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May 27, 2025 • 38 mins

T.J. takes Amy for her first trip ever to Memphis!  They were there to run a 10K, but when weather cancelled the race, they made the best of it!  What meal had  Amy saying it was the best meal of her life, what did two women unexpectedly tell T.J. that made a lasting impression, what brought Amy to tears and why did DUCKS have T.J. smiling like a kid again?  Also hear about the journey they made over the bridge to T.J.’s childhood home where Papa and Mama Holmes were waiting with seven grills and a pile of ribs.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, folks. In this episode, it finally happened. After years
of dating, I finally took Robock home to Mama. Yes.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Rose made her first ever
trip to my hometown of West Memphis. So how did
it go, you may ask? In short, there were a
lot of ribs, a lot of ducks, a lot of music,

(00:24):
a lot of shootings, a lot of love, a lot
of inclement weather, a lot of mimosas, a lot of
unexpected tears, a lot of quality in law time, and
a whole lot of Elvis. There was also lots of poignant,
perfect words from perfect strangers that we look for to
sharing with you. And with that, welcome to this episode
of Amy and TJ. Roobes off the top first time
going to my hometown. What was your impression?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
I loved it. It was warm, but not just the weather.
It was inviting. I love the people in Memphis. I
loved the smell of Memphis. Everywhere you go, you just
smell barbecue. And I'm not kidding, like it was everywhere,
and I was hungry and we brought our appetites, but

(01:08):
it was just you know, what was especially fun for
me was to see you feel at home, to feel
that warm embrace from the place that brought you up,
and to see everyone else also be excited to see
a hometown boy come home. I just the whole thing
was beautiful for me to witness, and I felt like
I got to know you even more. I feel like

(01:30):
I know you really, really well. But when you go
back to someone's hometown and you see where they're from,
you understand them. And it's not even that I could
put it into words. I just it was YA got you. Yeah,
I just it was It's a part of you. And
it just felt cool to witness it and see it,
and I felt a little closer to you. We I
think we got even closer.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Anything you understand better after going now, I think, well,
so I didn't mean to ask that. I didn't mean
to put you on the spot there, But look.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
You tend to be somebody who you're a warm, loving
kind person, but you have your guard up all the time,
and you're always your head is on a swivel, and
you are always looking around at your environment. And I
don't want to say you're distrustful of other people, but
you do have a healthy skepticism and walking the streets
of Memphis and seeing how you came up and seeing

(02:18):
how people live and work under a little bit of
a threat of violence that did. I think it made
a little bit more sense to me about why you
are the way you are.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
And we should say I sat off the top. Is
the first time taking you home to Mama. Obviously you
have been around and hung out with my folks plenty,
but this was the first time you actually got to
go to my hometown and actually set foot in the
home where I grew up. So I don't go home
a lot. I think everybody knows me knows that. And
when I do go home and people hear me talk
about it, I go to Fayetteville, which is on the

(02:48):
other side of the state from where I'm from, because
that's where I went to school. But there's a reason
we decided to go home this time. Sorry, folks. It
wasn't necessarily because of y'all, but we had We looked
at the calendar a while back. I've been having some
foot injuries. We were trying to find a race to
kind of ease ourselves back into running.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yes, so we found a ten k the Great American
River Run, and it was in early spring March right
where we decided to sign up. And I haven't run
a ten k in twenty plus years, and I thought
this will be a fun, nice, easier race for us
to get back into racing. I needed a recovery race, yes, sure,

(03:28):
and honestly I did too. I've been struggling with my
nausea while running, and I've actually been questioning whether or
not I'm still a long distance runner because it's been
so miserable. So I thought this will be perfect for
both of us. We'll do a six point two mile
run and we'll get back into it.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Along the river. We were really really excited about this,
and we had done a certain amount of training to
get prepared for it, and I'd done a lot of
work on my achilles and on my foot sprain to
try to get it worked out. So we're excited for
the race. I think it's a manageable distance for us.
But the weather. As soon as we got there, we

(04:03):
had to keep a close eye. They weren't just talking
about rain coming robes. They were talking about for days
a severe weather situation that was coming through that area.
And it's the mid South, they get it all the time,
but man, the timing was one hundred percent perfectly awful
for us.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Right. So the rest of the day, by the way,
was gorgeous and sunny and beautiful. But at six eighteen
am and we were getting ready, we were up, we
were getting dressed, we were excited. Were like, you know,
we've run in the rain. Both of us have run
in the rain. Brooklyn half I had like a sideways
rain pounding me for thirteen point one miles, so we
brought rain gear. We were ready to go. But at

