The Bender Continues
Everyday bros talking about how life goes!
The Bender Continues
TBC Member Spotlight: Ryan Selimos
Ever wondered how a close-knit childhood and sports can shape your entire life? Join us as we sit down with our dear friend Ryan Selimos, who opens up about his formative years in South Florida. Growing up in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other, Ryan shares heartwarming memories of family gatherings and friendships that have lasted a lifetime. We reminisce about our childhood adventures, including the switch from flag to tackle football—a decision that brought both tension and triumph within our families.
High school is a pivotal time, and Ryan's journey was no exception. From transferring schools to finding his footing on the football field, Ryan reflects on the highs and lows that defined his teenage years. We discuss the challenges of social adaptability and the lasting impact of parental support. Through personal anecdotes, we explore the missed opportunities and enduring friendships that have influenced our paths and shaped the people we have become.
Ryan's story doesn't end with high school. Moving to Stetson University was a whole new ballgame. We delve into the culture shocks, the homesickness, and the powerful bonds formed with teammates and fraternity brothers. Ryan's experiences underscore the importance of shared moments and mutual investment in maintaining friendships. From college rites of passage to professional mentorship, this episode is a testament to the transformative power of relationships and the enduring support of a tight-knit friend group. Tune in to be inspired and perhaps find a bit of your own story in Ryan's journey.
Welcome to the Bender Continues podcast. Today we have a very special treat for you. Joining us is not only our dear friend and ex-teammate, but also an integral part of our podcast family the one and only Ryan Salimos.
James LaGamma:We're about to embark on a journey steering our conversation towards a topic that touches every fabric of our lives, and that's relationships. Ryan's going to be our guide through this exploration. From the gridiron of childhood to becoming a valued manager within the financial industry, he's traversed the intricate landscape of relationships and will provide his personal evolution in building lasting connections.
Jonny Strahl:We have the privilege of diving into the mind behind the microphone, sitting down with Ryan for a candid conversation. Whether it's the bond of friendship, camaraderie, teammate or love or family, ryan Salimos embodies the essence of sustaining meaningful relationships. So sit back, relax and prepare to be inspired as we uncover the lessons learned and the true challenges overcoming in the moments that have shaped Ryan, which ultimately creates a case for building relationships.
Ryan Selimos:I know you meant pray to be inspired. I'm praying too.
Jonny Strahl:Don't worry.
Ryan Selimos:And traverse. Come on, guys.
Jonny Strahl:Yeah, come on, this is way too.
Ryan Selimos:People won't talk about me in this nice official, proper fashion. All right, Geez.
James LaGamma:Yeah, sometimes a squirrel, you know, can find a nut. There we go baby Blind squirrel. Blind squirrel, you know, could find a baby. Blind squirrel, blind squirrel. Sorry, I botched it, but hey, it's okay, it's good, the hell you guys want to know all right.
Kenny Massa:Well, let's, let's start from the early age, let's start from the beginning, so that everyone can understand the path to who you are today. So let's, if we look back at the childhood phase, can you tell us a little bit more about your family life growing up, maybe cousins or people that surrounded you like friends in the neighborhood and what that was like?
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, for starters, childhood was crap in my pants, just like the rest of y'all, so get that clear.
James LaGamma:No, but we didn't say infancy, right.
Ryan Selimos:My parents, gus Salimos, michelle Salimos and the great Matt Salimos, so the Salimos family. I was really really lucky growing up because I actually had my extended family both on my mom and my dad's side, within 30 minutes, so two uncles on my dad's side and then four in total aunts and uncles on my mom's side. So whether it was birthdays celebrations, yeah, you know. So whether it was birthdays celebrations, yeah, you know everyone that, meaning that I guess whatever I can't articulate Just the opportunity to show up for those special moments from an early age. You know, I had that opportunity.
Ryan Selimos:I got to see that From kids in the neighborhood standpoint. Funny enough, I didn't really have the type of neighborhood where you know all the kids are we've talked about in previous episodes going out to play backyard football. I didn't really have the type of neighborhood where all the kids are We've talked about in previous episodes going out to play backyard football. I didn't have that group right there, I kind of outsourced it and you all got to meet my childhood best friend, fabian Moreau. His neighborhood was really that setting. There was a park, five-minute walk. So whether it was football, basketball, even baseball, even hockey, we'd go over there, spend entire days, weekends, just having that experience. So, while it wasn't direct for me, definitely got to live it out and that's truly one way we became close and I've known him since preschool.
James LaGamma:Preschool, preschool Still in touch with him today.
Ryan Selimos:Still in touch with him, not as much, not as frequent, but again for those special moments. He was a groomsman at my wedding, so we still have that bond, him and Tanner Moeller, the two people Tanner's a funny one because we kind of I wouldn't expect that We've been friends since he had preschool, because we went to school together.
Kenny Massa:Well, you stayed in one place or you lived in multiple places.
Ryan Selimos:I moved once a whole seven streets over, so big change really. Up until college, south Florida, in the same neighborhood the entire time. So again, kind of my family didn't move around much. So that whole upbringing around the same people for middle, for priest, not preschool, but elementary school, middle school, it was K through eight, so we even grew up with the same people in that regard, until I got to high school you start to branch out Now. I did play sports just like y'all, so that was more my opportunity to meet new people with different backgrounds, different perspectives.
Kenny Massa:Grew up differently as well. Yeah, of course.
James LaGamma:And was the same for your family too. You said you had uncles, aunts, and and was the same for your family too, like that you said. You said you had uncles, aunts and everybody was still living kind of close around. You did that kind of stay for majority of your childhood and keep kind of going. Or did family start to maybe have opportunities and move away and whatnot?
Ryan Selimos:but I'd say, up until I was probably mid late 20s, an uncle, uh, who moved up to Montana, um, and one uncle is just not around as much, but for the most part everyone else is still in South Florida. I think now, especially that I moved away, matt's been a little back and forth. We're starting to see people go off on their own, but for the longest time they all we were all in, uh, south Florida. I mean, two of my aunts and uncles actually lived in the house.
