April Has Been Awakened!

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to Happy Hour. I am here with my lovely guest from The Golden Bachelor. Everyone and myself, please welcome April, April, welcome the Happy Hour. How are you?

00:00:15
Speaker 2: Thank you? It is wonderful to be here. I am now a Bachelor Nation fan. I didn't know anything about this before going on the show, and now I'm hooked with all of you and all the shows and everything that's going on. It's it's just a great experience. I'm grateful.

00:00:35
Speaker 1: I love that. Also for our listeners, Serena is under the weather so she cannot be here today. And April, you could actually tell all our listeners what you just said to me before we even started the recording.

00:00:46
Speaker 3: Oh how handsome you are.

00:00:47
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you, April, thank you, thank you.

00:00:50
Speaker 2: I have a single thank you?

00:00:51
Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay, great, okay, let's let's get into it. So the Golden Bachelor, how are you enjoying all this? I mean, it's got to be totally insane, right, this is.

00:01:02
Speaker 3: Like a dream come true.

00:01:04
Speaker 2: You know, at any age sometimes you need a reboot, you need something that a boost. And for me, I had lost a significant other, Ralphie, two and a half years ago, and I was really going through some dark times some people called the dark Knight of the soul, and I did a lot of inner healing and asking a lot of questions about my life and how I acted and didn't act, and I really did pray and I said, please, God, you know I've been a good girl, help me give me something. And then this came and I actually feel like I'm awake again. I'm revived, I'm ready to fall in love, and I'm thrilled. I feel like I'm like in college all over. That's how young this show has made me feel.

00:01:53
Speaker 1: Well, you look young, and you look great. How long were you married for?

00:01:58
Speaker 2: I was with Ralph years and then my other spouse, Billy, who I had my two children with, he passed away at forty six. It's been a long journey of being a caretaker, loving people and watching them slowly fade away. And it's something that I now realized when I went to the mansion with all of these great women, that we shared so many similar stories that one of the benefits of many is that I never felt alone anymore. I was in a select group of women that knew what I was saying, and so I can't tell you how healing this was for.

00:02:44
Speaker 1: Me, if you don't mind me asking and feel free not the answer. When your first husband passed, how long did that take two for you to feel ready to start dating again?

00:02:57
Speaker 2: It took three or four years, and even with Ralph this time, I must admit when I went to the mansion, I wasn't quite sure. It had only been two and a half years, and I was still having residue of anxiety and guilt and loss and trying to look for him in every other person. But going out with Gary and then seeing the other ladies ready to jump into love, it kind of was inspiring and rejuvenating.

00:03:33
Speaker 1: Would you say Gary is your type? Because Serena she wanted me to ask you this question, because she's like, because we love, We're big, We're big April fans in this house, and just like you have this flirtatious, just spunky vibe to you, like Gary is more I would say mild when it comes to flirting and whatnot, at least as a viewer's point of view.

00:03:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a mental health counselor, and also I'm pretty intuitive. I work with people in Italy trying to raise my frequency from a three D to a five D. I don't want to get into all that wuhu stuff. So I kind of envisioned Gary differently than other people did, and I saw different aspects of him. But one is he does like a quieter person. If you want to see, every man has a type. We all have the type. We have a basket of things we want, and if you're not part of that basket of what you desire, no matter what you do, it's not going to happen.

00:04:38
Speaker 3: He kind of.

00:04:41
Speaker 2: I looked at pictures of his wife, and I looked at his.

00:04:44
Speaker 3: History, so there there was.

00:04:50
Speaker 2: A chisholm between us and that I really am trying to get through and trying to make a connection. And but we'll wait and see how that turns out.

00:05:04
Speaker 1: So what what's your type? Can you explain to me?

00:05:06
Speaker 3: You normally?

00:05:08
Speaker 2: Is I like somebody when they walk into the room, everybody stops and looks because they have an aura about them that is powerful. I also love to play. Ralph would look at me and go like we'd be across the crowded room and he didn't have to say anything. But there was an adventure about him and we would call it zinging and zanging, you know, and I'm If I can't play with my man, then it's no fun for me. I'm the kind of person that I will wear a cat tail all of Halloween or a bunny tail at Easter, and I'll do crazy things that for me, part of love is playing. But I like somebody who's very strong and can command me and sometimes keep me in line in a sweet way.

00:05:55
Speaker 1: Okay, I will follow you.

00:05:58
Speaker 3: We'll follow you.

00:06:00
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that. Okay, that's that's actually article description.

00:06:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I am.

