Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - 180 | wild stories pt 2: almost dying, house fire, and more

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

In this episode, we continue our new series where we tell our wild stories! In part 2 we discuss a hiking trip to the Grand Canyon that took a bad turn, Andrew's family house fire, and the biggest argument we've ever been in. Leave a comment below if you're enjoying this series and tell us one of your wild stories!! We love hearing from you guys and don't forget to follow along at couplethingspod on Instagram! Love, Shawn & Andrew This episode is brought to you by AG1 ▶ If you want to take ownership of your health, try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 Free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase. Go to https://www.drinkAG1.com/COUPLETHINGS Follow My Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/ShawnJohnson Follow My Tik Tok ▶ https://www.tiktok.com/@shawnjohnson Like the Facebook page! ▶ https://www.facebook.com/ShawnJohnson Follow Andrew’s Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/AndrewDEast Andrew’s Tik Tok ▶ https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewdeast?lang=en Like the Facebook page! ▶ https://www.facebook.com/AndrewDEast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. probably the biggest argument we have ever gotten in we get in the car he's like drive this way until you hit the hotel and he like passes out i got all are you holding my hand because you're reliving this

yes what's up everybody welcome back to a couple things with sean and andrew a podcast all about couples and the things they go through this is a fun little series we're doing we're going down memory lane if you guys missed the first episode go back and listen to it but our wildest story Part 1 was posted. You guys enjoyed it. So we're going to do a part 2, maybe part 3, maybe a part 20. Yeah. Just talk about some of the crazier things that have happened in our life.

Whether you care about them or not. And what's funny is we seem to document our whole entire life, but have missed documenting some of the wild things we have done. And I'm looking at our list of things we've written down. And we have kind of been through it. Let's try to cover four stories today. Okay. You choose the first one, all right?

Okay, I had the first one. Where was it? I'm so excited. These are so fun to reflect on. Let's just start, babe. There is a vlog on this way down deep in the archives if you guys want to go see it. But the Grand Canyon. Oh, the old Grand Canyon.

So we were married. This was in 2017. 17. I had just gotten released from the L.A. Rams. I had just finished filming Adventure Capitalists. Yes, and we were in L.A. filming a collaboration with Brody Smith. You did some crazy Frisbee gymnastics tricks. Do you remember that?

Yep. I also remember filming that crazy Frisbee video with Brody. Our agent was there, and she was basically like Ball Boy. We're going on a tangent here for another story. She was ball boy, but with Frisbee's. And I remember she's got a good arm. She's strong. Yeah.

She threw the frisbee back to me and I didn't see it. And I thought I broke my nose in half. Yeah, that's not a crazy story. But what follows is, that's just an unfortunate story. Yeah. So from there, we take a little road trip. We drive from L.A. to Vegas. But on the way, we want to stop by the Grand Canyon, which we had never been to before.

We had kind of timed out and planned our whole. whole trip to where we were going to go like be in Vegas by a certain time we're going to stop by the grand canyon at the like picturesque point where you take a picture it's like the best photo op at the top of the grand canyon on one of the rims side note it was an epic road trip we stopped at four national parks we did zionion grand reef grand canyon shana never camped before i never camped so we got all the camping stuff, drove like a rental car all through the southwest and had a

time. I was in like an existential crisis because I kept getting cut from NFL teams. It was a very special time for us, of camping and just kind of like being on our own schedule. Good memories. Yeah. I will say though, I want to paint the picture for you when we were

camping. We literally went to like a second hand store and bought the bare minimum. Bare minimum. It's like camp like out of our car and out of a tent we had like a hundred dollar budget and we bought tents stoves sleeping bags pillows all the things yeah but i just want you to know we were rookies we weren't like prepared excuse me i'm an eagle scout thank you very much i know but we weren't prepared so we're camping a couple days we get to the grand canyon we're right on schedule we pull up to

the grand canyon at 10 a.m literally 10 a.m and we have this wild kind of conversation the last five minutes as we're pulling up we're seeing the beauty we're like wow this is so epic we should spend more time here and not just take a picture on the rim we're like what if we hike it and then it was like

I wonder how fast you could hike it and then it was like we looked it up and they were like it usually takes nine hours we're like I bet we could beat that yes and then I start Googling and doing research of like when should you hike it when should what are the do's and don'ts what are all these things and basically the do list for hiking the

grand canyon just so you know is to get up at the butt crack of dawn and be done long before one or two p.m. But like before noon so you want to wake up like four because the sun's not hot and up yet they also I mean unless you've trained for like a down and up it's going to be around 18 miles so maybe do it in two days or train for months preceding. Yep. Of which we didn't, neither of those things. You're also supposed to have a professional hiking bag, hiking boots. You are supposed to have enough water to three times your body weight, I think it was.

