Memory Lane

Red & Black Give Students A Talking To …

Although Black prefers to look forward (but work backward – but that's a video), in creating this site we decided to post videos created years ago. And they bring back fond memories about how a high school senior ended up creating eight Red & Black videos that have had over 800,000 views!

It all beganin 2012, when the seniors at YES Prep Public Schools in Houston were reading What I Learned About Life When My Husband Got Fired!, and invited us to be the keynote speakers at their Senior Summit. The theme of the Summit was perfect for us, "Life Is A Journey". We used not only our own personal journeys, but also the story of how "Red & Black" started, to talk about many important life lessons. Of course, this also gave Black the perfect opportunity to use lots of car and racing analogies, which audiences of all ages always love.

YES Prep asked permission to video our presentation, and Black gave her typical reply, "Sure, not a problem." Shortly after the presentation one of the seniors, who wanted to pursue a career in media production, learned it had been videoed and asked our permission to create an assortment of YouTube videos based on what he thought were key messages.

After getting over our shock that he thought our comments were YouTube-worthy, we told him we were flattered and would be more than happy to provide him with copies of our PowerPoint slides or anything else he might need. We were thrilled with the results, but never expected them to be so popular.

Thank you, Aurelio – for your vision … and for producing such great videos!

To view Aurelio's eight Red & Black videos (listed below) just go to our Video Section or click on the titles below:

Image by TrendObjects for iStock

Red isn’t sure that her extreme fear of driving when there’s a risk of high water qualifies as PTSD (and it all started with Black – scroll down for that story!), but she does understand how debilitating it can be (regardless of what triggers it).

What’s interesting is Black picks on Red for many things (that’s part of the job description of a big sister), but not about this because – getting past the stigma of PTSD is tough enough. It’s why National PTSD Awareness Month is so important – not only for those who have PTSD, but for everyone.



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I love the new The Eyewall newsletter that keeps an eye (pun intended) on tropical activity in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico.


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You definitely watch the weather more than I do. But, I know that is because you have an extreme “fear” (or however you want to describe it) of driving in heavy rain and potentially facing road flooding.


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Borderline terror. Thanks to you.


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Me? I thought I was the one who taught you what to do when encountering high water.
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Red's two Labradoodles

Photo taken by Red

May is National Pet Month, and it’s a bittersweet time for Red as she lost Moo (her black Labradoodle pictured above) just before the New Year. It’s the first time she’s been without a pet since Woof arrived (see below for original post from 2021, including the third “silly name”), and not a day goes by that she doesn’t miss the companionship and unconditional love. So, she tries to focus on all the wonderful memories, knowing that one day she’ll welcome another pet into her life …



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Well, this month marks 18 years since you changed my life, so I wanted to thank you. Again. For bringing such happiness into the lives of the girls and me, although some heartbreaking sadness, too. But there's nothing like unconditional love.


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OK, but can you tell me what you are talking about?


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Do you remember when I moved to Houston after living overseas, and we started going to the Hyatt Hill Country in San Antonio for Memorial Day weekend? You were married to Larry, and his girls were young, and Natasha and Sawyer were even younger. Well, in 2003 you asked me if it was OK if you got us a puppy.


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You had always talked about getting a dog but wanted to have children first. The timing seemed right, but given your allergies, the options were limited. Until I learned about a new breed, well technically a mixed breed, originally developed in Australia to be hypoallergenic guide dogs.


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I'll never forget you showing me photos of the most incredibly adorable dogs I'd ever seen. The fact Labradoodles were half standard poodle, which was what I had initially thought we'd get, and half Labrador Retriever was amazing. But only you could find the perfect dog from an article in a business magazine.
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Since today’s Christmas and Chanukah starts tonight, we want to wish you Happy Christmukkah (yes, it’s a real thing)! And we’re rerunning this Christmas story from Black’s childhood – not only because it’s one of Red’s favorites, but because believing in Santa can happen to anyone, even Black …

BLACK: I do not know at what age my Christmas memories began, but I do remember being very young and in awe of a very large – and very well decorated – Christmas tree in our family room. I even remember peeking down the stairs late one evening and seeing my mother standing extremely close to Santa Claus. OK, you might not find that an unusual memory, except my family is Jewish.

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