June 11, 2026
On The Love Boat with Below Deck Med Star Captain Sandy and Her Wife Leah
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RSS Feed Amy and TJ sit down with "Below Deck Mediterranean's" Captain Sandy and her wife Leah to talk about their love journey and how a message on social media brought them together!
From finding love in chapter two, to finding love later in life - both women are living proof that you should never give up on finding the love you deserve.
Email us at: IDOPOD@iheartradio.com or call us at 844-4-I Do Pod (844-443-6763)
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:15
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, say, welcome to I Do Part two and if you got love right the first time around, this show ain't for you. Welcome. I'm TJ. Holmes alongside my dear lovely, my fiance and my co host on this show. It's Amy Roboch and we are we are losing it a little bit on this one because we have a couple of guests since Studio one we are very familiar with one we just met now the one we're very familiar with, Robes is that this goes beyond just being a fan of the show.
00:00:44
Speaker 2: Oh Captain Sandy and below Deck got us through some of the darkest times of our lives. That's when we were hiding out from the world literally and had nowhere to go. You know where we turned to super honest, I am telling you. We go back and we think of the show, and we think of the episodes, and as we watch new ones, we remember how much your show literally helped us escape our own tumult and for that we are grateful.
00:01:18
Speaker 3: Thank you. It's a great show, right, It's amazing show.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: Yes, all the places you can be, but all the drama that ensues, but all the fun that's had in the process.
00:01:28
Speaker 1: But we are joining. This is I Do Part two. Now, this is just regular Amy and TJ podcast. We would just be talking to Captain Sandy. No, no, no, no, we're talking relationships here on I Do Part two and you are sitting here. We are all sitting in studio together. You here with your wife of two years. Now. Yeah, Leah, it is so good to meet you.
00:01:48
Speaker 4: Thank you.
00:01:48
Speaker 5: Nice to be here two years.
00:01:49
Speaker 1: When was the anniversary?
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Now?
00:01:50
Speaker 1: I want to get it right. Just had it right, do you know?
00:01:52
Speaker 3: Yeah? I love it.
00:01:53
Speaker 5: Good job.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, wait a minute, that that didn't come from nowhere.
00:02:00
Speaker 5: But we've been together seven years?
00:02:01
Speaker 1: Okay? Is she not good with dates? Usually?
00:02:04
Speaker 5: Amazing?
00:02:05
Speaker 2: Okay, I mean she's a captain. I would think numbers like precision are kind of really important with the jobs directions.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: I know where we park her car.
00:02:14
Speaker 5: I did do the wedding. Yeah, yeah, she just showed up for the wedding.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: I did all that.
00:02:20
Speaker 2: That's amazing. I mean, you have to have a planner and you have to have an executor.
00:02:23
Speaker 3: The two together work perfectly.
00:02:25
Speaker 2: Happy Pride Month, by the way, you New York obviously knows how to do it right. Any plans to celebrate do you guys get into all of the festivities and celebrations.
00:02:36
Speaker 4: Right, I mean, we keep to ourselves a lot. We have a very tight group of people that we hang out with, so we like nice dinners, We love the shop and.
00:02:46
Speaker 6: I did a Bravo Pride float.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: Float.
00:02:54
Speaker 6: And I think when we show up in life together and hold hands, we're showing everyone it's like to be in a stance.
00:03:01
Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely, that's not That is cool.
00:03:04
Speaker 1: You can you can send a message without saying a word. We always think that you all probably do. You probably get it sometimes to worry. Why don't you do this more? Say this more? And why isn't this enough you? That's a very good point and worth wanting us living our lives.
00:03:18
Speaker 6: Ye, loving each other exactly, no judgment and just you know, we're two normal people that happen to be in love.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: It's two souls.
00:03:27
Speaker 2: Yes, Oh, I mean look in here in New York City. Obviously, this is a city that embraces all kinds of love. Whatever it looks like, however it manifests. How is it for you all in I don't know where we're I don't know if you want to even say where you live or where you reside. But have you ever felt uncomfortable or discomfort holding hands in public, showing affection in public? Or is that in years past and today things are good.
00:03:51
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm just aware, like I always say, read the room, you know, to be honest with you. I come from a very conservative family. I was a gospel singer for thirty years, worship leader, and so I came from the Christian industry. I lost my career when I came out actually overnight. So I mean, I'm aware that we're not going to like make out in a very conservative you know room, and then when we walk the streets, I'll grab our Hannah shall hold my hand.
00:04:16
Speaker 5: So you know we're respectful, you know, I feel that.
00:04:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yes, But there's no weirdness or anything where we live. I mean, you know, if they have a problem with it, it's their problem.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: One of the two of you more naturally affectionate than the other.
00:04:35
Speaker 5: Though we're all over each other. We are too, by the way, Yeah.
00:04:41
Speaker 6: We're in Yeah, so that you know touches love right, So I don't know. I to me, it's like I want to know my person loves me, and I want them to know I love them.
00:04:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, physical touch is important everything. We've actually had some stuff said about us because they said we were overly affectionate, which was completely embellished. But yes, we also understand you have to read the room. So you all met through social media. Can you tell me how you all met and how it all, how the romance all began?
00:05:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I mean, I mean I turned on the show. I didn't really watch the show a lot, and I thought, oh, she's hot. I'm just going to message and be like hey, and so I said many blessings, congrats on your show, and that was it. And then six months later.
00:05:23
Speaker 3: You reached back messages.
00:05:25
Speaker 2: These are dms. Damn, I'm the same way. I'll be like, oh my god. Six months of messaging so you finally see.
00:05:31
Speaker 6: Yes, and her stood out because it said many blessings. And then I clicked on a link and she was singing and I was like, wow, she can sing.
00:05:40
Speaker 3: And then we reached out and then we.
00:05:42
Speaker 5: Met in La. Yeah, it was love at first sight.
00:05:46
Speaker 1: Okay, oh right, I have so many questions. Yeah, this story, Now, how much time you saw it? After six months you saw the message, but then how long between writing her bag that you will actually see each other.
00:05:59
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: So, yeah, in La? And what was that in La? Okay?
00:06:04
Speaker 6: And she was in Colorado, Okay. And she was coming to visit family in La or Orange County somewhere.
00:06:11
Speaker 5: I'm from Orange County in California.
00:06:12
Speaker 1: We met how that first meeting date? What was it?
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Well?
00:06:16
Speaker 3: I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies at ten o'clock at night.
00:06:18
Speaker 4: She was so nervous. It was so cute. She's like, you want to go buy a chicken?
00:06:23
Speaker 3: Chicken?
00:06:26
Speaker 5: You want to go see the Queens? Is so cute?
00:06:29
Speaker 3: Go see what movie was it?
00:06:30
Speaker 5: I don't know. It was like that Queen's movie.
00:06:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, And I'm like, movie, oh yeah.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: You go to a movie that night?
00:06:38
Speaker 5: It's no, we know.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: We went to Bristol Farms.
00:06:41
Speaker 5: Then she does walk.
00:06:46
Speaker 4: Really fast and I'm in my high heels and I'm like, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm trying to keep up.
00:06:50
Speaker 5: It was cute.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: So how do things progress? How did you get from there to being married now? Like you said, seven years ago, though.