Yeah, because the trails don't always have water available. And there's this little asterisk. There's two asterisk. So one is, know that it's one of the dangerous, like most dangerous hikes because since you start going down, they say most majority people who hike the Grand Canyon get in trouble because it's easier to go down

than it is to go up. So they go too far going down before they turn around and then they get in trouble going up. You're used to like the heavier portion of the fatigue being the first half of the... Like if you're climbing a mountain, it's harder to go up the slope.

So the second half is easier and you're like, oh, well, it's not the big deal because it's not that big a deal to be fatigued because it is easier. The other thing I read as we're pulling up to the Grand Canyon deciding, yeah, we're just going to hike it today, is under no conditions, in no scenario, should you ever start hiking after 10 a.m. Because that means the bulk of your hike on the way up will be in the dead heat of day. And they say a lot of people die that way. So we pull up at 10 a.m. We're challenged now to beat the average hiking time of down and up.

We go take our picture. We see the clock says 10 a.m. We see all these signs that say warning, heat exhaustion, warning, don't hike at midday, warning, you know, make sure you're prepared. Take our picture. And we say, well, let's just. Let's just do it. Let's just see what it looks like to go a mile. Yeah.

Andrew had one backpack. I did not have a backpack. We had beef jerky, like two slim gems pretty much. Dried pineapple. And four power bars. And then two like one liter bottles. Yeah, of water. Which was enough for what we were planning to do.

Tennis shoes, no hiking gear whatsoever. Yes. And we were like, you know what? I got faith in us. We're going to do this. So Sean starts jogging down. I kid you not. Let me just back up there real quick.

I love math. I live for math. and I live for safety, ha-ha, preparation. Terrible preface for this story. Terrible. And I was like, okay, if we're going to do this,

at least we're going to follow the rule where it's like you cannot come back up after it's dark. That's when the worst things that the Grand Canyon happen. You can't get rescued. God forbid you ever needed rescued, all these things.

So you have to be back up to the rim by sundown. So I calculated, like I figured out when Sundown was, and I knew we had, what do we have, eight hours? Yeah. We had till six, 10 to six. And so from there, divided that between how many miles we were hiking. We had to do the longer route because we were going. We went south Kaibab down, which is, it's shorter.

Steeper, quicker. It's like eight miles down, but it doesn't have water. Yep. But then we took the longer route up, which was... The Bright Angel Trail, and it was about 10 miles. But it has three or four water stops. The game plan was to do the South Kaibab down and up, because it was shorter in my mind. I was like, why would we do two extra miles when we could just do this?

But Sean's wisdom prevails. I made the smart decision. She said, we're going to need water. Yes. So I did all these calculations. I was like, this is the pace we have to stay at in order to get back up before it turns dark. which I calculated going down we were going to kind of double our pace

because I figured we were going to be half as quick on the way back up. So I start running. We made good time. Yeah. So we're going down. First of all, Green Canyon is beautiful.

I would highly recommend any of the national parks. I'm a geek for all these things. It's beautiful. We're like having the time of our life jogging. Yep. Downhill, which also don't do. It's so bad on your knees and your body. You know what's funny?

I've revisited that video several times, but only because that's when we first started talking about baby names. I know. That's when we came out with Drew's names. But I haven't watched the end, which I would love to revisit. I haven't watched that since I edited the video. So we get down to the bottom. We get down to the bottom, and we're feeling good.

Feeling good. D drank very little water because we didn't feel like we needed it. Like we were definitely sweating. It was probably, I don't know, 80 to 90 degrees. It was hot. But not like scorching. No. Get to the bottom.

We're like, let's jump in the Colorado River. Also, frowned upon, you should not do that. No, it's so dangerous. It's a very strong current. Sean and I weren't a rebellious phase of life, so making bad decisions. So we get soaked. We have no change of clothes. Get soaked, but it felt very refreshing.

