Transcript of Armchair Anonymous: Meet Cute III

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous. I'm Dan Sheppard, and I'm joined by Monica Padman.

Hi.

Your favorite prompt.

I love this prompt. It's a very sweet prompt.

This one was extra sweet. It has one, and I had to immediately tell my children at the dinner table. Yeah. Yeah, there's a very sweet one.

We're not going to spoil it, but you guys, you can listen to this one.

You can listen to it and prepare to have a lot of sweetness. These are sweet, and they're life-affirming and positive. Hellenic Studies. Please enjoy Meat Q. All times, come and go. Good times, take them slow.

My life, I had them Hi.

Hi. How's it going? Wonderful. Where are you? I'm I'm in Philadelphia. The great city of Philadelphia.

Yeah, we have a snowstorm right now. Oh, you have enough supplies? Oh, yeah. We're all set.

You got power, clearly.

Got power. Thank goodness. The kids had a snow day today, so that was very exciting for everyone.

Oh, there's nothing better.

I know.

Okay, so tell me, where did this meet cute take place?

All right, so it took place in Philadelphia. First, just a little backstory, a little information about me as a kid and a teenager. I was a baton twirler and a jugular and just an all-around musical theater nerd. Those are my big hobbies.

Maybe your high school is different than mine, but I don't remember the baton twerler and the jugular being the bell of the ball necessarily.

You're right. Musical theater was separate, a little cooler, and the baton twerler and jugular was really my own thing that my friends didn't really understand.

Were you in pageants?

I wasn't. I just enjoyed the fun of it. I didn't to compete.

Now, I could see that hobby bringing you into other cultures. Because the Grateful Dead, people were so into different hand toys, I could be like, Well, fuck, maybe that's my home.

Object manipulation, they call it. Object manipulation. If there was a school talent show, that was my jam. My story begins in 2011 in Philadelphia. I was 24, and I was fresh out of college, figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go and I thought maybe I wanted to be a teacher, work with kids. I had all these part-time seasonal jobs.

What degree had you picked up?

I had a degree in music and English, so neither one super useful. I was thinking about going back to school to get my teaching degree. But at this point, I was about to leave for an outdoor education job that was going to be in Massachusetts for three months. And before I left, I got this call from an old high school friend, and she told me that she had extra tickets to the Philadelphia Folk Festival. The next day, her parents weren't going to use their tickets and wanted to know if I wanted to join. I said, Sure, that sounds like fun. I go to this folk festival, and the Philly Folk Festival is really fun. It's folk music, banjos, guitars, lots of hippies wearing tie-dye.

There's no overlap with a Renaissance Festival, right? You're not eating turkey drumsticks and throwing axes or anything.

No, none of that. It's more about the music and camping. It's still dirty and hot and people get into it, but it's a little different than the Renaissance Fair vibe. At the folk festival, there's also this family-friendly area where there's kids' activities and kids' music, and it's in this nice shady, grassy area. Every year at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, this circus troupe called the Give and Take Jugglers perform. I had seen them throughout my childhood. Over the years, they were like a staple in Philadelphia. They would perform at school assemblies and camps and my Girl Scout troupe. They were this really good-natured, family-friendly, rotating cast of jugglers. They put on this vaudevillian classic circus show. They had this calliopy they would crank, and that would play music, and they'd bring kids up on stage and juggle around them. They just had this timeless, magical quality that was really fascinating to me. At the festival, I was excited to watch them and relive my childhood. I parked myself in the audience, up this hill in the back of the audience, and they're performing down at the bottom of the hill. The show starts, and this man comes out on stage who I didn't recognize.

He had long hair, and he starts to do this routine with his hat. It's just to music. There's no words. He's flipping his hat and doing hat tricks. Then he throws his hat to someone in the audience, and he mimes to them to throw the hat back like a frisbee and try get it on his head. Okay. Love it. That's the point of the routine. He throws it to them. They throw it back. It doesn't work. It goes off to the side. It lands on the ground. It's comical. He hams it up. He throws it to the next person. Again, they don't know how to throw a frisbee. It goes somewhere else. The more he tries, the more comical it gets. The tension is building. Everybody keeps missing and missing. Finally, he works his way down the crowd, and he locks eyes with me.

You're the perfect gal for this mission.

Oh, yeah. He launches this hat up and over the crowd, and I see it sailing towards me. I don't know what came over me or what gave me this confidence, but I stood up and I caught the hat on my head.

Wow!

Oh, wonderful.

The audience gasps and he reacts with surprise, and I'm surprised at myself. I didn't plan it or anything. I took the hat off and I launch it back to him and it sails over the crowd and it lands perfectly on his head.

Oh, my God. Oh, man, man, man, man.

This is so sexual.

The show goes on and I forget about him. Then after the show is over, I see the performer talking to someone who I was already acquainted with, so I felt comfortable barging in and interrupting their conversation. I said, Hi, you threw a hat on my head. What a great moment that was. He looks at me mysteriously and he goes, We were just talking about moments.

Okay. It's like the Middle Ages.