00:06:56
Speaker 6: Conversations, talking, communicating, just stay in touch and realizing this was love.
00:07:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was fast. I mean it was pretty fast. I'm not going to lie.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: I mean it wasn't a U haul it it.
00:07:09
Speaker 5: Was a writer trap.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
00:07:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, we literally drove from La through all the way to Colorado because that's where I lived at the time.
00:07:21
Speaker 1: I'm laughing because I only understand that joke recently, because I explained though U hal.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Lesbians fall in love, they want to move in right away. They get the U haul after the first date and wahla writer Leah, you were married before for twenty years to a man. Yes, So what were you looking for? Did you think you could find love again? Were you on a mission to find love?
00:07:47
Speaker 4: I was so sad and felt so trapped, and because I was a gospel artist, it was like couples that pray together stay together. And I thought, this is just torture to me. And I have adopted a daughter at birth and she was beautiful. She's twenty now, but I had to stay in Colorado and raise her. So I told Sandy, I can't move back to California. I need to put my daughter first. I need to I can't take her from her friends and get her through school. And then so she said, I'm gonna I'm gonna move to Colorado and I'm like, what, you're going to move to Colorado? There's no water, really, there's no boats.
00:08:25
Speaker 5: And she did.
00:08:27
Speaker 4: She came and lasted five years. But yeah, I mean I came out to my husband at the time and just said I'm not happy and this is why, and we need to divorce, you know, and he did not easy.
00:08:41
Speaker 5: It was terrible. Yeah, it was the worst.
00:08:43
Speaker 4: It was the worst time in my life because I lost my identity. I had to start over. I was crucified by the church and front lost friends and it was horrible for me anyway.
00:08:57
Speaker 5: So she was supportive.
00:08:58
Speaker 6: But then she moved out of her big house because this is when you know, it's like real, right, it moves into this apartment and I'll never forget. We drove up and she just cried and I'm like, it's only temporary because she had a big house, a big life, obviously a big career. She lost everything, and now she's moving into an apartment that you would move into after you graduate college.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: The apartment after a divorce is almost always sad. Mine was your kind of was. Yes, we know that feeling. That's a huge adjustment, huge on every level, every level. And your kids are adjusting too. At the same time, How.
00:09:34
Speaker 3: Did your daughter here?
00:09:35
Speaker 2: She?
00:09:35
Speaker 4: I mean, I took her from her childhood home into this apartment, and so she's she's dogs and I had two dogs who were used to running on five acres, so they're like pooping pean on the floor.
00:09:45
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh my god, this is like a nightmare. But it was good. We got through it.
00:09:50
Speaker 4: And then one day it was snowing in Colorado and I'm in my uggs and I'm driving her to school, and I drive by townhouses for sale and I go and I go in, I put a deposit down on a piece of property and I buy my first townhouse. So, like I said, I was married twenty years before, so he was the provider and did everything. So I had to like relearn everything in life, you know.
00:10:14
Speaker 3: And because you've been a great gospel career.
00:10:17
Speaker 5: Because my gospel career, yeah, you know.
00:10:19
Speaker 4: But now I'm in the beauty industry and I love it and I'm launching my own product and it's just been I'm happier now in my life than I ever was, and I'm so in love and it's just I have a new family and it's great.
00:10:43
Speaker 1: This, I guess is it's adjacent, but a little off topic. I'm just curious. I have those folks who pushed you out in the church and all these soil have has that softened any and been welcomed back, have any of those relationships.
00:10:56
Speaker 4: It's interesting that some of them have come out to me and said, hey, I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I'm struggling too, And I go, yeah, that's all good. You know. Actually my daughter came out to me that she's gay, and I thought, oh my gosh, like I thought, like I ruined her or I you know what I mean, like it was and she's living her authentic life.
00:11:21
Speaker 5: I'm living my authentic life.
00:11:23
Speaker 4: I've forgiven the people who cast me aside. Most of them are closet something you know, in the churches. So it's hard. But it's hard for me to go to church now. I mean I miss it, but to think I'm not allowed to be on the platform, like it's just a trigger. So I just don't really go to church.
00:11:43
Speaker 3: Because God loves all of us just.
00:11:46
Speaker 1: What we were told.
00:11:47
Speaker 5: Yes, that's what we're told.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: What Jesus do, not what a lot of churches do when they see something that they don't think fits their something.
00:11:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, wise she goes when the church fails, that's because the people worship.
00:12:01
Speaker 5: The man and not Yes, for sure, that church.
00:12:03
Speaker 3: Should never fail.
00:12:04
Speaker 6: And so basically it's like it's so stupid and I I just it's like, it's love period.
00:12:11
Speaker 3: Forget it. Don't think about sex. Why do people got to go there?
00:12:14
Speaker 2: Like, right, that's such a good way to look at it. Yes, it's about love. It's not about the sexual act. That's just what happens when you express your love talking about who you love. Sandy, this was your this is your first marriage. Correct, So did you feel any reservation? Did you think marriage was in the cards? And once you get to a certain point you might find that.
00:12:33
Speaker 3: Leah, really yes, I was like I'm going.
00:12:36
Speaker 5: To marry her, Yeah, instantly.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: And you've never thought that before?
00:12:40
Speaker 1: No?
00:12:40
Speaker 3: Wow, really I just didn't think.
00:12:43
Speaker 6: You know, it wasn't really a thing, you know, obviously, I just love the person I love and I was like, why do we need to get married?
00:12:51
Speaker 3: Now? I know why? Wow?
00:12:54
Speaker 5: Yeah? I took her name and everything. Yeah, it was so cute. Though.
00:12:57
Speaker 4: She brought me, bought me a promise ring. I was like, promise ring, I want, I want the real.
00:13:03
Speaker 5: Ring you got me. Yeah, it was a Tiffany and surprised me in Great Greece.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, Cindy.
00:13:12
Speaker 2: I think it's so cool too, because I think the part of the podcast is that either you've you've you've tried something it didn't work, and people really do lose hope. I think when you lose hope, that's that's just that dark place that I think many of us have been in. What would you say to anyone who's out there thinking I'm past my prime? Who's gonna want this? You know, I've waited too long? What hope is there?
00:13:34
Speaker 6: Who you live in your life for? You live in it for everybody else or yourself. That's what I say, Like, live your life for yourself. Obviously, be kind and do the next right thing, but don't base your decisions based on what other people think about you or what you're afraid they're gonna they're gonna judge. You live your life because you're living it truly, and that's love.
00:13:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I wish well. I think maybe on social people can see how the two of you look at each other. It's really beautiful to know that you've been together for seven years and you still look at each other that way. That's pretty cool. You this is a long distance relationship though. I mean, obviously, Captain Sandy, we watch you traveling the world in the most beautiful, amazing places, but very far away from Leah.
00:14:18
Speaker 3: How do you all manage that face?
00:14:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, FaceTime, it comes over. Yeah, I go at the end. But we're both you know, independent entrepreneur you know, entrepreneurial women, and so you know, I'm focusing on my business, and I have my daughter that comes and visits and stuff, and.
00:14:36
Speaker 3: Then I come over and see her, have my family.