It did feel great. Then we had this big debate of, are we going to go up to South Kaibab again? Because it's shorter or the bright angel. Because you're at the bottom of this canyon, and you just spent, I mean, it probably took us, what, two and a half, three hours? I think it took us two hours to get down. And you're like, okay, sick, we made it. And people talk about the little phantom ranch that's down at the bottom. And it's like this magical jungle type.

You know, it's like a lot of vegetation. But then you look at the top of the canyon. Actually, you can't even see the top. You see like a false type of peak. There's almost two tiers to the canyon. And you're like, oh, freak, we have to go back up. I also think it's one dangerous thing we did when we got to the bottom is we sat down. for a little too long to where when we got back up it was like oh no you know when the fatigue just hit you all at once so we made the smart decision none of this is smart you did thank goodness yeah none of this is smart so don't do this husbands listen to your wives but we made the smart decision to go up the longer route because of water it was starting to be so by now it's like noon it's getting hotter the sun is like blazing peak it's at its peak so we start hiking and you weren't feeling that good after the river

You weren't feeling that good, but I was still feeling pretty strong. Yeah. Yeah. So we start hiking and... Time dragged on, dude. Yeah. It never ended. It just never ended.

We saw at one point, like, I remember I felt super, super good for like the first three quarters of the Bright Angel. I remember we took way more breaks on the way up. Way more breaks. We had to... We drank way more water. We stopped at every water station We went through every power bar Pineapple

Anything we had which was nothing And yeah we ate all the food Do you remember the evacuation helicopter we saw? I knew someone got rescued Someone got like heat exhaustion that day And there's a helicopter that came And like picked them up literally was Flying with

Like the little basket The basket draping beneath them And we're like wow That's crazy What must have happened because you don't know and then we continue on I think it was around

three quarters of the way halfway where and this is like back back in 2017 when I was a little bit fitter I kind of noticed Andrew declining us not even halfway

our pace was slowing down it was so hot and I literally flipped a switch and I was like look down and go like we have to get to the top so Sean finds her second wind

meanwhile like we crossed the second peak we kept seeing like oh we're almost there we're almost there we don't have our phones with us I don't think and we were never there when we thought we were and signs start popping up it was either heat exhaustion

or like heat stroke warnings and for whatever reason we had like one or two miles left I saw this sign for the first time and just like that I was like nauseous and weak and felt terrible

I don't know like my body just hit a wall it honestly scared me a little bit we had probably a mile to go when it got bad you started swerving you were white you kept start you start

yeah you were telling me you wanted to puke your body temperature was kind of crashing and I was like oh I don't don't know what to do here we had to stop like every one or two hundred yards just like catch my breath and anyway we get to the top and you're like okay well this isn't where we parked so then we had to get on this bus shuttle i'll never oh i'll never forget one there's a group of people that wanted to take a picture with you at the very top at the end and that was like usually i'm pretty game for that i love that yeah but i remember that was not my shining moment i was like we

have to go like we can't do it i don't remember that at all i was just in like save my husband mode you you freaking really stepped up there we get on this bus and i i think i fell asleep or like a blacked out i don't remember sean gets us in the car um she starts driving us to our next destination which we actually didn't have a next we had to book a hotel on the way so i'd instead of camp i had found a hotel i had booked it andrew was in charge of directions we get in the car he's like driving this way until you hit the hotel and he like passes out

but literally like comatose passes out part of me is like is he actually passed out or is he asleep like I don't know whatever I drove for an hour for an hour the wrong direction and all of a sudden Andrew wakes up

takes like a look around and he's like wrong direction it's the other way falls back to sleep so is that my fault or yours it's fine It was fine. So we finally get to this hotel.

Which was great, by the way. It was a great hotel. It started snowing that night, which is another dangerous thing about the Grand Canyon is the temperature fluctuations. It gets super hot and then it can get super cold. There was like four inches of snow on the ground the next day. Yes.

I also don't know if you remember this, but as soon as we pulled into the hotel, we had already booked our room and stuff. We go to the check-in, and they're like, you're on the fourth floor. Room number or whatever. We had just walked however many. equivalent stairs and they said walk four more flights i'm like no because the elevators were broken oh my gosh

i was like wow and totally fine i was taking one for the team andrew goes straight up to the room i'm carrying the luggage okay like once ever have you done that no i'm saying like it was whatever could i could i could barely walk up the stairs i know you were still crawling on my hand you were in really bad shape you were still super nauseous you had no color to your face it was It was kind of scary. And we literally got into the room. Andrew strips down, butt naked, jumps in the shower. Tub.

