Chip Del Core: What really devastated me through the whole thing is that I operated for so long, 24, 28 months on hope and promise. The hope that she was going to pull through, the promise. Intro:
Welcome and thank you for listening to the Next Gen podcast, a conversational series with members from InterGen Wealth Partners at UBS, with an understanding of the family dynamics that can accompany multigenerational wealth. We are experienced in working with you and your family to develop a strategic plan to guide your decisions. Our approach helps provide education across generations to help define and support your long-term vision for your wealth. Brandy Risheill:
Welcome to the Next Gen podcast. I'm your host, Brandy Risheill, financial advisor with InterGen Wealth Partners here at UBS Financial Services. Our office is located in Dayton, Ohio, and you can reach us at InterGen@UBS.com. Today's episode is especially meaningful, we're joined by Chip Del Core, author of the Deeply Moving memoir, Her Untimely Final Sunset. This book is a raw and heartfelt account of Chip's experience as a caregiver for the woman he loved during her battle with terminal illness. It's a story of love, loss, resilience, and the power of organization and presence in the face of unimaginable challenges. And we're proud to share that Chip is also the brother of one of our own team members, Tullia Schreier. We're honored to have him here to share his story and the lessons he learned along the way. Joining me today is my co-host, Daniel Christie. Dan, welcome. Daniel Christie:
Thanks, Brandy. And thank you, welcome, Chip. I got to tell you, Chip, I read the book two times. It's a brief read, it's a short read, it's a great read. And I was just so surprised at the depth and honesty that you got into with the book. That is not an easy thing to sit and write to. But you call it your memoirs but it's more like a guideline of caregiving, and grief, and just kind of a general guideline for people that are trying to take care of other people. Kind of full disclosure, some of the points you made really hit home for me because my brother and I are the primary caregivers for our father who's 86 years old, and he's in dementia. So some of the topics that you hit in that book gave me some great food for thought with the book, or the keeping of notes because I've had so many conversations with the long-term care, I mean in the 20 range. And so your suggestions were so good in that book, but you were brutally honest in that book. It takes a lot to do that. Chip Del Core:
Well thank you, Dan. I appreciate the time being here and everybody. Yeah, it was a traumatic experience. It was therapy writing it, going back through those emotions because I stuffed them down for several years, because this all happened between 2017 to 2019. And so for those three years it was a continuing spiral of increasing trauma as I watched this incredible woman that I fell in love with go from a vibrant, thriving human being into someone who was bedridden and incapable of taking care of herself in every way. So it took six months for that to happen. To say that it devastated me would be probably the understatement of my life because of what I had to witness, what I had to experience, and how I had to grow as a man to take that step into areas that I'd never been before. There was no coach, there was no guidebook. Like I said in the text of the book, having to learn all this on the fly, and it warms my heart, Dan, that you took something from that.
And that was really the point that I wanted to make when I wrote these words was to, I joked with myself saying it's a manual for stereo equipment with heart, because it was step by step fact-based details on what I went through and how I organized the data. And I'm sure anyone will agree who's been in any type of hospital setting, there is an avalanche of information that comes at you from check in during the time of the care, check out. Now the checkout for me was probably one of the scariest times because that's when it really hit me that it's all on me now. So coming up with a plan, coming up with, and believe me, many of those plans failed, so that compounded the stress that I was under. But being able to dig deep, being able to persevere, being able to find the strength to be there for her, because this was all guided by loved. I loved this woman, I intended on spending my life with her and she with me, and then the weight of the world came down on both of us.
