The one thing that kept our family together was the music. The only thing that our family would share emotionally was to have our dad cry over something the kids did with music.
My guess is my brother would call his mom and his dad pretty regularly a lot more than I probably did.
My parents were kind of over protective people. Me and my sister had to play in the backyard all the time. They bought us bikes for Christmas but wouldn't let us ride in the street we had to ride in the backyard. Another Christmas my dad got me a basketball hoop and put it in the middle of the lawn! You can't dribble on grass.
I watched Italia '90 with my Mum and Dad and my brother you know leaping around the house when the penalties were on... It would be great to be part of that to have that kind of impact.
My dad's side of the family had lots of artists and musicians. There's an emotional quite sentimental quality to Slavic culture. It's very open it loves art it loves music it loves literature. It's very warm it's very up it's very down. I would celebrate that.
I would have to say the person with whom I am most in love is definitely my son Everly Bear. Although I'm his dad I'm also his friend.
During the Depression my dad made radios to sell to make extra money. Nobody had any money to buy the radios so he would trade them for dogs. He built kennels in the backyard and he cared for the dogs.
My mother and dad were big animal lovers too. I just don't know how I would have lived without animals around me. I'm fascinated by them - both domestic pets and the wild community. They just are the most interesting things in the world to me and it's made such a difference in my lifetime.
My humanitarian work evolved from being with my family. My mom my dad they really set a great example for giving back. My mom was a nurse my dad was a school teacher. But my mom did a lot of things for geriatrics and elderly people. She would do home visits for free.
I grew up in a house where my father encouraged my brother and me to fail. I specifically remember coming home and saying 'Dad Dad I tried out for this or that and I was horrible ' and he would high-five me and say 'Way to go.'