Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Rachel Van Vliet - An Interview With My Wife!

Episode Date: December 30, 2022

This is the long awaited and much requested interview with my wife, Rachel Van Vliet (@rachlinn324). This feels like the perfect guest to end 2022 with considering this year we got engaged, found out we were having a baby and also got married. We talk about how we met on a dating app, what our first date was like, our dog Luna, our wedding on December 17th, what Rachel thought about attending her first WWE and AEW shows and much more! Hope you enjoy this very candid conversation recorded two days before Christmas in the mountains of Idyllwild, CA. For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van! Brilliant! So good to see you, my friend. We have made it. Welcome to the final audio adventure of the year here on Insight. This is episode number 135 for the year. And in those 135 episodes, we've had so many different kinds of guests.

We've had pro wrestlers from every major company. We've had entrepreneurs, Oscar-winning actors. an Oscar-winning director, an FBI negotiator, a four-time Mr. Olympia, award-winning comedians, one of the best bass fishermen of all time, a few UFC Hall of Famers, the first man to ever do an unsupported solo mission across Antarctica, but we have never had a guest like today's guest. I'm sure you've seen the photos or the videos on social media. Yeah, I got engaged earlier this year.

I also found out that I was going to be a father for the first time this year. I got some great parenting advice from The Rock when that happened. And then on December 17th, Rachel and I got married. It's been a heck of a year. And a lot of you've been asking for Rachel to be a guest on Insights. So I thought, what better way to end for me, what has been the best year of my life than by ending it with the brand new Mrs. Rachel Van Vleet. as a guest on the show.

And this is obviously a, you know, a really personal conversation. But it's also a very candid conversation. We recorded this right before Christmas. We were in the mountains. We were in Idlewild, California. And it was just us sitting on the couch, looking outside at the snow outside.

I had a drink in my hand and the dog was sitting between us on the couch. So a very relaxed, candid conversation. And I think a good environment for Rachel's very first interview that she'd ever done. Before we get to a big shout out to CCMD, who left this review on Apple Podcasts, thank you so much.

It's been so amazing seeing all these reviews come in. This one says, amazing. I listen from week to week, and I never miss an episode of this amazing podcast. Well, thank you for that. Cici, I will continue to read one review on every single episode. Hopefully we get a few reviews on this one, as Rachel's friends and family are listening to this.

Just go into Apple Podcasts, leave a few words on there, and that's it. We'll read it out on the show. All right, let's do this. Please welcome my wife, Rachel Damfleet. Let's see if we can hear the baby. Hold it up there. Let's see. I don't think so.

We're doing it now, though. This is your first time doing one of these. It sure is. Wait, you sat in on one of the interviews that we did, right? In Vegas, yeah. Xavier Mortimer. Oh, yeah. But this is your first time.

It's your first time holding a microphone. Ever. Well, here's the thing. We've now been married six days. Almost a full week. As we record this. You're officially RVV. Officially.

How does it feel? Great. Yeah? Empowering. Empowering. I'm a missus. You are. You know, there's a wrestler named RVD.

So I've got competition. Yeah, well, RVV, you say it fast enough. People might think you're Rob Van Dam. RVD, RVV. I hope that we don't look too much alike. I would also hope that you don't look very much like Rob Van Dam. He's a very nice man. But I just figured, you know, we posted all these photos together.

It's been a heck of a year, right? Heck of a six months, really. Yeah. Yeah. But it's been a heck of a year. and I was like, what better way to end the year than by having you on the podcast? I've never really done this before. I've never had like a podcast where there's been somewhere I've been interviewed, but I've never like interviewed my sister or my parents. Do you want to describe what the scenery looks like right now for those who can't see us? This is good. Yeah, we're in Idaho Wild California right now. We're in the mountains. 6,000 feet elevation and we're in a little cabin here. You have our little dog on your lap, our Chawini, named Luna, who is fast asleep. And Luna thinks it's cold.

It didn't mean, it's kind of, relatively speaking, it's relatively for California speaking, it's cold up here because it's in the 40s. So she's wearing a little sweater. And we just had a beautiful hike this morning. And it's right before Christmas as we record this. And here we are. I figured, so I figured for two reasons. It'd be good to one, just have a conversation. and let people know who Rachel. That I exist in real life? Yes. You haven't just photoshopped me in.

That'd be some really good photoshopping skills. And I also think that this can kind of serve as like a time capsule. Like I think that so often in life, like we live moments, we live life in like seconds and minutes and days and weeks, but we remember them in moments. But I think when you can go back and like watch a video or in this case like listen to a podcast, you can go back and actually be in that moment. So, you know, we may listen to this back in five years with our daughter, who's not here yet, and go, oh, my gosh, listen to mom and dad there.

Which she'd like five years from now, 10, 15 years from now, she might roll her eyes and say, we're so corny. Oh, for sure she's going to do that. You haven't got to the point yet where you have to spell your last name for people yet, Have you? Because your last name before, your maiden name, which is now your middle name. Super easy. Lin.

