Christina and Jamie Crim followed love and opportunity first to California, then to Las Vegas. As long-haul truckers, their future was bright, and soon they were a family. Until the promise shattered and they had to decide what to do, where to go.
By the time these two long-haul truckers met in Windy Wyoming, Christina and Jamie Crim were ready for love, ready for adventure, ready for a family. After a harrowing pregnancy, the Crims had a beautiful son, a "truckers' baby," and Las Vegas beckoned. The future was bright...until their dreams shattered.
What could they do? Some of us leave by choice, some of us by necessity. This is a story of leaving by choice, and then by necessity. It is the story of a young couple with a baby who found the promise in long-haul trucking, having moved from California to Las Vegas. And the economic devastation that befell them in Las Vegas. Then came COVID and even more economic havoc.
Theirs is a story of true love, faith and family, of finding hope and strength despite being broke and homeless in Sin City. Together, they made the heartwrenching decision. To stay or to leave? How would they rebuild their life and business?
Listen in to the Crims' story of the nomadic life, of hope, of homelessness, of the kindness of newfound friends and strangers and, ultimately, of leaving Las Vegas.
Places mentioned:
Poughkeepsie
Hudson, New York
The Hudson Valley
Quebec, Canada
North Carolina
Chicago
Ford Heights, Illinois
The Lincoln Highway
Underground Railroad - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Heights,_Illinois#History
Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois
San Jose
Solana Beach, California
Del Mar Fairgrounds, California
Wyoming
New Haven, Connecticut
Bakersfield, California
Amarillo, Texas
Reno, Nevada
Brewster, New York
Las Vegas, Nevada
Also mentioned:
CRST - https://crst.com/
Aviation mechanics
Aviation Institute of Maintenance - https://aviationmaintenance.edu/campuses/las-vegas-nv/
COVID-19
Warrior J Trucking
C~Crim Trucking
University of Phoenix - https://www.phoenix.edu/
Aveda Institute - https://aveda.edu/
Contact info, links and shout-outs:
Crim de la Crim. crimdelacrim1982@gmail.com
The people who kept Ni'Syah safe in Las Vegas:
Mrs. Benzena Brown, from Genesis II Church in North Las Vegas. Author of So I Will, So I Can. https://linkedin.com/in/benzena-brown-1260b195
Patricia Miles - a.k.a. Ms. Pat or Auntie Pat
Mischlane Melton - www.mischlanemelton.com
Music by Eves Blue.
[00:00:00]
Christi: Christina and Jamie Crim thank you so much for being here at Moving Along.
Christina: Thank you for having us.
Jamie: Thanks for having us.
Christi: I'm going to start with you, Christina. You grew up in Poughkeepsie, the home of Vassar College here in the Hudson Valley, about an hour and a half north of New York City.
What did travel and moving mean to you as a child?
Christina: As a child? We did a lot of traveling up and down the East Coast up and down the 95. So very acclimated to traveling. It meant freedom. It meant experiencing new things. It meant creativity for me. And traveling was an Oasis. It was really an opportunity to get out and see new things, meet new people and have new experiences,
new things to cherish.
Christi: And you traveled by car,
Christina: By car and by plane went to Canada in the summertime as a kid and truly [00:01:00] enjoyed that. That was an awesome experience.
Christi: Tell me about Canada.
Christina: Went to Quebec during the summer and was grateful that my grandma would send me and it was amazing just the culture and, you know, being able to speak French at that time.
I was pretty good at it and the food amazing, you know, eating pate and stuff like that. So,
it was an awesome experience just to, to be in a different country for one and not be here in the United States all the time, and then be able to see how other people lived and navigated through life and what they valued and what was important to them and learning more about schooling and education out there.
It was a great experience
Christi: was it camp? Christina
Christina: it was for French class. Every summer. I think it was for three years that I went and we would [00:02:00] go and be able to experience life. Like we were surrogate students basically, but we will go for the summer. So it was amazing. It was awesome.
And we had some really good maple syrup before we came back home maple syrup and pancakes. That's what I remember.
Christi: Were you in high school? Were you in grade school?
Christina: I was basically in
Christi: middle, middle school. So you still have the French
Christina: a little bit. Bonjour merci
beaucoup.
Christi: That's great. Jamie, you grew up in Ford Heights, Illinois in Cook County about 30 miles due south of downtown Chicago.
And correct me if I have mixed up my directions here or my information that if I understand it, Ford Heights was a stop on the Underground Railroad and it also lies on the Lincoln Highway, which [00:03:00] ran from the first trans continental highway, right from Times Square to San Francisco. And then later was largely superseded by I-80
Let me ask you, what did travel and moving mean to you as a child?
Jamie: Traveling.
Yeah, we traveled a lot. It was it was me my two brothers. My dad used to take us out on no vacations and travel. But then, you know, in the city of Chicago traveling, yeah, you got a lot of, you know, crazy drivers and you know, it meant a lot though.
I miss it.
I miss it.
Yeah. You know, it's an experience. If you haven't been,
you should go just
Wintertime time is beautiful, you know, with the snow, but it's cold. It's cold. Just gotta come bundled up, you know what I mean? Just come bundled up. But yeah, traveling, it meant a lot. It means a lot, you [00:04:00] know, I get to see everything, see different things
Christi: so where did you go with your dad and your brothers?
Jamie: Eight or nine years old. So Disney World we went out of see I didn't see Sea World but a Great America.
Christi: Oh yeah.
Jamie: It was what, four hours away from Ford Heights? About four. Yeah. About four hours from Ford Heights
yeah. But you said something that I didn't know. You said, what about Ford Heights? The Underground Railroad.
