Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Armchair Anonymous: Generous Hospitality

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us about the most generous act of hospitality they’ve received. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trip Planner by Expedia. You were made to have strong opinions about sand. We were made to help you and your friends find a place on a beach with a pool and a marina and a waterfall and a soaking tub. Expedia. Made to travel. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous. I'm Dan Buckley. I'm joined by... Pussy Von Pussy. Pussy Von Pussy.

Well, if there's any place to do it It's on armchair If you didn't listen to Thursday's episode You don't know what we're talking about But that's a callback You might want to go back then Go back Get out of here Get out of here and go back

No but this is a fun episode This is This is acts of hospitality Yeah Life affirming Yes yes Meet cutes. Don't spoil.

They won't know which one it is. Could be the Penn Station taxi driver. What? What's going on? Why are you unraveling? Skip all of this, guys. No, listen to this one. This one's safe.

This one's really safe. And it's really sweet. And I'm glad we did this prompt. We're so nasty most of the time. You're so nasty. I am so nasty. And it's contagious. Yes.

And this one's not nasty. And you should listen to it with your whole family and your grandparents at Christmas time around the hearth, the family hearth. Aw. Please enjoy Acts of Hospitality. hospitality. Hi. Hi. How are you? I am so good. Why do you have such a professional setup? I can't take the credit for this. This is my husband's. So he has his own podcast he's previously done, web series, all this stuff. So he set me up. He did. He doesn't hate us. No, absolutely not. No. Okay, wonderful. And where in the country are you? I am in Denver right now.

Lived here for a couple years, yeah. Did you meet your husband there? No, actually. That's a whole other city and tale. Oh my God, that's another prompt. Where are you from originally? Actually, I'm from Georgia. What part?

I'm from outside of Athens area. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Maysville Commerce area where the Tinger Outlets were maybe. Oh, yeah. I know about the outlets. Of course. Yes. Tinger Outlets. So that is where I grew up.

Nice. You've got that cute Georgia. Yeah, you do. It's very familiar to me. I get my peaches down in Georgia. That's all I'm thinking about. peaches down in Georgia. That's all I'm thinking about.

I asked that about if you met your husband there because I just heard that Denver has the highest population of single men in the country. Interesting. I did not know that. That kind of makes sense because it's dudes going out there to rock climb and snowboard. Well, that's a stereotype. Yeah, I think it's a good one.

That's one I believe in. Okay, so you are the recipient of a very extreme act of hospitality? I was. So actually, my story takes place in San Diego. Oh, okay. In 2018, I was a travel nurse, and I was heading out there for a job. I was actually leaving Georgia, typically in between contracts. And I'm sorry, I don't know how familiar you guys are with travel nursing. I was just about to ask, can you

tell us what a travel nurse is? Typically, like a hospital or a clinic, if they're understaffed for whatever reason, they'll hire a travel nurse for a short period of time, typically about three months. We come in, we help out. If they need us longer and we want to stay longer, we will do that. Most of the time also, we're finding our own housing while we are doing this. And so for this assignment, I had gotten a place on Craigslist. It had a property manager. He seemed nice. We chatted back and forth via emails. He had great reviews, good website, all the things, seemed on the up and up, sent over my deposit, first month's rent, all the things, along with my roommates as well. And that was roughly like a month before my assignment started. In between contracts,

I most of the time would go to Georgia, visit my family, maybe like switch out my clothes or whatever. I was leaving Georgia and I was at the Atlanta airport and I text the property manager and I'm like, hey, just as a reminder, you know, I get in tonight. You'll be at the apartment complex 730-ish to let me in. Didn't hear anything back. And so I'm like starting to get a little antsy. And so finally I call him and I say the same thing like, hey, just checking in. You're going to let me in, right? And he's like, yeah, have a good flight and hangs up. Oh, boy.

Uh-oh. So I start getting a little anxious there. Sure. I even texted my roommate who wasn't coming until the next day. Her name's Alex. And I was like, something didn't feel right about that conversation. I'm not going to feel good until the keys are in my hands. And so lucky for me, you know, I've got a good four, four and a half hour flight to sit there and panic and dwell.

So as soon as I arrive in San Diego, I'm texting, hey, just landed. Hey, I'm on my way. Not getting any response, not answering my phone calls. And so I arrive at the apartment. I don't pack light. So I've got like three suitcases. I've got my dog with me. Three months. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm standing outside the apartment building for I don't know how long. And then someone took pity on me and let me in. You have to have a fob to go up the elevator. So I find a housekeeper and like, hey, can you please let me up to my floor?

So I go up and my apartment was supposed to be 213. And I see apartment 212 and 214. Oh no. 213 is literally like a storage closet. What? And so I like ride back to the housekeeper and I'm like, apartment 213, like where is that at? And he's like, no, sorry. That's not a thing.

Doesn't exist. Oh boy. All of that anxiety that I had been dwelling on. And by the way, up until today, I was feeling great. I thought we were good to go. You're going to San Diego, sunshine and surfboards. Yeah. I was there.

I was ready. So I'm like, okay, I'm homeless. Like I don't have a home right now. I don't have anywhere to go. This guy has not only like thousands of dollars of my money, but also he has all of my information. I was the one that put up paperwork. So he's got my social, he's got all my previous addresses, anything he wants to know about me, he's got it. And I'm like, is he going to do anything with this? I have no idea. Also, I have to tell Alex, by the way, you're homeless too. Right.