L-I-N-N, easy. Well, I've had to spell that out my entire life. I think it's L-Y-N-N-N or L-I-N. Right. Well, you are never not going to spell Van V-Vu. Yes, definitely. Have you practiced, you know, because it's like, okay, it's V-A-N. No.

V like Victor. Yeah. Yeah, A like Apple. and is a Nancy. Then there's a space. That throws people off. How many mispronunciations have you had? A lot. A lot where I say when people ask what my new last name is and I say Van Vleet and they say Fleet.

I get a lot of fleet. Van Fleet. You know, there's that basketball player for the Raptors, Fred Van Fleet. Oh, I did not. Fred Van Fleet. You know, and I think that people like think that we're related. I'm like, now we different name.

Spells his name completely differently. Sounds alike. It does sound alike. But yeah, these last six months, I feel like we crossed everything off the bucket list. Not bucket list, but a lot of big life moments in these last six months. Huge.

I mean, I'd say on average, it takes people a couple years to do most of the stuff that we did in six months. And not that one way is the right way and the wrong way, but we definitely were on the fast track. Not like really intentionally either. No, not at all. Just kind of happened.

Yeah. If you go to your Instagram, which is Rachel Lynn 324, you see like your last nine posts. It's like we got, we bought a house. We got engaged. We were pregnant. We're having a girl.

We got married. all within the last handful of months. Shocked a bunch of people on the internet. Ah, I don't know. This is great, though. I mean, we've known each other now for almost two years. Mm-hmm. But I think that people, they see you in photos, but they don't know much about you.

So where did you come from? From the Garden State of New Jersey. Mm-hmm. a very rural part of New Jersey that not a lot of people are familiar with. When you told me that we were going back there a few months ago, I was like, oh, cool, like we're going to fly into, we flew in Newark, which is basically New York City. Right. I'm like, oh, cool.

And that's what most people think of when they think of New Jersey, the suburbs of Manhattan, basically. Yeah. They don't realize how much more is out there and how rural it can really get. It got rural. You said it a couple times that you didn't realize I was from the country, country. Like, it got rural quick. I love where you grew up, though. But I just didn't realize you grew up on that much land with your neighbors owning various different farm animals.

It was, I mean, it's beautiful. And you've been in California 13 years, right? 13 years. Which is, that's how long I've been in the U.S. 13 years. You knew this. I feel like, I wonder if there's going to be anything during this conversation that I will learn that I didn't previously know. I should hit, I should really hit some hard-hitting questions here.

I'm also, I'm having a beverage during this. I mean, I'm drinking for two now. You are. You are. Yeah, I'm drinking for two. Looks delicious. It's a, it's a high noon. These things are so good. They go down too easy. I think that like White Claw was the big thing for so long, but the thing that's so good about high noons is it's actual vodka. Vodka soda. Do you, do you miss having a drink? In certain situations, but I'm doing okay without it. For the greater good of, you know, growing a human inside of you. I think especially during the holiday season, you know, with the holiday parties and Thanksgiving and Christmas, like, you do associate that with, like, having a cocktail or a glass of wine. And it's fine, though. I wouldn't say I really miss it.

It's more, I think, the social aspect. Maybe, like, maybe once you have it again, you'll go, oh. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's fine. Yeah, we never really drank too. too much before anyway.

Not really. Although it is funny, like you said, like every social event is around drinking. Our first date was drink. That's like every first date is drinking. I think so. Okay, so let's go. Let's talk about that.

So we've told this story many times, but never, you know, on a podcast, we met on Hinge. Dating app. Yeah, we met on Hinge. And in like Los Angeles terms, because I was living in Studio City, You were living in Costa Mesa, which is Orange County, which we now both live in Orange County, obviously.

It was like a long-distance relationship. Oh, absolutely. It's like 48 miles away, but it could take anywhere from 45 minutes at like 4 in the morning to, I think the longest was like 2 hours and 10 minutes. Was there a point when we matched when you were like, oh, he lives so far away. I don't think I realized how far it was until we were already three, four dates into it, because you came to me the first four times we met. Three, I think, right? So our first date was on a rooftop, tanners.

We drank those incredible spicy margaritas. Oh, they were so good. And it was just, I mean, the conversation just flowed. Right? Like that date was almost four and a half hours. Yeah. And the conversation just flowed so well. And it was like, next thing we knew, we were like, oh, we've been here for so long.

And we kind of walked around there a little bit. And then you were like, and I said to you, I walked you to your car and I said, we should do this again sometime. And you're like, yes, absolutely. And I said, all right, well, like, when are you free? And you're like, I'm free Thursday. We met on a Sunday, right? We met on Father's Day. You're like, I'm free Thursday.

I'm, I mean, I'm also free tomorrow. I'm like, done, let's do it. And then I drove down the next day and we played mini golf, which you beat me. And bowling. And bowling. Which I also beat you. I don't know. I mean, I definitely let you beat me there.

