Episode 24: The Best Worst Option — with Colt Madsen

Erin sits down with her youngest son, Colt Madsen, less than 24 hours after he returns home from five and a half months away in Texas. What starts as a catch-up about summer sales, rejection, consistency, and growing up quickly turns into one of the most honest and vulnerable conversations they’ve ever had.

For the first time, Erin gets to hear parts of their family story completely through Colt’s eyes. Sometimes life doesn’t give you a good option and a bad option. Sometimes it gives you a best worst option—and you figure out how to grow from it.

In this episode, Erin and Colt talk about:

• What Colt thinks Erin got right—and wrong—as a mom
• Divorce through the eyes of a child and the memories that stayed with him
• Losing the feeling of having a true “home base”
• A difficult period in high school that Colt never fully shared with his parents
• Why living with his best friend’s family became the best option during an uncertain time
• The effort it took for Erin and Colt to stay connected while living apart
• First love, first heartbreak, and losing a family he had also grown attached to
• How those experiences affected Colt’s thoughts about love, marriage, and relationships
• Faith, choosing not to serve a mission, and what Colt wishes Erin understood about his beliefs
• People pleasing, rejection, and what five and a half months of door-to-door sales taught him
• The power of consistency and how one difficult summer changed his confidence and perspective
• The difference between feeling abandoned and recognizing that sometimes life simply doesn’t go according to plan
• How their relationship has changed as Colt has grown from Erin’s little boy into one of her closest friends

There are things Erin knew about her son’s childhood, things she thought she understood, and things she hears for the first time while sitting across from him in this conversation.

It’s a candid look at what happens when a parent and an adult child revisit the same years from two completely different perspectives—with humor, honesty, forgiveness, and a lot more understanding than they had while living through it.

And maybe the biggest lesson of the entire conversation comes in one simple moment. As Erin acknowledges the things she didn’t always get right as a mom, Colt reminds her:

“We’re all trying.”

Because sometimes there isn’t a perfect decision. Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way anyone planned. You make the best choice you can, keep moving forward, and eventually realize that even the best worst option can become an important part of who you are.

Submit listener questions or share your story as a possible pod guest at www.laylowpod.com

Thanks for laying low with me. ❤️