So I go downstairs and I'm talking to someone in the lobby that works there. And she's like, you're actually the third person this has happened to. No. So this guy knew what he was doing. Yeah. And so I'm calling Pet Friendly Hotels. I'm like trying to find a place to go for me and Max, my dog. No one has a vacancy for the night.

I am calling, I'm calling. And I had to look like my boyfriend just like kicked me out or something. You know, I've got all my suitcases. I'm crying. Your dog. My dog. People are just staring. No one's like, ma'am, are you okay?

They're just staring because they walk in and out of this lobby. I start calling, like, my mom. I called my friend Liz. Again, I'm just venting. I just don't know what to do at this point. My friend Liz just happened to be with a friend of hers and is like, hey, I have an aunt and uncle that lives there. Go stay with them. Okay.

And I'm like, I barely know you, much less your aunt and uncle. Like, I don't want to go stay with these people that I don't know. I need to be in a hotel. I need to be alone, cry, eat some pizza, maybe watch some friends to cheer me up. Yep. It's the right medicine for the occasion. Exactly. I tried a couple more hotels, and then I was like, you know what?

I give up. Let's go. At this time, they live, like, you know what? I give up. Let's go. At this time, they live like northern San Diego. So I arrived. I mean, I'm sure my eyes were so puffy from crying like that. I could probably barely open them at this point covered in mascara. They were just the kindest people. Mondo, he was wonderful.

He's like cleaning out his office. So I have a private place to sleep that night. So nice. Yeah. And I'm like, this is not necessary. Any couch is fine. I can sleep in your garage in one of the cars. Exactly. I will take anything. So as I'm telling him multiple times, please stop doing whatever you're doing. I find out they also put their dog in the garage for the night. So there wasn't any issues between mine and theirs. His wife, Patsy, was wonderful. She has made me like a full spread for dinner.

Quesadilla, fruit, nuts, anything that I could possibly have wanted. And they just sat there and listened to my story. And without judgment, there was already the stereotype, do you trust Craigslist, right? Well, we've even had prompt. Oh, I submitted to that one too. I was thinking while you're talking, this could have gone either way. Oh, I submitted to that one too. Oh. I was thinking while you're talking, this could have gone either way. Yes. It's funny.

I was so determined I needed to be by myself that night and like wallow in my self-pity. And instead, I needed a hug and they were there to give me one. They had breakfast ready for me. Patsy actually works in real estate. And so she was trying to help me find a place to live. Oh, that's nice. Oh, boy. Again, they were so supportive and they're like, oh, yeah. Any friend of our nephew me find a place to live. Oh, that's nice. Oh, boy. Again, they were so supportive.

And they're like, oh, yeah, any friend of our nephew's is a friend of ours. That's a stretch. Oh, but I'm like, I wouldn't necessarily say we're friends. We're like acquaintances. We've met a couple times. Any name our nephew knows of, we'll definitely host. Sure, yeah. So my roommate comes. and we end up staying

in like a holiday inn for a week and then end up finding a not furnished apartment, which that's one thing I didn't mention before. We typically get furnished places, right? We're not going back and forth with a couch across the country. And so I had an air mattress for a few months that I slept on, which is fine. When you're in your twenties, you can do that. And then as far as their nephew, I said, I owe you a drink. I owe you dinner. Whatever I can, I owe you big. This was such an amazing thing. This is exactly what I needed. I had a home and a warm meal for the night. Oh, I'm thrilled. Hold on. He came into town for work and we went to dinner. He did not let me pay for it.

And that actually was my first date with my husband. I love this so much. Derek. Wow. By the way, this is so telling. It's wonderful. I always can foresee the betrayal, but you were two steps ahead of me. Yes.

This was going to be her husband. A meet cute! By the way, I wanted to do a prompt once about meet cutes and that was shut down. And this is evidence. You 100% should. Well, because I don't think the average American

knows the term meet cute. Oh, I disagree. I learned it three years ago. Anyone who's seen The Holiday, which is a lot of people, knows about the meet cute. That's how I know it. Yep. That's an amazing story. Now they're your dad and mom-in-law?

Aunt and uncle-in-law. Oh, yeah, yeah. So, yes, we've been married now for three years. We have a beautiful baby girl. Oh, my Lord. Oh, my my lord this is beyond good hospitality this like led to a whole life did you name the baby the name of the person who scammed you because that'd be cool he was later found on a scammers beware website was he arrested when you saw him on the scammers website no and you know i filed a police, but because it happened over the internet and

like not actually in San Diego County, I had to do like a federal police report. And I'm still waiting for them to contact me about that. Well, right. Cause he likely wasn't even in California. Like we're thinking he's a local San Diego in, right? Or I am, but he could have been in Russia. Absolutely. All in you lost, what'd you lose? Two grand, three grand? I am, but he could have been in Russia. Absolutely. All in, you lost,

what'd you lose? Two grand, three grand? I lost about $2,500. I had to pay a little bit more for the pet fee for my dog. And so my roommate also, she lost about $1,500, $2,000 as well. Well, you're a real dick scam artist when you're even charging for animals. I know. That seems like a gouge on top of a gouge. You now have this beautiful baby. You have a husband. So worth $2,500, right? Absolutely. For the longest time, I was like, oh, I owe you.

Like, you know, you did this. And I'm like, now he owes me. He has a wife and a baby. We are more than even. Yeah, it wasn't even his house. It wasn't even his hospitality, really. Oh, yeah, no. He just called.