He was trying to say, Sim.

But juggler style? Yeah.

I was like, Who is this cute guy? We talked and I told him that I was also a juggler, which was interesting to him. So we juggled together.

Really quick, when you juggle together, are you both independently juggling? Are you juggling like tossing back and forth to each other?

Yeah, we were tossing back and forth to each other. Yeah, we were passing clubs.

That has to be so euphoric. I was just with Aaron last weekend, and we were talking about how much we miss playing catch with just a ball and a glove. We were talking about the weird magic of that should not be as enjoyable as it is, but by God, is it soothing? I imagine you put six, seven balls in the mix. It's got to be downright euphoric. And sex 10.

If you're good, no one's good at that.

When you get it going, you get in the flow, it feels really good. We started talking, and before we know it, two hours had gone by, and it was time for him to do the next show. So we part, and I go home and I immediately stalk him online and come back the next day. I had totally abandoned my friend who had brought me to this festival in the first place, and I just hang out with him the whole day. We hang out every single day until I have to go to this job in Massachusetts for three months. One of those days we are getting lunch, and he asks if I would consider being his juggling partner when I got back and doing the show with him.

Oh, yes. You've been dying to join the circus. Yes.

I had never considered it as a career, but I had all the skills and I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. I thought that sounds like a much better idea than getting a regular job. So let's give it a try. When I got back from Massachusetts, I started performing with him and dating at the same time. We slowly took over the troupe, and we've been performing together full-time for 14 years. Oh, my God. Oh, my goodness.

You're married?

We're married, and we have two kids.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, what a great story.

Is this activity taking you over Overseas? I could see you guys going to Europe with this routine.

We haven't gone overseas with it. We stay pretty local. We're in Philadelphia, so we travel up and down the Eastern Coast. We do a lot of school assemblies and fairs and community events and things like that. It's nice because especially now that we have kids, we can stay home, be home at night, don't need to take anybody on the road with us.

Do the kids juggle?

Well, my daughter is seven and my son is three, so they're not quite at the juggling yet, but my daughter's really into gymnastics. And fun tidbit, we still perform every year at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. And last year was the first time that both kids joined us on stage for a routine.

Oh, fun. How cute.

It was really full circle and made me so happy to bring them to the place where we had met, and the whole story started.

That's how Buster Douglas got his start. He was a prop in his parents' Vaudville act.

Buster Keaton?

Yeah. What did I say?

Buster Douglas.

Oh, that was a boxer who knocked out Tyson for the first time. Yes, Buster Keaton. They called him Buster. They think it was Buster because they would throw him. You're done. You're over Buster.

No, we already knew it.

Oh, you already knew that? Yeah, we've known it. Everyone here knew that.

David Blaine episode.

I love that. When I'm hearing it, I'm watching a Guillermo del Toro movie. I want there to be a really cool show about juggler, carny type folks.

I think it's a neat world. I think you're thinking of that movie with Bradley Cooper.

That Cooper did? Yeah. Yeah, but like the uplifting version.

Sure. Well, if anyone to do a movie about us, that'd be great.

Well, first of all, when it becomes a job, does it affect how much you do it for fun?

Yeah, there's this juggler's club, and it's once a week, and we have yet to go.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Then the other thing I was imagining is you could maybe also track and plot the natural ebbs and flows in a relationship by how much you two are juggling together. You could go like, Man, we haven't juggled in the backyard in six months. That's a bad sign.

When we We don't have a show for a while, if we take a break for some reason, for the pandemic, it really felt like something was missing in our relationship, this essential part of who we are as a couple and how we bond. We go out, we do the show, we put in all this hard work, we have to use a lot of teamwork and figuring things out together. Then we go out to dinner afterwards. We have a date. It's this whole ritual. When that was missing in our life, it really feels like we need to do a show together to reconnect. Yeah.

Yeah, I bet.

It's like Sunny and share, but the good version. Where he doesn't take all your money.

Well, funny enough, the only thing they enjoy doing together was working together. I know. Well, Allison, this was really heartwarming. I like star-cross jugglers.

Thanks for having me so much, you guys. This was a real pleasure.

Good luck in your storm.

Snowball juggles.

Yeah, we'll juggle some snowballs. That's a great idea.

All right, take care. Bye.

Do you know that I was a clown?

I know you had a clown class, right? Yeah. As part of your training.

Yeah, as part of my training, it was part of my training. It was a clown class. Well, it was a semester on... Was it a whole semester? I can't remember. I think it was a part of my movement class, but I was really good at it.

I think the French, as part of their acting program, are really into clown and mime work, and that would be real rough for me to get through.

No, it's really fun. It is. I mean, you know Commedia Del Arte?

No.

It's improv clowns.

Is this what Marcel Marcel was or whatever the famous clown's name? Maybe.

Commedia is a improv troupe, and there's set characters that have tropes. Like, this is the messy one or whatever. Then you go to Commedia shows. It was the first time I saw improv. I didn't audition because I was scared.