00:06:05
Speaker 2: I am very intimate, and I will I do want to follow my man. I don't want to drag him along, but I like someone a little stronger than me and more powerful.

00:06:18
Speaker 1: Got it? You want you, and you want a man that's going to hold the door and pick up the tab when you're at dinner.

00:06:24
Speaker 3: In a playful way.

00:06:26
Speaker 2: Though that that is not like, Oh I'm opening the door for you. Aren't I a good boy? Don't you want to pet me on the head? No? Are you going to kiss me good night? No? Okay, if you have to ask, it's not happening.

00:06:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you, April. Okay, all right, before we get into the episodes. How did you get on?

00:06:47
Speaker 2: Oh? This is this is hilarious. I never even watched The Bachelor. I knew nothing about it. All of a sudden, I keep getting these applications from people that I actually didn't even know. They've remembered me, people from grade school, high school, college, old jobs, and they had known that past the rouphe passed. We were kind of like the couple of Youngstown, and we kind of ruled the school and we were very passionate, and so I kept getting all these applications. Finally, by the eighth one, I'm like, you know, what do I got to lose? I'll just send it in. Before I know it, they called. I had an interview, and then a few weeks later I had an interview, and then some with a few more people and a few more people. The process was not that difficult. It was fun. I got to think about what I wanted and who I was, and I got on and so here I am. But I think it's faith. I think it's faith. As someone told my mother years ago before she died, that I would not arrive to my right place until I was older, and I just thought she was trying to pacify me. But I see now it has some merit.

00:07:59
Speaker 1: Mom, right, what what do your kids think?

00:08:03
Speaker 2: Uh? They were worried because I am really eccentric and kind of and I am Italian, so.

00:08:10
Speaker 1: I'm for reality TV.

00:08:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, I am Italian.

00:08:16
Speaker 2: I use my hands a lot, I'm very passionate, and I am spiritual, so.

00:08:22
Speaker 3: I do all of this soul work.

00:08:23
Speaker 2: Like my soul was originated from the aspects of Fay, which is fairy and nymph. My first house in astrology is identical to Marilyn Monroe. My childhood is very much like hers. However, thank goodness, I did not do drugs, so I'm still here. But there is a childlike capacity in me. And just for the record, I'm a sage with a scorpio rising and an aries moon and so I have fire everywhere. So they were a little worried that I would embarrass them. But now they're very proud.

00:08:58
Speaker 1: Of me, are they. I think you do and I think you're doing great. You you Uh, you are bringing a lot of a lot of the fun. So night one, you step out of that limo, how are you feeling what's going on right through there?

00:09:12
Speaker 2: Well, I'm trying to I'm seeing the girl next to me, which was Leslie. She's all dressed up in the you know, elderly outfit with with the walker, and then Kathy and Nancy and all these new people because remember we didn't meet the girls until we got into the limo, you know, until we came downstairs from our rooms, and I was worried.

00:09:35
Speaker 1: I have.

00:09:37
Speaker 2: Always been a little bit afraid of girls because girls were mean to me in high school and I was bullied, so you know, I'm always a little leery of other women. But these women rocked it. Everybody was nice. And once I got in the limo and we started to look at each other and talk and we were all nervous, it kind of calmed us down and then I had to remember what I wanted to say. But once I hit it out there, there's something about me. I'm a show person. Once I got up, I can't even remember shaking my booty like that. Once I saw it on film, I was like, damn, that was a good rhythm.

00:10:23
Speaker 1: So you meet Gary for the first time, what are your thoughts about him after you have that first conversation.

00:10:29
Speaker 2: The first moment I saw him, he had beautiful, beautiful eyes.

00:10:34
Speaker 3: He was dressed to perfection.

00:10:36
Speaker 2: He looked fabulous for his age, compared to some of the other guys who have asked me out at his age, I'm like, oh my god, he's heavenly. He was warm, he was very intimate. I think he liked my chicken dance and the there we Go and the little bit of the stripper hit.

00:11:00
Speaker 1: But are you getting are you getting those fun vibes from him?

00:11:03
Speaker 3: Yeah? I did.

00:11:04
Speaker 2: I thought, you know, this could go somewhere. And I was really open and I am really open to finding love, and I was hoping that he that he felt the same way. Of course, we never know what's in the mind of someone else, even if we've known them a hundred years. We don't really know what's going on in other people's hearts and souls. But yeah, I was hoping for the best. And I walked away feeling very good. And then I'm heading down to where all the other women are waiting, And of course the first thing they say is what did you do? You know, what did you do with that basket?