James LaGamma:they grew up when, at different points, um, so really yeah and I'm assuming you guys holidays and and just celebrations and and milestones that happen. You guys are always celebrating together, bringing in other, uh, friends that probably the other families had, and you see, it was just a big group and you just had a lot of people around you kind of growing up.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, and until um, really until my aunt and uncle on my dad's side divorced, I mean, it was my entire, my mom's entire family would come over for those events, dad's entire family, Like there was, true, a mix of that, and you don't always see that um in the family and from a family standpoint. So we had that opportunity for a little bit as well. Um, and I think that's what's led me to be real close with my cousins. But now, kind of, I've got two cousins Um, one's out in Colorado, the other one's going to. His brother is going to graduate from UF, go Gators for Johnny Um, and he's probably going to follow him. Um, and, and then you got me and Matt. So I was really one of the first ones who started to branch out of the South Florida area. For my family Were you the oldest, yeah, Now the only outside my dad, born and raised in Toronto, so he moved down in his 20s, but then really for our entire childhood until I went to college, there wasn't much movement.
James LaGamma:Makes sense.
Ryan Selimos:You mentioned sports. What sports did you play when you're a kid? Like we? Played everything, just like y'all. I mean soccer, baseball, flag football, basketball, hockey, tackle football. I tried it all, did it all. Um, I think sometimes I would call myself jack of all trades, master of none, because you know, you just don't I got older find the time or dedicate the time to commit to just one and really zero in. Now it got less as I got older, but you got to find what you like. I loved hockey for the longest time. Only reason I stopped playing hockey is because it was during tackle football season.
James LaGamma:Roller or ice Ice. Ice time is hard to get to, yeah, especially in Floridaida, yeah not as much up north but down here I've found it is um, from the sports side, team aspect, did you, did you usually play a lot of the same sports with the same people and have like kind of same teammates growing up? Were the different people that because they, their parents, brought them into these sports?
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, I would say, as I got probably started to get into middle school I mean before that it was all rec leagues and stuff. It doesn't really matter, you see different people. But I would say in middle school, yes, because from a tackle football standpoint, you guys playing peewees, those teams, you might move up and wait classes, but it's for a city, you represent a city, so the people you're playing with, your teammates, are going to be the same. And then for travel baseball too, I would say fifth through eighth grade for those two sports specifically.
James LaGamma:It was basically the same or similar teammates. You know maybe a couple of changes here and there that I got to grow up with On the sports teams did you have a lot of different parent coaches.
Ryan Selimos:Did your parents coach? Gus Salimos was always a coach, never a head coach, never wanted to be responsible for, make for the parents and the big decisions, but he always wanted to be a part of it. Um, so yeah, he's been coaching me and my brother since we can remember. Um, you know, one thing for him is his dad, who my grandfather great, great guy, but just wasn't as into sports. So my dad grew up a lot, you know, looking to the stands and not having that representation, and that was one thing he always told me was, you know he was going to make, he was going to be there for every moment, whether it was as a fan or as a coach, and he was for me and for matt that's cool.
James LaGamma:You can't say that a lot yeah um, I, I empathize with you a lot on having a lot of family around. That was kind of how I grew up too. Yeah, um, and so it's. It's unique. You don't hear that a lot. I've seen a lot of families that there there could be bickering between sure, you know, and I don't know if I don't know if you ever saw fights maybe you did yeah, the parents, oh my, the uncles and aunts.
James LaGamma:That yeah, okay, sure bro yes, did it ever escalate to a point of no return?
Ryan Selimos:oh yeah 100.
Jonny Strahl:Parents are worse than the kids half the time you know yeah yeah and we talked.
Ryan Selimos:I mean, we might get into this a little bit later, but I think there's's a saying out there from a parent standpoint and I'm not saying this happened with my grandparents, but it's a common theme I feel like in maybe today's world is those that grow up in divided households, when they become adults, they try to do everything in their power to stay together, whether it's healthy for the family or not, the family or not. When those who grow up and see those that really fought to stay together when it wasn't that healthy, then they're adults. They do the exact opposite.
Ryan Selimos:So, I just think that's an interesting comparison. Again, that's not directly the dynamics that I grew up in, but I think a lot of people do face that from a relationship, from a family standpoint. But yeah, we saw our fair share of arguments. I'm sure we again. This is a topic you all did too, I know it.
Kenny Massa:All right. Well, just to shed light on a different topic area around your childhood, that's going to hopefully push us towards getting a little bit older now, but from a childhood perspective let's think of, like pre-high school, maybe middle school, elementary school. Do you have a fondest memory that you can share with us? Pre-high?
Ryan Selimos:school, maybe middle school, elementary school? Do you have a fondest memory that you can share with us? Pre-high school? Oh, you know, I would probably say it's the time that me and my again my friend Fabian spent together. I mean, we've talked about on previous episodes you're growing up as a kid those playing video games all night in the summer.
James LaGamma:Oh yes.
Ryan Selimos:Parents are in bed. Like we would create NCAA dynasty. We would each create a team, we would schedule to play each other at the end of the season and we would stay up all night playing other teams just to play against each other at 7 in the morning or whatever, like stupid stuff like that. But we actually had the opportunity to play tackle football together and in eighth grade we won the state championship together and he actually caught the game winning touchdown and that's a memory I will I will never forget, just in that moment, because, funny enough we might get into this with his story I actually my me and my family helped get him into football.
Ryan Selimos:His family was huge for soccer but I mean, dude was, was quick as lightning, super fast, and just he wanted to play ball, but his, his dad just wasn't familiar with the game of football, his parents weren't, so they needed some pushing, some convincing so for him to be able to. Finally we got to play together. That was awesome. We played two years together and, like I said, we won a championship together. And again, it's eighth grade. What does that mean? But the we we take away from that?
James LaGamma:oh yeah, that's a talking point we have until you know forever yeah I'm pretty sure you kicked my ass that year actually and he actually had the opportunity to go.
Ryan Selimos:He played college at ucla, um. You know he's in the nfl right now, so he's been able to live out that dream and a little piece of it. I've been able to live out that dream and see it too, which is it's awesome yeah, very cool, so you started.
James LaGamma:It's like seventh grade is what it sounds like you said seven.
Ryan Selimos:Seventh grade is when he finally was able to. We were able to get him to play tackle nice, nice.
James LaGamma:I mean we all played football here. Did you guys also like start really early?
Ryan Selimos:I mean, it sounds like ryan you were, you were starting pretty young I started in fifth for tackle, but I played flag up to that point. My dad actually we were there for sign up for flag one year and we got convinced to play tackle. We didn't tell my mom. And that might have been one of those moments where there might have been some fireworks in the household because we left with one, she had one interpretation. When we left and we got home it was not what she was expecting, nor what she wanted.
James LaGamma:So it only lasted one day you know I don't.