Oh, I don't know about that. I think every time we've gone bowling. Have you let me beat you every time? I'm just, yeah. That's funny because I'm so competitive. And then it comes down to like we played Scrabble last night here, the cabin. Yes. Yes. And you're so good at Scrabble.

And you woke up this morning saying you'd never play Scrabble with me again. No. No. If you could believe it, my mom and my sister are both better than I am too. Wow. They would have put me to shame. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg.

And now we're giving people. an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures,

but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I stole the dog away, by the way. Yeah, well, I don't know. I moved an inch and she kind of went to her, her nook. on your lap.

Have you got any weird messages since you've been tagged in so many photos? No, not weird. Supportive. There's a lot of people that. Yeah, there's a lot of people that who are, you know, fans of your work that have reached out to me and just randomly said that you're a good person.

They're a fan of everything you've done. And they're happy for us. So, yeah, nothing out of the ordinary or, offensive, I would say. No, I'd say, I can't believe how many people have reached out just saying, like, congratulations on everything, right? Like, there's, we did like a major life event every month, I feel like. You definitely gained a lot of followers. And you've also become, like, a bit of a wrestling fan through this, like kind of just, I think, feel like through proxy, like, just through, not proxy, but just through like being close to it,

I took you to Smackdown first. Right. That was at. Staples Center, right? Staple Center right before it was called Crypto.com Arena. Yes, yes. And then we went to AEW in Ontario, California. Mm-hmm.

And then another Smackdown that one was in Anaheim. Right. What's the thing that surprised you the most? These were your first wrestling events you'd ever been to. What surprised you the most? The... interaction, I guess you could say, from the crowd. The crowd is so into it. And it really gets you into it with how excited they are about everything that's going on. It's a very hyped up,

amped up crowd and it's awesome. Yeah, from the second that someone's theme music hits, you're like, oh, I like this guy. I don't like this girl. Yeah, and you're just sucked right into it. And it's different from what you see on TV because it's just such a small chunk of the crowd, But everyone has signs. Everyone has a poster. Or everyone's wearing a T-shirt. Or a T-shirt. Yeah.

The fandom there is, it's impressive. It's really dedicated. And I love it. Because, like, you can go to a baseball game, which we've been to many. And a lot of people go to a baseball game just kind of like, you know, that's a thing to do on a... Yeah, they're like leisurely hanging out watching baseball. People in the audience at wrestling are engaged with it. Oh, big time.

You don't see a ton of people sitting there on their phones looking at anything. Like, they are all focused. on what's going on. Yeah. No, it's, it's been, it's been fun taking you because you get to see it through the eyes of like someone who's ever seen. Yeah, it's like watching it through the eyes of a child. It is. And like certain people that come out, I'm like, oh, like when, before Chris Jericho came out, I'm like, this is, watch this, the whole crowd is going to sing. And you're like, no way. Every single person. Every single one. I think except for me. And then the music stops and the crowd keeps singing. Yeah. That's one of the coolest entrances in all of wrestling.

I agree. It was really, really fun, all of them. And you became a photographer for so many people, so thank you for that. Yeah, especially at the AEW one. Do you remember the first time that we were together and someone came up and said something to me? I think so. I'm pretty sure it was when you were still living in Studio City. It was Fourth of July when we were walking to Universal for the fireworks.

Yeah, yeah. And it was a boy probably 14, 15 years old, I'd say, who stopped you. He was with his family, also walking outside Universal. Hey, hey, man, are you Chris Van Bleet? And we were still, what, two, three weeks into dating at that time? And I was like, who the heck is this guy? Yeah, what did I get myself into? Did you think after our first day, because the first day went well?

And I think that the big difference is we were both intentional about what we were looking for. We were looking for like a relationship. And look where it's let us, right? But did you think after the first one like this could actually be something? After the first date? I did. Then what about after the second date when you, that means when I beat you, I mean, when you allowed you to beat me. Well, now I'm having second thoughts about that.

Maybe we should go bowling later today. I think so. I think we need to. Probably. I think we need to. We got to bury this hatchet now. Yeah, what did you, like, what did you go home and tell your friends?

I actually don't know the answer to this. I think because I was, I was so pleasantly surprised with how well everything was going. Yeah. You know, both of us had had dating experiences where it goes really well. And then, you know, you don't want to get your hopes up because then it can all go south really quickly.

Yeah. So it's hard to be excited that early on without being overly optimistic or naive, but it was just a different feeling. I didn't have any hesitations about being that excited and happy and optimistic, you know, where I think in the back of your mind in the past, you're kind of always thinking, well, you know, I don't want to get my hopes up. I don't really know him yet. We'll see where it goes one date at a time. Yeah. And it's hard with dating apps because you know that people are at the very least talking to other people or entertaining other conversations. And it's like, ah, like this went really well. But how did their date earlier this week or last week or last month go? Oh my gosh. And like what happens from there? And I think part of the reason why it worked out so early on for us is we were open about that right away. We didn't wait until, two, three months in to have that conversation, like, so are you still on the apps? Or so, are you still dating anyone? Both of us just, I think within the first week, like that first weekend that we spent together, we hash that out. Like, what are, what are your intentions here? Are you

trying to date other people? Yeah. Do you still want to be on the apps? And both of us realized we kind wanted to focus our energy and time on each other at that point, just see where it went. Yeah, we were so intentional about it, which I think was so, so helpful. Definitely. Because a lot of times you just go into it and you're just like, well, this was fine for today, but like what happens after this? Right. Yeah, I'm just super grateful.