Wow. Wow, what a great story. I love that. Yeah, total wasn't even his house. It wasn't even his hospitality, really. Oh, yeah, no. He just called. Wow. Wow, what a great story. I love that. Yeah, total happy ending. Yeah. I'm so ecstatic that I got to actually spend some time with you. We're so excited we met you, Lauren. Yes, this was awesome.

Really quick, what are his podcasts? So his podcast was The Future of Work. He took kind of a little hiatus from it for a little while and is going to start that up again, but actually make it more of a web series instead of a podcast. So if anyone is interested in that or listened to it before, it should be coming soon. Wonderful. Well, Lauren, it's such a delight to meet you. You make the state of Georgia proud. Yeah, absolutely. You should be thrilled she's out there in Colorado representing the peak state. You're doing God's work. You're doing God's work. You're doing God's work.

Well, thank you. We actually used to live in LA for a little while, and we're hoping to get back there eventually. We loved it and miss it. Yeah. Come on over. Come on out. Don't tip me. All right.

Take care. Bye. Oh, that was sweet. That was as sweet as it gets. I did think there could have been a third part of that story where he was the con man. Oh, and he orchestrated the whole thing because he saw her in the airport once. Yep. That would have been cool.

Hello. Ian, do you have a MediPort? What am I seeing on your chest? Oh, it's a tattoo. Oh. Okay. Okay. Okay.

That's better. That's better. I thought I was going to then have to talk for a minute and back myself out of that question. No, it's a family tattoo. All the men in my family have the same Celtic cross and it's this one. Really? Where are you and the men in your family from and where do you live? Well, that's from our Irish side, but I live just outside of Denver in Aurora, Colorado.

We had another Denver on here. Your second Denver. It's pretty cool. We're all cool. I love your hair, Ian. Thank you. Yeah, let's start there. Can I say something real quick before we jump in?

Yeah, yeah. Well, let's ask Ian. Can Monica interject with something? I'll allow it. Thank you, thank you. When you first said, is that, I'm sorry to bring it back to your faux pas. When you first said, is that, I'm sorry to bring it back to your faux pas. Yeah, yeah. When you first said, is that a Mediport or whatever, it sounded like you said, is that a NetiPot?

I heard that too. Right? And I was like. Well, by the way, they're not called a Mediport. I just know it's a port. My dad had one. Barton had one. Oh, that goes into your heart.

It's when you're getting real serious. Right. So that's like an intense question to ask. It is a very intense question, but Ian, would you agree, if you had your shirt unbuttoned with your MediPort, which is not called exposed, you're letting me know I'm not embarrassed about this. Yeah, I was calling attention to my fake cancer.

You're right. I had a port. Remember my port? Yeah, I do, I do. I didn't mind at all if someone was like, what's going on with that port? In fact, I'd almost prefer the opportunity to tell them, don't worry, I'm not dying. I just have a massive infection. It's even better.

I'm not dying. I just have a family tradition. True. Okay, that was fun. Thank you for the sidebar. And please tell us about this extreme act of hospitality you were the recipient of. This takes place over Christmas 2018 in the wonderful country of Vietnam, which is one of my favorites. Oh, wow.

Okay. Me and my best friend, Sean. He's my best friend, Aaron Weekly. We went through high school and college together. Graduated college in 2017. And we were like, just getting into adult life. And we decided we were going to take a trip to make sure we were still young and cool and fresh. We were inspired by an old British top gear special.

I don't know if you've seen it. They did a Vietnam special where they flew into Saigon in the south of Vietnam, rented motorcycles, and then they rode them the length of Vietnam to Hanoi in the north. Oh, cool. Who's the Jeremy Clarkson in the group? Is that you or your friend? Oh, God, I don't know. I'm not punching producers. God, you're knowledgeable.

Ian's on fire. He's sharp. So we leave Chicago. We fly east to Qatar. Ding, ding, ding. Qatar, JP. God, I love Ian. The Grand Prix was there. Ding, ding, ding. Qatar, JP. God, I love you, Ian. The Grand Prix was there last weekend.

Oh, my God, you guys. It was a fucking shit show. Everyone overheated. Get a room, you guys. Let me change your port for you. Oh, what the heck? I'm sorry. You flew to Qatar, and then what happened?

We have our layover in Qatar, and we continue east to Saigon, Vietnam. We don't have a plan. This is kind of the way we traveled. We would go on tour a lot in college. This explains the entire thing. He was in a band. Ian was in a band. Ian was obviously always in a band.

That was the missing piece. Yeah, we were musicians in college. Yeah, of course. And we would always tell people, like, we've got a plan. There was not a plan. Right, right. The plan was arrive. Correct. Yeah. Correct was not a plan. Right, right. The plan was arrive. Correct.

Yeah. Correct. So we arrive. We find a place to rent some motorcycles, and we rent these pair of Honda CRF 450s. Oh, like dual sporty bikes? Yes, Enduros. We're not really sure exactly what we're going to run into. We're planning on to go through some rural areas.

