Join Lynne as she checks in with new dad, Matt Baker, [former] member service center team leader in this week’s edition of Money, I’m Home with Lynne Jarman-Johnson.

 

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0:00:06.7 Lynne Jarman-Johnson (LJJ): Money, I’m home. Welcome in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union, and it is a very special day. Happy Father’s Day to all of you who are fathers, who have fathers who are a father figure. How’s that? Joining us today is a brand-new father and also someone who is very integral in the Consumers Credit Union team. Matt Baker, welcome in.

0:00:29.9 Matt Baker (MB): Thank you, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

0:00:32.0 LJJ: Oh my goodness. Now, when I say brand-new father, I have so many questions for you. Because what a year it has been – number one. But first, how are you doing? How is the sleeping going?

0:00:45.5 MB: We’re doing actually pretty good. The last few nights I’ve slept pretty well. My wife and I are a great team, honestly. We’ve definitely taken turns here and there, but the last few nights, the 2-4 a.m.’s have not been too bad, so I’m feeling pretty good. Pretty energized today.

0:01:00.0 LJJ: That is so exciting. We talk a lot about family, our Consumers family is so important, and family values and what we bring to the table to help our children succeed. When you found out, “Oh my goodness, I’m going to be a father,” what was the first thing that went through your head, Matt?

0:01:19.0 MB: I’m a pretty emotional guy, so when we saw the two lines, I’m not going to lie to you, I teared up a little bit. So, my dad was such an amazing father figure for me. Right when we got married, I was like, “I am so excited to be a family man, to be a dad,” it was just very emotional, and I’m so excited that she’s here. It’s my dream job, and I’m finally able to be that. So, it’s been an extreme blessing. She is beautiful.

0:01:52.7 LJJ: You just mentioned something that I think is the coolest phrase I’ve ever heard about fatherhood, it’s your dream job.

0:02:00.8 MB: It truly is. I’ve been looking forward to it and I can’t wait to do this job for the rest of my life.

0:02:06.3 LJJ: So, you mentioned about your dad. Tell me a little bit about what it is that in the back of your mind clicks into the fact that that’s how you feel, how you were raised and some memories there.

0:02:19.8 MB: My dad was my hero, he taught me hard work, teamwork, that God is always good. He taught me that loving people is so much better than holding any kind of bad mood or being upset. Some fun stories as he… So I was four years old, and at the local little league you had to be five years old to play baseball. And he fought for me to play, he said, “Hey, any injury or anything like that, the little league doesn’t have to worry about it. He’s capable to field the ball and throw the ball, so if anything happens, we’ll be 100% liable.” And sure enough, my dad was good at talking people into stuff.

0:02:56.5 MB: But sure enough, I was able to play little league and we share that moment. He was my coach all the way up through high school, and just someone I could always count on. And it’s just remarkable, all the things I learned from him. And he actually… So, he worked at the University of Michigan, living in Kalamazoo. So, he woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning, drove to Ann Arbor, worked all day, hard electrician, and then came home afterwards and never once said no to playing catch or shooting in the back yard, or helping with homework or anything like that, so I couldn’t wait to do that for my kid as well.

0:03:33.1 LJJ: Aidelen is her name. She’s beautiful, thank you for sharing the post to our consumers team. When you talk about that focus on making sure that you’re there and timeliness of being there, how important is that to you, Matt?

0:03:52.7 MB: It’s extremely important. Even though he worked in Ann Arbor, he made it to everything. Games, school functions, family was first for him, and it’s extremely important to me too. I think… Luckily, I work at such an amazing place that I’m able to do those things when she gets older. I know for a fact that I won’t have to miss recitals or… Hopefully she plays basketball.

[laughter]

0:04:17.5 MB: Basketball games or softball games, whatever she’s into I’m going to fully support her 100%.

0:04:21.2 LJJ: Hey, come on now, I was cheerleader. That’s a good sport.

0:04:24.5 MB: [chuckle] Cheerleading is fine too. Honestly, whatever she’s into and whatever she has going on, it makes me feel so good that I don’t have to overthink or wonder if, “Is Consumers going to let me do this? Do they know how much this is important to me?” And they do, even my team in the MSC threw me this amazing baby shower before she came, and they understand how important it is and how invested… They’re so invested even in her life now and she’s only two weeks old. So, it’s a really good feeling.

0:04:53.3 LJJ: That is so cool. Let’s walk back a little bit.

