said, well, I did.
[18:35]I mean, it's great friend. And by the end of the day, we were both like, can you believe we weren't
[18:38]even friends five hours ago? I know. And I'm like, oh, thank God. You know, I mean, I feel that
[18:46]week are all going through this all the time. And, you know, we push our kids into new situations
[18:53]with such frequency. I mean, they start the new camp. They start the new class. They start the
[18:58]new school. They are new all the time. And I recently went to a tennis clinic after really not
[19:07]picking up a tennis racket since like eighth grade. And I went to this clinic and it was all adults
[19:12]and it was all friendly people. Some of them I already know I was already friends with. And I was
[19:17]so self-conscious to show up there and hit this tennis ball. It was so ridiculous how I felt
[19:23]but did I feel comfortable in this little outfit? Did I feel like all of these things, these
[19:31]insecurities were like just bubbling to the surface to go ahead a tennis ball for an hour in a
[19:36]Saturday morning. And I reminded myself that I am doing this with my kids constantly. And it doesn't
[19:43]matter how old you get. Like you really have to adapt to feeling new. And whether you're putting
[19:49]yourself into those situations as an adult, I kind of challenge everybody to do that. And I didn't
[19:55]recently where I did a yoga class and my friend teaches. I barely ever done yoga in my life.
[20:00]life and that tennis class.
[20:01]And in both cases, I felt so deeply insecure
[20:04]and just reminded myself that this is how my kids feel
[20:07]all the time and to just kind of take a minute
[20:11]when they come home and they make that one friend
[20:15]and celebrate that because it is really hard.
[20:18]It is hard to put yourself out there.
[20:20]It is hard to be vulnerable.
[20:21]It's hard to feel all those things.
[20:23]And then at the same time kind of go in anyway
[20:26]and make those connections with people
[20:28]and like do it anyway because it is this,
[20:31]I don't know, it's our human instinct to not be alone, right?
[20:35]Like it's our human instinct to connect with people.
[20:37]But sometimes it's just really challenging to do that.
[20:40]And you know, for me, it's like end of one,
[20:43]one thing in common with one person.
[20:45]It starts there.
[20:46]And I do sort of practice that in my life,
[20:49]whether I do it consciously or not.
[20:51]And that is exactly what Buddy and Sunny
[20:53]are sort of doing here is they are finding one thing
[20:56]in common one day at a time.
[20:59]And it's a rewarding story to share
[21:01]because I just feel like we all sort of need right now.
[21:05]And by the way, I cannot believe actually
[21:08]that you are feeling insecure when you go into this
[21:11]situations because in my mind,
[21:13]you are so like personable and articulate and friendly.
[21:17]And I wouldn't even think that you would still be worried
[21:20]about things like that.
[21:21]And you know, honestly, everybody is, yeah.
[21:25]I mean, I have it all the time.
[21:27]We started at a new school this year.
[21:29]The kids started ninth and sixth grades at a new school.
[21:33]And we all went through this feeling of being new,
[21:36]the whole family.
[21:38]And you know, showing up to this place,
[21:42]what are the parents where here?
[21:44]You know, I'm used to this community in New York City
[21:47]and what I know what to show up.
[21:50]And I'm not a super, I'm not a self-conscious person.
[21:54]But I just think it's hard to completely go into every room
[21:58]you ever walk in or every Zoom you ever walk in
[22:01]and really feel completely confident.
[22:03]And so, you know, I hope this story will remind all of us
[22:07]to just kind of give ourselves a break and take a deep breath
[22:11]and just look for like that one thing in common
[22:15]that you have with one person in the room
[22:18]and just start there.
[22:19]And, you know, I've been reading bookends
[22:21]and relating so much to your story
[22:24]and you're talking about going off to college
[22:25]and going off to business school
[22:27]and going into these different situations
[22:29]when you were in your 20s.
[22:30]And I feel that all of that so deeply
[22:32]because I remember all of that too
[22:34]in that phase of life and just feeling untethered
[22:37]and kind of like floating around.
[22:40]Who am I supposed to be in my career?
[22:42]Who am I supposed to be with my friends
[22:44]and, you know, comparing yourself to everyone you're age
[22:47]and what they're accomplishing at that moment in time
[22:49]and are you on par with your peers
[22:52]or have you fallen off the path in some way
[22:55]and like all of that insecurity, you know, it's very real.