Someone was telling us about this. A guest of ours was talking about Kamedia. Yeah, it's cool. Are the seven Dwarfs, do they represent the archetypes in Kamedia?

No. Be respectful. Okay. Anyway, it's cool. I was a great clown. Cookie boy.

We got a Cookie boy in the house.

I had to represent.

I am so pleased. Do you remember the whole debacle?

I do, Jeremy. You're a man after Monica's heart. That's right. It's a shame this is a meet It's a cute story because this could probably be a meet cute story. I know.

It could be, and I think this one might hit a little close to home for Monica.

Oh, I can already tell from your accent.

Nice Southern accent.

Yeah.

I am born and raised in Athens, Georgia, and Story takes place just outside of Athens in Waukinsou.

Oh, my God. Well, have you had the strawberry cake?

I have had the strawberry cake many times. So good. More of a white chocolate cheesecake fan myself, but the strawberry cake is phenomenal.

Oh, I love this. This This is great news today.

Did you go to college there? Is it weird to go to college in your hometown?

No, not at all. Monica and I were actually in school together at the same time. I was at UGA in 2008, 2009.

Oh, my God. Do we have any classes?

I don't think so. I was sports management, but I do often think to myself, I'm like, I wonder if she was ever beside me on the orbit bus, and I just don't know it.

I bet so. Or at one of the bars. Did you booty bump?

Of course. I wasn't much of a booty bumper, but- You never went to Firehouse? I I went to the bars. I had the fake ID, but it wasn't really my scene. I was more of a house party guy. Okay, nice.

Oh, I love this. All right.

Before we dive in, did you ever make your way over to Watkinsville and eat at Chicken Express?

I don't think so. I'm really sad to say. I want to lie, but I'm not going to.

Tell me about Chicken Express.

All right. So, Chicken Express is where the story, the meet cute, actually takes place. So I worked at Chicken Express, fast food restaurant, think Zaxby's, churches, KFC, thing. Fried chicken. Chicken fingers, chicken on the bone, all nine yards. I worked at Chicken Express from the start of college through the end of college. My best friend and I had this routine. He and I worked together. We had a routine where anytime cute girls would come through the drive-through, He was always stuck in the back cooking. I was up front taking orders. We had man code that I would go back and tell him, Hey, Kerb, we got a cute girl in the drive-through.

Okay, so no secret.

Oh, yeah, no. We would go out and we would take orders in person, which makes it unique. We would actually walk out, take the orders and come back in. I was able to set the stage. Nice.

Okay.

November 2007, he and I were both working. It was a quiet, slow night. Buildings for a customer to come through, and I see it's a BMW, and I was like, Okay, Kirby likes girls in BMW, so I'm going to scout it out. So walk out there, and I'm like, Yeah, it's a good-looking girl. So the bat signals going up.

Wait, can I just say really quick, what if you're a grandma and you're in the drive through, and you see that they went to your car and took the order, and then you pull up, and it's like, Wait, where's this person? And it's like, Oh, I guess I got to use this telecom.

Oh, it happened all the time.

Sure, yeah.

Why did you guys change your system?

It's, who knows? Pointless. But anyway, I give him the code. He knows to dump out his drink cup so he can go over to the drive-through and fill it back up. So he checks her out, scouts her out. He was like, Pretty good-looking girl. I was like, Yeah, I agree. And I said, You know what? I think I am going to I put my name and number on a napkin, and I'm going to put it in her to-go box, and we're just going to see what happens.

Wow, this is great.

Now, really quick, I got a hunch. You were maybe coming towards the end of your time at Chicken Express because you're rolling the dice, you might get fired.

I wasn't really worried about it. The owner wasn't that hands-on. It was all college kids working there, so we had free reign to do whatever. Okay, great. Go to our office, I get a napkin, Sharpie, just write, Jeremy, my cell phone number on the napkin. And throw in her box. Then, of course, the butterflies settle in. I'm like, Man, as I'm walking up to the window, I'm like, Please, God, just don't let her open this at the window because that will be beyond demoralizing. So thankfully, she doesn't. She's flirt a little bit, what I thought was flirting. It turns out she's just really kind and friendly, but I took it as such. I don't think anything's going to happen with this. Go on with my night. When we get to the end of the night, I go get my cell phone out of our office, and I see I have a text message from a 912 area code, which I did not know at the time, Savannah. My roommate at the time was working with me. I was like, Hey, can you search 912? See who that is? The text just said, Sneaky, sneaky, with an exclamation point.

I like it. Good start.

I will be totally honest. In my mind, it was out of sight out of mind. I never expected to hear from her at this point. I'm like, You know what? We're just going to move on. I have him look up the number. I see it's Savannah. I'm like, Oh, maybe it's a prank call. Who knows what's going on here? I send back and I said, Who is this? And she writes I think it's one of my friends just messing with me. I write back. I was like, I have no idea. She was like, Well, you're going to have to give me something. I go to pump gas. I'm heading back home, get back in my truck, and there's another text that says, No guess, question mark. I was like, Sorry, no clue whatsoever.

You're getting annoyed.

Yes, absolutely. I really was.

