The P-I-G: Stories of Life, Love, Loss & Legacy – Details, episodes & analysis

One year ago, we pressed record on The P-I-G Podcast without fully understanding what this journey would ask of us—creatively, relationally, and personally.

In this powerful anniversary episode, we sit down with Chris Howard—producer of The Boxes Project, trusted collaborator, and now chosen family—to reflect on what this past year has truly been.

What started as a documentary exploration of our mother’s legacy became something far deeper: a transformation of our relationship as sisters, a reckoning with old wounds, and a commitment to holding space for stories beyond our own.

Chris shares his perspective on watching our reconnection unfold—especially after initially believing we were already “close & deeply connected.” We talk about creative breakthroughs, hard truths, unexpected healing, and the weight of real-life loss. Over the past year, Chris navigated the passing of both his father-in-law and his mother within months of each other—all while continuing to show up for this work and for us.

Together, we explore:

• What changed most in Year One
• The current state of The Boxes Project
• How storytelling reshaped our relationship
• The impact of chosen family
• What it means to create while grieving
• Why we believe our best episodes are still ahead

This isn’t just a look back. It’s a declaration of what’s possible when Purpose, Intention, and Gratitude guide the work—even when life gets heavy.

Thank you for being part of this first year. Year Two begins now.

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

Some conversations feel destined.

In this powerful and deeply aligned episode of The P-I-G Podcast, we sit down with Cindy Hartzell—founder of Heart Soul Confidence-Based Horsemanship®, wild horse advocate, bestselling author, and co-host of The Holistic Horsemanship and Husbandry Podcast—to explore what happens when trauma forces us to rebuild trust from the ground up.

Cindy shares her personal story of a life-changing accident with her beloved Palomino, RC—an experience that shattered her confidence and reshaped her understanding of leadership, fear, and healing. What followed was not just recovery, but a calling: to help women rebuild trust in themselves through partnership with horses.

Together, we explore the deep synchronicities that brought our paths together, the sacred work of rescuing and protecting wild horses, and what it means to shed old identities—like the skin of the Snake—and step boldly into the Year of the Fire Horse with strength, passion, and clarity.

This conversation is about more than horsemanship. It’s about trust. It’s about trauma. It’s about leadership that begins within. And it’s about choosing movement that comes from alignment—not urgency.

🎙️ In this episode, we discuss:

• Cindy’s accident and the healing journey that followed
• Rebuilding trust after trauma—physically and emotionally
• The human-horse connection as a mirror for leadership and self-awareness
• Wild horse rescue and the importance of preserving freedom
• Shedding the skin of old identities
• What the Fire Horse year invites us to embody
• Stepping into strength with hands firmly on the reins

Whether you love horses or have never touched one, this conversation will move you. Because at its heart, this episode is about reclaiming your confidence—and remembering the strength that was always there.

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

What if the thing holding you back in your relationships isn’t what you say or do—but how you’re wired to show up?

In this two-part series, we’re joined by our coach and mentor, Marcus Straub, for an unfiltered, real-time look at what happens when two sisters bring self-awareness, honesty, and raw vulnerability into the heart of family disconnect. Together, we unpack our live DISC comparison report—revealing how our natural communication styles, pacing, and decision-making have shaped decades of misunderstanding, growth, and rediscovery.

In this first half, we explore:

• What DISC really measures and why it matters
• How self-awareness transforms communication and conflict
• The surprising “pressure behaviors” that appear when stress hits
• Why multitasking is a myth and single-focus work builds trust
• How small awareness shifts create real connection and repair

This episode also marks the official launch of The P-I-G Relationship Reset—a deeply transformative and personalized coaching experience for siblings, couples, partners, family and step-family members, close friends, or anyone ready to bridge disconnects, embrace differences, and strengthen connection—all guided by the spirit of Purpose, Intention & Gratitude.

Because real growth doesn’t happen when we get perfect.
It happens when we get real.

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

Grief doesn’t move in straight lines. It loops through childhood memories, old fears, laughter, and the moments we wish we could relive just one more time.

In this deeply personal episode, sisters Kellie and Erin open the door to their mother Marsha’s remarkable life — a story of love, courage, and three cancer journeys that changed everything.

Marsha was bold, brilliant, and stubbornly loving. She faced breast cancer three times with humor, style, and an unshakable will to live. Along the way, she raised two daughters who would one day discover the greatest gift she ever gave them wasn’t found in “The Boxes” she left behind — it was in each other.

Through laughter, reflection, and tears, Kellie and Erin share:

• What it was like growing up through 12 years of their mom’s cancer battles
• How grief shaped them differently and how they found their way back to one another
• The story behind The Boxes and how Marsha’s legacy continues to arrive on time
• The life lessons she left behind — strength, grace, and living with purpose

This episode is for anyone who’s lost someone they love — and for everyone learning to carry their story forward with gratitude.

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

Some stories begin at the edge.  What do you do when the unimaginable happens? For Rebecca Fielding, life changed forever when her younger brother Jonathan fell to his death at the majestic Moonscape Overlook in eastern Utah. 

Out of that loss came Jonathan’s Journal—a simple notebook left at the site of his fall that grew into a movement of letters, art, and stories passed from stranger to stranger, heart to heart. What began as unbearable grief became a rising movement of connection and healing. 

With raw honesty, Rebecca shares:

• The day Jonathan’s fall changed her world forever.
• How grief reshaped her as a sister and daughter.
• The creation and journey of Jonathan’s Journal.
• Why strangers can sometimes carry us through loss.
• How Jonathan’s love became enough to last a lifetime.