But yeah, it was very difficult to write. But again, I was very glad I did it. As I started writing and those memories were refreshed, the emotions came back. But what I liked about it was as difficult as it was to get that to paper and the multiple revisions that I've done, I mean I could revise it right now and put another version out, you'll never finish the book. But to get a very good fact-based foundation for people to kind of align with and to take something away was truly my goal. I'm a human being, we live in a monetary world, of course I would love to make a little money from this book, to be honest. Daniel Christie:
But it's just not for a cancer. Chip Del Core:
No, no. Daniel Christie:
You can dovetail this thing in many, many different ways from dementia patients, Alzheimer's patients, and maybe somebody doesn't pass, they can actually, you go through this book and you could find things that they live and they keep carrying on. But it helped. Chip Del Core:
Yeah, and that was really my motivation. I wanted this information out there. If it existed or not, I was blind to it. I could have looked for it and not found it because I was in the middle of a situation, you don't have a lot of time to do research, the demand for you is overwhelming. So yeah, it was very gratifying, I think. Once I put that last period, and I published it, and I sent it to Amazon, the relief kind of came. It was like a weight came off my shoulders all those years, because as a human being we go through things and we bottle it up. Some of us have a full meltdown, some of us go completely stoic, and some of us disappear via your personality, or it changes you in a way you're never going to recover from. It's a spectrum of things.
For me, it was just dealing with that and kind of a reboot. I'm probably on Chip 15.0 right now because I'm 54 years old, and there's been a lot of revisions of me over the years, and that one was the toughest for that time period. I mean I was there when my father passed away, and that was probably right on caliber with those two events, seeing these two people that I cared so much for. So yeah, it was a beautiful thing and a horrible thing, and that's why I called it the complete dichotomy at once, because it's both good and bad at the same time. I was so glad that I could be there for her and her family, and I was so horrified that I was there. And I'm sure that can connect with some people because you want to be there for that person, you want to provide as much care as you can and make it as easy for them as you can, but then it's your memory. That's in your memory, that's it.
And that's where I spoke about how not only did I care about her and took care of her, but in that process I had to take care of myself. The old saying is, you're no good to anybody unless you take care of yourself. So that's where the journal, writing in that journal became hyper important for me because it was a mobile therapist, I didn't have to make an appointment. I could do it in the waiting room, I could do it in the hallway, I could do it in the car, I could journal and just get that out there. Now some of this stuff I may never read again, but the point of journaling, which many understand, some may not, is that you are seeing your thoughts. So when you put your thoughts to paper and you see the words, it's like when a person goes and sees a therapist. Those thoughts will careen and ricochet through your brain for years, but until you say this to someone that is indifferent, they're a part of your life but they're not a part of your life. To see those words, to hear those words finally get out of my head.
And that was what surprised me was when I was writing those books is that there were still some new emotions that cropped up. Albeit I may have felt them to a degree, but now as the time passed, as those emotions were kind of kept at bay, I finally, I cut loose and I said just let it all go. And I think that reflected in, I guess you could say the pungency of the words because you said I was on point, and Dan, you're right. I tried to be as accurate with how I felt, and I didn't try to encapsulate how someone could feel. This was all about what I went through. And if you can resonate, if it resonates with you or not, that's fantastic. Because then you might find something to go, okay look, there's a shortcut. I don't have to go through such an arduous path, I can find a shortcut to get through this, get to the resolution quicker, which makes it easier on the person I'm caring for. So I really wanted to be able to help people with this information, because it's not out there. Daniel Christie:
You talked about being the sole caregiver, and my situation I'm the co-caregiver, and you talked about the loneliness that goes along with it. If I don't, can I just ask you a pointed question, where was her side of the family in this? Chip Del Core:
Her brother and her mother lived in Los Angeles. Her father lived on the other side of the country when this all first started, towards the end of her life, he did move to California. So he was physically unable to be there at the beginning. He was emotionally there, he called every day. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the father, he's a good guy. Her mother and her brother, I think it was very traumatic for them to see this happen because whether it was openly admitted by the family or not, my lady was kind of the matriarch of the family because of her position, her status, and her decision-making was generally in the best interest of the family. Not to say that anyone was always out there trying to take the family down, but she was always the one that everyone came to when they were in a spot.