I'm about to block you. Right.

I sent back and I was like, Sorry, I have no clue. She said, So your name and number just so happen to make its way into my box I was like, Oh, my God. So I did the dreaded call after someone's texted, but I'm like, It's warranted at this point. Oh, good job. I have to apologize to this girl. Yes. So I get on the phone. We have a great conversation. We talk for probably 30, 45 minutes. I was like, Look, I apologize. I never expected to hear from you, but really glad I did. I'd love to take you out on a date. This was Thursday, the night before the Auburn Blackout.

Oh, shit. Wait, 2007?

2007, yeah.

I was definitely there.

Wait, you got to let us know what you guys I just said.

It's a big deal. Okay.

I heard blackout.

Everyone wore black, and it was a night game. So the whole stadium was blacked out, and the players wore black jerseys, I believe.

Correct. So they came out in red jerseys, but they changed from pregame in the locker room. They came back out black.

Guys, you got me? I'm now really jealous. I wasn't there.

It was a night game. So you tailgated all day from 6: 00 AM. Everyone was so wasted.

Going back to my whole lack of partying, the night that we talked on the phone, she did invite me out. She was 21 at the time. I was 20. I did have a fake ID, but it was also a really good college football game on Thursday night. I was like, Let's do Sunday if you're free Sunday. Went to De Palma's for our first date.

Love it. What's that? What's the vibe, guys?

Italian. It's an Athens staple. It's been around for a long time.

You blew a week's worth of wages from Express Kitchen to take her there?

Maybe two weeks. Yeah, that's a nice place. Chalzones are not cheap.

That's like if your parents come to town, you go there.

Okay, great. Took her to Marble Slab after that to get some ice cream. Got choked on my Waffle cone, but she still agreed to do a second date.

How do we explain why she was in town from Savannah? Was she going to UGA as well?

She was. We have a smaller community college in Watkinsville It's a feeder school in the UGA. It used to be Gainesville State College, now it's North Georgia. She and I were both in school at North Georgia at the time. I had already been accepted into UGA, but was not starting until January.

Got it.

One thing led to another. We went on quite a few dates after that, started dating hot and heavy, probably mid-December. And then she is now my wife of almost 16 years in May. We have two beautiful 28-year-old daughters together, Emerson and Henley.

What a great story. Sometimes you just got to put yourself out there. You got to put your number in the box.

To add to it, she was my first girlfriend, too.

Oh, I love this.

She's an amazing person. She's actually the reason that I'm in Armcherries. One other thing to add to the story that's pretty cool. So the night that she plugged me in her phone, her roommate basically begged her to text me. She was on the verge of not texting, and she was like, I'm plugging him in your phone. So even if you don't text him tonight, you're going to do it at some point. But she put me in her phone as Jeremy Chickenboy, and I am still to this day in her phone as Jeremy Chicken Boy.

I got to give her a lot of credit because if I'm her and you put this napkin in my thing, and then my roommate says, You got to reach out, and then I reach out and the guy's like, What? Who dis? My assumption would be, this motherfucker puts a napkin in every girl's bag. He can't even keep straight which one of the girls I am.

I was asked about that several times with my coworkers, and I will go on record saying it was a one and done for me.

It was meant to be.

It was.

It's an honor to I'm going to have you in the Cookie Boys shirt. I know. It is. You're representing.

It really is. I feel glee.

Is she around?

She is not, and this is a surprise. Our friend group knows that I'm on here. She does not yet. I'm assuming when this airs, we are to be flying to Mexico. I'm assuming it'll air Valentine's weekend. So I am going to surprise her and let her listen to it on the way to the airport.

Oh, wonderful.

You guys are the best. She actually just tried to call me a second ago, so I think her ears were burning. But she will be a little upset that she wasn't here to listen to it. But I'm in a lovely tent of my own making at Walt Disney World right now, so she's not anywhere nearby to say hello.

You're clearly handy. It's structurally sound.

What's her name?

Candice.

Candice, shout out.

I'm happy for both of you guys.

Me, too. This is a beautiful story.

Way to put yourself out there, both of you.

I appreciate it. Is it okay if I give a couple quick shout out?

Yes, please.

Our little friend group we're going to Mexico with. We had four of us last year. We've grown to three couples this year, so six of us going down. It's our little Ohana, as we call it, but also call ourselves the cool kids. All of the cool kids will be listening together at the same time. Then shout out to Candice and my sweet girls Emerson and Henley, obviously, and my best boss for for letting me come to Disney World for a few days during our busy season. So shout out to Amy as well.

Incredible. God, you're surrounded by great gals.

We love it.

Well, thank you guys so much. I appreciate you all being a bright spot in everybody's day, and bright spot in my day every day, too. So thanks. That's so nice.

Oh, thanks, brother. Thank I care.

All right. It's a pleasure. Hi. Oh, my God.

It's happening. You're like a mouse, too. There's two mice in the house. Does he look like Mini Mouse?

Yeah, you're very cute.

I would be so honored to be a mouse. I would love to be a mouse.