I just knew immediately without getting like too sappy here, I just knew that you were just a good person. And then I knew that you were like so genuine in everything that you did and everything that you said. Oh, well, thank you. It's so true, though. I'd like to think so. I'd like to think so, too.

And anyone that's met you has said that too, just that you're the kindest, nicest, best friend that they could ever imagine. Oh, I pay my friends well to say those things around you. It's true, though. You know what's a really good indicator is when it's somebody's birthday, how many people like post- in their story or saying nice things about that person. And for you, it was like endless amounts of people. And I was just like, oh, yeah, this is it. Yeah.

Yeah. Got a lot of good close friends who are more like family. Yeah. I just think that that was part of it, that you seemed really genuine. Like my foot's up here on the top of the couch now. You just seemed really genuine. And I think that L.A. in general gets this bad rap for having people that are just fake. And Orange County, big time.

Yeah, California in general. Like I've been living in California for almost three years now. And I can see that. But I also think on the flip side, there are a lot of really good people. You just have to sift through to find them, I think. What do you think is, what do you think something, that, you know, people that are listening to this episode, they've listened to a lot of different conversations that I've had

with a lot of different people. Certainly not with my wife. Your wife? My wife. What do you think is something that people might not know if they just watch my YouTube videos, if they just subscribe to my YouTube channel or watch me on social media or listen to the podcast?

What might they not know about me? That you now know. Hmm. And this could get embarrassing here. how much you like to sing all the time and make up songs about our dog Luna. Every song. Every song is about our dog. Doesn't everybody do that?

I think so. I think so. I hope so. I think that you are very true to who you act to be on the internet. You know, like in your interviews and everything, you always preach, gratitude. and in real life you are that person. You practice what you preach in the best way. Thank you, hon.

I just think that it's so important to focus on the things that you do have. Because when you focus on the things that you don't have, it's just a downward spiral of like constantly wanting things you don't have. But when you can wake up and focus on the things that you do have in your life, you realize how good you truly have it. That's why I end every conversation. asking that gratitude question. Yeah. And I think a lot of people might hear that and go, this guy's not doing this on his own time. And I can vouch. He's doing it on his own time.

Yeah, right before we go to bed every night, I ask you. And you're like asleep most of the time. More often than not. Especially because you're like, you're infinitely more tired now. Yes. Yes. For great reasons. What's the first real pregnancy symptom that hits you? It was the exhaustion. The level of tiredness that I felt right away was unbelievable. And you're still working through all of this. Yeah. So, yeah, what exact? Tell everybody what you do for work. I work for a financial planning firm. Mm-hmm. Oh, that's it.

That's it. They're not going to, they'd fast forward through that. Like retirement plan? Well, they want to know. Yeah, we focus on retirement planning for the most part. So you've still been going into work, you know, your normal hours. and basically just come home and you're in bed by like 8 o'clock, 8.30. 7.30 most nights. You're being generous right now. I try to keep you up into the 8 o'clock.

Which has been different, though. I would go straight to the gym most days after work if I didn't go in the morning. And that's been a huge adjustment with the pregnancy thing. I mean, you're a beast in the gym. You were working out like twice a day, most days. Not every day, but most days. I'd say you were working out. A lot of them, yeah. Yeah, like 10 times a week. Like you would wake up at 4.30 in the morning to go to the gym, to then come home,

shower real quick, eat, get off to work, and then you'd go straight from work to the gym. Yep. Like, you're an animal. I loved it. I loved it. That energy I had was... It's not necessarily in the past tense. You could still love it.

Yeah, but I'm, you know, struggling to do one workout a day at this point. Well, that's, you know, you're growing a life inside of you right now. Yes, yes, yes, I am. But you worked out way more than I've ever worked out. The mental clarity, I think, is what did it for me, how good I felt when I stayed that active. And also, like, I just think that it's, you're really good at being regimented because your day, like, is scheduled around it, too. Right. I think.

I love routine. Yeah. I thrive off a good routine. But I think it's the fact that you were going to classes that began at a certain time. Whereas I think that some people, when they have a traditional gym membership, it's like, well, if I show up at 530 or if I show up at 537, it's the same thing. Definitely. You're kind of shortchanging yourself a little bit.

Yeah. I fall into that category. And I think that's what I found works for me, though. You have to dabble around and see what kind of some people like that more leisure schedule where you don't have to be on someone else's time clock. I respond better to class starts at 530. Got to be there at 525, ready to go. That's what keeps me going.

How's this going to transition when we've got a daughter? I think a lot of taking turns. Yeah, sure. Would be step one. I think it's just a matter of time before, like in a matter of weeks before you're back in the gym 10 times a week again. Oh, I don't know about that. Let's start at three to four.