Christi: Did you say that? I did
Jamie: not know that at all.
Yeah. So.
Leave Chicago for trucking also, I have another child. So my first child was with my baby's mother, you know, and we was together for a while. We was together for like six years, seven years or something like that.
I'm a good dude. You know, I took care of before [00:05:00] we got together, you know, I took care of her eight month old child and which I called my child because I was with her. So I sat there, our responsibility. So I took care of a child. But neither here nor there. That's why I left. I had to move forward for my child and make a better life for him. So that's why I decided to. And go to California and make a new life for me and for my child's future. So I decided to get into truck driving.
Cause my brother, he was a truck driver as well. So he, the one that actually put that into my head to do it. I said, when he brought it to me, I'm like he was like, man, bro, I ain't even talk to him. I'm like, man,
I'm not a big truck roll
highway. I don't know. I don't know that I, I, then I told him I'm like, that would be what I say.
I said that be my last resort. That's what I said I said, that'd be my last resort. And that is [00:06:00] that all right. So in up being the last resort, I'm like, you know what? I got to move forward. She's holding me back . So I get to move on. I don't stay in nothing that I'm not wanted, so yeah.
Time to move. So that's what I did. I moved to California and I'm working out there in like me, I'm a people person, I'm nice. I'm a nice person. I'm straightforward. You know, I present myself well and people tend to cling to me. You know what I mean? So I ended up going to Cali on a whim and I did make good people, people who am with down, I here with them now.
And yeah, it just kept going. You know, so I was in truck driving and that's when I met this one, but we
ain't get that by yet.
Christi: No, that's one of my questions. Tell me what town you went to in California. Was that, that wasn't Bakersfield.
Jamie: No, that wasn't yet. It was Lancaster that's how I ended up getting into truck driving [00:07:00] was first company that I worked for CRST.
Christi: Christina, you moved to California when you were 21 with a brief stop over in the Carolinas to visit family, I presume. And you say you didn't like Northern California too much, but loved. So Cal moved, you moved so much, your friends called you Frequent Flyer Miles, right?
Yeah. After seven years of California living, you said you went through a pretty bleak period. You called it your 40 days and 40 nights of sadness. Then you decided to move back to the Hudson Valley. And I wondered if you could tell us about their time, what was going through your heart and your head?
Christina: I can most definitely go back there.
So you're absolutely right in your facts. I did stop off in the Carolinas before I went to Cali. And when I left, I was striking out on my own and a previous [00:08:00] relationship propelled me to California. He was a computer engineer, so making good money. And we went to San Jose first
I just, I feel like
the first maybe month or so San Jose was cool, but Northern California is very different. It's different culture. People's ideals are different.
The way they interact with people is very different. I was there for two years, but I was miserable. I just hated, San Jose, so, so much. And it wasn't until we moved to Mountain View, which is a suburb city next to San Jose that I was starting to basically like Northern California and thought that there was beauty there in the
sense,
It made me have a healthier perspective for Northern California.
I'll put it like that. It was a good experience. [00:09:00] And then we quickly moved from Mountain View to Solana Beach and, oh my gosh. So Cal, I came to life. I love Solana Beach. I was at the beach practically every day. I'm a beach bum, so I loved it. It was amazing.
Christi: You were still with your partner and
Christina: yes, I was, he was paying the bills. He's the reason why I had, I had the lifestyle that I had. I was an on and off security guard at a local Tavern down there. I was a bouncer.
But I pretty much was just enjoying life really. I mean, I had a boyfriend that made good money at the time. You know what I mean? So, you know, you're in Cali, you're living in life, you're enjoying the experience, but Solano Beach was home for me. I mean, I'm not from California, but it was truly home for me.
I was totally [00:10:00] in love with that moment. You know, if I was sad, mad, whatever the case may be, I could walk out to the beach and just talk to God and just have my moment and then get back into the game, you know? And the people were awesome. People were awesome. I love horses. So Del Mar fairgrounds was literally right down the street from my house.
You could drive past or go in and you'd see horses and stuff. It was
Christi: Do you ride
Christina: used to ride as a kid. I did. And I loved it too. It was awesome, but Solana Beach had very familiar things for me that made being there being pleasant, but then it was also very different because it's California, California is a beautiful state, whether it's pieces of north, you know, California or not, but there's so much variety there.
And so much just to experience like you don't do it all in one day. You know what I mean? It's Cali
Christi: that's for sure. Especially Southern [00:11:00] California. Yeah. Southern
Christina: California. Was for me, and then I was in Carlsbad for a little while, you know we were in Solana Beach, I believe for two years too.
And then, kind of bounced around the rest of the time to the other places, you know, did San Diego. And then I ended up in Temecula and Marietta area. My church family was out there and that almost gets to my 40 days and 40 nights. They had found out that I was, I had left my then boyfriend and I was homeless and I had been homeless for 30 days.
I was the cleanest, homeless person. You would probably see, I was going to the gym, taking my showers. acting like night life was normal.
Christi: Where did you sleep?
Christina: In my car? It was just me and my car.
Christi: Marietta.
Christina: I would, I would move around. I be in Marietta, be [00:12:00] at Solano Beach on the beach. I'd be at the beach all day,
get in my car, find somewhere
safe to go, go to sleep.
Sometimes I even fell asleep on the beach. I'd just stay there.
Christi: It sounds rather heartbreaking.
Christina: It was because when my church family found out that I had been homeless and no
one knew
people were asking me, they knew I was from New York, but they were like, where, like, where are you from.
Do you have any family to go to or any type of help or anything like that?