She was an attorney, she was smart, she had some pretty good life experience. And those are only just a fraction of the reasons why I was attracted to her because she was a very strong, powerful woman, but she didn't go over the top. We knew our roles in our relationship. I'm the man, you're the woman, we are a team. So her family, they wanted to be there more, but I think it was so traumatic for her mom and her brother that it hindered them and it left them somewhat incapable of seeing her as much as they needed to, because to be there you have to be there. Daniel Christie:
You do, you do. Chip Del Core:
Mind, body, soul, all in. That's it. So I can't hold anything against them. I openly admit I was resentful at the time and I was not happy with the support that I was getting. But when it came down to it, this is my lady, you guys are my soldiers now, you're going to do what I'm going to tell you to do. I need your help, you're going to step up. Brandy Risheill:
You talked about sending the group texts to keep everybody involved and trying to keep it all organized, and I'm sure you had to put up boundaries at times like, hey, I'm over here doing this on my own. I'll get you the information when I can get it to you, but you got to respect that I don't have the time to keep you updated 24/7. Chip Del Core:
Yes. And a lot of the stuff that I put in there were based on exactly that, people were asking me for information and I was getting hit all the time. And that's why I put in there to kind of set the boundaries. As the caregiver you're the commander in chief, so all the information is going through you. Now Alexis was able to 100% participate in the beginning, I was there doing my diligence because it was for me, there's a lot of information. You become a med student essentially, because you have to learn all the medications, you have to learn all the treatments, you have to learn all the ailments, the names of some of the stuff. I mean you're speaking Latin. So yeah, it was incredible. And I did not have all the support I wanted, but it was there if I needed it. I did not want to rely on anybody, it was just easier for me to be self-contained. It would've been wonderful to have a brother like you, Dan, to be there. Daniel Christie:
No, you wouldn't have because my brother went burnt earth on the other side of our family. And I sit here and listen I'm like, how could you have not gone burnt earth on some of these people? And my brother did it. So it's a situation where we have a stepmother, the stepmother's side of the family are not interested, and we're making life decisions for both of them. And my brother just got tired of it, just went off. What prevented you from going off on all this? Chip Del Core:
No, that's a phenomenal question. And it really came down to me wanting to have the conversations that I wanted to have. If I go scorched earth on these people, I've now given away my power to control the conversation. Daniel Christie:
Correct, correct. Chip Del Core:
So at that point, I mean this is going to sound funny, but for me it was all about control. So much stuff was out of control that I turned into an iron fist on the things that I needed to hold on. So at that point, yeah, it was very difficult not to, it was very difficult not to just lose myself and just go scorched earth. But I wanted to make sure that I controlled the conversations, I didn't want to have a bunch of side conversations because I said something and somebody got offended, and now I got to deal with somebody else's feelings. And it's like, look man, the most important thing right now is my lady, your daughter, your sister. What we say to each other should be irrelevant other than what is best for her.
I really tapped into patience. My patience was stretched beyond a wire thin at many times, but when it came down to it I would make sure that they understood, look, you're here to back me up. I understand you're not going to be able to do some of the stuff that I'm going to be doing, so you're here to back me up. So when it came down to it, the last month of her life is when we had to get her into a hospice. That's when I realized that my capacity as a human being was being outpaced, I could not take care of her to the best of her needs, my abilities were now surpassed. So when it came time to get her into a hospice care, it's Los Angeles, they're all booked, they're full. So I did not have the capacity to go and look for this place so I said, "Mom," her mom, "You need to take care of this. This is 100% you." And she took it, and she didn't look back, and she got it done. Couple weeks later, we found a place. Daniel Christie:
Wow. Chip Del Core:
Her brother, there were certain things that I knew, look, I'm going to lean on you for these things, and you're just going to have to do it. And again, I didn't get any pushback. I know for a fact because they said it over and again, they were so glad I was there. Now in my mind it had a double meaning, because at the time I was not happy, of course you're glad I'm here. Daniel Christie:
That's exactly right. Brandy Risheill:
You're lucky. Chip Del Core:
Of course. You're glad I'm here. This isn't my wife, I'm just the boyfriend. I should have left a month ago. What am I doing here? I said you know why I'm here, I'm here because I love this woman. Daniel Christie:
Your heart was pure. Chip Del Core:
And my heart, I'm in it. And either leave, follow, or get out of my way, because this woman's life is depending on it. Now what really devastated me through the whole thing is that I operated for so long, 24, 28 months on hope and promise. The hope that she was going to pull through, the promise. Now I have to give these care, the medical teams, they were top shelf. UCLA was phenomenal. They didn't make promises they knew were impossible to keep or there was a huge mystery, but they promised to give the best care they could, they promised. So those promises were part of it, the hope of getting her through that. And then the result was she passed away in the end. So I was not the only person devastated, this amazing woman touched a lot of people's lives, she was a very beautiful soul. And I miss her dearly, and I'm one of many.