00:11:41
Speaker 3: Why do you have the eggs?

00:11:43
Speaker 2: And I did. My My joy in life is to make other people laugh, not because I need it. It brings me real joy and satisfaction when I walk away and I see people giggling, even if they don't like me, and say, she's a pistol, she's a spitfire. At least I made them grin, you know. And that's If I'm not making somebody laugh, then it's a worthless day.

00:12:12
Speaker 1: I like that. I think that's a good quality. What what women are you finding yourself gravitating towards?

00:12:19
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Okay, there is my group. We got to stay together upstairs. You know, we share the rooms and there's bunk bes and it was done in a beautiful shade of pale pink. I felt like a princess. Now. When I went away to college, I really didn't stay. My mother had mental health issues. I was afraid. I was bullied in high school, and so I really didn't adapt well as a freshman. You know that that freshman issue didn't work for me.

00:12:51
Speaker 3: So I got to go back and relive it.

00:12:54
Speaker 2: These girls, and I'll name it, we call ourselves the Asking Crew. So it's April, Susan, Kathy, and Nancy. We are completely different. We come from different walks of life, but yet we we just blended, I mean, and we would stay up all night when they would take the mics off, you know, we would go up there in our bed and all.

00:13:17
Speaker 1: Right, okay, okay, I'm gonna stop you right here because I want, I need more of this and that is from this episode. So we're gonna we're gonna get to that a little later. All right, Okay, great, because yes, put a pin in it. Okay, so put a pin in It's yeah, you like that.

00:13:34
Speaker 3: I like it.

00:13:35
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's go to the next episode. Gary's birthday. You give him a little lap dance?

00:13:43
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:13:44
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: On Gary's birthday, it was kind of interesting because we had a cake ready for him and I wanted to do that, and I wanted to get his attention and I I love to dance, and I said, can we get some music on? I want to give him a lap dance. So there, his male sensuality came out of his eyes. I mean, his eyes will tell you the whole story.

00:14:13
Speaker 1: Was locked in.

00:14:15
Speaker 2: I think he was locked in. Yeah, he was, and his mouth was hanging open.

00:14:19
Speaker 3: So I think that was a.

00:14:19
Speaker 1: Good that's a good side.

00:14:22
Speaker 2: Drooling and eyes dilating always works for me if.

00:14:26
Speaker 3: You're doing that.

00:14:28
Speaker 1: Did he get any drool on you.

00:14:31
Speaker 2: No, I don't know, but I did feed him cake, and that I felt was charming because there's a very Italian mothering side of me too. So I kind of fed him and held his chin like I would somebody very tender and dear to me, and that meant a lot to me.

00:14:51
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's go. Now this week's episode, we see Leslie gives him a lap dance and feeds him cakee as well. Is that Leslie coming for you? You think? Did she get that idea from you? Let's talk about that.

00:15:06
Speaker 2: I think Leslie is her career is as a dancer. I think she teaches yoga and does a lot of I think dancing is her thing as an adult. That's kind of her part time gig, her job or something, and so I think that was what she does best. And I'm not sure. I don't think she was coming after me. I think she was coming after Gary. And she danced. She dances excellent. I would like to take some stripper moves from her. I mean, she rocks it and has a rock and little body. It is what it is.

00:15:41
Speaker 1: So it were you looking at Gary? Was he drooling with her? Too?

00:15:47
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think Gary. I think Gary.

00:15:53
Speaker 2: Didn't know what to think at some times. I don't think Gary from Indiana is used to being in the scene.

00:16:00
Speaker 1: So now we see you were talking about it earlier in the podcast. We see this group form asking right, yes, okay, so who's in that group and tell me a little more about it.

00:16:12
Speaker 2: The group was thrown together by the fates of God. I believe that we probably knew each other in past lives. We get put into the same bedroom, small bathroom, and all of a sudden, it's like magic.

00:16:26
Speaker 3: We just click.

00:16:28
Speaker 2: Although we have completely different personalities, we play off each other well. We intimate things about our lives and our hurts and things that no one else knows, and it just gels and it's beautiful and it's fun. And I kind of pretended we were a sorority the asking April, Susan, Kathy, Nancy, and then we became very very close, and we're even planning a vacation this winter, really some time together.

00:16:57
Speaker 1: Yes where are you guys going to go?

00:17:00
Speaker 2: I think Saint Martin.

00:17:01
Speaker 3: I'm not sure where.

00:17:03
Speaker 2: Susan's planning it. She's the planner and I just kind of I'm the stabiliser. Yeah, I'm the one like let's think about this, Okay.

