The Refreshingly Normal Podcast with Kēfla and Cree

Let’s talk about the kind of love that doesn’t need a filter—the kind that makes dinner together, leaves sweet reminders in the rush to work, and chooses repair over winning an argument. We open up about why “normal” gets a bad rap, how perfectionism sneaks into everything, and what to do when your relationship feels more routine than cinematic.

We share concrete ways we reconnect when life is heavy or just plain boring: daily “I love yous,” acts of service that actually land, and honest check-ins that invite feedback without blame. We unpack the comparison tra...

What if the new year didn’t demand a whole new you, just a clearer, kinder version of who you already are? We kick off 2026 by choosing “enhanced you,” and the conversation flows from real-life flu season tactics to identity-building habits and the courage to show love on purpose.

We start with a family check-in and practical health talk, why quarantining early, visiting urgent care, and considering a one-dose antiviral like Xofluza can shorten recovery and protect everyone at home. From there, we dive into the rhythm of school-year sickness and the boundaries that keep classrooms healthier, then p...

Holidays can be cozy, chaotic, and clarifying and ours had all three. We kept the menu simple, savored a dressed-up Costco smoked turkey, battled through musical cups with championship-level energy, and used the quiet to talk about what matters more than leftovers: respect, boundaries, and what we refuse to carry into 2026.

First, we unpack a story that stings: a woman’s dishes are ignored at her in-laws’ gatherings then even her soda and carefully chosen coffee are shrugged off. When everything tied to you gets rejected, it’s not the recipe, it’s the room. We talk about re...

Bells, games, and real talk, this one feels like the living room after dinner when the stories get louder and the truths get clearer. We start with holiday week chaos; team charcuterie, dress-up days, and a White Elephant that actually makes sense, then dig into something deeper: how to support teens and adults in crisis without slipping into fixer mode. You’ll hear practical, compassionate tips for regulating emotions, honoring agency, and spotting the moments where presence matters more than solutions.

Work stress takes the mic with a stack of IEPs, lost notes, and that sinking office ch...

Holiday cheer meets hard truths, and we’re not tiptoeing around either. We kick off with the real work of easing burnout—especially for educators—by building a simple, repeatable plan you can stick with when your brain is fried. No perfection. No spiritual gatekeeping. Just short meditations, one-minute box breathing, and the honest practice of noticing, naming, and returning. Our goal: you leave lighter, not just inspired.

Then the sleigh hits black ice. We dive into holiday relationship chaos where technology becomes the unexpected truth-teller. An Alexa command labeled “slow jams for grown folks” at 2:17 a.m. exposes...

A season meant for joy can get loud with pressure, plans, and family politics—so we pulled the plug on perfection and built a holiday that actually feels good. We start with lighthearted banter about shopping days, hidden gifts, and that eternal real vs artificial tree debate, then shift into the real work of December: protecting peace, choosing boundaries, and keeping kids out of grown-up crossfire. As educators, we also unpack finals-week stress, meeting overload, and how smart scheduling beats burnout when schools and families need us most.

Two listener stories anchor the conversation. The first: a mo...

The rain started before sunrise and so did the stories. We drove 13 hours to Wichita for a week packed with caregiving, cooking, and a smoky casino that taught our teens more about odds than any math class. What we brought home wasn’t just leftovers, it was a sharper sense of what makes holidays work: clear boundaries, shared effort, and small rituals that outlive a single season.

We get honest about hosting in a small space, why “help” that adds three babysat kids isn’t help at all, and how to say no without blowing up the family t...

What if your retirement address was “somewhere at sea”? We kick off with classroom wins, a Spirit Week fashion misread, and a kid who kept checking if we’d moved from the same hallway spot—then steer straight into a wild idea: buying a cabin on a residency cruise and circling the globe for years. No cooking, no cleaning, nonstop ports. Tempting? We pull the dream apart with real questions about family ties, health, flexibility, and the quiet reality of routines at sea.

From there we shift into what keeps love attractive after 50—and what slowly erodes it. We tal...

A single text and a church livestream blew the lid off a carefully hidden double life—and we walk you through every jaw-dropping turn. We start with the small inconsistency that sparked suspicion, then trace the calm, methodical investigation that followed: unopened mail with secret credit cards, receipts for trips and gifts, a holiday card from another family, and a decade of messages that confirmed everything. The harshest twist? A baby added to her insurance with the name she and her husband had chosen for the child they never had.