(04:39):
six eighteen am the alert came that they had well,
they said that they transitioned to the race to a
virtual one, so.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
We couldn't get our money back.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Aka, they canceled it, but they didn't want to say
they canceled it.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
It was canceled.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, it was canceled.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
And the crabby part we've been we've traveled going to
races before. This was the absolute best location we've ever had. Literally,
we looked out of our hotel window and the start
line was right.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
There, the start and the finish LINEA all looked around,
so it was we were feet away from the start line.
So we thought, this is so convenient, this is so awesome.
Love running in the rain and seven point thirty was
our racetime and it came and went, and yes, there
we could hear the thunder, we could see the lightning.
It was an absolute threat that I understand why they

(05:26):
had to they had to cancel.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Those lightning in the area, and we get that. It
was disappointing, but we got over it pretty quickly. They're
just some things in life you can't do anything about.
And you know, that was a great exercise in us
and we should be absolutely we should be proud of
the fact that we handled that situation. This is something
we've been planning for months and it didn't happen. Oh well,
is all you can say. And just surrender to the moment.

(05:48):
This is what is going to be. So let's turn
this day into something else. And we did. We ended
up cutting up on Saturday in a major way. We'll
get into that in the second. But rhobes is something
I look, I grew up around it, and many people
there are under the constant threat of it. But I
told you, and almost warned you to a certain degree,
that this is a dangerous and can be a dangerous place,

(06:09):
and can be a dangerous city and a violent city.
And it didn't take long before somebody backed me up.
I should say, we didn't even get to the hotel.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
No, we got into the uber. And when he was
dropping us off at our lovely, amazing hotel, the Peabody,
which I will say so many wonderful things about. But
as he was dropping us off, the uber driver said,
y'all be careful out there. It's dangerous. And I looked
at you and I thought, wow, that's crazy. We're coming
from New York City, right, And we get to Memphis,

(06:40):
this sweet southern town that's just filled with good vibes
and good smells and great music, by the way, blues
playing in the streets as soon as you get out
of the uber, and I'm being told be careful.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Look, I told you, I guess. Leading up to I said,
we didn't turn on a teeve. I told anticipate, Hey,
say hey, when we get that, just turn on the news,
every local news, and every top story. I'm telling you
it is going to be about somebody getting shot.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
So we turn on the local news. We love watching
local news, by the way, every time we travel it's
the first thing we do. We actually spend a lot
of time watching local news. And you were not kidding, babe.
Every single morning, it wasn't one shooting, it wasn't two shootings,
and it was all breaking news, and it was just
shooting after shooting after shooting. It was fairly jaw dropping.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
We can tell you now. There was a young mother
of three who was shot and killed over the weekend
in Memphis. We know that because we watched that top story.
There was another shooting at a hotel. We remember that
one as well. It was, like it's said, and I
didn't know this robes until I looked into it. But
a week and a half before we went to Memphis,
FBI director said Memphis is the murder capital of the US,

(07:50):
have more murders per capita than anywhere else in the country.
I didn't realize that that sounds about right. We've heard
things over the years, but it's as much charm and yes,
people some people just go to Bill Street and get
out of there. But when you get out of downtown,
get town away from something. I mean, downtown can be dangerous.
But it's just sad that a place that I grew
up in love and has this much charm that you

(08:11):
are obviously in love with, that you get a warning
as soon as you get out of there.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
It is God, it is sad because there is so
much beauty, from the people, to the buildings, to the music,
to the food. It just seems like such a shame
that now you have to live under that. And you
mentioned Beal Street, and if anyone's been to Memphis, you
know that is the street where everyone goes. We're all
the music and the food and the shopping and it's amazing.
But we went there during the day. One time, we

(08:36):
went by the night time and it actually seemed a
little scary to walk down there as well.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Look, I am always I know the town fairly well.
I know where to go and where not to go,
and I can tell when suffer doesn't feel right in
an environment, we need to get out of it. And
that was Yes, there was one night we said, no,
we don't want to be here, be out here where
there are metal detectors, just to go have a good time.
It just felt ominous to a certain degree, and we avoid.