You can still work out until like the very end of the pregnancy, right? Oh, yeah. I mean, as long as everything's going, you know, well, absolutely. You also had this interesting thing where it wasn't morning sickness and it wasn't nighttime sickness. And it wasn't throwing up. It was just you felt nauseous. And bad, terrible headaches.

Early on, it was all day. Mm-hmm. And then it started to subside during the day and then just like in the evening. Yeah. Terrible headaches and just nauseous. You're pretty good now, right? Yeah, knock on wood. It's been going pretty smooth.

Plenty wood around us. Yeah, plenty of wood, knock on wood. Good. That's been the worst of the symptoms, though, right? Mm-hmm. And you early on said, I'm sure it's a girl. Convinced. Why?

I think because I felt so terrible. And that's a thing? It's a thing. I mean, it's an old wives tale, but I think there is some truth behind it. More often than not when you feel all of those symptoms, it typically could be a girl. But I know plenty of people who are pregnant with boys that felt that same way. Yeah, I feel like you. Yeah, you have these conversations with people where they'll say pregnancy number one was one way and pregnancy number two is the other way. And sometimes they're both girls or both boys. And it's just your body reacts totally differently with each one. Yeah. How many kids do you want to have?

six to seven maybe okay perfect run the same page i think we start with one if that goes well we'll start with two or go to two and then yeah if that goes well maybe we'll throw a third into the mix but i don't know kids are pricey yeah i mean it's a lot i've been i've traveled so much over the course of my career too i would hate to be away from you guys yeah i don't think that that's going to change a ton but i would just hate to be away from you guys I would hate to leave you with two small children while I'm in Las Vegas working hard, of course. Of course. Which is what I always do.

Isn't that what Vegas is for? Hard work? That's what they say. That's the, yeah. What happens in Vegas is really hard work. That's what they say. That's the phrase. That's why you leave it in Vegas.

That's right. What happens there stays there because it's too hard. Right. Yeah. You've been going there so much for the, we should have done this at the podcast studio. Oh, yeah. I've never been to that yet. How would you have felt if we were in an actual studio with the lights sitting at the desk?

Probably overwhelmed. Because here we're sitting on a couch with the dogs snuggled up next to me. Yeah, I think I'm into Vegas. It was like 12 times, 15 times this year. Wow, was it that many? I think it was at least once a month. And then earlier in the year it was every two weeks. That's true.

I didn't even realize that. Yeah, I think it's, I'll have to look, but 12, 15 times. It was just there last week. Yeah. I'll be there again in two or three weeks. Yeah, you were in Vegas as your last night as a single man last week. Second to last night, I guess, technically. And ironically, coincidentally, I was in Las Vegas the day before I met you.

That's right, where you took a 13-hour flight home or something like that? Yeah, that's so tough. This guy will do anything for airline miles. I love airline miles. Well, I basically had a travel day, so I was like, well, you know, I could just fly right back to LAX, or there was this promotion going on with American Airlines. This is so silly. There was this promotion going on with American Airlines that any flight you took, they would add on like these extra bonus miles. So I was like, well, I'll just turn my flight from Las Vegas to L.A., which should be 40 minutes, into three different flights. So I flew. This is a true story. I flew from Vegas to Phoenix.

Phoenix to Urbank, was it? I was something dumb. I don't remember the second leg of it. I just remember the Arizona layover. And I couldn't imagine why you would have a layover in Arizona for a 40-minute flight home from Vegas. It was so. silly. But I got all those miles.

And I was also like, I was pretty hung over. Yeah. On that, it wasn't 14 hours. It was like a seven or eight hour travel day for, I probably could have walked home from Vegas quicker. Yeah, definitely. Hitchhiked or something. But I, you know, I just

when a good deal is on the table, honey. You love a good deal. You love a good deal. I love a good deal. I'm not like, you know, crazy, but like if there's like two for one on a product that I'm going to use and buy anyway, you better believe. You better believe I'm buying four for two. Or if like, like, we now shop at Vons a lot,

the grocery store, they've got that app with all the coupons in it, you better believe if there's $2 off something that we normally buy. We're buying it. Why the heck not? Is that crazy? No, no. Saving a dollar is never crazy. Okay. Buying a $12. foot Christmas tree before you have 12 foot ceilings in your house. That's just manifested. That's what that is. So last, I've always had this idea in my mind that I wanted the really tall Christmas tree. Like actually, the ceilings here would be tall enough for a really good tree. Definitely. And I've always had this idea of like, so growing up, we used to cut down a Christmas tree, growing up in, you know, Pickering, Ontario. We would go to a Christmas tree farm and like go and like saw down a Christmas tree. And we would

always get the biggest one possible because my parents had this living room with like a vaulted ceiling, 20 foot high ceilings. And I always had this idea of like, all right, one day, we're going to have the biggest Christmas tree we can have. So when's the best time to buy a Christmas tree? Definitely not before Christmas. Right after Christmas. Everybody wants to put them, you know, they don't want to put them away. They just want to sell them. So I went on offer up and this guy bought this Christmas tree, a 12-foot Christmas tree that's like $1,400 on Amazon. Brand new. He bought it. It was too big. And he was selling it for like 500 bucks. And I said, I'll give you $300 for it. And he said, can you pick it up next week? I said, absolutely. And that was, then we sat on it for 11 months. Yeah. We had a 12-foot Christmas tree when we had an apartment still before a house. An apartment with like tiny little low ceilings. And I just said, when we started looking for the house, I said, we've got to get a house now that has tall ceilings. Because that's what we envision.