I couldn't stand up. And then from the tub, lays down on the floor and just passes out again. And Sean, bless her heart, thank goodness, was like, no, don't fall asleep. You can't fall asleep. We need to go eat food. Yeah, you needed food. What do you think we ate maybe a total of 400 calories in the past probably 12 hours? Oh, it's so dumb, you guys.

And so then I'll never forget, we go down to this like steak restaurant. It was a dope hotel. I forget what it was called. Go down and like order this meal. It took like forever. The waitresses there were making fun of us because they're like, oh, would you hike the canyon for the first time? Not knowing that we went all the way down and up. And I was sprawled out on the table.

Yeah. Like couldn't even hold myself upright. And then as soon as I got like three bites of food in me, I was back at, I felt. yeah re-energized anyway had i fallen asleep and not eaten i think that story would end much differently so thank you sean it's so dumb we'll have to watch that video we'll link it down below for you too um that was an all-timer moral the story don't hike the grand canyon at high noon no prepare for hiking the grand canyon people do like rim to rim to rim to rim so they'll go down and up twice but like it's like people that do marathons and have trained we

We also aren't long-distance people. We hadn't, yeah. Anyway, prepare for it. Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child's vision. They slow down the progression of myopia. So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer through their own eyes. Light the path to a brighter future with stellar lenses for myopia control.

Learn more at slur.com. And ask your family eye care professional for SLR. lenses at your child's next visit okay this is more of a this is freshman near college so pre-shawn 2011 um I'm sitting in one of my college classes I get a text from my dad to the family he says our house burnt down today and it's like you you read that and you're thinking it must be a joke because why would someone just text that out so casually it feels like it would feel like a it would feel like a casual way to tell somebody that your house burned down so i didn't even think twice about it didn't respond get out of class and i call my dad and i'm like hey what is that an analogy for

like what are you talking about with with that text and he's like it's like yeah our house is burning down i'm watching it right now i got to go our car's about to blow up so it hangs up i had a football practice that afternoon so i go into my uh coach's office after i had seen pictures of our house actually burning down. I'm like, hey, I'm like a freshman, so I'm timid. Can I go back home for like a day or two to be with my family and help my parents out as they navigate our house burning down? We get back up there and I got the full story, which was this. So my mom was cleaning out the fireplace, put some coals in a trash bag before they were fully cooled. That lit the trash bag on fire in the garage and that started this whole house fire and my parents were

on the other side of the house so they didn't even really notice until it was until it was like pretty late they call the fire department which we have one like half a mile away from where I grew up no joke and turns out that that fire department was on some training mission so they had to call another fire department that was like seven eight miles away that those fire trucks get there and this was in February and we lived on this dead end like quiet not highly traffic street um there just been an ice storm so that all these fire trucks get up to our street they can't pull onto the street because there's too thick of ice and they hadn't been plowed yet or anything as your house is still burning right so then they like take the time to like salt the street

down to shovel whatever to try to get enough momentum to get up there the flames are a blaze That takes whatever, you know, let's just say a half hour. Trucks finally get up there to our house. They pull out the hoses. They're about to connect it to the fire hydrant. There's no fire hydrant on our street. So they had to get like 13 trucks, 13 big fire trucks, which shut down like most of the north side of Indy.

We've heard stories afterwards because there was so much like commotion and traffic that need to be readjusted they had to link 13 trucks together and like hose to hose connect the trucks which decreases water pressure you could imagine they get to the fire hydrant that's like a half mile away maybe three quarters a mile away and they they try to open up that hydrant and it's frozen so fortunately they were able to like work through the ice on that after however many more minutes while our house is still a flame and by the time they turned the water on and got the hose run and first of all the water pressure was like and our house is pretty much gone we lost two cars totally blew up um all of our memorabilia and in retrospect it was one of

the biggest and the house burnt down to the ground house burned down to the ground um and then we the only thing we lost was our cat serena or Sabrina or Sabrina sorry unfortunately but other than that we were all okay uh it turned out to be one of the biggest blessings in our life though because at the time my brother had been world traveling like was in argentina for months my other older brother was in college i had just gone off to college we'd all kind of we're super tight-knit family we had all kind of broken apart to do our own things and this brought us back together for like a week we spent and we're going back over old memories and the community that

surrounded us was amazing. Like, I'll never forget, there was 20 people out there to help us salvage whatever we could. We did this big prayer circle. People were donating clothes because we had nothing. It all got caught up in the fire.

