September 29, 2025 • 57 mins
They're sharing the FULL story. From the very first moment they met, to that instant spark that made them both think, "this is special." Hear how Mr. B really feels about Morgan's pets, including bringing Remi on their first trip together, and how they're navigating her public life. Plus, Mr. B has a Harry Potter scar that comes with a big story, and the special qualities they love most about each other.
Part 2 is coming next week answering all of the questions, subscribe so you don't miss it!!
Follow Mr. B: @theoriginalbraden
Follow Morgan: @webgirlmorgan
Follow Take This Personally: @takethispersonally
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
M hmm. Are you ready for this?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm ready for no.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
A great start.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, world, meet my boyfriend. M hm. I call him
mister B. His name is Braiden, Braiden, Welcome to the podcast.
(00:51):
Welcome to having a name.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I finally got a name today.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
From this moment forward, you can now be known as
your name. But up in this moment, you have been
known as IRL boyfriend, just the boyfriend to me, mister B.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm still on your phone as mister B. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I know that's never going to change.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay, Well, we're gonna do your favorite thing to share
to start this off. We're gonna share our story. You
love telling that how we met story.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You want to tell it with me? Rim huh Okay.
March twenty ninth, eleven thirty pm. I went out with
some friends to just grab a beer at Skinny Dennis
and I had a couple of beers and I was
(01:48):
getting ready to head home and call it in for
the night. And I was walking back from the bathroom
and Hally grabbed me by the arm. She was like,
you have to meet you have to meet somebody.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
He didn't know who Holly was. At the time. Holly,
for context, is one of my good friends. She's also
a girl who helps save me in my Vertigo episodes.
So new friend in the last two years, but one
of my good friends. Please continue.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So she had pretty aggressively grabbed my arm and just
said I got to introduce you to someone. And so
were you like.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Thinking when this happened, were you like, what is this
woman doing? Who are you? Did she even introduce herself?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
No, there was no communication before it. She just grabbed
my arm and said you're coming with me, and she
led me over to a group of.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Girls, and we like, okay, this is about to be awkward.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, I was thinking she was going to introduce me
to someone that I wasn't going to be interested in,
or you know, there's a lot of risk that's involved.
And you just get grabbed at a bar and little
blonde turned around and was looking up at me. That
was the first thing I noticed.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Just so I was wearing high heels that night too.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
But yeah, literally, like seeing your bright blue eyes, like
instantly I was connected. And I was wearing a shirt
that said drink beer and pet dogs, and so we
instantly just started talking about dogs. I think for the
first forty five minutes, you and I were just talking
about dogs. I didn't even we had introduced names so quickly.
(03:28):
Neither of us knew each other's names.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, it wasn't until we went to the bar. Forty
five minutes into our conversation. You're like, let me get
you a drink, and You're like, I'm so sorry, can
you please tell me your name again? I was like,
don't worry, I don't remember yours either.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I was like, oh gosh, I'm in the clear. No,
and it was, and we were just talking. I had
just started the Instagram for my little sister's dog, Big Jeff,
so I was showing you pictures and you were telling
me about Remy, and you had you had just helped
your foster dog find her forever home, and you were
(04:06):
picking up a new foster dog in a couple of days.
So you were telling me about all the dogs, and
I instantly was just enthralled with everything you were about,
like you were fun and you were bubbly, and literally
everything was about dogs. And then there was a country
song that came on, and I remember I couldn't even
I was fumbling over my words. I was like, do
(04:27):
you country dance, It's like, are you. I was nervous
because I wasn't. I didn't go out. I wasn't going
out to meet anyone. I wasn't really in the mindset
of looking for anyone. I was just really doing me
and living life. I'm not usually someone who would go
(04:48):
out on a Friday or Saturday night, like I really.
I played volleyball at the time. I have a really
good volleyball friend group, so most weekend nights you would
find me playing sand volleyball. So going out and getting
drinks was extremely rare.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
For me, which is something you also repeatedly told me.
You're like, I'm not usually out like this. You kept saying,
I don't, I'm not usually out at bars. I don't
normally go out or everything, and it kind of became
this whole thing throughout the night.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, I didn't want it to seem like I was
just some guy going to bars like looking to find girls,
because that wasn't my emo at all. So I was
like almost a little bit embarrassed that I met you
at a bar because that's not my usual scene. So, yeah,
I had explained it a couple of times, and I
nervously said, I told you I was a homebody, and
(05:42):
throughout the night I kept talking about all the things
that I enjoyed doing, and you were like, you're not
a homebody, You're constantly doing stuff. It's like, well, I
misused the word because I was a little nervous.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
But so now it's a joke all the time. I'm like, yeah,
there's my homebody, just out socialized in five days a week.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
But what can you do? So we had our first
two step and dance in the bar that night, yep,
and that was I instantly knew that I was your
way out of my league with dancing. But I was like,
I'm just gonna run with it, you know, twist year round,
see how this goes. And your friend group was in
(06:22):
town and they were having a whole lot of fun,
and my friends were having fun, and so we kind
of combined forces and we were just bopping around to
different bars. And you don't.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Remember why we were bebopping to another bar. The main
reason that I.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Was Mozarella sticks. That's on brand for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now that you know me. Yeah, But that night I
was very adamant. I had met this cute boy and
like the conversation was great, but he was not going
to get between me and getting my favorite bar, montrell'sted.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh yeah, and it was all of you guys were
talking about them like they were this world renowned mozzarella.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Sticks and they're just a dive bar Mozarelli sticks, which
I note they've now changed and I don't want to
talk about it.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, now the recipe is different. You fired the chef
and the mott sticks are no good there anymore.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
But yeah, so we ended up beabop into another bar
because I really wanted these Montrelli sticks. So he got
to see very quickly that I love to eat crappy foods.
He also learned that I was vegetarian on the first day,
well first meeting, I should say. And what else. We
stayed out until we closed the bar down. We got
kicked out of the bar.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Ye. We played darts. I kicked your ass and you
tickled me every time I threw the dart.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, I want cheating.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
That that is grade a cheating.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
But I won, admit it.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I won you did?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I won you?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I think you were erasing my mark.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I was not. I'm not an actual cheater. I was
flirting with you absolutely by that point I was like,
I'm probably never going to see this man again in
my life, and this was really fun. So I'm just
gonna enjoy this moment.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And you kept making remarks about like I'm never going
to see you again.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Well, by the end of the night you had asked
You're like, can I please get your number? I was like, sure,
You're never gonna call me, so whatever, and.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I was like, I'm absolutely going to call you, like
I'm instantly I felt connected to you, like it was
I was like, man, this is this is it for me?
Like instantly right after I met you, and so I
had every intention Like every conversation we had, we got
pretty deep pretty quickly. We like talked about our past
(08:35):
like I was in it from the get go. And
it was funny because you went off to the bathroom
and your girls were like, all right, so let's get
down to it. What are your red flags? When's your
last relationship? And so I told them my entire history,
but I had already told you. So when you came
(08:56):
back from the bathroom, they were like, guess what, and
You're like, yeah, we already talked about it, and they
like looked at me like, oh, so you are open
about you know, and we just I think from then
on we like started gaining a little more trust and
it was feeling really real to me really quickly. And
it wasn't like a go out and drink a bunch
(09:19):
of beers night. So I had a clear head and
we were having meaningful conversation and yeah, you just said
I work in radio, and that was it. I work
in radio. And I was like, oh, okay, can.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You never discovered that until the next night. So when
he put me in the uber, I'm still making the
joke I'm never going to hear from you, and sure
we're going on a date.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
He puts me in the uber, closes the door and
it's super cute. It sounds aggressive, puts me okay, sorry,
gently nicely open, being a gentleman, opened the door for me.
I got in by myself. You close the door. Is
that better? And about three minutes go by and I
get a text message from mister b which I hadn't
(10:06):
called him that yet. That was something that I learned.
The nickname came because he studied special education. That was
what he did, caught his degree in. And so when
he told me that, all I'm thinking in my head
is what's your nickname gonna be? What am I gonna
call you? What's gonna happen? From kind of that moment forward,
I referred to him on the Bobby Bone Show as
(10:27):
Iral guy because we met in real life. To me,
I was calling hi, mister b and that was where
that kind of nickname came from. So the next day
we're still texting at this moment in time. But that
next day it was a Sunday and my friends had
left that afternoon, and You're like, hey, can I call you?
(10:48):
And I was like, oh, I got fifteen minutes. I'm
busy working, so sure we can talk for a few minutes.
It what ended up happening.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
So I called you, and again, like the connection on
the phone was just because like you could meet someone
out and then you like give him a call, and
the connection just wasn't there. Like instantly, we were diving
deep and we were talking and we were on the
phone for three hours and twenty some minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, I did not get work done and I ended
up having to be up very late, and we discovered
something on that call. It was really funny. So of
course naturally both of us googled each other Sunday after
meeting and I googled him, no records, no prior criminal history.
(11:41):
We were good there, but as we're on the phone,
he just kind of like, so, who are you exactly?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It was like, you got a lot of fancy pictures
on Google. I was so confused because I pulled it
up and like, at first glance, it looks like you're
a country music star. And I was like, oh, I
work in radio, you know, like what's going on here?
So that was and then you got to dive in
(12:11):
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
More well, and we both had a realization in both
of our deep dives on each other on the Internet
that his sister was following me on Instagram and has
been for quite sometimes, yeah, several years. And I put
two into together when I found his Instagram and I
was like, oh, this is a sister. Oh she follows me.
(12:33):
And I think you're the one who ended up bringing
it up on the phone and you were like, yeah,
so also my sister follows you. After I revealed what
I did and all of that.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And Ashton, she was like, she goes, oh my gosh,
how did I not put this together? She is the
sweetest thing. She loves dogs like it was. And then
it was like rehashing like our first meeting, and I
was just like, yes, it already, like I'm already feeling
like it's going so well.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And then you when you called Ashton, which is his sister,
to tell her about all of this, what was her
first initial response?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
She literally couldn't believe it. She was like who, And
I was like, yeah, remember I told you I met
a girl at a bar. I was like, it's Morgan.
She's like, wait, Morgan, like Morgan number two. Like at
this point, I didn't listen to the Bobby Bone Show.
I didn't know Morgan number two. And I saw the
(13:33):
first few pictures online and I didn't want to dive
in more because I was like, I don't want to
get starstruck. I want to get to know you for you.
And so it was just kind of this fun like
I knew a little bit and then my sister's geeking
out about it, and so it was a fun little
watching that all come together.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Mm hm. And your family is so stink and sweet.