00:14:39
Speaker 4: And my fam our families in Jacksonville. You know, our sister, my sister in law, Michelle Dunham. She's amazing, and so it's great. I mean, we have such a great community.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: I'm not gone that long.
00:14:50
Speaker 5: A couple of months, yeah, yeah, I was just too bad.
00:14:52
Speaker 1: How does it work in a twelve month period? How much? How often are you?
00:14:56
Speaker 6: Like, if it wasn't for Bravo or Blowdeck, I would be gone a long time.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: You know.
00:15:01
Speaker 6: Back in the day when I started, I was gone all year. I didn't see my family for years, like it was rare.
00:15:06
Speaker 5: It's not like that now.
00:15:07
Speaker 6: No, the industry has changed, like it's three months on, three months off.
00:15:11
Speaker 3: The bigger boats. The boats are getting bigger. The crew. If you want quality crew, you better let.
00:15:15
Speaker 6: Them have a life. And back in the day when I started, we didn't have lives.
00:15:20
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:15:20
Speaker 6: Right, So it's like your life was the boat life, and now it's changed.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: Cindy, do you think your love life got put on hold because of the career you chose?
00:15:30
Speaker 6: Of course, yeah. I mean it's so transient, you know. But the great thing about this career, first of all, there are plenty of jobs in the maritime industry. Secondly, you travel the world and you meet some really interesting people. Thirdly, your shoulder to shoulder with the billionaires you learn I learned so much. Most of those conversations to their companies happened on the bridge of the vessel. I learned a lot from those billionaires. And you travel the world. But at the same time you meet obviously, if you watch below deck, that's how it is, you hook up, your break.
00:16:03
Speaker 5: Up the net.
00:16:06
Speaker 3: It's a boatman's So.
00:16:08
Speaker 2: Did you have boat I was going to ask you, did you ever mix business and pleasure?
00:16:12
Speaker 6: Because I came up and yawning very differently where I worked for one person and he taught me everything. I went to c school, you know, I could save my life like a lot of stuff engineering school. And then I became a captain under him, so I never really had to work like they did.
00:16:29
Speaker 3: I was. I was the boat slave.
00:16:32
Speaker 2: You bosin or that was the boat slave.
00:16:35
Speaker 6: I send the chief stew the laundry girl, the dishwasher. I was not the chef because Fran cooked, so she just bought extra pots and pants so she didn't have to watch those.
00:16:47
Speaker 3: So they have it easier than I had it.
00:16:50
Speaker 2: That makes sense, though, and that's why you feel comfortable making the decisions you do on the show because you've been there, done that.
00:16:55
Speaker 6: Yes, And trust me, if they want to know what hard work is like, come back to the day is when I started both that's hard work.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: And again you go back and watch these you don't know a lot of what's going on in the drama until you see it.
00:17:08
Speaker 3: No, I want to.
00:17:10
Speaker 1: But once you see it, why in God's name are they doing? Are they just kids having fun and this is gonna be over with and let them get it out of their systems? Or do you see some real relationship issues mistakes? Being made. Are they any real relationships? Lessons to be taken out of what we see on the show.
00:17:26
Speaker 6: Some are in their twenties. When we were in our twenties, I mean I was still using drugs. I got clean at twenty five. But I mean, you know, they have different backgrounds. They're from different nationalities, different religions, different beliefs. So you think, Okay, I personally like to get to know them, So I try to have a meal with them. Do they have siblings and get to know them? Some people have walls up, so you try. And then for me it's I think it's I don't step in unless they're starting to affect each other in their job situation. When it starts permeating through the boat, that's when I step in. When they're all talking about it, and now if I can pick up on it, you know the guests are going.
00:18:09
Speaker 1: To pick up.
00:18:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:11
Speaker 6: As far as they're interpersonal relationships, I don't live.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: You know, I'm.
00:18:20
Speaker 2: Curious being married did that change or affect you in terms of how you captained your crew. Did having your own deeply personal relationship impacted all what you thought of things or how you viewed certain relationship issues.
00:18:36
Speaker 3: Perhaps that were happening on the boat.
00:18:38
Speaker 6: No, I worked to twelve steps, so I'm sober. And the twelve steps I learned the design for life. Right, I'm telling you that changes lives. And I I can see where people need personal growth, right, So and I need personal growth. Get into a relationship, you learn, right, it's easy to have you know, kumbay a your whole life if you're single. But the you get in a relationship, you start working on yourself and you know that personal growth is and it's all about communication. So they don't have that. We do right because we're in relationships. We learn how to communicate because we want it to work. They're they're just hooking up. You know, I guarantee you Joe isn't thinking about his wife and.
00:19:24
Speaker 3: Material, don't you know.
00:19:27
Speaker 6: With Nathan, obviously he loved Gail. That's his woman. That is his wife, like well soon to be hopefully. You know, they had a baby together. You look at you know, look at Maliah. Let's take her like she her career was yachting.
00:19:42
Speaker 3: Yes, she hooked up and you know, yes, and she was having fun. Yes, now she's a baby she had you know, she's in love.
00:19:49
Speaker 6: She was in brokerage, you know, so our charter management, our charter brokerage. Yes, so everybody's got their different paths, but I think of below Jack, I think they're just there for that time.
00:20:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got it all right, Lead, did you notice anything that maybe we wouldn't have noticed that, any change in her that you watched actually on the show, as you all's relationship might have been going through whatever it might have been going through.
00:20:24
Speaker 5: She softened.
00:20:25
Speaker 4: Oh, I would say, since being married and being with me, and plus her hair and makeup looks really.
00:20:31
Speaker 5: Good now.
00:20:34
Speaker 3: Said that I stepped up my game.
00:20:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, Ramona singer, New York. She goes, she goes, Yeah, your wife really made you say? Oh, she said girlfriend, but she doesn't. No, she's my wife. But so I would say, and the skincare, because I'm a skincare expert and so that side of it, right, Yeah, I've seen that.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: I actually don't have any more clothes on it. We're gonna go shop later and in a uniform my whole life.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: That makes sense.
00:21:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, she does, like, like.
00:21:01
Speaker 3: I had to go buye this for today. Yeah.
00:21:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, but we have to tell you every time we see you in street clothes, we say wow, I'm not kidding. You actually made a point. It's great they are she likes she has good shoes. You got a good shoes, Yeah.
00:21:22
Speaker 5: Good shoes. Oh yeah, they're good.
00:21:24
Speaker 2: And Leah, I know that you have gone through your own breast cancer scared you care?
00:21:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had three scares three one backtomy. So far, so good and just getting checked every six months.
00:21:37
Speaker 2: Did that impact just because that's scare and that fear of what if and what happens next? And yeah, all those change just did it bring bring you all closer together? Did what impact did that have on your relationship?
00:21:48
Speaker 4: I mean, she's such a caretaker, you know, she's a huge caretaker. So she was just like, no matter what, we're going to work through it. You know, she was all for Like if you need a double misectomy, like we're going to do it.
00:22:00
Speaker 5: We're going to find the best surgeon.
00:22:03
Speaker 4: And so, I mean, we don't even question when it comes to health.
00:22:09
Speaker 5: We're just there for each other.