We talk about the choice to gather ev...

Ever notice how stress sneaks into your house wearing different faces—short replies, nitpicking the tiniest thing, or a sudden urge to fix what’s right in front of you? We open up about how we each show stress, why clutter can spike anxiety, and how we’ve learned to spot the early signs before small sparks become big fires. From the social script that tells Black men to “man up” to the habit of masking stress with productivity, we unpack the roots and share what actually helps us regulate in real time.

We get practical and personal...

The week starts with small comforts—a heavy hoodie, calm kits for families, rain on the windshield—and quickly widens into the bigger work of care. We swap stories from busy school trainings, a slow nail salon day, and the kind of teacher compliment that fills a bucket at just the right time. Then we open up about a real health scare, the stats around Black men and preventive care, and what it feels like to navigate screenings, sciatica pain, and surprise medical bills without losing momentum or hope.

Joy shows up loud under stadium lights. We brea...

What if a week could be both tender and tough? We open with a restorative practices conference that felt like a genuine mindset reset—circles over punishment, dignity over discipline—and the very real need to decompress after days packed with heavy stories. That leads us into a candid look at sleep on the road: light leaks, hotel A/C quirks, anxious thoughts, and the small tweaks that finally make rest possible. Back home, we’re lifted by a day with middle schoolers who show up curious and kind, the kind of group that turns exhaustion into purpose with a sing...

If real life is a mosaic, this one clicks the pieces together: a cough finally fading, a yard trimmed to perfection, sauna small talk that turns into a debate on fasting, and the quiet victory of getting back to the gym. We trade everyday wins before shifting into the work that fills us up—Cree’s week of trainings, an unexpectedly vulnerable day with high school leaders, and a bright moment with gifted fifth graders building ADHD and anxiety supports for their classmates. Their plan to create a checkout center for tools and simple “top five” strategy posters shows how far...

A perfect-weather homecoming turns into a masterclass on what really sustains us—rituals that root identity, small alerts that protect our peace, and honest talks that make relationships sturdier. We start with the warmth of tailgates, band pride, and the funny near-miss of a fake valet in a brown sweatsuit, then move into an inheritance dilemma that hits harder than expected: a $1.8M house promised to a cousin’s grandson while a new spouse carries most expenses. Is that fair, or just familiar? We unpack late-life love, legacy, and what security looks like when history and obligations collide.

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A first grader hands a bus driver a note—“Call 911. My mom is being held hostage.”—and everything stops. We walk through what happened, why a quick-thinking adult matters, and the unglamorous systems that make help possible: routes, names, addresses, dispatch, and the calm to act when rules say “no phones.” That story threads into our life in schools—Kefla’s first IEP in a decade, the anxiety and pride of getting the details right, and the daily tug-of-war between data demands and the five-minute rituals that actually move learning forward.

We talk vocabulary gaps you can hear in a room...

Ever been called "OG" by someone half your age? Had a date pull out their baby tooth collection over dinner? Discovered your online match looked nothing like their photos? Welcome to the wild world of dating disasters, brought to you with unfiltered honesty by Kefla and Lucrecia.

This episode begins with tales from our fall break adventures in Lower Alabama (the real LA, as Kefla calls it), where despite sweltering heat, we managed to fish, explore the family property, and discover a hidden gem coffee shop called The Drowsy Poet. We also celebrated our niece's milestone "Dirty 30"...

Pull up a chair for an unfiltered peek into the lives of educators as we share our most jaw-dropping, hilarious, and sometimes shocking moments from the classroom. From confrontations with angry parents wearing blue plastic gloves (to avoid leaving fingerprints!) to being chased through school hallways by a vengeful bird, these stories capture the unpredictable nature of working in education.

The episode begins with nostalgic conversations about regional sayings, childhood memories of candy ladies, freeze cups, and five-and-dime stores like Woolworth and Ben Franklin. We reminisce about cherry sodas, blue light specials, and the unique aspects of...

Ever wonder if your dating standards are helping or hurting your chances at real connection? In this candid conversation, Kefla and Cree dive into the surprising ways modern dating has evolved—and not always for the better.