Ryan Selimos:It might. It might have lasted a little bit, I don't remember. I was super happy that day. My pops maybe took a couple shots for me. Uh, as a result of that, but worth it for sure.
Kenny Massa:That's funny oh, that's good, that's good stuff yeah, I mean, I started young too, I think we all probably.
James LaGamma:Yeah, I was sixth grade, so I was kind of probably closer to fabian. I actually had a similar path where I played soccer for the whole time and then finally football, but I didn't have the problem that he had, where your parents were able to step in and that kind of shows the close relationship that you built with them, that where your parents were able to say like, hey, yeah, your son really wants to do this sport right and and and he, they impacted his life right, and that's kind of it's a beautiful thing because I mean, look at where he's at now. Yeah, right, it's, it's amazing. But yeah, I mean, my dad, he played football growing up, so that wasn't hard to transition. Actually, he probably didn't know much about soccer so he went and learned about it but nevertheless, um, that's cool man, that's cool can you touch base on on high school a little bit?
Kenny Massa:I I think that I think that, uh, you have some unique experiences. We've had a unique experience being able to have more of an insider input with that, because James just has some insight from that, from an outsider's perspective, where we don't have that as much on Johnny and I's side. But can you shed some light on what your high school experience was like?
Ryan Selimos:Because it is unique. Yeah, so I went to St Thomas Aquinas my freshman year. But, as we've talked about, I can be a prima donna Sometimes, I can be selfish sometimes, and I didn't see a path to playing until maybe senior year and I wanted to get on the field now. So I wound up transferring to Archbishop McCarthy, which was the school I intended to stay for the rest of my high school career. I actually went to freshman. Freshman year, james and I actually, you know, we played together at freshman ball, so we technically knew each other, um, which is a crazy in itself. Uh, so I went to McCarthy, spent two years there, met a lot of great people, um, but, for whatever reason, you know, there was a change in leadership at the school. Uh, they fired the football coach after we had made a run at States which rubbed people the wrong way, and just there were some. The new administration didn't view sports and view football as highly as the previous one, and then I had to make some tough decisions on. I couldn't afford to go there anymore. So, as a result, I did go to three high schools in four years, which is crazy, think about it. And you schools in four years, which is crazy, think about it. And you know I have some, some regrets from that on a couple of different levels. But I one thing I've noticed, you know, as I've gotten older is through sports I've kind of taken on a chameleon effect, and what I mean by that is, you know, it was very easy for me to go to three different high schools in four years and find a group to fit in with and hang out with, because I had sports as that breakaway in. I can touch on that later, but that's been a takeaway as I look back. But some of the regret I have is, again, I met a lot of great people at McCarthy and they're all friends to this day and I'm the one that kind of stepped away and it was probably it was on me. I'm the one who kind of dropped in communication and you know, I see that and it's I'm super happy for them that. You know they have that closeness, but it's something I missed out.
Ryan Selimos:On Um, I also going back to the Fabian story, right, he was playing ball at a local high school that I looked at and I did not wind up going to, and him and I and actually one of our boys, dre Long, we're having a conversation at my wedding and I was kind of sharing. You know, I would have loved to go have that opportunity to play ball again with him. And one of the things he said that I'll never forget is he really wanted me to make the decision to go so that he could do for me what we did for him. Because again he played at UCLA, his future was kind of already set, mine was still unknown and he wanted to help kind of solidify a future in football for me, like how we in the beginning gave him a future in football. So when I heard that that was just, I never thought of that, of his thought process, of it.
Ryan Selimos:So that one hit deep on a regret maybe of why I didn't go play. Maybe I should have, maybe I could have. Ultimately I went to North Broward Prep, did my final year there. But the flip side is, if I don't go to North Broward Prep I probably don't end up at Stetson, I don't meet my wife, I don't meet you guys. We're not sitting here today, so it's hard to say you live with regret, it's just looking back. You know, you never know. But those are just some of the takeaways from all that movement, of how it could have panned out and all three could have been fantastic situations. I stay at McCarthy, I stay down South, I stay at McCarthy, I stay down south. I stay with that close-knit group of friends. That again, they're still together to this day and we have a little communication. But it's tough for me personally it's probably more me that again cuts that off. You go the Fabian route and who knows, and then you have the Stetson route and here we are.
James LaGamma:Yeah a lot to think about.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, a real lot to think about. Yeah, a lot to think about, yeah.
Jonny Strahl:A real lot to think about. So, before we kind of get into as you transition to college, I'm curious what do you think that defining moment or reasoning behind why you didn't keep in touch, like what were the things that? Was there something necessarily going on in that moment? Were there specific reasons, or was it just pure hay?
Ryan Selimos:No, because you know know, my senior year. You think about it, right? High school senior year is that year. It's that highlight for all of us, right? So my senior year, they're all going through those highlight moments together and I'm at a different school. I'm finding my own path again, the chameleon fitting in, I'm getting it done, I'm figuring out, I'm good.
Ryan Selimos:But you know, I I tried to still kind of sit on the fence of both of still be with that group and like I was at the school but I wasn't, um, and it just it just went a different way, for whatever reason. And again, there were a hundred percent opportunities for me to reinsert myself, or there were opportunities for me to stay in there, stay in the fold, and for whatever reason, I just didn't take advantage of it. Text messages left unread, calls, you know, not made back. Um, and even you know one of the there was this uh guy named Robert Barreras and, uh, his mom, when we launched this podcast, actually commented and and shared of you know the memories we had. And just again, it just goes back to the type of people and the moments that we did get to share and that's awesome, but for whatever reason, it just didn't work out and again it stays with me.
James LaGamma:Did your parents weigh in, like just kind of, when they checked in and, as you're going through this process of changing, like did they help prepare you for the moves from high school to high school? I mean, what was the decision making? How did you guys go about?
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, so the first one from St Thomas to McCarthy, which, again, it was never supposed to be three it was only supposed to be two.
James LaGamma:It was early.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, from an academic standpoint, both were fantastic. I mean, I almost went to McCarthy as a freshman anyways, I kind of personally wanted to. I think I went to St Thomas more as a my parents maybe pushed me more. So when I got to McCarthy that's where I truly wanted to be. So again, it was more it was about football, but it was about academics too. It was about basketball. I wanted to play basketball. I had the opportunity at McCarthy. I didn't have the opportunity at St Thomas. I played two years and then my senior year made the decision to just go football.
