All You Need is Diet Coke
with Jennifer Nelson
Host Lisa Helton
August 1st, 2023
August 1st, 2023

Happy National Girlfriends Day!!!
What better guest to have share her story than one of my closest, dearest friends, Jen Nelson
We’ve been friends for over 15 years now and have had some unforgettable girls' trips, therapy like conversations, screams and venting on the phone to each other and so much more. We’ve been there through some hilarious times, hallmark moments as well as shared in some devastations together and I can honestly say through all those moments, we always had Diet Coke near by.....McDonalds Diet Coke, light ice.
Jen is an amazing friend and woman.. what truly sets her apart is her incredible strength as a mother to six terrific kids, doing it on her own after the death of her husband suddenly. (See News story)
Jen and I sat down late Wednesday night around 10:00pm, after she got all kids home from all their sports activities. We sat in my big reclining chairs with our blankets and Diet Cokes and chatted til 1am. Don’t worry, you wont have to sit through our entire conversation.
Jen's full journey is not one a lot of people know. If you have the privilege of knowing her, you most likely know about her husbands death, as it was in the news as well, but you may not know about her first marriage and her amazing strength. I truly appreciate her candor and extreme openness to share her story with all of you.
I love Jen’s self-awareness and her ability to speak straight talk. You’ll hear us discuss the past and the future and how she’s been able to re-ignite her sparkle that had been dimmed for so long.
Jen is most known as a successful, outstanding Occupational Therapist, with a focus in helping Autistic Children and their families. She is absolutely phenomenal at her job and to watch her having success where others may have failed is truly a remarkable sight. She's also very hands on in all her kids sporting events, volunteering to help wherever and whenever she can. In her free time, whenever she finds it, she loves to run and her breaks are travelling to different locations and running races. She's also recently became the proud grandmother, to her beautiful grandson. She's probably cringing now with all these kind words.
Listening to this episode you’ll need your own diet coke with a straw, and maybe some chocolate covered raisins.
The hardest thing to recognize that, when you have given other people that control and that power to make or break your spirit, it is very, very hard to quiet that voice. It is a human need to be seen and to be heard and to be loved, and to be accepted for who we are. |