We actually did put an offer in on a house where we would have had to get rid of that one, huh? No, which one? The first one. No, that living room right by the front there. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Oh, no, we weren't putting an offer in a house. We couldn't.

Without the tall ceilings. We were not getting rid of this Christmas tree. No. No chance. The tree looks so good now, though. It's incredible. Yeah. You did a good job.

Yeah, I ended up decorated it all myself. All himself. I can't take any credit for it. Well, it's just you weren't, you were feeling very, pregnant those days. Conveniently. Ooh, I see what's happening here. I think the whole, like, it's just so weird because we're right here on like the,

right here on like the precipice of like life's going to change a ton next year. And all my friends that have kids are like, oh, you just wait. You just, you'll see. Like, you'll see. You think you're tired now. You'll see. And I'm like, yeah, I know, I believe you. I have no clue.

Right. Yeah. you can't wrap your head around it until you're truly in the thick of it. Are you, do you have any inkling of what life, I mean, she's due in May, do you have any inkling of what life's going to be like?

I think, and I don't mean any offense to this, but I think more so than you do, because of the amount of newborns and babies and, you know, stuff that I've worked with in the past. And,

you know, I've worked with newborn twins before when they were two days old from the hospital. And just various infants in my life. that I babysat for, that I do realize the severity of how much your life changes. I've held a baby a few times. Yeah. I have a niece and two nephews, two boys. They're older now.

Right. But what's the longest you've ever been alone with an infant? Alone. Feeding. Feeding? Changing diapers. I've never done either of these things. They don't feed themselves?

No, unfortunately. This is why I'm so glad that you're my partner in this, because I don't have any idea. And we'll just, I mean, we're going to figure this all out as we go. Definitely. And as much experience as I've had in that, that's not to say I've ever had, you know, sleepless nights for three months straight. I would hope you're trying to survive. Yeah. So that we can both get some sort of sleep.

I don't know. I think that the funny thing is hearing people talk about having kids. when you don't have kids, is kind of one of those eye rolling like, yeah, okay, it's great. And everybody listening to this is going, yeah, great. Stop talking about kids. But I think it's one of those things that when you do then enter that stage of your life, you go, oh, tell me everything. Like, how do you do this?

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm fully excited and willing to embrace this. We've had so much support already, though, too, which has been great. You've had so many friends reach out with advice and same for me. Yeah. Yeah. Your family and my family. Your mom's so excited to be a grandma.

She is. First grandbaby. We gave her a grand dog, but that only appeased her for so long. Well, she has her own dog. Yeah. Yeah. My parents are excited to be grandparents again. Mm-hmm.

Because it's been a while for them since a, baby too. Yeah, so my niece is 15 and the boys are 11, 12. Yeah. So that's been a long time. Yeah, since a baby, baby, yeah. Yeah. But I think they're going to be out here all the time, willing to help us with whatever we need help with. Yeah. Is this how you, is this how you pictured life would be? I think so. I don't know if I ever really pictured it a certain way, but I pictured it, you know, having children with the love of my life. Who me? Yeah. Yeah, you. Crazy TV host slash entertainment reporter slash YouTuber slash podcaster.

Yeah. Slash pro wrestling officiantado. Exactly. Yeah. That's the picture I painted in my mind. You pictured yourself being shown random clips on YouTube of wrestlers you've never heard of? Exactly. I remember when I showed you mankind getting thrown off Helen Assau by The Undertaker? You're like, oh my gosh.

I'm like, yeah, yeah. And finding out the hard way what a collar elbow is. Collar and elbow. Collar and elbow. I was wearing a collar elbow, collar and elbow shirt. And you're like, what's collar and elbow? I'm like, oh, this wrestling lockup. They do at the start of every wrestling match.

I've asked too many questions that have gotten me in a very bad position. Just don't ask what, like, tombstone is. Okay. There was another one too that I asked you what that meant and you had to show me instead of telling me. I might have been the stone cold stunner. Maybe. Oh, I didn't give her a stone cold stunter. Well, I don't know. No, no. Yeah, I don't know. It is, it's so funny because wrestling exists within this world that in that world, everything makes perfect sense and everything is, you know, when you tell someone that mankind, of course, got up after being thrown off hell and a cell through an ounce table and wrestled the rest of the match, of course he did.