We've got our backpacks. We've got hammocks in there, which was the plan for sleeping. Oh boy. Okay. Without any knowledge of the natural wildlife. Zero, but we've got spirit. We get on these bikes and we start riding through Saigon. About like 80% of the population in Vietnam rides motorcycles. It's just motorcycles everywhere. And you can ride them absolutely anywhere, right? I mean, you can be on a sidewalk, you can be in a gutter. There's zero rules. We quickly just get into that vibe. We eventually make it to Vung Tau, which is a coastal

city. So this is part one of the hospitality we received. This is Christmas Day. We're rolling into Vung Tau and we rock up to this tiki bar. We go inside because they're playing American CNN. Oh, sure, sure. It's Christmas Day. There's nobody in there except for these two guys, Seamus and Iva. Perfect. They're Scottish immigrants to Vietnam. So obviously we start like chatting them up immediately. We offer to buy Seamus some drinks only to find out that he owns this bar. Oh, wow. Wonderful. Exciting. He's bringing us out more and more things. I mean, we're getting

hammered. And then in the corner is Seamus's wife, Lynn, and their son, Leon, who's like three going on four. It's a whole family affair at this bar. We're playing pool and half Scottish, half Vietnamese. Leon is crawling on the table and like playing pool with his hands. Oh, wow. Just so adorable. We're having a fantastic time. Just so adorable.

We're having a fantastic time. They invited us to stay with them and go to baby Leon's birthday, which is the next day. Oh, my God. A Christmas baby. Boxing day, baby. Yeah. We're not able to stay for the birthday party, unfortunately. We tell them that. Okay.

Scoot it out before the party. Yeah, talk about dine and dash. Yeah. Well, we haven't even dined yet because we tell them we can't stay. We're talking about dine and dash. Well, we haven't even dined yet because we tell them we can't stay. And Lynn wordlessly leaves and comes back with these just giant plates of food and just starts feeding us in this bar. So we're all just like sitting together having this like magical Christmas dinner in this tiki bar in Vietnam. It was wonderful.

So that's part one. Part two is less fun. Okay. Okay. Good. Good. It takes a turn. A little bit. Okay. So we sleep there. We decided we're rolling out. We're continuing on north. Happy birthday, Liam. We just can't stick around for the party, but happy birthday, bud. We're in a band. And so we have stuff to do. People to see. There's faces to rock. And so we have stuff to do. People to see. There's faces to rock.

We're riding for five, six hours. We're in, I wouldn't even call it a town. It's a row of houses. It's a kind of farmland. And we're going around the corner, probably 45, 50 miles an hour. Sean ends up low siding through the corner. He slides and hits a three foot concrete post that's sticking out of the ground. Uh-oh. Ribs first.

I watch him just smack bounce off into the ravine. Oh, God. Yeah, we find out later he broke just about every rib on his right side. Oh. Just all the way down, shattered. He bounces off into this ravine nearby, filled with thorny brambles. And he's in so much pain. He's yelling.

And so we're in this lady's front yard. There's oxen, a field, and this kind of cinder block house that we've just crash landed into. Very quickly, a crowd starts forming and starts jumping into action. It's ridiculous. So out of this house comes this woman. I don't know her name. I don't speak Vietnamese. She speaks no English, but she's instantly directing us into the house. Just like super mom energy. Yeah, yeah. We lay him down on this thin mat on a tile floor.

So there's this like group of men. They help me get this bike out of the ditch. And they just go to work. Sean's pack has been scattered all over. They just start picking it all up. They're just like gathering it, putting it in the back of his bag. This gentle old man comes up to me, holds out Sean's GoPro that was attached to his helmet that had come

flying off. And he's like, really wanted me to have it back. So gentle and sweet. These perfect mechanics show up out of nowhere and just start working on the bike. They replace the clutch. They switch out the shift lever. It's ridiculous. They're just going at working on the bike. They replace the clutch. They switch out the shift lever. It's ridiculous. They're just going at it on the motorcycle. I go inside and the woman is giving Sean medical attention. She's like offering us food and water. She's bringing us things. We're in her house for 12 hours. Wait, what does anyone anyone go to the hospital? Wow, because he's so damaged. But what about the hospital? That's not on the table.

Why? Well, okay. One, we're in super rural Vietnam. We're hours away from a hospital. Two, we've got no idea what these hospitals are like or how much they cost. We don't have travel insurance. We're young idiots. We didn't know we were sleeping, much less who we were getting medical attention. Eventually, this group is all kind of formed up

and they're all making phone calls. This guy rolls out, big smile, and he greets us in English. They've called the one person they know who speaks English to come and triage for us. It was incredible. Heietnamese or is he yeah okay they'd call like their vietnamese friend who happens to also speaking really quick monica's laughing what i just heard ian say is exactly what i think i said you didn't okay he rides up asked us what we want to do i'm still dumb i think i asked sean if he can continue i'm like you want to keep going and john's like like, yeah, absolutely not. You want to shake it off, tiger?

Pretty much. We tell him we've got to go back to Saigon. We've got to fly home. He makes another call. And these guys just show up with a van. Oh, my gosh. They take the back seats out of this van so that we can put our bikes in there. And we get in this van and ride back to Saigon.

At this point, we'd been riding for like two or three days. It'd been three to four hours of riding a day. But we're not allowed on the highway on the bikes. On the highway, it was much quicker. It was like only like a three-hour drive back to Saigon. Oh, thank God. Which was demoralizing also. We felt like we had like conquered this country and gone so far.

Yeah, you were nine exits away. Yeah, we were immediately back. So we felt like we had like conquered this country and gone so far. You're nine exits away. We were immediately back. We're just riding back. So grateful for this town that had just come together and like helped us in so many ways. It was incredible. We end up just flying home. We don't go to the hospital, Monica.

