We're wrapping up Season 1 of The Stories We Leave You! With the holidays approaching, family vacations on the calendar, and the usual chaos of raising four kids, we've decided it's time to take a little break. In this short episode, we're sharing why we're stepping away for the rest of the year, what this first season has meant to us, and our plans to return for Season 2 in the new year.

When we started this podcast, our goal was to preserve our stories for our kids while creating a space where others could hear experiences similar to their own and feel a little less alone. We've shared plenty of personal stories, learned a lot along the way, and are incredibly grateful to everyone who's listened, followed, and supported us. We're taking this time to recharge, enjoy the holidays with our family, and think about where we want to take the podcast next.

Season 2 is coming, but we haven't set an official return date just yet! In the meantime, this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on any episodes you missed (or revisit your favorites). We'd also love to hear from you! What stories, topics, or questions would you like us to explore in Season 2? Send us a message on Instagram, and you might even inspire a future episode or Q&A. Until then, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season, however you celebrate!

New episodes drop every Wednesday. Follow the show so you don’t miss what’s next, and find us on Instagram at The Stories We Leave You to be part of the conversation. And tell us: What questions do you have for us?

Julie is a podcast manager who helps people tell the stories they’ve been too scared to share. If you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast… this is your sign. Home - Julie Beck LLC

Family vacations have looked pretty different throughout our lives—from childhood road trips, lake cabins, and the occasional big vacation to college spring breaks, cruises, camping trips, and eventually traveling with four kids. In this episode, we're looking back at what family vacations were like growing up, how differently our families traveled, and some of the experiences that made us realize just how much our relationship with travel has changed. We also share some of our favorite places we've visited together and why certain destinations have become surprisingly meaningful to our family.

Of course, traveling with kids isn't always the relaxing vacation people imagine. We get into some of our most memorable family travel moments—from trips that felt genuinely magical to vacations where things definitely did not go according to plan. We talk about the places we keep wanting to return to, what kind of travelers we've become, why we're firmly in the “leave some room to go with the flow” camp, and how some of the trips that were miserable in the moment have somehow become the stories we still laugh about years later.

More than anything, we talk about why traveling as a family has become one of our priorities. It's not about taking the fanciest vacations or checking destinations off a list. We want our kids to have experiences outside their everyday lives, see more of the world, experience different places and cultures, and grow up curious about people whose lives may look different from theirs. And someday, when they're adults looking back on their childhood, we hope they remember less about exactly where we went and more about the ridiculous, unexpected, ordinary little moments we shared while we were there.

New episodes drop every Wednesday. Follow the show so you don’t miss what’s next, and find us on Instagram at The Stories We Leave You to be part of the conversation. And tell us: Are you beach people or mountain people?

Julie is a podcast manager who helps people tell the stories they’ve been too scared to share. If you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast… this is your sign. Home - Julie Beck LLC

In this episode, we're talking about virginity, first sexual experiences, and all the weird messages we grow up hearing about sex. We look back at what sex education actually looked like in our homes and schools, where we learned about sex before the internet was constantly at our fingertips, and the very different attitudes we each had about virginity growing up. From purity and shame to pregnancy, STIs, porn, and the idea that there's one specific act that suddenly means you're "not a virgin anymore," we're unpacking how much of what we believed came from the culture around us rather than conversations anyone actually had with us.

Then, of course, we get into our own stories. We share how old we were, what led up to our first times, what we expected sex to be like, and what actually happened—which, in both cases, was a lot less glamorous than anything you'd see on TV. We also talk about how being queer complicated the whole idea of "losing your virginity," why our first experiences with each other felt completely different from our previous experiences, and how intimacy changed when there was an emotional connection, trust, and two people figuring things out together.

Finally, we talk about what we understand about sex now that we wish we'd understood then—and what we're trying to teach our own kids differently. We get into consent beyond simply saying "no," changing your mind after something has already started, feeling safe enough to communicate with a partner, porn versus real-life sex, birth control and STI testing, and why we don't want our kids attaching their worth to whether or not they've had sex. We may not be able to prevent every awkward first-time experience, but we want them to know that sex should always be their choice—and that they can come to us without shame when they're ready to talk about it.

New episodes drop every Wednesday. Follow the show so you don’t miss what’s next, and find us on Instagram to be part of the conversation. We’d love to hear your questions!

Julie is a podcast manager who helps people tell the stories they’ve been too scared to share. If you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast… this is your sign. Home - Julie Beck LLC