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Not just for only children! Info, stories and life experiences for anyone who feels like they didn't get the How-To brochure on life! Host Tracy Wallace, who has been a business owner, a successful fundraiser, a stand-up comedian, a caregiver and an animal lover, shares stories from the front lines of adulting to help others in this journey called life. She does this while finding the humor in the all situations.
184 Episodes
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Send a text What happens when the clock jumps forward, your diabetic cat needs precision, and a bobcat picks your block for a fly-by? We open up about a week where tiny shifts—sixty minutes, a pawstep on pavement, a chirp from a toilet—reshape everything from pet care to peace of mind. The story starts with daylight savings and the awkward dance of moving Bubbie’s insulin shots without rattling his rhythm. We break down the half-hour step method, why consistency matters for glucose, and how t...
Send a text What happens when your best intentions can’t outrun a crowded life? I open up about a week where everything hit at once: a demanding remote job, caregiving my husband, lingering duties after a friend’s loss, and a stack of guest pitches I couldn’t answer fast enough. From the outside it looks like flakiness; on the inside it feels like triage. I talk about the gap between being human and being “on,” and what it costs when we pretend the gap isn’t there. There’s another layer I’ve...
Send a text What makes the Olympics feel so personal that you end up crying on your couch for athletes you just met two weeks ago? We open up about the real reasons the Games hit the heart: the grind behind those brief highlight packages, the unglamorous math of surgeries and rehab, and the way mental health pressure can rattle even the most prepared minds. This isn’t a sports recap—it’s a look at resilience, belonging, and the quiet support that makes public courage possible. We trace the a...
Send a text Ever feel stuck between what absolutely has to get done and the few things you ache to do for yourself? That’s the tightrope we walk this week as I navigate my husband’s pain plan, an onslaught of rain, and a to-do list that keeps multiplying before breakfast. The theme is simple but stubborn: deciding what truly matters when caregiving, home maintenance, and your own body’s limits all demand first place. We open with a candid update on Bill’s nerve block wearing off, the new med...
Send a text What do you hold on to when progress backtracks overnight? I open up about living with uncertainty after my husband’s nerve block—celebrating the good PT days, bracing for sudden flares, and learning to treat every pain-free hour like a win. This is a candid look at caregiving, the messy timelines of recovery, and the quiet work of staying hopeful when the medical maze keeps shifting. We walk through the practical steps and emotional pivots: moving from home PT to a specialized c...
Send a text Some weeks feel like a collage: a cough that won’t totally quit, a cat who ignores dinner when the heat rises, a dog who thinks every block is a parade, and a lawn that finally answers back with the thinnest line of green. This conversation sits right in that mix—COVID recovery that’s mostly there but not quite, and the tender work of reclaiming energy, taste, and laughter one small step at a time. We get candid about what healing actually looks like when it doesn’t follow a clea...
Send a text The Covid cough won’t let me laugh yet, and somehow chocolate lost its spell. What in the hell happened to me??? That’s where this story starts: a real-time look at COVID recovery that trades drama for honesty. I talk through the positive test, the decision to get to urgent care quickly, and how Paxlovid likely kept things from getting scary. Then we get into the long haul—chest congestion, a thin appetite, and the strange peace of simple food. Soup, no dairy, low salt, and the sl...
Send a text A scratchy throat, a stubborn cough, and a little denial—then a swab that changed the story. We open up about the week with a confirmed COVID case, the scramble to start Paxlovid, and the practical steps that made each day a little easier. From hydration habits and cough management to why gentle movement beats bed-bound stillness, this is a grounded walkthrough of what recovery really looks like when life refuses to quiet down. You’ll hear how vaccine timing shaped the experience...
Send a text Rain soaked Los Angeles, the Rose Parade turned soggy, and my holiday lights kept tripping like they were on a timer from the weather gods—so I used the mess as a nudge to start fresh. I share how a wet week, a sick spouse, and a very determined 14-pound chihuahua pushed me to restart my daily walks, rethink my habits, and listen to what my body and data keep telling me. We get practical about movement with cranky joints: what helped my feet, how copper socks lowered the barrier ...
Send a text A holiday decorating contest turned into a masterclass in rolling with the weather. The atmospheric river drenched our front yard display, shorted the circuits, and left our ten-foot Yeti with gravity-defying soggy fur. We didn’t take home the win, but we did find something better: perspective, humor, and a reminder that the brightest moments often come after plans go sideways. From the driveway, the season threw another curveball—a couple inches of water pooled on the driver’s s...
