Episode 16: Before Everyone Knew Everything

This week on Lay Low, Erin sits down with one of her best friends, Tiffany Alder-Bown, for the kind of conversation that happens when two women have known each other through marriages, divorces, raising boys, career changes, unforgettable trips, and a whole lot of life.

Tiffany is a successful real estate broker, mom of three boys, self-proclaimed introvert—and someone Erin wishes could see herself the way the people who love her do.

They talk about growing up before smartphones, social media, location sharing, and security cameras—when dating meant calling someone’s house phone, friendships were built through handwritten notes, directions came from an atlas, photos had to be developed, and your teenage mistakes weren’t permanently documented online.

But the conversation goes deeper, too. Tiffany opens up about getting married young, feeling pressured into decisions before she had fully found her own voice, divorce in a small town, motherhood, friendship, and learning to give younger versions of ourselves a little more grace.

And naturally, there are stories: baseball trips with five boys, espresso martinis in Florence, an impulsive fur coat and diamond purchase, getting separated on the last train of the night, teenage sneaking out, AOL chat rooms, cassette tapes, pagers, and more.

This episode includes:

• Growing up before smartphones, social media, and location sharing
• What dating was like when you had to call the house phone
• Tiffany opening up about marrying young and feeling pressured into a life-changing decision
• Divorce, judgment, and being misunderstood in a small town
• Raising boys and trying to give our kids permission to make mistakes
• The kind of friendship that can survive disagreements, different seasons, and different paths
• Why our younger selves deserve forgiveness instead of judgment
• Pagers, handwritten notes, answering machines, MapQuest, mixtapes, and disposable cameras
• Erin's teenage sneaking-out stories—and why she could never get away with them today
• The infamous Florence night involving espresso martinis, fur, diamonds, wine, and one very unfortunate train ride
• Why some of the best friendships are the ones where someone knows the whole story—and stays

It’s nostalgic, vulnerable, funny, and exactly what Lay Low is about: telling the stories behind the version of ourselves everyone else thinks they know. Maybe growing up before everyone was watching gave us something we didn’t realize we had—the freedom to figure out who we were in private.

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

Thanks for laying low with me. ❤️