Are you 6 feet tall?

I am 5'4, but I can be diminutive and be smaller.

Oh, 5'4 makes the cut. Anything under 5'5. 5'5 is probably borderline, but anything under 5'5.

We'll count it. I love it.

Should we do a mouse house? We need to think about some merch for your crew. Oh, I like that?

Yeah. I would totally buy all those things.

Where are you at, Claire?

Salt Lake City.

Wow. Did you listen to the Elizabeth Smart episode?

Loved it. I was 11 when it happened. It was such a pivotal story for me. I was like, That's an option that someone can come grab you in your home?

Did you ever see her on the street, do you think?

No, I did not. But nine months later, when it came out that she was just so close, it was so mind-blowing. It was really crazy.

The fact that that bozo had been arrested and shit for stealing beer, the whole thing is impossible amount of bad luck.

Bad luck, yeah.

It's so true. She had such an amazing story, and I really loved your interview, so it was really awesome.

Yeah, we did, too. We did, too. That was a very special one. You grew up there and you didn't leave. Did you go to BIO?

No, went to University of Utah. I went some other places, but that's part of the meet Q.

Let's hear it.

Having set up, probably the most exciting thing that happened in Salt Lake City was the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. Growing up, I wouldn't call Salt Lake City an exotic local destination. Very tame. When I went to University University of Utah, my best friend and I, we were craving some adventure. We wanted some excitement. We wanted to really spread our wings. So we decided, let's go to Europe and let's ride the rails and just go to hostels. So we get the big maps. We're making our routes.

What age is this? Eighteen. Oh, this is before you start college?

So we start planning while we're in the dorm room, and it's going to be the summer after our first year of college. We're saving up money. It's like the day you might have every day in class. About six months before, my best friend came to me and she said, I don't want to go.

I don't want to. Not even, I can't.

I talked to her today and she was like, I don't think I saved any money. Oh. He wasn't a saving mouse.

She didn't keep up her end of the deal. She wasn't a ferret.

I am devastated. I'm like, What am I going to do? It felt too overwhelming to go by myself and ride the rails.

You make it sound like a hobo returning home from the war. Ride the rails. I love it. I ride the rails.

I know. Around that same time, my dad came across this brochure that it was a tour company, and it was 18 to 35-year-olds camping in Europe. I'm like, This is perfect. I have some structure. This is what I'm going to do. I did not know it at the time, but this bus is affectionately called the Fuck Bus.

Oh, wow.

Really quick, are you not Roman? This seems like a trip that wouldn't normally happen.

I grew up Roman, but I was friends with all non-Mormon people, and so I prided myself on being like, I can hang. This is fun. But I did not know it was called the Fuck Bus.

Nor did your father, probably more importantly.

He did offer to take some condoms, but I'm like, No, dad. Oh, wow. So he's cool.

He's progressive.

Yeah. He was pretty progressive. I was still very sheltered, so I was like, That would never happen.

Cut to the fuck, boss.

I know. Cut to the fuck, boss. Out of 50 people, I am the only American girl. It's mostly Kiwis and Aussies on the tour. I am the exotic one. Summer come is around, I fly to London, and I am so stoked, and I am also so horny. Wow.

Good for you.

This is great. You're bursting at the same.

Why didn't you take the condoms?

I was as horny as a 19-year-old Roman girl could be. There are things in the Utah Norman culture called NICMOS, which stands for Noncommitted Makeout, which is stands for non-committed makeout, which is the Norman version of a one-night stand. I'm like, I'm going to NICMO all over the place. I am so excited. I get on the bus and I'm ready for my summer hookup. I sit down and I just see all the talent coming down the aisles. There's just hot Aussies, hot Kiwis. Then there's this one guy, broad shoulders, green eyes, tan, looks like he could surf. I'm like, Oh.

Aussie? New Zealand. Okay. That's what I get for stereotyping. All right.

And I'm like, I'm going to keep an eye on you.

So something to know about campsites in Europe, it's how European middle class people travel.

So it isn't like a campground like we think of. There's a bar, there's a restaurant, there's a pool, and it's really close to the city. So we get to the first stop, and all of the Kiwis and Aussies head straight to the bar. Like I said, I'm trying to be cool. I'm trying to show that I can hang. And Monica, I'm so sorry, I don't want to get you offside, but I totally leaned into the American Girl thing, and I lied and said I was a cheerleader. Yeah, good for you.

Okay, I understand. I actually find that flattering.

Of all the appropriation that she would be tolerant of, that would be the one.

By the way, that's what I was doing. I was trying to be an American girl, so that's why I went into cheerleading.

I need to have something that is semi-cool to these people because Norman Girl from Utah is not.

What if they said, prove it? Did you know any cheers?

I feel like I could have pulled something out. I can clap.

You saw, bring it on.

I also leaned into the other thing that I was pretty loose about at the time, which is my friends and I, we would go streaking and skinny-dipping. I became Will Farrell from old school. I'm like, Let's go We're streaking. This will be so fun.

I got to say, you're shattering all my stereotypes of a young, Norman girl.

