It is 4 p.m. on a Saturday. I leave for the airport in two hours. My son has been gone for two years. And Ryan and I are sitting in the car with a mic between us because apparently this is what my podcast has been reduced to — and I could not care less.

This is a real-time life update, recorded in the window where I know everything is about to change and I don’t know how. I haven’t figured out the sleeping arrangements or what having all four kids under my roof for the first time in two years will look like. I’m guessing, hoping, over-thinking, and telling you all of it from the front seat.

Then we get into the partial hysterectomy conversation I promised you — what my urogynecologist said, what the surgery actually removes, and why I said absolutely not when my doctor told me to come back in three years.

And finally, the weekend. Mastermind, the challenge winners, a woman who flew for the first time at 50, and Ryan on a pole. Yes, that Ryan. Yes, that pole.

Cozy up. This one’s a ride.

IN THIS EPISODE

The countdown. I haven’t figured out the sleeping arrangements and I’m not going to — they can battle it out. But I explain why the room situation is so loaded, including something I’ve never said here: Matix and Marley may have quietly carried the “step kid” position in a house where I was always pregnant, recovering, or filming.

They were loved beyond measure. They also slept in their brother’s room for years while other rooms sat empty.

So no, Matix is not getting the pullout bed. That boy hasn’t picked his own sheets in two years.

I also get into kids leaving home after graduation, why Marley pays me rent and where that money actually goes, and the Matix and Cash dynamic I’m watching. Cash was a little boy when his brother left. He isn’t anymore.

The hysterectomy decision. HPV came back negative, my Epstein-Barr is down, and the abnormal cells are still there. My doctor said come back in three years. I said absolutely not — a pap takes a few samples, and a few samples is not the whole picture.

I also correct something from last episode: HPV is linked to cervical cancer, not uterine or ovarian. Then we get into what they’d actually take, early menopause, and what nobody talks about — sex afterward.

My experience and my doctor’s answers, not medical advice. Take it to your own provider.

The weekend. Jennifer is 50, down 30 pounds, and hasn’t felt confident since she was 25. First time on an airplane. Ever. First time submitting before-and-afters. First cold plunge. First breathwork session.

The thing I can’t stop thinking about is what these women have survived. You would never guess. One told me that night it was the first time she hadn’t felt like an outcast.

That’s the entire point.

TIMESTAMPS

0:44 — Episode 95, recorded in the car
4:22 — Two hours to the airport
8:04 — The sleeping arrangements are Hunger Games
10:12 — Did Matix and Marley get the short end?
14:25 — Why Marley pays rent
20:52 — The Matix and Cash dynamic
23:54 — Why I want a house big enough for everyone
26:36 — Correcting what I said about HPV
29:19 — What a partial hysterectomy removes
35:20 — My kids mattered more than money
42:22 — Jennifer’s firsts
47:35 — My team and best friends
53:32 — Ryan. On the pole.
56:07 — The four-day event I’m already planning

COME DO THIS WITH ME

The 30-Day Core, Pelvic Floor & Hormone Strength Challenge starts soon. Back to basics for the deepest layer of our bodies we’ve spent decades ignoring.

heidipowell.net/challenge

Save the date for January — the next 60-day challenge, with nutrition education LIVE this time.

LET’S TALK

Two real questions:

If you’ve had the hysterectomy conversation and chose not to do it — where are you now? Do you wish you had?

And do you think kids should move out after high school? I left immediately, failed every class, figured it out, and I’m convinced I wouldn’t be who I am without it.

Tell me in the comments — honestly, because I’m reading them.