Learn more about Jonathan’s story in the CNN feature article, join the Jonathan’s Journal Facebook group, or follow Rebecca’s reflections on Instagram (@throughjonnyseyesphotography) and TikTok (@bonjovisfamclub). You may also view and support her photography project, Through Johnny’s Eyes.

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

Some stories are forged in silence. For Steve Knapp, the weight of carrying secrets finally gave way to a single act of truth—the night he admitted his drinking and chose to change his life.

In this conversation, Steve shares his powerful journey from addiction to recovery and the lessons he’s carried into fatherhood, personal growth, and his work creating safe spaces for connection and honest dialogue — especially around men's mental health — through his podcasts, Through the Glass Recovery and Forged in Silence.

With raw honesty and vulnerability, Steve reflects on:

• The cost of self-abandonment 
• The courage it takes to come back to yourself.
• Why strangers can sometimes offer the safest spaces for healing.
• Redefining fear as something to walk alongside, not run from.
• Creating connection in a world that often feels disconnected.

Whether you’ve faced addiction, carried hidden shame, or simply struggled to be present in your own life, Steve’s inspiring story is a reminder that we don’t climb life’s mountains alone—and the view is always better when shared.

👉 Listen, share, and join the conversation at thePIGpodcast.com

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

One year into The Boxes project, something unexpected happened: the story about preserving their mother’s legacy became the very thing that healed Kellie and Erin’s own relationship.

In this episode, the sisters reunite with film and television producer Chris Howard—this time in the hot seat—as he turns the questions back on them. Together they unpack:

• The seven-year age gap that shaped their bond as sisters.
• How business ventures and unspoken expectations became battlegrounds.
• The promise Kellie made to their dying mother—and the weight it carried for decades.
• Why healing in real time makes this project so raw, authentic, and powerful.
• The truth that their mother’s greatest gift wasn’t in the boxes she left behind… it was in giving them each other.

Through vulnerability, laughter, and a few tears, this conversation reveals the deeper heart of The Boxes story—and why legacy isn’t just what we leave, but how we live.

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

In this PJs & Pokey episode, Kellie and Erin cozy up in their pajamas with “pokey” (their mom’s name for popcorn) to reflect on recent powerful conversations and the summer adventures that recharged their hearts.

Kellie’s 28-day road trip included 11 days completely off-grid in the wilderness—just a tent by a river, morning coffee, and conversations that matter. Erin’s Montana travels brought the awe of Glacier National Park and reconnections with places from her boyfriend Jason’s childhood.

Along the way, they revisit lessons from recent guests: Katie’s intentional journey as a bonus mom, Pop’s decades of unconditional love, Marcus’s vulnerable story of grief and resilience, and Dr. Matthew Arau’s simple but powerful reminder to turn your “have tos” into “G.E.T. tos.”

This is more than a recap—it’s a heartfelt reminder that rest, reflection, and nature’s wisdom can heal in ways words cannot.

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

When I was just 24, my mother died—and so much of who I was disappeared with her.

In the days that followed, someone handed me a book that would become my constant companion for the next 30 years: Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss by Hope Edelman. It gave me language for my pain, reflection for my grief, and a mirror that helped me see myself again when I was lost in the fog of loss.

This solo episode is my story—of what it means to still be a daughter, even after your mother is gone. It’s about the memory boxes she left behind, the music that still brings her close, the deep and unexpected relationship I’ve built with Katie (my dad’s wife), and how grief doesn’t end… it evolves.

If you’ve lost your mom—or someone who mothered you—this episode is a soft place to land. A reminder that you’re not alone. That your memories are sacred. That your mother’s love lives on in how you show up every day.

Whether you’re grieving, healing, parenting, or remembering—or helping someone you care for do the same—this is for you.

🎧 “Once you’re a daughter, you are always a daughter.”

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support

What if the key to transforming your entire day—your mindset, your leadership, your grief—was simply shifting one word?

Dr. Matthew Arau discovered that power on a cold September morning when he swapped “have to” for “get to.” That simple shift became the heartbeat of his “Power of G.E.T.” philosophy: Gratitude, Enthusiasm, and Treasure.

In this high-energy, heart-forward conversation, Matthew shares the powerful tools he’s developed as a music educator, conductor, leadership coach, and founder of Upbeat! Global. Through personal stories of loss, the science behind music’s effect on the brain, and real-life strategies for shifting from stress to strength, Matthew helps us see how our “upbeat”—that anticipatory moment before something begins—can shape how we show up, no matter what we’re facing.

From conducting students after 9/11 to leading global workshops during the pandemic, Matthew shows us how music becomes a language for what can’t be said… and how purpose and positivity can transform even the hardest moments into something meaningful.

Whether you’re facing a loss, seeking inspiration, or simply want to show up with more intention and joy, this episode will lift your spirit—and help you choose your own upbeat in life.

🎵 “It just takes a little bit of light to transform darkness… and you can be that light.” — Dr. Matthew Arau [Please visit https://www.upbeatglobal.com/ to learn more about Dr. Matthew Arau’s work, books, resources, events, and the Upbeat! Global movement.]

Support the show

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a more meaningful connection to our own—because legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s how we live right now.

💬 Subscribe & Leave a Review
Please subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with someone who may need to hear it!

🔗 Connect & Follow Along
If you have a personal story or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. To learn more about The P-I-G, complete the guest form, and connect on social:
🌐 www.thepigpodcast.com
📬 thepigpodcast.com/contact
📱 Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn

💖 Support Our Mission
Each episode of The P-I-G is created with deep care and intention. If The P-I-G has touched your heart, please consider supporting us or becoming a sponsor: https://www.thepigpodcast.com/sponsorship
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2449606/support