I'm really glad. I'm glad you're here.

I'm hanging out with these people for 30 days. I wanted to show them I am not a wet blanket. I think that put them a little bit at ease. Unclear. I'm sure I was not very subtle. So we keep going. We're touring Europe. We go down to Monaco. It's the south of France, and it's near the beach. So our campsite is right near the beach. I am I'm like, this is my time to shine. So I'm like, guys, we are young. It's summer. We're in the south of France. Let's go skinny-dipping. And we're at the bar, and everyone at the beginning of the night is like, yes, that sounds like a great plan. But as you know, enthusiasm starts to wane. People are like, It's cold outside. I don't want to walk far. But I have painted myself into a corner.

You are the cheerleader of this mission.

Oh my God. I am the cheerleader. So I say, I'm going Skitty Dipping. Anyone I want to come? And only two people. And there are two dudes. I am like, Oh, no. I thought this would be a group activity. I did not mean for this to be a date. There is a South African guy, and then there's my tall, broad New Zealand-Oh, good.

He volunteered. Oh, he's on board.

Okay. He's on board. They look at each other, and then one of them backs down. The South African backs down. Oh, shit.

Perfect.

Okay. Suddenly, it's just me and this cute New Zealand man, and I I'm half excited and scared. No man has ever seen me naked, much less a man that I think is cute. Oh, you really...

Wow. You wrote a check your ass can't cash is what happened.

Which sometimes works out.

Yes, it does.

Exactly right. I'm like, Well, too late now. We have to keep going. We start making our way to the beach. On the way there, there is this carnival with a ferris wheel lit up, and this man is just laying on the charm. I didn't realize it at the time, but he is also slightly intoxicated. So he's telling me he's David Hasselhoff's stunt double, and I am just eating it up, and I'm like, You're so charming.

The bar is so low at 19: 00. I know. Everyone's lying.

She's lying, he's lying. Everyone's full of shit.

So we kiss. I feel like I've died and gone to rom-com heaven. I'm like, This is one of the best kiss I've ever had. And then he rolls me out and I'm like, Oh, fuck. I have to get naked with this guy. We make our way closer to the beach, and I'm like, How am I going to navigate this? What am I going to do? And suddenly, he starts sprinting away from me and starts taking off all of his clothes. And then I see his cute ass, and then he just dives into the ocean.

Oh, what a study. He's a little dolphin. Oh, my God. Or a big dolphin, yeah.

So he turns around and he's got this shit-eating grin on his face, and he's like, All right, ready to skinny-dip? I'm like, Oh, no, no, no, no, I saw a flash, and then I said, Okay, you can see a flash. Then I say, Turn around. Then I get undressed, and then I say, Go. Then I jump into the ocean like starfish. Then I pop back up. He goes, That was the best three seconds of my life.

Oh, that's cute.

Then he starts swimming towards me to make out with me. I'm like, Oh, no, I'm a skinny-dipping purist.

We are just here to skinny-dip. It's hard to navigate these situations when you're a boy. You're like, Hold on, I was Kissy and you said, Let's go to Skinny Dip. We just did we kiss with them. I'm so aware of what do I do here?

I like that he's following your lead, though, which I like.

Yeah, so far in the story.

It's so true. We have this lovely Moonlight Skinny Dip, and I can't really remember how we disembarked from the Skinny Dip. But that started my very sexy summer with more than nick Mohs. Started drinking cocktails.

I'm on a time machine. I'm getting my time machine feeling.

And then 19 years later and three kids were still- You're still together. Wait, with him, with that guy?

How did you make it all work when everyone went home?

We had this hot summer, and then it was like, When can I see you again? And he had just finished his degree, so he's like, I could do a Gap year in Salt Lake, so he moved here. What a champ.

How did he do that as David Hasselhoff?

Well, he was doing a lot of work out there in Salt Lake. Now look, no disrespect to Salt Lake. It's a wonderful place. My father-in-law lived there for a minute. It's so beautiful. You're so close to so many great things. If I'm coming from New Zealand to live in an American city, there's a few I might try before Salt Lake City.

I totally agree. I was like, Are you sure? And he's like, Yeah, let's do this. He lived here for a year, and then I lived in New Zealand for a year, and then we both lived in Australia for a couple of years.

What city in New Zealand? Auckland. Oh, wonderful.

I do want to say, Dax, I want to defend you. They do put eggs on weird things.

Thank you. No, that's not the issue.

The issue is soft-boiled.

No, poached. It's poached. I've always said it was poached. I don't even know what a soft-oiled egg is. I know. That's what you're saying. I would never report one. I wouldn't know how to identify a soft-oiled egg, but I know what a fucking poached egg is.

I had one the other day, actually. Very good.

Primarily poached, right? Yes.

Lots of eggs everywhere. Also in Australia, lots of beats. Those are the two weird things. Well, and I actually have the Lumberjack sexy rugby guy over here if you want to see. Of course I do. He was the original Arm Cherry.

Hello. Hi.

This I'm crazy.

