Heather: 0:01

So hi,Dude.

Bradford: 0:03

Hey Woman.

Heather: 0:04

How's it going?

Bradford: 0:06

No complaints. It's going pretty good. It's all well. Hey, I'm here with you, so things are great.

Heather: 0:13

Oh, you're sweet. So I thought we would start this first episode by just kind of talking a little bit about ourselves and essentially why we ourselves Dude and Woman and what that means to us and um how it connects to this podcast. So who called who first? I can't remember. Did dude come before woman or did woman come before dude?

Bradford: 0:39

Great question. Honestly, I have no idea.

Heather: 0:43

How long have we been using these nicknames for each other?

Bradford: 0:49

I don't know, somewhere 10 to 12 years.

Heather: 0:52

Yeah. Yeah, I remember at our at my high school reunion, you called me Woman in front of my entire high school class, didn't

Bradford: 1:02

And yes, you guys goaded it out of me.

Heather: 1:07

So my high school buddies know that we have special nicknames for each other, and they kind of you know egged you on and to get you to call me woman in front of everybody. And I think what makes it so funny is that's such a nickname for someone, a husband to have for his wife. And it can kind of sound different or odd, I think, to those of the relationship. And I feel like when we're at the grocery store, it's not very common that I'll yell out, Dude, do we need some apples? And you'll say, Yes, woman, we do.

Bradford: 1:52

No, no. And I I'd say dude is a pretty commonly used nickname. Uh you know, people say dude all the time, um, but not as a it's just referring to them. So uh woman is less commonly used, and I would say it's frequently used in in a negative way, uh, which is So but yeah, it it's not a negative connotation for me, and you know, referring to you. It's it's uh I love it. It's just woman.

Heather: 2:33

And yeah, I I feel like with dude, it's kind of what I think as like what surfers call each other, hey dude, surfs up, and almost kind of like a like I'm not you're not my husband, but you're like this this dude that I hang out on the beach with or something. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like it doesn't quite come out the way it's to in public and but and same with woman. I I know um it's it's something some you know there's lots women that don't like being called woman, you know, it sounds derogatory, it sounds demeaning.

Bradford: 3:15

And which which is why which is why I'm cautious with using outside of our home. And you know, at the at the high school reunion, it was it great with the friends, you know, those that we're close they get it, they know that it's a a very uh important term endearment, and you know, with with great respect. Um that's why I was very cautious in front of the entire high school class. It's like woman, you know, and and you all were sitting there just laughing at seeing me struggle, but um yeah, but it's it is a beautiful term and and and uh it's always used with the greatest respect.

Heather: 4:07

So in your mind when you use the word woman, what what do you see yourself as calling me? Like what what does that mean to you to call me woman?

Bradford: 4:19

Well, I I would say most of the time it's just a sign of but it's also uh playful and and just something out of the And but dang, woman, that was a good question.

Heather: 4:43

Um well let me tell you what I hear when I hear you call me and that is I hear you s calling me uh what Jesus called his and um, you know, when he said woman, and the Greek term for is um meaning like nobility, or it's a it's it's an sign of respect, um, the word that's used in the in the Greek form of the Bible. This is how I see it. You're seeing me beyond wife, sister, mother, mom, grandma, cousin, all those roles that women have in relationships other people. But a woman stands alone. A woman is a woman, no matter who she is to anyone else. And what I hear when you call me woman is I see you for you not for what you are to me or what you are to other people. Um, how am I doing? Am I way off what you're thinking when you use that word, or that just in my own head?

Bradford: 5:56

Well, I would say it's grown into that. Uh so so it's expanded so that it includes that. I would say originally it was more of a a playful term and and just a way to get your attention and for us to just have uh added special connection. Um and I think what came to my mind is there was I I don't there's woman, woman. I I I I that phrase is in my brain, and that's probably what I stole it from. So and to me that was kind of a uh a light, fun, endearing and and so I wanted to use that and started using it, and you liked it, and and then as we've grown, continue to grow and have grown also just in understanding of its of its use the scriptures and just the importance and the broadness of uh, it's developed into a more deep and full meaning. And and so it still has that playfulness and that intimacy and so much more, so much more depth. And and I really reverence womanhood and want it to encompass, encapsulate all that is good, all that it is, because it is so much good.

Heather: 7:36

Yeah, I one thing I've noticed about these two nicknames we have for ourselves is these are not what we call each when we're mad at each other, when we're frustrated with other, when we need to have a difficult conversation about I it's more pla like you say, it's more playful. It's when I feel like it's if I walk into your office and I go, dude, you know it's gonna be safe. You know, you know there's nothing heavy coming up. And I feel that same way when you call me woman. I I don't feel like I'm in trouble, I don't feel like I've done anything wrong. But frankly, you never really talk to me that way. I never feel like I'm in trouble with you. Maybe you just have a really long fuse, I don't know. 34-year long fuse, because that's how long we've been married.