Ryan Selimos:But when it came to the North Broward thing, it was a pure football decision. I mean, my grades were fine from an SAT, act, gpa standpoint. It truly was football and getting to the next level. And you know, we just I would, I think we got better, just a better conversation, a better sell at a prep school than at a public school, and that's you know, we went with that decision for North Barrett, prep over Western. But purely football was the decision. And that was when my parents understood that and my mom actually signed off on it, which you know, mom's, in those situations it's always academics and you know the non-sport side. But that was purely a foot, a sport decision, which you don't see. That too, at least I was not expecting that.
James LaGamma:You know my high school career yeah, and I mean uh, correct me if I'm wrong here, or or you shed some light on it, but when you were going from mccarthy to north prower prep, there was some problems going on at mccarthy with the football program correct?
Ryan Selimos:yeah, so we there was a problems going on at McCarthy with the football program, correct? Yeah, so there was a change in administration and then they had fired the head coach, who, again, we just made a run to states on and you bring in this new regime. Funding and financials became a problem as well based on that administration change, and that's what led to the decision for a lot of people to have to leave and reroute. I played with Marshall Morgan, who was a kicker for Georgia, had a couple years in the NFL in high school. He wound up at a different high school as well. So, yeah, I wasn't just the only one, it was kind of a mass exodus in a sense.
James LaGamma:Yeah, I actually remember hearing about it and you know, obviously we knew each other because you went to St Thomas, I went to St Thomas, I went to St Thomas too. I stayed all four years and we saw each other in passing and this is, I know, this is always my favorite story. We would see each other as a kicker and Ryan was actually a holder, and then obviously they also had wide receiver practice going on, but we did this at McCarthy while he was there, so I would see him every Sunday and we would just lock eyes and be like kind of remember you, I know you, but I'm not gonna say hi, we're not gonna and it was.
Ryan Selimos:It was so awkward, it was mutual it was mutual.
James LaGamma:I was feeling the same way. I'm like I don't want to talk to this guy. I don't even know him anymore, um, but I remember, because of being out there at mccarthy and plus um, you, you had the the special teams coach came from st thomas too. So, um, and I know those are some great stories that he he has shared with me as well, as you've experienced firsthand. Um, but uh, yeah, I remember hearing the stories about, like the program kind of falling apart and a little mass exodus and everything. But it sounds like Fabian stuck it out.
Ryan Selimos:Um, so Fabian actually left. Maybe it was like he was at Western.
James LaGamma:So he went to Western. He was at.
Ryan Selimos:Western after his freshman year, so he was there for three years. So the decision was either to go to North Broward with some of the McCarthy guys or go to Western with Fabian. And again, just based off the conversation and pitch.
Jonny Strahl:Are you talking Northwestern or no?
James LaGamma:no, no, I was just curious no no no, no, I was just curious.
Jonny Strahl:No, no no, no, that's a school. Western was a high school, not Miami Northwestern, no, no no, I know Fabian went there.
James LaGamma:Yeah, western was a high school and they were actually pretty good too, his junior and senior year. I'm telling you they balled out, they gave us some problems too when we beat, we beat them. But yeah, so you've bounced around now from different high schools, right, friends groups, kind of changing and shifting. You had all these people you grew up with in high childhood. You kind of obviously had a lot of middle school runs there with probably similar people.
James LaGamma:Right right, seems to be the story that you're telling. Now, all of a sudden, you transition to I'm kind of leaving all these people behind. You're almost lone wolfing. Now you have to go find a college, right? Um, were there. What was the mindset going into college, essentially like you're leaving your high school. What are the goals and aspirations? What made you do the choices? What did you want to accomplish in college? Um, I'm gonna gather it's probably sports related. Is what stetson was?
Ryan Selimos:chosen for two reasons One for football, two for academics. He had to sell mama on academics, but it was pure. Another football decision. I knew I look at me, I ain't no D1.
James LaGamma:Like I knew it was it was cool, it was one double a. It was one double a. And now my goal.
Ryan Selimos:My goal, sophomore junior year, was to get to one double, was to get to one double a level. So I was able to check a box and say, hey, I got to go play D. One double a. That was huge for me. Um, even with, you know what Stetson had to offer and we all, we all got sold on Roger hell of a't left for college yet. But the parents organized a quote-unquote meet-and-greet and it's the St Thomas kids. There was a group of St Thomas kids going to Stetson. Well, I went to St Thomas for a year so I kind of know. So here I show up at this meet and greet. We're going to Stetson dinner. You got James there, you got.
Kenny Massa:Eric.
Ryan Selimos:Fitzgerald, you had a couple, tanner Moeller, who we've talked about.
James LaGamma:Joey Rizzo.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, so there I am Back, like I've been with you guys for four years, just whoop, whoop, let me.
James LaGamma:Yep, there was like 10 of you.
Ryan Selimos:That million effect that you're mentioning?
Jonny Strahl:yeah, is an interesting concept. I've never heard you say it before. I'm telling you it's a new realization. As I did this deep dive, it comes up even more. It's weird. I'm curious. So when you you, I think it's it's interesting because we kind of understand this story to a certain level. James has a point of view, obviously knowing you from, from growing up, a bit more than kenny and I but sure, as we talk about making the decision to go to stetson right being in college, what was the influence? As james asked. I think it's very interesting because, as you are an adult now, as you grow up, when we first met you you have, of course, what's that thing? Roger would always say Six seconds you get a perception.
Jonny Strahl:Oh yeah, the fact that you have been able to reflect on that chameleon effect and the changes and all of the things that took place in the switching high schools, it resonates so much more now and really the reason why you are the way you are, um, and that and this is why we're focused on quote-unquote relationships for this part of this podcast stems really for who you are to this day, um. So when we hear that and see that, I guess just walk us through when you got to college. Obviously, when you get college, you're trying to figure it out Everyone's kind of experimenting and whatever that means. But talk us through that journey, especially going through what you've kind of gone through. I almost feel that this was a good thing and I'm saying this in my own opinion because it gives you a fresh perspective. There's a lot of people starting new, starting over, and this is a chance to almost build your, your new brand and who you are and what you want to accomplish out of those four years.
Ryan Selimos:So, for starters, we talked about going back to my childhood. I didn't leave till 18, right, my family did, and I was kind of the first one to break away. We are on the drive. It is only three hours from South Florida to D land Florida. If you don't know D land, daytona, I don't think I'm in fucking Florida, because South Florida can you know?