Hey, nice to meet you. How are you? Good. Welcome to my closet. Still looking for that cheerleader uniform.

Wow. Well, that was such a lovely story.

Turned out pretty well.

Very happy with what happened.

Do you have children?

We do. We've got a three-year-old, five-year-old, and a seven-year-old, so we're in the thick of it.

God bless. Oh, wow. I love this story.

Thanks for being an arm, Cherry. Of course.

Thank you, guys. I love what you do.

Can I give a quick shout out? Yes, of course.

Okay, I'm going to shout out to Claire's best friend, Hill, who's also an arm cherry.

And I think she would have killed Claire if she didn't get some mention.

Okay, great. What's her name? Hill?

Hill. Yeah, like Hillary.

Oh, Hillary. There's a lot of cute stuff happening. I'm not open enough there.

I love this.

Well, it's a delightful meeting you. We love Claire. You got lucky. She's such a cute mouse. I did. She's the best.

Oh, I love it. Thanks for chatting. Be well. Bye. Appreciate it. Bye.

Hi, guys. Oh, my God. Emily, you're floating in a void.

I have this really terrible fort going on right now, so I just wanted to make sure you guys didn't see it.

We always see terrible forts. In fact, do you think any of the forts we've seen have been nice? They're always blankets, strewn over chairs.

Well, ask and you shall receive.

Oh, let's see. Oh, I love it. What's wrong with that?

My daughter's Christmas blankets.

I was going to say this is how we learn a little bit about you because clearly there's some children in the mix because that's way too cute blanket for an adult.

We know you're a perfectionist because you think this is great.

This is actually, if we had to rank all the forts we've seen, this is in the top 10%.

Great. Thank you.

Where are you at?

I am in Kenton, Ohio. During the snowpocalypse we're currently having.

Canton, that's off of '75 or no?

'77.

Okay. How bad is it there? You got power, obviously.

We have power, but we have about a foot of snow, and I have kids home from school.

They're supposed to be in the front yard building the snowman and shit. Fucking Skating on the sidewalk.

Yes, maybe later, but it's negative two outside. It's freaking cold.

Negative two? They can handle it.

That's child's play for us, Midwesterners. I'm so jealous of them on snow day. God, there's nothing more fun for them.

Not me.

I know you just got out of Christmas break, and then they're home again.

Yeah, psych.

The joy of my life.

Emily, are you from Canton? Have you always been in Canton, or did you move to Canton?

No, I moved to Canton. I'll get into it a little bit in my story, but I'm originally I'm from Appleton, Wisconsin, area, so we're friends with the Michiganders, for sure.

Good stock up there in Wisconsin. Okay, so hit us with your meet cute.

Yes, I am from Cacana, Wisconsin, originally a little town outside of Green Bay. Back in 1991, I was born, the third of three daughters. My parents didn't know what they were having. In the delivery room, my mom naturally asked, Is it a boy or a girl? And they said, We don't know.

Oh, interesting.

So come to later find out, I was born with a birth defect called bladder extraphy.

Tell me about bladder extrophy.

Yeah, lots of catheters. I thought you'd be interested. When I was born, my bladder was on the outside. Wow. Oh, wow. Everything was outside, so they couldn't determine if I was a male or female. Shortly after birth, I was transported to a children's hospital where they put it back in and stabilized me. When you're four years old, maybe a little earlier, your parents are starting to think about potty training you and achieving continents, something with bladder extravies kids is pretty tough. There are specialists out at Johns Hopkins in Maryland where my mom did a lot of research, and that's where the best surgeon was. We traveled out to Johns Hopkins when I was four years old and got ready for what's called a bladder neck reconstruction traction. So basically what that is, is kids with extra fee, they're bored and their hips are too wide. So what they do is they break your hips. Oh, boy, oh, boy. Push them back together and then secure them with steel pins. So your bladder is supported and you're laying on your back for about eight weeks. You have to lay flat and your legs are in traction for a good amount of time.

So they're up in the air above your body. In Baltimore, I'm a four-year-old with my mom. I was in a wagon the majority of the time, just laying flat in a Fisher Price wagon. My mom and I had to find some fun things to do. Our surgeon said, Hey, there's a mom and another little boy about her age here. He just got the same surgery a few days before her.

Boys can have this as well?

Yeah, girls and boys can have it. Boys have it a little bit tougher than girls, just from a complication perspective. So we met these wonderful people, became friends, spent our eight weeks together, went our separate ways. I went back to Wisconsin. They went back to where they're from. A couple of years later, before Facebook, social media, we get this phone book. So it's the Association for Bladder Extraphe Community.

Like a directory?

Yes. Parents have registered for this, said, Hey, my kid has this. If you want to connect and share stories, share experiences, here's my phone number. I look up their name and I say, Hey, mom, they're in this phone book. Can you reconnect with them? I'm too nervous to call. So my mom calls.

How old were you at this point?

Probably about 12 or 13.

You're starting to think about boys? Oh, yeah.

Very boy crazy, very early.

Okay, good for you. I like boy crazy.