I've now officially met all of them, the entire crew
that sister that were talking talking about Ashton. She lives
in town and then another one lives in Colorado, and
then your brother lives in Michigan. Your parents are everywhere,
but I've officially met all of them. How does the
(14:12):
family feel about us dating?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Oh gosh, they couldn't be happier. Like my mom melted
when she met you, absolutely, like finally my boy is
with someone he should be with, like instantly. And then Ashton,
she felt like she already knew you a little bit,
which is I know is kind of common with fans,
but like then getting to know you, it's like, oh,
(14:37):
she's a good person, like not only behind the microphone
but in real life. So that was really cool.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That's sweet. I didn't know that part. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And Jordan, my older sister, like, yeah, the first time
you guys met, I feel like you connected really well
and we're spending more time with her and so that's
been really great. And then you got to meet Garrett
brother and he's just a goofball And.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
What did he say? Something along the lines of she
can give a joke or she can take a joke.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, something. It's definitely I think some of the clapbacks
on Instagram and stuff like that are that's more Garrett
style of let's be a little more offensive. So that
really fired him up for sure. And yeah, my dad
is just like thinks you're the biggest sweetheart in the world.
And he has a lot of coworkers that listen to
(15:28):
the Bobby Bog Show, So I think he's a joy
get as well because he gets to connect with his coworkers.
And oh, did you hear what Morgan said today? And
my Dad's like, no, I didn't get to listen to
the show yet.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
And how do you feel that my life is public?
And that sometimes our relationship gets talked about and it's
kind of out there a lot of things happening.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
That doesn't bother me at all, because I think the
base of our relationship wasn't focused on anything public or
like it. I really again like I got to know
you for you, and I wanted to see who you
were not in a spotlight and I didn't even creep
on your Instagram. I didn't even know what you were about.
(16:13):
All I learned was from our first date and then
moving forward, and so being public, that doesn't it doesn't
bother me. It's definitely like it's exciting to see you
succeed in all the ways that you have and you're
able to. You have this platform to really be you
(16:33):
and talk about the things that are important to you,
but also just have fun with social media, and I
think that's really important. You're always really positive, which I love.
I think social media can if you want to bring
stuff down, you can, and you always lift stuff up.
Human Sunshine, that was a first date thing.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I asked you what you felt was your best quality,
and you said, well, one of my friends told me
that I'm human Sunshine. I was like, oh gosh, I'm
in trouble. This is too good.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, yeah, that's very much it. And you, Gosh, your
quality that I just noticed almost immediately was just this
openness and kindness just right off the bat. You just
were smiley, like we we matched that energy so quickly,
of just this kindness while also being bubbly. You mentioned
(17:26):
me being bubbly, but you were meeting that with that
same We have very similar outgoing personalities while also having
this kind of down to earth kindness ingrained, I guess,
and all of that, and I think that was what
made it so unrealistic that when I first met you,
(17:48):
and I kept saying, there's no way he's calling me
there's no way we're going to dance like this. As
I'm playing darts with you in my head, I'm like this, Yeah,
this is too good to be true. This isn't gonna happen.
I wanted to find something wrong with you, which also,
this is funny. It happened on the first date. So
he was wearing a hat that night.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And as I have mentioned, I do love a head
of hair. Sorry dad, he has made it difficult for
me to date baldman. And so he had a hat
on and all of my friends, like throughout the night
up until kind of the end of the night, were like,
so does he have hair? Like what you know? Is
that the thing that's gonna be wrong that you're gonna
(18:28):
be like, oh gosh, I have to make a decision.
And he kept removing his hat throughout the night and
like messing with his hair. I was like, nowhere, confirmed
has a great head of hair. And I came to
find out, like I don't know if five or six
days inn You're like, yeah, I was doing that on purpose.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah, I had just learned. So that was Saturday night,
and I want to say it was Thursday night that
I learned the term hat fishing. I had never heard
of hat fishing before, and someone was talking about it
at volleyball and I was like, what do you mean
hat fishing? And it's like when a guy looks good
with a hat on, but you don't know what's underneath.
(19:05):
And I learned there's a bigger culture of hat fishing
than I ever knew. And so that night, in particular,
I was like, Oh, I bet she is wondering if
I have hair. So I kept taking my hat off
just to let you know.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Let me make sure you know that I'm all good yea.
And Brandon knows this. I've shared it with him, but
I'm not an asshole. I also had a traumatizing experience.
There was a guy I dated way back when who
would sleep with his hat on. So I'm very traumatized
in this. The lack of confidence is really where a
lot of it comes from. The hat fishing kind of
(19:43):
associated with lack of confidence, Like it's just something I
think you should own. I think there's beautiful bald people
out there and people should rock it. Shout out your dad, Yeah,
my dad is a beautiful, handsome man. It's kind of
weird you want to date your dad, but you don't
want to date somebody who looks like your dad. Yeah,
you know, like I want all the qualities in the
personality traits, but it don't need you a little look
(20:04):
like him, because that would be weird. Anyways, off the trail,
but that was a funny part of one of ours.
Back to originally what I was saying, though, you just
exuded a lot of kindness and happiness and that was
something that I really loved, and you just further confirmed
that on our first date. So after the phone call
(20:26):
that we had, our first date was the next night,
So we met Saturday night. We had a three and
a half hour long phone call. Sunday, Monday was our
first date. This guy wasted zero time in making sure we.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Went on a date exactly what I wanted, and it
was one track mind. I was like, all right, here
we go Monday, set up a reservation, came and picked
you up.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And he also went to the extent of making sure
I was a restaurant that I could eat at because
I'm vegetarian. Were you ever turned off by the fact
that I was a vegetarian.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Note at all? So I was a pescatarian, So I
eat eggs and fish. When I lived in Florida, it
was really easy to get sustainable fish and good eggs.
There's a lot of farms down there and stuff like that.
So I was I didn't eat meat for six years,
so it was very easy to It wasn't a foreign
(21:21):
thing to me. And I don't dislike vegetarians and I
don't like I'm not like super pro meat. It just like,
I'm doing what's right for me at the time, and
so at that time, it felt good to not eat meat,
and it was really it started as a challenge to
not eat meat, and so no setting up finding somewhere
where you could eat and enjoy. And I made sure
(21:42):
that I didn't eat meat that first night to kind
of show you that's a possibility. And I know I
would assume that most guys would maybe be a little
bit turned off by that, but that wasn't something foreign
to me, so I was excited about it. I got
to be a little bit more creative and find a
spot that had a bunch of stuff that I thought
you'd like.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And no, we both did. We tried a whole bunch
of food together that night.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
We way too much food.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, and we had saki. I don't think I'd ever
had saki before that night. We had like a saki flight.
We were really just trying everything, and that was also
a very very big first impression date wise, was this
guy is going to be up for trying anything, trying
new things, and he's going to be supportive of the
things that I like. Those were all first impressions that
I was having on the first day. And you showed
(22:27):
up with some flowers, which is my favorite flower. So
you were very much listening the first night we met
and paid attention to that. And then literally from the
first date on we have pretty much been inseparable.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yes, it was the end of the first date and
it was like can I see you tomorrow? And then
it was like can I see you tomorrow? Can I
see you tomorrow? And it was just like all we
were doing was spending time together. And it was the
same for me, like is this too good to be true?
You know, like, because you're an incredible person and you've
(23:02):
set yourself up for success and you have such a
kind heart, and like everything about you just exudes happiness
and love and you're absolutely gorgeous, and you're single and
you want to hang out with me and it just
like it felt crazy to me, and I was like,
all right, when does the shoe drop for me? But
(23:23):
I remember on the night we met, after the girls
were grilling me about my red flags, I was like,
all right, so tell me about Morgan, like how is
she single? And they were like, she just works really hard,
and so you have to be okay with someone who's like,
really excels in their career and they're going to go
out of their way to set their life up for success,
(23:46):
and you have to be okay with that. And I
was like, all right, sounds wonderful that they were.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
My friends are very well trained in the capacity of
not talking about the show. Everybody in my life pretty
much knows. That's not something that I very much advertise,
not because I'm ashamed of it, but because I just
don't want people to assume that's all I'm trying to
put out there, and especially in dating, I want to
make sure people are getting to know me for who
I am. And so I love that my girls in
(24:14):
that situation were very protective over that, and they were
trying to tell you why it really hasn't worked out
in a lot of scenarios is a lot around just
my job in general, and lacking the confidence to be
with someone who has succeeded and has success and is
in a position that I'm in, and I love that
they were trying to tell you that without telling you
(24:35):
the main reason behind that. I didn't know that happened.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, yeah, they definitely they had your back.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I had no doubts. I knew they would, But that's funny.
I didn't know that this whole moment happened. We have
seen also Holly since we haven't seen Carlas since, which
were kind of the two drivers behind this, so beyond
on that first night we met, it was really funny.
I didn't ask them to go up to him. So
they were on a mission for some reason to make
(25:05):
me meet somebody that weekend. These are some of my
childhood best friends, and Holly was just one of my
friends here and they were just like on this mission
to make it happen. I was like, guys, it's girls weekend,
we're hanging out. We're not focused on any of this.
Let's just have fun. And Carla spots you and drink
beer ped dog shirt and then Holly, here's Carla mentioned this.
(25:28):
It was like, well, I'm just gonna go up to
him and bring him over. And I was like, what, No,
we're not. I hadn't even seen you. I didn't know
what you looked like. I didn't know who they were
pointing to because I just kept ignoring them. And so
when Holly brings you up, she taps me on the
shoulder and I turn around, like what are you doing?
And then I see you and you say you melted?
(25:48):
I melted. I was just like, ah, crap, it's actually cute.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
The first motion was you shaking your head. It was
a headshake, and then we like locked eyes and it
was no from there on that moment.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Do you want to share about the Florida side of this?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
And how you were not going to be here much longer.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah. Yeah, So this was a story that I didn't
tell you for a while.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I didn't learn this until when my parents came the
day that he was getting to meet my parents because
they were coming into town. He had told me this
story earlier that morning, and then he told my parents
the story later.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah. Previous to Nashville, I had lived in Saint Petersburg, Florida,
and I came up here on vacation to visit Ashton,
who lives here, and I accidentally got a job here.
I decided to stay. So I had never planned to
live in Nashville. I love the beach, I love Florida life,
(26:52):
I loved the sand and so I always thought I'd
go back to Florida. And part of me thought maybe
it was time to go back to Florida. And so
I had started entertaining a few different job opportunities down
in Florida, and I was talking to some people, and
on Friday, I had accepted a job in Florida with
(27:19):
my cousin's husband who had just started a business and
he needed a right hand man.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And this is a Friday before the Saturday that we met.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yes, So on Friday, I had accepted a job in Florida.