We kick things off with hilarious everyday moments, from classroom "silent but violent" situations to Labor Day family gatherings that remind us what matters most. When discussion turns to a viral dating show clip where a woman rejects a man solely for wearing an Apple Watch with his suit, we unpack how superficial standards might be keeping many of us fr...

Parenting doesn't come with a manual, but sometimes the most valuable lessons emerge through experience. In this heartfelt conversation, we dive deep into what might be our greatest parenting revelation: learning to step back and allow our children to forge their own paths while providing a safety net rather than a roadmap.

We explore the concept of "empathy with expectations" – acknowledging the challenges our children face while maintaining clear boundaries and family values. Drawing from personal experiences with our sons navigating early adulthood decisions, we discuss the delicate balance between supporting independence and avoiding enablement.

Th...

Dating your spouse shouldn't end after marriage - it should evolve into an intentional practice that keeps connection alive through every life stage. Join us as we peel back the curtain on our favorite date nights from over two decades together, revealing how these experiences have nurtured our relationship through parenthood, career changes, and life's unpredictable moments.

From the breathtaking vineyard picnics at Fainting Goats Winery where we sipped wine surrounded by autumn foliage, to intimate City Winery concerts where performers like Chante Moore sang directly to us, we explore how these special moments create lasting bonds...

Have you ever wondered how some couples make it look so easy? In this heartwarming episode, we pull back the curtain on our own love story that began 22 years ago at Edison Blair Elementary School in Dallas, Texas. What started as a professional relationship between two educators—Kefla as the PE teacher and Cree teaching third grade—evolved into something neither of us expected, especially since one of us was engaged to someone else at the time!

We take you through every step of our journey: from awkward first impressions to that memorable first date at Chili's (paid...

After 17 years away, we returned to Los Angeles for the Road Rules 30th anniversary celebration, bringing our 21-year-old twin sons to see where their story began. The journey was filled with unexpected moments from the start—narrowly avoiding staying at an Airbnb in a building under police surveillance thanks to our LA connections, and experiencing the shocking reality of California traffic (three hours to drive 60 miles!).

The trip became a beautiful full-circle moment as we showed our boys the hospital where they were born, our first apartment (hilariously still for rent after all these years), and the sc...

Picture this: a luxury treehouse resort nestled in the jungle, mosquitoes with a personal vendetta, and a raccoon named Ricky who won't take "YAHHH" for an answer. Welcome to our unforgettable family adventure celebrating our twin boys' 21st birthday in Tulum, Mexico!

What began as a carefully planned celebration quickly transformed into a series of hilarious mishaps and unexpected delights. The mosquitoes might have feasted on us that first night (until we discovered our miracle solution: Trader Joe's lemongrass oil mixed with natural bug spray), but nothing could dampen our spirits as we explored ancient Mayan ruins...

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Picture this: a luxury treehouse resort nestled in the jungle, mosquitoes with a personal vendetta, and a raccoon named Ricky who won't take "shoo" for an answer. Welcome to our unforgettable family adventure celebrating our twin boys' 21st birthday in Tulum, Mexico!

What began as a carefully planned celebration quickly transformed into a series of hilarious mishaps and unexpected delights. The mosquitoes might have feasted on us that first night (until we discovered our miracle solution: Trader Joe's lemongrass oil mixed with natural bug spray), but nothing could dampen our spirits...

Today we dive into our topic discussion about "For Better or For Worse" where we talk about how much are your allowed to change in a relationship before it becomes an issue with your significant other. Change is inevitable and not all change is good. So, what do you do about it? What are you willing to put up with? What are you will to do to make it work? 

We also talk about the life changes pregnancy can bring into a relationship and how I was not being a good husband when my wife sent me t...

The Refreshingly Normal Podcast

Welcome to The Refreshingly Normal Podcast, where real life meets real laughs. We are Kēfla and Lucrecia, a married couple of 22 years, long-time educators, and now stepping into the world of mental health counseling. Think of us as your favorite Unc and Auntie of the podcast world, keeping it honest, heartfelt, and hilariously human.

We’re also proud parents of twin young men who just turned 21 and are officially stepping into adulthood, which means paying their own bills (finally!). From raising kids to letting go, we’re navigating this...