And at the time, I was like, I still get maybe a little sad about all my dad's stuff that, like, he had these Purdue football helmets that we always used. used to wear his kids, like all his high school letter jackets, college, pictures, right? We lost all that. But you realize, like, oh, man, the best things in life are not those things that burn

in the fire. It's like the people standing in the circle who are around us. And there was like, it was just so cool to see how people step up in times of need, which is maybe why I'm like such an optimistic person, like in the midst of current politics. It's like, no, people are good at the end of the day. And I've been the beneficiary of that. Uh, so yeah, that was, that was like a really special thing that happened and I'm thankful for. I wouldn't, I wouldn't change.

It's not like that big a deal ultimately to lose a house, even though you think it is. There's a lot of offshoot stories that are crazy about like things we found or things that weren't burnt that we were able to save, um, but that's the story of my house burning down. Wow. Had you heard that whole thing? Yeah. Yeah. Yes, baby.

We've been together a while now. Yeah, you're right. That did transition me into, like, being this super minimalist kind of guy. Yeah, you're such a minimalist. That's when I started giving my dreads. Yeah. Which is kind of another story. We have to go there.

Yeah. You're a minimalist, huh? The other story. Do you hoard boxes? No, babe. I like tech. And it's, people like to buy tech with boxes still. You are not a minimalist, just so you know.

Oh, the last part of that, Lance Armstrong, my childhood hero, who my brother had been racing bikes with. My brother was a professional cyclist. Send us like 20 boxes of team peril. And I'll never forget, like Lance became my hero through all that. We had a chance to see him and meet him when he did a speech with him. And I was like, Lance, you sent me all these boxes after our house burnt down, 2011. Thank you so much. I'll never forget me.

He was like, I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. Literally. I have a video. It's probably his press people. That was kind of heartbreaking, but it's okay. I'll recover. It's okay. This episode is brought to you by Defender.

With its 626 horsepower twin turbo V8 engine, the Defender Octa is taking on the Dakar rally. The ultimate off-road challenge. Learn more at landrover.ca. Okay, so here's a story we haven't told you. I'm surprised I'm actually saying it means I've grown up a little bit. We did breach the subject

for the first time on Matt and Abby's podcast. Yeah. It's probably the biggest argument we have ever gotten in. Ever. Almost to the point where I thought we were going to break up because of it. We were dating at the time

to give you a little backstory. I can laugh because now we're married. You can never leave me. A little backstory about me in kind of my upbringing. I was raised in a household that valued academics over everything.

My coach valued academics over everything. So I had so much weight in my pride and my ego in academics. I dreamt of being an orthopedic surgeon. I took all the AP classes.

I got all... Are you holding my hand because you're reliving this? Yes. I put my heart and soul in school Had 4.0 I remember the day that I got my first B And ended up still getting a 4 point

Because of a lot of extra things that I did Um Shmoos Pretty much thought my world Ended when I got a B Anyways, just to paint that picture for you Uh come Junior, senior year I'm talking to Stanford

I'm talking to Harvard I'm going to an Ivy League school There was no other option about it I had verbally committed to Stanford Especially with their gymnastics program Not an Ivy League school for the record I continue I know

But I had been talking to Ivy League's Whatever I put so much weight in school In school So my junior year I go off for the Olympics after the Olympics I tried to come back to my public high school and it caused so much disruption

that we end up having to have a heart to heart with our principal and like security of the school and they basically advised me that probably coming back to school in person wasn't the safest or smartest idea. So I had to do private tutoring for my final year of school. You also decided to go professional. So, which at the time meant you couldn't do college gymnastics.