On Saturday morning, we had me and all my friends
had a volleyball tournament at Sandbar. And one of my
friends that I was talking about seeing if there were
any other job opportunities in Nashville or you know, she
(27:48):
had some opportunities in Florida. She pulled me aside and
she was like, Hey, I think there's a job opportunity
here in Nashville, and I was like, I'm so sorry,
but I just accepted a job down in Florida. And
I was like, don't tell anyone yet, but I think
I'm moving forward with this. And she was like, oh, Brad,
how could you leave this? And we're looking at this
amazing friend group and there were probably forty of us
(28:10):
out there and we're all really good friends. And she
was like, how could you possibly leave? What? Like we've
built here? And so she had walked away and I
kind of looked up in the sky and I was like,
all right, Universe, like send me a sign if I'm
supposed to be in Nashville, Like I need to know
because I'm at this part like my heart's torn. I
don't know what to do. And so that was in
(28:31):
the morning, and then I decided to go out and
get some beers with my now our friend Chris, and yeah,
we went to Skinny Dennis and I met you. And
it's funny because you think of shutting the door to
the uber as like you're I'm never going to see
(28:52):
that guy again. And that was like the moment where
I look back up at the sky and I was like, Uni,
what are you doing? Like that was crazy, like I
literally that morning asked for a sign and then I
meet you and it was like, Okay, I need to
I'm already crazy about this girl and I need to
(29:12):
at least talk to her on the phone. So we
got on the phone, and then that fifteen minute time
window we had turned into almost three and a half hours,
so I'm getting ready. So right after that phone call
is when I set up the reservation at the restaurant,
and I was like, something feels really good about this,
(29:33):
Like I feel all in and we haven't even gone
on a date, and there was something just really special
about that. And so I go to work and I'm
sitting there and I'm just thinking about my life in
Nashville and thinking about Florida and thinking about this job
opportunity that I was really excited about. And I had
(29:54):
gotten you sunflowers and I was driving over to come
pick you up, and there was a yellow jeep that
kind of cut me off and they had big sunflower
tire cover and it was just like I'm exactly where
I need to be, Like this is exactly where I
(30:15):
need to be. I came to Nashville to meet Morgan,
and so I called him right before I got to
your house and I told him, unfortunately, I can't take
the job. I'm just not finished. I told him verbatim,
I said, my time here in Nashville isn't done yet.
And he said, I wish you all the best. Definitely bummed.
(30:36):
And then we hung up and I literally I got
out of my truck and I walked up to your door.
I had already made a huge life decision knowing what
this was going to become. I just knew it. I
could feel it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And how do you feel about making that choice now? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I love it. I love it these oh yes, of course,
like the universe works in the craziest ways, and it
comes down to even if you rewind Ashton, my little
sister bought me the drink beer pet dog shirt. She
(31:21):
bought that at a brewery in Colorado, and her husband,
Justin did a fabulous job on budgeting, right, so they
had the set budget. Ashton buying me that t shirt
would have gone over her fun money budget for the month.
(31:42):
So she had picked up that shirt and she set
it back down and she's like, no, that would you know?
I need to be good. And they walked to a
different place in Breckenridge, and she just kept thinking about
that shirt. So she ended up going back and she
bought the shirt, even though it went over her fun
money budget. But she was getting it for me, And
(32:04):
if she would have never gotten me that T shirt,
I probably would have been wearing a black T shirt
that night.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Well, and don't forget that this shirt is typically your
travel shirt. It's not typically a wearing out shirt that
you do.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
It's my airport shirt. Yeah, you like to wear it
at the air It's the best conversation starter.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
It is, which I learned because he wore it at
the airport on our first trip together. Well, second trip together,
the one that we didn't road trip, which we'll get into.
The first flight we had together, which was my first
flight ever with a boyfriend. Mind you, it did not
go according to plan.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Tune in for we two. That could be a whole episode.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Oh my god, So he wears this shirt. We get delayed,
multiple delayed, like this one flight. We have a direct
flight out and it is just getting delayed, delayed, and
then it gets canceled. We did a book the flight together.
Mind you, I've never traveled with a boyfriend before, so
I just thought you buy your flight, separate, you go
together or whatever.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Sitting on the couch together. We just booked m on
our phones.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
We put our information in and we get rebooked on
different flights. And I'm about to have an anxiety attack
first of all, because we're going through with everything with
Hazel and front of me, and I'm like, maybe this
is a sign we shouldn't be going whatever. And I'm like,
now we're not even on the same flight, and this
is gonna be the first flight with my boyfriend that
I've ever had in my life. I'm like, what is happening?
(33:27):
And so we ended up getting separated. We went through
with it. I was like, Okay, I'll meet you down
in Orlando, like I'll see you there. And I'm just
getting texts from him. He's made like eight friends at
the airport who he like, took shot. He bought a
guy a shot to borrow his charger because his phone
was gonna die because I had his charger. We didn't
think about the fact that we'd be separated.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah, my phone was dying. We were separated, and I
was like, I need to go make a friend that
has a charger.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yep, And you made another friend with a woman who
had the koozie with the same thing on it.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, so I was ye, I was wearing the famous
shirt and she came up to me and she had
a koozie that said drink beer and pet dogs from
that same brewery in Colorado, and so yeah, I'd made
a friend there. And that was right at the moment
where your plane was leaving. So I like it was
pretty funny. I was, but they could get very dramatic.
I was like, my girlfriend's on that poy, but she
(34:20):
liked it, and so yeah, I made that friend. And
then I went to the bar and sat down and yeah,
ended up buying a shot for he was a music
producer from Australia or something.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah, I still don't know who it was.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, he can't remember, And so I bought him a shot,
and then he ended up giving me his phone charger,
but he didn't even have the right charger. So I
bought this guy a sixteen dollars airport shot and it
didn't even fit my phone. And I had asked one
bartender if I could use the charger that I could
(34:56):
see right behind the bar, and they're like, no, we
don't do that for customers. Then another bartender, here's this
whole story. The iPhone charger doesn't fit, and he was like, oh,
you can just use this one, and I was like, okay,
So I just spent sixteen dollars on this random guy's
shot all.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Because we got separated. Yep, we're a flight just supposed
to be our first one. We did, spoiler alert, have
our first flight together. Yeah, on the way back. It
was very exciting, but we were exhausted, so I don't
think I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
And I slept for a good amount of the flight,
and You're like, first boyfriend flight, You're just going to sleep.
I was like, I'm so tired. We were averaging thirty
four thousand steps a day. I know.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I was just excited to have my first boyfriend flight.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
No, well it was a boyfriend flight. I was just
sleeping on you.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
I was, and we had the whole aisle through ourselves,
which made him better. I do want the people to
know a little bit more about.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
You, so let's digging.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah, not that they haven't already, but your story is
super unique, and your whole family story is really unique.
Oh you want to take it away from me?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah, So we had a year I guess it was
two thousand and two where kind of everything went wrong,
but everything turned out to make us who we are.
So it started in November of two thousand and one.
(36:33):
My dad was laid off from a tech company, if
you will, and so he was a higher up at
this tech company and he was laid off. The first
week of December. My little sister, Ashton, who was eight
at the time, was diagnosed with leukemia, and so she
(36:55):
started going through treatment for that. My older sister had
some back issues and they had finally decided that they
were going to do surgery. The first week in June,
she was scheduled to have two rods and twenty eight
titanium screws put in her back. And the week before
(37:16):
she was supposed to have her surgery, I was at
a pool party and I ended up having a stroke.
A lot of people say, healthy twelve year old boy
doesn't have a stroke. Well I did. I had an
old person stroke. It was in my cerebellum and I
was playing in the pool and I got out of
(37:38):
the pool and at my left side started curling in
and I lost color, and the grass that I was
walking on all of a sudden just kind of went sideways,
and I felt like I was walking really wonky, and
I started getting sick, and the lifeguards had run over
to me, and they thought I was having a heat stroke.
(37:59):
And parents are calling my parents and trying to figure
this out, because they realized pretty quickly that it was
a pretty extreme case. And so my mom rushed over
to the pool, picked me up, and took me to
the hospital and they just couldn't figure out what was
happening with me, and kind of long story short, they
(38:22):
ended up sending me home and they said that it
was just a really bad migraine. So I spent the
next day or so at home, basically just sitting in
a dark basement with a wet cloth on my face,
and my parents were just waiting on me hand and foot,
and I ended up going back to Children's hospital. This
(38:43):
was all in Colorado, just outside of Denver, and so
I went back to Children's hospital and they diagnosed that
I had a stroke, and so I had to have
emergency brain surgery and I lost about a third of
my a rebellum and doctors didn't think i'd ever walk
(39:04):
or talk or be able to move my left side
because at this point my left side was still curled in,
and so I literally shared a hospital room with Jordan,
my older sister, who had back surgery, and Jordan and
I were on the third floor while Ashton was up
on the fifth floor getting chemotherapy. And then we have
(39:24):
my brother at home who was couch hopping and going
from family to family and kind of wondering when the
shoe was going to drop for him. So we went
through it, and my parents were so strong getting through it,
and they would just flip flop between the two rooms
and check in on whatever family was helping Garrett out.
(39:48):
And Ashton had a full recovery and she's been in
remission ever since. And my older sister would say, she
got the good hair twice. She had curly blonde hair
and she lost her hair during chemotherapy and it came
back like this luscious brown, straight hair. And so Jordan says, oh,
(40:09):
she got the good hair twice, and Jordan sits up
very straight. Now you would never know. And then for me,
I had this amazing recovery that was a little bit unexpected,
but it's definitely led me to places in life where
I was already heading, but maybe accelerated where I was
at I'm very thankful for my stroke. I wouldn't change
(40:30):
that for the world.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
And you have a really cool Harry Potter scar.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Yeah, from the back of your head. I have a
scar on the back of my head. It's curvy because
hair grows straight, so if my neurologist were to cut
a straight line, the hair would separate, so you'd always
be able to see it. But I like to keep
my hair a little bit shorter so you can see it.
But if my hair was longer, it would cover up.
(40:55):
And yeah, something I got made fun of as a
kid because Harry Potter was pretty popular when I had
my stroke, and I have this squiggly line, you know.
The Harry Potter jokes were pretty rich in middle school.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And it didn't make you hate Harry Potter because you
and I both peek out of her Harry Potter.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I loved Harry Potter, and honestly, like when people would
say it, I thought it was cool. You know, it's
like a lightning bowl, you know. But just the tone
of some of the ways it was brought up, whispered
about behind me, because middle schoolers just don't know that
even if you're behind someone, you could still that person,
could hear you. I really wear it with bride now.