And
I was so apprehensive. I didn't want to go back to New
York.
That wasn't the healthiest thing for me at that time. So it was heartbreaking and I just was like, well, I guess this is, you know, when you're grown up, sometimes you got to do the things you don't want to do.
So I packed whatever additional stuff I could in my car to get across country. And that was a trip. [00:13:00] I remember Amarillo, Texas. I was so excited when I got to Amarillo, Texas.
Christi: Why tell me about Amarillo?
Christina: Because I had basically out of my gas money that I ended up getting I had enough to have an a, you know, a night stay in a hotel.
So I got a shower, , got something decent to eat.
But it was just looking at the culture, seeing things around, you know, kind of drove around a little bit to kind of learn Amarillo and then was ducking and dodging tornadoes. So I was hoping that I wouldn't end up in Kansas on my way.
So it was fun. It was a fun night for sure. But across my journey, I was facing my fears and facing my apprehensions . There was a lot of things going through my mind when I left to initially come back to the East Coast from Cali, I had been gone so long. I had been on my own,
Christi: For seven years, right. Like 28, [00:14:00] 29.
Christina: Okay. So I came back, finally got back to New York, seen the New York sign. And I quickly got my associates degree finished. Like a couple of months I just graduated basically. I was doing online school, so that was another thing with my lifestyle.
I was able to blend in easy because I didn't have to go to a classroom. My teacher was online, you know,
Christi: were you living with your mom? Were you in Poughkeepsie?
Christina: Yeah, I stayed with my mom and then at the time, my stepdad and that was only for a couple of months and I just, like I said, I just couldn't doNew York.
So I left, I went back to Carolina. I got my aesthetics degree at Aveda Institute in Chapel Hill. North Carolina is always dear to my heart. Most of my family is from there, but I just love NC. And once I got that completed, I was out again. But at this time I was onto trucking. I, [00:15:00] I was flat broke and I was trying to get into trucking, to pave a way to hopefully generate a business, to get back into school and I wanted to become a doctor.
So, you know, that was my goal at the time.
Christi: Is there a line from aesthetics to medicine for you?
Christina: I was in medicine already. I started out as a massage therapist. I worked my way up to a holistic health practitioner from holistic health practitioner. I got my associates degree from University of Phoenix.
I am a Phoenix love Phoenix, and then I proceeded to aesthetics and I love Aveda. I love their concept. I love what they stand for. So I was very proud to accomplish that. And then after that, if I would've had the money that I needed to go back to school, I would've gotten my bachelor's my [00:16:00] master's and that I would have pursued my doctorate degree.
But
in your journeys, even though you have a plan, sometimes they don't always work out the way you want them to.
Christi: Jamie mentioned that it was an older brother, his friends that got him into trucking. Who or what got you in with the idea that trucking could be a way out?
Christina: Well, my mom has had a commercial license since I was a kid. I've had a few cousins that were truck drivers near and dear to me, you know, most of them live in North Carolina or they live in the south. So I was exposed to that lifestyle.
I also had a few friends, you know, in South Carolina area, they also were into trucking and that was their hustle and what they did and had businesses.
So I had the exposure. But really it was my hunger to [00:17:00] just have a exit to have a way out.
Christi: So you did, you went and you got your commercial license and you started
Christina: doing, I signed up with CRST. They told me they were bringing me to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
And I was there. I was at bootcamp and I was going to get my commercial license and I was going to drive a tractor trailer and I was going to get my out so I could get back to my education. It was challenging for sure to take on a task that I only had exposure to.
You know, these are other people's stories, but I took it on and I was like, I'm gonna make this. I'm gonna see it through. And I did. And I met my husband in the process in windy Wyoming.
Christi: The two of you met in windy Wyoming, and Jamie describe your meeting
Jamie: Man. Alright. So me, I would have never done anything like that. I would just kept trucking, you know, cause that's what I do, I truck. So, [00:18:00] I mean, I see somebody on the side of the road, look, I got. No, I ain't got to, after I got to go, you know, I'm worried about me. So while I was training in CRS T I had a good trainer and I had passed everything and he was like, man, I'm going to give you something to use.
Like, basically you're a great driver, but you know, I'm not no, but, but I'm going I'm going to let you know something, some, some people just, we all team, right? So CRST, oh, you know, corporate does million trucks. So it was like, man, just when you're driving sometime and you see one of our CRS T on the side of the road, just pull over no pull over, make sure they all right.
If you've got time. Go ahead and I'll pull up and make sure they all need nothing. You know, you need water or something like that. Just make sure they good then go on about the way I'm like, I,
I do that.
Christi: You were driving alone by.
Jamie: It was me and my friend Benji, Brandon, Brandon. [00:19:00] So it was me and him and he was in the back asleep, you know, it was my shift.
So I was driving. Benji was w he was young. He was 20 man, like 22, 23 at that time. He was, you know, he a good dude. He was from Chicago as well. You know, that's how we ended up clicking. Cause he was already from Chicago and we was in class and how it worked out was, so once you get done with your training and I say, CRST, you know, you have to have a co-driver
so if you click with somebody and you talking and everything, you're like, look, I need a co-driver. You know, you need to co-driver. Yeah. I need a co-driver and come to find out he was from Chicago. I am too. Boom. There we go. So we both ended up being drivers, you know, So at this time he was sleep.
I was driving. I was in [00:20:00] Wyoming. I can't remember where, but I knew I was going up the hill. Cause I was about, I saw him on the right hand side of the road. So I was going out in my mind. I'm like, ah, I'm about to pass it. Then I'm like, you know what, I'm I'm, I'm going to go ahead and pull over. I got time.