00:17:13
Speaker 1: So now we see Kathy gets really upset in the episode because it seems like Teresa is boasting about her relationship with Gary.

00:17:26
Speaker 2: Yeah. Number one mistake that all women should know is you never kiss and tell. That's a good rule to follow. I don't think any of us were upset what happened. I just don't think on the first date the next morning that she had to broadcast all the intimate details and her thoughts going forwards. And unfortunately, I think it hit Kathy wrong. And Kathy is very very emotional herself and her persona, her vocals, you know, her inflection and her tone is very loud in and of itself, even when she's in a good mood, even when she's funny.

00:18:13
Speaker 3: And then.

00:18:16
Speaker 2: It just seemed to be escalating and escalating, and no one was going to let it go. And then when you know, it just kept going on and on and growing.

00:18:25
Speaker 1: Well, this is why I want to ask you, what do you think Teresa's motive was. Do you think she was just excited and wanted to talk to her girlfriends about her new potential relationship, or do you think there was a competitive nature to it to where she was kind of trying to make it seem like you guys stand no chance.

00:18:46
Speaker 2: I'm not sure about her either she was brilliant and calculating or she was very naive, but it was one or the other. I didn't see a middle ground. So let's let it go and let's move on. Like ladies, we're not in high school. It's not middle school, and let's care for one another. Yeah, and as elegant about it. Like I said, I don't really I didn't really care as much, but just don't kiss and tell.

00:19:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, so let's let's let's get off of that topic for now. So So where are you at currently at this point of the show with Gary? Where do you feel like your relationship is with him?

00:19:31
Speaker 3: At this point?

00:19:32
Speaker 2: I'm still trying to get close enough with him. There have been moments when I've seen him wink or give that beautiful smile to someone else that I'm not receiving. And I'm still trying to make a headway and i still want want my chance, and I'd still like to have a one on one with Gary. I some of it, though, I said, I blame myself. I think sometimes I held back. Also, this is a very difficult dating situation.

00:20:09
Speaker 3: I mean, this is this is perfect for Cupid.

00:20:15
Speaker 2: I mean Cupid's favorite tactic is there's nothing so much desired as a desired person. So when everybody wants the one that everybody wants, if you want, then I want them, then I want them, then I want them, then I want them.

00:20:30
Speaker 1: And then do you think that's Do you think that's happening here?

00:20:33
Speaker 3: I think it happens everywhere. Yeah, I think, you know.

00:20:35
Speaker 2: You get caught up in this scenario. And it's also I don't like being rejected, so you know, I probably, like I said, I I watching myself and from the last two weeks, people's you know, social media on me is they're like, you better move in, you better get more aggressive. And I'm not used to having to be that way to get a man's attention.

00:21:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's different. Yeah I get that. Let's talk about So why do you think the Golden Bachelor is striking such a chord with the viewers.

00:21:22
Speaker 2: I think that this could very easily be a mental health issue as well as entertainment. The demographic of that copulation is more depressed, more lonely, more isolated than any other group in the world. More than teenagers, more than anybody. They are lost, they are lonely, they don't know what to do, they have given up hope. This provides them with entertainment interaction, even if they hate us.

00:22:00
Speaker 3: I mean that's.

00:22:01
Speaker 2: Something good hates a good energy. Good get going, get your heart rate going, come on, you know, cheer for one person, dislike the other person, but get going. I think more than ever, we need to provide people of this age help, inspiration and joy. And they're lost in social media.

00:22:28
Speaker 3: They're lost in swipe left, swipe right.

00:22:32
Speaker 1: What is that I don't know, I don't know what you I don't know? Or what do you think is? What's one powerful thing that you learned about yourself during this time?

00:22:44
Speaker 2: I remembered who I was before I was a caretaker, before I was somebody's girl, their wife, their mom, their teacher, their guidance counselor These are all the hats that I've warned. I am a performer. I after I did the scene and that everyone is going to see at the talent show, I was. I actually I don't know what happened to me. But when I saw the black velvet curtain and I walked out there, I remembered who I was, and I wanted to actually leave the stage, get a bus, go to Las Vegas to some dowdy, dirty little bar and dance on stage all night for free. And I do nothing for free.

00:23:33
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that. Okay, So this for women in their golden years who maybe did lose a little hope in finding love or whatever it may be, what would be your advice for them? Now?

00:23:49
Speaker 3: Remember your war?

00:23:51
Speaker 1: Excuse me, let me say this, ye say it again.

