I MAY NOT BE A WRESTLING FAN...
By: Tonya from When It Was Cool (@wiwcool)
"Every story has a starting point", that's what my husband (better known to you as Karl Stern) says during the intro to his podcast on Southeastern-Continental Wrestling. I, however, am not here to talk about wrestling. I'm not a wrestling fan, never have known that much about it but I do remember my grandmother watching it when I was a girl (yes, my grandmother). I'm writing this to talk about the voice behind the microphone that you all hear each week when you tune into the DragonKingKarl wrestling audio podcast. This raspy, somewhat gruff, southern tone is belted out of a man of many intelligence's. First of all, he KNOWS his wrestling stuff! If there was a college course to be taken on the history of wrestling he could be your professor. He is that knowledgeable in that area, as well as many others. But of course if you listen to his shows then you already know.
I say I don't know much about wrestling and that is true but what I have learned and retained I've learned from listening to the DragonKingKarl Wrestling audio podcast just like many of you. Every time a new show goes up I get the privilege of listening via my MP3 player that my husband so lovingly downloads shows to for me to listen to at my job. This may seem like a small gesture but to me it is special and I do not tell him enough.
Our stories "starting point" was rough and still to this day is not easy even though we are well beyond "the start". We have overcame many obstacles and hurdles but are still aware that there will always be more. Its not "if" trials will come but "when". So I suppose its really about how you deal with them and I do believe we have improved in that area. Through deaths of family members we have grieved, we have seen cancer come and go, and have dealt with a barrage of mental illness.
I accept my flaws, my sickness, and what comes out of it but will not try to justify that because sickness or not, this man is a great man and a wonderful husband to me and I constantly fail him.`I don't thank him enough for all that he does. He is a hard worker and not just a "hard" worker, but he puts 110% into whatever hes doing, whether its writing an article, patrolling the city keeping the bad people off the streets, talking into a microphone each week to bring you good people an awesome, very detailed and informative wrestling show, an interesting DragonKing Dark topic, a July Marathon that he puts a lot of time and effort into to make them great each year, to doing laundry, all the way down to downloading shows to my MP3 player so I have something to help get me through my days at work. He does all these things with passion, with heart, and soul. I know this because i see it everyday.
But I'm sometimes guilty of getting so caught up in my own needs to stop and appreciate him the way he deserves I oftentimes feel like I could be compared to one of those "trolls" he refers to on Twitter. Like nothing is ever good enough, but the truth is that it is good enough, its better than good enough and I wanted to take a moment to tell him and all of you what a true hard working man this is that belongs to the vocals you all hear each week.
I want to thank him for all the effort he puts into making everything great! The trips we take are always so well planned out and taken care of beforehand. The gifts are always a surprise and very sentimental and special. Thank you for being the husband and man that you are. I know sometimes things get rocky and uncomfortable but you are a very special man, husband, and individual and I can never thank you enough for helping me become better and better. I know when things are bad it seems impossible to keep going but you are so strong and you never quit so for whatever its worth I want you to understand that you are appreciated and very loved. This day and everyday forward - Tonya