(09:01):
Well, we got plenty of good time. Look, we're going on
about the violence and how that went, but we had
a great, great, great great time in Memphis, in particular
on Bill Street, of course, is where we spent most
of our time. But get this, folks, Robes never been
to Memphis before. Ella, Right, she has traveled all around
the world. She has stayed at and also eaten at

(09:21):
some of the best places and some of the best
meals you could ever imagine. And do you know that, Roeboch,
first there were a trip to Memphis. The second place
she ate in Memphis, These words came out of her mouth.
This is the best thing I've ever eaten in my life.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
I am a bit dramatic sometimes, I will give you that.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
It was much.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
I like my superlatives just as much as maybe the
President does. But yeah, we were in BB King's and
that was not the first, the second, or the third
time we were there. But yeah, you know, I didn't
grow up eating ribs. It's I've learned from you and
now from your father. It is a long and very
special process that I don't think anyone in my family

(10:02):
has the patience to deal with.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
I don't either. I grew up around it, and I'm
not a good rib maker, so let's say that.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
But I could not believe how good these baby back
ribs were, from baby back, baby back from BB King
and you even were like, these aren't even the best,
like they might be a little dry. The next day
you said they were better, but I couldn't believe how
they just melted in my mouth. They were amazing. And
we're not putting barbecue sauce on things because we haven't

(10:30):
told people were Probably we're being annoying, I guess, but
we're doing a six week reset on keto, so no sugar,
no carbs, none of that. So we couldn't even put
barbecue sauce on the ribs. And that just speaks to
how well seasoned they were, with the dry rub and
the flavor and the juices. It didn't even need. You know,
sometimes you gotta smother these things and barbecue sauce to
make them taste the way you want them to. Didn't

(10:50):
even need a drop of barbecues.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
That was hilarious to see you go crazy with those
ribs that day. Look, folk, I do not robes know
if I can remember eating that much. Like we ate
four five plus meals a day because everywhere we went
something smelled good. Let's just get one.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Bite, get a little bit, let's just get in. We
kept calling them like little appetizers.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, slabber rips.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
That's all going from appetizer to appetizer to appetizer.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
We ate so well, But I'm so glad you love
BB King's the way you did. It's been there obviously
a long time. It's at that prime corner on Bill
Street if anybody's ever been there, but music is constantly playing,
like all day. Even when you think it's quiet in
there and nobody's really not much of a crowd, live
music is played. I what would you guess, I know
at least twice that day. How many stops do we

(11:40):
make in that place over the Memorial Day weekend?

Speaker 2 (11:42):
I mean, all I can say is multiple.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
It might have been up to five. We saw a
lot of music.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
It was kind of embarrassed because the people were like, yeah, hey,
we're back. Yeah, we were coming back again. I mean
hopefully they took it as a compliment. I was actually
a little embarrassed.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Don't be embarrassed. The place is great. Nobody was even
noticed we were there, probably but one lady that did notice.
And this was the first day there, and this is look,
this was I just walked you down there on the
first day. We got in late on Thursdays, just walked
down to the end of the street. Hey, take a look.
We're just standing at the beginning of Beal Street and
a woman runs out of BB King's. We thought she

(12:19):
worked there because she was recruiting us to come. She
was the sweetest, kindest, just complimentary. Love you guys, Come
on in, let me get you a drink. I actually asked,
do you work there? She said no, I'm a teacher
over fifth grade teacher. She was just sweet as pie.
And we did. Look. People come to us in public
all the time, but folks come up to us in
a way there. That's just nobody would say, hey, let

(12:42):
me get a picture. They want to hug, maybe buy
your drink, come have a bite with us. Good to
see you, proud of you, all these things, and it's
something about that that, yes, Robes does feel different and
does make me love home.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know what was really cool. I don't think anybody
this is unusual. And I don't mean to say anything.
If you want to get a picture, we love it.
If you ask, that's wonderful. We don't love it when
you take it without asking. But people weren't even asking
for that. People weren't asking anything from us or of us.
They were just wanting to give us something like literally,
that woman offered to give us food to please let me,

(13:24):
and then other people just coming by and just saying,
I love that y'all are still together. I love that
y'all are here. And it was just sweet and kind
and we both appreciated and it was noted another person.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
Of know, there were several people we ran into that
made such an impression on us, but this was the first.
I said at the top. We ran too perfect strangers
who gave us perfect and poignant words. And one of
them was a lady, black lady who was working the
alcohol stand their own Bill Street, and I remember she
had blonde.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Hair, a yeah, Dolly Parton kind of a way.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
It was awesome, It was great.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
She stood out.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
She was sweet. They're all, you know women in Memphis
and New Orleans, the ones that called everybody sugar and
baby and that those this is what it felt like.
But she was sweetest pie. But you did something and
I don't know what it was, but she had a
great comeback. When I just joked with you. See, I
looked at her, I said, hey, can't take her anywhere.