Yep. So I had to get a scholarship through education or, like, pay my way through college. Which is a whole other thing. We should talk about gymnastics and the new NIL stuff and all the things, because that's nonsense. Yes. Go ahead. So at this time, I was looking at Duke. I was looking at, I think it was down to Duke and Stanford.

still talking to Harvard but like it was Duke or Stanford my agent had gone to Duke I had toured Stanford campus because of gymnastics and I was really interested top tier academic programs yeah okay so my final year of

high school I end up doing private tutoring through this program where I would go in every day and do the same hours of high school but just like while in one with someone the way their program worked was like you accumulated hours in each like course until you had enough hours to graduate. So I finished all these hours. I technically graduated. Took the SAT, took the ACT. All of

these applied to college, got in, and then ended up having to defer college. I had chosen Stanford and then had to defer college because of gymnastics again. I made a comeback, all these things. And you've got to think in this time of Sean's life, post-Olympics, she's doing Dancing with the Star, or she's flying in New York for Today Show, like interviews and all this different things. So not only was it the commotion she caused at her public high school

that caused her to do the tutoring, but also all this traveling and things that aren't normal for the average high school students. Yes. So with this program that I was in, sorry there's so many different aspects to the story with this program that I was in after I finished all of my hours and they were like you are graduated you have fulfilled all your duties of high school like all these things I had gotten into Stanford I got all of these they were like by the way do you want to this is really strange and I wish I could relive this conversation it was both me and my parents sitting in with these people they're like do you want to purchase a diploma and at the time I I was like, why would I do that? Like, why would I purchase a piece of paper, whatever? And they're like, oh, it's just kind of a formality.

If you want to spend another, I don't know, $100 on a diploma, you could have it. And I was like, well, if I don't need it, I would rather not have just like this. It seemed like a scam at the time. I also wasn't able to walk through my high school graduation for security reasons, which is kind of a bummer. I was really sad about that. But in regards to all of my documentation. Transcripts. Yeah.

I was a graduated high school, 4.0 student. Guys, I deferred college seven years. By this time, I have met Andrew. So fast forward, a long time. I have deferred college seven years. I have met Andrew. I've retired twice I am moving to Nashville

and I have now told Stanford I'm no longer coming but Andrew gives me a tour of Vanderbilt I'm like how about I get my college degree at Vanderbilt University and I go

through the application process this is really long story leading up too sorry I'm excited I love it Um, I go through the application process and I get to the part where they say, please attach your high school diploma or GED to like, or transcripts basically to show your academic, whatever. So I call this program that I used, that I did.

And they no longer, um, exist. Exists. Like literally. have been wiped off the face of the earth. Along with that, they got rid of all of their files and documentation. So,

I on paper, am a junior in high school. I'm so curious to know the nuances of that. It must have been some private tutoring thing that, like, didn't get acquired afterwards and, like, just shut down. Who throws away? All of... Whatever.

So I have a panic attack. Andrew is like, it's no big deal. Just go take your GED. To summarize a lot of arguments, I was way too prideful to get a GED. We had it on the calendar. We scheduled it for like two weeks after this had all gone down. It was like an hour drive south to Huntsville, Alabama.

And I'm like, Sean's super bright and intelligent. She's not going to have any issue passing the GED. So the day comes and goes. And I, like, we've been dating for. a year and a half maybe at that time. So, like, we knew each other really well. And I still didn't feel like I had the ability to, like, I'm not like your accountability partner.

Like, this is your thing. Going to college is like your thing. I don't care what your accolades are, including any type of education. So, like, it comes and goes, you didn't go. And we didn't really discuss it. Until we had to sit down dinner where we were like, oh so why didn't you do it and you're like oh i was too insecure i feel like i'm going to fail it

so then we had this big long discussion about okay we're going to schedule it two months from now and we're going to do it like i'll drive you down there i'll support you like we'll get breakfast together morning of we could study for it together whatever you need i'll do it like i involved myself more so we put it on the calendar and the studying part didn't really happen because It's like a touchy subject for Sean. I refused to study because if I didn't study, then I would have an excuse not to go. I didn't even open a book. Oh, my gosh.

So dumb. So the night before the GED comes around. Well, and let me give context. I don't know what it was about me back then. But when it came to the GED, for some reason, I was paralyzed. with insecurity of possibly being seen taking the GED.

I prided myself so much up to that moment of all the work I put in and my academics but I had all of these people around me almost like dude you didn't even finish your junior of high school like really?