Wow. Oh, God. The pressure on the plane. We FaceTimed his sister-in-law, who's a nurse. Okay. And she was like, don't take Advil. And we were like, we will stop giving him Advil now. Wait, why? I would think that would help with the non-clotting.

It's like a blood thinner. And if he was internally bleeding, it would be not good. Leaving that town, we were just so unbelievably grateful i hugged my vietnamese mom i played thank you on google translate which didn't translate it well because she did not understand it okay and we were just so blown away by how this whole town came together and helped these idiots. That's insane that they came and drove you back and brought the bikes. We paid them, but they didn't ask for anything. Two follow-up questions.

One, for me, that would be an unresolved challenge waiting for me. Like, I didn't get to the tip of the northern part of Vietnam. Yeah, I'm going back. Okay, great. Second, has it occurred to you that this was the northern part of Vietnam. Yeah, I'm going back. Okay, great. Second, has it occurred to you that this was the karma for not going to Liam's birthday party? If you had stuck around for the birthday party. What's his name again? It was Leon.

Yeah, you got it. Leon. Leon. I wanted Leon to come back in the story somehow. Like he rolled up on his fourth birthday? Yeah, because if you would have hung out for that party, that would have probably turned into the whole day. None of this would have happened.

Different time. You're not wrong. We definitely wouldn't have made it to Hanoi or our non-refundable flights, but we didn't end up getting that refund in the end anyway. So. Well, Ian, this was a fucking party.

Thank you guys. We love everything you guys do. Armchair expert. I obviously love F1. It's like it was made for me. Oh, thank you. Take care, y'all. Bye.

Sasha hated sand, the way it stuck to things for weeks. So when Maddie shared a surf trip on Expedia Trip Planner, he hesitated. Then he added a hotel with a cliffside pool to the plan. And they both spent the week in the water. You were made to follow your whims. We were made to help find a place on the beach with a pool and a waterfall and a soaking tub and, of course, a great shower. Expedia. made to travel. Hello. Hi. Oh my God. I can't believe I'm talking to you guys. What shall we call you?

So I would like you to call me Emma because that's the name that my dad actually wanted to name me, but then didn't win in that argument against my mom. Do you wish you were named Emma? No, I like my name. Okay, good for you. And where are you, Emma? I am in New Jersey. Ah, wonderful. The Garden State. Yes. And you were the recipient of some extreme hospitality? Definitely something very, very generous that took my husband and I out of a crazy, desperate situation, yes. Oh, let's hear it. Okay, I can't wait to hear.

Okay, so a little bit of context, basically how we got fucked to begin with. In 2018, my husband had a diving accident. So he hit his head on the bottom of the pool, caused a C6 spinal cord injury so he is now paralyzed oh from the waist down like the abdomen down because he can't feel his stomach either and doesn't have his core muscles okay yes so in addition to that while he was in the hospital some things went wrong and then he also suffered a brain injury in the hospital. Oh, my God.

Wait, wait, wait. How does one suffer a brain injury? Fell out of a bed or something? No, it was more so he started having seizures. And the response time was not fast enough. It took about five hours for somebody to come. What? Oh, my gosh.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm so sorry to hear that. Thank you. I appreciate that. How long had you been married when this happened? So actually at the time we were engaged, we got married about a year after his accident. Okay. I don't know why I'm inclined to say this, but I'm very proud of you.

Some lesser people would have bounced. Yeah. Absolutely. I have a lot of friends who couldn't even handle the situation. I'm sure. So, yeah, he spent about four months in the hospital and then another three months in an acute rehab setting before his insurance decided that since he wasn't working anymore, they were going to cut him off. Okay. I was freaking out, obviously, because without insurance, how does one pay for such a high skilled level of care? And his doctor, we will call her Dr. B, she was amazing. She stepped in and was like, I'm going to take care of this. Don't worry. Because at the time,

we thought that he was going to still be in the rehab for like another two months at least we hadn't even started discussions about what bringing him home was going to look like for me for him for anyone involved yeah so she was like don't worry we're gonna take care of this the following day as his medical power of attorney she asked me to sign this consent form that said i agreed to keep him in the rehab despite insurance not paying. And the paper said it was going to cost me $6,000 a night. Oh, for two months. Yes. I'm a teacher. So how am I supposed to pay that? That's $360,000 for two months. I just did the math. I couldn't even do the math. I teach English. Okay. You stay out of math. Stay out of math. Let me handle the math. You handle the English. I can barely read.

Sounds good. She was like, it's just a formality. Just sign the form. And I trusted her at that point. So I signed the form. It took about a month and a half to actually make all of the arrangements. But he did come home and I became his primary caregiver. And about a month after we were home, I got my first bill and I panicked

because in addition to like all those extra fees that hospitals love to tack on, my bill was $500,000. Wow. So half a million bucks. Did you have that lying around? As a teacher? Most definitely not. Hold on. Let's take half a second. This is too much. Let's take half a second. You now have a loved one that you'll be caring for. That's big change.

You're now a half million dollars in debt. I mean, my Lord. So luckily I had a follow-up appointment scheduled with this doctor who assured me that everything was going to be fine. So we go to this appointment. She comes in. She asks how we're doing. And I'm like, not great. We just got this crazy astronomical bill.

And she said to me, didn't I tell you not to worry about it? I'm going to take care of it. She said, don't do anything. Trust me, I've got it. Oh, boy. She does her assessment of my husband, decides that everything's going well with him back at home. We leave and I'm trying so hard to trust her, but I am a rule follower and I have a bill in front of me here. So the following month in the mail comes another bill.