(41:32):
I like my scar and yeah, just missing a third
of my sarahbellum, which my family reminds me of all
the time, especially my brother.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
You do. Their family loves to make a lot of
jokes now about this time. Yeah, I think the first
time when I was around all of them and they
were all making the jokes together, and I was like, wait,
what's happening. We're making jokes about all of that? Okay,
all right.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Yeah, we like to remind Ashton that she has the
bad blood in the family, and you know, we make
fun of Jordan for being made of metal. And then
they like to remind me that I don't have a
full brain and if only I had a full brain,
I could have said that or remembered this. So yeah,
we were very, very playful with it because you just
(42:17):
everyone in the family's healthy and not a lot of
people get to tell that part of a story when
you have that many things go wrong in a family,
and it's brought us really close, all of us are
you know, my mom, my dad, you know, both my sisters,
my brother were all so close and it's really cool
that we got to go through hardship at such a
(42:40):
young age but be able to bounce back and everyone's
all good.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
You know, I love your family so much. They are
so much fun, and we hang out with them anytime
they're in town, which is quite often, so they come
down quite a bit. Yeah, I love that. Thanks for
sharing that. It's part of your story. Does it feel
weird that I'm interviewing you?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
No, Yeah, it's weird to be on this side because
I've sat in to see a couple of them, but yeah,
to be on this side is a little different.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
You're doing really good. I'm so proud of you. What
else should we hit on before we get out of here?
Anything else that you think is pertinent at this moment.
We are going to do another episode because there's so
many questions that got asked and they're very specific, so
we'll get into those. But anything else you want to
(43:31):
openly talk about here that we haven't gotten to.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
I won't talk about anything.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
I know you will. You're very open, very good. You
know what, let's talk about this. Do you love Remy
and Hazel?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
I don't know if love covers it. Remy, you need
to get over here right now.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
She's just staring at you. You got a mini tail wag.
But it's little cool. The people would like to know, Hey,
pay attention to me.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Oh, here we go.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
See he loves her more than me. Sometimes he pays
attention to her more than me. But the people would
like to know. That was a very heavily asked question
because it got brought up on the show that I
brought miss Remy on our first vacation together and I
shouldn't have apparently, So how did you feel in all
of that?
Speaker 2 (44:25):
I one thousand percent supported that from the get go.
I've always been a dog guy. I've traveled with dogs.
I was way more than comfortable bringing her on the vacation.
I loved I feel like I was the one that
was like, we should take the stroller, we should like
(44:46):
she should come with this, like sitting on patios with dogs.
Like if you're a dog owner, it's a whole skill
and you have to think differently. And you if you're
on a road trip, you can't just stop anywhere for food,
and you can't stop somewhere where the dog's going to
have to stay inside the car or you know whatever,
(45:07):
and so it's just a different thought pattern and It's like,
I feel like I think about Remy as much as
you think about Remy, and it was never even a
question that she was coming, and everything that we did
(45:27):
was better because she was there. And the whole time
we got like two comments on people that are like, oh,
you're pushing a dog in a stroller, and it's like, yeah,
it's not affecting you. If it was a baby, you
wouldn't have said anything. So whatever. People love their dogs,
and dogs deserve love. So that's exactly what I'm gonna
(45:49):
give Ren. And Hazel's a whole nother story.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Yeah, so funny enough, okay, but just making sure I
didn't coerce you to say that you were happy. No, okay,
I'm just making Remy's literally on his lap right now
for all of our listeners, if you're not watching this
on YouTube, she very much is. I'm pretty sure she
(46:13):
loves you just as much as she loves me. I'm
getting side eye for some reason right now, like this
is my man, not yours. But Hazel's a funny story.
So I had told him when we first met that
I had a cat, and he was like, gosh, I'm
not a huge fan of cats. I've had some bad
interactions with them. Just not a good situation. You weren't
like a hater, you just didn't have good experiences with cats.
(46:36):
And I was like, well, wait till you meet mine.
He's like, okay, yeah, whatever, so much so that he
didn't like cats, that it was the one thing on
his dating app profile that he said he didn't want
to date somebody with or like. That was one of
his two things. I don't remember what your other thing was.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Yeah, I tried to be funny with it, but yeah,
cats were definitely involved. I had never met a cat
that I felt like a better person after I met
I left with bite marks or they smell bad, or
their mean, or they shed like I don't like everything
(47:12):
that I love about a dog. I had never seen
those qualities in a cat. And it's nothing against cats.
I just for some reason, I just met nineteen of
the worst ones out there, for some reason, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
But and now you give SubQ fludes to Hazel. He
snuggles her every time he comes in. Sometimes he will
come and say hi to her before he ever says
hi to me when he comes over. Yeah, it's like
the first thing you'll do. Where's Hazel. No.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
I think it was a couple days ago when I
came over and I walked in the kitchen. I think
I had a full blown conversation with Remy and then
I was snuggling Hazel as she was sitting in her
cat bed, and we hadn't even communicated. It had been
like five minutes, and I like, look over and it's like,
(48:06):
I love these animals, and you're like, oh, Hi, Like
that's not normal.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
So has your mind changed on cats because of Hazel?
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I mean, yeah, I'm open to cats now. I didn't
know cats like her existed. It's like, we go to
let Remy out back, and you hear the pitter patter
of Hazel's paws because she wants to go out back.
She's just a dog that's trapped in the Siamese.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Cat body exactly. So all those people who were haters
of this man not wanting my animals around or on
vacation or any of the above, you were wrong.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I just love I've always loved animals.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I know we bonded over that.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah. And it just so the fact that people thought
that I was upset that you brought Remy on the trip,
and it was like, no, I want olden her up.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
I think some of that was because it was our
first vacation together. So does that change your mind at
all because it was our first one together?
Speaker 2 (49:17):
No, Like, that's it's the package deal. And you can't
be like if I thought Remy was annoying, that relationship
is not gonna last. You need the whole thing. Stop settling,
stop settling. You need the whole package. And Remy's just
(49:37):
been nothing but the sweetest little and I can't get
over this haircut that she just got. But she's just
been the sweetest little ball of fur. And I'm lucky
to have her, and I'm lucky to have Hazel, and
I'm actually lucky to have you. For sure?
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Are you trying to make me cry?
Speaker 2 (49:57):
No, She'll lick your tears off. She's a lucky move.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
Okay, we're gonna end on this because we're gonna go
and answer a bunch of questions. But I want us
to each share our favorite qualities about each other. Let's
go top three or top five, you choose, Okay, do
you want to go first? You want to go first,
I'll go first. Okay, you can go first.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
First. Quality is kindness, Your kindness. It's an unwavering kindness
like you. You are kind to a stranger that we
meet at the farmers market. You are kind to your
family members, you are kind to your friends, You're kind
to animals. You're I can't get over how naturally you
(50:49):
are just kind to everyone. Your work ethic inspires me
to be a better person. You are not afraid to
tell me that we can't hang out or we can't
do that because you have this to do and you
have other plans and you have work Like this is
you stay true to yourself and I just think that's
(51:15):
so admirable that you do that, and watching you do
that helps me learn how to be a better person.
Like literally and my third gosh, I would say the
(51:36):
fun that you have with life. I remember it was
I think it was the second time that we hung
out and I played a song in the truck and
you were just singing along and you didn't have a
care in the world. And this is like, still, we're
getting to know one another, and you can't be too
(51:59):
lucy goose with you know who you are and you
can't let the weird out and you were just like
one hundred percent you and I just I was like,
all right, that's it. If she's going to be comfortable
enough to just open up and sing at the top
of her lungs. And you were like tapping on your
(52:19):
legs and you were just getting it and not looking
at me. It wasn't like attention seeking. You were just
in your own world. And so like, the fun that
you can find in life is something that I want
to constantly strive for, and I think I'm pretty good
at it. But there's definitely times where you remind me
(52:40):
to come back to just kind of silly fun, live
your life and smile while you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
Oh you know, that's really sweet.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
I like you a little bit.
Speaker 1 (52:52):
Yeah, just a little bit. Okay, okay, just ari of it.
My my three for you. By the way, thank you.
I'm learning to say thank you. I'm not very good
at accepting compliments.
Speaker 2 (53:03):
It usually turns into like an awkward twisting. I'm like,
oh my gosh, you look gorgeous, and she's like so rude.
Speaker 1 (53:15):
You know how to call me out like that.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
And you're openly working on it.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Yeah, I'm trying, so thank you, you're so well so
twist my bodies out of that. Oh my goodness. Okay,
your three qualities that I love so much. Okay, you
have genuinely one of the biggest hearts I believe that
(53:41):
I have ever met with your friends, with your family,
with animals, with everything. You will give your shoes, shirt
and pants off your back to somebody who needs it.
You show up in this world just so positive and
so optimistic and so leaving. Like if there's ever a
(54:02):
moment where I start to go down a little bit
of a pessimistic lane, You're like, well, there's this side.
I'm like, dang it, you took me back to the
other side. You're so good at just existing and exuding
in this like just kind of bubble of love. And
I think it's a lot of the testament of the
things that you've been through, and so much of that
is where that comes from. My second one would be
(54:26):
that you are very consistent. Steadfast is another word. You
have been the same person since the moment that I
met you in the best way possible, Like you aren't
trying to be somebody else, You're exactly who you are.
You don't change for anyone. Any moments where you be
(54:46):
a little funny or weird, you don't care what anybody
thinks about you. You just have this genuineness to you
and it shows and how consistent you are and showing
up in your life, and how dead fast you are
in our relationship and your working relationships and your friendships
with your family. Gosh, this guy talks on the phone
(55:07):
more than I know. I'm pretty sure every time he
drives to and from work he's on the phone call
with somebody catching up with him. And then the other
one would be I think my last one for you.
There's so many I know.
Speaker 2 (55:24):
It's it well, and it's tough when you when you
put yourself on the spot too.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
I know, I even knew I was going to ask
these things, and I still don't know which one I
was gonna No, there's something on my hands. Mine. I
think mine would be that you and it maybe it
goes too much along with another one. But your compassion,
I don't know, You're just a super compassionate human being.
You just the way you interact with the world is
(55:53):
something that so many people could learn from and so
many people would be better off for knowing you, And
I just wish there was more of that that existed.
And maybe those were all very similar I don't know.
They're different words, so whatever counts. It's something, well you'll
allow it.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
Yeah it's three.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
Okay you like those? Well, thank you coming on you
so much. Look at you accepting compliments so well usually yeah,
I can't hear like no, not me. Thanks for coming on, mister.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
B Thank you for inviting me and.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
Sharing our story. And you're cutie.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
I did not know what was going to come out.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
Okay, give me kids, Yes you heard that correctly. We
are doing another episode next week. So this episode was
really just for us to share our story together, and
I wanted him to share his story and just have
a really fun episode without too much pressure. But next
week we are answering all of those questions that you
all sent in because there was so many, we had
(57:04):
to do another episode. Now. I do know a few
of them got answered in this episode, but all those
specific ones you guys are asking, very nitty gritty details,
we will be doing next week, so make sure you subscribe.
I'm so happy that you're here. Maybe you were giggling, screaming,
kicking your feet with me as this episode happened. If
that's not the case and you're like ooh love, throw up.
(57:25):
That's totally fine too. Maybe don't listen to next week's episode,
but all the same, I'm just happy you tuned in.
