Baggage Claim
Baggage Claim is a space for blended families, marriage, and friendship. Here, we dive into real-life conversations about the ups and downs of relationships, from navigating second marriages to unpacking the baggage we all bring. Hosted by Greg and Jessica, who both have rich experiences with love, loss, and family, this community is about sharing stories, learning together, and growing stronger as couples and individuals. Grab a drink and join us as we unpack, laugh, and claim our baggage—one conversation at a time
Episodes
Our studio is a construction zone, so we’re back where this whole thing started: the kitchen table, surrounded by cables, boxes, and real life. What starts as a casual catch-up turns into something deeper after Greg shares a vulnerable moment from a concert a reality check that hit hard: life can change overnight, and we don’t want to sleepwalk through the good parts. If you’ve been feeling stretch...
Most couples will train for a job, a sport, or a skill but treat marriage like it should “just work.” We’re flipping that script from our kitchen table while our studio is literally torn apart, because the message matters more than the setup: you don’t have to be sick to get better.
We talk about coaching in real life, from running and nutrition coaching to music and performance ...
If you have ever thought, “We’re doing the date nights, we’re saying the right phrases, we’re trying to communicate, so why does nothing change?” this conversation is for you. We keep seeing couples attempt marriage repair with tools they cannot actually access yet, and it is not because they are lazy or broken. It is because there is an order to healthy relationship growth, and skippin...
Something is running your marriage that you never agreed to and it is not your spouse. We call it the invisible rule book: the unspoken rules written into you by childhood, past relationships, and the environments that taught you what conflict, love, money, and safety are “supposed” to look like. When those rules go unnamed, you end up fighting about surface stuff and wondering why nothing ever really ch...
A simple question can either bring you closer or blow up your night. We’re digging into the difference between curiosity and surveillance, because “I’m just asking” can sound like care to one person and feel like an interrogation to the other. And if you’ve ever found yourself thinking, Why is my partner so defensive? or Why do I feel attacked when they’re being normal?, you&rsquo...
One sentence can start a fight, even when nobody meant harm. We’ve both said it and we’ve both heard it the wrong way: “You never talk to me,” “I just need a minute,” “I don’t know how.” What if the problem isn’t your marriage or your blended family, but the fact that you’re speaking different languages with the same words?
We (Greg and J...
The hardest part about marriage is not the hard season, it is the moment you realize you did not prepare for it. We are Greg and Jess, and we built our relationship inside a blended family with four kids, two households, and a whole lot of moving parts. That has taught us one big lesson: every couple hits highs and lows, but stepfamily life adds extra layers that can make the lows feel louder and the transitions fee...
The hardest part of a blended family is rarely the schedule on the calendar. It’s the unspoken stuff: the grief nobody names, the loyalty kids feel in their chest, and the pressure adults carry to make it look “normal” so no one asks questions. We go after that elephant in the room one bite at a time, with honest stories, a little humor, and a lot of real talk.
Greg and Jess unpack why so ma...
One awkward moment at a kid’s birthday party can expose years of unspoken tension. We’ve lived it: a family member warmly reconnects with the ex while the current spouse gets ignored in the same breath. If you’re building a blended family, you already know these moments don’t stay small. They shape how kids feel, how spouses feel, and whether the new marriage feels protected or constantly tes...
Joy can feel like a missing person when bills pile up, the house is chaotic, and your brain won’t stop scanning for what could go wrong. We sit down as a real married couple with real pressures and ask a simple question that turns into a deep one: how do you find joy when it isn’t tied to your circumstances?
We unpack the difference between happiness and joy in everyday language. Happiness is ofte...
Something feels off, but you can’t quite name it and then one day you finally say it out loud: “We’re missing fun.” That’s where we start, with Greg, Jess, and Michael trading jokes, real confessions, and the kind of honest marriage talk that usually only happens after everyone’s been sitting at the kitchen table for a while.
We bounce from “fun red flags” (ADHD...
You can love each other and still be running a relationship on autopilot. We get honest about the hidden systems already shaping your marriage: the routines for money, schedules, and kids, plus the unspoken patterns you rely on when conflict shows up. Then we ask the uncomfortable question: if we build systems for everything else, why do we leave emotional connection, hard conversations, and feeling safe with each o...
A thriving marriage isn’t luck, and it definitely isn’t a roll of the dice. We’re six months into the year, so we’re doing a real-time marriage check-in and asking the question most couples avoid: if the tools to build a strong relationship are sitting right in front of you, will you pick them up, or will you keep hoping things magically get better?
We talk through what makes check-ins...
The fastest way to turn a normal day into a blowup is to “see” something that isn’t actually there. A cup on the counter becomes disrespect. A missed chore becomes proof they don’t care. A quiet drive home becomes rejection. We’ve all done it, and it’s exactly why we built this conversation around a simple idea: your marriage can be like an optical illusion, where two people stare...
The fastest way to wreck a blended family isn’t a missed pickup or a messy schedule, it’s turning your kids into the place you dump your hurt. We get real about the quiet, everyday moments when bitterness, resentment, and old divorce pain sneak out as comments, side-eyes, “just being honest,” or pressure for the kids to pick a team. If you’ve ever felt that pull to make your children un...
Your marriage doesn’t need more pressure. It needs more room to breathe. We sit down with our friends Richard and Nibia Conley and the conversation goes everywhere we love: relationships, real-life stress, and the kind of laughter that actually keeps a home together.
Richard shares his road from the railroad and warehouse work to co-owning a barbershop, and how grief became the turning point that pushed...
If your home feels like a command center for schedules, bills, sports, and stress, we get it, and we’re not here to pile on more rules. We’re Greg and Jess, and we’re making a case for something that sounds simple but can be revolutionary for marriage, parenting, and blended families: choosing fun on purpose.
We talk about how “fun” became a real family core value for us, especia...
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are supposed to feel simple. In a blended family, they can feel like a stress test for everyone’s emotions, schedules, and loyalty. We dig into what actually happens when expectations get too high, boundaries get blurry, and a “nice holiday” turns into quiet disappointment or an argument that spills into the kids’ world.
We walk through the pra...
You can say “I’d do anything for you” and still miss your marriage in the daily grind. That’s the tension we sit with today, because the biggest threats to connection usually aren’t dramatic, they’re subtle: distraction, autopilot, and a thousand tiny decisions that quietly move us farther apart.
We start with a simple but challenging idea: your spouse is often the only per...
Some nights we want to show up upbeat and polished, but real life doesn’t always cooperate. We’re recording after a week that feels way too heavy, and instead of pretending we’re fine, we sit in the truth: it’s okay to not be okay. If you’re carrying grief, stress, or that quiet dread you can’t explain, we want you to hear this clearly. You’re not broken. You’re human....
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