This time, however, it says balance due is zero dollars. It says account adjustment and then the amount that I had owed the $500,000. And then there was a little line under it with her name, Dr. B. Oh, she paid it? Oh, my God. No. Oh, man. Dr. B.

Oh, my God. Wow. That's nuts. Do you think she paid it or do you think she negotiated? Right. Like she said, handled it. She would still have to pay a bunch of it. Yeah. That's amazing. You need angels like that. Absolutely. And I've loved her from the beginning because as soon as my husband came in, he wasn't supposed to be her patient from what I'm told, but she specifically said that she loves getting young men as patients because they are exceptionally

tenacious and resilient and strong-willed. And he definitely proved to be because at this point, we're five years out from his accident and he's talking again, which they never thought that he was going to talk again. He's able to stand, not on his own, but able to stand, which they never thought was going to happen. And usually after about two years, I'm told they're supposed to plateau and then just kind of maintain that consistency. But like his speech has improved only in the last year. Wow. No kidding. And so how much of your day is still caring for him? What does he

require? Well, he has about 16 hours a day of nursing that accounts for me sleeping at night and then going to work. Like I said, I'm a teacher, so I didn't stop teaching. Good. I get home around three o'clock and that's when the nurse leaves. And then I take over his care from that point on. Okay. All in all, what are we giving this experience? Things are good. They're stressful. It's an ongoing challenge. Definitely got its ups and downs, but overall, I mean, I love him so much. And we've just gotten used to things at this point. We just try to find joy at least in all the ways that we can. Oh, what an inspiration. Oh my God, Emma. You got me a little welled up. This is becoming a pattern.

He cries all the time now though, so it's not even special. Sorry, Emma. I'm kidding. I don't even know if I can carry on with this job. Very, very inspirational. It is. Thank you. I just want to thank you guys for your podcast because it has helped us get through a lot of time in hospital, waiting rooms and treatments and whatnot. So thank you. Oh, my gosh. Thank you, Emma, so much. Oh, we're so grateful to have you guys listening. I feel terrible about myself.

Do you? You always. No, I don't. He always says this and then i never feel that way i feel grateful if it makes you feel better you are one of the few people that can make my husband laugh oh no ever why did you say that oh jesus all going sideways well i'm committed to continue doing that. What does he like? Does he like the robot or Frito?

I bet he likes Frito. No, I think he likes the robot. He does like the robot. He loves listening to your fact checks. Just you guys going off. That's our favorite part. Yeah. Well, Emma, so nice meeting you.

Please tell him we say hi. I will. All right, bye-bye. Hello. You're in a closet. We've done it. Yay, the closet. Hi again, Blair.

Are you recording? I am recording on three devices. Amazing. So we'll tell the armchairs. We're going to be honest about this. We've already spoken to you. We spoke to you in a very dicey Wi-Fi situation. You were in front of, as I remember, a Starbucks.

Yeah. And I would say word to the wise for future Armchair Anonymous. It's always Pacific time. That's right. That was part of the issue. I had like my setup plan for Eastern Standard Time. And then I was like, oh, shit, this is three hours later. It was going to be in the middle of my commute. So I had to improvise and be like,

what's the best option here? Obviously it was not ideal, but it was the best I could do. Well, we're very happy that you were willing to chat with us again. And it was such a good story that I'm happy to hear it all over again. Same. Really quick. Now you're in a closet and it is now, I guess, 430 your time? 420? Yeah. 420. Get your weed out.

It's not legal here. Oh, yeah. You're in North Carolina, which we established. But alas, the story does not take place in North Carolina. Correct. What year? Where were you? What happened?

All right. I'm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I've finished my sophomore year. It's 2006. I'm 19. I'd worked for most of the summer, but I had a few weeks at the end of the summer with nothing planned. So two of my best friends from high school and I decide that we are going to take a trip to New York City. So we were kind of visiting some friends there, but really, we're newly minted adults. We're ready to have ourselves a big time in the city. We've got fake IDs. We got a little bit of money. I had recently learned about Priceline from my mom. So I booked us a nice hotel, the Hilton near Times Square for $120 a night, which was a big steal. We were all excited

about it. So we're all on the same flight out. On the back end, I'm planning to visit my sister in Austin, Texas. So I'm being very frugal-minded and cutting one flight out of the equation. I'm going to fly straight from New York down to Texas. You're going to triangle it. Exactly. Three flights instead of four. The way that the pricing worked out, it made more sense for me to stay an extra night. It saved me like hundreds of dollars. So I don't necessarily have a plan for where I'm going to stay that night. The price line deal does not go that far. Check out at the Hilton Times Square is noon or one.

Yeah, I actually think I had them keep my bag for a little while, you know, with like the little ticket. So I went out for like a day on my own meandering, exploring. But it was a fantastic trip to New York. Towards the end of it, they're asking me, what's your plan for this last night? I'm like, I don't really know. I'm sort of an optimistic bordering on, you know, irresponsible 19 year old. So I was thinking about this, like, is it irresponsible? Was it confidence? I don't know. Somewhere in between. It's a spectrum.

I'm expecting something to materialize out of nowhere and it really doesn't. So we're getting later and later in the day and I've got to like come up with a plan. What I did have a plan about was not spending $50 on a taxi ride by myself back to the airport in the morning. So I'm like, all right, I found out there was a shuttle from Penn Station to LaGuardia for 12 bucks. Incredibly affordable, $12 to get to LaGuardia from Manhattan. I kind of work backwards. That's the central plan. I'm like, all right, Penn Station, there's people hanging out there for long periods of time, waiting, sitting with bags. It's not going to necessarily look that weird if I'm hanging out there overnight, possibly grabbing a nap.