I'm happy you're here. Lots of episodes on all kinds
of things if this is your first time tuning in,
so check it out and you can follow the podcast
Instagram page at Take this Personally, I can't wait to
yeap with y'all next week
M hmm. Are you ready for this?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm ready for no.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
A great start.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, world, meet my boyfriend. M hm. I call him
mister B. His name is Braiden, Braiden, Welcome to the podcast.
(00:51):
Welcome to having a name.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I finally got a name today.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
From this moment forward, you can now be known as
your name. But up in this moment, you have been
known as IRL boyfriend, just the boyfriend to me, mister B.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm still on your phone as mister B. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I know that's never going to change.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay, Well, we're gonna do your favorite thing to share
to start this off. We're gonna share our story. You
love telling that how we met story.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You want to tell it with me? Rim huh Okay.
March twenty ninth, eleven thirty pm. I went out with
some friends to just grab a beer at Skinny Dennis
and I had a couple of beers and I was
(01:48):
getting ready to head home and call it in for
the night. And I was walking back from the bathroom
and Hally grabbed me by the arm. She was like,
you have to meet you have to meet somebody.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
He didn't know who Holly was. At the time. Holly,
for context, is one of my good friends. She's also
a girl who helps save me in my Vertigo episodes.
So new friend in the last two years, but one
of my good friends. Please continue.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So she had pretty aggressively grabbed my arm and just
said I got to introduce you to someone. And so
were you like.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Thinking when this happened, were you like, what is this
woman doing? Who are you? Did she even introduce herself?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
No, there was no communication before it. She just grabbed
my arm and said you're coming with me, and she
led me over to a group of.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Girls, and we like, okay, this is about to be awkward.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, I was thinking she was going to introduce me
to someone that I wasn't going to be interested in,
or you know, there's a lot of risk that's involved.
And you just get grabbed at a bar and little
blonde turned around and was looking up at me. That
was the first thing I noticed.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Just so I was wearing high heels that night too.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
But yeah, literally, like seeing your bright blue eyes, like
instantly I was connected. And I was wearing a shirt
that said drink beer and pet dogs, and so we
instantly just started talking about dogs. I think for the
first forty five minutes, you and I were just talking
about dogs. I didn't even we had introduced names so quickly.
(03:28):
Neither of us knew each other's names.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, it wasn't until we went to the bar. Forty
five minutes into our conversation. You're like, let me get
you a drink, and You're like, I'm so sorry, can
you please tell me your name again? I was like,
don't worry, I don't remember yours either.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I was like, oh gosh, I'm in the clear. No,
and it was, and we were just talking. I had
just started the Instagram for my little sister's dog, Big Jeff,
so I was showing you pictures and you were telling
me about Remy, and you had you had just helped
your foster dog find her forever home, and you were
(04:06):
picking up a new foster dog in a couple of days.
So you were telling me about all the dogs, and
I instantly was just enthralled with everything you were about,
like you were fun and you were bubbly, and literally
everything was about dogs. And then there was a country
song that came on, and I remember I couldn't even
I was fumbling over my words. I was like, do
(04:27):
you country dance, It's like, are you. I was nervous
because I wasn't. I didn't go out. I wasn't going
out to meet anyone. I wasn't really in the mindset
of looking for anyone. I was just really doing me
and living life. I'm not usually someone who would go
(04:48):
out on a Friday or Saturday night, like I really.
I played volleyball at the time. I have a really
good volleyball friend group, so most weekend nights you would
find me playing sand volleyball. So going out and getting
drinks was extremely rare.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
For me, which is something you also repeatedly told me.
You're like, I'm not usually out like this. You kept saying,
I don't, I'm not usually out at bars. I don't
normally go out or everything, and it kind of became
this whole thing throughout the night.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, I didn't want it to seem like I was
just some guy going to bars like looking to find girls,
because that wasn't my emo at all. So I was
like almost a little bit embarrassed that I met you
at a bar because that's not my usual scene. So, yeah,
I had explained it a couple of times, and I
nervously said, I told you I was a homebody, and
(05:42):
throughout the night I kept talking about all the things
that I enjoyed doing, and you were like, you're not
a homebody, You're constantly doing stuff. It's like, well, I
misused the word because I was a little nervous.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
But so now it's a joke all the time. I'm like, yeah,
there's my homebody, just out socialized in five days a week.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
But what can you do? So we had our first
two step and dance in the bar that night, yep,
and that was I instantly knew that I was your
way out of my league with dancing. But I was like,
I'm just gonna run with it, you know, twist year round,
see how this goes. And your friend group was in
(06:22):
town and they were having a whole lot of fun,
and my friends were having fun, and so we kind
of combined forces and we were just bopping around to
different bars. And you don't.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Remember why we were bebopping to another bar. The main
reason that I.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Was Mozarella sticks. That's on brand for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now that you know me. Yeah, But that night I
was very adamant. I had met this cute boy and
like the conversation was great, but he was not going
to get between me and getting my favorite bar, montrell'sted.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh yeah, and it was all of you guys were
talking about them like they were this world renowned mozzarella.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Sticks and they're just a dive bar Mozarelli sticks, which
I note they've now changed and I don't want to
talk about it.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, now the recipe is different. You fired the chef
and the mott sticks are no good there anymore.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
But yeah, so we ended up beabop into another bar
because I really wanted these Montrelli sticks. So he got
to see very quickly that I love to eat crappy foods.
He also learned that I was vegetarian on the first day,
well first meeting, I should say. And what else. We
stayed out until we closed the bar down. We got
kicked out of the bar.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Ye. We played darts. I kicked your ass and you
tickled me every time I threw the dart.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, I want cheating.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
That that is grade a cheating.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
But I won, admit it.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I won you did?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I won you?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I think you were erasing my mark.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I was not. I'm not an actual cheater. I was
flirting with you absolutely by that point I was like,
I'm probably never going to see this man again in
my life, and this was really fun. So I'm just
gonna enjoy this moment.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And you kept making remarks about like I'm never going
to see you again.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Well, by the end of the night you had asked
You're like, can I please get your number? I was like, sure,
You're never gonna call me, so whatever, and.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I was like, I'm absolutely going to call you, like
I'm instantly I felt connected to you, like it was
I was like, man, this is this is it for me?
Like instantly right after I met you, and so I
had every intention Like every conversation we had, we got
pretty deep pretty quickly. We like talked about our past
(08:35):
like I was in it from the get go. And
it was funny because you went off to the bathroom
and your girls were like, all right, so let's get
down to it. What are your red flags? When's your
last relationship? And so I told them my entire history,
but I had already told you. So when you came
(08:56):
back from the bathroom, they were like, guess what, and
You're like, yeah, we already talked about it, and they
like looked at me like, oh, so you are open
about you know, and we just I think from then
on we like started gaining a little more trust and
it was feeling really real to me really quickly. And
it wasn't like a go out and drink a bunch
(09:19):
of beers night. So I had a clear head and
we were having meaningful conversation and yeah, you just said
I work in radio, and that was it. I work
in radio. And I was like, oh, okay, can.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You never discovered that until the next night. So when
he put me in the uber, I'm still making the
joke I'm never going to hear from you, and sure
we're going on a date.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
He puts me in the uber, closes the door and
it's super cute. It sounds aggressive, puts me okay, sorry,
gently nicely open, being a gentleman, opened the door for me.
I got in by myself. You close the door. Is
that better? And about three minutes go by and I
get a text message from mister b which I hadn't
(10:06):
called him that yet. That was something that I learned.
The nickname came because he studied special education. That was
what he did, caught his degree in. And so when
he told me that, all I'm thinking in my head
is what's your nickname gonna be? What am I gonna
call you? What's gonna happen? From kind of that moment forward,
I referred to him on the Bobby Bone Show as
(10:27):
Iral guy because we met in real life. To me,
I was calling hi, mister b and that was where
that kind of nickname came from. So the next day
we're still texting at this moment in time. But that
next day it was a Sunday and my friends had
left that afternoon, and You're like, hey, can I call you?
(10:48):
And I was like, oh, I got fifteen minutes. I'm
busy working, so sure we can talk for a few minutes.
It what ended up happening.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
So I called you, and again, like the connection on
the phone was just because like you could meet someone
out and then you like give him a call, and
the connection just wasn't there. Like instantly, we were diving
deep and we were talking and we were on the
phone for three hours and twenty some minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, I did not get work done and I ended
up having to be up very late, and we discovered
something on that call. It was really funny. So of
course naturally both of us googled each other Sunday after
meeting and I googled him, no records, no prior criminal history.
(11:41):
We were good there, but as we're on the phone,
he just kind of like, so, who are you exactly?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It was like, you got a lot of fancy pictures
on Google. I was so confused because I pulled it
up and like, at first glance, it looks like you're
a country music star. And I was like, oh, I
work in radio, you know, like what's going on here?
So that was and then you got to dive in
(12:11):
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
More well, and we both had a realization in both
of our deep dives on each other on the Internet
that his sister was following me on Instagram and has
been for quite sometimes, yeah, several years. And I put
two into together when I found his Instagram and I
was like, oh, this is a sister. Oh she follows me.
(12:33):
And I think you're the one who ended up bringing
it up on the phone and you were like, yeah,
so also my sister follows you. After I revealed what
I did and all of that.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And Ashton, she was like, she goes, oh my gosh,
how did I not put this together? She is the
sweetest thing. She loves dogs like it was. And then
it was like rehashing like our first meeting, and I
was just like, yes, it already, like I'm already feeling
like it's going so well.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And then you when you called Ashton, which is his sister,
to tell her about all of this, what was her
first initial response?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
She literally couldn't believe it. She was like who, And
I was like, yeah, remember I told you I met
a girl at a bar. I was like, it's Morgan.
She's like, wait, Morgan, like Morgan number two. Like at
this point, I didn't listen to the Bobby Bone Show.
I didn't know Morgan number two. And I saw the
(13:33):
first few pictures online and I didn't want to dive
in more because I was like, I don't want to
get starstruck. I want to get to know you for you.
And so it was just kind of this fun like
I knew a little bit and then my sister's geeking
out about it, and so it was a fun little
watching that all come together.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Mm hm. And your family is so stink and sweet.
I've now officially met all of them, the entire crew
that sister that were talking talking about Ashton. She lives
in town and then another one lives in Colorado, and
then your brother lives in Michigan. Your parents are everywhere,
but I've officially met all of them. How does the
(14:12):
family feel about us dating?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Oh gosh, they couldn't be happier. Like my mom melted
when she met you, absolutely, like finally my boy is
with someone he should be with, like instantly. And then Ashton,
she felt like she already knew you a little bit,
which is I know is kind of common with fans,
but like then getting to know you, it's like, oh,
(14:37):
she's a good person, like not only behind the microphone
but in real life. So that was really cool.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That's sweet. I didn't know that part. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And Jordan, my older sister, like, yeah, the first time
you guys met, I feel like you connected really well
and we're spending more time with her and so that's
been really great. And then you got to meet Garrett
brother and he's just a goofball And.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
What did he say? Something along the lines of she
can give a joke or she can take a joke.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, something. It's definitely I think some of the clapbacks
on Instagram and stuff like that are that's more Garrett
style of let's be a little more offensive. So that
really fired him up for sure. And yeah, my dad
is just like thinks you're the biggest sweetheart in the world.