I ain't got, I got time to burn. You know, I pull over, you know, so I did, I was good. Pull up off road, and you know, I made a minute. I'm like B Benji, Hey, wake up. Hey, look, somebody on the side of the road man. We got time. I'm about to go in and make sure they're good. And then we out, what'd you waking me up for?
I'm sorry.
Hey look, I'm real. I'm telling that whole story. What? I said, what he said all of it, but
anyway
so yeah. I'm clean, you know what I mean? You know, I'm clean and everything, so I'm jumping out, make [00:21:00] sure everything good. You know, I got my water, I grabbed some water too. I'm like, all right. So I didn't even see her yet though.
When I rolled past, I didn't see her. She, she wouldn't even, they wouldn't nobody outside or she said she was outside, but all right. So she must've heard me pull over. She heard somebody pull over. So when I jumped out, you know, I was walking and I see her. So she sees me. So we walk in towards one another and you know, in my mind like, oh, she got a
but I know she was cute. I already know she was cute. So I went down lower, like I see. And you know, it was bad. Cause just, look, I got, I got [00:22:00] like I said Miss Cassidy
I'm real.
I was saying to myself. Right. But what she had on was some green, when they green or maroon, they were green. What color were it? Y'all know what it is. Right. I don't even remember. I know what they were. I don't even know that color though.
Y'all remember the phrase,
the short, short, because that's what the color. Yeah, I'm really sure they was like some, some, some short
but anyway, I started I'm a leg, man. No, you got some, you know, some perfect legs, you know, and she called me, she [00:23:00] cute, you know,
I, I, so what are we at with,
okay. And I saw all this, this all going through in my mind, you know? So we get up to one another and I'm like, you good? You all right. And she paused for a second. What'd you say?
Christina: We didn't say anything. First of all, in the whole story, wait, I'm just going to cut him off right now. Cause I don't even know where he, so we said, we said that Cupid was flying around because we were silent.
We were standing there for like three minutes and we didn't say anything to each other now. He's right. He was clean. He looked bad. He was from head to toe. He had some fresh kicks on his pants was pressed. You know, shirt had no wrinkles in it. You driving and you ain't got no wrinkles in your shirt.
He looked very [00:24:00] nice and very respectable. So yes, it was hot outside to be in a windy Wyoming. Yeah. I had some shorts. But I had also been walking up and down that highway for the last four hours. So,
it was like, really like just afternoon, you know, early afternoon,
evening ish type.
It was a sunny day. It was hot. I went and put my shorts on and I just kept walking them down the highway. I was like, nah, I'm
good. You know what I mean? I
was getting exercise. Nobody wanted to stop. Nobody stopped. There was there for hours, there were trucks and stuff that went by, nobody stopped.
And he just, he did, he stopped, he took the advice of his trainer. He stopped. But when we were there, we, you know, we joke keep it was running around, going, oh, look
Jamie: at me, look at it. Look for all that though. She, she jumped in the heat each other. Right. I answer everything. Right. So like now what would you say?[00:25:00]
Christina: I said I'm with this dimwit because I was, I was, I had a partner too, and my partner did not know how to drive. It was ridiculous. Like we were on the side of the road, broke down, waiting for a tow truck to come from Salt Lake City, Utah.
All right.
Jamie: So yeah, that happened, right? So I'm on the truck. She's I think that was the guy in the driver's seat. Yeah, he was, I think he was in the driver's seat.
Christina: He wasn't, I know why he was doing, he was a dimwit. He shouldn't have been driving the tractor trailer. I'm telling you he was unsafe, unsafe, unsafe, unsafe, and more unsafe.
Just shouldn't have been driving, but
Jamie: right. So she was like, yeah, it won't start. I'm like, I bet you, I can fix it. I bet you, I know what it is that I know. I know what it is. Right. So, so I got in the chair, I'm like, excuse me. So I got in the chair and I already heard before this even happened. That's how things work out.
I mean, I don't know if people believe everything happens for a reason, you know what I mean? So [00:26:00] before this even happened, I had a conversation with a person and it was like, man, we have clutch. We have a problem with these trucks and I'm like, what's going on with the trucks? It was like the steering wheel.
So I get there and yeah, I was like, I bet you, I can get it. I'm like watch. So I did, I did with it and it started right up
Christina: the dispatcher, my dispatcher was like, look, we still come to get us.
Or you can just go sit on the side of the road. It was very nice what he did though. It, you know, like I said, he's a mechanic. And so it was very, very, very sweet what he did. But while he was doing that, I was sitting there looking at him. I'm like, okay, he is kind of cute, but is he like an ax murderer or something like that?
I was like, do I even pay him any attention? Do I give him my number? You know what I mean? I wasn't even going to take
Jamie: the, I was just going to be assistance. And then I just going to go about my way and keep trucking. I won. That was when I
Christina: became a truck driver and he [00:27:00] was, he was genuine. He was very genuine from the time he got out the truck, you know, to everything that he did.
He was very genuine, very. But yeah, I was looking at him like you know,
short shorts or whatever he throw away. But anyway, I did not say that all I'm saying is that he was very sweet and I just was, I was like, Hmm. You know, could he be an ax murderer? Not really give this dude my number you
Christi: gave him your number, right?
Christina: No, that's not exactly how it happened. So I had my number, I wrote it down while he was doing all that and I had it in my hand. And then before he left, I handed him the piece of paper and he was like, thank you. [00:28:00] And then he walked away. And so he knew, because I said, yeah, you said, thank you. I did.
And then he walked away. And then he calls me, he knows I'm going to Salt Lake City. By a tow truck. Guess who calls as I'm pulling into Salt Lake City, he calls just wanted to make sure you got there. Okay. And we've been stuck like glue ever since.