Ryan Selimos:it is, it is there's one dynamic and you get out of West Palm, it is completely different. We are on the road and I'm just like where the hell? I mean, yeah, we visit, you visit Stetson, you commit, but then you it's months ago. So I'm looking where the hell are we going? The hell? What did I sign up for, basically? But then getting there, I mean for me it might have been new for a lot of people I'd done this three times so I knew exactly how this was probably going to play out. What you know, I've done this song and dance before getting to college. It wasn't anything new. We were there what a month early for football. The girls are looking we ain't seen girls for a month and look, the twos are looking like tens by the time they get there.
Ryan Selimos:Um, but uh y'all know you want to preface like why you're saying that?
Jonny Strahl:because we were. Yeah, we were camp two days.
Ryan Selimos:It's the hot dehydration.
Ryan Selimos:All dudes, no chicks but um grinding away yeah but I got close with um Vincent and Tyler McGill people we've talked about before. They were roommates, right across the hall from me, so also played football, so kind of found them right away, had the St Thomas kids and then, yeah, that was kind of the first semester and then we started and then Pike comes aboard and that's, I think, where you start to find yourself, because we all know it and anyone who goes to college, that first semester a lot of people don't make it. A lot of people get homesick. They go back home for whatever, whether you're playing sports or not, for any 18-year-old it's a change. When you go to school away, when you move away and you have to get over that hump, and not everyone does.
James LaGamma:So you have to find yourself a little bit, and I believe we all had at one point during that first semester thoughts of leaving. Sure, I almost went back to Jersey.
Ryan Selimos:I was close.
Jonny Strahl:That first semester.
Ryan Selimos:How many times did you drive back home when we had an off weekend? Oh gosh, I couldn't, I couldn't.
Jonny Strahl:I went home when we had an off weekend. Oh gosh, I couldn't, I couldn't, I went every time I went to johnny's.
Kenny Massa:Actually there was periods of times where, you know, I kind of banked off of the family that I, that I grew in, I mean I and I.
Kenny Massa:I was fortunate to meet johnny like literally day one we live across the hall from each other right so I mean, I mean I pretty much knew Johnny from literally day one to now and, like you know, my family got to meet Johnny's family, so that was unique but like you know, you were three hours away, so it is interesting. I've never been able to see like an inside perspective.
Ryan Selimos:Did you go home a lot? I know I went home every time we had an opportunity. I think we had fall break and maybe a long weekend like Labor Day. I'm thinking I went home. What about, like just spring breaks and stuff? Well, spring break first year I went home.
Jonny Strahl:Yeah, our freshman year, like dullest spring break ever went home oh yeah yeah, then we found cruises and the keys and all the, all the good times, but yeah, let's talk to us a little about your uh, your fraternity experience joining clubs while also playing football, and you've emphasized in the past, on a few episodes, just kind of that journey dealing with injuries, and I think it's important to kind of share and showcase a few of those testimonies you did go through, just to kind of tie it all in and where you were at personally.
Ryan Selimos:Well, as you kind of heard, I changed high schools for kind of heard the change high schools for football Went to Stetson for football and then we sit out the entire first season and then it's all taken away from you. I went through some depression, for sure, but I think what helped pull me through it was having something else to fall back on, which was a fraternity. And it wasn't no fraternity experience like y'all think. It was really a bunch of us as football guys saying, hey, we'd like to, we're gonna take over this house and hang out together and and then we'll do some of the fraternity stuff. Um, but it also gave us an opportunity to cross paths with people we probably would never have like.
Ryan Selimos:I think of of gabriel smith gator, our boy. I probably wouldn't have hung out with him in college. Even Jordan Ewood Woody I don't know if we would have crossed paths. We had the opportunity to build bonds, build relationships with these guys. Because of that, in addition to leaning even more in and spending even more time with football, now with Pike, now you're living with each other every single day and really create bonds. You can't leave out the idiots between Austin Marks, jeb Boudreau, dre Long, griff Varey these are people still in our life today, but we kind of we all spent time together in that setting.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, and lived together we literally lived together for extended periods of time.
James LaGamma:I mean mean college is a different environment. All together, right in high school, middle school, elementary school. You're going home every single night. You live with the same people every single day. You get up and you get to go meet your friends. Well, this is a different environment. You don't have that anymore. You're messed with hundreds of kids all in one dorm right and you're got people across the hall. It's kind of like your first acclimation into life. You know by yourself, but, um, you know it's different. Right, you had to navigate that.
Ryan Selimos:There was a lot of different people that you keep coming across every single day and for me it got heightened because, right, you talk about the, the experience in high school and never having those people. Now you're spending years. You're spending two, three, four years with this group. I leaned into that a lot because I didn't want to repeat the regrets that I had in high school. So now it's time to graduate college and here I am faced with that situation again of maybe potentially having to restart. I don't want to restart, um, and I'll to this day. I was one of the biggest proponents of us staying in central florida, and a lot of us I mean a lot of us did and still are. I have some different perspectives in my 30s weird than I did in my 20s um, but, but it's all.
Ryan Selimos:It kind of all steamrolled into that again as I think back on it, like I wanted to keep the party going. These are the best four years of our lives. Why does it have to stop? We just go 45 minutes down the road. We're still living together. You two were roommates, ab and I were roommates. We're still doing kind of the same things. We were not playing ball. We're working now, but it's still that similar lifestyle.
Jonny Strahl:Yeah, two part question Do you have? So when you talk about the hopping around, I almost I almost think of it as, like your parents were in the military, almost where you know you're stationed and you're going elsewhere. And I know a lot of kids and a lot of people will go through that struggle to to really have meaningful connections and meaningful relationships, not because they so much don't want to, but it's because it's the fear of building a relationship and growing a best friend. It's going to be removed or it's just going to walk away at some point Putting yourself out there.
Jonny Strahl:So in college did you ever feel like? At a point you were like, hey, I kind of want to be reserved and I don't want to get too invested into friendships and whatnot because of what's happened in the past. And then the second part of that question is was there ever a moment where you can really think about it's like hey, these are my boys, this is the group of friends that I'm never going to let walk away?
James LaGamma:Yeah.
Jonny Strahl:And I probably know where you're going to go with this, but go ahead.
Ryan Selimos:Well, for starters, to answer the first question, no, on the reservations, okay, I'm not a person who has always just gone head first. I think that's why, you know, the fall hurts like the regret carries, because you don't plan for that, you don't plan for it to end, you just go all in and enjoy the ride as long as you can. Um, so so no, I never. It never was a second guess to me. Um, and for these are my people, it's it's senior year. It's we are sitting watching a cruise video that james lagama has created. We are talking about getting tattoos, a family, that shit, that shit was real. That shit was real. For me, it's just like yeah, this and again, this is second, this is second semester, senior year. So you've heard the plans of what people are going, what people are doing and a lot.