AKA sleeping at Penn Station is the game plan. I get there somewhere in the 11 o'clock hour and I've picked my spot. I've parked it for not very long, just a few minutes when over the kind of sound system, it's like Penn Station is closing. Everybody out. And there's definitely like workers milling about, about to like enforce this rule. I would have been with you. I would have definitely assumed trains are coming in there all night long.

Me too. I can't believe that it shuts down for some period. I was shocked. Like what? Yeah. So I get my bag. I go outside of Penn Station. I'm just kind of hanging out on the sidewalk, trying to not completely freak out and come up with my next plan. So plan B is this is the city

that never sleeps. Their bars, I know, open till 4am because I've been to them. And I'll just wander around the streets for four or five hours. And then I'll circle back to Penn Station by 5 a.m. for this shuttle. Not going to get much sleep, obviously. Also, when someone enters the bar with their luggage, it's a weird look. You're assuming that the person is living outside. Yeah, but in New York, the mean streets of New York, they don't care. I don't know. I've done a lot of bar drinking in New York.

And if someone walks in with a roll-on bag, I'm like, uh-oh, what happened here? Not in the middle of the evening. They go, oh, they stopped for a drink on the way to their hotel. But, you know, 1 a.m., someone comes with a roller bag. You're like, what's going on here? That was definitely in my thought process. Not to mention, I'm going to be expected to spend money in a bar. A lot of the underlying part of this was like trying to keep costs low. Trying to get in and out of the city for 12 bucks.

So I'm literally thinking I'm just going to like mostly wander the streets and maybe duck in and out here and there. But around the same time that the plan is materializing in my brain, a taxi driver pulls up and is like, hey, do you need a ride somewhere? I'm like, nope, I'm good. He kind of takes a look at me and is like, alright, there's this girl standing

outside of Penn Station with a bag, like a traveler, we think. She's not actively walking anywhere, you know. She doesn't need a taxi. And he's kind of like, what are you doing? Like, it's midnight. And I gave him the CliffsNotes sugar-coated version. He's like, well, do you want me to take you to the airport? And I'm like, you know, I know that's kind of a hefty price tag for taking a taxi all the way out to the airport.

And he's like, do you want me to take you somewhere else or a hotel or something? And I'm like, look, dude, I don't have anywhere to go. Right, right, right. So, you know, unless you want me to ride around in your cab with you all night, I don't think that there's anything that you can do for me. And he is like, well, you can do that. Just ride around with me. And I'm like, what?

Seriously? Don't you have to pick up people and drop them off? You know? And he's like, well, you can ride in the front seat. Like, you can sleep if you want to. Oh, still spooks me. It's spooky. We heard it yesterday, and I still hate it. I still hate it.

Be great if you took a nap. Get comfy. Fall right asleep. Yeah. Feel comfortable to fall right asleep. I can't properly convey why it didn't feel that creepy. He had a trusting vibe. He had a like, I'm trying to help this four-stranded person, not necessarily like predator.

Right. Okay, but you guys, first of all. Predators don't have predator vibes? Yes, that's the whole point. If they're good at being predators, they really are good at suppressing the predator vibe. The ones that are bad are in jail. Or they don't ever get anyone. Right, right, right. Unsuccessful.

Unsuccessful predators have predator vibes. Yeah, this is definitely optimism bordering on recklessness. Again, here we go. Yeah. But at that point, that felt like a life-saving, huge weight lifted off of me option. And I was like, all right, absolutely. Let's do this. You know, I don't think I asked this yesterday, but I guess you put your bag in the trunk of the car.

Yep. I then would be obsessed with if another passenger got in and had some luggage and then they got out, I think there'd be a bag mix up on top of everything else. Oh, fuck. Yeah, I didn't even think of that. Did any of the passengers he picked up have luggage with them? Did they need the trunk at all? Not that I recall. Okay. Yeah. Late at night. You're the only weirdo with a bag, I guess. You can imagine what a 19-year-old frugal traveler has in their bag. If that bag was gone, I would not have been devastated. Right.

Yeah, so I rode around with this guy for four or five hours. He picked up a few people. Not a lot. Maybe, you know, one or two an hour. So we had lots of time to get to know each other and share life stories. Did he ignore the passengers when they were in there and just keep chatting with you? Like, did you guys carry on? Yeah.

Yeah. I would have been like, is this guy's on a date? Right. What's going on up there? I would be very nosy and I'd have to figure out what's going on. Never, ever gotten in a cab where there was a passenger already. Yeah. Not to mention when the cab pulled over, I'd think, why'd this guy pull over?

He's already got a. Right. I'd be like, are you getting out? Was this a carpool cab? I don't want to go to her house first. Wouldn't it have been great if he was picking out someone, take them to the airport? I thought about that after we recorded. I was thinking about it while it was happening.

In fact, I almost was predicting that was where the story was going to go. That would have been great. Yeah, that would have been so convenient. Oh, that would have been very convenient. But then it wouldn't have allowed him to display the most extreme hospitality that he did. That's right. So we're nearing 5 a.m. and we're like, all right, like, gotta kind of get back to Penn Station. He says, you know, I'll just take you to the airport.