Christi: That's a wonderful story. So did you start a trucking company together or you were both working for CRS T and therefore I tell me what happened next.
Christina: So we were both working for CRST, but I branched off first and got my own trucking company, which was CC Crim. And then he branched off later and got one that was called Warrior J. So that's how that [00:29:00] went. And like many businesses, you know, you, you strike out, but then most businesses fail because of lack of financial, you know, resource.
Jamie: Sometimes you bite off more, you can chew
Christina: and that too, you know? So being a baby in the industry of. You know, you don't have all the resources that are necessary to survive those shark infested waters your doors will close pretty quickly. So, you know, we both experienced a little bit of that.
But we still kept moving forward. You know, you were doing trucking eight years, right?
Christi: Then what about you, Christina?
Christina: I was six, six years.
Christi: Did it ever become one business or you each had your own independent?
It was independent where we're Crim de la Crim or Steam Creamed on the Chrome. So, you know, we was trying to get it on all ends, so [00:30:00] to speak. Yeah.
Yeah. So when I was going to ask you about the romance of the road. I mean, was, was there any of that after the windy Wyoming or was it just kind of like, oh, here we are entrepreneurs and we have to make this work or what was it
like?
Christina: We were teammates before we were entrepreneurs. So we were on the road all the time. Good, bad, indifferent and we've had all the. Yeah, it was,
Jamie: it was up and down, but it was worth it. It was fun. Isn't it? It's a long story though. Like our life is long. Like we just, we just bring it. We just minimizing it for you, but yeah, it's
Christina: broke up at one point.
We did tell you the truth. We broke up. Yes, we did. But we got to be in new cities practically [00:31:00] every night. Right. And we, , got to taste different food and again, meet different people and , just different environments. And we had our good days and we had our bad days and we've argued and then still had to be on the truck with each other.
Christi: When I look at you guys, you just seem like such an amazing couple to me. Tell me, you moved to Las Vegas was that a place you particularly liked in your travels and therefore you thought, oh, let's go to Vegas.
Christina: Okay. So before you get to Vegas, we got to point out one city that we didn't even mention. And that was Bakerfield California. Oh, like
Christi: Bakersfield? Yes.
Christina: So while Jamie was getting Warrior J up and going and motivated he was based out of Bakersfield. So when me and Ni'Syah came out from the East Coast, we went to Bakersfield.
So
Christi: tell me when Ni'Syah came along.
Christina: Oh, so Ni'Syah was born in June of 2016, [00:32:00] right. And he is our miracle baby. And he is a trip without the luggage. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut.
Christi: Were you guys both there or is that just where you decided to have him and you went there because of their good OB GYN department or
Christina: so we were both present and we went there because I was sick with fibroids and carrying my son.
I had fibroid. That was the size of a watermelon.
Christi: Oh, I'm sorry. They're supposed to be so painful.
Christina: Yeah, they were. And he was in there. He was in there, my little bundle of joy, but he is our miracle baby.
Jamie: Yep. He sure is. So she told me one time, she was like maybe the doctor said, I'm not going to be able to have a baby right or wrong.
Christina: Yes. I had just came from my doctor's visit and she gave me [00:33:00] that. Gut wrenching news. And I was like, hold up, wait a minute. Stop.
Jamie: Cause she really wanted a baby and yeah, heard of the deaf. So I'm
like, man, that's dope. So I'm like it had happened and you know that whatever is going to happen.
If it, if God wants to happen, it's going to happen. And she just kept on crying to me. I'm going to be all right. It's going to happen.
down. Okay. So how it all happened though? That would all have everything has all happened. I came back afterwards. My baby was there. She was working for the other company and she was there at my aunt's house and it just came over me. Like I missed you. I love you. You're the one. And it just happened.
And then we ended up leaving [00:34:00] and moving to Connecticut. Well, for moved to Connecticut,
Christina: we moved, we went back and stayed with my family.
Jamie: We moved was with her grandmother for a while in a meeting. Then she ended up finding a job for me in Brewster, New York. And then I can do so detailing came about, she called
Christina: he's very good at detailing, omg.
Very good
Christi: at detail. Like you do cars, trucks, you do everything. Motorcycles, anything.
Jamie: I can look as a, okay, this is what I need this. I need to make a ladder. I didn't know. Big, big truck. Well, I've done my truck when I was telling them you have to wash my own truck and stuff like that. Oh, yes. Damn boy. A
Christina: story. Yes, he was working in Brewster and we were living in Connecticut and my doctor was really good.
I was actually at St. Mary's, which is a good hospital in Waterbury. [00:35:00] My doctor said, I'm not going to have you deliver here. I want you to deliver in New Haven. I want you and your baby to be extra safe.
And it was kind of crazy because before my son was born we had been behind a car accident on our way in, and we were late. So we had called and were like, we're going to be late. And they were like, okay, you know, no problem. And then we get there and my husband and my dad were in the room and we were having a conversation.
And the next thing I know, the nurses come flying in and they're like, do you feel anything? And I'm like, what are you talking about? You know, I knew something was up my medical brain, let me know something was going on. And then they're like, Cause you're in labor, you know, you're, you're in labor and you're grabbing contractions and I'm like, what? Like, you gotta be joking. I can't his baby like normal, you know what I mean? And they're like, to the OR [00:36:00] stat, I mean, it was like a Grey's Anatomy, you know, picture frame.
Christi: Were you scared?