00:22:10
Speaker 4: We're married and we Yeah, and I wasn't afraid to lose anything, Like if it was going to save my life, I don't care if I get rid of them. Plus you can do a direct and plant now, so the reconstruction's.
00:22:25
Speaker 2: A amazing what what would you say has been your biggest struggle, your toughest moment as a couple, whether it was when you were dating or when you got married.
00:22:35
Speaker 5: The builder, the builder. Oh well, we had a builder take all our money. The builder took all our money and.
00:22:41
Speaker 3: All of our money.
00:22:42
Speaker 1: What.
00:22:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were robbed so and a lot of other homeowners.
00:22:47
Speaker 4: We're building a house, we're making payments, and he used the money for his own personal use.
00:22:54
Speaker 3: So yeah, the builder. That was a big hurdle for us.
00:22:57
Speaker 5: That was a big hurdle, but we realized that we got through it.
00:23:00
Speaker 3: In our house was a shell of a house.
00:23:01
Speaker 6: My sister called and said, I'm not sure what's happening, but nothing's happening on your house at all. I was like, because we were living in Colorado.
00:23:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, what ultimately happened to that.
00:23:14
Speaker 3: There's a trial coming in July.
00:23:17
Speaker 2: Trial but with a pyramid scheme basically, like he was just I just he's.
00:23:21
Speaker 6: A guy that inherited a business because he married somebody and he ran it into the ground.
00:23:25
Speaker 3: Oh wow, that's the reality.
00:23:28
Speaker 4: That's because there was eleven other homeowners that he took the money from.
00:23:31
Speaker 6: So apparently the company, it was a wonderful establishment that they were a great builder, had a great reputation, and when he took over, that changed.
00:23:42
Speaker 2: So dealing with massive financial loss, like that's that's stressful, very.
00:23:47
Speaker 4: But that's what we're both very resilient people. We just get right back up and what do you say? Wake up, dress up, show up, kick ass.
00:23:55
Speaker 5: That's her thing. And that's really how we live our life.
00:23:58
Speaker 4: I mean, we don't lay in bed and we're not deproud and we're just like, well, I get up and do my hair and makeup. That's how I get ready for the day. And you know, my b a little bit and she plays with our dog. But we keep going. I mean we don't or what else we win?
00:24:11
Speaker 3: Got our uh CEO CEO?
00:24:14
Speaker 5: I mean I became the.
00:24:15
Speaker 6: Contract versus like you're living in your house. You're not supposed to be living there because we didn't have our CEO.
00:24:19
Speaker 3: What are they going to do? Arrest me? They're not arresting the builder. They stole her money. They're going to arrest me for a house I paid twice for.
00:24:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, have trees or grass.
00:24:32
Speaker 3: But he's still walking living crazy.
00:24:35
Speaker 1: Okay, that's another episode Crazy. Last few things here. You said something earlier you never thought throughout your life, your dating history, that you you never thought about getting married until you met Leah, until you all got together. For people hearing that, what did you listen to right quick? Because that seemed like a huge switch in your life. It's like you weren't even thinking about it and then somebody made you think about it? What is that thing? Because people are wondering is this it? Is this the one? How do I know? What do I feel? What is it that made you finally go, oh yeah, now I want to get married.
00:25:08
Speaker 6: Your heart You're willing to sacrifice, Like, it's like the sacrifice.
00:25:12
Speaker 3: So you I've moved. I swear never move out of la I swear never.
00:25:18
Speaker 5: You made a list, tell them the list.
00:25:20
Speaker 1: I made a list.
00:25:21
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:25:22
Speaker 3: I love God first.
00:25:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, so that was the list and music and music and hot and hot.
00:25:30
Speaker 3: Yeah. It was like, wow, cool because I love music.
00:25:37
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:25:38
Speaker 2: I think it's cool for people to hear though, because a lot of I think a lot of folks do end up just kind of closing themselves off and just saying it's not worth it and it's not going to happen. But just when you think it it won't or it can't, it can did you did you ever you weren't looking for love, but did you lose hope? And did you ever think it would happen like this?
00:25:59
Speaker 6: I didn't lose hope. I just was oblivious. To be honest, I don't know. I'm Peter Pan, I'm just I don't know. I just continue to find joy. Yeah, but all formed with a joyful heart. I I mean, I was born with a joyful heart. Like I am a child, I am a I have a child spirit.
00:26:20
Speaker 4: But her friends told me, like you, we can't believe that she found someone that made her settle down like that. We can't believe she finally got married. We can't because they didn't really think that that would happen with you. And they're like wow. I'm like, all right, well you're.
00:26:36
Speaker 1: Bliss Yeah, well what about you? Twenty year of marriage? What is it that made you go okay, yeah, I want to do this?
00:26:44
Speaker 5: Her just meeting her.
00:26:47
Speaker 4: I think when you just honestly, like I think, when you have a connection with someone and you meet that person and it's so powerful and strong, it you feel like you can conquer the world with that person, by your side and it just makes you You make decisions and you don't really care what anyone thinks because you just fell in love, you know, and it just works.
00:27:08
Speaker 5: So, yeah, she gave me the courage to jump.
00:27:13
Speaker 1: We've got to collect all these answers. That is a wonderful way to put it. Like people always looking for advice, relationship advice and concrete things on this, this and this. That was just beautifully said. And I agree with you what you're talking. It's how it's hard to explain. You can't explain it until it happens to you and then you go, oh, I know exactly what she's talking about.
00:27:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, people judge you because they're not happy.
00:27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, we figure that out.
00:27:35
Speaker 5: We know they're so judging because they're measurable and they wish they found.
00:27:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know that.
00:27:41
Speaker 2: This is my last question. I'm wondering just what you found and what you all have together. And it's palpable. I mean we can see it in your faces and your body language, how you look at each other. It's just it's obvious that this is the real deal. Do you think, having had lived enough life where you found this love later in life, that you have the perspective to actually feel confident where it isn't just this one off or just this passion that could die out, but it's deeper because you've lived enough life to know.
00:28:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, everyone is like, oh, is that a phase for Leah? You know, because she was like the straight girl in church? And is this just a phase even when you were I think wondering is this a phase because she didn't want to get her heart broken? And I think just time and you know, showing and action and going through the hard times and the ups and downs. I mean, we are very different and yet we compliment each other so well and so and it was just worth every single sacrifice and it was just worth it.
00:28:44
Speaker 6: And I honestly, I I'm like, why not take the risk? I would rather want to know than not know, you know what I mean? So take the risk the worst case scenarios. You're gonna have a little heartache, maybe a lot.
00:28:58
Speaker 3: Of heartache, but you'll live. You know, It's worth taking the risk. Yeah, love always is.
00:29:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, Captain Sandy, is that annoying? Should I just call you Sandy? Sorry?
00:29:10
Speaker 1: Sandy?
00:29:11
Speaker 2: Leah, thank you for sharing your love story with us. I do think that it's so inspirational for a lot of people listening who are hoping that they'll find love the second time around, or the third time around, or the fourth or whatever. This podcast at exactly. Thank you so much for being with us and sharing.
00:29:29
Speaker 5: Thanks for having us.
00:29:31
Speaker 3: Thank you.
00:29:31
Speaker 2: Catch the new season of Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo on Mondays at eight pm and then streaming the next.