Bradford: 8:31

Yeah. Well, I I mean we really don't talk to each other angrily. Uh I mean we have our moments, but we don't weaponize you know.

Heather: 8:42

Yeah, oh for sure.

Bradford: 8:44

You you you don't you don't use, you know, dude or Peck, you know. Yeah. We those aren't things for us. They never have been.

Heather: 8:55

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's really true. And I as I think about the power of names, and people love to hear their own name. You know, there's lots of studies that have been done that that when you call someone by their name, they're more open to you. They they like to hear their own name spoken. Um that it makes me think about the power of Jesus calling women by their names or calling them woman or calling them You know, he called them, we see him using different things. And like when uh Mary Magdalene was um thinking mistaking for the gardener on the day, you know, that Easter morning. And it wasn't until she heard her own name that she who it was that she was speaking to. That's where I I feel like the Jesus being approachable really comes in is through the names. And how you and I use these names for each other in saying, hey, this is approachable, this is safe, come here, you know, let's have a conversation, or let's get each other's attention. And and I know I if you come up to me and go, hey woman, I will be more inclined to want to approach, um, because I know that's a loving term that you have for me.

Bradford: 10:28

I I think there's two elements to that. One, there is the name, but there's also the voice.

Heather: 10:35

Yes.

Bradford: 10:35

And and it's the combination of both. And as I sure as I think about Christ being the good the sheep know his voice. Right? And so when we're using each other's uh terms of endearment, we're also hearing our voice, uh, or or the other person's And that works when we're trying to get each other's attention too, you know, because we may be in a crowded place and and or or Bradford can kind of get lost and mixed in, and then hear this dude, you know, or woman.

Heather: 11:14

We're we're attuned to it.

Bradford: 11:16

Yeah.

Heather: 11:17

Um, I don't know if there's anyone listening whose name is but um I think just about any Heather knows that our name in a loud, crowded room sounds like "hey there." And and I a challenge because when people scream out Heather, I don't if they're saying hey there or if they're actually trying to get my attention. And and so when I hear woman, I know it's you wanting me. My ears are attuned to it.

Bradford: 11:46

Yeah.

Heather: 11:46

And and I think that's something that can make Jesus is getting attuned to what he sounds like when he's calling for us, and knowing that he's attuned to us when we call for him.

Bradford: 12:07

Yeah, I like that. Yeah, it it so it that just you know that just really to me when you were talking, just how there are both And and it's the tone of voice, too, right? Um I don't know, maybe we'll have to try out the uh the the dude or angry woman, but we're we're clearly not attuned to and and I don't anticipate Christ doing that either. You know, when he's calling for the lost sheep, he's not at the lost sheep, right? It's it's a it's a comforting call. And I feel like we do the same with each other. It's it's a it's a comfort, like you say, it's a safe and a safe calling.

Heather: 13:00

When we know we can approach Jesus without shame and then we know it's safe to get close. And um and his voice is unique in that it people can't it. And I think about that with our nicknames, where if some like say someone knew that was the nickname you had for me, and we were in a public place, and they were like, Oh, that's Heather, she goes by woman, and they started yelling out, Woman, woman, I probably wouldn't think they were talking to me, or I'd be Ooh, with that's not what you call me.

Bradford: 13:40

Right.

Heather: 13:40

Like, that's that's your nickname for me, that no one else be calling me that is kind of how I feel that way. And and um, you know, it's interesting when you talk about and sheep. Um sheep are so good at recognizing the call of their own shepherd that if anyone tried to mimic that call, the sheep spot it.

Bradford: 14:02

Right.

Heather: 14:03

And they would be like, Nope, that's not that's not my and I feel I feel that way as well. That if someone else tried to get my attention using that same word, I'd be like, No, that does that just doesn't sound right.

Bradford: 14:19

Yeah, yeah, so it would be lost in the noise, right?

Heather: 14:22

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it would it would be akin to like hey there or Heather, you know, which is so hard for me to hear in a crowd. No, I like my name, but it it has its challenges, that's for Well, um, dude, I love you, and I'm so glad you call me woman, and I love how I feel when I hear you call me woman.

Bradford: 14:46

Thank you. I love you too. I I love our nicknames, I love the intimacy, I love the and and I love the deeper meanings that are associated with of our names. Uh yours, yours is clearly has more uh scriptural depth and and not just scriptural depth, but just humanity, human depth, uh as as women. And um not so much with dude, but I love it.

Heather: 15:19

Yeah, I don't know of any dudes in the Bible.

Bradford: 15:22

Yeah, yeah. We're we're just I say it with love.

Heather: 15:28

I know it sounds kind of like an odd thing to call your

Bradford: 15:34

and names are sacred, names are important.

Heather: 15:37

Yeah. Anyway, I love our names for each other, so thank you, dude, having a quick conversation with me.

Bradford: 15:44

absolutely woman. Love it. See you later.

Heather: 15:48

Okay, okay, until next time.