Christina: I was scared for my son. Yeah. I was very scared from him. I mean, that doesn't set in when the adrenaline is rushing and you're going through. I knew the odds. I knew what my doctor had told me. I knew that if I had had a normal birth, I might not be here. But I was more scared for him. I know that when he came out, Jamie was right by my side and I'm grateful for that, but I know that in my mind, I didn't hear him cry.
And that was scary. I know he cried. Jamie says he cried, but I didn't hear him cry. I didn't hear him cry. It was, it was like a silent pause. And then I heard him cry. Wow.
Christi: I'm just curious. Did they get rid of that fibroid? When you had Ni'Syah?
Christina: I [00:37:00] had a hysterectomy. Full hysterectomy ? Yes. Yes. Out of here,
but then you're not in the pain,
right? No, I am free
Christi: free. And you have a beautiful miracle baby. Yup.
Christina: So
Jamie: he was born in Connecticut. Yeah.
Christi: And he's going to know it his whole life. Right. He's going to be like, I was born in New Haven, excuse me.
To go to Yale. Like when I get older,
Jamie: I already made plans to get a house and what he was like when he was born, she wants to get a house for him in Connecticut where he was born.
Christi: Oh, well I'm sure he would appreciate this. Maybe you guys could live there too, right? Before he takes over the house. Yeah.
Jamie: Hey son. I know I bought you the house, but yeah. Daddy needs date night.
Christina: So [00:38:00] anyway, back to your question, which was Bakersfield
Christi: Bakersfield came first and then Las Vegas,
Christina: right? Yeah. So howLas Vegas came about was that me and Ni'Syah had been in Bakersfield for about a month or so the people
Christi: you left Connecticut, you left your place in Connecticut.
Christina: Well, we actually did come and stay with my mom for a little bit after we left Connecticut. And that's how we met you and
Christi: that's how, yeah. That's where we
Christina: met still an infant. Yes, he was, he was still a baby. So that's how me, you Nan. All of us met, you know, even Dr. Rhee. I remember all that. So yeah. So we were here for a little bit and then we left to go to Bakersfield.
And when we got to Bakersfield, I liked some of the people, but the environment was it's the desert. I mean, the opportunity was very lacking, [00:39:00] you know, jobs, security, eh, not the greatest. Right. So, but Jamie
Christi: was already there.
Christina: Yeah, he was there, but he was on the road. So it was just me and Ni'Syah. We were actually staying in a hotel at the time.
Christi: Did you drive out there with Ni'Syah?
Christina: Then we drove, we drove me and Ni'Syah. Yeah, we did drive me and my son did drive up there.
Christi: Can I ask you a couple of questions about driving out there with him?
Yes. So he was, he was not a toddler at that point. He was an infant use the baby. And so what was one of the most unexpected things that happened on that journey?
Christina: It was really not that bad.
Jamie: What was one when I got I had all right, so we was going through a state. I forget what state it was a Texas, Texas.
Alright. Truck driving. All right so before she, we got that [00:40:00] far. I had to leave them here in New York. So I could get on the bus with Brandon--Benji. The one I was, we was telling about get back on the road truck driver. So he was picking me up from New York so I can get back to California and get my California license renewed so I can get back truck driving.
So that's what happened. So I was on the road with Brandon Benji for a while, ended up getting my own company, but again, get my license back and everything like that started back trucking with new company. Had to come back and pick her and Ni'Syah. Cause that was the whole plan was I get back in trucking.
I'm coming to get you, get you outta here. And we move in wherever, so that's what happened. I ended up buying a car, Pontiac, Grand Prix, baby love,
Christina: you know what I mean?
Jamie: It was a blue, it was old school, 95, 93, something like that. So [00:41:00] came back called her like, but yeah, that time let's go get my son.
You getting in the car, you following me. And we going to Cali and that's what she did. She jumped in the car, followed me and I had drops on the way I'm still. So I called my boss, like, look, I need to stop here, pick such and such up. And I do runs all the way till we get to the crib.
Christina: We did that. We did do runs all the way there.
The baby was good. He's a trucker's baby.
Jamie: Yeah. Right at the front seat of the truck chilling, no crying, nothing chilling.
Christina: One. He was at a stop with his dad. He did get out. He wanted to sit with his dad. So, yeah, but he was with his mama. Don't be telling those stories.
He was with his mama, but that boy, he is a trucker's baby. He [00:42:00] was, he was mostly asleep, you know, still baby. You know what I mean? he was pretty good for the ride. I actually have to say that's 3000 plus miles and our kid, he was good. It was cool.
Christi: So then you're driving Jamie, but Christina, you and Ni'Syah are in Bakersfield and it's a desert in more ways than one for you.
Christina: I mean, like I said, I've always met good people and. Some not so great along my journey of being a nomad, I guess you can say Bakersfield.
It was, it was a desert. Oh my gosh. It was so dry. I couldn't take it. I couldn't. And so, because I had that nice, beautiful Pontiac old school car, we had one day when Jamie was on the road, I packed up our baby, bundled him up, all nicey nicey, put them in his car seat and we got on the road.
I didn't even know where the heck I was going. I just started driving. I was driving north. [00:43:00] Yeah. And don't don't, don't don't fast-forward the story. Nah, don't do that. So, so we leave Bakersfield, me and my son, our son, and we get to Nevada and I see the Las Vegas signs. Now Ni'Syah was like, look, you need to feed me.
You need to change me. You need to hold me. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm over this. So I stopped and I looked to my left, look to my right. And then I called my husband and I was like, well, don't when you come back to California, don't even bother staying. Cause we're not there no more. We officially live in Las Vegas.