But for it happening as long as it did, as long ago as it did, when I wrote the book it kind of surprised me the level and degree that some of these sentiments came back to. It was as if it was the day it happened. But letting that cup run over, and spilling into the pages of the book, and spilling into the sentiment, and spilling into the message, and the information, and everything that I wanted to put in there, and finding a structure to break this down into a nice chronological order, tapping into my faith. But I didn't want to leave anybody out. There are people that don't believe in God, and I respect that. So I wanted to talk to them too, man, because when it comes down to it, I felt alone. And being alone was horrible, it was a horrible feeling because I was abandoned as far as I felt at the time, either way.
So yeah, going through that and feeling alone, it was very tough. But now looking back, it's like it really did hone me into someone to realize how strong I am, to realize what I've been through, breaking into a new career. Now I can look back and go, this is not even as hard as what I just went through. So the beautiful part about humanity is that we learn from our mistakes. And unless you want to be the definition of insanity and keep repeating those mistakes expecting a different result, we learn from our mistakes, learn from our challenges. These uphill battles are incredible, they're awful, but it's just part of the human condition. Not every day is going to be wonderful so we do what we can with what we can, and we find our way through it. And that's what I did and that's why I put that book together, because I wanted to make sure that whatever was going through my head, all the questions I had I tried to capture, all the answers I found I tried to put in there.
And that's why I wanted this to be more of a fact-based information and not the story of our relationship. The story of our relationship would've been a much thicker book, it would've been a much thicker book. But this one, because of how traumatic it was, and how impactful it was, and the steps that you have to take, man, it's A, B, C, D, go down the list, knock them off, you just make your to-do's and check the boxes. And that's how I kind of pictured that. I had to become the caregiver. First challenge, pills. The pills were insane at first because five different medications, different times throughout the day, it was impossible to memorize and keep up with that stuff. Plus her mom was there, her mom would not leave the house for the first couple of days, and I was very thankful for that. I was trying to figure it out, my lady's going through this, her mom, everyone's trying to figure this out.
So we all put ourselves together, and then I came up with this theory to track the medications. Then I came up with all the ways to document the meetings, because there's so much information. And what happened consistently, every single time we would leave an appointment, how many questions do you have after you leave the appointment? A plethora, there's an uncountable amount of questions you have. Well I wrote all those questions down, took them to the next meeting. So that was how I kind of managed it, and I basically put a work ethic, this is now a small business, it's my lady inc, and I'm going to run this thing like the greatest CEO on earth. And being able to manage all this information because you get a lot of it thrown at you. So I had file folders, I had this application that I used to track everything to take the notes for references.
Now I chose the electronic method, some people might want to write it on paper. I chose the electronic method because it was easy to search and find, so I'm creating a database on my Lady's situation and her time. So databases need to be run, you have to run reports. I'm a data analyst so I know how important this is. You have to reference data. Well when did we go to that appointment? So everything has to be tracked. So using the tools, we're in the 21st century, we are so spoiled. We have so many tools at our disposal to help us organize our lives outside of a crisis. We can fine tune our lives to the second, so that's when I just started going, okay, I'm going to start running this like a business. And we've got information, we've got invoicing, there's so much stuff happening. So I wasn't going to take a chance on missing something. And even still with all that data collected, and organized, and managed, there's still some things you miss. There's just so much going on. But no, I was very thankful that I kept my wits about me. There were plenty of days I wanted to run, there were plenty of days. I just looked at God and said, "You are a mess, and I'm out of here." Daniel Christie:
You talk about losing your faith. Chip Del Core:
Yeah. Daniel Christie:
I'm assuming you're Catholic? I'm Catholic. Chip Del Core:
Yeah. I'm definitely Catholic, baptized Catholic. I align. Daniel Christie:
Did you go to confessions, or did you go talk to a priest, or anything like that? Chip Del Core:
No, I kept everything in the journal. I did have a lot of conversations with God, and I let him know that I was not happy with him. In fact, there were several times I told him I hated him. And I think a person's relationship with God is personal and how you handle it, how you deal with it, it's unique to that person. No gloves were on. When I had conversations with God I was completely candid, I was 100% honest, and I was just tearing him apart, letting him have it. And then I cast him out of my life, I cast faith out of my life for many years, and I just kind of found other ways to distract my time. And then I finally had some reasons to start having those conversations again, I renewed my relationship with God. I'm still going through some things, and I've always been going through things as far as my religion goes.