My mom and his mom reconnected, and then I got his email address and his AIM screen name when that was really cool. We would message back and forth. Then come to find out, I was a freshman in high school. He was in eighth grade. I like to call myself a cougar because I'm a little bit older.

Yeah, good for you.

His mom called and said, Hey, he's not doing well. His name is Cameron. His bladder perforated. Just want to let you know he could use some well wishes. Long story short, he recovered, but it was a long recovery process. I finally said to my mom, Hey, I want to go out and see him. I haven't seen him since I've been four years old. Oh my gosh.

And where did they live?

They lived in Ohio. Oh, Okay. We reunited. I was a freshman. He was in eighth grade, and we became boyfriend and girlfriend shortly after. Oh my God.

Oh my goodness.

You've been together ever since.

Yeah, 2006. We started dating. We got engaged in 2012.

You've been together 20 years.

Yeah. Wow, that's so sweet.

Oh my God.

You've known each other since you were four.

Oh my Lord, this is the earliest meet. We've never had a meet. You were four-year-olds, Matt. I love this story. Oh, man, me too. Now, can I ask a really hard question? Sure. Which is, if I had gone through all of this stuff, and I know the challenge of it, and then my partner has gone through it, my thought is, wow, genetically, maybe we're pretty much guaranteed for our children to have to go through it. Was that in the mix of consideration with children?

Absolutely. We got married in 2015, and then shortly after, started thinking about having babies and had a lot of conversations around genetics. We wanted to be responsible about it and not cause anyone pain because we've been through it. But also thought, hey, who better to take care of a child that has this than two people who have been through it?

You're there valuing your own life and you're like, yeah, that was a challenge, but I like my life. I'm glad I'm here.

The amount of times I think that I have it throughout the day is next to zero. So truly, it's not very impactful to my life now. But we were concerned about it, had a lot of specialist conversations, and got pregnant with our first baby in 2016. And happy to report she did not have it.

Oh, did Because you have so much relief. Yeah.

We had scans a lot, and they were finally able to visualize the bladder filling up and emptying. And that was the sign that the bladder was inside working properly. And then it had another successful pregnancy in 2021. We have two little girls. They're the best.

What a great story.

I love it. I'm a little teary-eyed from that story.

And everyone is doing well, you and your husband.

Doing well. It's so unimpactful to our day to day. And I just think that's so important with anything. You're stamped with a diagnosis, and some people, they put it right on their name tag when they introduce themselves. I don't care for that. I think it's just so important to live your life. And that's part of who I am, but it's not who I am. Yeah, absolutely. We both live our lives very similarly like that and teach our girls the same morals.

So we have photos. Oh, there's the happy family. They're still Green Bay fans. Oh, my God. Look how cute this is with him. Fucking got his fist in the air, kissing you on your wedding day. That's so cute. Oh, no. You are so fucking cute, Emily. I can't believe it. Look at these little kids. Oh, my God. In your wagons. Oh, no. You're ready to see him a hug at that age?

Oh, is this framed in your house? This better be framed in your house.

Yes, they are all framed. Actually, the wedding one is right behind me.

Oh, my God. Four-year-old soulmate.

This is the heart warmer of the century.

Maybe I should go back and think about who I knew when I was four.

Yeah, why not? Widen out the net a little bit.

Yeah, widen it out.

Thank you for sharing that beautiful story. Wow, knowing your age has known their husband But I mean, this is so rare.

Yeah, it's rare. It's cool.

I like this story.

It's pretty cool. I tried not to get to the punchline too soon.

No, you did a very good job. I'm like, She better not meet his friend on this trip to visit him. Oh, that would be a twist. Because that could happen. You could meet his best friend.

That'd be a big quiz, but that'd be really sad. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us.

Yeah, that was lovely.

Thanks, guys. It was great to meet you. I appreciate everything you do.

Our pleasure. I hope you get through this snow day alive. We'll try our best. Okay, take care. Okay, bye.

Oh, I love me cute so much. They're really heartwarming.

I don't know if I can do this show anymore because I'm just crying so regularly. You cry a lot. I know. It's like getting I'm completely untenable. I'm like, I wouldn't want to watch a show where the fucking host couldn't go five minutes without- Well, they can't see you in this one, at least. That's helpful, I guess. Yeah.

You really opened a valve?

Yes. Well, there was so much back pressure.

Pour and out. I think it's lovely.

Do you? I do. Sometimes- I don't know.

No, I do. I do. I do. It's very cute. What's the downside? It's good to have feelings. Exactly. What's the problem? I mean, dehydration. Got make sure you're getting your electrolytes.

Luckily, I hydrate compulsively, so that's never going to- Then it's all fine. All right, I'll keep crying. Maybe we'll start wearing sunglasses during the interview. Okay.

I love you.

All right, love you.

Do you want to sing a tune or something?

Or a theme song?

Oh. Okay, great. We don't have a song song for this new show, so here I go, go, go. We're going to ask some random questions, and with the help of our cherries, we'll get some suggestions. On the fly, I rindish. On the fly, I rindish. Enjoy.