Christi: What is it about Las Vegas that just letting you know that this
Christina: is the right place. Well, me personally, I love Reno. Reno is my heart. I love nature. If I didn't have to stop, I probably would've kept going north until I would've got to Reno. Only thing I'm not a fan about is when it gets winter cold up there.
But if you've ever been to Reno in the summer or the fall or the spring, it's amazing. [00:44:00] And it's beautiful. It's a nature. Person's paradise. Right. So, but what made me think that Vegas was the place for us? It was packed full of opportunity. It was somewhere that we would have an opportunity to grow and affordability.
Like when I went, it was way more affordable than living in California. That was part of it too. And
Christi: what did you want to do? I mean, with with a young, he was a toddler by this point,
Christina: I'm still somewhat a baby, still somewhat a baby, but yeah. Early toddler learning to walk. So yeah. So what did we want to do?
I mean, we were, you want to do, what did I want to do? I want it to make it so that my husband's business had a fighting chance. And as a young couple, we could make a solid future for our child and I want it to be somewhere that was going to offer us the opportunity. And Vegas seemed to be the [00:45:00] opportunity it was for a while. So we had gotten there and I think what our first year, Vegas was good to us. And then, I call it massive calamity, but
Christi: tell me about massive calamity.
Christina: We lost everything. We lost our business. We lost our apartment. We lost everything. Because we lost our business and my truck. Oh yeah. Yeah. We lost our business
Jamie: kept you knows used truck and I kept, fixing on it and everything was fine, but you just, it depleted my funds.
I had no more money to pay to fix it. Cause just kept, just kept messing up. So that was it. I'm like I'm done. Can do it no more. There's none. I can't, I can't do nothing. They depleted me. So that [00:46:00] was it. I had the normal ready to go.
Christina: I mean, forbes.com says that 63% of Americans don't even have enough savings to get through a $500 emergency.
I mean, when you have a business and you know, it takes money to make money, right. So you're paying your simple bills, like keeping a roof over your head and that type stuff. And then you're trying to run your business to it. It can get a little a little challenging for sure. Take care of a child. Yeah.
Yeah.
Christi: And Jamie then did you, at that point after losing the truck, that's when you started studying aviation mechanic?
Jamie: Yeah. It'd be S is to the maintenance
Christi: yeah. Maintenance and that was pretty good. Right. I mean, that was really working out for you.
Jamie: Yeah, I like it. And yeah, I did two years. I liked it.
But it was just another diploma to put onto [00:47:00] my belt, another tech school to put onto my belt just in case, you know what I mean? I actually, I was going to go and get into aviation. I was going to find a job and everything and then be. It just didn't work out that way.
Christi: Well, the pandemic hit, that was part of it. Right.
Jamie: So when the pandemic hit, I was still in school,
Christi: I thought so.
Jamie: Yeah. I had to do class, from home. And then when I was done, I had to get my certification, but it just, the pandemic messed a whole bunch of stuff up. It just put a hold on it, it just messed everything up.
Christina: So you skipped something.
So like, let's go back for a minute.
Christi: Let's go back. Talk to me, Christina,
Christina: that, that time period after losing our business we call that survival mode and trial and tribulations because you were starting school and you were doing school and he did very well. He actually graduated with magnum cum laude. But we [00:48:00] got hit with another whammy and that was, I was extremely ill.
I was driving for Lyft at the time, but I had gotten really sick.
I was very sick and we still had our son and we were trying to figure out what to do and him them back East and my mom held him down and took care of them for a while for us. So that was a blessing because we went through a lot in that period of time, just me and Jamie.
Christi: You lost your place where you had been living, right?
Christina: Yeah, we had to move and we had a few friends that were basically taking Ni'Syah in for us and they would watch him and keep him and, you know, I bring food for him and stuff like that.
And they were making sure he had somewhere safe to be, but me and Jamie, we were, [00:49:00] we were roughing it. We were, we were wherever we were, we had to figure it out. So I remember after Ni'Syah left, Jamie met up with one of his friends and his friend actually gave us someplace to stay because we didn't have any place to stay.
So
Christi: Did you have a church family in Las Vegas ?
Christina: Not in Las Vegas? Not well we did after the fact after my son left, but before my son left, we didn't before my son left, we had, like I said, we have some good friends, some fellow business owners who were there for us.
They, they love our son. Miss Pat is a good one to mention. She loved our son tremendously and she did a lot for him and the time that we were there. So I want to give her a shout out for sure. And Mischlane. She's another one, she's a business owner with A Tribe [00:50:00] of Melanination. And she has some amazing sea moss gel for sale.
Just amazing people that, like I said, they saw us hustling. They saw us, beautiful family, trying to make it work, loses everything. And there was some people that were really there for us.
Christi: It sounds like a community and it sounds like Jamie, your friend, who let you come and stay there. That sounds like it was a grounding experience. Was it, was it hard? Was it like humbling? Was it like, oh man, like eat that pride or what?
Jamie: No, I mean, we all in this together, some people, I mean, this world, you got good, people got bad people, but you got people who hadn't been in the same situation you've been in. So that's what it was, you know, and meeting them. And like I said, I'm a people person, so I'm easy to talk to. I listen I can know you two days, three days. And you going to seem like we known each other forever, [00:51:00] but I ended up, you know, talk to him and he was talking about his cousin and what his cousin do and everything like that. And I ended up finding out that his cousin was a preacher and he owned property
Christina: recovering drug addict.
So even though we didn't have that as our issue, he was willing to take us in and
no put a put a roof over our heads, stuff like that.
Jamie: You know what I mean? So it was an experience, but , everywhere I went out of my childhood, I've always met good people and I can say everything happens for a reason.