00:29:37
Speaker 1: Day on Peacock And to our listeners, we are here to help. You can send us an email or leave us a voicemail. All the info in the show notes. Follow us on Socials, I Do Part two and iHeart Radio podcast. We're falling in Love is the main objective. We'll see you
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, say, welcome to I Do Part two and if you got love right the first time around, this show ain't for you. Welcome. I'm TJ. Holmes alongside my dear lovely, my fiance and my co host on this show. It's Amy Roboch and we are we are losing it a little bit on this one because we have a couple of guests since Studio one we are very familiar with one we just met now the one we're very familiar with, Robes is that this goes beyond just being a fan of the show.
00:00:44
Speaker 2: Oh Captain Sandy and below Deck got us through some of the darkest times of our lives. That's when we were hiding out from the world literally and had nowhere to go. You know where we turned to super honest, I am telling you. We go back and we think of the show, and we think of the episodes, and as we watch new ones, we remember how much your show literally helped us escape our own tumult and for that we are grateful.
00:01:18
Speaker 3: Thank you. It's a great show, right, It's amazing show.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: Yes, all the places you can be, but all the drama that ensues, but all the fun that's had in the process.
00:01:28
Speaker 1: But we are joining. This is I Do Part two. Now, this is just regular Amy and TJ podcast. We would just be talking to Captain Sandy. No, no, no, no, we're talking relationships here on I Do Part two and you are sitting here. We are all sitting in studio together. You here with your wife of two years. Now. Yeah, Leah, it is so good to meet you.
00:01:48
Speaker 4: Thank you.
00:01:48
Speaker 5: Nice to be here two years.
00:01:49
Speaker 1: When was the anniversary?
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Now?
00:01:50
Speaker 1: I want to get it right. Just had it right, do you know?
00:01:52
Speaker 3: Yeah? I love it.
00:01:53
Speaker 5: Good job.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, wait a minute, that that didn't come from nowhere.
00:02:00
Speaker 5: But we've been together seven years?
00:02:01
Speaker 1: Okay? Is she not good with dates? Usually?
00:02:04
Speaker 5: Amazing?
00:02:05
Speaker 2: Okay, I mean she's a captain. I would think numbers like precision are kind of really important with the jobs directions.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: I know where we park her car.
00:02:14
Speaker 5: I did do the wedding. Yeah, yeah, she just showed up for the wedding.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: I did all that.
00:02:20
Speaker 2: That's amazing. I mean, you have to have a planner and you have to have an executor.
00:02:23
Speaker 3: The two together work perfectly.
00:02:25
Speaker 2: Happy Pride Month, by the way, you New York obviously knows how to do it right. Any plans to celebrate do you guys get into all of the festivities and celebrations.
00:02:36
Speaker 4: Right, I mean, we keep to ourselves a lot. We have a very tight group of people that we hang out with, so we like nice dinners, We love the shop and.
00:02:46
Speaker 6: I did a Bravo Pride float.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: Float.
00:02:54
Speaker 6: And I think when we show up in life together and hold hands, we're showing everyone it's like to be in a stance.
00:03:01
Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely, that's not That is cool.
00:03:04
Speaker 1: You can you can send a message without saying a word. We always think that you all probably do. You probably get it sometimes to worry. Why don't you do this more? Say this more? And why isn't this enough you? That's a very good point and worth wanting us living our lives.
00:03:18
Speaker 6: Ye, loving each other exactly, no judgment and just you know, we're two normal people that happen to be in love.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: It's two souls.
00:03:27
Speaker 2: Yes, Oh, I mean look in here in New York City. Obviously, this is a city that embraces all kinds of love. Whatever it looks like, however it manifests. How is it for you all in I don't know where we're I don't know if you want to even say where you live or where you reside. But have you ever felt uncomfortable or discomfort holding hands in public, showing affection in public? Or is that in years past and today things are good.
00:03:51
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm just aware, like I always say, read the room, you know, to be honest with you. I come from a very conservative family. I was a gospel singer for thirty years, worship leader, and so I came from the Christian industry. I lost my career when I came out actually overnight. So I mean, I'm aware that we're not going to like make out in a very conservative you know room, and then when we walk the streets, I'll grab our Hannah shall hold my hand.
00:04:16
Speaker 5: So you know we're respectful, you know, I feel that.
00:04:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yes, But there's no weirdness or anything where we live. I mean, you know, if they have a problem with it, it's their problem.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: One of the two of you more naturally affectionate than the other.
00:04:35
Speaker 5: Though we're all over each other. We are too, by the way, Yeah.
00:04:41
Speaker 6: We're in Yeah, so that you know touches love right, So I don't know. I to me, it's like I want to know my person loves me, and I want them to know I love them.
00:04:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, physical touch is important everything. We've actually had some stuff said about us because they said we were overly affectionate, which was completely embellished. But yes, we also understand you have to read the room. So you all met through social media. Can you tell me how you all met and how it all, how the romance all began?
00:05:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I mean, I mean I turned on the show. I didn't really watch the show a lot, and I thought, oh, she's hot. I'm just going to message and be like hey, and so I said many blessings, congrats on your show, and that was it. And then six months later.
00:05:23
Speaker 3: You reached back messages.
00:05:25
Speaker 2: These are dms. Damn, I'm the same way. I'll be like, oh my god. Six months of messaging so you finally see.
00:05:31
Speaker 6: Yes, and her stood out because it said many blessings. And then I clicked on a link and she was singing and I was like, wow, she can sing.
00:05:40
Speaker 3: And then we reached out and then we.
00:05:42
Speaker 5: Met in La. Yeah, it was love at first sight.
00:05:46
Speaker 1: Okay, oh right, I have so many questions. Yeah, this story, Now, how much time you saw it? After six months you saw the message, but then how long between writing her bag that you will actually see each other.
00:05:59
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: So, yeah, in La? And what was that in La? Okay?
00:06:04
Speaker 6: And she was in Colorado, Okay. And she was coming to visit family in La or Orange County somewhere.
00:06:11
Speaker 5: I'm from Orange County in California.
00:06:12
Speaker 1: We met how that first meeting date? What was it?
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Well?
00:06:16
Speaker 3: I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies at ten o'clock at night.
00:06:18
Speaker 4: She was so nervous. It was so cute. She's like, you want to go buy a chicken?
00:06:23
Speaker 3: Chicken?
00:06:26
Speaker 5: You want to go see the Queens? Is so cute?
00:06:29
Speaker 3: Go see what movie was it?
00:06:30
Speaker 5: I don't know. It was like that Queen's movie.
00:06:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, And I'm like, movie, oh yeah.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: You go to a movie that night?
00:06:38
Speaker 5: It's no, we know.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: We went to Bristol Farms.
00:06:41
Speaker 5: Then she does walk.
00:06:46
Speaker 4: Really fast and I'm in my high heels and I'm like, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm trying to keep up.
00:06:50
Speaker 5: It was cute.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: So how do things progress? How did you get from there to being married now? Like you said, seven years ago, though.
00:06:56
Speaker 6: Conversations, talking, communicating, just stay in touch and realizing this was love.
00:07:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was fast. I mean it was pretty fast. I'm not going to lie.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: I mean it wasn't a U haul it it.
