How a Casual Conversation Turned into a Dream Come True
Carrollton, Texas - September 16, 2022 - On a quiet Saturday afternoon, Cindy Murray sits in front of her laptop with a pen in hand and listens closely through her headphones for the typical bumps, coughs, and dog barks that often disrupt the flow of conversation on the recordings she is editing. The work is challenging and sometimes tedious, but Cindy loves it, something that surprised her when she first took on the task almost a year ago. Cindy is finalizing the next episode of “Modern Musings: Conversations with the Maiden, Mother, and Crone,” a weekly podcast and blog that started with a casual conversation between family and friends.
Hosted by Cindy, her daughter, Christen Hessler of Garland, and their friend, Amber Garvin of Irving, the podcast features a wide variety of topics from health and well-being to relationships, spirituality, personal finance, personal and career development, pop culture, and more presented in a conversational format. “We’ve been having these kinds of conversations for years,” she admits. “It’s just something we’ve always done with our group of friends, so it felt natural to carry on the conversations here.” The idea for the podcast started years earlier with Christen and Amber, but nothing ever happened until Cindy and Christen started working on goal-planning together. It was then that Christen casually mentioned her long-time dream of doing a blog or vlog, and Cindy, who had been wanting to start a new lifestyle blog, suggested they do one together. The rest, as they say, is history.
The concept for the podcast pivots around the idea of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, the pagan triple goddess that represents the three stages of a woman’s life – an exemplary characterization of the lives of the three women. Cindy, the elder and mother of Christen, is the wizened Crone. As a newly-married step-mom, Christen represents the Mother. And Amber, a recently engaged school teacher, takes on the perspective of the Maiden. Being in different stages of their lives means the trio often has different perspectives on life’s challenges, and that’s what they think helps them connect with their listeners. “We have something for everyone, and sometimes hearing each other’s points of view gives us a better perspective on our own.”
Cindy chuckles as she explains that everything has come full circle. “It’s kind of funny that all three of us are finally working in the field we went to college to learn.” Cindy is tapping into skills she learned more than 30 years ago when she graduated from South Plains College in Levelland, Texas with a degree in Sound Technology. “I’m always surprised at how much I enjoy this work,” she says as she makes a tricky edit. “I really never thought I would work in the recording industry ever again.” Cindy goes on to explain that she entered the audio engineering program in the late 80s with high hopes of working in the music industry, a field dominated by men. “There weren’t many girls in the program at that time. I think I might have been the only one in my graduating class.” After graduation, she found it impossible to secure a job without leaving the Lubbock area, but as a single parent to then 4-year-old Christen, that was a move she was unwilling to make, so she was forced to look for other kinds of employment.
Christen and Amber have similar stories. Christen, who studied graphic communication at both South Plains College and the University of North Texas, creates all of the artwork used to market each episode. Amber, who began her education at South Plains College with a degree in Broadcasting, had hoped at one time to be a TV news anchor…a skillset not too dissimilar to hosting a podcast. Now, all three are using skills they learned years earlier even though they thought they never would.
In addition to working in the music industry, Cindy once had dreams of writing a novel, a dream she shares with Amber, who is now a high school English teacher. “I wanted to write fiction – tragic love stories, but now I mostly write about my own life. I’ve had a crazy life, and I want to share what I’ve learned. I love being able to use our talents to help people,” Cindy confesses. “I feel called to do this. If we only help one person, then I’ve done what I set out to do.”
It’s been a lot of work, but Cindy insists that it’s worth it. “It’s so rewarding when one of our listeners takes the time to tell me that we’ve helped them in some way.” On November 1, Modern Musings will celebrate one year of weekly episodes and accompanying blog posts, and the women insist they are in it for the long haul. “I hope we’re still doing this 5 or 10 years from now. We have so much to share, and there’s so much to talk about. This really is what I have been called to do.”
So how did that innocent remark one Sunday afternoon become a true calling? “It was magic,” Cindy grins. “I was looking for some purpose…for something to make me whole. I needed to do something that mattered to me, so I asked for it. I spoke it out loud to the Universe, and that’s what made it real. I manifested it. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.”
You can learn more about “Modern Musings: Conversations with the Maiden Mother and Crone” on their website at http://www.modernmusings.net, and you can listen to the podcast on the website, on Apple and other major services, or wherever you get your podcasts.