Ryan Selimos:There's a lot of talk about as people who want to, who want to stay, my, my now wife at the time. She's already moved back from California, she's already graduated, she's hanging out with us in the land. You know she's living in Orlando. So my, my future is pretty set in Orlando. Now I'm starting to all right, who's riding with me? You know, adam, we roommates right away. You know, adam, we're roommates right away.
Ryan Selimos:Johnny was in port orange, we didn't. We weren't as close right away. James goes south now. James up in orlando. All right, that's a piece of the puzzle. All right, now johnny's moving. That's a piece of the puzzle. Ken massa could have gone to new jersey. He's still in florida. That's a win. You know the idiots we talked about being griff, austin, jeb dre. They're still in the land. You know they come, come see us in Orlando. And now you start to see how all of this, this is possible. There's a chance at this, you know, at keeping this euphoria going on. Um, and I kind of felt like the ringleader a little bit with it, like I can make this happen. Why, why does it have to end? Cause, again, I'm a person who, who doesn't?
Ryan Selimos:you can't tell me what to do you all know that you know, um, so you can say that, yeah, you know, you go to college and you guys, you move away and you start families and that's cool for a lot of people. But who says that has to be us? Why can't we be the people who change that norm? That's just my been my mentality behind it for a long time.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, I would say that as a group, collectively, we've done with no one's like no one's distinctively taken ownership of a specific role that keeps this. That's like this glue that keeps it together. I think it's an equally distributed bond that we all share, but we've done really well at keeping a sense of just sharing experiences and continuing the trend and continuing the bond and seeing each other religiously. Now, of course, events happen and that brings us together with different life events, whether it be engagements or weddings or this or that. But I mean, there's been reasons where we just birthdays, like, and our group is so large that events are happening like on any given month, like there's 10 events I can go up to Orlando for, so it's like where you guys can come down here, right. So we've done really well at keeping that camaraderie together and really I don't think it's a wave, because the wave is never going to crash. I think it's a constantly moving effort that we just continuously build.
Ryan Selimos:So, yeah, no matter where we are in Florida, we find a way. Yeah, and I think one of the awesome things you hear as we've gone through those different weddings and we've met the different families and the different extended relatives, is you continue to hear like, look at this group that is still together. First it was maybe three years, five years, seven years I mean we've been out of college eight years and friends for 12 still going. It just evolved. It's turned from weddings and bachelor parties into to babies, baby showers. We talked about golf trips on a different episode. I think it just continues to evolve and I will um johnny made a comment. Our first year out of college I've never forgotten it was, uh, we're at new samaritan beach and he's just like the people who want to be invested, they'll find a way to show up. So, and we and like you said, kenny, there's no, it's a little everyone is finding a way. Maybe it's not every single event, but everyone's trying to show up in in those biggest moments yeah and um.
Kenny Massa:I think that these events and the specifically the large life events, have deepened our bond. Sure, like we know literally everybody's families to a greater extent, your extended friends, people we would never cross cross paths with ourselves from like every one of our perspectives, like the, the most ingrained one is like nolan, like I would never know nolan right outside of james. Or like fabian I would never know fabian outside of of of that relationship. So like we know each other on a more deeper level, which I think is a great thing, and I know that you love that because, uh, it just secures the deal even more with the relationships a little bit.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, it proves me right, I was waiting for the right.
Jonny Strahl:I love that. Um, all right. So adulting, you're figuring it out in college. Um, we could spend an hour just on you let's not in in college.
Jonny Strahl:Oh my, talk us through. Graduating from college, you're in the workforce. I believe and I think we all can share this and say this out loud I think a lot of your success defining in who you are in the workforce and in the finance industry stems from how you grew and your relationship piece and what you brought to the table when we were in college. So we got to see it first at hand. But talk through that journey just in the real life, in the real world.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, so we've talked about this a little bit Unique Kenny kind of doesn't count because he started the company, but we've all been at the same company that we started with since we graduated college. Within that, I've been on the same team in the the same department at the same company for the last seven and a half years. Um, now our department's constantly changing, adapting new responsibilities, pivots, so it hasn't felt like that. You know, I've been able to adopt a lot of different skills. Um, technically, leadership wise, that's just interesting. Um, but from a relationship standpoint, you know, I had a lot of coworkers.
Ryan Selimos:You come into a larger company, james Johnny, your company seems a little bit more new school younger, younger dynamics, I don't know. But for me I came in and it was almost oh, this is the frat football kid who's joining the team. And I had a lot of people who looked out for me, you know, and helped me get to those different promotions and get into leadership. And I'm not going to say it was coddled, but it was mentorship, but it was almost like big brother, big sister type of thing. So from a co-worker standpoint, again, you had those people looking out for me. From a coworker standpoint, again, again, you had those people looking out from you, you built relationships with these people and then you know, seeing it come to fruition.
Ryan Selimos:Now I'm in these leadership positions. I want to do the same thing for for anyone coming through because of what people did for me to help me get to where I am. I think a lot of us understand we don't get to where we are, at least from a career standpoint. Most of the time entrepreneurship is different by ourselves and I had the opportunity to learn from a career standpoint. Most of the time entrepreneurship is different by ourselves and I had the opportunity to learn from a lot of people on just the way corporate America works, the way business works, and then, as you move through those roles, how those roles work.
James LaGamma:Love it. So let's give a quick little recap here. You go from big family right, hanging out with friends, kind of up until that, that high school mark, sure. Then you're, you bounce around you almost a lone wolf. In retrospect you have friends, yes, but you're. You're changing that group of friends constantly and having to adapt and, like you said, the chameleon effect. You go into college and you know again still started off chameleon effect, but you started to branch out from your normal path of sports. Life was sports. Now you're kind of doing something else and that helped you guide you through that process. Yeah, to now you're having 40 plus friends and and that's not a joke when we say that, because I mean we've had trips planned where you have, we have 40 plus people on the same location yeah, all people, all people that we went to college with. Now you've got your career, so your relationships are growing even more, and so now you've got coworkers, mentors and all that stuff. But there's also a specific relationship that you have to develop as well. That's different.