00:07:09
Speaker 5: Was a writer trap.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
00:07:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, we literally drove from La through all the way to Colorado because that's where I lived at the time.
00:07:21
Speaker 1: I'm laughing because I only understand that joke recently, because I explained though U hal.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Lesbians fall in love, they want to move in right away. They get the U haul after the first date and wahla writer Leah, you were married before for twenty years to a man. Yes, So what were you looking for? Did you think you could find love again? Were you on a mission to find love?
00:07:47
Speaker 4: I was so sad and felt so trapped, and because I was a gospel artist, it was like couples that pray together stay together. And I thought, this is just torture to me. And I have adopted a daughter at birth and she was beautiful. She's twenty now, but I had to stay in Colorado and raise her. So I told Sandy, I can't move back to California. I need to put my daughter first. I need to I can't take her from her friends and get her through school. And then so she said, I'm gonna I'm gonna move to Colorado and I'm like, what, you're going to move to Colorado? There's no water, really, there's no boats.
00:08:25
Speaker 5: And she did.
00:08:27
Speaker 4: She came and lasted five years. But yeah, I mean I came out to my husband at the time and just said I'm not happy and this is why, and we need to divorce, you know, and he did not easy.
00:08:41
Speaker 5: It was terrible. Yeah, it was the worst.
00:08:43
Speaker 4: It was the worst time in my life because I lost my identity. I had to start over. I was crucified by the church and front lost friends and it was horrible for me anyway.
00:08:57
Speaker 5: So she was supportive.
00:08:58
Speaker 6: But then she moved out of her big house because this is when you know, it's like real, right, it moves into this apartment and I'll never forget. We drove up and she just cried and I'm like, it's only temporary because she had a big house, a big life, obviously a big career. She lost everything, and now she's moving into an apartment that you would move into after you graduate college.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: The apartment after a divorce is almost always sad. Mine was your kind of was. Yes, we know that feeling. That's a huge adjustment, huge on every level, every level. And your kids are adjusting too. At the same time, How.
00:09:34
Speaker 3: Did your daughter here?
00:09:35
Speaker 2: She?
00:09:35
Speaker 4: I mean, I took her from her childhood home into this apartment, and so she's she's dogs and I had two dogs who were used to running on five acres, so they're like pooping pean on the floor.
00:09:45
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh my god, this is like a nightmare. But it was good. We got through it.
00:09:50
Speaker 4: And then one day it was snowing in Colorado and I'm in my uggs and I'm driving her to school, and I drive by townhouses for sale and I go and I go in, I put a deposit down on a piece of property and I buy my first townhouse. So, like I said, I was married twenty years before, so he was the provider and did everything. So I had to like relearn everything in life, you know.
00:10:14
Speaker 3: And because you've been a great gospel career.
00:10:17
Speaker 5: Because my gospel career, yeah, you know.
00:10:19
Speaker 4: But now I'm in the beauty industry and I love it and I'm launching my own product and it's just been I'm happier now in my life than I ever was, and I'm so in love and it's just I have a new family and it's great.
00:10:43
Speaker 1: This, I guess is it's adjacent, but a little off topic. I'm just curious. I have those folks who pushed you out in the church and all these soil have has that softened any and been welcomed back, have any of those relationships.
00:10:56
Speaker 4: It's interesting that some of them have come out to me and said, hey, I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I'm struggling too, And I go, yeah, that's all good. You know. Actually my daughter came out to me that she's gay, and I thought, oh my gosh, like I thought, like I ruined her or I you know what I mean, like it was and she's living her authentic life.
00:11:21
Speaker 5: I'm living my authentic life.
00:11:23
Speaker 4: I've forgiven the people who cast me aside. Most of them are closet something you know, in the churches. So it's hard. But it's hard for me to go to church now. I mean I miss it, but to think I'm not allowed to be on the platform, like it's just a trigger. So I just don't really go to church.
00:11:43
Speaker 3: Because God loves all of us just.
00:11:46
Speaker 1: What we were told.
00:11:47
Speaker 5: Yes, that's what we're told.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: What Jesus do, not what a lot of churches do when they see something that they don't think fits their something.
00:11:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, wise she goes when the church fails, that's because the people worship.
00:12:01
Speaker 5: The man and not Yes, for sure, that church.
00:12:03
Speaker 3: Should never fail.
00:12:04
Speaker 6: And so basically it's like it's so stupid and I I just it's like, it's love period.
00:12:11
Speaker 3: Forget it. Don't think about sex. Why do people got to go there?
00:12:14
Speaker 2: Like, right, that's such a good way to look at it. Yes, it's about love. It's not about the sexual act. That's just what happens when you express your love talking about who you love. Sandy, this was your this is your first marriage. Correct, So did you feel any reservation? Did you think marriage was in the cards? And once you get to a certain point you might find that.
00:12:33
Speaker 3: Leah, really yes, I was like I'm going.
00:12:36
Speaker 5: To marry her, Yeah, instantly.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: And you've never thought that before?
00:12:40
Speaker 1: No?
00:12:40
Speaker 3: Wow, really I just didn't think.
00:12:43
Speaker 6: You know, it wasn't really a thing, you know, obviously, I just love the person I love and I was like, why do we need to get married?
00:12:51
Speaker 3: Now? I know why? Wow?
00:12:54
Speaker 5: Yeah? I took her name and everything. Yeah, it was so cute. Though.
00:12:57
Speaker 4: She brought me, bought me a promise ring. I was like, promise ring, I want, I want the real.
00:13:03
Speaker 5: Ring you got me. Yeah, it was a Tiffany and surprised me in Great Greece.
00:13:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, Cindy.
00:13:12
Speaker 2: I think it's so cool too, because I think the part of the podcast is that either you've you've you've tried something it didn't work, and people really do lose hope. I think when you lose hope, that's that's just that dark place that I think many of us have been in. What would you say to anyone who's out there thinking I'm past my prime? Who's gonna want this? You know, I've waited too long? What hope is there?
00:13:34
Speaker 6: Who you live in your life for? You live in it for everybody else or yourself. That's what I say, Like, live your life for yourself. Obviously, be kind and do the next right thing, but don't base your decisions based on what other people think about you or what you're afraid they're gonna they're gonna judge. You live your life because you're living it truly, and that's love.
00:13:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I wish well. I think maybe on social people can see how the two of you look at each other. It's really beautiful to know that you've been together for seven years and you still look at each other that way. That's pretty cool. You this is a long distance relationship though. I mean, obviously, Captain Sandy, we watch you traveling the world in the most beautiful, amazing places, but very far away from Leah.
00:14:18
Speaker 3: How do you all manage that face?
00:14:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, FaceTime, it comes over. Yeah, I go at the end. But we're both you know, independent entrepreneur you know, entrepreneurial women, and so you know, I'm focusing on my business, and I have my daughter that comes and visits and stuff, and.
00:14:36
Speaker 3: Then I come over and see her, have my family.
00:14:39
Speaker 4: And my fam our families in Jacksonville. You know, our sister, my sister in law, Michelle Dunham. She's amazing, and so it's great. I mean, we have such a great community.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: I'm not gone that long.
00:14:50
Speaker 5: A couple of months, yeah, yeah, I was just too bad.