But then when you show this to someone who's never seen it before, they go, what? How? You're like, that's just who McFaulie is. And that's just kind of how that wrestling world is. So the deeper you're going to get into this, I think you're going to see. It's impressive how they don't sustain such serious injuries from a lot of this stuff. They're so incredibly gifted. The actual athleticism of some of them really was mind-boggling to me to witness that. Yeah.

The women especially, some of the stuff they were doing, oh my gosh. Who's an interview outside of the wrestling space, I'm sure, that you want to tag along when I do that interview? Tom Cruise. Oh, okay. Well, we're probably going to meet him next month, the Critics Choice Awards. Only because we were just talking about him yesterday. That guy's incredible. Yeah.

I'm just so blown away by he has not slowed down. And everyone talks about the stunts that he does a mission impossible. But it's the fact that the stunts are woven into the fabric of the actual plot of the movie. It's not just like, all right, here's the time for Tom Ethan Hunt to do something crazy. It's woven into the actual storyline. Yeah, well, you can tell him that when you meet him. I sure will. What about, is there a woman that you'd want to tag along?

be like, man, she's awesome. If you ever did Julia Roberts again in person, oh my gosh. You watch a lot of friends, too. I do. Really, any of them would be. Jennifer Aniston in person is quite something. Oh, I believe it. Yeah.

I believe it. What questions do you want to ask me? Oh, I came so unprepared. So did I. I thought I was the one being interviewed. I came so unprepared too. This hasn't been so bad, right? No.

No. No. What's your favorite thing about being married so far? Wow. What a great question. The Rock does that when you interview him. He goes, he asks why you like being married? It's a great question.

Oh. Wow. It's a great question. I just love that, I just love that, like, this is, you know, this is the person I get to be with without getting too sappy here. It's pretty great that we wake up. together in our house and it's like our day, our week, our month, our life to live together. I love that. I also love that this ring really can't come off. It takes a lot to... I glued it on.

It's, I don't know why my knuckles are so big, but it's very loose on the bottom, but when I try to pull it up over the knuckle, that thing ain't budging. No. What's your favorite part about being married? I think just knowing that I have the next, well, you would say 150 years because we're going to live forever, but that I have the next 150 years to keep getting to know you. It's been so exciting the last 18 months. Yeah. Yeah.

So much more to look forward to. And we were always planning our wedding to be the way it was. Yep. That was perfect. And I don't think it could have gone any better. So, you know, people saw the photos on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or wherever. They saw them. We got married at the Orange County Courthouse.

And you had been saying this since, like, early on, like, I want to get married at a courthouse. And I was like, you got to have the day. Like, come on, you got to have the day. You got to have, like, the first dance with mom, the first dance with dad. You got to walk down the aisle. And I said, nope, I want to elope. I want just the two of us. And I said, I don't know.

Like, we still got to do it. Then we started thinking about everything. And like, we live here in California. My family's in Canada, all of them. Your family is all in the East Coast. Yeah, on the East Coast. And it's like, all right, no matter where we do this, it's a destination wedding. Whether we do it in California or, you know, for, yeah, for either 100% of the guests or 50% of it's a destination wedding.

And then it turns into like, all right, well, if you. you invite this person, then you've got to invite that person. And if that person gets invited, then this person will feel bad if they didn't get invited. Right. And it's like, well, what if you... You lose sight of it becoming about the two of you. Yeah. And then it's like, well, what if we just had a wedding where none of that matters because we're the only ones there?

Mm-hmm. And you're right. It couldn't have been more perfect. It was really, really special. Yeah. I think it really blew both of our expectations away, too, with we thought it was going to be super, what did you say the other day? Super bureaucratic.

Is that what you said? Yeah. I thought it'd be like going to the DMV. Yes. Yes. Very just legality, signing some paperwork, raise your right hand. Okay, cool. You're married.

Have a great day. But I was not expecting the like traditional vows and, you know, exchanging of the rings and having a whole historical courtroom to ourselves. And it was really special and really emotional. And they make it really, really. really a special day for the two of you. Yeah, and I think it just comes down to like, all that matters is if it's a special day to you. And I think I'm realizing this more and more

as I'm now approaching 40 in May, and of course, going to be in the best shape of my life. Obviously. At that point, if everyone's seen those posts I've been making, I've been working out real hard, eating hard. But I think one of the things I've been realizing is it really doesn't matter what other people say or do or want for you. All that it really matters is how you feel about the thing that you did

or the life that you're living. And I left that day, I think we left that day. I think I could safely say that, feeling so fulfilled and successful with how we wanted it to be. A hundred percent. And I just think that that's such a big lesson. I want to take into like every other aspect of my life. Yeah. We're like the quote unquote traditional way to do something or the quote unquote, you know, accepted way that people look at things may not always be right for you or anybody else. And yeah, it just, it was amazing. It was. Yeah. This is, all of this is amazing. It is. How are we going to top this in 2023? Well, we're having a baby. Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah, that'll, that'll do it.

All right, well, let's wrap this up with the question that I ask everybody. How much do you love Looney? Luna has fallen a statement. I wish everyone could see what Luna looks like right now. You took a picture, right? I did. Take another one. She is.