(14:20):
It was just a joke. We were just having a
good time. Yeah, it was nothing to it. And then
she said something that made me stop in my tracks.
I say to her, look at her talking about you.
I said, ah, you know, robes here, can't take her anywhere.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
And then she said to you, you should take her everywhere.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Boom.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
How amazing was that?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Boom?

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I wanted to go give her a hug.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
At that part, I just thought it was sweet. That
was just a sweet thing.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
It was quick witted too. There's I mean, sharp and poignant,
like you said. I thought it was just a nice
little reminder. Yeah, we can joke a lot, but you
should take her everywhere.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
I love it, and I wish I got her name.
I think we knew it for a second and I
didn't remember it. And if I go down there, I
will seek her out. If you all know the blonde
lady that works the alcohol stand on Bill Street, it's
a little diagonal from Phoebe King's across the street there.
If you know her, please tell her we appreciated her.

(15:17):
And it actually meant something to us that she said that.
The other highlight has to be just if we went
and stayed at the Peabody Hotel. Yes, by the way,
I don't stay at home. When I go home, I
stay at a hotel. But the hotel in Memphis it's
my to this day. Been all over the world. My
one hundred percent favorite hotel on planet Earth is the
Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis. And Robes, you've heard about

(15:40):
it for years. You could probably see now why I
love this place.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yet you've been talking about this hotel for a very
long time, and a very special something they do twice
a day, every single day, and I never understood it
when you were explaining it to me. You said, to me, Robes,
They've got these ducks and they live in a penthouse
suite on top of the Peabody Hotel, and every day
they march them down and their train to come down

(16:05):
the elevator, walk in a direct line down a red
carpet into the fountain that's in the middle of the lobby,
and everyone watches and cheers on these ducks. I said,
I'm sorry, what did you just say?

Speaker 1 (16:17):
All of that is accurate, it's ULTI So if you
go into that hotel any point during the day, the
ducks will be in this big fountain in the middle,
five of them swimming around. They will hop out for
a second. But they won't ever try to fly anywhere.
They won't ever try to escape, They won't ever get
off the fountain. They will stay there all day and
they march back and forth. It's a tradition, they go.
I'm not gonna explain the whole thing, but it's a

(16:38):
long standing tradition there that has to do with some
dunk hunters and some Jack Daniel's alcohol. But the tradition continues,
and they have a duck master, a guy dressed up
who has a duck cane who guides them in and out. Now,
what was your when You've heard about it forever, but
you got to get a peek of it on that
first full day we were there. We didn't sit down

(17:00):
it all in, but you looked and you were able
to at least see and see the crowd gathered. What
was your impression once you saw it?

Speaker 2 (17:05):
It was awesome, It was a spectacle. It was traditional,
and I saw you light up like I don't know
how old you were when you first saw it, like
a six year old boy. Maybe I saw you turn
back into that kid and looking at the magic of
it and watching the spectacle of it, and just it
was beautiful and sweet, and there aren't many things in
this world left, especially when we're talking about what perhaps

(17:27):
is going on in the outskirts of Memphis that isn't
so great. To see people coming in from all walks
of life. Some people seeing it for the first time,
some people bringing their kids back to a tradition they loved,
or exposing their kids to a new tradition. But this
is something where people came together. It didn't matter what
you look like or where you lived, and everybody got
to cheer on these ducks walking all in a row.

(17:48):
It's just it's sweet. There aren't many moments like this.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Alone run It's weird kind of it's fun, but it
has a cool story to it. And I'm telling the
lobby is packed every single time they walk them in
at eleven am. They walk in out at five and
the place is packed and they're cheering and kid, yes,
I went as a kid. I took sabine as a kid.
It's just I love it and gone countless times and
every time I light up, well, I guess to see it.

(18:13):
So we met the duck master Keenan. I didn't know him.
Apparently his brother saw us and he came over to
his said hello, and he has a whole presentation. He does,
but Keenan is the duck Master and love his brother.
He does it five days a week, he does, but
then he has somebody's substitute in for him for a
couple of days. But it's an on, folks, if you
ever go to Memphis, you have to take the time

(18:34):
to do this at.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Brody and to see the pride and joy he has
in doing his job and bringing other people into the
magic of the ducks was really cool. He took to you.
I have to say, I think it's the most excited
I've ever seen you. But any gain, no gift I've
given you, has ever brought you this much joy. But
he gave you your own official duck Master Kane, and he
signed it. And you actually left it with your parents