James LaGamma:And bouncing in college and high schools and all these things, your friends, it's, it's easy right, but relationships with a, a romantic relationship, is a little bit different, sure, and so you know. It started in college, your relationship with morgan um, and, like you kind of said, she graduated before us. So you know what walk us through, like how you went through that path, because it's that's different, right, you, you, this is a person of one, right, it's now becomes a person of two.
Ryan Selimos:So that one's pretty, pretty easy. Um, you know, I I think the moment for us came early, because it was she lives in California, I live in Florida when she decided to come back to Florida, kind of similar Ah, all the boys are moving to Orlando. All right, we got the lady, she's moving to Orlando, so we're looking good, we're locked in. Um, you know she, she's from a relationship, so I'm just going to like she's my wife, she's why I get up every day, she's why I go to work, do this. My goal is that she doesn't have to work. That's the goal that I've laid out, that that I'm going to execute for her at some point in this life. Um, but she puts up with a lot, a lot. Y'all put up with a lot, she puts up with a lot. So thank you, um. But you know, I heard a. It's not a quote, but it's something that guy I work worked with at my company. He's no longer there. He told me marriage isn't 50, 50, it's a hundred, a hundred. And what he meant by that is.
Ryan Selimos:you know, there are going to be days where you're not going to be at her at your best, she's not going to be at her best and one of you is going to have to carry the entire plate. It's not. Oh, I did half the work, now you pick up the other half. It's hey, you might. For example, you might have to cook and clean the dishes today because I'm just I can't, and that just stuck for me and I heard that early and I've tried to apply that often. Where it's listen, it's we and it's 100% me, it's 100% you and it's 100 you and it's 100 together. There's no counting scores of, again, of who's carrying what load, it's just whatever is necessary for us. We are one.
James LaGamma:you get it done, you figure it out and it's also worthwhile to point out, because she was in college, she knew a lot of the same people that we were hanging out with too right so it's cool to get everyone kind of ingrained and you know um having similar interests, having similar backgrounds, having memories, that kind of give that foundation right.
Kenny Massa:So it's just, it helps your case yeah, she's known all of us, yeah, exactly a long time and for for live with us at one point she didn't live with us longer than expected.
Ryan Selimos:It's fine in college, um, but at one point, you know, it was like I guess I I saw this in my head, I don't know if y'all saw this I brought the boys and she brought the girls. Because we did it, we spent a lot of time with with volleyball, which she played volleyball, and we're still close with with a lot of people you know from that, like I think of a kayla weller, I think of um yeah, yeah, shannon gregg, who brought something that's, that's a couple, that's definitely yeah you know comes from morgan's relationship I think, and I think of a lot, because our bond with tim is like so grand and like it's.
Ryan Selimos:I mean it's almost like he's one of us, you know we see tim with shannon we get it, we understand and right dynamics change, but you know from where we're at today. Another reason that, as a friend group, we're able to go on these trips and be able to experience all these things together is there's no. You talk about the family drama. If you look at us, at a big family, you expect drama, and there isn't that animosity that boils over where people aren't talking to each other, which then now people are making a decision to pick a side and now you're losing communication. You know everyone. It's not that everyone is the best of friends, but there's that common respect and, I think, ability to go out and enjoy moments together. Whether you're there for your significant other, you're there for just the people who are there?
Ryan Selimos:You know, it all stems from us, all of us, the entire group, having a common familiarity all of us, the entire group, having a common familiarity the relationship standpoint that you both bring.
Kenny Massa:That was unique because we share that from all of our perspectives. We share so much of a um, I don't know the correct way to say this an equal distribution of relationships. Right, the females just recently, like, we all are super close and any opportunity we can take to spend time together, we take it like a hundred percent the, our, our partners all go to a bridal shower.
Kenny Massa:They're all celebrating at a bridal shower. We're all hanging out together as well, like it just so. It makes it easier for us because we know the wives spend time together. We spend time together. They all go on bachelorette parties. We go on bachelor parties. We all do these things independently, but also like in synergy, because we're all equally each other's friends together in some way, shape or form. It's so unique.
Jonny Strahl:I think a point to piggyback off, that is when we talk about the relationship piece and just still continuing to find ways to hang out and be together is well, yeah, you're going to get married. That's going to disrupt maybe Hasn't.
Ryan Selimos:No, not at all.
Jonny Strahl:Your friends are going to start to have kids. Our friends have started to have kids. We have a soon-to-be father here coming here shortly, that's right. That still hasn't disrupted. In fact, it's actually provided us better and more opportunities to celebrate birthday parties, hey. When the wives go on a bachelorette party, all right, the boys got to get together and we're all hanging out and helping babysit the little ones, right, yeah, which is really cool. And your priorities change and your life changes, but what stays the same is the relationships, right, and that's one thing, man, I will say. It's it's a huge, huge wake up call for me, just from how important, meaningful relationships are and you think you know what it means. But as you grow older and you said you hit this 30s, you're like, oh boy, here we go. And that started very young with you, man, where we started hanging out and like I was like this guy is just, like he just won't give up, everyone's got to be together.
Ryan Selimos:And then here we are 10 plus years later go back to work. That my two, that we did strength finders and I think that this leaned into me or I leaned into it. But you know, my whole life is sports, right, everything is for sports. I'm like, oh easy competition, why am I even taking this test? Competition was not the number one strength, it was harmony. And I think that was an early revelation because, like, oh shit, competition was number two.
Ryan Selimos:So it's like yo, I love you but I want to kill you, but it's just the fact that it wasn't flipped, I don't know so I leaned into it even gave me another reason to continue to lean into it even more now that I'm out of college into the work profession and trying to facilitate this, hey, we're all hanging out. But again, like I said, perspectives if you ask that question to 25-year-old Ryan, to 30-year-old Ryan, you now get different answers mind, you now get different answers.
James LaGamma:I mean, if you can lean into that actually a little bit more, uh, you know, you went through all these different phases of your life and obviously there's points of self-reflection and self-awareness. You know what? What were your key takeaways, like what worked in when building these lasting corrections and connections and making sure that these things stay together?
Ryan Selimos:chameleon effect. You have these different conversations with all these different individuals and you morph into what that person needs in that moment. And that's where this big aha has come up for me, because I look at my job, I'm a manager, you manage certain different people. They all need different things, putting on different hats, putting on different hats, morphing into what they need. You got this big friend group and the conversations. Whether to diffuse a situation or to just talk about misinterpretations, you have to morph and, like the last two weeks, this thing just poof for me, which is weird, but I don't know how much I like it because, again, I have my own struggles with it from different standpoints, but there is a lot of common similarities of that effect, going back to when I'm talking about 15 years old.