I believe in the the Messiah, the Man Above you know, so that's how I met her. No, no one's perfect. You know, nobody's life is perfect. I mean, people life is perfect. Yeah. You had it handed down to you. If you don't have it handed down to you, you got to struggle and go through the ups and downs. Hey, you understand.
And you know what, that's what happened. And we still here and everything's [00:52:00] looking up,
you know,
Christina: I mean, present day, we're still in survival mode of course. And we're rebuilding, of course. But the reason we left Nevada, if you want to be forthright about it was COVID was there the job scarcity was an issue, economic instability.
That was an issue and low living wage. I mean, there is so many people right now that are struggling because you have to choose if you're going to put food on the table or you're going to put gas in your car. We've experienced loss at a big magnitude. And that was just something that I couldn't put my son through again.
So we headed back East he's in school now he's in kindergarten. So he loves his teacher. He loves his friends. He started his own journey. So we bought him back East to allow him that stability, to be able to, [00:53:00] venture out and experience new things
Christi: Was it a difficult decision to come back east to Hudson?
Christina: Wow. Our neighbors cried. We cried. It was hard because I mean, by the time we left Nevada, we did have a community of people.
Yeah. And we had to give away all our stuff to,
Christi: are there particular things you would advise for moving with a very young child,
Christina: have a plan, have an exit strategy But we knew we were doing what was right for our son.
Right. And that's the biggest thing of the decision-making would be, you know, you're weighing all your opportunities. You're looking at [00:54:00] your resources, you're looking at what's best for your kid and what you want for them and their future and everything. So it was hard. By the time we left Nevada, it was still our home, you know?
manage your resources as well. So even if you have little to next to nothing, I know it sounds impossible, but I mean, when we left Nevada, I only was able to pay up for our plane tickets and pay for our luggage.
And we were gone. I mean, we had to give away everything and I do mean everything. That's part of the reason why our neighbors cried. They watched us have to give away everything. And we worked hard. I, I was taking care of our family by myself. No help go to work every [00:55:00] day. And my neighbors watched I'd go home.
I'd leave early in the morning, come home late at night. And I was working as a medical call center person. So you
Christi: had left Lyft at that point and we're doing call center work.
Christina: Yeah, I had too.
Christi: And were you better by this time? Were you still in pain?
Christina: I was recovering. So it was difficult for sure.
But I was recovering, I was doing the best I could with what I had.
Christi: And Jamie, at that time you were doing the classes online? Yes. Yeah. So you were watching Ni'Syah when Christina was off? Yeah.
Jamie: Well, no, when she was at work, I was watching them.
Christina: Yeah.
Christi: That's what I was
Jamie: thinking.
I was still watching them too, but yeah, when she was working [00:56:00] and because we set it up where I will go to school in the daytime and then I get off work and then drop her off at work. And then I watched the Ni'Syah while she's at
Christi: work. You still have the Pontiac?
Christina: No. No. So
Jamie: that when we left Vegas because of the business, I sold it.
Yeah. Yeah. But I didn't want to sell her though that I was mad. I didn't want to sell it, but I had to, you know, so I did and ended up seeing that down the road, you know, being driven and, you know, being appreciative of it. Yeah.
Christina: Being a nomad is not for the faint at heart, not by far. And there's beauty to it and there's pain.
I would have to say what being a nomad has taught me though. I had to build resistance and be resourceful [00:57:00] and survive. I mean, you have to survive. There are so many harsh and difficult things out there that you have to navigate through and being a nomad or living a nomadic life, or constantly have having to start over it.
It builds that character in you. For sure
Christi: you both determined to work through past ups and downs failures and high points toward future success and independence to rebuild on a foundation of family, faith, being a good parent, providing a role modelfor Ni'Syah and building your own brand and business.
Christina: Yes, absolutely. That's what Crim de la Crim stands for.
We have seen so many things and experienced so [00:58:00] many things together and apart,
but also it's like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. That's what I can say about our story. It's a tear jerker. It'll make you laugh. It'll make you at some points angry. But if you're absorbing anything from the lessons that were learned and experienced. It is truly enlightening.
I mean, to be around people that are just struggling to be better. To be better human beings and individuals and parents and friends and coworkers and students . They're just trying to live and survive and thrive and move forward. It's powerful.
Christi: You feel that with Ni'Syah in school and in a place where you have family and community [00:59:00] and church support around you, right? Friends, family good schools, good work. Do you feel like maybe the nomad journey is going to be on hiatus for awhile?
Jamie: Yeah.
Christina: Yes and no. I mean, our journey is still being written, right? So, but yeah, for awhile,
Jamie: as we progress then, you know, this is the last step is going to share that as we get better as our business and everything moves up, we're going to move forward.
Christina: Stability is a big key when you have a family, for sure. Like when we were by ourselves, it was much easier to navigate and do things that it's not as easy when you have a child. And most definitely, if you're striving to be a good parent, you're always being focused on what's best for your child.
You have to put what's best for your child in front of you. So we have family and they're still our family, but they're not here. We have family in Nevada, [01:00:00] you know what I mean? We have family in Cali, we have family in a lot of different places. But right now our son is good and he's thriving right here with the family that he has in New York.
And some days are good for us and some days are not, you know what I mean? That's just how it is,
Christi: but you feel like you are moving towards future success and independence.
Christina: Oh, for sure. I mean every building block of this story is pointing in that direction. For sure.
Christi: That's wonderful. This is
Jamie: one smart woman right here. I
Christina: know he says I have a big head, but that's why I got a big brain.
Christi: You guys are great. What a story? Thank you. So, so much for sharing all of that.