(18:56):
because you were afraid that you would get it taken
away at TSA. It does have a bill at the end.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Anybody signed it. He signed it to me two t
holmes from Keenan the duck Mass and loved it. Was
again I was a kid watching this and now I
come over there and the duck Master recognizes us and
wants to gift me this, I lost my mind. So
this was a very very big deal to me. Gerard,
another guy that works there in the lobby, did something
that was absolutely hilarious. Now I didn't I don't think

(19:23):
we had talked to him beforehand, but he spotted us
at some point doing something somewhere in the hotel, being
having drinks, being silly, having a good time. I'm down
there by myself at one point in the lobby. You
were up in the room. He comes over to me,
and he's not a big like an outgoing guy. He
almost like have to lean in. Is he going to
say something? Kind of quiet but sweet guy. And I

(19:45):
couldn't understand what he was saying. And he said, hey,
I don't want to you know, and I don't want
to be presumptuous here and you know, give anybody the
wrong impression. I didn't know what he was talking about.
And I look down at his hand and he's holding
two rubber ducks, one dressed as a bride and one
dressed there as a groom. And it was hilarious. I
fell out in the middle of the lobby. Couldn't wait

(20:05):
to show you.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
It was adorable. And then we kept getting little ducks.
People drink Mimosa's around while they're watching the ducks come
in and the duck master do his show. So every
time you order a mimosa, they give you a little
rubber ducky. So you now have the bride in the
groom lined up in your bedroom with little rubber duckies
that we collected along the way. It's hilarious that is

(20:28):
now on display in your bedroom.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
We should look, folks. We will post pictures from what happened,
because I know a lot of y'all like calling bullshit.
This stuff didn't happen. It actually happened. And there were
ducks robes. Saw you light up? There are ducks everywhere.
Duck merchandise, I should say, everything you can imagine that
has a duck on it is being made, including some
underwear that on the back was I say, butt quack, yes, yes,

(20:51):
And we bought.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Some of that any like you know, no ducking way,
thank you, so ducking much like anything you can do
with duck. It's there for purchase, and we were obsessed
with it and we wanted all of it. Glasses, water bottles.
I got a hoodie that I think Sabine is very envious.
Of Now you better keep an eye on at it
big duck in the front. If I'm missing it, I
know where it is. T shirts. I mean, if it

(21:13):
wasn't if it didn't have a duck on it, it had
something to do with Elvis between the two. That was everywhere.
And we went to town literally and you know.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
What we were just before we started recording this episode.
Here we actually discussed, you know what, we forgot to
get those drinking glasses. We're gonna order some stuff now.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Dazzled duck fantasic drinking glasses. Can't put them in the dishwasher,
but man, they're gorgeous.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
They are absolutely gorgeous. So the duck ceremony were talking
about here, you just got a glimpse of it. But
on Saturday, after we knew our race wasn't happening, we
just go we just lose our minds.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
In a weird way. You know, we were a little bit,
we were a little bit we're definitely disappointed that the
race wasn't happening. But we went downstairs. We thought, wait,
now we have time to secure a perfect seat for
the duck ceremony. And we hadn't figured out what we
were going to do with your parents, and so we
invited them to come join us. They only lived ten
minutes away, so we ended up having the best morning

(22:07):
with your parents watching the ducks. That wouldn't have happened
if the race had been canceled.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
And please know, folks, the ceremony is at eleven, but
folks start showing up at nine trying to get a
good spot, So our race got canceled. We found a spot.
Bartender loves us. Give us some mimosas and the rubber
duckies and we're gonna be good. So we got a spot,
prime prime spot. Keenan, our duck master friend now hooked

(22:31):
us up during the ceremony and was calling us out
and it was a little embarrassing at times, but it
was fun. You still felt, Look, I'm this age, I've
been coming to this hotel my whole life, and now
the duck master recognizes us during a ceremony. That's a
big deal for me.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah, I get.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
That, I've won Emmys. This was a bigger deal.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
The duck master Kane and recognition at the duck ceremony. Yes,
that's everything. That's a full circle moment for you. And
you weren't just putting on. I was looking at you
and you could just see this sweet, pure joy. I
just there aren't many things in life where you can
have that, and it was just cool to see you
feel that, and I was felt really honored to be

(23:12):
a part of it.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Well, thank you for that. It was honored to have
you there to be a part of But the final look,
we hung out with my parents that day and then
we sent them home because we had a party in
the Dog on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
We had to go back to bb King.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Let's be honest, Okay, we had that to do, and well, yeah,
there was a big day. We're you nervous at all?
Going so again to explain a little geography to folks,
I am from West Memphis. Of course, people know Memphis now.
When I say where I'm from, I usually just say
West Memphis and leave it at that. People get it
good enough of an idea. But I am from West Memphis, Arkansas. Technically,

(23:48):
I am from a town that is in the state
of Arkansas. If you've ever been to Memphis, if you're
standing in Memphis looking at the Mississippi River on the
other side is Arkansas. That first time you come to
is West Memphis, so I grew up in the Memphis
culture and whatnot, but technically I'm an Arkansas boy, so
we had to get maneuver go across the bridge to

(24:09):
West Memphis. You're about to go to my parents' house,
the home I grew up in for the first time.
Were you nervous at all?