I don't know why I was so insecure about it well we're young you were like 20 years old 21 years old and back it's not like we had a career established you had obviously dominated in gymnastics but then past that like it's this athlete transition that we've talked about where like you don't know what your identity is for me it was easy to like lean on oh i have a high school diploma and i graduated from vandy and it's like you look to these external accolades to identify who you are and you didn't really have those tangible things obviously had a gold medal which does go a long way but i think too

i was disappointed in myself because neither of my parents went to college and it was something that we had worked on as a family so much, even my coach, in making sure I had that fallback. Like, I had the academic accolades to give me a life in a career outside of gymnastics, and I felt like I was just falling into this, like, stereotype of professional athletes, where I didn't value academics,

I didn't put, like, effort there. And it was just like, I was so embarrassed by it. So the night before the GED comes around. Well, I didn't, it's interesting, because like shame and insecurity, are probably natural things but not useful no and it's really nice and freeing to talk about this now because i know you've felt that in security even we've never discussed it before like a month ago no but now even talking about it's like oh wow it's it's not that big a deal

like it is what i'm actually really proud of you do so here we are the night before the test has been scheduled which has been on the calendar for a very long time very long and like it's It's dinner time, and the test is like 8 a.m. the next day, maybe 7 a.m. even. And I'm sitting there, and I build up the courage, like, breach the subject with Sean. I'm like, hey, so you ready for the big test tomorrow? And she goes silent for a little bit, and then she says, I'm not taking it. I'm not going. Haven't even read a single page to study.

And this is kind of how Sean and I argue, like, starts pretty chill, and then it builds. So I was like, oh, that's interesting. Like, wow, we had it on the calendar, didn't we? And you're like, yeah, I'm not taking it. And then I slowly build in emotions. We, I remember a door slamming that night. Yep. Tears.

Sean went to bed, mad at me, and I'm saying, I am going to drive you down there tomorrow. Whether you're down for it or not. We needed to leave by like 4 a.m. Andrew went back to his apartment. I stayed in mine. And Andrew had a key to my apartment by then, and I remember going to bed. I did not set an alarm. I was like, no way in hell.

Yeah, it just wasn't on the radar for you. It was just not happening. I haven't prepared. There's no chance. I wake up. 4 a.m. My frigging apartment door opens. And he's like, good morning.

We set an alarm before because I knew there's about to be an hour of figuring things out before. We need to leave a five. So we have this pretty intense argument. Screaming at each other. And I get it. Like, Sean didn't feel like it was something she wanted to do because she felt shame around it. It ends with me literally, at one point, having carried you.

I think you threw me over your shoulder. I said, we're just going to go down there. You don't have to take the test, but we're going to Huntsville. I literally think you threw me over his shoulder and put me in the car. So we drive an hour and a half, complete silence. Didn't say a word. At the end. I don't know what happened, but like we pulled up the facility and you're like, fine, I'll take it.

Like, it was just getting you to the place. And Andrew, Andrew said, I'll be parked right here. And like, was doing a power move of like, I will watch you walk into those doors. And I remember, oh my gosh, I was so. mad at myself by the time I walked in the doors because I was like you gotta be kidding me I'm getting ready to take this I haven't been to school in seven years I haven't opened a book I've been to like up my own butt about this and the subject are like math science literature some other thing history history yeah so it's like I don't know anything about history for for sure for sure so it's a long test yeah it's like four hours four hours I get through the test and I'm like there's no chance in hell that I passed it like I I I I'm I know I don't know history that is something that like within my especially within high school I front loaded so many like math language arts classes for college because of gymnastics

I really didn't take history past like ninth grade. Oh my gosh. And I walk out and Andrew's like grinning from ear to ear. And I was like, I hate you. I love you, but I hate you. And he's like, so how did it go? Whatever. And I was like, I don't know.

They said the results will come in in a few hours or whatever. And he's like. Oh, interesting. Interesting. Take a look at my phone. Maybe you should, like, just get on and check. Maybe they've come through already. And I was like, they haven't.

They said they'll come through in a few hours or whatever. He's like, just get on and check. And I was like, what are, we're about to get another argument. So, Andrew then, like, hands his phone to me. He has hacked into my GED account, literally hacked, and already pulled up and checked my scores, you butthead. And? Passed with flying colors.