I am a Catholic, I really align with Christian values, I like the morality within those values. I can't say I'm a Christian because I'm still grappling with Jesus Christ and all of the things that people in my position do. But I believe in God, I believe that love and gratitude are incredibly powerful, and I think those were the two sentiments that were my secret allies through all this. Being grateful that I was able to do this, being grateful that we found something that gave her some relief, being grateful for any little win, anything. I was grateful I was able to take notes and have conversations, and then go back and ask questions and get those answers. The whole thing was covered in love. So those were my two biggest allies, and I tried to really stay strong for her, for me, for my family, because my family was absolutely concerned about me. I dropped off the map. Brandy Risheill:
You had to. Chip Del Core:
I was consumed, I had to. And everyone that loved me understood. Daniel Christie:
So you were talking to God, was there a moment when he talked to you? Chip Del Core:
That's a great question. If he did I ignored it. Daniel Christie:
Don't we all? Chip Del Core:
I wanted it, this is my time. I stood in for you while I was there for her. This is my time now, you don't get to talk. I was mad, I was mad. Rightly so. Daniel Christie:
Yeah, you're human. Chip Del Core:
Yeah, yeah. And it was crazy. But that faith, whether I kept it or abandoned it completely, it was still there. In the back of my mind I knew that I still believed in God, and I still had faith, and I still had that, but I just was openly rampaging. I was full berserker, I didn't care about anything other than I just went through this craziness and now, now what? Brandy Risheill:
And now what? Chip Del Core:
Now what? Now it's just me. So every plan that I had was completely gone, because I changed my plans for my future when she and I decided to go the long route. Now I can't go back to who I was before her, no. So it was wild. And I have to say, I'm absolutely thankful and grateful for my family. My amazing sister and her incredible husband, they put up with me for one year in their home. They allowed me to use that sanctuary of their home for one year, and I know it was not easy. I was still a bit of a lunatic. And I warned them when I came in, I said, "Guys, I might fall off the wagon and lose my noodle every now and again." And again, I'm so grateful for my family. My mom was there, when I left LA I went right to her house.
I donated, I gave to charity 90% of my belongings, 90% of what I owned. I had a 10 foot box truck, and I made six trips filled to the brim. 90% of the stuff that I owned, gone. I kept the very basics, clothes and things like that, the things I was very sentimentally attached to. Took that to mom's house, she put up with me for nine months. And again, I was a lunatic because I had never been pushed to that extreme in my life. And so I found solace and sanctuary with my family, and I'm so, so incredibly grateful for my mother, for my sister, for my brother-in-law, for my niece, my nephew, my niece's kids, and everyone in between. So yeah, it was one of the best and one of the worst times of my life. Brandy Risheill:
But you took that and you put that into a survival guide for somebody else who may be on the beginning steps of that. And you keep saying the book was concise, well somebody going into that situation, they don't have time to read a novel. They just need, like you said, I need the facts, I need it now, how do I do this? And so that part of your healing journey was to take what you survived and give somebody else who's just starting to go through it the steps that they need to survive it too. Chip Del Core:
Well I like that, a caregiver's survivor guide. And that was really the point that I wanted, I didn't want to put this thick manual. You want be able to go to the table of contents and go, okay, here's my situation. There's the issue, flip, flip, flip, page 15. Brandy Risheill:
Back in the day we called that the cliff notes. Chip Del Core:
The cliff notes, yeah. Daniel Christie:
Used them a lot in college. Chip Del Core:
Absolutely. And I wanted to make this as mentally digestible for people. I know some of it got a little complex, I got a little tech geek, and I did get a little kind of step happy, but there's a lot of steps. So take what you will. I mean that's really, the survivor guide was really to provide someone you may not need steps A and B, but C, wow. That's really how I motivated myself to keep getting this written. This is good for me, and plenty of times I had to walk away from the keyboard and just let the tears flow, and just rage filled, and go downstairs and yell and get it out. But it was incredible for me to get that done. And I feel that I've taken a next step in my life, another chapter. I'm probably on Chip 15.1 right now because I'm not done with the 15.0 version. But no, it was- Daniel Christie:
You talked about outside therapy. You had your family but did you seek professional help, or did you pay for professional help, or how'd that go, or would you recommend it? Chip Del Core:
Absolutely, yes, I did. And absolutely, yes, I do recommend it. Daniel Christie:
Okay. Chip Del Core:
It took me several years because I was not prepared to talk about it. I wasn't even ready to think about some of those things, and yet to have that conversation meant thinking and talking about it. So when I did finally go speak to a therapist I was definitely better equipped mentally to experience that emotion with a stranger. But the fact that the person was a stranger was the blessing. I'm not talking to someone who knows me. And everyone may agree or may not, but when you talk with someone about something traumatic in your life, and you're speaking with someone that knows you, that cares about you, even if this is someone that is 100% brutally honest they will tell you the things you don't want to hear. This is a true friend. In your mind there's a hidden bias, this person will always be more biased. They'll be biased towards you always, they love you, they're on your side. So they may tell you the honest truth, but there's always a hint of bias.
So when you go and speak with a stranger, a professional who deals with this, because you need to talk with someone who understands the human mind absolutely. Once I started speaking with her, I was going through a lot of stuff where I was seeing negative, I was negative, I was angry, I was always on the edge ready to just cut loose. When I finally started speaking to a professional, now that I'd gone through those years, and it took me four years to go and speak with someone. So after four years and I knew, all right, Chip, inner monologue time, it's time to go have this conversation, you've put it off long enough. You know it's going to be hard, you know it's going to hurt, but you are going to find light, you're going to find light through this darkness. Because I was still very angry, still very upset, I was still in a very dark place.
I kept a good front, but then once I started digging into my emotions, and I was doing 90% of the talking when I would go have these sessions. And then I would ask my therapist, "All right, read me your notes. I want to hear your notes. Those are my notes. I want to hear your notes. I want to hear professionally what you think." And she would read me my notes. And I tell you, some people don't do that. When you go to theory, you go talk and you leave. No, I want to see what you're writing down. I want to know. Daniel Christie:
Is she saying what she thinks of you? Chip Del Core:
Professionally she told me everything that was going on, she did not sugarcoat a thing. Daniel Christie:
Wow. Chip Del Core:
She told me 100% what was going on. Now she was very happy with the fact of how self-aware I was. I knew what was going on, I was looking for answers. And I needed to know, all right, why am I thinking this? Why am I thinking that? Why am I seeing things? Why am I seeing these things? So it was incredible to have those conversations with her, I had about six sessions. It took me a couple of months, you spread it out when you can. I didn't go every week, I would go once a month or I would stretch it out. When I was like, all right, I want to go talk I would go, I didn't have a set schedule. And she was cool with it. She was busy, she had a busy schedule but she's like, look, we'll make an appointment. We'll get you in.