00:14:52
Speaker 1: How does it work in a twelve month period? How much? How often are you?
00:14:56
Speaker 6: Like, if it wasn't for Bravo or Blowdeck, I would be gone a long time.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: You know.
00:15:01
Speaker 6: Back in the day when I started, I was gone all year. I didn't see my family for years, like it was rare.
00:15:06
Speaker 5: It's not like that now.
00:15:07
Speaker 6: No, the industry has changed, like it's three months on, three months off.
00:15:11
Speaker 3: The bigger boats. The boats are getting bigger. The crew. If you want quality crew, you better let.
00:15:15
Speaker 6: Them have a life. And back in the day when I started, we didn't have lives.
00:15:20
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:15:20
Speaker 6: Right, So it's like your life was the boat life, and now it's changed.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: Cindy, do you think your love life got put on hold because of the career you chose?
00:15:30
Speaker 6: Of course, yeah. I mean it's so transient, you know. But the great thing about this career, first of all, there are plenty of jobs in the maritime industry. Secondly, you travel the world and you meet some really interesting people. Thirdly, your shoulder to shoulder with the billionaires you learn I learned so much. Most of those conversations to their companies happened on the bridge of the vessel. I learned a lot from those billionaires. And you travel the world. But at the same time you meet obviously, if you watch below deck, that's how it is, you hook up, your break.
00:16:03
Speaker 5: Up the net.
00:16:06
Speaker 3: It's a boatman's So.
00:16:08
Speaker 2: Did you have boat I was going to ask you, did you ever mix business and pleasure?
00:16:12
Speaker 6: Because I came up and yawning very differently where I worked for one person and he taught me everything. I went to c school, you know, I could save my life like a lot of stuff engineering school. And then I became a captain under him, so I never really had to work like they did.
00:16:29
Speaker 3: I was. I was the boat slave.
00:16:32
Speaker 2: You bosin or that was the boat slave.
00:16:35
Speaker 6: I send the chief stew the laundry girl, the dishwasher. I was not the chef because Fran cooked, so she just bought extra pots and pants so she didn't have to watch those.
00:16:47
Speaker 3: So they have it easier than I had it.
00:16:50
Speaker 2: That makes sense, though, and that's why you feel comfortable making the decisions you do on the show because you've been there, done that.
00:16:55
Speaker 6: Yes, And trust me, if they want to know what hard work is like, come back to the day is when I started both that's hard work.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: And again you go back and watch these you don't know a lot of what's going on in the drama until you see it.
00:17:08
Speaker 3: No, I want to.
00:17:10
Speaker 1: But once you see it, why in God's name are they doing? Are they just kids having fun and this is gonna be over with and let them get it out of their systems? Or do you see some real relationship issues mistakes? Being made. Are they any real relationships? Lessons to be taken out of what we see on the show.
00:17:26
Speaker 6: Some are in their twenties. When we were in our twenties, I mean I was still using drugs. I got clean at twenty five. But I mean, you know, they have different backgrounds. They're from different nationalities, different religions, different beliefs. So you think, Okay, I personally like to get to know them, So I try to have a meal with them. Do they have siblings and get to know them? Some people have walls up, so you try. And then for me it's I think it's I don't step in unless they're starting to affect each other in their job situation. When it starts permeating through the boat, that's when I step in. When they're all talking about it, and now if I can pick up on it, you know the guests are going.
00:18:09
Speaker 1: To pick up.
00:18:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:11
Speaker 6: As far as they're interpersonal relationships, I don't live.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: You know, I'm.
00:18:20
Speaker 2: Curious being married did that change or affect you in terms of how you captained your crew. Did having your own deeply personal relationship impacted all what you thought of things or how you viewed certain relationship issues.
00:18:36
Speaker 3: Perhaps that were happening on the boat.
00:18:38
Speaker 6: No, I worked to twelve steps, so I'm sober. And the twelve steps I learned the design for life. Right, I'm telling you that changes lives. And I I can see where people need personal growth, right, So and I need personal growth. Get into a relationship, you learn, right, it's easy to have you know, kumbay a your whole life if you're single. But the you get in a relationship, you start working on yourself and you know that personal growth is and it's all about communication. So they don't have that. We do right because we're in relationships. We learn how to communicate because we want it to work. They're they're just hooking up. You know, I guarantee you Joe isn't thinking about his wife and.
00:19:24
Speaker 3: Material, don't you know.
00:19:27
Speaker 6: With Nathan, obviously he loved Gail. That's his woman. That is his wife, like well soon to be hopefully. You know, they had a baby together. You look at you know, look at Maliah. Let's take her like she her career was yachting.
00:19:42
Speaker 3: Yes, she hooked up and you know, yes, and she was having fun. Yes, now she's a baby she had you know, she's in love.
00:19:49
Speaker 6: She was in brokerage, you know, so our charter management, our charter brokerage. Yes, so everybody's got their different paths, but I think of below Jack, I think they're just there for that time.
00:20:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got it all right, Lead, did you notice anything that maybe we wouldn't have noticed that, any change in her that you watched actually on the show, as you all's relationship might have been going through whatever it might have been going through.
00:20:24
Speaker 5: She softened.
00:20:25
Speaker 4: Oh, I would say, since being married and being with me, and plus her hair and makeup looks really.
00:20:31
Speaker 5: Good now.
00:20:34
Speaker 3: Said that I stepped up my game.
00:20:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, Ramona singer, New York. She goes, she goes, Yeah, your wife really made you say? Oh, she said girlfriend, but she doesn't. No, she's my wife. But so I would say, and the skincare, because I'm a skincare expert and so that side of it, right, Yeah, I've seen that.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: I actually don't have any more clothes on it. We're gonna go shop later and in a uniform my whole life.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: That makes sense.
00:21:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, she does, like, like.
00:21:01
Speaker 3: I had to go buye this for today. Yeah.
00:21:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, but we have to tell you every time we see you in street clothes, we say wow, I'm not kidding. You actually made a point. It's great they are she likes she has good shoes. You got a good shoes, Yeah.
00:21:22
Speaker 5: Good shoes. Oh yeah, they're good.
00:21:24
Speaker 2: And Leah, I know that you have gone through your own breast cancer scared you care?
00:21:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had three scares three one backtomy. So far, so good and just getting checked every six months.
00:21:37
Speaker 2: Did that impact just because that's scare and that fear of what if and what happens next? And yeah, all those change just did it bring bring you all closer together? Did what impact did that have on your relationship?
00:21:48
Speaker 4: I mean, she's such a caretaker, you know, she's a huge caretaker. So she was just like, no matter what, we're going to work through it. You know, she was all for Like if you need a double misectomy, like we're going to do it.
00:22:00
Speaker 5: We're going to find the best surgeon.
00:22:03
Speaker 4: And so, I mean, we don't even question when it comes to health.
00:22:09
Speaker 5: We're just there for each other.
00:22:10
Speaker 4: We're married and we Yeah, and I wasn't afraid to lose anything, Like if it was going to save my life, I don't care if I get rid of them. Plus you can do a direct and plant now, so the reconstruction's.
00:22:25
Speaker 2: A amazing what what would you say has been your biggest struggle, your toughest moment as a couple, whether it was when you were dating or when you got married.
