A couple weeks ago my friend Susan Randall came to visit. She’s a private investigator, and we’ve been friends for 30 years, and every now and then we get together and compare notes on our lives and on what the hell is going on. I’ve made a number of shows with her. Sometimes we talk about her work, sometimes our kids. Once we made a show about a dead owl.
Susan and I met in our early twenties in New York City, where she was living a more exciting life than mine, and wearing much more exciting shoes. In our late twenties we failed to make a film together. In our thirties Susan gave me a job as a private investigator. We had babies around the same time. Once she threw a curtain rod at me.
I record these conversations with Susan because the sound of friends you’ve had for 30 years has a certain sound to it.
This has been a very difficult year for Susan. In this conversation, we talk about her health, the federal government's failure to pay its bills, and the eternally humbling project that is parenting.
Rumble Strip is a podcast produced by Erica Heilman and distributed on the radio by Vermont Public. Learn more about the show here.