Speaker 2 (24:15):
I wasn't nervous because I know your parents. This is
I've spent time with them, and we obviously had spent
time with them the day before. I love your parents.
I think they're so sweet. They're so proud of you,
and it was now I knew it was gonna be fun.
And your dad was so excited to cook. He has
seven grills, and I got to see them in person.
I'd seen pictures you had sent me of them, but

(24:35):
I actually came out, and it's impressive, Like, WHOA, I
cannot believe one person has this many grills. But I
loved going into your Not many people even have childhood
homes still I certainly don't, so it was really cool
to see the room you grew up in the backyard
that's been filled in, but the pool you once jumped
in just where it was just putting it all into

(24:57):
perspective to see it and see your parents in their
own home environment, you and your it was I again,
you just feel closer to somebody when you see where
they come from, and especially if you get the opportunity
to see where they grew up.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Anytime you go home, why is it parents have to
cook for you. It'll have to take you out to eat,
no matter what take care of you, level of success
you reach, it doesn't matter. They always had like it's
almost an obligation. You have to let them do that
for you, exactly. And they were dying, dying to take
us out for the several days we were there, but
they finally got to cook on Sunday, which was a
terrible weather day, like serious inclement weather that day, and

(25:43):
Pops fired up the grill like six am.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
And of course, so he fires up the grill at
six am because we just mentioned ribs take so long
to cook. But my goodness, right when we got there,
I think within five ten minutes, the skies opened up
thunder lightning. I mean the skies were black, and and
it rolled in right at the time when your dad,
like the critical time when you're trying to take the
meat off the grill, and so y'all had the umbrella

(26:05):
running back in and by the way, they were amazing.
Your dad kept saying, oh, they're not as good. I
had to do this. The rain cooled down the grill,
which totally makes sense, but I thought they were amazing.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Say and let us. I know you've seen pictures in
the past. I've gone home and I'm cooking with my
family and we go to town. You've seen it before,
and I think you've like, what the hell, who's coming
and what's happening? So this event, we had four people, right,
me and you, Mom and dad.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
It was so funny because you were like, Dad, who
else is coming? Why did you cook so much food?
Which made me laugh because that's exactly what I say
to you every time we prepare a meal. I'm like,
is anyone coming? Why do we have ten plates filled
with meat right now?

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Okay? So four people, eight slabs of ribs and seven
filet mignon.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yes, and that's not a joke. Plus he was going
to put on sausages, but we were like, maybe maybe
we don't need to make those as well. Plus your
mom a cake for you.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Sorry, Mama couldn't eat because.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
We had to explain that we're not eating sugar right now.
That's terrible, is it? I still feel bad about that.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Boundaries you have have to have boundaries.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
It looked like a beautiful bunt cake and it was
your favorite, your.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Favorite cake, and I couldn't eat it. Eat it? What
do you want for me?

Speaker 2 (27:19):
But we had asparagus and cauliflower. It was very sweet.
They elt Brussels sprouts. They went and found all the
vegetables that we do eat and could eat. It was
very very sweet of that.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
But all that food they made us eat on little
plastic football plates. What was that about the paper? Even
you know.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
They had them. It was efficient. Wanted to use them.
You're like, what are these from? But it you know,
it worked.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
I gave them a hard time about it, but it's
it always is good to go back and I'm glad
you got to see it. And yes, that's my that's it.
That's where little Tea Junior, not TJ. I was never
called TJ.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
In that house, junior, And that's what they still call
you all.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
I have ever been called. So that was a fun day.
On Sunday? Did we go was it that day? Yeah?
We went shopping again. We went back.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
We went shopping almost every day. Yes, yes, but we
then we went shopping and then we realized, ooh, maybe
I should just go back and get one more thing.
And you were a little envious of a sweatshirt I got.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Oh, I was pissed. Envious is tough. I prefer to
be jealous, okay, because when I'm jealous of something, it
means I also want what you have. When I'm envious,
it feels like I also don't want you to have it,
like I'm mad.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Okay, okay, So well, you were a little envious.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
I was mad.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
You're a little mad that I got a sweatshirt that
I loved so much.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
But when you crossed the line to envious, I know
this is not good because I was. I was upset
how happy you were. I was happy.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
I was happy because the rain had cooled things off
so much, and I had more like warmer weather clothing.
So the fact that I had bought this Bulle Street
Memphis oversized sweatshirt meant the next day, when it was
a little cooler, I could just put on some leggings
in my oversized sweatshirt, and I did feel cool.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
You looked good, You really looked cute in that thing,
and it's a great, great sweater. But we go back
to that same spot. She had bought the sweater a
day or two ahead of time, but we went back
to that same spot to check maybe there's something there
for me, since you found something that was so great.
But I ended up getting something great out of there
that was not a piece of merchandise. I cannot remember