Send a text Holiday cheer meets home reality as a Southern California storm rolls in and puts a target on outdoor lights, inflatables, and carefully planned yard magic. I talk through the tradeoffs of beauty and safety—what happens when circuits shut down, mud takes over, and the sky ignores your calendar. There’s relief that it’s rain and not wildfire winds this year, plus a real wish that weather would wait until the decorations have their moment. The season’s other curveballs pile up in h...
Send a text Joy doesn’t always arrive in a big moment; sometimes it shows up in a box that claims “25 minutes” and actually takes four hours, a friendly text from a great PT, or a yard that glows just enough to make strangers slow their cars. We set out to simplify holiday decorating after two hospital stays shifted our bandwidth, and we found a sweet spot between ambition and energy. With a giant Bumble from the 1964 Rudolph classic anchoring the display, seven inflatables, and a sensible tr...
Send a text Caregiving rarely looks like the neat checklist people promise. We open the door on a week of small wins and stubborn setbacks: a partner recovering from bulging discs, the push to trade bed rest for hallway laps, and the work of finding motivation when every step aches. The house hums with real life—pets reacting to disrupted routines, a cat throwing up from stress, a dog glued to our sides—and we talk about how self care shifts from bubble baths to basic sleep, food, and the ner...
Send a text Caregiving isn’t a tidy checklist; it’s a constant recalibration of energy, emotion, and logistics. In this episode, I'm talking about life after back-to-back hospital stays and what it takes to keep a home running when helpers still need help, the dog thinks every visitor is a threat, and the cat needs a calming plan to handle the foot traffic. That swirl forces hard choices, and I get candid about the small moments that protect sanity—like holding a long-delayed hair appointment...
Send a text Dry turkey on one side of the family, rum-soaked pudding on the other—somehow neither tasted like home. This week it's a re-release of my favorite funny Thanksgiving episode, and I'm pulling you into a holiday world where salt was outlawed, bay leaves did all the heavy lifting, and stuffing came from a box you didn’t want seconds of. It’s funny because it’s true, and it’s tender because it’s about more than food: it’s about learning to rewrite rituals, find the middle between depr...
Send a text Twelve days in the hospital can blur into a single, sleepless memory. After an ER stretch that felt endless, we finally brought my husband home—but not before the big question families everywhere wrestle with: skilled nursing facility or recovery at home. I share a past experience guiding my thinking: my dad’s fall, a stint in rehab, and an underwhelming version of “more PT” that didn’t translate into real progress. That history didn’t force our hand, but it sharpened our q...
Send a text The healthcare system doesn’t hand out a manual or a how-to brochure for that matter about how to deal with health issues. After a hospital discharged us with no pain meds and no clear plan because we declined surgery, we faced a stark choice: wait and watch strength fade, or push for access to a team that could actually help. In this episode, I walk you through the messy middle—how we navigated private medical transport when an ambulance wouldn’t cross districts, how a simple whe...
Send a text This week's episode is abbreviated to say the least with my husband's health issues taking center stage! Short updates on things going on. Did you listen to last week's interview by the way? If this resonates, follow the Only Child Diaries Podcast on your favorite app, leave a rating and review to help others find us, and share the show with a friend who needs a thoughtful voice in their feed. Join us on Instagram at Only Child Diaries and Facebook at Only Child...
Send a text What if the quiet of an only-child home becomes the engine for a louder, fuller life? Tracy sits down with Leslie Berlin to trace that arc—from a childhood shaped by early divorce and Sunday dinners with dad to a grown-up world built on cousins, neighbors, and in-laws who feel like true family. Leslie’s warmth and candor turn familiar worries into practical wisdom: how to learn confrontation without sibling sparring matches, how to make small holidays feel rich, and how to carry a...
Send a text What do you hold onto when the week unravels—when a hospital discharge turns into a maze of home care, a storm flattens your Halloween decorations, and the cat needs an ER visit at 1 a.m.? I walk through a stretch of days where everything asked for attention at once and explain how I kept moving by choosing a glass half-full approach. We start with my husband’s recovery plan: two bulging discs, a broken rib, and a team effort that includes a visiting nurse, physical therap...
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