Yes, you do. how and are you glad at the end result yes i think it's a bummer looking back that we had to go through that but i think it's a bummer that there is such a stigma especially i think for our generation because like our parents generation was so heavily like college is the only route and i feel like our generation is the first to kind of breach that but i had such insecurities around it and felt so ashamed when it was it's such a good thing i don't know it's so interesting i haven't thought about it this much but like i don't know maybe that is me being an overbearing partner like too invested in this or like over overstepping my bounds i needed it i do think you and i have

this dynamic though of like a team where you push me outside of my comfort zone i push you outside of your comfort zone i think there's grown to be an understanding of that and an appreciation for that we didn't really have that then we did not but it's like you're i i ibrahim lincoln has a quote of like discipline is deciding between what you want now versus what you want most and i don't know if that was right of me to like say hey i i know you don't want to take this test now but i know what you most want is to like have this high school ordeal behind you so i'm gonna i'm gonna like do everything i can to to make you get what you want most.

Oh, I know. It was, guys, I wish you could have been there. No, I don't. Actually, it was not good. I don't wish anyone. I wish I wasn't there. It was so ugly. I am so sorry.

I would never, yelling. I think up into today, I still would not have taken my GED. And because of you, I got my GED. I finished my application to Vanderbilt. I got in. Yes. Which was one of the coolest days of my life. seven years removed from the glory days where every once in a while I would have this thought of

like are you accepting me because of gymnastics or are you accepting me because my academics it was really cool to like get another acceptance letter um at the time this is this will lean into our last and the next and last story okay so at the time Vanderbilt was doing zero remote classes. Which is wild to think about. Not a single one. So Sean gets accepted and then it must have been less than two weeks later. She gets a phone call to be on the celebrity apprentice with Donald Trump in 2015.

That was the year. Is that right? Yeah. No, it was 2014. It aired in 2015. So she calls Vanderbilt's like, hey, can I figure out some remote situation? and they said, no, you have to be on campus. Yeah.

Which is crazy. Which is crazy. Surely it's changed. So anyway, she doesn't go to Vandy. You enroll in Penn State Online. Which was the only accredited online university at the time, which is also wild. There might have been a handful, but Penn State you had deep connections with. I had deep connections with, but it had something to do with the accreditation system of there were accredited colleges where you could get your full four-year degree.

online and it was just online but Penn State was one of the only ones that you could do some online and it would transfer

into a college so if I wanted to come back to Vandy Penn State was about the only one I think UCLA had a program too where I could like transfer in so she did that for one semester

studied nutrition was that your psychology psychology that's right we could tell that story later But she gets this call about the apprentice. And I'll let you take it from here.

The whole ex-prudence. Let's take it all the way to Bali. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. This fall get double points on every qualified stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Wait, I didn't get charged for my donut.

It was free with this Tim's rewards points. I think I just stole it. I'm a donut stealer. Oof. Earn points so fast, it'll seem too good to be true. Plus, join Tim's Rewards today and get enough points for a free donut, drink, or timbits. With 800 points after registration, activation, and first purchase of a dollar or more. See the Tim's app for details at participating in restaurants in Canada for a limited time. Let's have the story in there. Are you nervous about this?

A little bit. We've told the story before or now. I don't think we've told the story. I don't know which part of the story are we telling You know what, we're not ready to tell a story now So we're going to end today's show I don't

I want to get in trouble from a president Maybe it'll be on a future video As part of this series But right now, I think three stories Those are three good stories Is that just two? How many stories do we tell? Two or three?

I think those three. Three. Oh, let's just, let's bring it full circle this way. Andrew told me about a week ago He's got this like Dream forming where he's itching to go back to college And get his doctorate And I have still yet to finish college

Long story there enrolled in Penn State Did a semester No almost a year Two semester I don't know End up feeling like college Was just kind of a waste of time And a lot of money And didn't finish my degree

ended up just working in our business and starting a company and as of last week talking to lipscomb university here go bison yeah might finish my degree guys so we might add an undergraduate and a doctor degree to the east fam yeah i do think it's important to continue learning i don't think college is for everybody i think in a lot away Sean you were a pioneer of that yeah and that's obviously become more of a normal conversation for people to have about not going to college to pursue something else but I do think it's important to continue learning whatever the format is could be an apprenticeship it could be a job it could be school and I love that I love that process yeah and I love that you love that process too. It's fun.

So that is our wildest stories part two. I don't know if you guys like this, but it is really fun for Sean and I to capture these memories. It's almost like a video journal. You could call it a vlog, you know?

Yeah. In some sense. It's story time with Sean and Andrew. It is. That's all we have. We'll see you next time. I'm Andrew. I'm Sean. With the East Fam. Out.