(29:20):
her name either, white lady that was working that shop.
This one was good. I mean, I couldn't believe because so.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
Quick these women were, and I appreciated what they had
to say. So TJ is looking around, and this woman's
laughing at us, because I think we were going back
and forth with each other. And so to explain what
we were talking about, TJ said to the woman, I'm
trying to find something I love as much as she
loves that sweatshirt. And the woman said to TJ, you
already have her.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
Didn't miss a beat. We immediately didn't miss a beat.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
You already have her.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
And as she that was a mic drop, no response.
I just want to hug that lady. I want to
to cry. I want that was so sweet and a nice,
little simple reminder of little things and life, you know
that weekends where I have never had a weekend like
that at home because I have a perspective now about
my life that I can now view through my home

(30:16):
town experiences that is different. And that woman said that
to me, and I just I was We were giddy,
we were tickled. I was just so touched, you know.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
It was said to me, can you please write that
down right now so we won't forget, because sometimes we
forget exactly how things are worded. But it's just so cool.
I'm trying to find something I love as much as
she loves that sweatshirt. You already have her. Oh love
that lady, and people can give you advice that lands
in the moments. It was silly, but it's just that

(30:48):
immediate perspective, like, wow, it's so true. As much as
we were having fun, it's not what you have, it's
who you have. You know.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
In both of those instances, the black lady with the
blonde hair that we're describing and this one here, I
was just kind of a throwaway line, making a joke,
and they responded with something poignant. They were still they
matched my silliness to a certain degree, but they said
something poignant that made me stop in my tracks and
I just love, love, love both of those women who
have no idea the impression they made on us.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Oh no, and yeah, and we wrote them what we
wrote down what they had to say, so we did
not forget and we knew we wanted to put this
in the podcast because I think it's just one of
those cool takeaways. Listen. You know we talk a lot,
but sometimes if you listen, people have such smart things
to say, people who lived longer and learned a lot more.
And I was really blown away by ah By.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
They're a wisdom and unlessen to everybody as well. You
never know, I mean, everybody tries to right. You don't
want to put some effort in sometimes, I say, because
you don't feel like you can change the world. But
what's the line. What you do can mean the world
to one person. They have no idea the impression they made,
so it just don't folks, Even if you don't see

(31:59):
the results and you don't get the credit, sometimes being
a good person and saying the right word in the
right moment can mean everything to somebody. So please don't
stop being a good person.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
That's very cool. We had some we had some fun moments.
We were working while we were there, and we were
trying to figure out how did we get We got
on a Brian McKnight kick where we started listening to
every song but fell in love with One Last Cry.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Oh Why. It was a weird. We were working one Why.
I don't even know why what happened, and Brian McKnight
came up and we put it on as we were
working and six eight twelve, One Last Cry anytime? We
just started getting on a Brian after hit after hit.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
We just went right back to Brian McKnight. And then
I don't know if this jarred me, but we were
just talking after listening to all this music. We were
out and about and I don't even know what it
was that you said you were I think you said
something kind of joking to me about just about us
liking each other, about us getting along so well, about
us being so compatible, and I just started crying, and

(32:59):
You're like, what is going on right now?

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Are we in public?

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Because I was on a street corner we were waiting
for that we were waiting for the street light to
allow us to cross the street, and I got embarrassed.
I had to turn around, like what are you doing.
I'm like, I'm crying. I just I felt so grateful.
It just hid me about how grateful I feel. Oh
my god, I'm gonna cry now. But after everything, just

(33:23):
to know that at the end of the day, if
you get to end up with your best friend and
all days aren't great and there are good times in
bad times, but I'm with my best friend and there's
no one I'd rather be on that street with then you,
And so I just started to cry. I was like, so,
I feel like the theme of the of the of the
weekend free was like became the Ryan at night night song,
but not for his one last cry was getting over somebody.