I'm sitting here and Luna is so relaxed. But as you take this photo, I will ask you the question that I ask everybody at the end of every conversation, which is about gratitude. What are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? You being one of them. I'm so grateful for you. I'm grateful that we're taking this time to kind of get away before the holidays. And this is our first Christmas together. We didn't spend last Christmas together because you were with your family.

And this will be the last Christmas, just the two of us. So I think it's really nice that we're doing something really special to have this memory with our first Christmas together too. Yeah. So really grateful for that time we're taking to kind of focus on each other right now, since we know that's changing quickly. Yeah. And I'm grateful for our health.

And was that three? That's three. You can keep going? Everyone does this. You can keep going? Yeah, I think that you're so right about us, taking the time to just appreciate this. Because I think nostalgia is such a powerful drug. I've said this so many times before, but I think that actually taking those memories and being aware that you're creating them and filing them away into the memory bank as they're happening has been such a great practice for me over these last few years where you go, oh my gosh, I can't believe I am here or I'm with this person or I'm doing this thing or whatever it happens to be.

And you just kind of take it in for a second. You look around, you look at the sights, you smell the smells, you hear the sounds. taste the taste if there's whatever, if that's an option, you know, as I drink this high noon. And you just kind of commit that to memory. And you can go back to that in a year or two or ten and go, I remember that moment vividly. And I love that we're doing that here. All right, how about some real rapid fire question before we wrap this? Oh, boy. I thought we were wrapping it up with gratitude. What's your favorite color? Oh, favorite color. It depends. Like clothing-wise, black.

Sure, okay. But I love the color pink, which I guess is convenient that we're having a girl. What's your favorite color? I think you probably know. Blue? Yeah. We're a lot of blue. My logo is blue.

Yeah. I don't know. Blue's always. My eyes are blue. Your eyes are blue. Yeah. It's fitting. Favorite movie?

Of all time or Christmas? I can't. You know what mine is? I talk nonstop about Back to the Future. I thought you were going to say the room. Oh my gosh, the room. The best worst movie of all time. It's been so cool becoming friends with Greg Sesterra through all that.

What a great guy. What a story, Mark. That's an experience. That's an experience. We could do a whole other 30 minutes on that. Me, you, and Greg, should do a whole podcast just talking about the room. Okay, so what's yours? What's your film?

Oh gosh I don't even know I think if you gave me five choices I could tell you of those five Probably elf Elf I love elf I do love elf Elf is on a lot

We watched Rewatched Ace Ventura the other day Oh I do love Ace Ventura See I can Yeah I forgot how many lines from that movie I knew All of them Except of course New England clam chowder

That one you seem to forgotten New England clam chowder Yeah. First concert you ever went to. I think I could be wrong. I think my sister would correct me on this if this is wrong. But I think that I think Dwight Yolkham was my very first concert. Wow. Wow. And I think I was around nine or ten. Do you remember any of it? No. Evidently not. No. But the first concert that I like remember going to and I was so. stoked about because I grew up as a, you know, an elder millennial. So the boy bands were huge when I was a teenager.

I think I was 12 or 13 in 98 degrees. Oh my gosh. In sing shortly after that. Well, next time we have Jeff on the show, you'll have to come by. I love that. He's just the best. Yeah. They were great.

They were great. Still are. Still are. Yeah. Okay. I think that's it. This wasn't so bad. No.

We do this all the time. That's what I'm saying. We just happen to be holding microphones. Right now, on with the rest of our day now. On with the rest of it. I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for you too. Grateful for our health and the health of our little girl.

And it's grateful for everybody to listen for the last 48 minutes to us just talking about our life. Yeah. Maybe we make this a yearly tradition. Oh, boy. On our anniversary or something? Sure. Or maybe it's the last podcast of every year. Oh, okay. It's a time capsule of the year of the year that was.

Well, as long as I don't get booed off the show. Now, people are going to go, we want more RVV. RVV, RVV, RVV, RVV. What if they're saying RVD, but you think they're saying RVVB? Like that Simpson's thing? Are they saying boo burns or boo? Are they saying boo or boo-eruns? Okay. You're welcome.

Thank you for having me. So there we go. That is for sure, the most special interview that we've ever done on Insight. And my favorite guest, by the way. So thank you for hanging out with Rachel and I. And of course, thank you to Rachel for, you know, being open to doing this. You know, not everybody wants to do this. Not everybody wants to be interviewed.

So big thank you to Rachel for wanting to do this. And if you want to follow her on social media on Instagram, she's at Racheline 324. that's R-A-C-H-L-I-N-N-3-24. If you're not already following me, you can find me at Chris Van Fleet. And I think this quote from my good friend, D-D-P, Diamond Dallas Page, sums up love the best. I love this.

He shared this a few times. Maybe you've even seen the video, but I love this. He says, to find someone's true love is to find someone who speaks your language so you don't spend an eternity translating your soul. That is so good. Be great. Be grateful.

Happy New Year, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock?

I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987, Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Ali. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.