0:04:55.9 MB: Sure.

0:04:56.4 LJJ: It’s been a year of a pandemic. New parents today when I watch… And I’m a grandparent, which I absolutely adore, but when I watch parents today with school and daycare and everything that happened with the pandemic, tell me a little bit about how you were feeling or how you are feeling as you look to the future.

0:05:19.1 MB: At first I was definitely unsure what to expect, I’m really close to my family. I have two nieces, so when they were born, I was to the hospital as soon as I could. So, I wasn’t sure what that was going to look like, like not being able to have family come. I do have a disclosure to my wife is one of 12, so she has 11 other siblings, so it’s like, how were we going to figure that out with meeting in the hospital, COVID guidelines, but it was actually pretty nice to only have the three of us spending time together in the hospital and resting.

0:05:49.8 MB: We had several nurses come in quite often to check in, so I actually really can’t imagine having any more visitors because you had a very short period to rest and then so and so was coming in. And towards the end of it, to be completely honest with you, we were just ready to get out of the hospital and go home.

[chuckle]

0:06:07.5 MB: So, I don’t know how visitors would have been. Obviously, we had her meet our family soon after, but they kind of came on our time, and our home is much bigger than a hospital room, so…

0:06:19.7 LJJ: Right.

0:06:20.5 MB: It was much easier.

0:06:22.1 LJJ: That’s kind of a cool thought, of some good things to come out of it is quiet, wonderful, family time that you had that you probably would not have had.

0:06:31.1 MB: Right. And it’s so easy to dread the negative of everything going on, but there’s still positives in it and that’s kind of where my wife and I were. It’s like, we’re getting to meet this beautiful blessing. It’s going to be the three of us. We’ll be able to kind of come up with things together and discover things together and rest, which is extremely important. There were positives even in such a negative time.

0:06:57.4 LJJ: Wow. And I love what you just said, which is together. Planning that up together, open communication. That really must be important to you and a staple for how you live, Matt.

0:07:11.1 MB: Yeah. Like I said earlier, we’re a team and we really take that serious. My wife and I are a good team. We communicate things together and obviously raising our daughter is going to be the same way. We’re trying to be the best team possible, together.

0:07:26.6 LJJ: Well, thank you so much for sharing your experience and real quickly let’s just talk a little bit about who you are.

0:07:35.0 MB: Sure.

0:07:35.4 LJJ: And I know that you… For those who don’t know when we say MSC, that’s an internal language. But it’s basically, where you get to call in and help get all of your financial questions answered and you’re one of the team leads for our call center, correct?

0:07:50.2 MB: Correct. Yep, I’m a team lead in the MSC.

0:07:53.7 LJJ: Tell us how you came to Consumers, and why you just said, “Hey, I’m going to be here forever.”

[chuckle]

0:07:58.3 LJJ: I love that.

0:08:00.7 MB: Yeah, definitely. I’ve actually been a member at Consumers for a really long time. I used to come in. I was coaching, I started my own travel baseball team. Then I had my business accounts with Consumers and I was coming in, making deposits. I would go to the Millwood Office and Leslie, we would talk every single time I was in and she said, “Hey, are you interested in applying?” And I was like, “Actually…” It was perfect timing, honestly. Of course, I was working for a larger company in Kalamazoo and at that time it wasn’t really feeling like the greatest fit in the world. But when I applied at Consumers, I knew from day one that it was going to be something special and a good fit. Kit coming in, you guys coming in to the first new higher classes, talking to us, actually caring and getting to know us was something I never, never experienced. I’ve been able to advance my leadership skills, met some really amazing people along the way, met the best man in my wedding, I met here. The managers that I’ve had personally have had a huge impact in my life. They’ve really helped me solidify my goals and it’s just a great place and you hit it right on the head. I do plan on being here for a very long time. I get treated good. It’s just an amazing place to work.

0:09:09.0 LJJ: Well, you are an amazing father. Thank you, Matt, so much for joining us today. We really do appreciate it on this very special day.

0:09:16.1 MB: Absolutely.

0:09:17.7 LJJ: Hey Money, I’m home. Thank you so much for joining us. If you have a topic that you’d like us to focus on or perhaps a interesting story, maybe it’s even yourself. Just send it in, we’d love to hear from you. Jake Esselink is our wonderful producer and he makes us sound so good every week. Thank you so much, Jake. Everyone, have a wonderful Father’s Day and hit the fairways, would you?

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