[22:58]And so you've brought me back to that, you know,
[23:01]in that phase in my life and then this picture book
[23:04]brings people back to it and that phase of childhood
[23:06]and, you know, maybe by acknowledging it a little bit
[23:10]and kind of honoring that you felt that way at that point
[23:13]in time, you can also celebrate like,
[23:15]hey, look at me now, I'm doing all right.
[23:20]I also think that, you know, per buddy's chart
[23:24]of things you have in common,
[23:26]I often find that books are what we have in common, right?
[23:29]So I encourage my kids and everybody, like,
[23:32]when I'm feeling nervous, I'm like, what are you reading?
[23:34]You know, let's talk about books.
[23:35]What are you reading?
[23:36]What have you liked to read?
[23:37]Like, what's good?
[23:38]Oh, okay, well, not, I don't know.
[23:39]I feel like that's such a shortcut.
[23:41]And I also, by the way, and I don't know if this helped them
[23:43]at all, but my mom used to tell me this
[23:45]and I wasn't sure I found it helpful either,
[23:47]but now of course I'm repeating everything,
[23:49]which is that everybody's favorite word is their own name.
[23:52]So I'm like, go in and make other people feel comfortable.
[23:55]When they tell you your name, like, take the time
[23:57]to say their name back, say like, you know, Jennie,
[24:00]do you wanna go do this volleyball, whatever thing?
[24:03]You know, just like try to make everybody else feel good
[24:05]because they're all having a hard time.
[24:07]So do you that as part of your role?
[24:09]Say their name, make them feel comfortable,
[24:11]like be a giver, so I don't know.
[24:13]Yeah, I think you're absolutely right.
[24:15]And we like, in our household, we call it like,
[24:18]make your tent bigger, open the sides of your tent.
[24:23]I love that.
[24:24]And I, and like, just let people into it.
[24:28]It doesn't help you or serve you to like try to cut people out
[24:33]or be exclusive, like they're, you know,
[24:35]and when my daughter was going through some friendship stuff
[24:38]when she was in elementary school, you know,
[24:40]certain friends liked certain things, others didn't.
[24:42]How do you get them all to kind of like, you know,
[24:44]work together?
[24:45]And I was like, maybe they don't work together.
[24:47]Maybe that's the friend that you love to do this with.
[24:51]And that's the friend that you love to do this with.
[24:53]They can both fit inside your tent.
[24:55]They don't all have to merrily coexist.
[24:57]Like you can have these friendships
[24:59]in different pockets of your life
[25:01]based on the thing you have in common with that person.
[25:03]You know, maybe it's your book club or, you know,
[25:06]whatever it is, that the running you like to do, whatever.
[25:08]They don't have to all be best friends.
[25:11]You can kind of have these independent relationships
[25:13]with each of them, which I think is a struggle
[25:15]for some kids, right?
[25:16]Because they want to just be in like a friend group.
[25:18]Yep.
[25:19]In some cases, you might just have that one friend
[25:22]that you both like to go draw, you know,
[25:25]and just do that together and make that the thing
[25:28]that you both like.
[25:28]And you don't have to have everything else in common.
[25:30]It can be like one or two things.
[25:33]And so I think we're all navigating that
[25:35]even into adulthood, you know.
[25:36]So I'm with you though, on the same things
[25:39]that our mother said that we're now.
[25:42]She was pretty smart, right?
[25:45]Oh my gosh, Kristina, it's always so fun talking to you.
[25:48]I would never forget you, no matter how resilient people I meet,
[25:52]I have so much respect for you.
[25:54]And I honestly, I'd just like you so much.
[25:56]So anyway, thank you for coming back on
[25:58]and congrats on your new book.
[26:00]And I'm glad that you were my new buddy.
[26:03]Yes, thank you, buddy.
[26:05]It's so good to see you as always.
[26:07]And congrats on book ends.
[26:09]I can't wait to finish, but actually I'm resisting finishing
[26:12]because then it'll be over.
[26:14]So thank you for bringing it so much.
[26:16]Thank you, thank you for reading.
[26:18]All right, bye Kristina.
[26:20]Thank you. Thank you, bye bye.
[26:24]Thanks for listening to this episode of moms
[26:26]don't have time to read books.
[26:27]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram,
[26:30]at ZB Owens and at moms don't have time to read books.
[26:33]Also sign up for my newsletter at ZB Owens.com
[26:35]and sign up for my virtual book club
[26:37]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[26:39]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texturesound
[26:42]for the sound editing.
[26:43]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[26:45]for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.