And he has a lot of coworkers that listen to
(15:28):
the Bobby Bog Show, So I think he's a joy
get as well because he gets to connect with his coworkers.
And oh, did you hear what Morgan said today? And
my Dad's like, no, I didn't get to listen to
the show yet.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
And how do you feel that my life is public?
And that sometimes our relationship gets talked about and it's
kind of out there a lot of things happening.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
That doesn't bother me at all, because I think the
base of our relationship wasn't focused on anything public or
like it. I really again like I got to know
you for you, and I wanted to see who you
were not in a spotlight and I didn't even creep
on your Instagram. I didn't even know what you were about.
(16:13):
All I learned was from our first date and then
moving forward, and so being public, that doesn't it doesn't
bother me. It's definitely like it's exciting to see you
succeed in all the ways that you have and you're
able to. You have this platform to really be you
(16:33):
and talk about the things that are important to you,
but also just have fun with social media, and I
think that's really important. You're always really positive, which I love.
I think social media can if you want to bring
stuff down, you can, and you always lift stuff up.
Human Sunshine, that was a first date thing.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I asked you what you felt was your best quality,
and you said, well, one of my friends told me
that I'm human Sunshine. I was like, oh gosh, I'm
in trouble. This is too good.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, yeah, that's very much it. And you, Gosh, your
quality that I just noticed almost immediately was just this
openness and kindness just right off the bat. You just
were smiley, like we we matched that energy so quickly,
of just this kindness while also being bubbly. You mentioned
(17:26):
me being bubbly, but you were meeting that with that
same We have very similar outgoing personalities while also having
this kind of down to earth kindness ingrained, I guess,
and all of that, and I think that was what
made it so unrealistic that when I first met you,
(17:48):
and I kept saying, there's no way he's calling me
there's no way we're going to dance like this. As
I'm playing darts with you in my head, I'm like this, Yeah,
this is too good to be true. This isn't gonna happen.
I wanted to find something wrong with you, which also,
this is funny. It happened on the first date. So
he was wearing a hat that night.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And as I have mentioned, I do love a head
of hair. Sorry dad, he has made it difficult for
me to date baldman. And so he had a hat
on and all of my friends, like throughout the night
up until kind of the end of the night, were like,
so does he have hair? Like what you know? Is
that the thing that's gonna be wrong that you're gonna
(18:28):
be like, oh gosh, I have to make a decision.
And he kept removing his hat throughout the night and
like messing with his hair. I was like, nowhere, confirmed
has a great head of hair. And I came to
find out, like I don't know if five or six
days inn You're like, yeah, I was doing that on purpose.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah, I had just learned. So that was Saturday night,
and I want to say it was Thursday night that
I learned the term hat fishing. I had never heard
of hat fishing before, and someone was talking about it
at volleyball and I was like, what do you mean
hat fishing? And it's like when a guy looks good
with a hat on, but you don't know what's underneath.
(19:05):
And I learned there's a bigger culture of hat fishing
than I ever knew. And so that night, in particular,
I was like, Oh, I bet she is wondering if
I have hair. So I kept taking my hat off
just to let you know.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Let me make sure you know that I'm all good yea.
And Brandon knows this. I've shared it with him, but
I'm not an asshole. I also had a traumatizing experience.
There was a guy I dated way back when who
would sleep with his hat on. So I'm very traumatized
in this. The lack of confidence is really where a
lot of it comes from. The hat fishing kind of
(19:43):
associated with lack of confidence, Like it's just something I
think you should own. I think there's beautiful bald people
out there and people should rock it. Shout out your dad, Yeah,
my dad is a beautiful, handsome man. It's kind of
weird you want to date your dad, but you don't
want to date somebody who looks like your dad. Yeah,
you know, like I want all the qualities in the
personality traits, but it don't need you a little look
(20:04):
like him, because that would be weird. Anyways, off the trail,
but that was a funny part of one of ours.
Back to originally what I was saying, though, you just
exuded a lot of kindness and happiness and that was
something that I really loved, and you just further confirmed
that on our first date. So after the phone call
(20:26):
that we had, our first date was the next night,
So we met Saturday night. We had a three and
a half hour long phone call. Sunday, Monday was our
first date. This guy wasted zero time in making sure we.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Went on a date exactly what I wanted, and it
was one track mind. I was like, all right, here
we go Monday, set up a reservation, came and picked
you up.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And he also went to the extent of making sure
I was a restaurant that I could eat at because
I'm vegetarian. Were you ever turned off by the fact
that I was a vegetarian.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Note at all? So I was a pescatarian, So I
eat eggs and fish. When I lived in Florida, it
was really easy to get sustainable fish and good eggs.
There's a lot of farms down there and stuff like that.
So I was I didn't eat meat for six years,
so it was very easy to It wasn't a foreign
(21:21):
thing to me. And I don't dislike vegetarians and I
don't like I'm not like super pro meat. It just like,
I'm doing what's right for me at the time, and
so at that time, it felt good to not eat meat,
and it was really it started as a challenge to
not eat meat, and so no setting up finding somewhere
where you could eat and enjoy. And I made sure
(21:42):
that I didn't eat meat that first night to kind
of show you that's a possibility. And I know I
would assume that most guys would maybe be a little
bit turned off by that, but that wasn't something foreign
to me, so I was excited about it. I got
to be a little bit more creative and find a
spot that had a bunch of stuff that I thought
you'd like.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And no, we both did. We tried a whole bunch
of food together that night.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
We way too much food.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, and we had saki. I don't think I'd ever
had saki before that night. We had like a saki flight.
We were really just trying everything, and that was also
a very very big first impression date wise, was this
guy is going to be up for trying anything, trying
new things, and he's going to be supportive of the
things that I like. Those were all first impressions that
I was having on the first day. And you showed
(22:27):
up with some flowers, which is my favorite flower. So
you were very much listening the first night we met
and paid attention to that. And then literally from the
first date on we have pretty much been inseparable.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yes, it was the end of the first date and
it was like can I see you tomorrow? And then
it was like can I see you tomorrow? Can I
see you tomorrow? And it was just like all we
were doing was spending time together. And it was the
same for me, like is this too good to be true?
You know, like, because you're an incredible person and you've
(23:02):
set yourself up for success and you have such a
kind heart, and like everything about you just exudes happiness
and love and you're absolutely gorgeous, and you're single and
you want to hang out with me and it just
like it felt crazy to me, and I was like,
all right, when does the shoe drop for me? But
(23:23):
I remember on the night we met, after the girls
were grilling me about my red flags, I was like,
all right, so tell me about Morgan, like how is
she single? And they were like, she just works really hard,
and so you have to be okay with someone who's like,
really excels in their career and they're going to go
out of their way to set their life up for success,
(23:46):
and you have to be okay with that. And I
was like, all right, sounds wonderful that they were.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
My friends are very well trained in the capacity of
not talking about the show. Everybody in my life pretty
much knows. That's not something that I very much advertise,
not because I'm ashamed of it, but because I just
don't want people to assume that's all I'm trying to
put out there, and especially in dating, I want to
make sure people are getting to know me for who
I am. And so I love that my girls in
(24:14):
that situation were very protective over that, and they were
trying to tell you why it really hasn't worked out
in a lot of scenarios is a lot around just
my job in general, and lacking the confidence to be
with someone who has succeeded and has success and is
in a position that I'm in, and I love that
they were trying to tell you that without telling you
(24:35):
the main reason behind that. I didn't know that happened.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, yeah, they definitely they had your back.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I had no doubts. I knew they would, But that's funny.
I didn't know that this whole moment happened. We have
seen also Holly since we haven't seen Carlas since, which
were kind of the two drivers behind this, so beyond
on that first night we met, it was really funny.
I didn't ask them to go up to him. So
they were on a mission for some reason to make
(25:05):
me meet somebody that weekend. These are some of my
childhood best friends, and Holly was just one of my
friends here and they were just like on this mission
to make it happen. I was like, guys, it's girls weekend,
we're hanging out. We're not focused on any of this.
Let's just have fun. And Carla spots you and drink
beer ped dog shirt and then Holly, here's Carla mentioned this.
(25:28):
It was like, well, I'm just gonna go up to
him and bring him over. And I was like, what, No,
we're not. I hadn't even seen you. I didn't know
what you looked like. I didn't know who they were
pointing to because I just kept ignoring them. And so
when Holly brings you up, she taps me on the
shoulder and I turn around, like what are you doing?
And then I see you and you say you melted?
(25:48):
I melted. I was just like, ah, crap, it's actually cute.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
The first motion was you shaking your head. It was
a headshake, and then we like locked eyes and it
was no from there on that moment.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Do you want to share about the Florida side of this?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
And how you were not going to be here much longer.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah. Yeah, So this was a story that I didn't
tell you for a while.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I didn't learn this until when my parents came the
day that he was getting to meet my parents because
they were coming into town. He had told me this
story earlier that morning, and then he told my parents
the story later.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah. Previous to Nashville, I had lived in Saint Petersburg, Florida,
and I came up here on vacation to visit Ashton,
who lives here, and I accidentally got a job here.
I decided to stay. So I had never planned to
live in Nashville. I love the beach, I love Florida life,
(26:52):
I loved the sand and so I always thought I'd
go back to Florida. And part of me thought maybe
it was time to go back to Florida. And so
I had started entertaining a few different job opportunities down
in Florida, and I was talking to some people, and
on Friday, I had accepted a job in Florida with
(27:19):
my cousin's husband who had just started a business and
he needed a right hand man.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And this is a Friday before the Saturday that we met.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yes, So on Friday, I had accepted a job in Florida.