And I'm like, no, you don't need to do that. And he's like, I'm not going to charge you. We're friends now. I'm going to take you to the airport. And it's really nice. I was like, well, I'll pay you like 20 bucks or whatever. I felt like I could afford. Yeah. He's like, no, no, no. And so he drives me all the way out to LaGuardia. In the midst of that, there was like a soft marriage proposal. Right. I was worried you

weren't going to say it this time. And we really needed to hear that part. Soft marriage proposal. Yeah, I was kind of half of half joking half like let's throw it against the wall see if it sticks dead serious yeah maybe we'll run with it if it doesn't this could have been the most romantic story of all time because if you had said yes and then he got out of the cab and joined you to fly to austin just left his whole life behind that's a real movie just leaves the cab running with the door open it's's not his cab. Oh, man. And he just followed love down to Austin. A meet cue. Another meet cue.

Yep. Take it to the next pitch meeting. Make sure I'm a consultant. And how did you handle the invitation to wed? I kind of laughed it off and was like, I got to go back to college. I'm a child still. Oh, God. Oh, I feel sweaty.

As fun as these five hours were, I do intend to court my future husband for more than five hours. Yeah. We've just had one good date is all we've had. But he could have been from a region of arranged marriage, in which case for him, he's like, I've gotten to know this person way more. Yeah. He was an Egyptian immigrant. I mean, he was single. I didn't know that. And I think he was like in his thirties, but I was 19. So there was definitely an age gap. You had some things to overcome if you pursued the marriage, for sure. You wouldn't have the same references. That's okay. You can learn. I wouldn't have access to the taxi medallion,

though. I think that's a pretty hard thing to get. Especially in 06, not as much anymore, but inallion, though. I think that's a pretty hard thing to get. Especially in 06. Not as much anymore. But in 06, sure. Very valuable. We hugged at the end. It was not creepy. We exchanged numbers.

We did not ever talk again. I like you so much, but I can't trust you to know whether it was creepy or not. Based on this whole story. You just don't know. But that's okay. You got out alive. I can't say I'm terribly shocked you never called him, but I'm a little shocked you never got a call from him.

He understood. He heard the no. But he had her number. He heard the no. Great, but they did exchange numbers. I could see him- Oh, just checking in? Lobbing a call out.

Hey, did you make it safely to Austin? Oh, sure. You give that proposal any more thought? No, he's a gentleman. It does attest to my, you know, creep meter, though, that he didn't. You were vindicated on all this. It was a lovely five hours. Nothing inappropriate happened.

And he never even used your number. Yeah. But Armcherrys, please don't use this story as, see, I can do that, too. And then you get killed and then we get sued. Yeah. I've thought about this more as you can imagine in the last week. And like, how do I feel about this in retrospect? I mean, was it blind confidence? Was it complete irresponsibility, totally reckless? And I just had like an optimism and a confidence that everything's going to work out. And it did. I don't regret it.

I don't think I would do it again. There we go. I would have done it then and I would do it now. To be clear, I would do it again at 19. Now, if I was like in that situation again, I'm a little more financially stable. I also have two children. More to lose. I'd add on the extra night somewhere. Yeah. Well, Blair, I so appreciate you retelling us that lose. I'd add on the extra night somewhere. Well, Blair, I so appreciate you retelling us that story. I loved it the first time with bad internet connection. Thank you so much.

Can I say hello to my friend one more time? Yes. Please, please, please. Okay. One is my husband. This is like his normal podcasting studio. So he's awesome and helped me make sure I was recording three times over. Yes, yes. We thank him. And the other is my friend, Jason Dragon, who is also an arm cherry. And I didn't tell him

that I was going to be doing this. So I'm hoping he's going to listen and just be surprised. Stumble upon it. And we happen to know that Jason Dragon is a farmer. That's right. And we also said we welcome anyone with that name into the Armchairy army in case we have to have a huge gang fight with my favorite murder. With that fan base. He is definitely a strong, confident man, but he's also very much a vulnerable. It's very cute that he has like the name Jason Dragon. Oh, we like him.

Vulnerable boys can throw down against the whatever they're calling their favorite murder. Okay, let's be respectful. It's a fun one to say. My favorite murder. Yes, I think it's the perfect fake adversary to have because I imagine they're all kind and women. Oh, no, they're great. Yeah, it's a very good podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, thanks so much, Blair, for doing this again. Thank you guys so much. Okay, take care. Bye. Oh, wow. The whole ride, man. We took a whole ride on that one. The human spirit is really something.

That's why I'm saying I feel terrible. Sometimes I worry, like, God, I hope I have that in me to be as good as Emma is. I know, but you don't even have to do that, you know? I don't. You don't have to make it like what I, you can just be grateful that there are people who are. Yeah, I just want to

aspire to that and then I hope I would be as good, you know? Yeah, you don't have to think about it. Okay, you don't need to be surprised I'm thinking about it. All right, love you. Oh, man, what a day. What a day. I need to go to sleep and then go hang with Ian.

I got to get on some motorcycles with Ian. You're in love with Ian. I will not low-side my bike. Knock on wood. Thank you. All right. I prefer to go over the handlebars than you do. Knock on wood again.

Okay, love you Alright, love you Do you want to sing a tune or something? Or a theme song? Oh Okay, great We don't have a theme song For this new show So here I go, go, go

We're gonna ask some random questions And with the help of our cherries, we'll get some suggestions. On the Flyer Rhyme Dish. On the Flyer Rhyme Dish. Enjoy.