James LaGamma:And you. You now have friends that have been around for, I think we've said, 12 years, definitely going to keep going on from here, right, but we're in different environments throughout different phases of our lives and you kind of mentioned we went through college, then workforce, then weddings, then now it's kids and family. Just how does that play out for you? Over time, the changing environments and how the relationships have maybe evolved or changed or stayed the same?
Ryan Selimos:I mean for the most part. For me, the relationships have, I think, stayed the same. I'd say the biggest change. I'd probably pivot to Adam and Billy with kids and just what that dynamic is and understanding that they're not going to be around for everything and that's totally okay. It just looks different. It goes back to what Johnny said Things just look different, but that's not bad. But outside of that, at least again from my perspective, I see probably y'all too much, I see a lot of our friends too much. Not a bad thing, so it hasn't felt. It's not at that point yet where it's changed for me. Maybe it's changed for others and I understand, I think, a lot better today that it will change and that's okay.
Ryan Selimos:Because I can go back to two moments with two people at this table. Uh, we're at bill walsh's house years ago and james agama hits us with, after maybe a couple drinks, couple couple beverages, that he's moving to north carolina. Naturally, I didn't take that well, I made, I threw a, I threw a fit about it. But who am I to? Who am I to make that decision for someone else? How selfish is that of me to say, hey, you can't do this because of me. So, yeah, and you fast forward and you look at, jonathan straw just got a new role Awesome, could maybe pull him out of Florida. You never know. I didn't have that reaction. I didn't have that reflection Cause, you understand, it's not a, it's not about you, and things are going to change and they're going to look different. Um, and that's okay, but that took me a while to get to.
James LaGamma:Johnny, you ever thought you'd hear that from him.
Jonny Strahl:Yeah, we're growing up. Yeah, man, I don't know if this is a. I want to ask you this, and this might be very simple for you to answer, but I feel like you have a good take on reading people or understanding who you want in your circle. What do you value most in a relationship as you reflect? What do you think? Maybe some of the things that maybe we collectively or not collectively bring to the table that makes you want to hang out with us cool kids and keep us in your life.
Ryan Selimos:I don't know if it's a characteristic of the person. I think for me the biggest takeaway I have is I've seen it both ways. I've seen it stay together and I've seen it fall apart. And when it fell apart I was at the root, I was in the middle of that, I was maybe the root cause of that. And I think for me it goes down to communication and it's a two way street. It's it's you reaching out to that person, checking in hey, how are you doing? But it's also receiving that message and responding.
Ryan Selimos:And you could take that at the friendship level, you could take that at the marriage level, you could take that at so many different levels that when you see people stop talking and stop communicating, that's the first red flag, because if you lose communication, it's hard to get anything back, because if you're not on the same page now the mind starts to wander, now all these different things start to pop up. But even through the good and the bad, if you're able to communicate and even if you stray afar, if you can get back on the same page and talk through it, that's going to give you the best chance. So I I don't know if there's a characteristic of why I hang out with, with the cool kids. I just think it's you know, we all have a. I think we all understand and we we communicate when things are going great. We communicate going bad, and that that speaks for the people at this table. It speaks for the people not at this table, too, that we've, uh name, dropped a reference throughout the conversation.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, I think that one thing that I want to probably end with here is you know, I think it's important for any person in life to choose the people that they involve themselves with carefully. Right, you want to make sure that you surround yourself with good people. You want to make sure that those people are helping you grow into the person that you want to become. How do you strategically ensure that you're placing yourself in front of the right people, professionally and personally, to continue to develop yourself and your relationships and just put you on the path that you want to be on for who you want to become?
Ryan Selimos:yeah, I think, um, you know I took this from from work. You know, my first day they told me, they told me, be a sponge. Right, you take a little bit of. Take a little bit of what this person offers, a little bit of what this person offers, a little bit of what this person offers, throw in your own and you make it your own. It's not copying, it's just taking what you like. So you take that approach and then you always hear the quote that is tell me who your friends are, I'll tell you who you are. Tell me who your friends are, I'll tell you who you are. So I kind of you know in being a sponge, and you know you surround yourself with the people you want to be with.
Ryan Selimos:From a podcast standpoint, social media, you listen to the people you want to get to right. You're heroes, athletes. It's things you want to aspire to be. You want to take a maybe have some differences, but still you know the ultimate similarities are there. And then you tie the bow on with and you could take this back to parenting too we're all products of our environment. You know, you understand why people are the way they are when you understand where they came from what they've been through, and you could say the same. As people move forward, you know if that person's going to grow into this, and then you look back at their path or their trajectory. Well, he's a product. Here's all the things he went through. You mentioned on a previous episode here those scars that he's now gained, those experiences, and how to handle it. Maybe the right way or the wrong way, but you have to go through it. So it's experience too.
Kenny Massa:I like that.
James LaGamma:Yeah, I mean, I guess, in closing, when you talk about relationships, everyone has a different path.
James LaGamma:Right, they could have the big family relationship, except in the beginning they could have little to no family.
James LaGamma:You know, they could grow up and find just a single mentor, keep a very close knit group of friends, but you know, everyone has a unique story to tell and has takeaways that they get from it, and I thank you for for kind of sharing your path and your life, what you've learned along the way your your, what you value, what you um want to see in in a relationship, and it's a give and take, right, that that 100 out of 100 rule, I think is something that a lot of people can walk away with on this conversation, um, as well as other things, um, I mean even the chameleon effect, right, you, you turned it from a negative thing into a positive thing, right, like it's all about outlook and and self-awareness and growth, right, and you grow with people, relationships.
James LaGamma:You know you don't get to where you're at by yourself. Yeah, right, um, so uh, thank you for kind of sharing with us and uh going down that memory lane, which uh sounded like it was uh a good thing, and you kind of enjoyed this uh, this task, this uh reflection moment, really yeah it was um more prep than I usually do so it's a great dude.
James LaGamma:Thanks man. Well done, well done well well.
Kenny Massa:Thank you for sharing. We really appreciate all of your knowledge, experiences on relationships and I think for all of us, we can't wait until we have another event that brings all of our families together and all of our additional friends families together, because all of those events are awesome.
James LaGamma:Let's keep breaking the norm, baby, that's right.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, but until then the.
Ryan Selimos:Bender continues.