00:23:54
Speaker 2: Okay, remember your worth. You are no different inside. First of all, the soul is eternal. It's ageless. That's why you feel ageless, because you truly are.

00:24:07
Speaker 3: There is no death.

00:24:09
Speaker 2: There's a physical taking off of a glove which is your body. But you are still you.

00:24:15
Speaker 3: You are that beautiful little girl.

00:24:17
Speaker 2: That skipped down the road, that was excited for Christmas, that wanted to go to prom, that loved getting her license and driving around. Even if you're no longer driving, there's so much out there that is still waiting for the inner child. And you let her out, let her sing, let her dance, let her fall, let her cry, don't lean in, jump in, jump in, don't miss a second of it. The rest of my life is going to be the best part of my life and the people who are meant for you. My favorite for affirmation is what God has made for me will not pass me by. I had no idea about The Bachelor. The Bachelor changed me, It healed me, it revitalized me, it woke me up. That was planned, not with my consciousness, and I'm living.

00:25:14
Speaker 3: Proof of that. I had no idea.

00:25:17
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so grateful.

00:25:19
Speaker 1: After I hear all that, I can't help but think you're making a huge mistake with the group asking going to Saint Thomas and not going to Vegas. How are you guys not going to Las Vegas?

00:25:32
Speaker 3: I don't know, I because I don't make the rules.

00:25:36
Speaker 2: I try to stay busy doing me and I'm always reading about love now and I really want to be a role model. My soul's purpose is to open up the hearts of others, so I kind of leave that kind of stuff to them and I just show up with an open heart and open arms. And that's where I have positioned myself. You know, I want to be kind of eccentrically interesting, but yet have depth, and so that is what takes up my passion in my time and I follow my passion.

00:26:17
Speaker 1: Got it? Okay, Well, I still think you guys should go to Vegas. Let's uh, let's play uh, let's play a quick game. All right, we're gonna do rapid I hate to lose. Okay, all right, you can't lose, like there is no losers in this rapid fire. First thing that comes to your mind? Okay, okay, all right, let's do it. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning.

00:26:40
Speaker 2: I tell my dogs to ask for three things they're grateful for, and we say them out loud. I usually don't hear them, but I'm hoping they're doing it.

00:26:50
Speaker 1: Well, if you hear them, then that's call me. What is your go to rose ceremony cocktail?

00:26:58
Speaker 2: I really don't drink very much, so I really don't drink, so it just I just have water or something with electrolytes in it.

00:27:11
Speaker 1: What is your love language?

00:27:13
Speaker 2: My love language is gifting and security. I appreciate feeling safe because I had trauma as a child, and I love to give gifts and make people smile.

00:27:28
Speaker 1: How many hours of sleep you need every night?

00:27:31
Speaker 3: Oh God, I love to sleep.

00:27:33
Speaker 2: I'd say eight to ten.

00:27:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair. What is your favorite place in the whole world?

00:27:41
Speaker 3: My bed?

00:27:43
Speaker 1: That's also fair. What is one word your kids or grandkids would describe you?

00:27:51
Speaker 3: Magical?

00:27:53
Speaker 1: I like that. What is your go to karaoke song?

00:27:58
Speaker 2: Can't take my eyes off you? And I want someone who can't take their eyes off of me.

00:28:04
Speaker 1: What is one word to describe this season of The Golden Bachelor.

00:28:11
Speaker 2: Healing?

00:28:12
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, April, thank you very much for coming on the podcast.

00:28:17
Speaker 3: Let me give you my blessing.

00:28:18
Speaker 2: I have to do this to you because you're adorable, your marriage, you have a family, and I'm so grateful.

00:28:24
Speaker 3: To have met you.

00:28:25
Speaker 1: Let's go. Thank you.

00:28:26
Speaker 3: I praise you, I appreciate you. You are God's child.

00:28:29
Speaker 2: Great things happen to you, nothing can stop it, and so it is my wonderful future. If I don't meet you again, I'll be seeing you in the heavens.

00:28:39
Speaker 1: Thank you. I feel unstoppable right now. And to everyone out there, all our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in and remember all new episodes of The Golden Bachelor air every Thursday on ABC at eight seventh Central, followed by new episodes of Bachelor Paradise. You can stream both shows the next day on Hulu, and make sure to tune into new episodes of Bachelor Happy Hour Every single week. We are going to have some great guests on. We've got all kinds of exclusive interviews coming up, so don't forget to subscribe. Thank you everyone, and thank you April. See you guys next time.