(33:46):
This was a good cry about recognizing how lucky I
am to be with somebody.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
And I hope it was the last one as well.
I would really hope that was one last cry.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Sorry for publicly embarrassing.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
I didn't realize it was muggy out. We just got
a beer over here, a shot over there. What were
we crying?

Speaker 2 (34:04):
I feel like I had allergies or something.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
It was funny, you were not sad in the moment,
but still it came. It was grateful out of nowhere.
I don't want to call it the highlight, but it
certainly was a good way to send us off. Yes,
when we were at the airport and we need you
all's help on this one. Okay, we were leaving. Look,
we get a lot of looks and people looking at
the sideways. We can know they recognize us, but then
they don't come over and all this stuff, so we

(34:27):
see it all the time. We sat at a bar
at the Memphis Airport a few spots from our gates,
will right to board, ready to go. The guy sitting
there never says anything, but then he gets ready to
go after about ten or fifteen minutes, and we could
we since that he was kind of looking our way.
But I didn't expect this.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
No, people say all sorts of stuff to us, but
this was really fun and it was funny. So he
comes up finally has the courage, I guess, to come
up to TJ. And he says, I know who you are. Okay,
just look at him. We don't give him anything, and
then he says, you know what, You're too good of
an actor for me not to know.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Keep up the good work, thanks man, and let him walk,
And that was.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
First into into laughter. He was so sure that he knew,
and in fact, you're so good at what you do.
How could I not know? You never said your name.
But man, you're a damn good actor.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
And that's why it's no way you, sir, can walk
through this airport and not be recognized because you're so
good at acting, is what he's telling me. Like, you
think you could get through here and it's not recognize you?
Do you? Mister? Who the hell could he be confusing
me with?

Speaker 2 (35:39):
We were trying to think what actor he could have
thought you were.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
I cannot come up with one.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Not I always forget the hot guy from Bridgerton. I
always had a questions.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
I'll never get mixed up with reggae John.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
I know, I never can remember his name.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Light skinned brothers whatever. Fine, but he's had fifteen years
at least younger than me, maybe even twenty.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
You look so young, big, But I do think that
people know they saw you on TV. He doesn't know.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
That's probably what it is.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Okay, you probably spent those ten minutes trying to figure
out what show you were on. He's like, you know what,
I don't know it, but I'm just gonna acknowledge that
I know he's on TV. So he assumed you were
an actor?

Speaker 1 (36:19):
You think so you don't think he's actually got me
mixed up with an actor?

Speaker 2 (36:23):
It could be either or, but I'd love to hear
who people think, if y'all want to jump in on
our social media, who could possibly could be mixed on? Like?

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Legitimately you walk down the street and go was that?
Who could I possibly be mixed up with? I can't imagine,
but that was funny. If you'll have any guesses, I
would love to and a legitimate one, not just something
I'm really curious and know way he could even think about.
But well, you know what he gets. I get actor
a lot. People say you're an actor, right, and I say, man,

(36:52):
must not be a very good one because you don't
know who I am. And I keep moving people laughing,
It keeps me walking. This one you got me?

Speaker 2 (36:59):
So he thought he dropped the mic too. He thought
he had like a mic drop moment. Yeah, he said
it as he was walking away left way. Yeah, how
about that?

Speaker 1 (37:06):
People love the good work? Yeah, look up for I
love people.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
I love your work really okay, so much that you
don't know who I am or what I did?

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yeah, I got a new one coming out with Paul Fieg.
This uh this fall makes you to check it out.
But really, thank you. It was a great, great trip.
It's amazing how well we are remembering this trip given
that the whole purpose of the trip got canceled. Yeah,
the reason we went there did not happen, but look
what we got out of it. It ain't that a

(37:36):
euphemism for life. This is not why I came here.
It didn't happen, but God, look what I got out
of it. That's amazing. So it was a wonderful trip.
So I appreciate you tagging along of being willing to
tag a.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Oh, I couldn't wait, and thank you for bringing me again.
I just felt like it was. I can't imagine it
having been a more perfect trip, even with the race
being canceled. I love that and thank you. Thank you
for bringing me well.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Folksly appreciate you listening as always. Hope you had an
equally what adventurous, fun drama free as you will Memorial Day.
But we're all back at it this week, but we
always appreciate you tuning in for now. I am t J.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Holt and I'm Amy Robot. Have a wonderful day, everybody
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