So yeah, it was 100% helpful to go talk to her. It took me a long time, you have to be prepared to have that conversation. Practice in front of the mirror if you have to, talk to the person in the mirror, you know that Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror, right? Daniel Christie:
You're dating yourself. Chip Del Core:
That's incredible. So have that conversation in the mirror if you need to and prepare yourself. But you need to vent, you need to get this out of you. I had a very hollow burning hole in me, and I filled it, I was able to fill it through the efforts I did with my family, with my friends, with my career, my new home, trying to make the best of everything I could out of that. And not every day is sunshine, but we make the best of it. We've got a pile of lemons, let's have some lemonade. Brandy Risheill:
Now does your therapist know you were writing the book, or does she know you wrote the book? Chip Del Core:
At the time when I was going to the therapist I had no intention of writing it, I did not even think about it. But then I got laid off and I was working in my new career doing life insurance, and I had a couple of setbacks because I'm new, I've never done sales. My buddy says, "Chip, you've never hiked before and you're trying to climb Everest. So give yourself some space." So I had some setbacks when I was trying this new career, and I got very frustrated and I got very upset, and I just walked away and I needed a win, I needed a win. So I published this little journal book to make journal entries, and it's paired up with my book on Amazon because I highly recommend journaling in those situations.
So I wrote this little journal book, and I put these daily inspirational quotes, and I got it published on Amazon and I said, wow, that felt good. What else can I publish? What else can I do? So then I thought, you know what, it's time, it's time to write it. And it struck like a lightning bolt on a clear day, it just struck. And so I said, you know what, I'm going to do it. So for a week I just hammered, I dropped a hammer and I was on my computer for hours every day, just stream of consciousness blasting this stuff down, go back and fine tune, another set, blast, retune. So in a week I had the book written, in a month, so it took me one week to get the foundation, and then three weeks to get through all the revisions. Daniel Christie:
But clearly, Chip, you have a tremendous gift and talent to write. Chip Del Core:
Thank you. Daniel Christie:
Have you ever thought about branching into other areas of writing or creative writing? Chip Del Core:
As a matter of fact, I am writing a fiction novel right now. This is a story I came up with probably 10 years ago, more than 10 years ago. I've got a couple of stories that I'm writing, one was a story from high school that I turned in and I got a good grade on it, and I liked the story. So I still have it in my arsenal, I'm going to write that one. And the book that I am focusing on now, they're going to be a crossover. So these two stories are going to overlap. But yes, I am dabbling into science fiction and fiction, that's just one of my genres that I like, yeah. So yeah, I'm definitely getting into more writing and yeah, I've always liked it. Daniel Christie:
Well you're going to have to keep us up to date on when those things come out and we can talk more about those too. Chip Del Core:
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, no, it's a beautiful, to write for me I have a quote in the book that, "The strength from writing shows itself. It helps you not only express your thoughts, but also exercise your thoughts, but exercise your ability to capture it." So yeah, it's very, for me and maybe many others, some may not even know it until they try it, which is why I say, go journal. Just write a paragraph. And it doesn't have to be a bad day, I think you should write more on good days, right? Brandy Risheill:
Document the good. Chip Del Core:
Document the good days. So yeah, go back, and just writing for me has always been a very good outlet to, and that's part of the story that I'm writing now. I, like many people, I'm frustrated in our current times. I'm frustrated with the politics, I'm frustrated with social events and blah, blah, blah. Well I can go beat those things up in my book, so I can go take those things on. And for me there's a satisfaction. I watch the news it's like, oh no, I'm not letting that thought go. So I'll go put down a scene and combat that. So yeah. Thank you, Dan, I appreciate that. I like writing, I like the expressiveness that it gives, I like the thoughts that it provokes. Like what you said, again it warms my heart, you got something from those pages. And that to me means more than anything, I hope that book helps as many people as it can. Brandy Risheill:
I think it will. Chip Del Core:
I appreciate that, thank you. Daniel Christie:
I'm sure it will. Yep, absolutely. Brandy Risheill:
Well, Chip, thank you so much for being here and for sharing your story with so much vulnerability and strength. Your book is a gift for anyone who's ever loved, lost, or cared deeply for another person. Chip Del Core:
Well thank you very much for having me, this is an absolute privilege and an honor to speak with the UBS work family, the UBS client family. And again, I am very grateful to have this attention given to it, because I know it will touch a lot of people. And again, I cannot thank you all enough. Thank you. Daniel Christie:
Thank you, Chip. It'll touch everyone I know, appreciate it. Brandy Risheill:
And to our listeners, thank you for joining us. If you or someone you know is navigating the caregiving journey we highly recommend, Her Untimely Final Sunset, by Chip Del Core. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other. Outro:
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