On Saturday morning, we had me and all my friends
had a volleyball tournament at Sandbar. And one of my
friends that I was talking about seeing if there were
any other job opportunities in Nashville or you know, she
(27:48):
had some opportunities in Florida. She pulled me aside and
she was like, Hey, I think there's a job opportunity
here in Nashville, and I was like, I'm so sorry,
but I just accepted a job down in Florida. And
I was like, don't tell anyone yet, but I think
I'm moving forward with this. And she was like, oh, Brad,
how could you leave this? And we're looking at this
amazing friend group and there were probably forty of us
(28:10):
out there and we're all really good friends. And she
was like, how could you possibly leave? What? Like we've
built here? And so she had walked away and I
kind of looked up in the sky and I was like,
all right, Universe, like send me a sign if I'm
supposed to be in Nashville, Like I need to know
because I'm at this part like my heart's torn. I
don't know what to do. And so that was in
(28:31):
the morning, and then I decided to go out and
get some beers with my now our friend Chris, and yeah,
we went to Skinny Dennis and I met you. And
it's funny because you think of shutting the door to
the uber as like you're I'm never going to see
(28:52):
that guy again. And that was like the moment where
I look back up at the sky and I was like, Uni,
what are you doing? Like that was crazy, like I
literally that morning asked for a sign and then I
meet you and it was like, Okay, I need to
I'm already crazy about this girl and I need to
(29:12):
at least talk to her on the phone. So we
got on the phone, and then that fifteen minute time
window we had turned into almost three and a half hours,
so I'm getting ready. So right after that phone call
is when I set up the reservation at the restaurant,
and I was like, something feels really good about this,
(29:33):
Like I feel all in and we haven't even gone
on a date, and there was something just really special
about that. And so I go to work and I'm
sitting there and I'm just thinking about my life in
Nashville and thinking about Florida and thinking about this job
opportunity that I was really excited about. And I had
(29:54):
gotten you sunflowers and I was driving over to come
pick you up, and there was a yellow jeep that
kind of cut me off and they had big sunflower
tire cover and it was just like I'm exactly where
I need to be, Like this is exactly where I
(30:15):
need to be. I came to Nashville to meet Morgan,
and so I called him right before I got to
your house and I told him, unfortunately, I can't take
the job. I'm just not finished. I told him verbatim,
I said, my time here in Nashville isn't done yet.
And he said, I wish you all the best. Definitely bummed.
(30:36):
And then we hung up and I literally I got
out of my truck and I walked up to your door.
I had already made a huge life decision knowing what
this was going to become. I just knew it. I
could feel it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And how do you feel about making that choice now? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I love it. I love it these oh yes, of course,
like the universe works in the craziest ways, and it
comes down to even if you rewind Ashton, my little
sister bought me the drink beer pet dog shirt. She
(31:21):
bought that at a brewery in Colorado, and her husband,
Justin did a fabulous job on budgeting, right, so they
had the set budget. Ashton buying me that t shirt
would have gone over her fun money budget for the month.
(31:42):
So she had picked up that shirt and she set
it back down and she's like, no, that would you know?
I need to be good. And they walked to a
different place in Breckenridge, and she just kept thinking about
that shirt. So she ended up going back and she
bought the shirt, even though it went over her fun
money budget. But she was getting it for me, And
(32:04):
if she would have never gotten me that T shirt,
I probably would have been wearing a black T shirt
that night.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Well, and don't forget that this shirt is typically your
travel shirt. It's not typically a wearing out shirt that
you do.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
It's my airport shirt. Yeah, you like to wear it
at the air It's the best conversation starter.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
It is, which I learned because he wore it at
the airport on our first trip together. Well, second trip together,
the one that we didn't road trip, which we'll get into.
The first flight we had together, which was my first
flight ever with a boyfriend. Mind you, it did not
go according to plan.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Tune in for we two. That could be a whole episode.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Oh my god, So he wears this shirt. We get delayed,
multiple delayed, like this one flight. We have a direct
flight out and it is just getting delayed, delayed, and
then it gets canceled. We did a book the flight together.
Mind you, I've never traveled with a boyfriend before, so
I just thought you buy your flight, separate, you go
together or whatever.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Sitting on the couch together. We just booked m on
our phones.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
We put our information in and we get rebooked on
different flights. And I'm about to have an anxiety attack
first of all, because we're going through with everything with
Hazel and front of me, and I'm like, maybe this
is a sign we shouldn't be going whatever. And I'm like,
now we're not even on the same flight, and this
is gonna be the first flight with my boyfriend that
I've ever had in my life. I'm like, what is happening?
(33:27):
And so we ended up getting separated. We went through
with it. I was like, Okay, I'll meet you down
in Orlando, like I'll see you there. And I'm just
getting texts from him. He's made like eight friends at
the airport who he like, took shot. He bought a
guy a shot to borrow his charger because his phone
was gonna die because I had his charger. We didn't
think about the fact that we'd be separated.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah, my phone was dying. We were separated, and I
was like, I need to go make a friend that
has a charger.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yep, And you made another friend with a woman who
had the koozie with the same thing on it.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, so I was ye, I was wearing the famous
shirt and she came up to me and she had
a koozie that said drink beer and pet dogs from
that same brewery in Colorado, and so yeah, I'd made
a friend there. And that was right at the moment
where your plane was leaving. So I like it was
pretty funny. I was, but they could get very dramatic.
I was like, my girlfriend's on that poy, but she
(34:20):
liked it, and so yeah, I made that friend. And
then I went to the bar and sat down and yeah,
ended up buying a shot for he was a music
producer from Australia or something.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah, I still don't know who it was.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, he can't remember, And so I bought him a shot,
and then he ended up giving me his phone charger,
but he didn't even have the right charger. So I
bought this guy a sixteen dollars airport shot and it
didn't even fit my phone. And I had asked one
bartender if I could use the charger that I could
(34:56):
see right behind the bar, and they're like, no, we
don't do that for customers. Then another bartender, here's this
whole story. The iPhone charger doesn't fit, and he was like, oh,
you can just use this one, and I was like, okay,
So I just spent sixteen dollars on this random guy's
shot all.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Because we got separated. Yep, we're a flight just supposed
to be our first one. We did, spoiler alert, have
our first flight together. Yeah, on the way back. It
was very exciting, but we were exhausted, so I don't
think I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
And I slept for a good amount of the flight,
and You're like, first boyfriend flight, You're just going to sleep.
I was like, I'm so tired. We were averaging thirty
four thousand steps a day. I know.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I was just excited to have my first boyfriend flight.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
No, well it was a boyfriend flight. I was just
sleeping on you.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
I was, and we had the whole aisle through ourselves,
which made him better. I do want the people to
know a little bit more about.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
You, so let's digging.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah, not that they haven't already, but your story is
super unique, and your whole family story is really unique.
Oh you want to take it away from me?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah, So we had a year I guess it was
two thousand and two where kind of everything went wrong,
but everything turned out to make us who we are.
So it started in November of two thousand and one.
(36:33):
My dad was laid off from a tech company, if
you will, and so he was a higher up at
this tech company and he was laid off. The first
week of December. My little sister, Ashton, who was eight
at the time, was diagnosed with leukemia, and so she
(36:55):
started going through treatment for that. My older sister had
some back issues and they had finally decided that they
were going to do surgery. The first week in June,
she was scheduled to have two rods and twenty eight
titanium screws put in her back. And the week before
(37:16):
she was supposed to have her surgery, I was at
a pool party and I ended up having a stroke.
A lot of people say, healthy twelve year old boy
doesn't have a stroke. Well I did. I had an
old person stroke. It was in my cerebellum and I
was playing in the pool and I got out of
(37:38):
the pool and at my left side started curling in
and I lost color, and the grass that I was
walking on all of a sudden just kind of went sideways,
and I felt like I was walking really wonky, and
I started getting sick, and the lifeguards had run over
to me, and they thought I was having a heat stroke.
(37:59):
And parents are calling my parents and trying to figure
this out, because they realized pretty quickly that it was
a pretty extreme case. And so my mom rushed over
to the pool, picked me up, and took me to
the hospital and they just couldn't figure out what was
happening with me, and kind of long story short, they
(38:22):
ended up sending me home and they said that it
was just a really bad migraine. So I spent the
next day or so at home, basically just sitting in
a dark basement with a wet cloth on my face,
and my parents were just waiting on me hand and foot,
and I ended up going back to Children's hospital. This
(38:43):
was all in Colorado, just outside of Denver, and so
I went back to Children's hospital and they diagnosed that
I had a stroke, and so I had to have
emergency brain surgery and I lost about a third of
my a rebellum and doctors didn't think i'd ever walk
(39:04):
or talk or be able to move my left side
because at this point my left side was still curled in,
and so I literally shared a hospital room with Jordan,
my older sister, who had back surgery, and Jordan and
I were on the third floor while Ashton was up
on the fifth floor getting chemotherapy. And then we have
(39:24):
my brother at home who was couch hopping and going
from family to family and kind of wondering when the
shoe was going to drop for him. So we went
through it, and my parents were so strong getting through it,
and they would just flip flop between the two rooms
and check in on whatever family was helping Garrett out.
(39:48):
And Ashton had a full recovery and she's been in
remission ever since. And my older sister would say, she
got the good hair twice. She had curly blonde hair
and she lost her hair during chemotherapy and it came
back like this luscious brown, straight hair. And so Jordan says, oh,
(40:09):
she got the good hair twice, and Jordan sits up
very straight. Now you would never know. And then for me,
I had this amazing recovery that was a little bit unexpected,
but it's definitely led me to places in life where
I was already heading, but maybe accelerated where I was
at I'm very thankful for my stroke. I wouldn't change
(40:30):
that for the world.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
And you have a really cool Harry Potter scar.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Yeah, from the back of your head. I have a
scar on the back of my head. It's curvy because
hair grows straight, so if my neurologist were to cut
a straight line, the hair would separate, so you'd always
be able to see it. But I like to keep
my hair a little bit shorter so you can see it.
But if my hair was longer, it would cover up.
(40:55):
And yeah, something I got made fun of as a
kid because Harry Potter was pretty popular when I had
my stroke, and I have this squiggly line, you know.
The Harry Potter jokes were pretty rich in middle school.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And it didn't make you hate Harry Potter because you
and I both peek out of her Harry Potter.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I loved Harry Potter, and honestly, like when people would
say it, I thought it was cool. You know, it's
like a lightning bowl, you know. But just the tone
of some of the ways it was brought up, whispered
about behind me, because middle schoolers just don't know that
even if you're behind someone, you could still that person,
could hear you. I really wear it with bride now.
(41:32):
I like my scar and yeah, just missing a third
of my sarahbellum, which my family reminds me of all
the time, especially my brother.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
You do. Their family loves to make a lot of
jokes now about this time. Yeah, I think the first
time when I was around all of them and they
were all making the jokes together, and I was like, wait,
what's happening. We're making jokes about all of that? Okay,
all right.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Yeah, we like to remind Ashton that she has the
bad blood in the family, and you know, we make
fun of Jordan for being made of metal. And then
they like to remind me that I don't have a
full brain and if only I had a full brain,
I could have said that or remembered this. So yeah,
we were very, very playful with it because you just
(42:17):
everyone in the family's healthy and not a lot of
people get to tell that part of a story when
you have that many things go wrong in a family,
and it's brought us really close, all of us are
you know, my mom, my dad, you know, both my sisters,
my brother were all so close and it's really cool
that we got to go through hardship at such a
(42:40):
young age but be able to bounce back and everyone's
all good.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
You know, I love your family so much. They are
so much fun, and we hang out with them anytime
they're in town, which is quite often, so they come
down quite a bit. Yeah, I love that. Thanks for
sharing that. It's part of your story. Does it feel
weird that I'm interviewing you?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
No, Yeah, it's weird to be on this side because
I've sat in to see a couple of them, but yeah,
to be on this side is a little different.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
You're doing really good. I'm so proud of you. What
else should we hit on before we get out of here?