00:22:35
Speaker 5: The builder, the builder. Oh well, we had a builder take all our money. The builder took all our money and.
00:22:41
Speaker 3: All of our money.
00:22:42
Speaker 1: What.
00:22:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were robbed so and a lot of other homeowners.
00:22:47
Speaker 4: We're building a house, we're making payments, and he used the money for his own personal use.
00:22:54
Speaker 3: So yeah, the builder. That was a big hurdle for us.
00:22:57
Speaker 5: That was a big hurdle, but we realized that we got through it.
00:23:00
Speaker 3: In our house was a shell of a house.
00:23:01
Speaker 6: My sister called and said, I'm not sure what's happening, but nothing's happening on your house at all. I was like, because we were living in Colorado.
00:23:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, what ultimately happened to that.
00:23:14
Speaker 3: There's a trial coming in July.
00:23:17
Speaker 2: Trial but with a pyramid scheme basically, like he was just I just he's.
00:23:21
Speaker 6: A guy that inherited a business because he married somebody and he ran it into the ground.
00:23:25
Speaker 3: Oh wow, that's the reality.
00:23:28
Speaker 4: That's because there was eleven other homeowners that he took the money from.
00:23:31
Speaker 6: So apparently the company, it was a wonderful establishment that they were a great builder, had a great reputation, and when he took over, that changed.
00:23:42
Speaker 2: So dealing with massive financial loss, like that's that's stressful, very.
00:23:47
Speaker 4: But that's what we're both very resilient people. We just get right back up and what do you say? Wake up, dress up, show up, kick ass.
00:23:55
Speaker 5: That's her thing. And that's really how we live our life.
00:23:58
Speaker 4: I mean, we don't lay in bed and we're not deproud and we're just like, well, I get up and do my hair and makeup. That's how I get ready for the day. And you know, my b a little bit and she plays with our dog. But we keep going. I mean we don't or what else we win?
00:24:11
Speaker 3: Got our uh CEO CEO?
00:24:14
Speaker 5: I mean I became the.
00:24:15
Speaker 6: Contract versus like you're living in your house. You're not supposed to be living there because we didn't have our CEO.
00:24:19
Speaker 3: What are they going to do? Arrest me? They're not arresting the builder. They stole her money. They're going to arrest me for a house I paid twice for.
00:24:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, have trees or grass.
00:24:32
Speaker 3: But he's still walking living crazy.
00:24:35
Speaker 1: Okay, that's another episode Crazy. Last few things here. You said something earlier you never thought throughout your life, your dating history, that you you never thought about getting married until you met Leah, until you all got together. For people hearing that, what did you listen to right quick? Because that seemed like a huge switch in your life. It's like you weren't even thinking about it and then somebody made you think about it? What is that thing? Because people are wondering is this it? Is this the one? How do I know? What do I feel? What is it that made you finally go, oh yeah, now I want to get married.
00:25:08
Speaker 6: Your heart You're willing to sacrifice, Like, it's like the sacrifice.
00:25:12
Speaker 3: So you I've moved. I swear never move out of la I swear never.
00:25:18
Speaker 5: You made a list, tell them the list.
00:25:20
Speaker 1: I made a list.
00:25:21
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:25:22
Speaker 3: I love God first.
00:25:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, so that was the list and music and music and hot and hot.
00:25:30
Speaker 3: Yeah. It was like, wow, cool because I love music.
00:25:37
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:25:38
Speaker 2: I think it's cool for people to hear though, because a lot of I think a lot of folks do end up just kind of closing themselves off and just saying it's not worth it and it's not going to happen. But just when you think it it won't or it can't, it can did you did you ever you weren't looking for love, but did you lose hope? And did you ever think it would happen like this?
00:25:59
Speaker 6: I didn't lose hope. I just was oblivious. To be honest, I don't know. I'm Peter Pan, I'm just I don't know. I just continue to find joy. Yeah, but all formed with a joyful heart. I I mean, I was born with a joyful heart. Like I am a child, I am a I have a child spirit.
00:26:20
Speaker 4: But her friends told me, like you, we can't believe that she found someone that made her settle down like that. We can't believe she finally got married. We can't because they didn't really think that that would happen with you. And they're like wow. I'm like, all right, well you're.
00:26:36
Speaker 1: Bliss Yeah, well what about you? Twenty year of marriage? What is it that made you go okay, yeah, I want to do this?
00:26:44
Speaker 5: Her just meeting her.
00:26:47
Speaker 4: I think when you just honestly, like I think, when you have a connection with someone and you meet that person and it's so powerful and strong, it you feel like you can conquer the world with that person, by your side and it just makes you You make decisions and you don't really care what anyone thinks because you just fell in love, you know, and it just works.
00:27:08
Speaker 5: So, yeah, she gave me the courage to jump.
00:27:13
Speaker 1: We've got to collect all these answers. That is a wonderful way to put it. Like people always looking for advice, relationship advice and concrete things on this, this and this. That was just beautifully said. And I agree with you what you're talking. It's how it's hard to explain. You can't explain it until it happens to you and then you go, oh, I know exactly what she's talking about.
00:27:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, people judge you because they're not happy.
00:27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, we figure that out.
00:27:35
Speaker 5: We know they're so judging because they're measurable and they wish they found.
00:27:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know that.
00:27:41
Speaker 2: This is my last question. I'm wondering just what you found and what you all have together. And it's palpable. I mean we can see it in your faces and your body language, how you look at each other. It's just it's obvious that this is the real deal. Do you think, having had lived enough life where you found this love later in life, that you have the perspective to actually feel confident where it isn't just this one off or just this passion that could die out, but it's deeper because you've lived enough life to know.
00:28:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, everyone is like, oh, is that a phase for Leah? You know, because she was like the straight girl in church? And is this just a phase even when you were I think wondering is this a phase because she didn't want to get her heart broken? And I think just time and you know, showing and action and going through the hard times and the ups and downs. I mean, we are very different and yet we compliment each other so well and so and it was just worth every single sacrifice and it was just worth it.
00:28:44
Speaker 6: And I honestly, I I'm like, why not take the risk? I would rather want to know than not know, you know what I mean? So take the risk the worst case scenarios. You're gonna have a little heartache, maybe a lot.
00:28:58
Speaker 3: Of heartache, but you'll live. You know, It's worth taking the risk. Yeah, love always is.
00:29:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, Captain Sandy, is that annoying? Should I just call you Sandy? Sorry?
00:29:10
Speaker 1: Sandy?
00:29:11
Speaker 2: Leah, thank you for sharing your love story with us. I do think that it's so inspirational for a lot of people listening who are hoping that they'll find love the second time around, or the third time around, or the fourth or whatever. This podcast at exactly. Thank you so much for being with us and sharing.
00:29:29
Speaker 5: Thanks for having us.
00:29:31
Speaker 3: Thank you.
00:29:31
Speaker 2: Catch the new season of Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo on Mondays at eight pm and then streaming the next.
00:29:37
Speaker 1: Day on Peacock And to our listeners, we are here to help. You can send us an email or leave us a voicemail. All the info in the show notes. Follow us on Socials, I Do Part two and iHeart Radio podcast. We're falling in Love is the main objective. We'll see you