Anything else that you think is pertinent at this moment.
We are going to do another episode because there's so
many questions that got asked and they're very specific, so
we'll get into those. But anything else you want to
(43:31):
openly talk about here that we haven't gotten to.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
I won't talk about anything.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
I know you will. You're very open, very good. You
know what, let's talk about this. Do you love Remy
and Hazel?
Speaker 2 (43:49):
I don't know if love covers it. Remy, you need
to get over here right now.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
She's just staring at you. You got a mini tail wag.
But it's little cool. The people would like to know, Hey,
pay attention to me.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Oh, here we go.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
See he loves her more than me. Sometimes he pays
attention to her more than me. But the people would
like to know. That was a very heavily asked question
because it got brought up on the show that I
brought miss Remy on our first vacation together and I
shouldn't have apparently, So how did you feel in all
of that?
Speaker 2 (44:25):
I one thousand percent supported that from the get go.
I've always been a dog guy. I've traveled with dogs.
I was way more than comfortable bringing her on the vacation.
I loved I feel like I was the one that
was like, we should take the stroller, we should like
(44:46):
she should come with this, like sitting on patios with dogs.
Like if you're a dog owner, it's a whole skill
and you have to think differently. And you if you're
on a road trip, you can't just stop anywhere for food,
and you can't stop somewhere where the dog's going to
have to stay inside the car or you know whatever,
(45:07):
and so it's just a different thought pattern and It's like,
I feel like I think about Remy as much as
you think about Remy, and it was never even a
question that she was coming, and everything that we did
(45:27):
was better because she was there. And the whole time
we got like two comments on people that are like, oh,
you're pushing a dog in a stroller, and it's like, yeah,
it's not affecting you. If it was a baby, you
wouldn't have said anything. So whatever. People love their dogs,
and dogs deserve love. So that's exactly what I'm gonna
(45:49):
give Ren. And Hazel's a whole nother story.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Yeah, so funny enough, okay, but just making sure I
didn't coerce you to say that you were happy. No, okay,
I'm just making Remy's literally on his lap right now
for all of our listeners, if you're not watching this
on YouTube, she very much is. I'm pretty sure she
(46:13):
loves you just as much as she loves me. I'm
getting side eye for some reason right now, like this
is my man, not yours. But Hazel's a funny story.
So I had told him when we first met that
I had a cat, and he was like, gosh, I'm
not a huge fan of cats. I've had some bad
interactions with them. Just not a good situation. You weren't
like a hater, you just didn't have good experiences with cats.
(46:36):
And I was like, well, wait till you meet mine.
He's like, okay, yeah, whatever, so much so that he
didn't like cats, that it was the one thing on
his dating app profile that he said he didn't want
to date somebody with or like. That was one of
his two things. I don't remember what your other thing was.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Yeah, I tried to be funny with it, but yeah,
cats were definitely involved. I had never met a cat
that I felt like a better person after I met
I left with bite marks or they smell bad, or
their mean, or they shed like I don't like everything
(47:12):
that I love about a dog. I had never seen
those qualities in a cat. And it's nothing against cats.
I just for some reason, I just met nineteen of
the worst ones out there, for some reason, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
But and now you give SubQ fludes to Hazel. He
snuggles her every time he comes in. Sometimes he will
come and say hi to her before he ever says
hi to me when he comes over. Yeah, it's like
the first thing you'll do. Where's Hazel. No.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
I think it was a couple days ago when I
came over and I walked in the kitchen. I think
I had a full blown conversation with Remy and then
I was snuggling Hazel as she was sitting in her
cat bed, and we hadn't even communicated. It had been
like five minutes, and I like, look over and it's like,
(48:06):
I love these animals, and you're like, oh, Hi, Like
that's not normal.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
So has your mind changed on cats because of Hazel?
Speaker 2 (48:17):
I mean, yeah, I'm open to cats now. I didn't
know cats like her existed. It's like, we go to
let Remy out back, and you hear the pitter patter
of Hazel's paws because she wants to go out back.
She's just a dog that's trapped in the Siamese.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Cat body exactly. So all those people who were haters
of this man not wanting my animals around or on
vacation or any of the above, you were wrong.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I just love I've always loved animals.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I know we bonded over that.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah. And it just so the fact that people thought
that I was upset that you brought Remy on the trip,
and it was like, no, I want olden her up.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
I think some of that was because it was our
first vacation together. So does that change your mind at
all because it was our first one together?
Speaker 2 (49:17):
No, Like, that's it's the package deal. And you can't
be like if I thought Remy was annoying, that relationship
is not gonna last. You need the whole thing. Stop settling,
stop settling. You need the whole package. And Remy's just
(49:37):
been nothing but the sweetest little and I can't get
over this haircut that she just got. But she's just
been the sweetest little ball of fur. And I'm lucky
to have her, and I'm lucky to have Hazel, and
I'm actually lucky to have you. For sure?
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Are you trying to make me cry?
Speaker 2 (49:57):
No, She'll lick your tears off. She's a lucky move.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
Okay, we're gonna end on this because we're gonna go
and answer a bunch of questions. But I want us
to each share our favorite qualities about each other. Let's
go top three or top five, you choose, Okay, do
you want to go first? You want to go first,
I'll go first. Okay, you can go first.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
First. Quality is kindness, Your kindness. It's an unwavering kindness
like you. You are kind to a stranger that we
meet at the farmers market. You are kind to your
family members, you are kind to your friends, You're kind
to animals. You're I can't get over how naturally you
(50:49):
are just kind to everyone. Your work ethic inspires me
to be a better person. You are not afraid to
tell me that we can't hang out or we can't
do that because you have this to do and you
have other plans and you have work Like this is
you stay true to yourself and I just think that's
(51:15):
so admirable that you do that, and watching you do
that helps me learn how to be a better person.
Like literally and my third gosh, I would say the
(51:36):
fun that you have with life. I remember it was
I think it was the second time that we hung
out and I played a song in the truck and
you were just singing along and you didn't have a
care in the world. And this is like, still, we're
getting to know one another, and you can't be too
(51:59):
lucy goose with you know who you are and you
can't let the weird out and you were just like
one hundred percent you and I just I was like,
all right, that's it. If she's going to be comfortable
enough to just open up and sing at the top
of her lungs. And you were like tapping on your
(52:19):
legs and you were just getting it and not looking
at me. It wasn't like attention seeking. You were just
in your own world. And so like, the fun that
you can find in life is something that I want
to constantly strive for, and I think I'm pretty good
at it. But there's definitely times where you remind me
(52:40):
to come back to just kind of silly fun, live
your life and smile while you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
Oh you know, that's really sweet.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
I like you a little bit.
Speaker 1 (52:52):
Yeah, just a little bit. Okay, okay, just ari of it.
My my three for you. By the way, thank you.
I'm learning to say thank you. I'm not very good
at accepting compliments.
Speaker 2 (53:03):
It usually turns into like an awkward twisting. I'm like,
oh my gosh, you look gorgeous, and she's like so rude.
Speaker 1 (53:15):
You know how to call me out like that.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
And you're openly working on it.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
Yeah, I'm trying, so thank you, you're so well so
twist my bodies out of that. Oh my goodness. Okay,
your three qualities that I love so much. Okay, you
have genuinely one of the biggest hearts I believe that
(53:41):
I have ever met with your friends, with your family,
with animals, with everything. You will give your shoes, shirt
and pants off your back to somebody who needs it.
You show up in this world just so positive and
so optimistic and so leaving. Like if there's ever a
(54:02):
moment where I start to go down a little bit
of a pessimistic lane, You're like, well, there's this side.
I'm like, dang it, you took me back to the
other side. You're so good at just existing and exuding
in this like just kind of bubble of love. And
I think it's a lot of the testament of the
things that you've been through, and so much of that
is where that comes from. My second one would be
(54:26):
that you are very consistent. Steadfast is another word. You
have been the same person since the moment that I
met you in the best way possible, Like you aren't
trying to be somebody else, You're exactly who you are.
You don't change for anyone. Any moments where you be
(54:46):
a little funny or weird, you don't care what anybody
thinks about you. You just have this genuineness to you
and it shows and how consistent you are and showing
up in your life, and how dead fast you are
in our relationship and your working relationships and your friendships
with your family. Gosh, this guy talks on the phone
(55:07):
more than I know. I'm pretty sure every time he
drives to and from work he's on the phone call
with somebody catching up with him. And then the other
one would be I think my last one for you.
There's so many I know.
Speaker 2 (55:24):
It's it well, and it's tough when you when you
put yourself on the spot too.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
I know, I even knew I was going to ask
these things, and I still don't know which one I
was gonna No, there's something on my hands. Mine. I
think mine would be that you and it maybe it
goes too much along with another one. But your compassion,
I don't know, You're just a super compassionate human being.
You just the way you interact with the world is
(55:53):
something that so many people could learn from and so
many people would be better off for knowing you, And
I just wish there was more of that that existed.
And maybe those were all very similar I don't know.
They're different words, so whatever counts. It's something, well you'll
allow it.
Speaker 2 (56:12):
Yeah it's three.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
Okay you like those? Well, thank you coming on you
so much. Look at you accepting compliments so well usually yeah,
I can't hear like no, not me. Thanks for coming on, mister.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
B Thank you for inviting me and.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
Sharing our story. And you're cutie.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
I did not know what was going to come out.
Speaker 1 (56:42):
Okay, give me kids, Yes you heard that correctly. We
are doing another episode next week. So this episode was
really just for us to share our story together, and
I wanted him to share his story and just have
a really fun episode without too much pressure. But next
week we are answering all of those questions that you
all sent in because there was so many, we had
(57:04):
to do another episode. Now. I do know a few
of them got answered in this episode, but all those
specific ones you guys are asking, very nitty gritty details,
we will be doing next week, so make sure you subscribe.
I'm so happy that you're here. Maybe you were giggling, screaming,
kicking your feet with me as this episode happened. If
that's not the case and you're like ooh love, throw up.
(57:25):
That's totally fine too. Maybe don't listen to next week's episode,
but all the same, I'm just happy you tuned in.
I'm happy you're here. Lots of episodes on all kinds
of things if this is your first time tuning in,
so check it out and you can follow the podcast
Instagram page at Take this Personally, I can't wait to
yeap with y'all next week
Host
Morgan Huelsman
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.